Tag Archives: makeup

Random Life Hacks (or Cleaning Up And Packing Stuff)

I’m always looking for ways to make my life easier, but so many life hacks I see online seem much more complicated than they are worth. I’d love to have easier ways to store things or clean my house, but not if it takes me buying 20 different things and doing 37 steps before it becomes easier. So if I’m going to try a life hack, I need to make sure it is worth my time and effort before I consider doing it. Fortunately, I’ve found 2 things that actually did help me that were super easy and I wanted to share them with you!

The first is a hack for helping me so something that I know I don’t do as often as I should: cleaning my makeup brushes. I know how gross it is to not clean my brushes often, but it always seems like I only remember to do it when I need to use the brushes and can’t wait for them to dry. Also, I’ve learned how it’s not the best to dry brushes while laying them on their sides so I’ve been trying to figure out a better way to dry them (and never dry them with the brush side up as that can get water into the glue and ruin the brush).

I saw online that there are brush drying racks and I thought that might be a good option for me. But it does take up counter space, which I don’t have in my bathroom, and I really didn’t need something that big. I only have 4 or 5 brushes I use and I don’t need a dryer that can hold over 15 brushes. For someone who uses a lot of brushes, it does seem like a perfect thing to have, but it’s just not for me. But I liked the idea of how it was holding brushes the right way and I decided to try to figure out what I could do to create something like it.

What I ended up doing is using hair elastics and wrapping them around a basket I have in my bathroom. Then I could slide the brush in the elastic and it held them perfectly to dry without taking up really any space!

I shared this online and someone suggested putting a strip of magnets on the basket so I could attach the metal part of each brush on there. I do have magnetic tape so I might try that next time. But this was so easy and simple to do so I might just keep doing the hair elastic trick. I also recently got a new silicone scrubber and brush soap bar so hopefully this motivates me to clean my brushes more often.

The other new life hack I used was one for getting ready to travel for Thanksgiving. I don’t travel that often and I fly even less often (the last time I flew was 2 years ago!) so I don’t have a ton of travel containers that I use for storing lotions and other toiletries. The last few times I’ve traveled I just brought full size containers with me in my car since I had all the space I wanted to pack things. But since I’m flying I have to be aware of how large the containers are and I couldn’t really find what I was looking for at the store in the travel section. I wanted little jars for my day and night face lotions and all of the containers seemed to be big ones.

So I was wandering around the store to see if I could find something and I found the perfect thing in the pharmacy!

Since I only needed 2 containers and it came with an extra lid, it was perfect. I separated out 2 of the jars and used the 2 lids. I could have combined them if I needed more containers and stacked them, but this was the perfect solution for 2 lotions and it was very easy to pack. And the containers should be easy enough to clean so I don’t have to worry about the lotions getting gross inside of the jars like I do with some of the travel containers I’ve had in the past. I have no idea when I will fly again after this trip, but I will store them after they are cleaned so they are ready for the next time I need them.

I know this is a bit of a random post, but I seriously was just so happy when I figured these 2 hacks out and when I find something I love I just have to share it with everyone! Hopefully you all will find one or both of them helpful in your life, and if you know of any other easy and simple life hacks I’d love to know about them!

Time For New Headshots (or Adding Some Personality Into My Photos)

I changed my hair a little over a month ago. As soon as I did it, I planned on getting new headshots taken. Since I don’t have the same hair color anymore, I wanted new photos that reflected my new look more accurately. I had every intention of doing the shoot within a week or so of the hair color change, but due to crazy schedules, that didn’t happen.

For this shoot, I shot with my friend Adam Emperor Southard. I’ve previously done a fun shoot with him, but this was my first time shooting headshots with him. And I used Kate Hollinshead for my hair and makeup (Kate did my hair/makeup for my last 2 headshot shoots and I love what she does!).

The hair and makeup took about an hour (that’s pretty normal) and we were ready to shoot as soon as that was done. I’m still in the post-college/young mom/office worker category a lot for auditions, so that’s the look that we were going for. We did a mix of studio photos and outdoor photos, but all of my favorites came from outside.

