Dear Diary!!!

I've always been a journal keeper but for some reason I got away from it a few years ago, which makes me sad because I've had so many incredible experiences.  I feel almost ungrateful, so I've decided to commit to it again, and in a crazy way, I think I'll be more committed if I write it here so you can hold me accountable, lol.  So anyway,  my goal is to get back on track with a post at least once a week, usually on a Sunday, since that seems to be the most stable day of my week.

So the posts I'll be posting will be my actual journal.  I don't know where it will take us, but you're welcome to read along as I share my experiences, thoughts, feelings and whatever pours out of my heart and onto the keyboard.

I stole this from Hilary's blog, so I'll link to her below :)

Hilary's Blog

A little over a week ago, I went to do Hilary Weeks makeup again for a big concert to release her new CD.  We had fun, as always, and cute Dani, her hairstylist was there too.  I love that we've worked together a total of 3 times (well, 3.5 if you count the one that got rained out, lol!) but we were already full of "remember whens,"  haha.  To me, that's the mark of true bonding!  :) hahaha

But the getting ready was only half of the treat for me that night, as the concert was amazing.  Hilary is an incredible artist, and that was obvious, but she's so cute and real and says the cutest things, and this night was no exception.  She did an outstanding job and looked absolutely stunning!  I took pictures with my phone, but they turned out like pink blobs, so I don't have any good ones to share, sorry :(

There was another highlight to the night, they showed Hilary's music video which we had done (that I posted about) so here is the link to the video:

.

I just did Hilary's makeup in this video, but didn't get the chance to meet the other 2 featured women.  Hilary told me about them and I was so moved by their stories and really wish I could've met them.  Maybe someday, I really believe that would be a real honor.  I love that they are women whose lives have been molded by embracing the tragedies that could have so easily destroyed them...

Oh and this is SO COOL!  I got a note from Hilary this week saying the CD, Every Step, made the Christian Billboard Charts!!!  And it is number 6 on the Christian Charts and Number 1 on the Indie Music charts....she was writing to say thank you and you know what, after working beside Hilary even just a few times, I can say that if anyone deserves that kind of success, it's her.  She poured her heart & soul into that project and beyond that, she's every bit the gem she appears to be and then some!  I'm so excited for her!  I love it when great things happen to great people, yay!

I'd better scoot and go enjoy some time with my hubby.  I worked all morning on NBC's Music and the Spoken Word, then tomorrow will come early and I'll be on another set somewhere--still waiting for call time & info.  But I'll keep ya posted.  In the mean time, go spend some time with someone you love, time flies way too fast!

Love you!

xox

Laurie

JEWELRY HAUL

We thought it was about time for a jewelry haul and this time, we chose to share it without editing out our usual blonde moments......so before watching this video, consider yourself warned!  lol!  enjoy!

Join us for more fun fashion, beauty and healthy yummy food tutorials and even our diary as we share secrets and tips from movie sets we work on all over the world.

JewelMint http://mylikes.com/l/1snpk

love you guys!

xox

laurie & tiffany

.

We purchased most of the items seen in this video, including the Jewelmint necklace set, however the jewelmint earrings and medalian necklace were provided by Jewelmint--thanks btw! xo
Love you guys! Enjoy!! xox

Music courtesy of Mary Sarah
"Nobody Knows Me Like You"
More Mary sarah music:
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/hisbroker

dear diary, yes I said..............ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!

You may have just noticed we are back!  Many of you contacted us, eagerly waiting for another post and wondering what cliff we had fallen off of.

.

So we'd like to apologize not only for not posting over the past week, but for all of our previous posts that also vanished.

.

Yeah, some of you noticed, in fact many of you sent other people here to follow our posts (which we really appreciate) but what you found were dead links.  Sooooooo, thank you for bringing it to our attention, which led us to investigate.  Sadly, we learned that our server (Blue Host) had a glitch in their system and in order to fix their corrupted files, we got taken down.  And so we lost over 2 weeks worth of work, all of our posts, videos, product reviews, work on our store and even orders in our store all vanished.  Let's just say we were sick.

.

The frustrating thing is they charge us extra fees for daily backups, but when it came time for them to actually produce a back-up they had nothing prior to October 19th. Almost 1/2 a month, and in the cyber world that is an eternity--ugh.   Yeah, daily back-ups in any language usually means every 24 hours--well not with blue host.

.

