Short Film: Beauty Mark

Hello Lovies! Sorry for disappearing into the great abyss of the Make-Up world and not posting anything new in like 6 months. Shame on me.

About a year ago I posted about a short film I was the Hair Stylist and SFX Make-Up Artist for called "Beauty Mark". Last night was the Vancouver Premiere of "Beauty Mark" in the Shorts category Young Offenders in the Vancouver International Film Festival. It is beyond cool and also a little terrifying to see your work on the big screen (in hopes nothing is out of place and you sit there critizing every little thing you did to the actors) but I was very pleased with the final project and it truly is an amazing short film. 

"Beauty Mark" is about a young girl in the world of Beauty Pageants and the struggles she faces becoming a little rising star. The young acress Taya Clyne was such a joy to work with. This girl was incredibly talented, so polite and it was an absolute joy to work with her and put her hair up into big pageants updo's. She also won the Best Young Actor award at the Canadian Young Artist Film Festival for this role, and Beauty Mark took the prize for Best Film at that Festival as well. ( And my super talented costumes friend Kathy Moore won a Leo for the costumes design too!)

"Beauty Mark" has been traveling around hitting up so many film festivals this year winning awards all over the place, and I feel honored to have been a part of the crew (I even make a little "extras" cameo appearance as a pageant judge in the beginning of the film! Woo!) So if you get the chance to see it, jump on it! You can click here for the Facebook link or WATCH THE TRAILER if you'd like! 

Congratulations "Beauty Mark" Team!

xox Celina

Eyelash Extensions

Hello World

Yesterday I got eyelash extensions! Oooohhhhh a beauty-junkie must-try! I decided to get them as I am going on a trip to a hot destination and I figured it would be a great way to spoil myself and not have to worry about mascara running down my face on the beach. As my eyelashes are naturally blonde, I love wearing mascara. Plus as soon as I get a tan, my eyelashes and eyebrows become invisible.

I had a half set of synthetic eyelash extensions put on about two summers ago and I loved them for the convenience of getting ready on hot summer days. However, this time around, I got a full set of Misencil lashes that are made of silk. WHAT A DIFFERENCE! The first time, it kind of hurt to scrunch your eyes, they were very stiff and it took a couple days to get used to. Where as, the minute I opened my eyes after having the Miscencil ones applied, I couldn't even feel them. There was definitely a price difference between the two, but it's totally worth it to pay more.

No make-up, just lashes!!

I got my lashes done from Tania at UnikLashes, currently she's working from Xhale Beauty Lounge in Surrey. It took about an hour, very relaxing, painless & the results are beautiful! I'm super happy about not waking up in the morning looking like Macaulay Culkin anymore, well at least for the next 3-6 weeks.

xox Celina

"Calcutta Burning"

In the mood to remember what it feels like to be in warm weather?

Flashbacks from this photoshoot of all of us gals and guys getting scorched from the summer sun last year make me feel all warm inside and realize it was all totally worth being hot and bothered outside all day when you see the photos that our cool crew produced. The photos from the amazing photoshoot I was so lucky to be apart of have hit the internet, first in the online New York fashion Raine magazine, and now in a 16 photo feature on Ramp1885.

Here's some of the pics of the hot blondes I did the make-up on!

Pretty hot ladies, hey? 

Thanks for reading!

Credits:

1. Check out Ramp1885's Facebook Page
2. Photographer: Matthew Burditt
3. Styling: Kathi Moore, Danae Wilson, and Mita of Lotus Eye
4. Makeup: Candice D. Johnson & Me! (I did Deanna, Natalie and Helena)
5. Hair: Erum Sheik
6. Models:Deanna, Natalie Jean, Helena, Matt Chambers (from NumaModels); Jeevitha, Ashika, Kyra (independent)

xox Celina

Cinderella Bridal Show

Attention all Brides & Grooms to be, Wedding lovers of all kinds, 

and those who just love Love:

On Tuesday March 5 there is a FREE bridal show in Langley!

 

There will be 70 vendors (me being 1 of them!!) and 100 door prizes! Brides can enter to win a  $3000 honeymoon package, & one lucky bride will win $500 in cash.