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All of those photos are unretouched, but they look almost good enough to post on the online casting services already! I think that Kate did a great job getting the perfect natural look for me (which of course takes more makeup than I’m used to) and Adam was able to get some great shots with fun expressions. I’m always self-conscious at shoots because I feel like I don’t have enough looks. And when I try to replicate looks I’ve had in the past, they come out looking weird.

Even though my shoot was only a 2 look session, I convinced Adam to let me do a couple of photos with my new Mighty Petunia top (if you shop there, don’t forget to use the promo code “Bombshell”!). I love that tank top so much and I figured it would be fun to get some photos that I might use on the blog or other places where I don’t necessarily want to use my headshots. Since I was doing non-headshots, I told Kate that we could go bold with the hair and makeup. I was ok with whatever she wanted to do, so she went with curly hair and a bold red lip.

Fun Options

I love how those shots came out and I’m so grateful that Adam and Kate indulged me in adding a bonus look.

I’ve already sent my favorites to my agents and included some of the crazier photos with them in case they wanted to use one for fun. They picked their 6 favorites and 2 of them came from the crazy look (including the tongue out one for a kick ass rocker look)! I’m so glad that I took a chance with these photos because I never take chances like this and it seems like it’s paying off!

I’ll be getting my retouched photos today or tomorrow and then I’ll be getting them up on the casting sites, ordering new printed headshots, and doing new business cards (that link gets you 10% off that site!). It’s not cheap to do all of this, but thankfully I will get getting some money for Hanukkah at Thanksgiving so I will be putting a bit of that toward my acting expenses. It takes money to pursue this career, but it’s totally worth it to me.

I love when I work with a photographer and I get exactly what I need plus more! I’ve had some not-so-great experiences with photographers in the past where even after multiple reshoots I don’t have what I need and the money I spent on it was totally wasted. I’ve learned which photographers I work well with and I love having a couple of people who I trust to do headshots for me. I’m sure that within a year or so I’ll need to do photos again. But right now, I’m just so excited to get these photos up and available for casting directors to see the attention they get me.

Continuing The Birthday Fun (or Pie and Makeup)

Even though my birthday had ended, I wasn’t ready to end the celebrating quite yet. I had a couple of other birthday deals I wanted to take advantage of, so I did some of them on Monday (my day off from the day job).

First on the birthday agenda was Marie Callendars for birthday pie. This has been a tradition for a while because they send you a coupon for $5 off an entree plus a free slice of pie. So I went with my friend Emily to the location that we like the most.

I hadn’t seen Emily in a while. Our schedules just haven’t been matching up and we haven’t been attending the same events lately. So it was awesome to get to see her and hear about all the adventures she’s been on lately. She’s got a new gig as a writer for the LA Kings (she’s a super fan) so that was really fun to hear about.

Emily and I both got some yummy food, but we were both saving plenty of room for the pie!

Birthday Pie

We got the chocolate satin pie (which we get every time) and the lemon cream cheese pie. They were both delicious but I was so full after eating!

I had something that I had to attend that evening in the same area as where we got lunch, so I decided to try to stick around there for the afternoon instead of going home. I went through my birthday deals that I had left, and decided to go over to Sephora for my free birthday gift!

I also picked up a few other things while I was there (I had a few things I needed but hadn’t had a chance to go to a Sephora location recently), but I was most excited for the freebie!

Birthday Sephora Gift

I don’t usually wear lipstick because I’m a lip balm addict (I use Natural Ice as my balm of choice), and if I wear lipstick I can’t put on more lip balm. But I’ve also been saying that I’d love to have a great red lipstick to wear for special occasions. So this freebie was perfect! I haven’t had a chance to wear it yet, but I’m sure I will soon. I’m not very good about putting on makeup, but I think that I can do lipstick ok (unlike eyeliner).

After my Sephora run, I had to get to my evening event so I wasn’t able to do any more of the birthday deals on my list. I don’t think I’m going to do them all this year. But there are maybe 1 or 2 more that I know that I want to take advantage of before the month (and the deals are over).

I know I’ve said this every year, but I love how I can just extend my birthday to be the entire month!