So are they charging for services they don't provide?  All we can get from them is a copy and paste email containing their terms and conditions.

.

So anyway, sorry to be a downer on this post, but we felt that we owed you an explanation.  And we also want to re-assure you that we are back and will be posting some really cool stories and things again right away.  I wasn't sure if I should try to back-track or not and re-create the diary posts of my recent diary experiences or just move forward.....  Probably the most touching one that is now missing was the post about the "Unsung Hero".  I guess if I get enough requests, I'll sit down and write out that experience for you again.  I had a lot of you write, saying it moved you to tears, and truthfully as I typed out that story, I admit I had to wipe away a few tears myself.

.

But I really don't want to focus on the negative....what I want to do instead is share what helped me deal with the loss and frustration, because I think that's actually what this post is about.  How we deal with any situation is really what defines our character.  And negative feelings are just as toxic to our bodies as the toxins we use in products or eat in "foods".

.

So, I'm not perfect (shocking, huh? :)  But here are some things I did to put this behind me and move forward.  The first thing I did was realize they made a mistake.  I make mistakes all the time, so why do I hold them to a higher standard?  That helped me let go of a lot and then I could begin to cool down a bit.  Then  I found a fun website that put a smile on my face.  It's called despair.com.  If you like to see a glass half empty, they have it there, right on their home page.  So that was a good start.  Here's another quote I found..."Frustration, although quite painful at times, is a very positive and essential part of success." Bo Bennett

.

I like that.  And that's where I'd prefer to be.  I learned some things from this experience, and I really think that growth--no matter how painful, is always good.

.

So anyway, life goes on and we've got a lot more in store for you.  Thank-you so much for your patience.  And a special thanks to so many of you who shared those missing posts with so many others....a couple that I know include dulcecandy87 and Vona Harris.  We love and appreciate every one of you so much!  Have a great night and we'll be back in touch soon, promise!

.

xoxo

Laurie

.

PHOTO CREDIT

What's in my hospital bag + final belly shot + need ur opinion!

Jewelry Haul by a couple of blondes!

JewelMint http://mylikes.com/l/1snpk
Join us for more fun fashion, beauty and healthy yummy food tutorials and even our diary as we share secrets and tips from movie sets we work on all over the world.
http://www.naturesknockout.com

love you guys! xox

We purchased most of the items seen in this video, including the Jewelmint necklace set, however the jewelmint earrings and medalian necklace were provided by Jewelmint--thanks btw! xo
Love you guys! Enjoy!! xox

Music courtesy of Mary Sarah
"Nobody Knows Me Like You"
More Mary sarah music:
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/hisbroker

Zombie Look #2 Gaga inspired

We just finished working on a Zombie Show for Sy Fy Channel and thought it would be fun to do a couple of whimsical versions of a zombie, and what better place is there to look for inspiration than to Lady Gaga. Besides that, we were a little sick of all the rotting flesh and gore, so this is our version of a stylized zombie! So this may look a little familiar for a reason, it's a simple way to get a totally different look with a couple of changes....ENJOY! xo

This one was a request for an easy to replicate nymph fairy......so here's our attempt at a cute nymph fairy that is super simple.

Enjoy!

xoxo

BIG CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Announcing the lucky winner of a cute handbag in our last giveaway......and the winner is.....

.

Amy Cordova

Amy's Youtube Channel

It was really cute, we contacted Amy to let her know she won and she was so thrilled!  She said it was almost her birthday, so it was perfect.  So YAY, that made us happy to hear!

Enjoy your cute bag Amy, and feel free to send us pictures of you with your new handbag once you get it!

And for all of our other cute subscribers, stay tuned as we have several more giveaways coming right away too!    Thanks so much, you guys are great!

xox

Laurie & Tiffany

.

How could we resist? We thought it would be perfect for a couple of granola girls to post a video tutorial on how to be a hippie, yay! enjoy!

STEP ONE:  Start with the hair

Set hair in a bunch of individual braids.  We twisted the ends into pincurls and secured with a single bobby.

Spray each braid well with a safe hairspray, saturating each section really well.  Let set while you apply makeup, or run a flat iron over the braids.

Braid and prep hair extensions at the same time, spray, and set aside.  Here are the extensions we used on Brittany:  #27, 20" human hair extensions

STEP TWO:  On to the makeup

Apply foundation # 500, concealer - medium, and set with luminous powder - medium.

Apply Cream Matte Eyeshadow over entire lids as a base.

