March 29,2007
Leonard Wu, who is one of the thug actors on the movie, "While she Was Out" needed a quick facial. So, we called in the professionals at Glow Skin Care. They came to his hotel room and set up the Microdermabration and the Cold Laser Treatment machines. It took just 1 hour to resurface his face and make his skin smooth and fresh looking without any redness. After seeing such great results on Leonard's skin, I booked a treatment for the following week. Cold Laser is also known as low level laser OR low level light OR LLLT. The session started off with a complete skin analysis. I usually give myself a moisture mask and a facial scrub once a week. But I was surprised how much work I needed to improve the texture and look of my face. Donna from Glow Skin Care, started with the Microdermabration, which cleaned and resurfaced my face. Then she used the red light laser for my acne scars, pigmentation spots, and fine lines around my eyes. She then switched over to the blue light laser, to treat the broken capillaries and the deeper lines on my forehead, each time applying a different treatment gel to target the problem area. After my treatment, which by the way is painless, she applied Clayton Shagal Collagen Gel all over my face, for moisture. Then a thin layer of Clayton Shagal Elastin Gel for elasticity and firmness. My face felt tingly all over. There was no redness, my skin felt smoother, the fine lines around my eyes had disappeared, the pores on my nose had shrunk, and the orange peel texture was gone. Cold Laser Therapy can also help to reduce scars, stretch marks, spider veins, rosacea, psoriasis, dark circles. Cold Laser can help in hair loss and skin lightening and reduce cellulite. Prices range from $120 - $250. A series of 6 treatments are recommended for best results.

Microdermabration and spa treatments: Bianches, Vancouver 604-732-7265
Visit their website at: www.bianches.com

For Cold Laser Therapy, call Glow Skin Care, in Vancouver 604-961-8439

April 3,2007
Being a hairstylist in the film industry, makes it hard to look your best. Because of working long hours, I never have time to color my roots, get a haircut, buy groceries, workout or get your nails done. Speaking of nails, my hands are in and out of water constantly because of washing and coloring hair. When I am working with wigs and hair extensions, I use spirit gum adhesive and 99% alcohol. The nail bed becomes soft and sometimes discolored because of hair color. Nail polish will chip off within a day. The gel nails aren’t strong enough either because they will chip off as well. A great alternative is acrylic nails. Acrylic nails seem to last the longest. If they are applied correctly, the nail bed can be made thicker and stronger, but still looking feminine and pretty. I love having the French manicure look. The French manicure look is the most natural look, with a soft pink base and the white tips. There are many different brands out there so be aware of them. If you are Caucasian like me, then you may have a thinner nail bed. In this case, you may want the “flawless finish”, it hides the imperfections. In spring of last year, I was working on the movie, "Whisperer" starring Sarah Wayne Callies, (main actor in the television series, Prison Break). Sarah had acyrlic nails applied. They just polished her look for the character in "Whisperer". She loved them! Acrylic nails can cost about $50 and can be applied within an hour. They will last up to 4 weeks. Then you will have to book another appointment to get a nail fill which will cost about $40. Make sure they don’t convince you to have the gel topcoat because it will chip off easily if your hands are in water.
My 2 favorite nail techs in North Vancouver are;

Darlene at Chrysalis Your Urban Refuge 604-990-1701
Paul at Princess Nails 604-990-2964 their website is:
www.princessnails.ca