YSL Mascara (or Showing Off My Limited Makeup Skills)

I have always wanted to be a makeup person. I think that makeup can be so fun and make you look so glamorous. But somehow, I never got the makeup gene.

My mom wears makeup most days so you’d think that I would have learned from her, but somehow that talent wasn’t passed down to me. I’ve taken makeup classes before and have had friends who are makeup artists try to teach me, but there is always just a disconnect there. So I’ve had to accept the fact that when I want to get my makeup done for fun events, I must have someone else do it for me.

One of the only makeup things that I can do is mascara. That seems pretty foolproof to me (same with concealer and lip gloss). So when I found out that Influenster was sending me some mascara, I was so excited!

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I got the Yves Saint Laurent Volume Effect Faux Clis mascara. And I have to say that this mascara is pretty amazing!

First of all, I think that it’s a pretty gorgeous product.

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I don’t pick out my makeup by how good it will look on my counter, but this really does look pretty and make my makeup area look nice and classy. And the gold makes my makeup collection look luxurious and fancy!

My first impression of the mascara was that it smelled really nice! That’s so unusual for mascara, but the fragrance is floral but not overpowering. And I’m so happy it doesn’t have a medical or chemical smell like many mascaras do.

I decided to do a before and after photo to show you all how nice just adding the mascara looks. Sorry for the creepy closeup photos of my eyes.

Before and After

With doing nothing else (no eyeliner, shadow, or concealer), there is a really big difference between the two photos! I love mascara that makes it look like I’m wearing eyeliner because that’s one of the most impossible makeup things for me to do.

I put the mascara on pretty early in the morning and it lasted all day without smudging or flaking. And it didn’t irritate my contact lenses either (something that most mascaras do). I’m glad that it didn’t bother my contacts. So many of the contact lens-friendly mascaras are clumpy or don’t really do much. So to find a “normal” mascara that happens to be contact lens-friendly is something special.

Since this particular mascara that I got wasn’t waterproof (they do have a waterproof formula), it was pretty easy to take off. Just a few swipes with a cotton pad that had eye makeup remover on it and my lashes were perfectly clean (I didn’t even have any smudges under my eyes when I woke up the next morning).

I do have another mascara that I love and use a lot, but I think that the YSL Volume Effect Faux Clis is now going to be in the regular mascara rotation! I just can’t get over how awesome it was! And it will be perfect for special events when I can’t get my makeup done because it really does look like I have eyeliner or false lashes on while I’m wearing it!

Thank you again to Influenster for sending this to me so I could test it out (and share it with you all)!

FTC Disclosure: I received these products complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes.

“Thriving In Hollywood” (or Celebrating The Ms. In The Biz Book Launch!)

I’ve been writing for Ms. In The Biz for a while now. It’s been so awesome to be a part of a blog that has so many amazing women with incredible stories and advice to share. And a little while back, Helenna (who created Ms. In The Biz) shared with all the writers that she was going to be putting together a book of some of the blog posts we had shared on the site!

The book is called “Thriving in Hollywood: Tenacious Tales and Tactics from Ms. In The Biz”. While none of my posts are featured in the book, I’m still super proud of all the writers who had pieces chosen for the book and that I get to be a part of the same blog!

This week was the official launch party for the book. There was going to be a red carpet and press there, so I decided that I really wanted to look my best.

After my morning workout, I showered and then headed over to The Dry Bar to get my hair done. I normally only go to The Dry Bar on my birthday, but the party was on my half birthday, so it seemed fitting.

The Dry Bar

I had them do my hair in a similar style to how it was done in New York, but lots of curls. As soon as I was done getting my hair done, it was off to makeup!

My friend, Kayla, did my makeup for me. She also did my makeup for the Besame launch party so I knew it would be amazing.

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And when I was done getting beautified, I loved how I looked!

MITB Party Look

While it feels like a lot of makeup to me since I rarely wear makeup, it just looked like an enhanced version of me. It was perfect!

For my outfit, I wanted to be comfortable because I knew that I would be on my feet all night. As much as I could love to have worn heels, it’s just not something that my hips can deal with now. So I went with leggings, a long sweater, and some cute flats.

