Makeup Trends Spring/Summer 2013

Like most trends, everything comes full circle- and beauty trends are no exception. As usual, bare skin and minimal makeup is always one of the hot beauty trends hitting the runway regardless of the season. While the minimal makeup trend held true to several designers on the runway this Spring/Summer, we have also seen vivid crimson hues on lips, lightly smudged eyeliner paired with bold brows and major lashes.




Rochas

Your makeup collection is defiantly in store for a colorful revamp this summer with Makeup Forever launching their best products in this spring's hottest color, Cobalt!

While maintaining an average everyday makeup look try adding a pop of cobalt into you eye makeup routine. A simple and easy technique, is just to smudge an eyeliner or eye shadow right under your bottom lashes. Using this technique will not only keep you in stlye but also bring extra attention to your eyes!




Moschino



Stella McCarthy

24

Twenty three was truly the hardest year of my life. Everything was flipped upside down and ripped inside out. I intend to make 24 an exceptionally better year.
Since I was born a "hurricane baby" I usually can't make any permanent plans to celebrate my birthday...
Of course on the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Isaac decided to slam into our city.
Just my luck.
This time I didn't evacuate. I was actually luckier then majority of NOLA, I never lost power. However, after reading every book on my nook, watching way to much Netflix, and reading Reddit for countless hours I realized this is a perfect opportunity for a road trip adventure.

Satigold is hands down one of my favorite musicians. I have always admired her unique style in music. Turned out that Santigold was headlining the One Music Festival in ATL. I had never been to ATL and was feeling risky.

In less then an hour I had my suitcase packed, 2 pillows, and comforter shoved in the back of my car. I had no plans on where I would stay that night or how long I was going to stay but I GTFO of town.

My backseat, road snacks, map, and Ryan giving me the nervous "I dont think this is a good idea" talk.


I told mom and dad I was leaving bought some pepper spray and hopped on the highway.

In hopes to get a great couchsurfing host in ATL I sent out a mass request and quite a few personal ones as well.
After driving 6 hours and still no responses I started to get nervous and then forwarded my post on to the ATL Reddit in desperation. I didn't necessarily think I was going to get a host that evening but I was hoping for at least one for the weekend. I get short notice requests constantly so I assumed it was pretty normal.

I found Norcross hostel around 4:30am in ATL. The very unhelpful gentlemen at the front desk refused to give me the rate online and would only give me his normal nightly rate. Since I am a so stubborn I swore to him I would find a way to book online and get that price.
I was completely unsuccessful..
I told myself I was a pansy and I could sleep in my car no big deal. I have been reading about this guy Nick Kleckner who is Walking Across America. Shit, if he can rough it out I can to...

By 6:30am, I had clearly underestimated how high maintenance I am...
Yes, I am a pansy. I marched my ashamed ass back into the Hostel and the prick gave me the "I knew you'd be back look" and a room key.
This place truly earned the name "Roach Motel." I kept seeing the same prostitutes and drug dealer on my floor each day. We gave each other the nod in passing. Although I didn't get killed the roach laying next to my bed had a violent death from my shoe...

The next day I discovered the "spaghetti" intersections of ATL. I have never gotten lost so many times in my life.
Random fun fact: Atlanta has 56 "Peachtree" streets.
What the hell ATL?!

At this point, I still didn't have any hosts from couch surfing and nothing from Reddit I started to get fairly upset at the Redditor community in ATL and wrote them off. Yet again, I was the stupid one. I completely gave up on ATL Reddit and didn't check my messages... Lo and behold I had 6 extremely friendly responses that I checked on my way home...
ATL Redditors I sincerely apologize for cursing you.

Friday night I went to an event downtown called The Sketchbook Project.

The Sketchbook Project explained in 96 seconds from Art House Co-op on Vimeo.

Instead of me explaining it, watch the video. It was a really cool experience.

I bought my sketchbook to participate and read 5 or so books while I was there. I was blown away by some of the art in these books.


Friday night, I went to The Whole World Improve Theatre. I've always been into improv shows. Although it was funny, Nola's improv show "Brown" kicks this shows ass.
I was told to check out Creasent Street to party. Although, it was not my scene I got VIP to the main club "Opera" which was 3 floors and very beautiful. I met some very interesting people and danced my butt off.

4am on my bday I sat in waffle house with a hobo that was convinced he was a Prophet. I decided 2 hours of him explaining religious and governmental conspiracies was enough and it was time to make my escape!