And did I mention It's FREE ADMISSION for everyone!?

You'd be crazy not to come!

The Cinderella Bridal Show will be held at The Princess & The Pea B&B.

I will be hanging out with my friend Breanne of Breanne De Blieck Photography at a table handing out our business cards, chattin' with ladies & just smiling and stuff, so come say hi!

You can check out the show on Facebook too!

Spoiler alert, you can win this beautiful gift basket made up by & graciously donated by the one and only Belinda, the Cosmetic Manager of Shoppers Drug Mart Centrepoint. 

(I've got mad connections, yo)

Together we have created the "Let Me Be Your Something Blue" 

beauty basket that you could win valued at over $150!

See you on March 5th at The Cinderella Bridal Show!

xox Celina

Clarins Innovation 2013 pt 2

This is a continued post... so read the one before it to catch up!!

A couple days after I received my keys... a nice little package showed up on my doorstep!

Ohhhh I see there is a little lock on it... that must be why I need keys.

So I opened my locked up package and inside was...

Clarins brand spankin' new Double Serum! But what's that red band you ask? Well, that is the last key. It's a USB port that when you plug into your computer (or your mom's computer, haha)...

...you can learn all about the new serum! How fab is that?

(Click Here to watch a video about it!)

Really cool Clarins, reall cool. This was a very fun way to receive mail. I have to say, I am impressed. 

Oh, and by the way, the Double Serum is amazing! It has 2 chambers that when you pump it they evenly come out. One side is water based, the other side is oil based. There's 20 different plant extracts and over 42 active ingredients to help with all of your skins vital functions. That's why they need to seperate them into two chambers, because as soon as they mix together they are active. It feels like velvet on my face! Now all my anti-aging concerns will go away and I won't have noticable pores or anything & my face will remain like a baby's for the rest of my life thanks to Clarins. Haha!

xox Celina

Clarins Innovation 2013 pt 1

The other week I hopped off the Canada Line at Vancouver City Centre and walked across the street and into Hotel Georgia for a product launch party with Clarins cosmetics and skincare. There is a product they are unveiling in February 2013 that I was lucky to learn all about a few weeks early. I was treated to a very delicious green tea and kiwi martini, as well as some lovely little appetizers! I'd love to tell you all about this new product.. but seeing as not even the Clarins website, nor the Clarins Facebook pages are spilling the beans, I will only tell you this; I recieved this in the mail...

I'll keep you posted about my mail box!

P.S. getting snail mail - and packages in snail mail - is so much fun when you're not expecting it!

xox Celina

you can't deny, Sophia Danai

A couple months ago, I was just hanging out on my lap top with the tv playing in the background when a familiar song came on during a commercial for Appleton Rum. The song is called Higher Baby by this wonderfully talented singer & songwriting artist named Sophia Danai. The best part about hearing this familiar song on tv is that I know her personally.
It's moments like this, when I literally hear her success, that I am overwhelmed with how proud of her I am.

I guess I am just lucky that my older sister is cool and became friends with Sophia way back in high school. I remember Sophia coming over to my house with my sister after school for snacks and I always thought she was just so unique. This tall girl with crazy curly beautiful hair always laughing, and telling the best stories. I bonded with her over our love for acting and theatre.
As we both grew up, and beame more involved with our arts, thanks to knowing a "little bit" about make-up, I've been able to work with Sophia and doll her up for a photoshoot for her single "Money".



Over the past couple years, she dedicated herself to singing in coffee shops, making cute little videos online, writting songs, and all of her other efforts had paid off when Chin Injeti, a Grammy award-winning producer discovered her. 

Last week, as I got into my car and I turned on the radio to Sonic 104.9FM, I actually squealed to myself as I sat in the parking lot with my mouth wide open. My flashy little digital dashboard slowly scrolled across her name. I grabbed my phone and called her and left the most high pitched voicemail I've probably ever left on anyone's machine of how excited I was for her that she was singing on the radio for all of Vancouver and the Lower Mainland to hear. 

