Assistant Celina - hey, that's me!

Let's start off today's post with a random quote:

“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”
― Confucius

Oh my gosh is that true or WHAT?

I'll give you a hint, it's TRUE.

About a week ago I had a nice little interview at my former school, John Casablancas and lucky lucky (and  hard-working, i'll add) me, was hired on as a Make-Up Instructor's Assistant.

Yaaaaaaaaaaaay!

And you know what the even better part is. The instructor I'm working for is so far beyond talented I swear she's not a real human being! I was fortunate enough to study under her more than amazing skills, and now I get to be her little slave Assistant! Haha. Okay but seriously, I am stoked!

Her name is Tracy Lai make-up artist extrodinaire! She loves blood and gore & specializes in the Special Effects department. She also has 3 of the cutest ferrets in the world, and would drink caramel frappuccinos every day for the rest of her life if she could.

Check out all the work shes done by clicking here! Find her on facebook here! 

Stalk her in real life, by google maping her house here! LOL tricked you!

Tracy is probably the most fun person I have ever had the pleasure of working with and I love that I am constantly learning whenever I am around her.

I am also so so so proud and amazed by her and the fact that she has just created her own line of motion picture prosthetic pieces! This is huge! You can find her line called TLFX for sale at the SFX/Make-Up store in Vancouver called Holly North. What a huge accomplishment!! I'm telling you, this gal has got things going for her! She is so dedicated to her craft, a wonderful teacher, a hilarious friend, and an even better "boss". 

So far I've assisted her twice, and we life-casted faces for her class's old-aging assignment.

I talked about it in a previous blog post when I did it for school. Life Casting is when you make an impression of someone (any part of their body) to make a customized prosthetic piece for that person/actor/model. It's a very cool process involving Alginate to form the shape and make an extremely accurate negative of whatever you are casting, then when you make a mould of that impression, you can sculpt your prosthetic piece so it fits that part of the body perfectly.

I'm more than excited for my new little part-time assisting job that it doesn't even phase me to have to take the dirty skytrain some days for work. But in all honestly, I couldn't think of a better person than Tracy to help and encourage me to become the make-up artist that I want to be.

You never stop learning in this industry!

xox Celina

Future Vision 2012

Yesterday I was lucky enough to participate in the Hair Show Future Vision 2012 hosted by Wella, Sebastian and Nioxin in Vancouver! I am so fortunate to know the very creative Katie Sullivan, who was the Key Make-Up Artist behind the scenes of this amazing production.

Katie taught me how to use an airbrush as a make-up tool at John Casablancas, and I've had the pleasure of working with her on her body painting photoshoot that we did last summer. So I was more than happy to say YES when she asked me to be a Make-Up Artist for this show!

Being on the make-up team for Trend Vision was a lot of fun! A fast paced environment with creativity just bursting out of every artist back stage. I got to see some really fabulous hair styles and see all of the up coming trends for hair for 2012.

The show was held at Venue on Granville in Vancouver which was a perfect location for the show. They had professional hair stylists "performing" and showing off their talents right in front of their audience and explaining how they were styling as they did it. It was a great! I've never been to a hair show before, so it was quite fun to watch and be able to be apart of.

Lots of models! Lots of hair styles! So much hairspray!

Here are some photos that Katie took backstage/during the show!

backstage madness

The very talented Phillip Ferreira

ROXY look, make-up by Katie!

 Amazing hair superstar stylist Anthony Crossfield

a look at the 2012 trends

Phillip Ferreira styling Elizabeth's hair.. make-up by ME

Our Make-Up team!!

Brittany,  Rebecca, Katie, and Me! 

xox Celina

Introducing "Cee-Jaze" Hair Jewelry!

“Cee-Jaze”
made by hands of the Too Dolly Make-Up Artist

Your hair will be giddy with this collection of unique hair jewelry. Warning: You will get attention and look far too fabulous to be an Average-Josie. 

