New Year: All About Beauty

I am not very good at keeping up with my blog as you can tell from the date of my last post. But as a resolution, I will try (key word try) to keep updating this page.

If you didn't already know I am a fan of colorful, dramatic, editorial, avant garde makeup with big glowing highlights. Lately I had been doing just that and I thought that since we're starting a new year I should do the opposite of what I'd been doing. I wanted to do a beauty photo shoot.

I contacted Abnel Gonzalez, a great photographer with whom I work with often and he said he was in. From there I contacted my go-to hair stylist for photo shoots, Belky Cabrera and the rest was a peace of cake! Abnel sent me an image as inspiration and we both thought of picking out 3 models who had exotic faces but  blue/green eyes. We found a russian girl with intense blue eyes and two Puerto Rican beauties with incredible features.

(Leslie)

(Ariana)

                                                                       

Makeup-wise I knew I wanted to color just on the lips with the rest of the face to remain glowing and fresh. For highlight I used 4-5 different products, ranging from liquid, cream and powders. All 3 of these girls have sharp features so my jobs was pretty easy when it came to framing their faces. I used loose shimmery pigments on their eyes. Since I put individual and a band of false lashes I didn't line their eyes. Their lips were the fun part, lots of colors. For Leslie with her green eyes and Rihanna-like features I used 3 lip tars from OCC doing a gradient from purple to pale blue. On Ariana I knew I wanted pink to accentuate the green in her eyes, so I used 4 OCC lip tars going from hot pink to baby pink. Since Oxana has such striking blue eyes I wanted to use a complimentary color like orange so I used 4 OCC lip tars going from orange to yellow.

Belky did an amazing job with all the girls' hair. They were all different but with 1 thing in common, lots of volume!

Here are the final pictures

I was so happy with the end result, the girls looked stunning, classic yet modern. It's the perfect way to start a new year!

I hope you liked this and thanks for reading! 

- Carolina Rufat

Well it sure has been a while since I've posted. Don't think I haven't thought about you (however many of "you" are reading this), I've just been so incredibly busy I barely have time for me. I'm working 4 jobs, which means all I do is work.

To make due for all the time I've been gone I'm going to post a few entries with pictures of editorials I've done since I've been absent from the blogging world.

This was published in El Nuevo Dia as part of a "fall/winter makeup trends"article. I was asked to do a makeup look that translated into all holiday parties. Being the fan of color that I am, I didn't want to do just a red lip and a winged liner. Normal things bore me to no end. Instead I chose to do a gold/olive smokey eye with a bold purple lip. I mean, if you're going to say Hello to a new year, you might as well look good doing it!
Link to the Article
Link to Photo Gallery


Last May I did the cover and 2 editorials for Matte Mag's summer issue "Youth in Revolt" and "Wrap Around". I had so much fun on both editorials but of course my favorite was "Wrap Around". Why? Because I was given creative freedom, and any artist can tell you that is the best feeling in the world.

The concept behind the cover's editorial was just young people being wild and free, while looking very stylish, of course. The concept behind "Wrap Around" was basically that of a butterfly. She starts off all wrapped up as if she were a caterpillar, then slowly but surely she evolves into a beautiful creature. We shot this on the roof of a 3-story building at noon. This poor girl was burning up but you never would have known it, she took it like a champ and worked the camera.

Link to Matte Mag issu


 Last fall I did the cover and editorial of Magacin. I had the pleasure of working with Zoila Algarín, a model who I always dreamt of making up ever since I first saw her. The look for this was very dramatic, very much like the models in Robert Palmer's now iconic video "Addicted to Love".

Zoila has incredible skin to begin with so I didn't really need to use many products. To take this look from 80s to the new century I used a Senna Cosmetics' Tinted Moisturizer and Liquid Ice for that glowing and dewy finish.

 Link to Article
 Link to Photo Gallery


I have done many other things this past year but I can't upload them all here. I welcome you to visit my page on Facebook where I have all my recent and past work. Thank you for sticking around after all this time, I appreciate your support.


Thanks for reading.


- Carolina

Reviva Labs Review, Part II

The wonderful people at Reviva Labs contacted me once again to review a few more of their products. Having already loved the products they initially sent me I accepted.

So here I am, ready to tell you about these 3 products I tried. The first is the Organic Cleansing Milk.

