MUFE Pro Road Show Product Haul #2

I'm proud to say that my 2nd shipment came in yesterday! Yay! :D

I was waiting on 2 Smokey Lash Mascaras, Aqua Cream Waterproof in black, HD Powder, and Mist & Fix.  I haven't played with any of it yet.  I'm curious to see how Mist & Fix compares to M.A.C. Fix +.

After I received my order I realized that I have HD powders in 3 different sizes.  Ha ha! 10oz ( I just received), 5oz (I bought this travel size from Sephora sale for $15), and 2oz (I got this with a Holiday kit that I purchased from Sephora's website last year). 

My order will be complete when I receive my #4 Camo palette and my empty eyeshadow palette.  Both of these are currently out of stock. :-( 

MUFE Rouge Artist Intense Lipstick Review and Swatches

I purchased the Make Up Forever Rouge Artist Intense #15 Lipstick with my haul from the MUFE Pro Road Show.  I'm really loving Purple and Red lips for the fall so here's another purple lip color using MUFE Rouge Artist Intense #15 with...yep, you guessed right, M.A.C. All My Purple Life lipglass.

Here is the lipstick.  When I opened the box, my first response was "Whoa! That fragrance is strong!"  I hadn't even put it to my lips before I could smell it.  That's a big con as far as I'm concerned.  However, the versatility of being able to build the color from sheer to bold by applying more coats makes up for the strong fragrance.

The swatch at the top is sheer with 1 coat and the swatch at the bottom has 3 coats.  

Here's what the color looks like on my lips with 1 coat.  I like how the lipstick is shaped.  It allows you to line your lips without a lipliner. :-) This lipstick has quite a bit of shimmer to it so if you prefer mattes or creams, you may not like it.

This is me wearing a sheer coat.  

Here I am with the same lipstick just more coats. Wow! Can you believe this is the same lipstick.  The top two pics are without a flash.  The bottom is with a flash. 

Now with All My Purple Life added. On the top no flash. On the bottom with a flash. I like how I ended up with a bit of a blueish tint without the flash. Gives a pretty cool effect. :-)

  I really really like it.  I think I may wear these lips for Halloween! 

I haven't worn it out yet, but I've only heard great things about MUFE Rouge Artist Intense and how it wears for a long time. I'll give it a try tomorrow to find out.

MUFE Pro Road Show Product Haul #1

I wanted to show you what I purchased at the Make Up Forever Pro Road Show in Austin.  This is part 1 because I'm still waiting on another shipment to come in.  Some of the products are actually out of stock, so there may be three parts to this.

They gave us these really nice reusable shopping bags that I'll be using a lot.  They're pretty sturdy.

Here's what's inside

I was only able to take home the foundations and the flash palette after my purchase.  These were among the featured products that were 50% off.  I've been wanting some of this foundation for a couple of years but refused to pay $40 for it.  I'm sooooo glad that I waited.  I thought about getting it when I had a Sephora gift card a few months ago, but I purchased the Sephora Airbrush Foundation brush instead.  The other items were shipped to me and I received them last Saturday 10/15/11, which is pretty impressive since I was supposed to have a 5-10 business day wait.  Shout out to Turner and Mariel for doing such a great job with handling all of the purchases and shipping. :-)

Another picture of my products.  I'm so happy to have these items.  This is the most amount of MUFE products I've ever had.  Starting from the Top Left: Brush Cleanser, HD Foundation in  #107, #123, #153, and #185, and Airbrush Thinner. There are 4 eyeshadow refills: #5, #7, the infamous #92 (Woo Hoo! after all of these years I finally got it!), and #28.  In the middle is the flash palette on top and the Camo Concealer Palette #5.  They are laying on top of the On Makeup magazine that we received for free. To the right is the beautiful Rouge Artist Intense Lipstick #15.

I'm eagerly awaiting my next shipment.  I have so many ideas on how to be creative with these products. My next order has 2 Smokey Lash mascaras, Camo Palette #4, Empty Eye Shadow Palette, HD Powder, and Aqua Cream.

