Now, let me give the scoop on the product that I am currently in LOVE with for growing your hair long.

Aquage Sea Extend strengthening shampoo and strengthening conditioner. They are filled with all the technical stuff that most of us don’t really care about, however they are amazing. Let me explain in simple terms…they are sulfate free and have sunscreen protection so they start immediately by not allowing any more damage to happen.

The shampoo gently cleanses with an intensive blend of sea silk proteins, and healing sea botanicals. This improves hair strength up to 36% and helps prevent future breakage. The conditioner then follows the same path but also protects against and thermal styling with exclusive Thermal-V complex. Tip: shampoo gently, rinse and follow with strengthening conditioner. However, with the conditioner, apply and then finish your other shower habits so the conditioner can stay on for 5 minutes. This will allow the product to penetrate properly and give your hair ultimate shine leaving it tangle free.

Enjoy these treats and happy growing till your next trim……….just a dusting!

Zhane

My digital intellect is quite advanced, as you know. I do have the luxury of direct access and a close working relationship to hairstylists across America. In my obsession to please l will gather many answers to your candid questions. I asked hairstylists the infamous question “how much should a client tip?” and their feedback was delightful. Clients no longer have to leave the salon wondering if their stylist was pleased or disappointed by their gesture.

Here is the general response I received from stylists.

Assuming you are pleased with your freshly finished quaff and your stylists attention to detail and social skills are pleasurable a complementary tip would be 15- 20% of your final price. If your hairstylist did something out of the ordinary, Example; spent hours fixing your home color experiment gone wrong (green hair!) a 25-30% tip would adequately express your gratitude.

Stylists revealed that expensive services such as hair extensions can run between $500-$2500 therefore these services are on an entire different scale when it comes to tipping. 20% of a $1500 service would be a $300 dollar tip! Though my stylists are indeed fabulous even they themselves acknowledge this is not easy for most clients. The average tip for a costly extension service ($500+) is between $50-$150 no matter where the final price falls. Hairstylists understand most clients are at the top of their “beauty budget” when receiving hair extensions and that a tip exceeding $150.00 is a very unique gesture.

Another great request stylists made is to never ever make excuses or acknowledge the fact that you are “not tipping” or” tipping just $2 because you think they are expensive to begin with”. Most stylists rather that the dreaded “non tippers” do not create an extra awkward moment by then mentioning it. When you do such things it simply further embarrasses your stylist now that you have confirmed you are doing it intentionally. If you believe their price is too high keep it classy, don’t dare to say such a thing. Simply, choose a stylist that fits comfortably within your budget.
Bear in mind when you extend gratuity to your stylist they will remember your extra efforts next time you need an emergency appointment.

Hope this helps, my friends.

Until next time,

Baby

Be Maui Brown! Body and Hair Oil

by Maui Vegas Inc
. made in Las Vegas, this natural blend of 15 oils is made right here in Vegas. The smell is clean and simple, wonderful for men and women. Originally made for tanning beds this is the best oil I have ever found. What it does for my hair and body is fantastic.

Aromatics Elixir perfume from CLINIQUE.

One of my favorite perfumes of all time. I have been wearing it since High school. I never grow tired of how the scent smells on me or someone else. This perfume is wonderful on its own or layered with another scent.

Mac Prep and Prime Skin Foundation Primer.

I love this primer for many reasons, but the biggest is there is no waiting time between applying the primer and the application of foundation. Many of the other primer’s on the market must have time to set or liquid or cream foundations will pill upon application. I love the light diffusing properties to the primer diffusing imperfections before foundation is even applied. 





MAC Graphblack Eyeliner.

I love this eyeliner because you don’t need a sharpener. The pencil is water resistant so it is safe for the waterline. The pencil is soft so the application is easy with no tugging.

MAC Paint Pot in Painterly 
Eye Shadow Base

One if not the most important part of doing your eye shadow application is the product you use underneath to hold the shadow on, prevent creasing and give vibrancy of color. Using a powder as a base for powder eye shadow will not achieve the professional look, using a cream base is always your best bet. I love painterly because it’s a neutral matte. Paint Pots set in 10 seconds, are water resistant and give up to 14hours of lastablilty on shadow.

MAC Mineralize Skin Finish Face Powder

This is one of my favorite powders of all time. Used alone or on top of your foundation, this is a triple jet milled powder. This powder can go on sheer or build to a medium finish. This powder just looks like skin, no matter how much you put on, it never fails me.

