karuna – MUAHbyAlex

Hello Beauties!! Nothing better than waking up to a snow day, for me at least. Snow in the Hudson Valley is so very magical. The views here are breathtaking. National Geographic Traveler magazine named the Hudson Valley one of the best places to visit in 2013. That’s right, of the 20 places around the world the National Geographic deems most worth visiting, the Hudson Valley made the grade. We’re right up there with Kyoto, Japan, Thessaloniki, Greece, Uganda, Cape Breton Island and 15 other exotic international locales. Crazy right? I love it here. I’m writing this as I’m snuggled with with my kitten, sipping on hot tea facing the window, enjoying this view out back (with a karuna exfoliating mask on of course).

On another note, I hope you all had a Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, & have a Happy New Year–Happy Holidays to you and your families! I spent some of my week in NYC. There really isn’t anything quiet like Christmas in New York City. The tree, the lights, the shopping, the store front windows decorated perfectly, & the energy..

We even stopped to say hello to Kelly & Regis… at the Wax museum 😉

Here’s some more photos from holiday parties/get togethers with friends:

Me, Ashley, Marissa & Jessica’s annual Christmas fiesta!

Can’t forget Samantha’s house we had our cookie decorating contest!

And the salon dinner party!

Me & Chelsea got each other for our “Secret Ornament” which wasn’t so secret… can you guess who got who which ornament? LOL !

I bought my grandma this adorable book. It asks her tons of questions then she fills it out, every thing about her favorite memories, and childhood favorites. Once she fills it out she’ll give it back to me to treasure forever and pass down! How freaking cute?!

& just some other photos:

Remember this season, it isn’t about the gifts, decor, or even food (haha JK) but being around the people you love! Good people. Friends and family! Then comes all the food and cookies– Yikes..Friends, let me confess: I’m not the best when it comes to eating clean during Nov & Dec! Somewhere between all of the holiday parties, running around like a crazy makeup artist, and shopping marathons, I have completely lost my discipline. Haha, lets just say I could go toe-to-toe with Santa in a cookie eating contest. Not cute!

Instead of waiting until New Years to make my “healthy” resolutions, why not start early? I’m hoping to find that miraculous cleanse that will take that extra inch around my waist away to get me back in shape to look hot for NYE. But for now, here’s what’s on my grocery list,

-lemons

-green tea

-detox tea

-almond milk

-spinach (a lot!)

-plain nonfat greek yogurt

-low fat goat cheese (for my spinach salad)

-ground turkey or boneless/skinless chicken

-hummus

-honey

-eggs

-asaragus

-yams

-low-carb/low sugar cereal (gluten free options available)

-natural almond butter

-walnuts

-coconut oil

-balsamic vinegar

-salsa

-multi vitamins

-& remember A LOT of water !

After an absolutely amazing 2012, it’s time to celebrate this past historic year! Whether it’s low key or a night out, it’s still a celebration. As I always say, indulge in pampering yourself before the new year! Or start it off by booking a massage or facial! I plan on booking a trip to Cali asap to start my new year off !I also plan on hosting another charity event in 2013. I’m not sure if you know, but I used to host my own charity events. Way back when, I designed clothes. When I was 16 years old I started destroying jeans for fun. Back then, it was fun to spend my time crafting up my jeans. Girls in school started offering me money to customize their jeans and “wrecking” them. I would bleach, rip, cut, sew, spray paint all over them.

Naturally, people started calling me “Fashion Wreck” so hmmm.. perfect name for my “label” ..no? Before I knew it I had parents from all over the area calling me offering me money to “wreck” their daughters (and son’s) jeans. With that said my Fash!onWreck brand grew without me even realizing what I was doing. I had my first charity fashion show when I was 17 years old with my friend Amanda. What better way to raise money for good cause. I had professional hair stylists and makeup artists come to beautify my models. We raised money for a fellow student of ours Steven, who had passed away terrible brain tumor. We wanted his name to be remembered and live on in a positive way so we had hundreds of people donating and attending our fashion show with a lot of help from Steve’s friends and family. We raised 8 thousand dollars and it was put into an Art Scholarship in his memory. I still keep in touch with his mother, who is very dear to me. I love her.

Second Charity fashion show I did with 2 other of my girl friends was for St. Jude Children’s hospital, again raising 8 thousand dollars at the age of 18.

My last show I did last year with sponsorship from Capri Cosmetology, I raised more than my goal of 8 thousand and reached 11 thousand dollars for St. Jude.

My brand had grew, at that point I was designing shirts also that were being produced for me. Some of the cast members of E! & Style Networks Jerseylicious wore my designs and agreed to have the entire cast of the show, travel to my hometown to model for my event and some photoshoots!

The first two shirts I made by hand… On my kitchen floor.. lol second two I had produced in bulk which sold out immediately.

Over 450 people attended my last fashion & had a lot of people reach out to me! It was the best feeling, I can still cry thinking about it.

Here is Tracy from Jerseylicious cat walking it with my little cousin Lindsay.