Continuing Education Pt. 3 MUFE Pro Road Show Austin, TX

The Make Up Forever Pro Road Show is a tour sponsored by Make Up Forever that caters to beauty professionals.  It's a 3 day event that provides educational classes and networking opportunities.   Professionals are able to shop the company's over 1400 products. Professionals are also able to apply on-site for the MUFE Backstage Card Professional Program which when approved gives you 40% off of the products.  The unbelievably awesome tour is...get this...absolutely free.  Pros only need to RSVP.  There is one class left that's being held in Atlanta 11/12-11/14.  If you are a professional MUA, photographer, fashion stylist, or hair stylist I'd highly recommend you making arrangements to go.  You will not regret it.  You can get more info about the MUFE Pro Road Show here.

I attended the Make Up For Ever Pro Road show in Austin last weekend.  It was held Saturday 10/8/11- Monday 10/10/11.  I attended the end of the 2nd day and all of the 3rd day.  Unfortunately I missed the 1st day due to me working on Saturday.  When I walked in, William Edge of William Edge Salon Spa was presenting a workshop on How To Be A Successful Make Up Artist in a Salon Environment.  After sitting down, I looked around and thought, wow there are a lot of empty seats in here. I can't believe more people aren't here.  I think the title made most think the workshop wasn't geared towards them because most make-up artists don't work in Salons or Spas.  Well, let me tell you that the people who left early missed an enormous amount of helpful information.  Even though William Edge's career is with his Salon franchise, he's an outstanding teacher when it comes to educating artists, fashion stylists, hair stylists, and even photographers on how to manage their business from a money standpoint.  It's one thing to be great as an artist/stylist.  It's another to really be able to take care of your own finances.  I'm so glad that I attended.  I took pages of notes. LOL!  You can find out more about William Edge and his salons here.

 

William Edge's class.

Later that night there was a Networking and Cocktails Social.  It was a great opportunity for all of us to get to know each other as well as the MUFE professionals.  I got to meet so many cool people that night.   Including people that I knew over social networks but not actually in real life.

Here I am with make up artists Gwen Pettie and Diana.  Gwen is a make up artist in Oklahoma.  I knew her from facebook but I met her for the first time in real life at this event.  She's so sweet and amazingly talented.  I met Diana, who's a make up artist in San Antonio, that night.  We clicked right away.  She helped introduce me to a few other people that night.  Thanks Diana! 

I met MUFE Regional Educator and celebrity make up artist David Hernandez. He's so fierce, fabulous, and fun. :D He was actually going to Abu Dhabi the next day to teach classes.  I didn't realize how blurry this picture was until I got home. :-(

On Sunday there were three more workshops. James Vincent taught the first two 1.) Creating Beauty and 2.) Incorporating Body Art and Michael DeVellis taught the third one called Marketing Your Career. (I can't believe I don't have any pictures from Michael's class. sorry)

James Vincent focused on how to enhance your client's natural beauty.  He did looks that would work on the "everyday woman" at different age groups. The goal was to show how you can use the same techniques across the board.  You just have to know how to individualize it for the person in your chair at the time.  He really stressed that when working with our clients, we need to think like make up artists, not as consumers.  We also have to keep in mind that Beauty is different for everyone.  It also may differ by regions, and ethnicities.  (something that I've mentioned on here before. *wink*)

Here James is showing us how to use aqua cream as an eye shadow that's waterproof and will last all day. It's a quick an easy way to add color to the eye without using a lot of products.  To me, aqua cream is a bit similar to M.A.C.'s fluidlines.  

Here is James working with the same products but on more mature skin

The 2nd class of the day was a lot of fun.  James showed us how to use fabric, lace to be exact, to create body art.  Even if you're not technically a body artist, he taught us that we may still have to incorporate it in potential jobs.  

He prepped the model's skin with MUFE Face and Body, which by the way is  different from M.A.C.'s Face and Body.  It has more coverage and isn't as wet.  Then he applied her eye make-up.  The assistants used black and gold aqua cream on the lace and a sponge to transfer to the product onto the model.  

Here's the finished look. Pretty cool right? 

Michael DeVellis did a magnificent job conveying what it takes to really catapult your career as a freelancer.  He spoke about having proper business cards, websites, social networking, and portfolios.  

