February 29, 2012

FACE JUNKY - DIY BRIDES NEED A MAKEOVER TOO

 Eileen, "Oooh La La! We are so excited to tell ya'll about our fabulous time at FACE JUNKY in downtown Perrysburg, OH! Jenelle and I were pampered with champagne and makeovers, prepping for our night watching the Oscars. I must say, I definitely felt like a star!"

If you're a bride, it's easy to let makeup take the back-seat in your wedding budget; especially all our fabulous DIY brides. Maybe you think you can save other ways or makeup just isn't on the priority-list. Girls, we all want to look beautiful - it's your wedding day and the one day you SHOULD look like diva! So indulge a little bit! You can still be natural and stunning!

Something that brides may not know about either, is that the quality of your makeup shows in your pictures. Cheaper products are not going to have the pigmentation or color contrast that you need to show-off your natural beauty. There's a reason all actors wear make-up for the camera. It's important that on your wedding day you use a good quality makeup brand (and I'm not talking CoverGirl) to show off your amazing features, like making your eyes POP or showing off those perfect cheekbones! I'll let our pro, Jenelle take it from here. ;)

Jenelle, We had a blast with our time at Face Junky. From being with friendly upbeat workers, to staring at all of the unique products and makeup. They have so many great ideas for gifts too! I even bought my pups some "Pooch-Pouri" and I absolutely love it! 
I love the idea of supporting local businesses, and this cute little boutique is the first of its kind around here. If you live in this area, and haven't been there, you gotta go!

But like Eileen said, makeup is a must for your wedding. As a bride I would highly recommend a full run-through with your artist before hand just like you would for your hair. #1 Because you want to make sure the you and your artist are on the same page, and #2 well.. just get some more pampering in before your big day! 

Let's take a look at what we did while we were at Face Junky!

Meet Dara! Dara was such a beautiful and bubbly hostess! She made us feel welcome right away at FACE JUNKY, by offering us champagne and getting our makeovers started!

Carl Was QUITE the professional! He had the most upbeat and suave personality!



Before and After shots! I LOVED my makeover! Carl gave me subtle smokey eyes, with a trail of bold bronze glitter liner above my eyelids. He added a bronzer along my cheekbones and finished off the look with a vampire berry lipstick; I felt HOT!

Yes, there might be something wrong with this picture. 
This is Jenelle WITHOUT makeup. Stunning!

Dara spent a lot of time perfecting the look of a bold dark smokey eye. She used the "Diva Eyes" Palette from Eve Pearl with a Julie Hewett "Gia" Eyeliner. She used a natural Rose Cream blush, so that it would stay on all night. For my lips, we decided to go with a nude lip, so not to over power my dark eye look. For this we cocktailed two colors together to get the exact look we wanted. We mixed Julie Hewett "Sophia" and "Tish".  I Loved seeing Dara's technique and didn't want to take my makeup off that night! 

 

  

There is a reason women love having a man do their makeup. Carl is quite the professional and I must say with 15 years experience! I was taken aback at his knowledge and definitely felt assured, because I was in good hands for a professional makeover!

 
  






Brides, if we could recommend one product, we suggest 
They are the same company that makes the "Mini-Mergency Kit" We have in our giveaway!


 I went for a dramatic look and tried dark lipstick for the first time, Jenelle went with a Sultry Smokey look; both of us left feeling pumped and gorgeous!

 We would love to THANK Debbie, the owner of FACE JUNKY, and all the artists for having us - we look forward to visiting in the future!



February 26, 2012

How-To Make a Burlap Aisle Runner

Don't! Just kidding. Although, making this aisle runner turned into quite a headache and I almost gave up on her a few times; but if you love the idea and need some advice, please read on.


Completely inspired by my cousin's wedding,  I thought, "Oh my goodness, how adorable would this look along with her rustic charm wedding theme?!" Little did I know, that a few days later I'd be tangled in 7 yards of burlap and speaking in strange tongues, yelling at myself, "NEVER EVER AGAIN!" Continue to read though, if you're as determined as I was.