MITB Mirror

I know I look a little distorted in that photo. My mirror needs to be replaced because it can not longer hang correctly over a door.

I got to the party and my first stop was the red carpet. I wanted to make sure that my photos were done while my hair and makeup looked fresh.

MITB Red Carpet With Book

After doing my official photos, I wandered around and found a bunch of my friends. It was so much fun catching up with people when we are all dressed up! We don’t normally look like slobs, but everyone looked so fancy that night!

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After some catching up, I ran into other members of the team from the Inside Acting Podcast, including the hosts Trevor and AJ (who just got in from New York that morning!). So of course, we gathered for a podcast red carpet photo.

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Before I knew it, it was getting toward the end of the evening. I was exhausted and ready to get into my PJs and watch some TV.

The one thing about having fancy makeup done is that it takes quite a bit to get it all off.

Post MITB Party

I was super happy to have my Spanx and fake lashes off and to have a bare face at the end of the night!

Overall, I have to say that this was a super successful book launch party! I had a blast and everyone else I talked to did so as well!

I highly encourage all of you to get a copy of “Thriving In Hollywood”! I’ve read it and it’s super amazing! And maybe the next time Ms. In The Biz does a book, one of my blog posts will be chosen!

An Evening Of Makeup (or Besame Cosmetics)

Right after Brandi’s birthday brunch, I had to rush to get to my next event for the day. I had been invited to check out Besame Cosmetics and the launch of their latest product. But since I’m not great at doing makeup, my in between stop was here.

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A new friend of mine from Orangetheory is a makeup artist for Smashbox and she offered to do my makeup for me before I headed to Burbank for the Besame event. I said yes right away and was so excited to have my makeup done.

As soon as she was done, I was shocked at how I looked. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so pretty!

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While it seemed like a lot of makeup to me, it was the perfect amount and I couldn’t have been happier with my look!

As soon as I got to Burbank, I found a parking spot in front of the store and headed inside.

I hadn’t heard of Besame Cosmetics before this event, but their makeup all has a vintage theme and has fewer ingredients than most companies (making them better for sensitive skin). Their store was so cute!

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The launch party was for their new Vanilla Brightening Face Powder.

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It’s a translucent powder that can be used with or without foundation. And it seriously helps to brighten up any dark spots or circles on your face (sadly, I forgot to take a picture after I tried it out). The Vanilla Brightening Face Powder is for light to medium skin but they also have a French Vanilla Brightening Face Powder for darker complexions.

What I loved the most about this product was it is pretty much fool-proof (a necessity for any makeup that I use). It also smells super yummy!

I checked out all the various products that they had at their store and then starting chatting with some other bloggers. The women I met at this event were so friendly and happy to give me some pointers on what I can do to make this blog better. I’ve met so many bloggers who have the attitude of “I had to learn it all on my own so you have to do it on your own too.”. It was so nice to meet bloggers who really wanted to help others not make the same mistakes that they have.

After chatting with the bloggers, we decided to get a drink. There was a bar in the back with a couple of speciality drinks. I tried the Vanilla Snow, and it was so delicious!

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It was made with vanilla vodka, Godiva white chocolate liquor, milk, and crushed peppermint candies! I might have to try to make this if I end up doing a holiday-time party this year!

It was getting late (at least late for me when I had been up at 6am that day), so I got ready to head home. On my way out, I was presented with a gift bag.

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Inside was the Vanilla Brightening Face Powder and a bottle of their 1950’s perfume (I got to choose my perfume and I liked the 1950’s scent the most).

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I have to say that know that I know about Besame Cosmetics, I definitely want to test out more of their products. They have some amazing lipstick colors! And if you want to check out their new Brightening Powders, they will be for sale at Sephora in the New Year!

Pre-Thanksgiving Pampering (or Trying To Get Everything Done)

Thanksgiving is pretty much here already. That’s insane! I’ll be heading to San Diego this year to join my family, and before I go I have so much stuff to get done!

I have some of my usual craziness, but for some reason this upcoming weekend is one of the most packed weekends of the year for me. And besides getting things packed before I drive, I have some food and crafts to finish up (I’ll post about those during Thanksgiving week).

