Official Naked Giveaway Rules!

Ok everyone here is what you have been waiting for. The Naked Basics Palette giveaway! One lucky beauty will walk away with this palette for FREE! There are two ways you can enter this contest. So here are the official rules for THE NAKED GIVEAWAY2013:

First way to enter the contest:

1. MUST FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM @MUANATALIEPATRICE

2. MUST "LIKE" CONTEST PHOTO ON MY PROFILE

3. MUST REPOST CONTEST PHOTO WITH #NAKEDGIVEAWAY2013-MUST TAG ME AN LET PEOPLE KNOW IM RUNNING THE CONTEST.

4. MUST BE A PUBLIC PROFILE DURING & AFTER THE CONTEST, NO PRIVATE PROFILES WILL BE ACCEPTED.

Second way to enter if you dont have Instagram:

1. YOU MUST "LIKE" MY FACEBOOK FANPAGE AT WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/NATALIEPBEAUTY

2. YOU MUST SHARE THE CONTEST PHOTO FROM MY FANPAGE ON YOUR WALL.

Additional Rules:

1. MUST BE 18+/ USA ONLY TO ENTER

2. UNLIMITIED ENTRIES PER ACCOUNTS, THE MORE YOU REPOST AND SHARE THE MORE YOU IMPROVE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING. IF YOU DO NOT FOLLOW THE CONTEST RULES OR YOU UNFOLLOW ME OR UNLIKE MY PAGE DURING THE CONTEST YOU WILL BE DISQUALIFIED.

3. IF YOU UNFOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM OR UNLIKE MY FANPAGE AFTER THE CONTEST, YOU WILL BE BANNED FROM ANY FURTHER GIVEAWAY'S.

4. THIS CONTEST WILL END ON 3/24/2013 @NOON EST. I WILL ANNOUNCE THE WINNER ON INSTAGRAM AND FACEBOOK. YOU MUST EMAIL ME AT NPBEAUTY1@GMAIL.COM WITHIN 24 HOURS TO CLAIM YOUR PRIZE. IF YOU DO NOT CLAIM YOUR PRIZE WITHIN THAT TIME FRAME I WILL GO TO THE RUNNER UP.

The Do's & Hell No's of Makeup

Now you can tell just by the title what im about to get into. There are alot of common mistakes amateurs and professional makeup artist make in this industry. I am guilty myself of a few of these(im not telling which lol). We all want to be the best makeup artist that we can so here are a few tips to help everyone out.

DO: When color matching foundation, match it to your jawline and neck. You always want a smooth transition.

DON'T: Use your cheek or hand to match foundation. I have even seen top professionals teach people in the webinars to match foundation by blending it into the cheek. Sure it will match your cheek, but alot of people like myself, the jawline is a darker shade, see the problem?

DO:  Some people choose to apply foundation before or after doing the eyes(personally I do it after), if you need to apply anything after you have done the foundation and you know your hands will touch the face. Use a 4x4 or Kleenex to shield your hand from the face.

DON'T:  Directly put your hand to the clients face, you could wipe off or smudge foundation and blush. If your anything like me, you might have makeup on your hand and dont realize it and now you have put that makeup on your clients face.

DO: When applying eye shadow or blush, tap the brush why its in the upward position, to get to excess product off the blush before applying it to the client.

DON'T: Blow on your brushes!, so you can put particles and germs from your mouth onto the brush to deposit on the clients face. Its just not sanitary!

DO: Always be honest with your clients about your product knowledge and education in the field  If you dont know the answer to a question, dont be afraid to let people know you dont know. You can also let them know you will get back to them and try to find the information.

DON'T: LIE! Never give someone information that your unsure of, you could potentially harm a client if you give them information your not sure of on a product. They could use it and break out or have an allergic reaction. Your credibility with that client could be ruined, and trust me people will tell everyone about there bad experiences before the good.

DO: You should always clean your products and brushes after each gig. You should wash brushes atleast two times a week if not more depending on how often you have gigs. When washing your brushes its best to let them dry face down(brush guards come in handy with this), it helps them dry faster and get all the water out of the brush.

DON'T: Dry your brushes by placing them face up, water will get trapped and loosen the glue that holds the brush together. Also the hairs will start to shed out of your brush, and not to mention the germs that will settle into that brush eww lol.

There are plenty of Do's and what where you thinking? lol but i will save more of those for another day. We work in a field where alot of our clients are uneducated so they may or may not know if we are practicing proper makeup techniques, so its up to you to make sure your are on point with your work ethics. Do your best and until next time remember "Quality over Quantity".

Be Who You Want To Be.

I have come to realize in life, there will be people who will try to tell you how to run your life because they have "been there" before. I ask that you please bare with me through my ranting today.

I had a conversation with a family member yesterday that left me a little more than irritated. I had to tell myself at one point why are you letting someone upset you, when they aren't a professional makeup artist, they don't run their own business, and they just aren't you. Now believe me people mean well when they give you advice or tell you how you should do things, but at the end of the day you know you better than anyone else. If you guys are anything like me, sometimes you tend to listen to family a little more than you should. I know i kick myself for doing it all the time. You will reach a point when you've had enough and you decide that, maybe you wont share so much with others. If you tell less to people, you will have less problems, and even less people trying to tell you how to do it.

