makeupisart.com

The Brush Guard- Pamper, pack, and preserve your brushes with love.

01/28/2009 No Comments

Those who take that extra step to preserve their makeup brush hair, or those like me who have a slightly unhealthy obsession with their brush health overall, will appreciate this product from “The Brush Guard”.

I first ran across this product at The Artist Summit by The Powder Group in New York. I know of a number of artists and brush consumers alike who have run into instances where a favorite brush has gone flat or just become wonky and warped from being placed in the wrong spot. This product offers a simple solution to keep them intact. Some of my own brushes have fallen victim to fraying bristles when I’ve rushed to pack my stuff up after a job and left it unprotected. I’ve even had to sacrifice my XL “aDesign” powder brush to the abyss that is the inside pocket of my makeup kit due to lack of room in my brush roll. I pray it is still intact every time I go into the abyss to reach for it!

So, between a combination of a forum post asking about this product and the fact that my 3 year old has been running around with it on her finger all day, I figure it’s time take a closer look at The Brush Guard to see what it can do for me and my brush set.

“The Brush Guard” comes in different variety packs from assorted sizes to multiple same size guards in one pack and total $5.50/pack. I had received one medium brush guard to try out so I will show you what I was able to do with it. 🙂

The Brush Guard

My first question about this guard was “Would it keep the integrity of the shape of my brush?”. The last thing I wanted was for my nice fluffy blush brush to end up looking like a tube when the guard came off. I quickly did a simple test and figured out that the shape of the netting naturally gets fuller in the middle without a brush in it. As you can see from above, the brush guard has a little more give in the middle of the netting allowing your brushes natural fullness to rest easy without too much pressure. I went ahead and tried it on a “normal size” blush/powder brush from Billy B’s brush collection and here are the results…

Brush Guard Demo with Billy B. powder brush

The brush was now slick and compact and free from frayed frazzled doom. I was impressed, but the real test would be my poor neglected adesign powder brush. I took it out from the abyss, had a little talk with it about how I was selfish and put my other smaller brushes before it’s needs, then we started over with a clean slate while I gave it it’s new Brush Guard coat.

The Brush Guard on adesing XL brush

She (the brush) is now sitting comfy cozy with the rest of her friends in the brush roll and will be used a lot more in the future. I’ll be placing my order for the assortment pack to get her in the proper large size soon enough. For now I will let her enjoy her new svelte self in the medium guard so she can regain her confidence in knowing she won’t be going into the abyss pocket anymore, but I doubt she’ll be letting her Guard down anytime soon.

Here is a video from the makers of The Brush Guard so you can see it in action:

Industry Insight

Working with Star Stylist Ted Gibson and chatting about his new Haircare Line and DC Salon.

01/25/2009 No Comments

I pride myself in keeping my blog personal to my experiences and to reviews of things I have tried and come to love. I try not to report on a brand new product or company that is out unless I’ve tried it myself to give you my honest opinion on it. So, in having adapted this philosophy, it doesn’t surprise me when big news slips through my radar, but I am finding that news worth reporting somehow brings itself right into my face, such as with star stylist Ted Gibson!

During Inauguration Pre-ceremonies I had the pleasure to do makeup for Amy Brenneman, the beautiful actress from the show Private Practice. I came a bit early, chit chatted with her amazingly talented husband about how things have been in D.C. thus far while setting up and waiting for Amy to arrive. A few minutes later Amy came in with a hairstylist followed by two videographers. I figured she was going to be doing an interview of some sorts while getting ready. It turns out the two men were actually following the hairstylist, who introduced himself to me as Ted Gibson. The two men had been collecting footage of the events he was doing including an earlier shoot he had with Ted and Caroline Kennedy for Vanity Fair.

When first meeting Ted I instantly loved how polite and sweet he was and how easy it was to work with him. He completely worked around me and what I needed even after I was insisted that he be comfortable and in good spot for him to work in. It was such a nice experience that I didn’t even mind the two video cameras taping me do makeup while he was doing hair. 🙂 I truly had no ideal what a big star he was until his story started to unfold about his salon in NY and the new one he just opened in DC. When I asked him about the beautiful pink and brown boxed product in front of him he proceeded to take out a few “Styling Hair Sheets” wrapped in a shiny silver foil, embedded design, and his name on the front. He told me I could get his line at Target now and gave me some hair towelettes to try out in the future. Upon talking more about what they did and how I could use them for my own fine hair he then decided that his “Building Spray” would work great for me followed by a blowdry and/or hot rollers and gave me a bottle of it to take home with me.

He held himself in such a great manor and complimented everyone throughout the time we were there. It’s no wonder celebrities and his client’s alike fall in love with him even before seeing the final result of the guaranteed gorgeous style! Ted proceeded to give Amy an elegant hairstyle with a slightly off centered part with hair that swooped down both sides before cascading curls began to fall.