But yesterday after work, I realized that if I wanted to get any of the beauty things done that I wanted to do, it was my last chance before I drive down.

So as soon as work was done for me at 3pm, I hopped in my car and drove to Brentwood where the Benefit store is that I get my eyebrows done at. Fortunately, you make appointments online so I knew that I would get in when I needed to.

Getting my brows done pretty much feels like maintenance to me. I’ve been getting them done since I was 14. And when I don’t get them done, I have a pretty bad unibrow. But at least at Benefit they try to make it fun. They always do a little makeup for you before you leave and while you are waiting there is a ton of makeup to look at and play with.

I actually needed to purchase a few things, and I found that they had a holiday gift pack that was cheaper than the 2 things I needed. So I got what I needed plus a little extra (some of which I will be giving to my mom).

After my brows were done, I got back into my car and drove about 20 blocks to the nail salon. I had also made an appointment for my pedicure (I don’t like doing walk ins anymore because you never know if they can get you in or not). I hadn’t had a pedicure since before my birthday and the blister on my foot is healing very nicely. So I figured I was due and wanted cute toes for Thanksgiving (although I’ve realized since that all the shoes I will be packing are closed toe).

When it’s wintertime and I get a pedicure, I try to go for some out there colors. I’ve done yellow and various neons before, but this time I found a really cute icy blue that seemed perfect for winter.

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Now that I feel beautiful and girly again (it’s funny how getting your eyebrows done and a pedicure can make you feel like you got a total makeover), I’m superficially ready for Thanksgiving. This weekend will be some shopping trips and getting things prepared for my drive as soon as I’m done with work on Tuesday.

The countdown to the major family event of the year is on!

At Home Manicure Time (or I Actually Made My Nails Look Cute)

As much as I am a girlie-girl, I’m not very good at doing beauty things. I just didn’t get the hair and makeup gene. I can do basic things, but usually when things are more than using concealer or putting my hair in a ponytail I’m pretty much a failure.

When I was in college, I used to get my nails done fairly regularly (maybe every other month or so). Back then, $10 manicures weren’t much since I didn’t really have bills to pay. Nowadays, I can’t afford them (especially since they seem to chip right away), so when I do get my nails done, it’s a pedicure not a manicure.

But I still like my nails to look nice, so I’ve tried to do at home manicures. Normally it looks like a 5-year-old coloring outside the lines. So I pretty much stick to just putting some top coat on my nails so they are shiny (and a little stronger since my nails tend to peel).

But a while ago, I saw an idea online to make patterns on your nails using blue tape (also known as painters tape). So I decided to try it out and it worked really well!

Here’s what you’ll need:

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Base Coat, Top Coat, Color of Choice, Blue Tape, and Decorative Hole Punch.

First step is to do a basic base coat on all of your nails.

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Next, tear off some of the blue tape and use your decorative hole punch (mine was a star shape) to punch a hole in the middle of the piece of tape.

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Then, put the tape on the nail that you want to have the design on. Press the tape down so there are no air bubbles next to the hole (that would ruin the design).

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Take the nail color of your choice (mine was a silver glitter) and paint over the piece of tape. I did 2 coats because I wanted it to be very sparkly.

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Then you need to let the colored polish dry. And once you think it’s dry, let it dry for a few more minutes. If it’s even a little bit wet still, the borders of the design aren’t going to stay clean. Trust me on this. I made that mistake on my first attempt.

After the polish is dry, peel off the blue tape and you can see if you need to do any touch-ups.

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I thought that it looks pretty good as it was, so I didn’t do any touch-ups. Also, I’m sure if I tried to do a touch-up, I would screw up the design.

After the touch-up, paint all your nails with a coat of topcoat. You might have to do 2 coats on the nail with the design for it to feel smooth.

That’s it! I have another decorative hole punch that make a heart design (I bought the set on Amazon), but I’ve also seen a design that uses a bandage to make polka dots on your nails (I might try that one in the future).

While I might never really be able to do a full at home manicure, at least I can feel cute and girly with designs on my nails.

