So this past January marks my 10th year of my career as a professional makeup artist and hairstylist! Where did time go?! I remember being stuck in a cubical and being miserable (don’t get me wrong, there are some amazing 9-to-5 jobs out there, but it just wasn’t for me), and saying to myself “this job is giving me stability but I’m so miserable I would rather take a risk and do what makes me happy, even if it might mean unstable.” Leaving the job and taking the risk to pursue my passion was one of the best decisions I made in my life. Of course it wasn’t always a smooth ride but looking back, I’m truly grateful for all these wonderful people I met and worked with along the way and I feel really, really blessed by what God has done. Some amazing opportunities literately fell on my laps and God made it pretty obvious that it was Him that made it happen. WON’T HE DOOOO IT!!

Anyway, on this anniversary I figured I will share a post of all the magazine covers I was blessed to work on. The cover of Justine Magazine with Amandla Stenberg was shot almost 10 years ago, just after the movie the Hunger Games (in which she played Rue) came out and she was only like 12 years old!! She and her parents were so sweet and I always have this image of her as a sweet kid but now I see her all grown up doing big things all over the place! 

For the cover of noi.se magazine, the photographer wanted the model to look kinda dirty with a style, so I used cream-based color from Makeup-Up Forever palette to create that “dirty” look and it was so much fun! Even got to style his beard all funky.

I hope you enjoy and STAY BLESSED!:) If you’re miserable with your job, I pray for boldness, courage and God’s favor over you to go and take the risk and pursue your dream!

xoxo

Beautiful inside and out! She opted for soft smoky eye makeup and she was glowing with it! Makeup and hair by yours truly.

As you can see from her lovely smile, Kristal was such a joy and natural beauty to work with! I created a natural makeup look with subtle accentuation of her beautiful features, and gave her a loose low side bun hairstyle, as she wanted a effortless look. LOVE that not only did she go for that aesthetic that compliments her so well but also for the nonconventional dress!! I also got to do makeup for some of her bridesmaids who were also lovely and opted for natural look. Also - the venue!! How gorgeous is that! 

Photography by Jen Chanyi (www.jenchanyi)

Floral Design by La Catrina (www.lacatrinanyc.com)

Bridal Gown by Danny Nguyen (www.latelierwedding.com)

Jacq is truly awesome! Just look at her. The style that she went for, her including her beloved doggy, and the fact that she’s beautiful inside and out, just sums it up. I had a pleasure to do her makeup and hair at The Carlyle, A Roosevelt Hotel, and these pictures turned out awesome! She wanted to go for a vintage hairstyle and makeup with smoky eyes and deep red lipstick, so there it was! And she rocked it so well! She also is a founder of Love In Theory, which specializes in non traditional and editorial style wedding/portrait photography, and she photographs in such a way that it’s like a fairy tale! These pictures from her wedding were taken by her partner in crime, Gui from Love In Theory also!<3 Their website is www.loveintheory.com

I’m so excited to tell you that I was blessed with an opportunity to do makeup for a fashion editorial story for Vogue Latinoamerica (www.vogue.mx) a few weeks ago and now they are out!! God is good!! The team I worked with consisted of truly lovely, beautiful and talented ladies! We went around Lower East Side and got some cool shots! 

Photographer: Theresa Balderas, Stylist: Eugenia Gamero, Fashion Assistants: Paula Sanchis Meseguer & Victoria Mora-Purroy, Model: Caitlin Grace, Hairstylist: Misa Okada, Skin Prep & Makeup Artist: Yours Truly, Cherry Le:) 

Just about a month a half ago, I was in Tokyo and had a chance to work with Jus Vun, a Tokyo-based photographer from Australia, and he and the model were really lovely to work with! Really like the theme for the shoot too:) Can’t wait to go back and shoot some more! 

Btw, the food in Japan was out of this world! I really can’t believe I took all that for granted growing up! Just eat their domestic beef and you will just know the difference right away! AND cheese soufflé cake sold at 7 ELEVEN there (yes, 7 ELEVEN!!) was one of the best things I’ve had in a while!! 

I can’t forget to mention that they seriously have a wide variety of FABULOUS skin care products and cosmetic products!! Some of them are super adorably packaged, but more than anything your skin would thank you for the quality of their skin care products!! Their face masks, hydrating skin toner etc. - just awesome and incomparable. I saw sooo many foreigners going IN buying a bunch of these skin care products (and also Japanese medicines! Cus they are the best!:)), and that says a lot. 

I cannot wait to let my clients try these fabulous goodies!!!

This year I had a pleasure of doing makeup and hair at Marlton Hotel for super lovely Sarah. She and her husband flew in from Canada to get married in NY on a perfect day for a wedding! She wanted some volume in lashes and coraly pink blush to pop, so there she had it! I also applied champagne gold on her lids that look lovely in the pictures:) She, being a natural beauty, didn’t need much - just a little bit of accentuation here and there, and she ended up beautifully captured in the pictures, didn’t she?!:) I also love the style of the photographers with these vivid colors in the pictures! You don’t see this kind of style too often. They actually flew those photographers couple from Canada as well and I can see why! You can see their work at www.topherandrae.com.   

Jane is super adorable! This Thai beauty made it a breeze for me to work with (but then again, I’ve really been blessed with nice brides/clients all the time!)! 

She wanted golden soft smokey eyes, lashes (but not too dramatic) and peachey nudy lip color so there it was! 

Love the glow on her olive skin and how she looks in the curve-hugging dress! 

Photographer was Vinny D and you can view more images (including me making a weird face while doing her makeup.haha) on his blog at: http://www.vinnydphotographyblog.com/2014_10_01_archive.html

I had a pleasure of working with sweet and lovely Janice for her engagement shoot. She wanted a natural look but enough makeup to accentuate her features that would show in the picture, so I kept it subtle with a hint of pinky coral color on her cheeks and a little bit of lashes. She has a bubbly personality and made it really easy for me to work with! I really feel blessed with all these lovely clients to work with:) 

Photographer for this shoot is Cly Chung and you can view more images on his blog at http://www.clybychung.com/blog/2014/11/20/fall-engagement-shoot-at-dumbo?rq=Janice

One of very lovely brides that I worked with had her wedding last summer, and she is so bad ass that she decided to go against the norm and rock a black wedding dress and wear gold glitter on her eyes and bold red lipstick during the day! How fun!! I love how the gold-glittered-eyes and red lipstick look in the picture! Gloria has not just nice personality but also nice skin so I kept foundation relatively light, enough to let her cute freckles show, and she definitely looked lovely both in person and in pictures taken in Central Park! The wedding was very intimate and was held at the Millesime restaurant inside the Carlton Hotel (loved the venue and location by the way!). As if it wasn’t bad ass enough, they came up with custom made cake toppers that look like their avatars in this video game that they play! Aren’t those awesome?! 

It actually got published on theKnot.com! And you can view the full article here:

https://www.theknot.com/real-weddings/an-eclectic-intimate-wedding-at-millesime-in-the-carlton-hotel-in-new-york-city-album 

Photography by Sasha Chou (http://sashachouphoto.blogspot.com)