I stopped doing the clothes thing, because, well– it just wasn’t my passion. It was just fun at the time. I love doing makeup and that’s what I will stick with. This past year, I’m so busy with work it’s hard to put another show together although I try to do makeup for as many charity fashion shows as I can. That year I won youngest, independent donator for St. Judes! I also won an award at the college I was attending. 2013 I’d love to put another event together.

haha dad’s face looks funny here!

Another event that took place recently, has truly inspired me to be kind and do good to others. At the salon I work at, a friend was in one morning last week telling us girls about how she woke up to her apartment crumbling and collapsing. She got out safely with her dog, but lost all her personal belongings and everything important to her. Another young client (20s) that didn’t know our friend, had not said a word during her story. She paid for her color and left. She returned about 2 hours later with a gift card $100 to Victoria Secret and $50 to Sephora for us to give to our friend. Truly inspiring and humbling. So motivated to do good for others!

2013 I vow to do good, work hard and expand with my makeup jobs. In the next year you can look forward to videos! I will be doing tutorials, so if there is anything you want to see please let me know!

Remember these important factors for 2013!

-be the person that makes others feel special

-visualize daily

-meditate everyday

-learn to control your mind

-work hard at what you love

-relax!

-take great care of your skin!

-splurge on good quality makeup

-be mysterious

-stop complaining (esp on Facebook)

-appreciate the little things

-get good at something

-read something inspirational every day

-choose your friends wisely

-make an appointment with me to learn how to correctly use your makeup (haha had to throw that in there)

-LOVE LOVE LOVE! INHALE LOVE & EXHALE HATE

Cheers!!!

xo,

This past weekend consisted of my usual routine; Makeup clients, shopping, at home facials, more makeup, dinner dates with friends followed by a trip to NYC. As I strolled around this week, I can’t help but notice that everything is Christmas! I thought Santa visits the mall AFTER Thanksgiving? Guess not this year.. Oh, well I’m not complaining. After all, it’s the most wonderful time of the year 🙂 While shopping, I found myself in Victoria Secret per usual. As much as I’m in there shopping, I seem to forget they have a makeup line. I figured I’d purchase some products and test them out to see how I like them. I purchased the VS tinted moisturizer with spf 15, VS pro radiant FX face illuminator, and VS face powder Next to Nude.

Lets start with the VS tinted moisturizer. I adore the packaging. It’s in a small squeeze tube, preventing it from squeezing too much product out. Putting it on my face this morning, it felt very lightweight. I applied it with my fingertips and lightly blended with a MAC brush. I love that is contains SPF 15 ! If your skin needs some coverage, then this product probably isn’t the best product to go with, only because it is so light weight and has only minimal coverage. It does however give your skin the overall appearance of a more even skin tone. I felt that my skin was smooth all day. This was only $15 ! Officially a fan 🙂

The Victoria’s Secret Pro Radiant Fix Face Illuminator reminded me a lot of NARS Orgasm Illuminator, which is great considering I bought the VS product for less than half the price of what I pay for Nars. It was a great highlighter that I patted on to the bridge of my nose, under my browbone and along my cheekbones. It gave me a nice glow and stayed set all day. To give your face a dewy angelic finish try mixing your liquid illuminator with your regular foundation and apply.

The VS illuminating face powder I also loved. I used it for an eyeshadow and with a small brush used it to go over my already highlighted areas on my face. I really am obsessed with highlighting the face. I want to do it to every client. Looks so good, and natural!!

500 point perk at Sephora! Nars !

I really enjoyed this new makeup, mainly because it was LIGHT! You have to really be careful and choose carefully which makeup is good for your skin. The wrong makeup can make your skin or acne worse. Being a makeup artist I tell ALL of my clients this! People with less than perfect skin (including myself!) Can NOT use heavy foundation and oily concealers! Your skin will never clear up if your not using the right products for your face. The only time I’ve used heavy foundation and powders was for commercials or films I was working on. Every major makeup company now makes oil-free foundations! My favorite foundation to use on myself and for all my brides is Makeup Forever foundation. The MF HD Foundation is housed in a typical plastic bottle which comes with a pump that dispenses just the right amount of product. I find this foundation makes the skin soft with a dewy finish. The coverage is pretty good for a liquid foundation – it covers most imperfections such as fainted acne marks, freckles etc. It lasts about 5-6 hours on me looking fresh. Best of all it photographs very well. I will absolutely wear this is I’m going out, but on an every day basis I always use tinted moisturizer. My favorite concealer is Erase Paste by benefit. The tub of product is incredibly tiny for $26 (just .15 oz), but thankfully you only need a VERY tiny bit to get the job done, so this product lasts me a very long time! This concealer comes in three different shades: Fair, Medium and Dark .. I use No. 2 Medium shade. It’s great for color correcting if you have dark under eye circles or a red pimple! It’s also a dream to blend. You can find both of these products at Sephora. For people with oily skin, use mineral foundations, it helps your skin become matte for longer.

Me & friends at brunch earlier , with some Knicks players in NYC. Here’s a photo of us and Ray Felton …

I also want to share quick, that I purchased more Karuna masks. I’m really LOVING these!!! I highly recommend them, for an affordable, great at home mask. Hope everyone had a fabulous weekend ! Xo