Self, a breath of fresh air

Magazines are shot 2-4 months in advance, so when I walked onto the set of the Self February cover shoot on a cold November day, I was delighted to see so many bright, colorful clothes for our supersweet cover model, Brooklyn Decker. I found out she was also born in Ohio! Ohio girls rule :)

We decided to go with one of my favorite sheer cool pinks, O.P.I's "It's a Girl". I also used one of my favorite foot creams of all time, L'Occitane's Shea Butter Foot Cream. A fan of L'Occitane for a long time, I only had one problem: I didn't know how to pronounce it. Want to know my trick? Hang around the shop's register for a bit until the phone rings. When they answer, listen for the correct pronunciation. (Oh, and its pronnounced "Loxxy-TAHN") xx

New Year, New Work

This week marked my 3 month anniversary in New York. Its hard to believe how time has flown. I have been very blessed with some great photo shoots and I have been dying to share them with you!


First up is a spread in V Magazine, issue V69. I was extremely excited to work with fashion photographer duo Daniele + Iango, and hair stylist Luigi Murenu. I had all 9 models to myself, so I had to work faster than I ever had before! All the models wore a custom blended nail color to exactly match their skin tone, followed by matte top coat, except for Melodie, whose nails are actually glossy red!

Colors I used are:
China Glaze's "Nude" (a semi-sheer creamy beige) on the fair-skinned models
A layered/custom blend of Nude and about 3 other colors on medium-toned girls:


On Melodie, I used Milani's appropriately names "NY Apple Red", a gorgeous cool creme red.

Ajak is wearing a deepened version of China Glaze's "Ingrid". A slightly shimmery deep taupe, from the Fall 2010 Vintage Vixen collection, "Ingrid" has quickly become my favorite fashion shade for deep-toned beauties.

I was so busy manicuring the girls I didn't even have the chance to see them on set, something I love seeing when I can. Our makeup artist Virginia managed to pull me away for a peek... and I was quite impressed with what was happening. Don't you agree? ;) xx