Couture Makeup Blog – Makeup Artist Serving San Diego and Orange County.

 au revoir summer…until next year, or until I start to get too cold, in which case, I’ll head over to Hawaii and we shall meet again… 🙂

I loved this wedding, plain and simple, love. The gown was my favorite part, all of that amazing texture combined with a simple silhouette and gorgeous bodice, it made my heart smile. For all you prospective brides out there shopping for your own nuptials, here is some info, it was made by Amsale and her gorgeous bracelet was by J. Crew. The flowers were my second favorite part of the wedding, I couldn’t get enough of them.

Now, lets talk about how lucky this bride was…. she married into a family of wedding vendors and had not one but three photography studios to capture the day and a sister-in-law that owns Paper Moss, who drew up and designed fabulous invitations! It doesn’t get any better than that! The wedding was captured by Three Blondes and a Camera, Jennifer Lust and Laura Ashbrook. I had a lot of fun doing this wedding for the blog…. the pictures are amazing. Thank you SMP and every other person involved that brought me this beautiful wedding for our viewing pleasure!

I have the most beautiful wedding to show you today…the bride..the groom…every single detail was amazing. Oh Jose Villa, you are such a genius. This was one of my favorite weddings to date. So much beauty.

I love fashion and everything that has to do with beauty… Fashion shows are the mecca of beauty. Women long for that perfect pout and flawless skin that all models flaunt down every runway in the world. And to top off the trendsetting hair and makeup, the fashion… oh the fashion, perfectly executed styling of each jaw dropping piece as it cascades down the runway… everyone watches in awe. Here is some of the amazingness (yes I know that’s not a word) that occurred on and off the runway this season at the Carolina Herrara show.

Take a daring leap. Begin to pave your own trail. Listen to the whispers within your heart. Take micro-actions. Commit to change. Take responsibility for how you live your life. Embrace joy and release sorrow. Accept that within this moment, you can rewrite your story by taking one step in a different direction, followed by another step… one action at a time. Give yourself permission to dream big and chase those dreams everyday of your life.

At so many points in our lives and especially mine at this point in time, I find myself “not knowing” much more than usual. I’m in a period of transition after some time spent really grounding myself away from my academic identity and focusing on self-care. But with transition comes a plethora of unknowns. Because I’m in the midst of this transition, it’s difficult to see the big picture (hopefully that will come as I emerge from this period of time). I have dealt with uncertainty so much in the past few years that I don’t feel the fear that usually accompanies this time.

I am perfectly imperfect. I have embraced my personality enough to make it a part of who I am, for better or worse. And surprisingly, I have come to celebrate what makes me imperfect, to shed light on the parts of myself that aren’t cohesive or fit into a nice neat container. While part of me craves structure, routines, labels, and definitions, there is a huge part of me that wants to venture beyond the known, the safe and cozy comfort zone. For it’s through venturing off into side roads and unmapped territory that we can discover and create rather than steer solely in cruise control.

That’s where I am today and where I hope to be tomorrow, one step at a time nourishing the sparkly moments along the way as well as overcoming the less-than-sparkly moments that are always a part of the journey. I feel like I’m finally settling into my identity rather than trying to constantly redefine it. This is me… who I am, authentically and wholeheartedly.

What a lovely editorial with sparkles, lace, ribbons, tulle, feathers and more…Italian Vogue, I love you.

I am so impressed that the bride dreamed up and created one massive, ridiculously awesome chandelier as the central focus for her reception. Jeffrey and Julia Woods photographed this modern, with touches of whimsy, event. And they did a fantastic job! The dress, which I LOVED, is by the fabulous Monique Lhuillier. And the icing on this fashion cake? Her Christian Louboutin shoes… perfection. May I also point out that this was another wedding where the bridesmaids dresses were mismatched but still within the color scheme! I’m telling you, it’s the new trend…

This fabulous black-tie affair was created by Jubilee Lau Events, with floral and event design by Nancy Liu Chin. Soft pinks were the perfect contrast to the elegant use of black & white. I LOVE the tall flower arrangements.  Lisa Lefkowitz did an amazing job getting such strong shots of the event…breathtaking in fact. Little Black Book paired with SMP to bring me this wedding. Thank you thank you! Enjoy!

This lovely wedding, photographed by Ashley Garmon was quaint and charming. The feeling of the celebration was impeccably captured by Ashley… Everything was lovely, from the sparklers to the color palette of blush, magenta, and ivory. Cyndi looked beautiful… from her dress (one of my favorites to date) to her over all styling, perfection… her low side pony, netted veil, and just a soft touch of makeup… which you know is how I roll. 😉 looked stunning. I love love love that the bridesmaids bouquets were all different, I think we might be seeing more of that in the future. Way to set the trend Cyndi! Remarkably, she had no wedding planner! Job well done Cyndi, my hat is off to you (If I wore hats) well… you get the expression!! Hehe. I had a lot of fun putting this story board together, enjoy!

Here is a collection of some of my favorite pictures from Christian Oth’s team. I find their style so impressive, each picture tells a story and has a photojournalism quality to it, which is a nice breath of fresh air considering that so many wedding photos have a “look this way and smile” vibe. Wedding photography has taken on a whole new style and quality in the last few years. And I am LOVING it! Note to brides, invest your money in a good photographer… it is SO important. And there are too many out there that are amateur and have lackluster style. Find someone amazing and fresh, these are photos you will keep forever so do your research! If you ever need help, I have several of names of professionals that I trust and would trust to do my own wedding. Enjoy these little pieces of art.