All Cee-Jaze are nail-polished-hand-made with great precision and hopes the owner will take good care & wear their Cee-Jaze in a flirty, fun, or creative manner.

All Cee-Jaze are made with only the finest feeling feathers and the cutest of gems. Some Cee-Jaze are made with genuine leather, and others with cute fabric prints.

Feathered Cee-Jaze … $15

Flowered Cee-Jaze … $15

*prices subject to change*

Contact me if you are interested!

  

 Front & Back in detail

xox Celina

Bully in the Workplace

Time for a little story about being bullied in the workplace...

Some of you may have known that I was employed as a Beauty Expert at a certain Shoppers Drug Mart that shall remain nameless (unless you know me personally, then you know exactly which one…)

In October, some of you Too Dolly readers may remember a Post that I put up about my lovely manager resigning from her position. What I never mentioned was the manager that just happened to take over...

Slowly my shifts were being taken off of the schedule and I was cut down to one or two, 5 hour night time shifts a week. (Wow, can you pay your bills off a 10 hour work week?) 

Having very little income from these shortened shifts, I started searching for secondary means of employment. Other Beauty Experts in that Boutique work for other cosmetic company’s as make-up artists and demos, so I applied to work for Clarins. But Shoppers didn’t approve that a couple days a month I wouldn’t be fully available… even though I’m part-time…

My manager had me come into the store to have a meeting. During this meeting she told me I don’t meet the needs of the business, and if I could not be flexible and open up my availability to every day of the week, but remain a part-time employee; she would no longer have any shifts to offer me. She stated she would have never hired me given my availability. She said she would have had this conversation with me in November when she was hired, but decided to be nice enough to let me get through Christmas. She gave me a day or two to decide if I wanted to make Shoppers Drug Mart my number one priority, and possibly quit my new Clarins job.

After much consideration, I decided I could offer the Beauty Boutique full time availability with the exception of some dates I have already booked off (for Clarins, upcoming weddings etc) and I would work around both schedules. We arranged this, and I was given my full February 2012 schedule.

One week later, I walked into Shoppers to start my evening shift and there stood my Manager who took me into the office and informed me that they have come to the decision that I no longer fit in with this company. I asked why, and she repeated the same sentence back to me, then handed me a letter from the owner discussing my termination was effective immediately. Oh, and the cherry on top? I was ESCORTED out of the building. Maybe so I didn’t knock every bottle of perfume off the shelves on my way out…

In conclusion, Shoppers gave me the decision of making Shoppers my number one priority. I gave my full availability and she took my decision away from me and let me go with no warning. I have never had a problem “fitting in” in a work place. My record of employment states I have all positive customer service feedback. I have never had a warning, I have never been written-up, I have never had a bad performance review. I have been an employee for 1 full year and my business self meets all the job requirements… It is my general self that New Management disliked. And now, she has denied me my Gratis of products I ordered based on my own sales and productivity. Apparently I’m not entitled to my own Christmas bonus…

Ladies and Gentleman, this management is what I like to call POISON IN THE WORKPLACE. You know what’s worse? I sent the Cosmetics Coordinator, the District Manager, and the Human Resource Specialist of this Shoppers location all an email of concern about the way I was treated and you know what they said?... NOTHING. That’s right. Never got a response!

Please note: Some Shoppers Drugs Marts are independently owned and some are unionized. But I know for a fact, I am not the only employee who has been wrongfully dismissed from this independently owned location.

I feel bullied out of a job. It’s sad when you are alone in this situation, and not even higher authority cares enough to write you back. But, there an upside to this work place abuse. I’m no longer apart of it! I’ve learned it’s very unhealthy to have anxiety or stress about going to work. I can taste my sweet beginning of enjoying life and being a respected employee elsewhere.

If you have been bullied out of a job, or are dealing with being bullied at work - this is not okay. Try and find someone who will listen so you can solve your problem, or even leave me a comment! It's not okay for the kid in the hallway to push you up against your locker and take your lunch money, so why is it okay for your boss to shut down all of your concerns and take your shifts away?

xox Celina