Kayla

Kayla has the most amazing long, healthy hair I have ever seen. She looks great with warm reds- as you can see above, she was due for a color refresher. We chose PM Shines, as she wanted a deposit-only color that wouldn't damage her hair and would add shine and a smooth, glassy texture. We did two different shades- a lighter color on the top half and darker on the bottom. PM Shines are great. They are transparent color that allows the natural highlights in hair to show through. Kayla's hair has brightened up significantly in the last two weeks- about 3-5 shampoos, but has remained a true rich red. I trimmed Kayla's bangs as well- added a little more fringe in the front and shaped it around her face with some longer pieces on the sides.

Lizzy

Lizzy is a pretty rad chick. She's in a few stellar bands, Soap Collectors and Radiation City

Lizzy was bored of her hair- didn't want to cut it now, but wanted to add some richness- some red, some shine, etc. We finally decided on 4 panels of bright hot pink-red, peek-a-boo style so they show through her top layers and positioned them diagonally so that when she pulls her hair back into a ponytail they peek through. They are not directly next to her face, or a distinct "chunky" stripe either. I put a glossy PM Shines blue-red all over the rest of her hair to add richness to her natural color. it's hard to see in the picture, and since she doesn't prefer to have her picture taken... I will have to catch her in action and try for some better angles soon. You can see in this photo after how much richer and shinier her hair looks, even though the panels aren't peeking out underneath.

Metal and Glass

This is the protective iron gate around the windows outside an old abandoned building next to the restaurant where I work downtown- I love playing with my camera and reflections in glass... It keeps my creative brain working :)

Hana

This is one of my favorite Before/After projects yet! Hana is a sweet 21 year old girl. She typically wore her hair in a ponytail everyday and had not been putting a lot of time and energy into her appearance. We decided to get together and give her a whole new look.
Her bravery shocked me- She picked out a photo in a hairstyle magazine... "I'm thinking a short pixie cut and as blonde as you can make me" She said.
WOW! What a great opportunity for me- I got to chop off tons of hair and learn a new coloring process- it took about 7 hours, but I'm still learning. (I refused to do an all-over bleach job, as I don't want my name on a fuzzy monochromatic blonde head.) I used 3 different colors and lighteners- foiled her entire head and toned with a blue violet last. As you can see, the results are more than worth it. I'm super proud of this one, and Hana feels AMAZING- She called me to thank me and said "I am having so much fun- boys who wouldn't look at me before are hitting on me constantly. I feel like a real girl!"
I love it!

Things I Love

Meet Rose and Dory:

They are stunningly gorgeous, elegant, talented, way-too-fun sisters. I had the pleasure of doing their hair and makeup for Dory's 30th Birthday, which is where these pictures were taken.
I just love false lashes, peachy blush, perfectly matched brow color, velvety smooth clean skin, a nicely contoured decolletage, Rose's stylish hairpiece and Dory's simple but mod honey golden ponytail.


Happy Birthday Dory!



Speaking of things I love, Rose is in a way-cool band called The Wine Birds.
I've done Rose and Lauren's makeup a few times now- It's so fun to paint the faces of such cool and talented ladies- not to mention the added bonus of being in the company of their sexy band mates (hehe)
I'll be posting more pictures from their photo shoot I did makeup for, but here's one from their website. HOT!

Andrea's Transformation

What an exciting day! I got to participate in the most fantastic project- Mama Makeover!

Andrea and family were just the most lovely people- Full of joy.

I volunteered as the makeup artist for her final family photo shoot at the GORGEOUS Campbell Salgado Studios - I can't wait to see all the pictures, but here are a few:

In the photo below, on the right is Mindy Helmer, an amazing woman and incredible stylist who was in charge of Andrea's wardrobe for the shoot and her personal style consultant for the duration of the Mama Makeover. Andrea is just shining in the middle- her makeup turned out so nicely! Always easy on a beautiful woman, of course :)

Doesn't she look fabulous?

Thank you all for letting me take part in such a beautiful project! More updates to come...

Blog Under Revision

Thank you so much for taking the time to look at my style blog!

I am currently updating my before and after pictures and locating more photos of my work from years past.

I appreciate your patience- please join my blog as a follower so you can be updated when I add new photos and events!

xo

Gretchen

Magen Before and After

Meet Magen:

She's the lovely blonde on the right. I forgot to take a picture of her before we colored her hair, so luckily I had one from a few months back. She has a great natural wave pattern in her hair, and while she could definitely pull off her blonde hair, it was not the most flattering color for her skin. You'll notice in the after, even without makeup touch-up after having her hair colored and cut- she glows.

This is Magen After.

I recolored her hair using a two-step formulation called re-pigmenting. Often when you take a lighter hair color dark, it ends up looking flat, dull, gray or "empty". We put the necessary color molecules- red- back into her hair before adding the rich brown tones over that. Her pink undertones look perfectly balanced and her blue eyes truly pop under the chestnut brown fringe we added around her face. Gorgeous girl! Thanks, Magen! It's a bit of a Zooey Deschanel from 500 Days of Summer kind of a look, don't you think? I love it!