Saturday, my actual birthday, I drove to Canton to go Paragliding.

600ft in the air. I had the time of my life.

Right after paragliding I drove straight to the One Music Festival at Mascarade in ATL. Good food, good drinks, Great music.

Santigold tore up the stage. That show hits my top five favorite live performances.
Not only was she a great performer her dancers were outstanding.
Their outfits were wacky and they stay completely stone-faced the entire show. I have never seen a show where the dancer are just as good as the artist.




I headed to East Atlanta Village for the rest of the evening. Had dinner at Flat Iron which wasn't that exciting and then ended up at a gay bar. I had no clue is was a gay bar when I walked in but then I watched the drag show which was really awesome!

Had a blast in ATL, the people there are really cool, creative and just have a "swag" about. Thanks for showing me a good time ATL!

I visited my Grammy in Fairhope, AL last night and she made me a yummy birthday cake!

My last stop was to watch the sunset in Biolxi, MS.

Back to the grid in the city.
I saw this on Reddit New Orleans.

Someone posted this outside UNO campus...
I LOL-ed

Sacramento girls and their "chonies"

Last Friday night after working a double I picked up my two Couch surfers, Stephanie and Jen.
These two brave girls are back packing across America with a 30 day bus pass.
I called Stephanie to figure out where to pick these two up. The first words out of her mouth were "Hey girlfriend! Were at Bourbon Cowboy having the time of our lives." I immediately rolled my eye and giggled at their ignorance to fun in New Orleans.

As I walked down Toulouse St. I could start to see this little bitty figure of a girl waving her hands in the air with a huge backpack weighing her down.

A few seconds later Jen pops up with these big beautiful eyes an a septum piercing.
First thoughts going through my head, these two chicks are to pretty to be backpacking alone."
I immediately went into soccer mom save mode and led the way to the first stop where I take everyone for a glorious peanut butter burger, Yo MaMas.

We all indulged in the heavenly goodness of the PB burger while chatting and drinking local beer.

The next morning we all slept in to prepare for hitting the town that evening.
The girls ran errands with me and helped me prepare for makeup jobs. Afterwards the girls hung out with my dad and autistic brother Chris. Turns out the two awesome ladies actually work with autistic children for a living. They were great with Chris. We actually were able to get Chris to eat which is like pulling teeth. It was great to be able to communicate with people who understand the autism spectrum.

That evening I dolled the girls up for a crazy night in Nola!

The first stop was the Renden inn, a complete shit hole bar but has the best improv comedy show around called Brown.
The comedy show was great! All 3 of us participated in some of the acts. After the show we learned there was a pool in the backyard of the bar. Naturally, we all stripped down to our chonies and jumped in.
The look on the cooks face was priceless!

After the swim it was time to move on to Frenchmen St.
I took the girls to Blue Nile and we danced until we were all drenched in sweat.

After dancing it was time for some Cafe Nigril tacos.
These things were so spicy I had to get milk from the bar. Mind you, I don't eat spicy food...

We ended the night with dancing in the street to Elle Golding and Stephanie teaching me new hula hoop tricks.
I can barely even keep the damn hoop up but I'm learning!

While trying to show Jen and Steph how Poi dancing works even though I can barely do it myself. Jen taught me so many interesting things about the Indian Culture. Jen had the most interesting fun facts about Indian weddings, clothes, food and culture. I learned so much and found it absolutely fascinating.

She even gave me a Henna tattoo me!

The next day we slept in,ran errands/makeup jobs, and had a chill day.

That night we just had a girls night. We shared stories about love laughing and heartbreak while painting our nails and doing henna tattoos.
A much needed girls night with complete strangers! ha!

Monday was a huge day for me. This was my first time teaching a makeup class not for a company. I was on the verge of an anxiety attack all day.Luckily the girls kept me calm. We had coffee from the infamous PJs, my favorite and prepared for the class. Although the class didn't have the turn out I expected I did better then expected. I never thought I would be able to talk to 2 hours straight.

After the class a few of the students, friends, models, and shop owner sat on the porch and just passed around the extra bottles of wine. Chatting and gossip soon turned into lessons on bounce dancing! It was a blasty blast!

After the cops rolled by and told us we had to keep it down... we moved the dance party inside.

Dance Party.


I returned to work the following day while the girls figured out what city to visit next. I came home to a clean apartment which made my day :) They cleaned for me!