You will Need:
  • 7 yards of burlap (or however long your aisle is)
  • 7 yards of white fabric
  • A good quality Sewing Thread (tan)
  • Wilson Iron-on Paper
  • A Sewing Machine
  • Fabric Paint
    • Pins
    • A Seam Ripper (just in case)
  • A Thin Paint Brush 
  • Buttons
  • A Glue Gun
1. Iron on your Monogram. Use Wilson's iron-on for light fabric. You can find this at Michael's Crafts. Make sure to mirror your image and that your letters are straight. Use a pillow case to iron for the first 25 seconds, then iron-on the paper for another 15-20 seconds without the pillowcase. Remove the iron-on while the paper is still hot.


Tip: You can find elegant fonts for free on www.dafont.com. This font is called, 
"Indenture English Penman."
The Difference: Left, is paint - Right, the iron-on.
2. Use a very thin tip paint brush and mix your colors. Paint to fill-in your monogram. It may take two-three coats before you're happy with your final product.


3. Glue-gun your buttons. I printed out my ampersand symbol onto a piece of paper and then I placed the paper under my burlap - using it to trace my ampersand. I then glue gunned the buttons one-by-one.





 This is what my final monogram and ampersand looks like.




4. Make SURE to sew the aisle runner INSIDE OUT. After flattening and making sure there were no bubbles or wrinkles, I literally used 100 pins to make sure my fabric didn't shift while sewing... after I murdered my seam ripper. :)


5. MAKE SURE you leave a gap at the end to turn your runner back inside out once you're finished. To end the tedious task of a burlap aisle runner,  tuck the seams at the end and sew them in a straight line.





6. I added the date, using steps 1 and 2. 
7. Iron your runner to smooth out any wrinkles. Be careful not to iron your paint.

I must say, I feel pretty proud of my hard-efforts and it all paid off, because my bride is thrilled. This is a one-of-a-kind piece, I couldn't find very much inspiration online for a burlap aisle runner. Probably because the wiser bride would never undertake taming 7 yards of burlap. 
I look forward to publishing the professional pictures later from my cousin's wedding. 
Thank you reading! 







February 22, 2012

Top Trends For Spring 2012

This post may seem a little bit "all over the place", but there are so many different trends popping up, some good, some...eh I'll let you decide. ;)

First on my TO DO List, would have to be the bright bold nails
I'm loving this idea. Some people are calling it "Candy Colored Nails" which seems fitting.



Pictured: "Teal the Cows come home" "Purple with a Purpose" "Gargantuan Grape" and "Ladies and Magenta-Men"

We are seeing A LOT of this second trend.. and I mean A LOT. We ALL envy the "Loose hair, Don't care" vibe we get from beachy wavy hair we are seeing. Some are lucky enough to have it pretty natural, but others of us have to work really hard.. to make it seem as if we didn't try. You know what I'm talking about!








Love this look!
Another "Upcoming" hair trend is the Bun on top of the head..




Im gonna say that I don't see this trend sticking around for a while.. Not too many people can pull this off. The person best suited for this look would be someone with hair that is one length, long and THICK. LaLa Vazquez in the bottom left doesn't seem to have enough hair to pull that look off, where as Kate Bosworth in the top right, either has plenty of hair, extensions or I'm choosing to believe- some type of help (maybe a sock-trick sort of thing). With all this being said, I'm voting this trend a DON'T. Although, there is some alternative, and more conservative ways of pulling this look off and still look classy.




Fourth "Hot" Trend Is a Classic Red Lip. This will always be in style, but right now we are seeing it more, with more people doing "cat-eye"
 type looks. I think a big part of that is because of Music icon Adele. 


I'm Voting this one a DO. Just keep your eye make-up simple, so that your lip stands out!


Ok and last but not least, my very favorite... Bright colored pants. Yep. Its happening. And before you start to think, "There's no way I could pull that off".. Think again..


HOW CUTE is that outfit!? 
Moving on..







I could browse photos of these all day. But tell me, what do YOU think of all these trends? What ones are your favorites?