Friday, January 23, 2009

Just Right...

A few weeks ago, I attended an annual event at my company, where I had to give a speech in front of 200 people. I have to do this every year, and every year, I look at photos of myself and wish I had gotten a professional makeup application. So this year, I decided to do just that.

Too cold... Here I am on a normal day without makeup. I hardly wear makeup during the week.



Too hot (in a very very bad way)! What I looked like after a MAC makeup application. Please don't laugh!

Initially, I thought I could get away with a counter job at my local Bloomingdale's.
I did a test drive before the Bee Holiday Party. Usually, I love the work of MAC makeup artists. 90% of my own makeup is purchased from MAC. I told the lady that I was interested in a natural look since it was a casual party. The artist wanted to surprise me and therefore didn't want me to look at the mirror until she was completely finished. And boy was I surprised. Erase that... I was shocked. I did not get natural at all. Instead, I got electric blue liner and silver and blue shadows. My eyes were heavily lined on both sides and thus made to seem much smaller than they actually are. The colors did not go very well with my skin tone either. I was so mortified, I didn't know what to say. I lied and faked that I loved it and promptly went to the ladies' room to attempt to fix my face. I love false lashes and asked for some natural ones... instead, I got drag queen lashes. So I removed the lashes, but there wasn't much I could do about the rest of the makeup save for removing it all and then just doing it again myself, but I was out of time.

So for my big event, I decided to call on a real professional. I found Nam Vo on the Weddingbee discussion boards and happily learned that she had recently moved to New York (but Nam travels all over the country to work). I immediately requested an appointment and she was super fast in responding over email. For long time readers, you may recall that Nam Vo was also the beautiful Mrs. Egglplant's makeup artist. After reading all the rave reviews on the boards, I was so psyched to be made up by a true professional-- I was still recovering from my MAC snafu!

I arrived at Nam's and she got to work right away. First off, Nam just bubbles with personality and charm. We got to chatting and laughing within the first few minutes of meeting, which was great in helping me relax and stop worrying about the outcome. She took a look at my face and asked what I wanted. I requested, "Natural face, dramatic eyes." And I got just that. I had also been breaking out that week with a few zit scars on my forehead and Nam magically made them all disappear. I felt glamorous but not overly made up. I also got the fake lashes that looked super natural. Nam applied each lash individually to make it seem like I had fuller lashes, that didn't look fake!

Just right... Tada! Feeling great after Nam's handiwork.


The side view. See... no more zit scars!


Closer details of the eyeshadow. Nam spent the most time on my eyes and I loved it. FYI, Nam is very well known for doing the perfect Asian eye. Not an easy feat, I tell ya.

I got so many compliments that evening. I also felt great and didn't worry about my makeup at all, which allowed me to focus on delivering my speech. It was such a relief!

If you're still shopping for a makeup artist in New York, definitely contact Nam. You'll be in good hands.

Contact Info
Nam Vo
Email: makeupnv@gmail.com
Phone: 917.574.9311

Have you ever had a very bad makeup application? What did you do? Take it off or suck it up and leave it on?

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