That Wednesday I took the girls to the bus station and we said our goodbyes.
Watching two of the coolest chicks I've ever met leave sucked.
They just don't make people like that anymore. I have never met people who appreciated life as much as these two.

Another successful couch surfing experience.

"What did you do this weekend Lauren? I Lived"

I believe you meet people for a reason.

Last week I decided to join Couchsurfing.com
Next year I plan on taking a solo road trip across the south. I want to make a kind of video documentary of my trip. I want to interview all the people I meet and video all the experiences I have. I'm considering meeting new people and going through this experience by couch surfing.

I decided that I needed to get some experience so I hosted my own couch. This past weekend I hosted to a young guy named Jazon.

This past weekend was one of the best of my life. I will never forget my experiences with the amazing Jazon.

I met Jazon late Saturday evening at "Yo mamas' in the french quarter. I explained to him that you haven't lived until you've had a peanut butter burger from there. He defiantly agreed after indulging in its deliciousness.
Since we were close to Bourbon St. and because it is the "traditional New Orleans experience" I showed him the insanity. We both experienced our first hand grenade, a disgusting mixture of ever-clear, gin, rum, vodka, and pineapple. Although I have lived in New Orleans pretty much my entire life I had never experienced the legendary hand grenade and I wont again.

After 30 minutes of watching raunchy tourists doing things they will regret in the morning, I took Jazon to my favorite place in the world, Frenchman Street.

Frenchman Street is full of New Orleans brass bands, food and pure culture.

I took Jazon to hear his first brass band the "Pocket Aces Brass Band.' This was my first time hearing this particular brass band. Jazon and I were instantly mesmerized in their awesomeness.

I tried to teach Jazon the wobble aka the big girl backup, the bunny hop and traditional brass dancing. The wobble and bunny hop were a little challenging for him but we danced the night away.

The next morning I took Jazon to City Diner to have Crab Cake Benedict which in my humble opinion is the best around!

I asked Jazon what he wanted to do in his last night in New Orleans. He explained to me he wanted a repeat of last night.

We started the night off right at Monkey Hill Bar on Magazine St. Jazon needed to have his first bananas foster Martini. We hopped from Monkey Hill to The Howlin Wolf Den to see the Hot 8 Brass Band. We met an amazing group of guys from Arizona and a really cool chick from Ireland.

After indulging in Las Vegas bombs, lots of laughs and high fives it was time to hit the dance floor. Yet again, we danced the night away with complete strangers.

We hit up Budda Belly bar on Magazine St. for an Igor Burger before we headed home.
Although I did not enjoy the "Cajun Igor burger" Jazon did.

We talked all night sharing each others unique tastes in music and stories.
As we watched the sun come up we realized sleep was pointless.

We said our goodbyes. Jazon followed me to the interstate and I watched him in envy with a tear in my eye and my heart in my stomach.

A bittersweet ending to an outstanding weekend.

I showed up to work this morning in a sleepless coma.

"Lauren, what did you do this weekend?'
"I lived"

My journey to New York for The Makeup Show 2012

I left Nola at 5:45pm Saturday evening after working on a wedding for the lovely Emily Halphen that morning.

During my layover in ATL I ended up sitting right next to Michele Probst the founder of Menaji. We shared a glass a wine while waiting for a our flight. She was a doll. I hope her brand did well at the NYC show.

I made it to NYC around midnight. Learning to use the subway at midnight with a 40lbs suitcase was intense. Luckily a very kind lady sitting across from me on my flight shared a taxi with me to the train I needed to take.

This was my first ride. I loved it. Such a variety of people.

I walked majority of the way to my Hostel.

http://www.jazzhostels.com/blog/chelsea-highline-hotel/

I was skeptical approaching my Hostel because of the crazy bag lady outside the door yelling at me about how they didn't have color tv.

The Chelsea Highline Hostel was exactly what I paid for a very uncomfortable bed to sleep on, a clean shower and a locked door. My first two nights I roomed with a girl from New Zealand. She was a very sweet. She was hopping from state to state on her way back home.

The Hostel had no AC but it wasn't needed because the weather was in the 60-70s the whole time I stayed. Although attempting to put makeup on in a warm room was a little difficult. Lets just say my foundation oxidized a lot quicker.. haha

Sunday May 13th, the first day of The Makeup Show was insane. The first 3 hours were like fighting to get close to a stage at a concert. There was just a barrier of people everywhere. You could see everyone's pores at this point.

