D is for.....Drug Store Finds

If you're anything like me you cannot walk past the makeup section of any store....ever. The following is a list of five drug store products that I use, adore and recommend.

I'm not a big fan of foundation, most people aren't wearing the right shade for their skin and looking at it annoys me. I usually don't wear much makeup (thus the name of the blog) unless I'm going out or I know I'm going to have my picture taken. I love the CG Smoothers Tinted Moisturizer because it really doesn't feel like anything more than moisturizer and it provides a nice smooth look. It's $7.79 at Walgreens.
Covergirl Smoothers Tinted Moisture with SPF 15

I am super picky and have a lot to say about mascara, but I will spare you and just say that of all of the brands I've tried this is my all time #1 favorite mascara. The wand is really fluffy and it thickens and lengthens lashes. $6.54 at Target.
L'Oreal Extra Volume Collagen Mascara


Lip stains add the color of lipstick without the creaminess or transfer issues, like the lipstick on your coffee cup. It's just color, you can wear them plain or put a little gloss over the top. These CG lipstains last quite a long time and they have a nice faint smell. $8.99 Walgreens
Covergirl Outlast Lipstain


I've read that you can use castile soap for a bunch of things so I decided to try it for washing makeup brushes (a task I feel like I spend 80% of my life doing) I was very pleasantly surprised by this soap, it actually foams better than any of the other soaps specifically made for makeup brushes. This mild soap leaves the brushes clean, soft and smelling faintly of lavender. I haven't had to condition the brushes at all since I started using this soap! $9.99 Target
Dr. Bronner's Pure Castile Soap - Lavender

E.L.F. (Eyes Lips Face) products sometimes pop up at Target and they often have a great selection of colors that come in a five pack. They feel light and not at all sticky. These are especially helpful if you tend to misplace your gloss and always find yourself buying more. $5.00 Target.
E.L.F. Lipgloss

Have fun shopping!

-Rach
xoxo

C is for Cast & Crew

I've been lucky enough over the years to work with some incredibly talented people. Whether we're shooting for a day, a week or months, by the final wrap the group feels like family. Some of my favorite people in the world came into my life during filming. A friend told me yesterday that "people come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime." I can wholeheartedly say that hope that all of these people are here for a lifetime. There's no experience that bonds a group of people together quite like making a movie together.
Some Cast & Crew of Fantastic Confabulations- Mike, Harley, Andrew, Tim, Me, Andrew, Chris, Scott & Race....Rick must be taking the picture.




Cast & Crew of Virgin (at a rest stop halfway back from Idaho!)
Seth, Autumn, Tom, Me, Wiley, Abby, Dru & Elayne.... Shawn, Jeffrey, Ian.


Nightshade Cast & Crew-- Erin, Jared, Drew, Me, Shari, Jason, WMP, Rick, Jennifer, Darlene, Kat, Andrew, Frank & Chris


Breaking Cast & Crew---Paula, Jason, Gary, Me, Shari, Jamie, Ryan, Josh, Daniel, Richard, Jeff and a few other awesome people : )

The secret of long lasting eyeshadow!

PROBLEM: Your eyeshadow creases (after a few hours your eyeshadow has migrated to a line in the crease of your upper eyelid) This is a common problem, especially for people with naturally moisturized skin (oily).

SOLUTION: NARS Eyeshadow Base ($24 NARScosmetics.com or Sephora)

If you enjoy eyeshadow this will be THE BEST $24 you'll ever spend. It's a little pricey for thrifty shoppers like me, but I bought mine in July and have used it on every single client of mine since then and I've still got plenty. I would recommend you decant it into a small well sealed jar to get to the product the want applicator can't reach. A little of this product goes a long ways, so you'll just need a small dot of the product on each eyelid, spread it out with your clean finger or a clean eyeshadow brush. It should lightly cover all areas you plan to use shadow. Give it a second to dry and then apply shadow as you normally would. Enjoy!