He told me he had just opened his new salon in the Washington D.C. metro area called Ted Gibson Salon & Hela Spa. It has already been visited by great celebrity names on the first day, like Anne Hathaway and Tatiana Ali. He also told me how it sat atop of a Louis Vuitton store at The Collection in Chevy Chase, MD., only minutes away from downtown D.C. How much more fabulous can you get?

Already, not even a week since we worked together I have heard Ted’s praises being sang repeatedly. While working on a model for Elite in NY yesterday I started taking out the Styling Sheets to use on her. When she saw them she shouted out and proclaimed “Ted Gibson! I love him! I just worked with him on an InStyle magazine shoot!”. It’s obvious you don’t have to be around him long to become completely smitten with the man, his talent, and with the fact he is living his dream out loud. I look forward to visiting his salon, trying out all of his haircare line at some point, and costaring with him on some random footage floating out there of us working together! 😀

You can find Ted Gibson Salon & Hela Spa at The Collection in Chevy Chase 5481 Wisconsin Avenue, Level 2 Chevy Chase, MD 20815 Contact: 301.951.4445

You can also find his complete haircare line at Target stores nationwide: Ted Gibson at Target as well as other select products at Sephora.

Inspiration

“Makeup is Art” Spotlight- Alexandru Abagiu

01/04/2009 1 Comment

When I started doing makeup full time, right around my “mia” makeup is art days, I looked to the internet to find many inspirations. I didn’t have to travel far to find one of my immediate favorites , Alex Abagiu.

I first ran into Alex more than four years ago on a popular pro makeup artist forum called “EmElle’s” that I frequented. I was so in awe of his work but even more in awe that someone with his talent and credibility gave back so willingly to the makeup community. The preciseness, cleanliness, and creativity of his work still comes through in every face he touches.

Alex seemed to dissapear from the scene for a while and his website and his beautiful gallery of work went with him. I was devasted! I wrote EmElle and asked her about him and she reported back with a note she got from Alex mentioning he had been busy with his new role as one of L’Oreal’s lead artists in Romania!

When thinking of the first person to spotlight for this blog there wasn’t a more obvious choice than Alex. He was my original inspiration in the makeup field and years later his work has stood the test of time. His website is now back up with a fresh body of work and it’s just as immaculate as ever. Alexandru Abagiu shows that Makeup is indeed Art.

More of Alex’s work can be found at : Alexandru Abagiu

Inspiration

“Makeup is Art” Reborn

01/03/2009 1 Comment

Welcome to my new baby of 2009!

My name is Kathy Aragon, or Kat for short, and I am a professional makeup artist and hairstylist in and around the DC Metropolitan area up to NY. My work ranges from doing hair/makeup for CNN and high society events to doing commercial and fashion editiorials for popular national magazines.

I started my relationship with the name “Makeup Is Art” after my first little girl, Mia, was born. She was an inspiration to me and when my family and I developed our makeup line we named it after her– “mia” makeup is art. After working on the line for a while I realized my passion started shifting from marketing with doing occasional makeup to wanting to be the creative artist behind the products I believed in. I didn’t want to go the route of using stock pictures for marketing as it didn’t feel genuine to me. I wanted to take the reign and start doing the photoshoots on my own. That is when the makeup bug hit me big time.

The instant gratification I got from creating something beautiful all the while lifting someone else’s spirits was addicting. After the bug hit, I realized I couldn’t do both sides of the job wholeheartedly. My heart just wasn’t in the paperwork anymore. That was when I decided to become a full time freelance makeup artist and retired the “mia” makeup is art line.

I decided to continue with more education and did every workshop and class I came across, but most importantly, I just kept at makeup for years. It wasn’t hard to do because I loved doing it so much. A lot of what I learned to date has been learned through trial and error. I still learn so much on a regular basis from peer artists and even from the everyday woman who shares my love for finding that perfect (for now) product, look, or technique.

It has now been 9 years to the date of when I picked up my first set of makeup brushes and almost 6 years to the date that my line “mia” makeup is art was created.

Cut to January 2009, where the electricity in the air is apparent in the Washington D.C. area. The feeling that there is an exciting new chapter around the corner is apparent. A new sense of passion seems to swell from the hearts around me. My original passion in the makeup field got fueled by my “mia” makeup is art line and my passion now continues to be the makeup and hair work I am blessed to do on a full time basis. I now want to bring those two worlds together in some shape or form and that form seems to be taking place as this blog. I, too, am inspired to start a new chapter and am hoping this blog will be a good way to give back what I have learned through my endeavors.

My posts will be honest and about things I firmly believe in or am inspired by. That I can vouch for as it’s the least I can give to anyone putting time into reading this. I do, however, ask a favor of you. Before my blog starts full speed ahead, I would love to get some feedback as to what type of topics you really look for in a beauty blog. I am open to all ideals and am confident that this blog will find it’s own footing fairly quickly.

I look forward to our time together!

xoxo,

Kat

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