The first Seminar on my list to attend was Kit Focus: The Makeup Show Artists: James Vincent, Jon Hennessy, Orlando Santiago, Esterique Aidan

May I just say Orlando Santiago is one of the sexiest men alive...

This seminal was really inspirational. I learned about the greatness of Embryolisse Lait-creme. Outstanding product.

After spending my whole years saving in less then 45 minutes, I spent the rest of the day exploring the brands, sitting in on classes & seminars and meeting some great people.

I watched this look in progress all day. It was awesome!

Amazing Right?

Later that night I went to have diner at John Dory.

http://thejohndory.com/

I felt so ignorant to the food, I had no idea what anything was on the menu. I told the bartender to surprise me.

Well he certainly did, I ate octopus that night. It was...interesting.

Before I left for New york, I checked out ohmyrockness.com to see if there would be any cool shows in town. Just my luck Beats Antque was playing at the Brooklyn Bowl.

What a Show! I would recommend seeing them to anyone. I have never seen anything like it. Not only was the show great, the venue was a sight as well. Everything was carved cherry wood, split into a half bowling alley half music venue. Really cool place.

Right before I left, this chick at the bar insisted that she spray me with glitter. I noticed she was walking around with a bottle of Tarina Tarantino Shimmer dust. She was floored when I knew what it was. I explained to her I use to sell that useless bottle of glitter.

I cant remember her name for anything but she had a baby blue wig on down to her bum, a bikini top, belly chain and an obscene amount of glitter on. She was amazing!

Beats Antique has inspired me to learn how to belly dance.

I made it back to the Hostel around 2am. At that point I was so over wearing makeup. It felt great to get it all off!

Monday May 14th, I slept in and mentally prepared myself for the career fair that afternoon. I had lunch at Pastis.

http://www.pastisny.com/

The bartender was extremely friendly. However, the food was overpriced and tasteless...

I headed to The Makeup Show for round 2!

I had my heart set on seeing Ve Neil's Seminar.

Inside The Hunger Games – Ve Neill - Sponsored by Crown Brush

I got a spot right in front and asked a lot of questions!

She is such a pleasure to hear speak. She is extremely down to earth and just plain out cool.

Right after Ve, I ran up to the 5th floor for the career fair.

I stood in line with my hands shaking and my feet bopping up & down. I was so excited I could barely contain myself. The career fair was first come first serve. I got in the line with the first 40 people. They let about 20 in at a time to attack all the vendors tables.

My first stop was MAC, my interview went extremely well. She asked to setup a phone interview. I almost fell out of my chair with excitement. I'm crossing my fingers in hopes to actually get a call this week...

MUFE was my next stop, to be honest my head was still spinning from MAC I cant even remember how it went. It just went fast but good if I remember correctly.

I stood in line 35 minutes just to see Orlando Santiago...

It was so worth it. He gave me the best compliment on my portfolio ever. He told me " my only critique on your book is that its beautiful" I teared up a little.

After having my book torn to pieces by several other artists that weekend hearing him say that was just amazing.

I saw a few other vendors but nothing as exciting or promising.

The show was over for me. I walked the streets trying to figure out what to do on my last

night in NY.

A friend recommended I go down to the frying pan. A lightship doubled as a resturaunt and tourist attraction.

http://www.fryingpan.com/

Yet again, the food was over priced and tasteless. The beer was good...

For my last night in New York I wanted to go out and meet local New Yorkers. I went down to 9th Ave, which is apparently the place to go to party.

The first bar I walked into was the 9th Ave. Saloon. I quickly found out I was in a gay bar. That was fun. I was told I was considered one of them because I do makeup! I met some really great guys there and enjoyed myself!

I hopped around to a few more bars and great New Yorkers! Thank you guys for being so welcoming!

I flew out of NY that evening. On my last trip on the subway I saw "Kony 2012" painted on the the stairway.

The whole Kony 2012 experience is very interesting to me. I do not take sides on this movement, I've simply enjoyed watching people react to it.

I expected to see my hometown littered with Kony 2012 papers on "Cover the Night" April 20th. This is the first time actually seeing something that said Kony 2012 on 5/15/2012.

I made it home late last night. Nola & New York smell exactly the same, like urine.

I had an amazing trip. Thank you to all involved!