The song on the radio is a collaboration with Madchild called "Judgment Day", and you can listen to it here on Soundcloud. You can even follow Sophia on Twitter, and "like" her on Facebook. I am so proud of her & her beautiful voice that I would never keep her to myself and that is why I have to share her music with you. 

This gal is going to be big, so start your fan club now.

Congratulations, lady!

make-up & hair by me
everything else amazing by her!

xox Celina 

Craftin' in October

Zis is Hallowe'en!

It's my favorite time of year! And not just because I am thinking about Hallowe'en costumes & makeup ideas... but I also love Hallowe'en decorations! This year I've been a bit more creative and have used my imagination, plus the help of google images, cheap dollar store items & Walmart to make my Hallowe'en a little bit more spooky this year!

Here's what I've been up to...

Bloody shower curtain & a mask for Audrey

Homemade Hallowe'en Wreath!

Skeleton hand hair pins

(something creepy is holding up my hair!)

Vampumkin

Oh, and these monster feet to put over my shoes!

Get Crafty!

xox Celina

Clarins Red Carpet

Well, Summer is over and it's back to somewhat of a routine! 

Having about 4 jobs at all times, every week is different; but now that it's September I am back to working at Clarins. Last weekend was Clarins big Red Carpet make-up event in the Bay Vancouver. It also happened to fall on one of the same days as the Bay's Gala which means there were appetizers, bevys, tons of make-overs, gift with purchases & just when you thought it couldn't get better - 

there were also Drag Queens!

There's nothing more fun than men in drag. I just can't get over how dolled up these gals were. They even performed song and dance on the red carpet & helped ladies pick out lipstick! Amazing. Also featured in this picture is the incredible DJ Chelsea who I never want to work another day without. Seriously, she can spin and mix some pretty "phat beats" and I want her to play everywhere I go to work. Sometimes I give her make-up touch ups as payment for entertaining me. 

Next week I'll be working the Clarins Red Carpet at Murale in Oakridge mall. 

Feel free to come visit me and try out some Clarins products!

xox Celina

Multiple Beauty Marks

Ho hum, what a summer!

I am beginning to realize that even though I do not have one Full Time job, having multiple Part Time jobs is just as hard! I was actually a little bit worried going into summer that I wouldn't be able to find enough work,

but boy was I wrong!

One of my jobs includes dolling up multiple brides this summer on their wedding days. I have a very important bride coming up this Saturday - my beautiful cousin Katie is trusting me with her face! Haha! So off I travel to Edmonton for this joyous occassion. 

And with all the warm weather, It's sure to be a gorgeous day!

I was so excited to be apart of another film as well! A wonderful couple days of shooting went by so fast with some amazing people. I am beginning to love working on film sets because you meet and network with fabulous artists and the most creative of minds. (All of a sudden my friends lists on facebook goes up by about 15 as soon as shooting ends... so popular) It is hard work for sure, but it is so worth it by the end when you feel like you've accomplished something. Thanks to my new beautiful friend Kathi who is more than incredible at designing, creating, finding - insert multiple action words here - & styling Costumes, I would have never been involved with the short film Beauty Mark. I met Kathi on the set of Evil Feed and our energies clicked & she so kindly passed my name along to the Director. 

Kathi also has probably the coolest and hardest working assistant ever, Danae, who let me borrow her rhinestone glasses for this pic of Kathi & I:

Cool Cats

I am sure to see these gals again, as I have been told, film crews seem to travel together & always end up working on the same projects. I sure hope so.

In other news - I spent my life savings at IMATS Vancouver 2012 as a blue haired friend of mine talked me into buying almost everything, including Zombie shoes - I don't quite know how that happened, but I am not mad about it at all!! Good thing I do have multiple jobs cause this gal's gotta save up!

xox Celina

Movie Magic

I just realize I haven't put up a post in over a month! And because I love nothing more than talking about myself, all of you Too Dolly readers should know that I had stuff to say, I just had no time to say it!! 

I have been off in the world of film making movie magic for the last month. It is finally back to reality, thus time to blog!

My very first film production was a huge success. My film crew virginity has been popped and I now know what it's like to work 16 hour days. Thanks to my friend Tracy - who was the Key Make-Up Artist for this production - she put me on her team of make-up artists and hair stylists and I now have some film experience under my belt.

