The latest e-session with photography-meister Claudia Hung is now up at artistrhi.com! This e-session was unique for a couple of reasons:

1. The awesome couple, Flora and Daniel, had booked Claudia all the way from Hong Kong (Miss Hung is worldwide, baby!) and
2. We improvised and did the make-up outdoors, in a parking lot using Claudia's hatchback trunk!

Congratulations Flora and Daniel - you guys look amazing and thank you both for being so gracious! Check out the pics to see more of the lovely couple!

In doing make-up, I get the opportunity to:
1). work with awesome people (whether it be clients, photographers, other artists) and
2). do what I love.

I love getting feedback - whether it be positive or negative - both sides of the coin are necessary to keep growing and improving. Occasionally (well, more often that I'd expect!), I'll receive a note that puts a smile on my face, motivates me, and really helps to remind me why I do what I do. It's easy to become engrossed in the 'work' aspect of pursuing a goal, especially when you assign every waking moment you have to it (success doesn't happen overnight after all!). You can get caught up in wanting more and more success and end up focusing too much on the larger end goal, while overlooking all the (seemingly) smaller accomplishments you achieve along the way. Yet, when you receive such gracious feedback from those you collaborate with and from those you have yet to meet, it's simply an amazing feeling to know that this thing you love to do can be of help and even inspiration to others.

This is what it's all about.

Thank you all for inspiring me and helping me make sense of my world!

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(speaking of inspiration...)

What inspires you? Tell me via email to rhia[at]artistrhi[dot]com (and either follow artistrhi on Twitter or become an artistrhi fan on Facebook), and you could win a full set of Gwen Stefani's Harajuku Lovers Fragrances. Please see here for further details.

Q: hi Rhia,

My lip gloss just won't stay put - it tends to bleed into the fine lines around my lips. Are there any tricks that make-up artists use to help make gloss last longer? What do you think of those super long lasting lip colours that have a colour on one end and a shiny lip seal on the other side? Are they worth a try? I love the look of gloss, but not an hour after I apply it! I hope you can help!

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A: Good question. You're right - gloss gives an instant glam and youthful look to the lips, but only of course, when it stays in place! Give these make-up artist tricks a shot to get your gloss on:

1. Apply concealer on the lips.
How to: Use a tiny bit of your matching skin tone concealer all over your lips and blend it slightly outwards just beyond the border of the lips. Smile as you apply it so the product is evenly blended into any fine lines.

What it does: Applying the concealer will give your gloss a base to hold onto and increase its longevity. Blending the concealer slightly outside the edge of the lipline will help act as a barrier to prevent the gloss from setting into those tiny lines around the mouth.

Bonus: Using a concealer will neutralize your own natural lip colour, and the colour of the product you're applying will appear more true to form.

2. Use a coloured lipliner.
How to: Use a lipliner that matches your shade of lip gloss or choose a neutral colour that blends well with your skin. Trace the lips with the liner and fill in towards the centre of the mouth. Use a q-tip or a lip brush to blend the lipliner well into the lips. Smile so you can distribute the product evenly across the lines of the lios.

What it does: Same principle applies here. A lipliner acts as a great base for a lip gloss (or even lipstick) to cling to. The gloss and colour on the lips will stay in place longer when re-inforced with lipliner as a base.

Bonus: The great thing about using a coloured lipliner is that when you eat, take a sip of coffee, the gloss may fade, but your lips will be left with some colour courtesy of the lipliner (versus gloss on its own).

3. Use a reverse lipliner.
How to: Use like an eraser. Trace around the areas of the mouth where you don't want to see colour. Smile to stretch out the fine lines and blend well using a clean brush or a q-tip. You can also achieve this with a tiny lip brush and your matching skin tone concealer.

What it does: It acts as a barrier and blocks colour from seeping into the fine lines around the mouth.

Bonus: Great for precision work and clean-up after applying your gloss. Can also be used to fill in the whole lip and double as a base for lipcolour. (Be sure to choose a creamy-textured lipliner - last thing you want to do is drag your lips and encourage those fine lines!)

Other things to consider:

• Sticky might be a better choice.
  Nobody likes when their hair gets caught in their sticky, glossed up lips. But if you're lip gloss just isn't staying put, you might have to opt for more of a sticky based (rather than a gel) formula to keep it in place.
  
  
• Super long-lasting 12+ hour formulas need touch-ups too!
  Unfortunately, I haven't had much success with these long-lasting lip formulas. I find that the formula has a tendency to dry up the lips, and that after about 4 hours, the product still looks like it needs a touch-up anyway! It's much more difficult to start over once this lip colour is applied, as the super long-lasting colour really does stain your lips. I prefer lush, glossy lips rather than flaking, glossy lips so I'm a definite pass on these so-called "long-lasting" products!
  
  
• Don't overdo the product.
  It's easy to overdo it on the gloss - who doesn't love more shine?! Yet, when it comes to darker coloured glosses (i.e. reds, maroons) either layer a base (such as lipliner, lipstick, concealer) underneath the gloss first or use 2 coats of gloss max. Darker colours, because they are darker, will stand out more if they seep into the fine lines or feather around the mouth. Using a base or limiting how many layers you apply will help counteract this.

Hope that helps! Gloss it up!

If you have a make-up related question you'd like to ask, shoot an email to me at rhia[at]artistrhi[dot]com. I look forward to hearing from you!

Check out artistrhi.com for pics of the super stunning bride, Christine! Claudia Hung was the master photographer behind these shots and all I have to say is...she did it again!! Amazing, amazing photos, but it always helps when we both had such an awesome subject to work with.

More to come from whirlwind wedding week!

For Toronto/GTA brides-to-be, check out the Claudia Hung Weddings & Artistrhi Make-up ongoing collaboration!

Check out artistrhi.com for wedding #2 of 5 during August's whirlwind wedding week! (Yes, I like my alliteration). This time around it was the wedding day of my beautiful friend, Colleen (you may recognize Colleen from being one of my make-over models). I've known Colleen since university and she's a genuine sweetheart. I remember her saying to me three years ago (pre-engagement) how I would be doing the make-up for her wedding...man, how time flies! It was a blast getting Colleen all dolled up, but as you could see with her before and after, my 'work' here was effortless!

Colleen - congratulations Mrs.! Thanks for letting me share in the Big Day (into night) and for your continuous support of artistrhi! xoxo

Related posts:
BEAUTY SHOT | Colleen
WEDDINGS