I was interviewed by blogger and freelance writer extraordinaire, Cheryl Santamaria, for a feature article on Women on Business. The article details the importance of using the Web as a tool for advertisting, both for budding entrepreneurs and established companies.

Working as a freelancer in make-up, I realize that there's so much that I've learned along the way just by doing (rather than picking up from the classroom) especially on the business side. In the early days, when I first attempted to market myself to a large audience, aside from word of mouth, the Internet was my best advertising friend. I used livejournal, a free web-based journal to help me document different make-up looks I did on myself and on friends. Nowadays, if you're an aspiring make-up artist, there are many more user-friendly resources available to you on the Web. Sites like Blogger (where this blog is hosted), Yola and Dripbook allow you to build your own blog/site with little to zero programming knowledge required. Social media-based sites like Twitter and Facebook allow you to send instant updates to those on your subscriber/friend list and further spread the word online. The best part about all these sites mentioned is that the basic layouts are free of charge to use!

So, if you're just starting out and looking for your best promotion tool, take good quality photos to document your make-up work. Print out a few business cards (you don't have to spend a lot of money, and can do this on your home computer), send out a mass email to your contact list, post it to your Facebook status or update your Twitter. Let your web presence be known and essentially you can initiate your own 'e-word of mouth'.

Playing With Colour
Make-up artists usually don't get the opportunity to use colours outside the traditional palette of neutrals for bridal make-up, but the lovely bride-to-be, Jenny, had a style all her own! From our initial bridal make-up trial, I could tell Jenny's look would be as outgoing and fun as her personality.

Jenny wanted to incorporate turquoise eyeshadow into her overall look, which makes for a make-up artist's dream - playing with colour! But of course, shades of blue are always tricky colours to work with (yes, think visions of your mom's blue eyeshadow). To keep her bridal make-up from looking 'dated', subtlety was key - especially since we were playing with such a bold colour!

Get the Look
We focused on a subtle blend of aqua eyeliner on the bottom lashline, which meant the use of waterproof make-up products was imperative. To get the look, I used Clarins Waterproof Eye Pencil in Aqua along the outer corner of the bottom lashline as a base. To reinforce the line and keep the look long-lasting, I layered FACE atelier's Transforming Gel with a turquoise eyeshadow atop of it. The result was a bright pop of blue that highlighted Jenny's gorgeous features. Check out artistrhi.com for more from Jenny's Big Day.

Congrats, Jenny! Thank you for letting me be part of your beautiful Big Day!

Special thanks to the wonderfully talented photographer, Spencer Fu, the creative eye behind the pics of Jenny's wedding. Be sure to check out his site for more!

Photos from a wedding in July with the beautiful Rose are now up on artistrhi.com! It's funny how things balance out, as I had one wedding in July, but now 11 in August (#10 and #11 are up tomorrow!) It's been a whirlwind of a month, but I'm happy to be back on the blogging tip with all the new material!

Vegas was amazing: my gorgeous pal (and bride-to-be) Michelle had a beautiful wedding day against a styling backdrop of the Wynn and Caesar's Palace (no other way to do it...it's Vegas, baby!). I'll be sure to post these pics as soon as I can, but there's about 8 weddings in between to show off until then. :)

Thank you to all my amazing August brides (and bridal parties!)! For putting up with the early call times, the laughs and the smiles...you guys rock!

Come check out The Human Body in its Natural Habitat exhibit which will feature some of Nadia's photography magic (along with make-up work by yours truly!). You'll recognize the images from the set we collaborated on here.

The exhibit will take place on August 24, 2009 from 6PM to 10PM at the MaRS Discovery District (located at 101 College St. in Toronto). Come by to support local talent and of course say hi!!!

Also, my apologies for the lack of updates this week. It's the busiest time yet this year with five weddings in six days, including Michelle's nuptials in Vegas!! With all this good stuff going on, there's much to blog about....so expect a slew of updates in about a week's time when I get back! :)

Have a great weekend everyone!

This 'crushed' shoot is probably one of my most favourite shoots to date! Thanks to a stellar team of Nads and Giselle for their amazing and hard work. I had the rough ideas of adding these looks to my book, but Nads truly helped this concept come to life, and kicked it up a notch with styling et al. Thanks, Nads :)

Check out the set on artistrhi.com and of course...let me know what you think!

See more of the talented Miss Cheema here.