There was time in between sessions for us to shop at the "pop up" store.  Certain featured products were available at 50% off while everything else was 40% off.  As you can imagine, it was like being a kid in the candy store...so many decisions to make.  I kept going back and forth on what to get then versus what I could purchase later after I got my backstage card.  I decided to get mostly things that were offered at 50% off.  The other items were going to be the same price whether I purchased them during the Pro Road Show or if I bought them online.  It was my first time ever being around that many MUFE products.  There are only a few MUFE boutiques in the U.S. so it was a great opportunity to get a chance to see all that MUFE had to offer and be able to play with the products.  Even Sephora doesn't carry the entire line of products.  Whatever was featured at 50% off was available to take home during the Pro Road Show.  The other items would be mailed to us.  The downside was that the featured items sold quickly so some of them had to be shipped.

Overall, this was a phenomenal event.  It was well planned and put together.  I will be eternally grateful to MUFE for providing such an A-class tour that was absolutely free.  All of the Pro Road Shows are being held at the posh W Hotels.  Oh and in case you weren't familiar with James Vincent and Michael DeVellis, they are both world renown celebrity make-up artists and educators.  Michael DeVellis started The Powder Group, which is a professional organization for freelance artists/stylists.  Both of these men helped launch what was then a very small and new cosmetic company called M.A.C.  Michael DeVellis actually started the M.A.C. Pro program, which was the 1st of it's kind at that point.    Even though both Michael DeVellis and James Vincent are at the forefront of the beauty industry, they are very humble and eager to meet all of the up and coming make up artists.  They take time to answer questions and are genuine in their desire to want to help others reach their career goals. You should google them, their very inspirational.

Products I like for Freelance jobs

People often ask what products I prefer/recommend using on my clients.  Here's a mini set up I used for an expecting mom for her Baby Shower on 4/30/11.

I always prep the skin and lips before applying make up so I use M.A.C. Prep and Prime Skin and M.A.C Lip Conditioner w/Lavender (l/e).  This is a constant.   I keep M.A.C. Fix+ and M.A.C. Strobe liquid, M.A.C. Line filler, M.A.C. Refined Skin Zone (awesome for controlling oiliness and minimizing the appearance of pores), M.A.C. Prep and Prime Transparent Finishing powder (can be used before and after make up), handy as well.  Of course alcolhol, hand sanitizer, and disposables (sponges, lip wands, mascara wands, tissues, etc) are mandatory in order to be as sanitary as possible.  Also I keep hair clips with me just in case I need to clip my clients hair back.

As far as make up products, it varies depending on the look that's requested.  Generally for the face, I will use M.A.C. MSF Natural,  Black Opal Foundation Sticks, Coastal Scents Camouflage Concealer Palette, M.A.C. Prolongwear foundation/concealer, M.A.C. Studio Fix Fluid Foundation.  For the cheeks, M.A.C. Mineralized Blushes in Warm Soul and Love Joy are my absolute favorites.  These colors are beautiful on just about everybody.  If I have a client is has beautiful Deep Dark skin, then I'll use Clinique's Spiced Wine Blush.  To contour/highlight the face, some of my favorites are Clinique Aglow blush, M.A.C. Vanilla/Naked pigments, M.A.C. Cream Color Bases, Cover Girl Queen Collection Bronzers, M.A.C. Blunt Blush and M.A.C. MSFs.  HD powder works wonders to smooth the skin and add a more natural effect.  I alternate between Elf and MUFE.

On the lips, it just depends.  My favorites are M.A.C. Viva Glam V and Viva Glam VI both the lipsticks and lipglasses.  The liners will just depend on the look.  The ones I use most often are M.A.C. Subculture, Whirl, Mahogany, Currant.  Also Clinique Chocolate Chip, Bon Bon, and Black Amber.

For the eyes, I use a variety of eye shadows from different brands.  My favorites include, Coastal Scents, M.A.C.,  and Urban Decay. I typically start off with a M.A.C. Paint Pot.  Eyeliners I use the most would be Clinique Egyptian, Urban Decay Zero, M.A.C. Prunella and M.A.C. Fluidlines (colors vary) for the top.  I like to prime the lashes before applying mascara with Dior primer and then I follow this with Loreal Voluminous Waterproof (if waterproof mascara is requested) or Dior Blackout.