I'm not exactly sure what I am allowed to say about this film, as it is not completed yet, so if you'd like to see a little IMDB teaser you can click HERE! I am more than excited to see the final product! The cast and crew were all amazing people that I feel really privileged to have met and worked with all of them. A very funny coincidence was that I knew 3 people on the production from 3 very different times in my life. I was in acting school in Maple Ridge with one of the actors in the movie back when I was 16. I knew another actor in the film from when I was in UVIC for Theatre when I was 19. And I went to highschool with one of the camera guys who actually filmed me in a short film I did way back in the day! Small world we live in.

When shooting was done, we were treated to a night of fun & drinks where we could all see each other dolled up and not in our "work clothes". My friend Maura (who was the main beauty make-up artist for this production) let me do her hair really funky. Only Maura could really pull this off, especially with her reverse fire dyed hair. She is super unique and I have to share how cool her head looked!!

Fancy Sh'mancy!

xox Celina

Apex Secondary School

Today I was invited to be a guest speaker for the Girl's Group at Apex Secondary School. My good friend Lesley did her teaching practicum at this school and asked if I would be interested in talking to the girls about make-up, and being a Make-Up Artist. I was excited to be able to talk to some young ladies and tell them about my experience and hopefully give them some great advice. My trusy sidekick Tracy came along for the adventure, and was able to help me in giving these girls a different perspective on Make-Up Artistry and all of it's many possibilities. 

The school does not have a budget for guest presenters, so a couple weeks ago I went around town asking for some small funding or donations to be able to give these girls a goody-bag to take home with them. I wanted to be able to provide knowledge, tips & tricks, something to look forward to, as well as something to help make each and every one of them feel special and beautiful. This wouldn't have been possible if it weren't for the wonderful manager of Superstore Langley, the fragrance manager at The Bay in Willowbrook Mall, and some contributions from my very loving Mother.

I think the "presentation" went extremely well. We all sat in a circle and had some great girl chat! We all had a chance to speak and ask questions and have some fun discussing our favorite make-up brands and which cleansers and moisturizers to use. Tracy and I were both a bit nervous, but after the ball was rolling it was easy-peasy and we all were comfortable jumping in and adding to the conversation.

I had a great time talking to the "youth of today" and what was so amazing was they made both Tracy and I these beautiful flower pots! Gorgeous! It's so bright and perfect for Spring (which is finally here!).

Thank you so much Girl's Group at Apex! If you are reading this, don't hesitiate to contact me about any further questions, advice, or my services ;)

xox Celina

Battle Royale &The Hunger Games

Oh, hi.

If you haven't been living under a rock (<-- foreshadowing to this post!), I'm sure you've heard all about the book series and movies The Hunger Games. I haven't read the books.. not sure if I will.. maybe eventually, but last night I saw the movie.

But before the Hunger Games...

Last week my boyfriend and I watched Battle Royale which has a similar concept of young kids going into a war against each other with limited weapons and survival equipment and the last person standing "wins". If you haven't seen Battle Royale and you are up for reading subtitles - as this movie is in Japanese, and if you are not squeemish when it comes to blood and gore, I highly recommend it. I thought it was brilliant! I also am pretty proud that I recognized one of the actresses, Chiaki Kuriyama, who also plays Gogo Yubari in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill; another amazing movie. Here's a fun fact. Tarantino loves the movie Battle Royale, and hired Chiaki because he saw her in it. Another fun fact is that over 450 gallons of fake blood were used on the two Kill Bill movies.

Wowza. Now that's a bloody good time!

Anyways, thanks for staying with me during my movie tangent. I've been reading that people are wondering if The Hunger Games are an "American version" of Battle Royale, so I'm glad I watched both of the movies. They have similarities for sure, but have very big differences as well. Completely different movie styles for one. Personally, I liked Battle Royale more, but I definitely enojyed The Hunger Games. 