($9.50)

"A herbalist's cornucopia of wonders that not only deep cleanse but also help improve skin tone and add antiseptic and antibacterial action. Today's pollution gets deep into pores. So, Reviva Labs newly formulated Organic Cleansing Milk contains certified organic herbs, floral water, aloe vera plus aromatherapy oils and a complex of vegetable extracts that penetrate deeply to flush dirt from pores. Leaves skin feeling fresh, moist and immaculately clean. Creamy, soothing, it's also an excellent makeup remover."

Ecliptica: Caposhi

Once again I was with the Ecliptica duo doing makeup for their Fall/Winter 2011 Collection called "Caposhi' . The look and clothes of this collection was all about the 70s.

Javier Romero was, of course, the head makeup artist and he showed us what the makeup would be like. Golden eyes, nude/pink lips and healthy glowing skin. The event was sponsored by L'Oreal. We received powder foundations, lip liners, eyeliners, lipsticks, primers, blushes, mascaras and makeup removers.

The look was pretty much simple but I ran into the trouble that one of my models had broken out 2 days before the show. I had to cover up those bad boys without making her look pasty, which was hard because she's so pale (picture of both of us below), but makeup does wonders!

"Hello Abu Dhabi" Editorial for Matte Mag

This shoot was a lot of fun. I got to do 2 of my favorite things: dewy skin and color. Of course, I would have liked to have used more colors but that isn't up to me, it's up to the stylist, who on this shoot was Mr. Christian Ramirez.

I came in fully stocked with lots of eyeshadows and pigments but in the end I only used MAC's Orange. Now, I know I said above that I got to use "color" but remember that on shoots, I have no control over the makeup. Yes, I apply it but I don't choose the looks or colors and most of the time stylists want simple makeup because they don't want it to take away from the clothes so the fact that I used an Orange eyeshadow and a purple liner was pretty sweet.

It was because of this shoot that I made 2 pretty amazing discoveries The girls' skin had to look glowy but I have the problem that although the foundations in my kit are pretty damn great, they tend to dry out quickly and I don't have enough time to blend them out on skin. The first thing that I discovered is that when I mixed the foundation with my beloved Argan Bronzing Oil it went on the skin like butter! It blended effortlessly and the end result was glowy, dewy, beautiful skin! The second thing was that when I asked Christian if he wanted the cheeks to look really contoured or slightly flushed he said "contoured". What he did next I'll never forget, he chose MAC's Blue Green Pigment was the blush/contour. I put it on thinking "Ok, he's insane. This is going to work. Wait.... this is working. Wow!" The end result was a gorgeous kind of orange/brick-red color that worked perfectly as a contour and blush.

(Here they have the Blue Green Pigment as contour already. Also to give their arms and chest a glow I used Extra Virgin Olive Oil)

Mega Electronic Fest Makeup 2011

This was the toughest job I've done to date. I was contacted to do makeup on MEF (Mega Electronic Fest) just 3 days before the show. MEF is a 12-hour festival where DJs from all over the world came to play their music for their fans. I was told that I had to do makeup on 26 performers. As soon as I heard that I freaked out a little because I had called all the makeup artists I knew but none could do it on such short notice.

EOTD: Golden Jester

This "eye of the day" is the product of me taking a look at my necklace collection, seen below...



And this one caught my eye. I'd been wanting to do some more eye makeups and this necklace had just what I needed: contrasting colors and fun shapes.

Beauty Shot: Bleached Spots

The photographer called me the day before the actual shoot to see if we wanted to do a beauty shot of whatever I wanted. I, of course, said yes.

Since this was improvised I had not idea what I was going to do. I just packed a little bit of everything in my kit. I'd seen a picture on Model Mayhem of a model who had lines and spots on her face. If you don't already know, I love messy, colorful makeup, basically makeup out of the ordinary. So I drew inspiration from that model's makeup and a look I'd done on myself before (picture below).

ICON Magazine's Cover Feb/Mar 2011

Oh, this shoot was such an event! We were supposed to shoot on location at some beautiful gardens but this is Puerto Rico one day it's sunny, then it's raining like there's no tomorrow, the next it's sunny and then it's cloudy, it's just the way things work here. The days before the shoot had been perfectly sunny, but of course, the day of the shoot it got really cloudy, meaning the shoot had to be moved to indoors. We went to a studio near the salon where the model got her hair done and I started working on her there.