Understanding the basic rules of matte vs. frost is priceless.

I observe people using unsuitable textures on themselves and their clients all the time. One of the biggest mistakes I see people do with their makeup is to use frosted makeup products on areas of the face they should not.

Important rules of thumb:

Frost reflects light (even if its dark)
Matte absorbs light

What does all this mean to you?

• If someone has texture on his or her face examples; winkles, large pores, blemishes, or crinkled eyelids, using a frosty product will enhance that texture. Eye shadows, highlighters and blush with frost should not be used.
• If someone has an eyelid that is hooded or puffy using shadow with frost can make the lid appear puffier or more pronounced.
• Using a highlight with frost on someone with deeper wrinkles will make the wrinkles more pronounced.
• Using blush or bronzer with frost can make pores or blemishes appear larger.
• If a person has a crinkled eyelid using a frosted eye shadow will enhance the look of the eyelid texture making the individual appear older.
• If there is texture present, use a matte.
• Matte products come in as many colors as frosts.
• Matte products allow for more depth for carving out the shape of an eye or contouring a face.

Don’t throw away all your frost products!

The examples above do not mean you can’t use frost, just understand where and when it’s appropriate. Knowing this simple rule of matte vs. frost will give for a more flawless finish and professional application. Typically for a more mature face or one with large pores or troubled skin frost can still be used sparingly to highlight areas such as just beneath the brow and within the center kiss of the lips.

Have a happy day.
JC

The L’Oreal Professional Colorist Collection is an 8 time winner (2001-2008) of The Stylist Choice Award in the “Color Enhancing Category. 12 gorgeous color depositing shampoo and conditioners is the largest prescribed color home maintenance system. These color depositing shampoos and conditioners are pH balanced and are color coded for easy clarification. Contains Semi-permanent hair color pigments and reflective mica for high shine. Does not contain peroxide or ammonia.

Natural botanicals, apricot kernel oil, fruit extract, and keratin bondings dyes provide conditioning, shine, and lasting color preservation. Keratin bonding dyes attract to hair fibers and wrap securely around the hair cuticle. Apricot Kernel Oil and Fruit Extract help seal color in and provide conditioning. Natural Botanicals clarify and accentuate natural radiance.

Beautydepot.com has several different shades of Loreal Colorist Collection which I have used in the past and really liked. They have a nice variety of colors to choose from including:

• Mahogany
• Hazelnut
• Cherry Bark
• Ginger Root
• Vanilla Bean
• White Violet
• Lemon Flower
• Sunflower
• Coco Bean
• Orange Marigold
• Red Clover

How do they work?

Dry shampoos work by absorbing the excess dirt and oil that can leave hair looking Greasy and limp. While you would not want to replace liquid shampoo with the dry version altogether, it is a great alternative in emergency beauty. They are must-have items for the girl on the go!

How to use it.

Follow the manufacture’s instructions of course but in general you lightly spray the roots allowing some overspray to hit the remaining hair. Leave in hair for two minutes, then brush out excess product. Provides a matte finish – if a shinier texture is desired, follow up with your favorite shine spray.

What I’ve found!

I just recently noticed that if you spray freshly washed hair with a bit of dry shampoo after your style is complete blowouts, curls and back-combed sections hold 3X as long!!!

Many companies now make this product.

Big Sexy Hair Volumizing Dry Shampoo
Bumble and Bumble Hair Powder
All Nighter Dry Shampoo
TIGI Rockaholic Dirty Secret Dry Shampoo

Chat soon!
Hannah

Do not try and achieve this by buying a foundation 3 shades darker them your current skin tone. Walking around with a face that is 3 shades darker then your neck is not attractive. Now you look like you borrowed someone else’s head.

Ha!

Do not take bronzer and put it all over your face if your neck is not the color of the bronzer. If you want to take your foundation and bronzer and blend it all the way down your neck, that is a simple way of darkening the neck to match but it can be messy and get on your clothes and then if your body is tan. EEEK! What to do? Most important, match your foundation to your neck. We are slaves to the skin care, which means many women’s neck’s are darker then their faces. Receiving micro peels, laser’s, lighten products; a woman’s face maybe lighter than their neck. Women will put SPF on their face but not their necks, or will tan the body and not the face; all these woopsies can produce a lighter face than neck, result.