Apply #150-Charcoal almost Blue Grey Shimmer in outer V shape of lids.

Apply #151-Deep Rose Shimmer to highlight the center of lids

Use a safe white pencil to inner rim the water line

Use Brown liner to add definition and shape to brows

Line eyes with safe liner

Use safe, non-toxic neon water paints for bright colored flowers and you can even line the lower lids with bright neon accents to really give the eyes a pop (look at the large photo below)

Add safe mascara, false eyelashes using latex free glue

Add light lip highlighter

STEP THREE.  Finish the hair

Remove the braids and finger through the hair.

Remove most braids from the hair extensions, leaving in a few random braids.  Then clip into hair.  These are our  #27, 20" human hair extensions, yay!

Do the "RissRose Braid" (we named it after our love, RiseRose2.  She wore a double band of these braids to an event in LA to cover a zit....we knew at that moment that would be in a tutorial we would do someday, lol!   Here is the link to her channel.

Add flowers

All done.   Okay, almost...the last step is to go out and have FUN!

Thanks for joining us!

xoxo

Laurie

Zombie #1 Makeup & Hair Tutorial

COMPLETE STEP-BY-STEP

We actually recently worked on a zombie show for SyFy Channel and thought it would be fun to do some simple, stylized zombie tutorials for you.  So we've put together 2 killer zombie looks, this one is the true zombie with a little broken flesh and blood.  Details and all product links are included in the step-by-step instructions below.  Enjoy!

.

Step One.  Conceal, then white out the face

1.  Conceal any blemishes

2.  To white out the face, I first applied Natural Sunscreen with a lot of zinc, which leaves a white film.

3.  Then I applied a Safe Baby Powder to give a transluscent white finish.

Step Two.  Hollow out the eyes and face

4.  Use #166-Indigo Gunmetal all over lids and the hollows by the temples, under cheek bones, under jaw, and center of the lips

5.  Add shape to eyes by lining with Black powder liner 

On this look we'll ignore the brows or block them out.  I didn't want to define them as I want the power to be in the eyes.

6.  Next you can just wet the Black powder liner  and apply it with a liner brush (our favorite brushes are HERE

7.  Inner rim lower lid with Midnight Liner

(yes that's above the lower lashes, just on the water-line :)

8.  I use a fan brush to apply Black Mascara, mostly for sanitation reasons, but for this look, it also gives a feathered edge all around the eye.  This look will also give the look of fake lashes, so you really don't even need to add them unless you really want to.

9.  For the veins, use a fine tipped brush, the best one's we've found are HERE

For the veins:  I drew jagged broken lines, using 3 colors Affrodite,  Affair, and Black powder liner 

I like this part, it's where you get to use a little artistic balance to the look  :+)

10.  You can add depth to the lips by adding  Affrodite to the inside of the lower lip line.

11.  Now I wanted to add an electric pop to the eyes, so I add  Affrodite by etching it into the upper edge of the shadows.  I randomly dot slashes so it dances across the edges with a burst of color.

I added a little  Affrodite underneath the eyes too, in order to add a slight bit of dimension, but to keep the focus at the top, I did a lot more on the top edge of the eyes.

12.  Finish up with the neck by carrying shadows on each side of the bone.

Then add a few more veins.

Step Three.  Add extensions, back-comb into hair and spray!

I'm using these Human Hair Clip-In Extensions  I used the entire set, but accidentally forgot to record (argh!)  So just apply them as indicated in the instructions.  We walk through installing a set in our "Be a Knockout Show Tie Dye Hair Video" (under celebrity hair & makeup videos)

Last extension going in now.

Spray and back-comb gently so you don't harm the hair.  This is a great Natural Hairspray to use with (especially with extensions)

Tease and add Natural Hairspray to the rest of the hair.

Step 4.  Flesh & Blood 

Flesh effect:   I just blotched on uneven clumps of Natural Sunscreen where I wanted to add the flesh effects.

Next I added non-latex eyelash adhesive over the clumpy sunscreen and let dry.  Once dry, I rubbed it a little to break open the glue for a broken flesh effect.

Next, I hand painted two colors of lipstick 369 & 356 onto the open flesh areas.

Then last, I added some drops of water based, Non-toxic Blood to the wound areas.

All done!

And that's all there is to it!  Have FUN and let us know how it works for you!

As always, please comment below, we always love to hear from you.  :+)

xox

Laurie