(Picture taken with my phone)

Makeup for Cultura Profetica's "Baja La Tension"

The day started at 10:00am. When I got there I set up my station and just waited for the band members and extras to start arriving. After about an hour the extras came in. Most of the people I did makeup on that day were men. I did makeup on 3 women: one of them played a babysitter which meant pretty basic "day" makeup, the next was a Cougar and her makeup was sultry and dark, the last one was the "prom queen" who's makeup had to be over-done and dramatic. For the Prom Queen I did a medium brown smokey eye and hot pink lips. The lipstick was provided by the Producer, Miss Natalia Collazo.

Reviva Labs Review

I was approached a couple of months by the wonderful people at Reviva Labs to review a few of their products. Among them was their new Essential Fatty Acids (EFA) Cream. I told them I would be happy to, seeing as how I'm always looking into new moisturizers, anything to make my skin better. I told them about the products that caught my attention and in a matter of days they were at my door.

Happy Holidays! (EOTD)

This all started because I was about to throw away a pair of lashes when I thought "Why not just use them one last time? Throw some glitter in there!" So I used a light green gel glitter liner from NYX and covered them but I let them dry well enough before I touched them again.

NOCTURNO Magazine Cover

It's now January 1, 2011 and I'm remembering things from 2010 like when I wrote on my bucket list I wanted to get the cover of a major magazine. Sure, I've done covers for ICON magazine but it's a new magazine, hence it's not a "major" one. So getting the cover for NOCTURNO magazine's December 2010/January 2011 issue is a big one for me, I can check that item off my list now!

A little about the shoot...

3rd ICON Magazine Cover

This is my 3rd consecutive cover and editorial with ICON magazine. I am a lucky girl!

Without further adieu, here are the pictures:

Makeup for Link Magazine: Behind the Scenes Video

So a photographer called me up and told me that needed me for this shoot he dreamt about. In it we were all in his studio, the model, the wardrobe stylist, the hair stylist and myself, in the dream the shoot featured the model in silver, with wires and tubes coming out of her. This all sounded awesome so I said "I'm in." without even thinking about it.

(This was a shoot for the cover of the magazine's first issue)

The model's hair took almost 4 hours! She has enough hair for an army!! Luckily the makeup was pretty simple, paint her silver!

Here's a behind the scenes video the Photographer made.

Matte People

I've been doing a lot of work recently with Matte Mag and they asked me if they could do a "Matte People" on me. It's basically a little info on you so the people know who you are when they see your work.

Makeup for Erika Peña: MOYA Collection

For this shoot we went into this gorgeous reef in with a huge wall of rock, it was probably 20 feet high. Though we had to walk a bit it was worth it, the scenery was amazing and the perfect place to showcase Erika's new collection, MOYA. Inspired by rocks and nature.

The makeup I did was actually the one I had worn the previous day. The stylist once again said "Do the same look you had on yesterday". It was perfect because I only used a couple of colors and it went well with the earthy tones of the jewelry.

"Amazonia" : By Ecliptica

Once again I was doing makeup for the beautiful sisters that make up the fashion line Ecliptica.

This time was a little different, than before. Mainly because instead of having 15 models, there were 34. I have to admit I was a little scared at first because it is a large number of models and Javier (the head makeup artist) was racing against time trying to find other makeup artists to help at the show.

Bacanal Magazine Cover

Finally I get to see the cover!

If you're afraid of blood and gore please stop watching this right now and don't you dare scroll down!

Last Warning!!!!

EOTD: Purple Glitter "Pin-up"

Yesterday I went in for a second interview at a makeup store and I knew I had to do something to stand out so I decided to do pin-up eye makeup but with a dramatic, modern twist. I kept the colors in the browns and purples. My favorite thing to do when it comes to eye makeup is use all matte eyeshadows and then on the lower inner corner use a shimmering contrasting eyeshadow to make the look POP! (so to speak)


I posted the full face picture on Twitter first and it was all good and dandy. That was until I posted the close-up pictures and everyone started asking what I used. But since Twitter only allows 140 characters I thought I'd "blog" all about the eye makeup.