Here's the thing though... I don't understand why the people in the movie who are watching the Games are dressed up like the Alice in Wonderland colourful corset wearing Victorian clowns? Am I missing something? I mean, I love costumes and I love to play dress-up (clearly) but I was so confused why everyone looked this way. Maybe it describes how it makes sense in the books. I get the whole, we are richer and we control your destiny aspect.. but it was confusing and sort of weird. If you don't know what I'm talking about, this is the actress Elizabeth Banks as her character Effie Trinket:

I mean, great  make-up for sure. The head of the Make-Up Department for Hunger Games is a woman named Ve Neill who is more than creative and talented. 

Some of you may recognize her as a judge on the SFX show Face Off.

(If you are crazy about those eyelashes, you'll be jealous to know that I own those. My boyfriend gave them to me for Christmas. They are made by a company called Paperself,

check them out for some unique lashes & other goodies).

Back to the make-up madness. I just felt like I was watching a huge add for MAC or something. Like everyone was in drag and it didn't make sense why. Elizabeth Banks said it took over 2 hours every day of shooting to achieve her look and she started at 4am. Hey Banks, ever realize that your make-up artists had to start their days earlier than you to apply it, and then end their days later than you to remove it? Just saying... I'm sure you had a comfy chair while you sat there and got all dolled up. 

That was a small rant.

In other news, the butterfly make-up done on Jennifer Lawrence near the end of the film is "ooh" and "ahhh" worthy, and I did love some of the facial hair and the creative ways of shaving beards.

But, Probably the coolest part (for me at least) was the special effects done on Josh Hutcherson who plays Peeta. His family owns a bakery and apparently he learned how to ice some seriously wicked cakes because he camoflauges himself pretty damn well. Obviously it's all special effects. I read that Josh had to lie down on rocks and not move for an hour and a half to have it applied for the one scene where he is completely camoflauged into the nature. Apparently the make-up team created a mixture of clay and glycerine to create the effect, because they had to make it look real enough as if Peeta did it himself.

Anyways, I don't know how to feel about this movie. Go see it for yourself. Maybe a little while down the road I'll need to watch it again. Or maybe just keep watching the whole series.  It really makes me realize that if I were ever in a War situation, or needed to be in "survival mode" I'd be screwed... unless I camoflauged myself like Peeta...

Oh well. As they say,

"May the odds be ever in your favor"

xox Celina

Look Ma, All Hands!

This first week of April has felt like an accomplishment not only for me, but for most of my dear friends. There must be something in the water, because everywhere I look great things are happening and people are being recognized for all of their hard work. And I'd like to add, hard work done by our hard working HANDS!

Let's start with my wonderful friend Seth. Seth works at Idea Rebel, which is a digital marketing business. I've known Seth since High School. I've had sleep overs at his apartment, spent many of my summers camping with him, and even had meatless stuffing together at his family's Christmas dinners. I can't imagine my little Celina world without a Seth in it. And that is why I am so proud that his company won an award with BC Business Online Magazine as one of the Most Innovative Companies for 2012! Way to go Seth! Look at all that hard work you've done and how it's paid off! 

Look Ma, All Hands!

Now onto my next friend.

I was just talking about the little lady the other day. She's one of the hardest working Make-Up Artist I know, Tracy Lai. Tracy just finished on set for a short film about ferrets called Jake & Jasper: A Ferret Tale and was hired back for another film by the same Director Alison Parker which is titled The Ferret Squad. The best part about this is Tracy has 3 ferrets of her own. The other day, her littlest and only female ferret Dolly crawled up into my hair and sniffed my big bun on top of my head. I think she could have had a little nap in there if she really wanted to. Anyways, a big congratulations goes out to the Jake & Jasper crew because they have been featured in the magazine Ferret USA 2012! And what's even cooler is they mention Tracy & her ferret babies in it.

Look Ma, All Hands!

And now, yours truly.

Thanks to John Casablancas, my little face & my work are now in the new pamphlet hand-out for the Make-Up Artistry program. When I first saw this picture my honest reaction was,

"I'm so glad I wore lipstick this day." 

(see kids, you NEVER know when 

you'll end up in a magazine.)

What's even cooler is they have enlarged and framed my work in the school hallways! I feel like I am officially a "published" artist. 

Look Ma, All Hands!

xox Celina