The best advice i can give anyone, is do what you want to do as long as your happy and it doesn't involve causing harm to others. We look to others for praise and acceptance for what we do, when we really should look for that from ourselves. We have to make our own bed to lay in at the end of the day. So do what you feel you need to do to have success in your life and careers. To receive a 4 year degree is not for everyone, running your own business is not for everyone, get my drift? So take the path that you know will bring you success and a peace of mind at the end of the day.

I have to continue to remind myself that no one runs my life but me, not my parents, my boyfriend, friends, ME! I take chances and i make alot of mistakes, but i will never live in the "what if" factor and that makes me completely satisfied. Live life folks, you don't get to do it all over again. Time is not on our side, so till next time remember "Quality over Quantity"

Product Review: Morphe Brushes

I decided this week I would talk about some products. It's very hard to find great brushes for a reasonable price these days. Everyone is on a budget so I decided I would share with you guys one place I shop for brushes. So all you makeup lovers I hope you enjoy.

Morphe Brushes is a great company that offers great quality brushes for a low price you can't beat. They sell Italian Badger to Synthetic brushes plus more. I can honestly say I'm very happy with my purchases with this company. They have brush sets for as low as $20! I paid about $11 for my Italian Badger jumbo kabuki fan brush an I love it! They Italian Badger brushes barely shed any hair, and my fellow makeup artist you know how we hate doing makeup and the hair sheds on the clients face, so not cool.

Morphe Brushes also offers private labeling for their brushes. I haven't tried this out myself but I will be soon enough. They also sell eye shadow and blush palettes, disposables, and even esthetics essentials too. I have their blush palette and I really like it, just a little bit of blush goes a long way. I noticed some brands of blushes you have to literally dig the brush into the blush to get the product, that is not the case with this palette.

I had one order where they sent me the wrong lip applicators, I emailed them and they responded right away. They told me to keep the ones I had an I received the right ones within three days. This is one of my top choices for ordering brushes. I do believe that you have to spend a minimum of $25 to order, but with all the great products they have I'm sure you will have no problems. If you guys have brands that you stand by share them! Until next week remember "Quality over Quanity"

Check Out Morphes Website By Clicking Here.

Struggles Of Makeup Artists

As a professional makeup artist, its alot of things I see good and bad being in this industry. I believe that makeup artists play one of the biggest parts in this industry, and alot of times we dont get the credit we deserve. Have you ever seen the Grammy's and a star comes walking down the red carpet, and she has on a beautiful dress, hair is styled, but no makeup on? You would never see that, a makeup artist brings everything together. 

We work very hard to establish a career for ourselves, some people do it part-time, and others like myself do it as a full-time career. I personally do not work for free unless its for a particular magazine publication. Makeup artist invest too much into their kit, traveling, and other expenses to work for free. It burns me up when photographer contacts me about rates, I give it to them and then they say "such an such said they would do it for $35/45" How many of you have experienced this yourself?

Here is a simple break down of some of the products I use doing a full face & the cost: 

Foundation-$22
Concealer-$15
Eyeshadow-$7-20
Eye Liner-$10
Lipstick/gloss-$7-16
Eyebrow Pencil-$9
Blush-$10-15
Mascara-$8-20
Setting Powder-$12
Total=approx. $139


Now where did people get TFP, Free, or $35 from that? That is just some of my items and the prices I pay for product. The bottom line is we are professionals that provide a service, therefore we should always be paid. You dont go to a restaurant and eat for free, you dont shop at your favorite store for free, so why do people think makeup artistry should be free? 


Bottom line is we are professionals. To protect yourself against running into issues like that, make sure you have contracts in place to protect you and your business. Stick to your guns, I see too many makeup artist settle for the quick dollar instead of sticking to the guns and getting paid their worth. Trust me I know, I fell victim to the same thing too at one point. I once read would you rather have 10 gigs that pay $40ea. that add up to $400, or that 1 gig for $400?

Your business is a direct outlook of yourself, so what do you stand for?

Importance Of A Website

I wanna talk about some reasons why you should have a website if you already have or plan on running a business. To have a website is very crucial if you plan to run a business or, if you just want to network a certain set of skills you have. Everything we do now revolves around the Internet and social medias, so it would only make sense to showcase your skills on the web. Having a website shows that you are serious about what you do. I remember when I first started doing makeup, people would ask me if I had a website, and at the time I didn't. I noticed that once I did I was receiving more calls for gigs.

Its says to folks your a professional when you have a site, people can see the quality of your work, learn a little about who you are as a person, and decide if your someone they would want to do business with. I cant stress enough how HUGE the quality of your site means for your business. I understand not everyone has the money to invest in a top quality site, but have a starting point and build on it. Just think, would you think to buy clothes from a website and half the images don't load, and you click on the links but they don't work, no right? So why no invest in the quality of your site? I just had my whole site redone and it was well worth it.

I guarantee you the better the quality of your work and site, the more money you will make. Its all about how you display yourself to the world. Your site should be easy to follow, and show off your specific set of skills that you have. If someone goes to your site and they still have to ask you "what do you do?" You might wanna go back and revamp your site. 

Be creative, have fun with it, this is your way to introduce yourself to the world. Show people how unique and different you are from everyone else. Always remember "Quality over Quantity" 

www.np-beauty.com