Prepping for Photo Shoots with 2 Chicks & Some Lipstick

Photo shoot week is well under way and today I am excited to have a few words from the ultimate beauty babes who make me look like a million bucks - Val & Lori of 2 Chicks & Some Lipstick. They are veritable geniuses when it comes to creating THE look & their super-cool blog is brimming with beauty tips. Here's how they prep me for a shoot...

When Tosca’s assistant called to book us on a week-long shoot, we got really excited! Why? Because during these shooting marathons, we manage to get a years worth of marketing photos needed for our fave Eat-Clean Queen!

This means Tosca gets a wide range of photos, we get to glam her up and we try new looks, hairstyles and products. It’s playtime, baby!

To get fully prepared, we went over the looks we were shooting and did a little makeup kit inventory to make sure we had enough of our favorite products to use on Tosca. Sure enough, I was running low on Makeup Forever HD foundation, YSL’s touché eclat, and our fave MAC powders. After re-stocking the makeup kit with the necessities, we were ready.

Since we are shooting a year’s worth of photos, we would be covering summer looks, winter looks and everything in between. We always create Tosca’s looks under the ‘fit, fresh and fabulous’ umbrella, so we play within those parameters. Sometimes we’ll add a lil’ drama to her eyes, other times we’ll play around with different shades of lipstick and take Tosca’s sleek bob hairstyle into new territory by adding texture and waves.

Here’s a list of makeup products that love Tosca’s face (click on the link to read more about these products on the Two Chicks blog):

1. YSL touché eclat highlighter – amazing product for getting rid of shadows
2. Makeup Forever HD Foundation – the best foundation I’ve ever tried. Hands down.
3. MAC Studio Careblend Powder – not too matte; your skin looks and feels like velvet
4. Tarte Amazonian Clay 12-hour blush – lasts all day and they’re, like, amazing on everyone
5. Lancome Hypnose Mascara – one sweep and your lashes are full of drama
6. Red Cherry Lashes – falsies make a huge difference for photo shoots; learn how to apply your own here
7. MAC eyeshadows – ‘woodwinked’ ‘bamboo’  & ‘wedge’ should be in everyone’s palette
8. MAC Vanilla Pigment – use it as a highlighter and light up your face, baby
9. MAC Pro Longwear Lipliner – lasts all day. ‘Nice&Spicy’ is a delicious neutral colour
10. MAC Lipstick – the right shade will brighten your entire face. Tosca loves ‘cosmo’ and ‘mocha’

As for hair, we absolutely LOVE using Velcro rollers to add volume. Once we take the  rollers out, we run a straightener through the ends of Tosca’s hair to give her a sleek look; or we use a cone-shaped curling wand to create a naturally sexy wave.

Seriously though, Tosca is one of our all-time favorite clients and a dear friend, so working with her is always a blast! She’s full of positive energy and loves life.  But what really makes working with her magical is her amazing skin and hair. We swear Tosca is really onto something with Eating Clean... she literally glows from the inside out, making our jobs as a makeup artists SO much easier.

Let’s face it – the industry is full of young models with perfect skin, so working on mature skin can sometimes present a challenge. A dull, uneven complexion is not uncommon for women over the age of 40. Ladies, let me tell you, drinking water and eating your veggies has extraordinary benefits for your skin! Sure you can exfoliate and get all sorts of treatments done, but what you put inside your body is directly related to how you look (and feel).  So cut the sugar, up your water intake and see how good you can glow!