Matching your foundation correctly

• Never the hand (only test if your hand if it’s attached to your head).
• Never just the face. If you only color swatch your foundation on your face, it will only match your face.
• Do! Match the neck, it really doesn’t matter what color the face is. If you match your foundation with the neck you will never have a line of demarcation.
• Your bronzer and blush should be used only as accents to bring color back to the face and produce a sunny glow, simulating the color tones you have running through your chest and arms.
• Dust bronzer on forehead, nose, cheeks and chin. These areas naturally gain color fastest if you spent a day at the beach for example.
• Dusting these areas truly mimics a sunny glow and tanned effect, plus, you look like your head is on the right body.

Your foundation has one purpose and that is to even out and perfect the color of the skin on your face, creating a beautiful bare canvas within to work on. Remember Dolz, Foundation was not created to achieve a tanned look.

Have a happy day
JC

1. Your lip color.
For touch ups, a colored gloss that corresponds with whatever lip color you have on at the moment. The great thing about a colored gloss is that you can confidently touch up your lips on the fly, without a mirror. Less pigment means you don’t have to apply perfectly. No one will notice if you go a little outside or inside your lip line. All they notice is a sexy healthy lip.

2. Your complexion.
Always toss a sheer powder or blot powder that is in a mirrored compact into your purse.
No one wants to have a greasy shine only a healthy glow. Mirrored compacts are best because as I’m sure you’ll agree, the “ladies room” trips get annoying as the night goes on.

3. The cure all…..brows, lips and eyes all in one!
Carry along deep brown eyeliner, why? well because if you rub your eyebrow powder out you can wing a quick fix with a brown pencil, if you smudge your shadow apply a small amount of your cure all pencil and lightly smudge with your finger to blend. It can even be used with light pressure to line the lips in an emergency!

Voilà! 3 simple products are really all you need!

If you’re not counting the Aspirin, tissues, mints, cash, ID and cell phone of course. Here’s to all my fellow magicians… Keep stuffing those tiny purses!

I have soooo many more tips, tricks and advice to follow. Check back soon for more.

Till next time!
Megan M

My mother would drop me off at CVS and I would grab a candy bar (cause I was an emotional eater; and I love candy) and a diet coke and spend two hours sitting in the isles looking at products, reading ingredients. I wanted to understand how this product was going to make me beautiful, that was the promise; so how.

Over the years I have found that one important part of makeup is skin care. Clients expect makeup to take years of bad skin care, no sunscreen, bad eating habits, no moisturizer (which is insane) and wish it to magically be concealed with one product alone.

Makeup can only do so much, ladies and gentlemen. Makeup can do quite a bit, but one fact is true, Makeup is only as good as your skin. That is so simple, slightly harsh but the truth. Women ask me all the time”can’t makeup hide my wrinkles and blemishes”. Unfortunately, no it can not. Makeup can only hide color and/or discoloration. Makeup can actually enhance the look of wrinkles and blemishes if you’re not careful. Only professional lighting and camera tricks can hide wrinkles, pimples and scars. So if you not walking around with a full lighting and camera crew, you must take care of your skin.

Cleanse, exfoliate, tone, serum, moisturizer, eye cream and spf to keep the skin in optimum condition. If you don’t, failed attempts at corrective makeup can make you look older and enhance the look of problem skin. In the advances of makeup and skincare there are some products that can help smooth out the skin and simulate improved skin temporarily. Try products that go on before makeup to smooth the surface so that makeup looks more even.

Primers can help smooth out skin because of the Silicone content. Silicone based primers also help foundation stay on for hours. Primer can coat a blemish or scar so foundation or powder glide over the top easier and don’t grab onto texture. I really like MAC’s Prep and Prime Face, but I truly love MAC’s Fast Eye Response Cream. Fast Eye was made for the de-puffing and smoothing of the eye area but it works better than almost any primer I have ever used. Caffeine (reduces swelling), Silicone and light diffusing particles make for the perfect primer, patted on top of a scar or blemish to help smooth the appearance, fantastic. I use Fast Eye Response as a primer daily.