New Headshots (or Trying To Be A Quirky Office Girl/College Student/Young Mom)

This past Thursday was my shoot date for new headshots. I had booked this date a while ago because the photographer I go to, Joanna DeGeneres, is extremely popular and didn’t have time until the end of February (I asked her about shoot dates in the beginning of January). I was more than happy to wait because she is truly an amazing photographer.

Then, it was supposed to be the storm of the century on Thursday. Joanna told me we would need to cancel (she shoots outdoors and only uses natural light). I told Joanna that I would keep that date open, because there’s always a chance that the weather people are wrong.

And guess what? It was a beautiful sunny day on Thursday! So I got to do my shoot!

I had also paid to have someone there to do my hair and makeup. I’m not that talented with either myself, but even if you are, it’s always suggested to have someone else come in to help. Also, this allowed me to have a couple of different looks.

After I got to Joanna’s, she went through the outfits that I brought with me. Based on the clothes I brought and how I look, we had decided that the looks that would be best for me would be a mix of young mom, a quirky office girl, and an older college student. I agreed that those are what I’m most likely to be cast as as well.

Hair and makeup took about an hour and then we were ready to shoot! I had 3 different looks that day and one makeup/hair change. I don’t have all the proofs yet (I’ll get those at some point this week), but here are 2 screenshots of what we got.

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The first picture is more of an office look and the second picture is more of a mom look.

I’m super happy with how these look and I can’t wait to see the rest. I know that these both have a similar expression and I need more range, but I know that we shot so many different looks that day (these were just 2 pictures that jumped out at both of us while we were looked at everything).

As soon as I have all my proofs and can look at everything, I’ll try to get it down to about 15-20 pictures. Then I’ll have my agents look at them and hopefully we can get it down to maybe 3 or 4 (every one that I want to put up on the online casting sites cost money so I don’t want to pick too many). And of those few, I’ll probably pick just one to print out. I don’t have to give casting directors headshots too often any more so I don’t need a ton to be printed.

Hopefully these new pictures will get me some more auditions!

Brows and Bubbly (or Another Fun Evening Out With Eventbrite)

On Tuesday night, I got to go to another fun event. This was run by Eventbrite, the same company that did the Spa Night Out at Burke Williams. Eventbrite is an online ticketing service. And one thing I love about getting my tickets through their site is that they have an iPhone app that you can use instead of printing your tickets! This is great for someone like me who is normally running from one place to another (and usually forgets to print things out in the morning). The app is free, and you can also use it to discover new events and buy tickets.

The event this week, called Brows and Bubbly, was held at Benefit on 3rd St. I love Benefit makeup (I have a bunch of it at home), but I had never been to a Benefit Boutique. It was so cute inside!

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My ticket included one service and I chose an eyebrow wax. This is something that I do pretty regularly (I was born with a pretty bad unibrow), but this was a much nicer eyebrow wax than the place I normally go to (where I ran into my ex-bff). After my eyebrow wax, I got to have a mini-makeover/makeup application done. All of the Benefit products were out.

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And considering that I just had a wax done, I think I looked pretty good afterwards!

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I’m pretty picky when it comes to makeup. My skin is very sensitive, and it’s hard to match colors to me because I’m so pale (I’ve had more than one makeup artist mix a white base with foundation to match my skin). I loved the products that were used on my face this time! And I decided to purchase two. I got a concealer as well as the “That Gal” primer.

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The primer really evened out my skin tone and blended in super nicely with my skin. Plus, it smelled delicious!

After making my purchases, I decided to see what else Eventbrite had set up for us.

There was some champagne (hence the bubbly in the event name).

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And cupcakes and popcorn.

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But since my stomach wasn’t feeling so great that day, I just had water.

Before I knew it, it was time for me to head home. But before I left, I got another amazing gift bag from Eventbrite! This time, it had some delicious treats (which I shared with my co-workers at my day job), makeup samples, another Uber gift card, and more spa passes to Burke Williams! I’m totally set for going on lots of spa adventures in the near future!

Thank you again to EventbriteLA for throwing another amazing event (and inviting me to attend)! I had the best time and am already looking forward to the next event! I promise to share the next event I’m going to with all of you so you can join in!