March 25, 2007
Since my year round job are my clients that come to my home studio, I got up early today to put on a set of eyelash extensions. Tracy loves having the full set of medium flare lashes. I call this the Glam Look. She purchased an Eyelash Extensions Kit to take home with her. She told me later that she convinced her husband to apply a lash flare when one came off. Now he applies the lash extensions whenever one falls out. What a great husband!
As you all well know by now, I’ve been transformed into the night owl. I never really see the light of day. I say good morning to my family at 3:30pm, sometimes I’m still at home to have dinner with them at 5pm, and then it’s off to work. The set location has changed. So now you have to somehow focus on figuring out the map attached to the call sheet. You sit in your car, turn on the dome light and spend 10 minutes figuring out the directions. And of course for my assistant Calla, she needs to find a route that will take her right past a Starbucks Coffee.
I have this young, bubbly, assistant. Her name is Calla Dreyer. We call her the Hair and Makeup Swing. Now that doesn’t mean the same as “swinger”. She has this cute little laugh that no matter how serious the deal is, she’ll make a joke of it. Like I always say ”It’s not brain surgery we’re just making a movie”.
I’m also working with a wonderful, funny, Annie Lennox look alike, Kiwi Makeup Artist by the name of Amanda McGowan. She keeps the pace in the hair and make up trailer, with her traveling ipod and docking station cranked with Ambient to House to R& B and sometimes even the Classical Bach tunes. The ipod video and ipod nano, all fit into these docking sound systems. They are great to have in our hair and makeup trailer because of the small size and the big sound. On weekends, Amanda can pack it up in just seconds, put it in her purse and take it home with her. I keep my ipod video in my docking sound system in my salon at home. It’s small enough to sit on the window ledge and still has a great full sound.
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Check out your mac store at;
www.macipod.com
Amada McGowan has a makeup site at
www.amandamcgowan.com

March 19,2007
I managed to get a few hours of sleep this morning, and had time to put a set of eyelash extensions on my eyes before arriving on the movie set. I applied 3 flare lashes to the outer corners of each eye. Then I applied a little black, non waterproof Pro Lash mascara by MAC, to the remaining lashes to blend together. This creates a look that makes your eyes look bigger. I call this the Cat Eye Look. Then I apply Prep+Prime Eye (medium) by MAC, for the dark circles around my eyes. Then a little eyeliner from MAC Fluidline (blitz & glitz). I think that the grips and electrics even noticed my big, bright blue eyes today.
Just so all of you understand what happens on the movie set. We all wear black. We don’t want to be noticed. You ask why, well we do this to blend into the background. You never want to be caught in front of the camera, especially in your outdated baby blue flared hipsters. Our crew uniform consists of many layers. Let’s start with the long underwear, which of course must wick away any sweat against your body. Then comes the multiple layers of Polartec fleece, then the North Face puffy coat and top it all off with the Halley Hansen Gortex Jacket. Now of coarse its raining or will be a some point of the evening so I put on my wick away thermal socks with the adhesive Toe Warmers attached to the bottom of my socks and now I slip on the Sorrel waterproof boots. I pull on my gloves and finally I wrap a soft cashmere scarf around my neck, it’s my only luxury item. Then I put on my toque! For those of you living in the States, if you have ever been to Canada you would know that a toque is a French Canadian word for hat.


Hand warmers , makeup supplies and other film accessories in Vancouver go to:
www.hollynorth.com
Looking for makeup we use on the actors? Check out:
www.maccosmetics.com
If you need fashionable, warm, fleece clothes check out:
www.polartec.com
For funky colored men’s and ladies down filled short and long coats go to:
www.northface.com

March 17,2007
Still working nights on the movie set of “While She Was Out”, here in Vancouver, Canada. For all of you guys out there who don’t know what a Call Sheet is, it gives you all the details for the day at hand…arrival for actors, makeup times, out of makeup times, set times for actors, start times for crew members, catering breakfast times, lunch break times, weather reports, scenes to be filmed, pickup times for producers and director. But there are 2 things we never know, your bathroom breaks and the quitting time. But of course no one ever sticks to the schedule. There’s always the domino effect. For instance, if the actor Lukas Haas’ pick up time changes, then his driver gets caught in rush hour traffic, he will arrive 2 hours late. Now the director is ready for him and wants to begin shooting the scenes. Lukas jumps into the Makeup & Hair trailer, no time for small talk, no extras today. I quickly spray on Redken Guts Spray Foam. The Guts foam is similar to using mouse but it’s much faster and not as messy as mouse. All I do is spray the Guts foam directly all over Lukas’s hair. Now, I must turn the blow dryer on high heat and squealing high speed. It would normally take me 20 minutes to fluff and buff Lukas’s hair, but I’m working my magic in 7 minutes flat. I finish his controlled messy look with a little Sebastian Crude Clay for texture and low shine. It’s raining again tonight so I have to spray a little of the Redken Headset 25 Extra Strength Finishing Spray. Now he will go to Amanda’s make up chair for a quick 15 minutes. He won’t be getting his arm tattoos today, the director say they won’t be seen on camera. Amanda will air brush the Revlon Colorstay makeup base. She’s done! So now we have shaved off 35 minutes. Too bad they won’t notice how fast we put him through Hair and Make up. The Director and Producers are glad to see him on set. But of course we don’t hear a word from the crew on set. Like they say in film “no news is good news”