B is for Brushes

No matter how many makeup brushes I have- I’ll always want more. I love how a nice brush feels in my hand and how soft the bristles are. I’m fascinated by the different shapes of brushes, the variety of uses and the colors. It’s amazing how I’ve become completely dependent on a few specific brushes, for example, my MAC 208 angled brow & 242 shader are my go-to brushes for filling in brows and blending shadow around the eyes for the perfect smoky eye. I’m also completely dependent on my new Sonia Kashuk angled precision brush for doing my own gel eyeliner.

With the average price of a single brush ranging from $4 up to $60, you can see how brushes are one of the biggest investments makeup artists make. Luckily, quality brushes that are properly cared for can live a long, full life.

I have to confess though, that I’m prone to leaving my brushes in weird places. I wish I had a Snickers bar for every time some film crew member came up to me at the end of the day and handed me a brush. Even though I use a set bag, I still manage to set brushes down and walk away.

I’ve been investing in some new pricier brushes lately and trying really hard to retire some of my older (well loved) brushes. That being said, I can’t seem to bring myself to take the older brushes out of my kit so I’m setting a goal, you are officially a witness. By the end of this week, the old brushes will be nestled away in my makeup storage.

A is for airbrush

I know I've blogged about airbrushing before, but I wanted to try to go in order and I can't think of a better use for the letter A. I've been using the airbrush for about a year now and I totally love it. You’d be really hard pressed to talk me into going back to traditional foundation. Airbrushing the foundation on is so quick and easy and I'm always hearing how relaxing the airbrushing feels. I've been doing a ton of film work and the airbrushed actors look great on camera and the makeup is perfectly imperceptible, even on the high definition cameras. I've tried a couple different types of airbrush makeup and my favorite is still Graftobian High Definition. I'm personally not a huge fan of foundation, I think it's important, BUT I don't like to feel like I'm wearing a mud mask all day long. I think that makeup should feel natural when you're wearing it, if you can FEEL it, something isn't right. That's another reason why airbrushing is awesome, it doesn't feel like anything, because it lays such a light layer over the skin it's really comfortable and it lasts much longer than traditional makeup. It actually lasts through sweat, dirt, tears and pretty much anything else you throw at it. Airbrushing has really come in handy whether I have a ton of actors lined up waiting for makeup or a huge bridal party in 95 degree weather. At this time I’d like to send a shout out to my airbrush….We’ve been through so much together, we’ve had our ups and downs, but thank you, I really couldn’t have done it without you!

burying a body with friends

They say a friend will help you move, but a best friend will help you move a body. This summer I had the opportunity to bury a body with some of my favorite people. We filmed the short A Man, Buried, written and directed by Jesse Watson (Shallow Copy). The crew was awesome and the cast was amazing and incredibly talented. I spent some good quality time with the cast & crew and got to know everyone better.

My top 5 memories from those 5 days

-Me, Chris Taylor, Jesse Watson, Andrew Forderer, Frank Fu, Matt Bergman + bachelorette party

-Milk & cookies. Every. Single. Night.

-Me + Darlene Sellers+ Footloose at 1am

-Me & Erin using our Tetris skills to re-arrange the furniture in our hotel room so we could fit in the extra bed and still be able to move around the room.

-Matt Bergman on our choice of Indian food the previous night “remember that thing that we didn’t want to happen? Well, it happened”

I had such a blast working on A Man, Buried and I can’t wait to see the finished product. I’ve seen some clips and so far it looks awesome.

I’m really lucky to have such talented, hard working & creative friends. I'd like to thank Jesse Watson, Chris Taylor, Andrew Forderer, Matt Bergman, Frank Fu, Erin Viraldo, Darlene Sellers, Tony Doupe, Dawson Doupe, Carly Norton, Cameron Anderson and everyone else involved.

Erica + Chuck

I love everything about these guys, especially how creative they were with every aspect of their wedding from the bride's gorgeous yellow wedding gown, the faux 'staches for the groom & groomsmen and the overall theme of Camp Hats 'N Pants. I was so happy to be a part of their special day, they just beam with love for each other and they're full of awesome infectious positive energy.