charlotte tilbury and following your dreams.

meeting charlotte tilbury was AMAZING. she's an incredible make up artist and business woman, and has BOSS hair.

and while she herself was great, what i really loved was the atmosphere surrounding her event. the whole nordstrom floor was filled with makeup artists from all around the world, and women looking in the mirror and feeling like a million bucks - myself included.

i got to meet some great people, both from charlotte's team and just people attending the event. if there was one message i got from nearly everyone that was there it was this -

if you love it, you can do it. passion makes a professional, not schooling or obligation.

what a lesson to learn. people would ask me again and again, "are you a makeup artist?" and i'd laugh them off.

"in my head," i said, "but i haven't had any training aside from youtube."

i got blank looks in response.

"so?"

it never occurred to me that i could be something just by saying i am. i don't need someone to tell me what i can or can't be, i can just... be.

needless to say, my therapist and i are discussing that in length.


but! in the meantime, let me tell you a little more about my experience, and show you what i snagged at the event!

we are too busy dancing to get swept off our feet.

photo from vogue

when i got my copy of vogue last month (i signed up for the 6 months for $6 deal, such a steal!!) i was so excited to see my favorite girl taylor swift with her favorite girl karlie kloss on the cover. 

i am such a huge advocate for girl power, and does it get any better than these two? instead of seeing each other as competition they just adore each other. i think there has been a huge shift towards friendships between women in the media, rather than pitting them against each other. i can't wait until that trickles down into real life.

luckily, in every edition of the magazine, they have a little blurb telling all the products they used on the front cover. i was so excited to find out that they were all l'oreal products!!  i went out and bought a darker shade of the liquid powder foundation (on sale for a cool $2.43 at Target) and lipstick (also on sale at Target for a freak $3??? i don't know how that happened. clearly the universe wanted me to film this tutorial) and blush (not on sale, but only $8 at Walmart).

the lipstick was a disappointment, but that blush knocked it out of the park. i never would've picked it up on my own, but i love it on pretty much any skin tone. my sister liked it so much she went and bought it herself.

this look is so soft and glowing and beautiful. the girls look like they had just come back from a wild run around a desert, and i can't pull that off quite as much in the middle of my dark bedroom, but it certainly inspires me to go out and lay in the sun (with sunscreen, natch).

or at least invest in some self tanner.

have a watch if you like!

this is the first beauty tutorial i've done in quite a long time! i really liked it. i got a brand new shiny macbook air last week and it's seriously giving me life - everything about it is making my life better. i'd forgotten what a joy it can be to have a full on laptop with internet and everything! the webcam is so great, i think i'll film another look soon.

any requests?