The Redken Guts Volume Spray Foam is great for adding lots of body in fine, limp hair. It’s great for guys and gals.
Check out Redken at; www.redken.com
The Sebastian Crude Clay is modeling clay, great for short hair. It has a pliable, strong hold with a real matte finish.
Check out Sebastian products at; www.sebastian-intl.com

Mar 15,2007
The actor, Luis Chavez who is one of the 4 thugs in the movie, “While She Was Out’. Luis steps up into the Make up & Hair trailer. I get my good morning hug before he sits down into the chair. I start with a light misting of bottled water, which is replaced in my spritz bottle. Then I squeeze a fair amount of American Crew Gel into the palm of my hand and work it thru Luis’s damp hair. Now for the low hum of the warm blow dryer that puts him into a trance. We casually talk about how many hours of sleep we all got the night before, the emails we received from our friends today, and what scenes he will be doing later tonight. I’ve blow-dried his hair completely sticking up everywhere like a Don King punker. Then I add the American Crew Tea Tree Extra Firm Styling Cream on my fingertips. I then rub my hands together and work the styling cream through the ends of the hair only. I spend another few minutes twisting the hair together into 2-inch sections making them look randomly chunky. This styling cream adds lots of texture and a pliable hold. It also has a low shine. And then a final touch of Redken Headset 25 Extra Strength Finishing Spray since it is raining hard outside tonight, I’ll need to keep it looking this way for a few hours. The great thing about these hair products, is that they are all water based, and will leave no build up in the hair and they will wash out easily without a residue. These are great products for the guys to use and Luis likes how great they smell too.

Check out the full line of American Crew Tea Tree products at www.americancrew.com
and the finishing hair products of Redken at www.redken.com

I’m working on a movie called, "While She Was Out". This is an Independent Film. The producers are Don Murphy and Kirk Shaw from Insight Film Studios. Kim Basinger is producing and starring in this movie. The Executive Producers are Kim Basinger and Guillermo del Toro. And for any of you movie buffs out there , Guillermo del Toro wrote and directed Pans Labyrinth . As you all well know, this movie received many Oscars. Pans Labyrinth won in Best Make-up, Best Foreign Film and Best Art Direction. Enough about Pans Labyrinth, let me tell you about this film that I’m working on now. The director of this movie, “While she was out” is a former producer by the name Susan Montford. This film will be done in real time. It is a 90 minute film of Kim Basinger(Della) who drives to the local mall, and finds herself being chased by 4 local thugs. They follow her from the mall parking lot, down country roads and then having her vehicle breakdown in a new subdivision that is vacant. She grabs her toolbox from the trunk of her vehicle. But of course I’m not going to tell you how it ends. A real suspense thriller. We began filming February12 and will be finished somewhere around the 23 of March,2007. I’ll keep you posted.

Hello and welcome to my eyelash extension and beauty aid blog!
Check back often for the latest product info and techniques. As a hairstylist in the film business I have the opportunity to work with some of the best talent in the industry. Because of this I also get to try out some of the latest products from leading suppliers like M.O.P, Redken, Oster, MAC Cosmetics, Pureology and more.