"If I told you that a flower bloomed in a dark room would you trust it?"

You can find my latest editorial in See.7 Magazine this July! The editorial, Fleur Sombre (or "Dark Bloom") is loosely based on the song "Poetic Justice" by Kendrick Lamar. We had an amazing team: vision and photography by Indie Reece, Designer Dolly Donshey, and models Bridget Egan & T-Age Williams.

We submitted 10 photos, which I will post once the July issue is released!

"Fashion is global.
Across all seven
continents people
create, innovate, share,
swap and reappropriate
clothing every day to
suit their style, to
express their personal or
cultural identity.  By
being aware of the
world around us, we
become aware of the
opportunities that exist
to identify or
differentiate our own
lives. By being part of
the global fashion
village, our own choices
inform others.

Every issue focuses on
each of the continents,
exploring the lives of
those who live and
work in each area.
See.7 magazine distills
this concept into words
and images through the
eyes of photographers,
stylists, art directors,
artists and writers from
around the world."

-See.7 Magazine

First and foremost, APOLOGIES! I have been SO busy and all over the place these past couple months! I know I get in little creative dry spells where I don't blog for a while, but this time I was truly a busy little bee!

Let's start at the beginning....

I moved in January, so getting the house together has been quite the chore. Moving from a 600 square foot apartment to a house with more than double the space is certainly time consuming...But I wont bore you with the details of that. This is, after all, a beauty blog..

So, anyway, I also started a Youtube channel. It's been a slow moving, but successful, project so far. I'm working on getting better lighting, editing software, and what not. Stay tuned for updates in that department. My Youtube address is: www.youtube.com/litravis! Please rate, comment, and subscribe! I'd love to get this channel going and pick up some momentum! I have a few videos posted already, please comment and share if you like them!
Here's the latest video tutorial for your viewing pleasure:

Moving on...I recently won an airbrush system from www.bellettostudio.com/. I plan on filming a review and a few tutorials after I've had time to play around with it and see how I like it. I'm so excited to have won an airbrush machine! I just recently learned how to airbrush, so now I can offer that service to my clients in the future!

I've also been working diligently with shoots, weddings, and a few other gigs here and there. My friend Reece with Indie Reece Fotografie has such a creative mind and I love working with him! We have been working on quite a few projects lately, and because they are being submitted for editorials I can't release the photos until they have been published..But a few outtakes and behind the scenes images never hurt anyone!

Ok guys, and for the grand finale. This is probably some of the most exciting news ever! My makeup is featured on Vogue Italia Online!!! HOLY MOLY MOTHER OF PEARL! 

Reece submitted photos from his portfolio to Vogue Italia, from which Vogue selected and posted a few. All images must be pre-approved and selected before they can be featured online..SO THRILLED ABOUT THIS! 

The image, along with Reece's other selected photos, can be seen here:
http://www.vogue.it/en/photovogue/Portfolio/3ff52820-93c9-4399-aea5-bb18951317b1/Image

And that about sums it up! These past couple months have been such a blessing! Thank you guys for reading, supporting, sharing, and commenting! Keep an eye on my Youtube for videos in the future!

     I'm a bit behind with this announcement, but I am so proud to tell everyone that I have landed my first published job! The images can be seen in January's issue of Ellements Magazine!
The photographer, Reece, can be found on Facebook under the name "Indie Reece Fotografi" and I must credit the beautiful model, Mary Reschar
     Here are a few sneak peek images as well as a few extras we shot for everyone's port....

I've been on a bit of a hiatus lately, but as of tonight I'm back in action! As most of you know, I recently transferred to another MAC that is a bit closer to my house...Can't beat a five minute commute! Between transferring to a new store, and the chaos of every day life, my blog fell to the bottom of my to do list. Womp. Womp...
So, to get back in the swing of things, here are a few photos from shoots, weddings, and of course HALLOWEEN!

     Halloween was great! It is, understandably, my favorite holiday of the year! Although, I'm sure most makeup artists would agree with me on that one. Since Halloween fell on a Wednesday this year I was fortunate enough to have Halloween appointments almost every day of the week leading up to the 31st.

     Matt, my boyfriend, went as Jack the Ripper (seen above). Since his identity is unknown I decided to make him look aged, tired, and "corpse-like." We used a light foundation all over, and I contoured him heavily with cream and powder products. The new MAC sculpting creams worked great for this project! I was able to contour his face as well as create lines and wrinkles. To set the contours and to give his eyes a tired look I used grey and mauve toned eyeshadows. Quarry and Haux by MAC were ideal shades for the look we were going for! For the veins under his eyes I used a cream blush from MAC called "tea petal."

   Eli was SUPPOSED to be a vampire! He showed up at my house with a last minute change of plans: Zombie makeup. Luckily, he's my friend....and I had a latex piece of "rotten flesh" lying around. Using spirit gum I attached the piece to his cheek and blended out the edges by building up a few layers of liquid latex.  I also put a very thin layer of liquid latex across his forehead, this later served as peeling flesh. Once that was completely dry I applied a light colored full coverage foundation over his face, ears, chest, and hair. Then I darkened they eyelid and area under the eye to give the illusion of a deep-set, hollow eye. I added a few veins using a blue paint pot, and finally set everything with a loose powder.
   To "zombiefy" his skin I tugged and pulled at the liquid latex on his forehead to create "holes" and "peeling flesh." Using MAC contour creme and fake blood I colored the wounds accordingly.

     Earlier in the week I decided to play around with some makeup during a fit of boredom. I took inspiration from my Halloween costume last year, as well as several other doll makeup images found on Pintrest and Google.  The first thing I did was conceal my eyebrows using a glue stick and concealer.  There are a ton of tutorials on Youtube that give step by step instructions on how to do that! For my skin I mixed Vanilla pigment with a light full coverage foundation, this gave the skin a plastic shiny look. I set the foundation with translucent powder and sprayed Fix + to maintain a dewy finish. After the skin was done I drew on an exaggerated cartoon like eyebrow using Blacktrack Fluidline. I used matte purple shades on the eyes and made sure to apply the makeup in a very round shape to make the eyes look big and doll-like. I Finished the eyes with eyeliner, black on top and white kohl on bottom, and false lashes. I applied the lower set of lashes below my natural lashline to enlarge my eyes.
     I applied a bubblegum pink blush on the apples of my cheeks in a circular shape and added some freckles with my Fluidline. Still using the Fluidline, I drew a glasgow grin and a cupie style lip.

What did you dress up as for Halloween?

My first client today was on her way to have her engagement photos taken, and I jumped on the opportunity to take a few photos of my own! Clearly I'm not a photographer, but here are her before and after photos:

I'm a total sucker for beauty makeup, especially bridal makeup. On Janette we decided to go with light brown shades on the eyes, and keep the lashes and skin the main focus. I used #4 lashes from MAC, which are great for brides! They are natural, but still elegant and sexy.

We kept her foundation light and matte. Satin textures photograph beautifully, but for a beach shoot in Florida we needed as much shine control as possible!  I used one sheer coat of prolongwear concealer as a foundation and Prep & Prime highlighter under the eyes and on the high planes of her face. I finished off the skin with a light dusting of mineral powder.

For cheek color I used Keep It Loose causual colour from MAC. These are AMAZING cream blushes that double as a lip color. Not only are they convenient, but they are practical and simple to use. Creamy products always look nice in photos, and they give the skin a nice glow without being too shiny.

On her lips I used Modesty lipstick, Nice N' Spicy Prolongwear Lipliner, and Big Baby Plushglass.

I can't wait to see the professional photos!