One of My favorite TV channels is HSN. Go ahead and laugh, many have before. Home shopping networks are not what they used to be in the days where you imagine little old ladies sitting at home in flowered muumuu’s ordering fake diamonds and porcelain cat figurines. Now you are able to buy top quality products with no middle man. Sure, you may find less attractive packaging but only on exchange for fantastic values. One of my Favorite hosts on HSN is Adrienne; under Signature A. (Adrienne has been a makeup artist to the stars for years and use to carry her products in all major department stores) Adrienne develops fantastic quick fix products for women. My favorite of all time Signature Club A by Adrienne Secret C Rapid Lift. This product is a face-lift in a bottle. It pulls back that double chin, or “turkey neck” and smoothes out those wrinkles under the eye. It literally hides dropping lids and mouth lines. This is temporary but while it is on it will make you appear younger and for makeup artists, their job easier by smoothing out the canvas we work on. I have tried dozens of products that claim the same results, NEVER! Some don’t work well with makeup on top and some flake. Secret C Rapid Lift also is great under makeup as primer. Make sure to smooth on and massage back and in an upward motion as you want the face to look. This will assist the serum in lifting properly.

Last but not least, another favorite product of mine is Erase Those Fine Lines, by Model Co, This product also can give you the temporary appearance of a face lift. This product has amazing long term benefits it’s a bit pricey, however the temporary lift is worth it.

That is all for now. Here’s to hoping the next Cosmo we order gets us carded.

Have a happy day
JC

I would like to share with you an age old secret I could not live without.

In today’s excessive market we are bombarded with thousands of new hair products and if you’re anything like me you’re an equal product employer and give everything a try at least once. We are slaves to our favorite styling products and quite often these products are overused. In return the hair has much synthetic buildup on the hair shaft and scalp that even the best hair clarifying treatment by our favorite manufacturer can not remove. So, how do we safely and by the way, organically remove the chemicals/products/dead skin/pollution from our precious locks you ask?

Well here is my favorite age old secret! It’s probably in your kitchen right now.

The ol’Apple Cider Vinegar hair rinse has been admired for literally centuries to get rid of build up in hair. Whether it be caused by excessive hair products, or just from environmental pollutants. This hair rinse will remove all the residue and scaly buildup that accumulates on your hair shafts from using commercial hair products. Years of buildup gone in under 10 minutes! The natural Ph of vinegar also closes the hair cuticles resulting in shinier, smoother healthier looking hair. Science has proven to us that it promotes blood circulation in the small blood capillaries that irrigate the skin. It is also antiseptic, combating viruses and bacteria.

Do keep in mind ACV is very acidic thus resulting in hair lightening. If your hair is colored you should expect your hair to go about 1 shade lighter. I suggest to my colored clients to clarify their hair with this magic potion about 1 week prior to their scheduled visit to the salon.

The Magic Mixture:
2 parts Apple cider vinegar to 1 part distilled water.

If you can physically feel build up on your hair and/or it has a waxy feel to it. Then go in with the big guns and apply straight ACV with no dilution.

Pour ACV over warm damp hair, massage scalp to ends and comb through for 10 minutes.
Rinse with cold water. If the smell lingers follow up with your favorite shampoo and conditioner.

Drink ACV too! Though the taste isn’t a walk in the park the health benefits of this golden liquid will amaze you. Google Apple cider vinegar and you’ll be amazed at the documentation.

Chat soon!
Hannah

Skin

Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation
This is the best foundation I have worked with, on photo shoots and in everyday life. This product is always by my side. Luminus silk foundation from Giorgio Armani, It has an amazing finish and you can choose your coverage.

Tip-apply a small amount for sheer coverage or build the product for a fuller coverage.

Eyes

Yves Saint Laurent False lash Effect in black
This is by far the best, longest wearing and most beautiful substitution to wearing an actual false lash. A must have for luscious lashes that stop traffic!

M.A.C. Fluidline in Blacktrack
I also have to say I couldn’t live without M.A.C.’s  Fluidline in Blacktrack; this is a gel liner that dries like a liquid. It is so easy to control and you can also use it to create a quick Rockin’ smoky eye.

Tip- For a quick and sultry smoky eye, apply Fluidline over entire lid stopping just at the crease then sweep directly under lash line and blend blend blend!

Lips

M.A.C. Dazzleglass

My favorite list in this category changes like the wind. I’m always involved in a new affair with lip gloss. This month I’m obsessed with dazzleglass by MAC. They come in a handful of tones and provide the perfect wash of sheer color with tons of glitter. I love the Holographic 3D effect on the lips.

Dazzleglass is super shiny and super bold, definitely not for “plain Jane” type. My personal FAV tone is Sugar Rimmed. In fact I’m wearing right now.

Till next time!
Megan M