SIX SHOTS: MAY 2015

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1.  TAMARAC PARK, THE WOODLANDS

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2.  REBELLIOUS

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3.  ESHAKTI

 

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4. KS TENNIS USA

This shot is from a post on my Facebook page.

I just spent two hours at Legacy Prep School in The Woodlands with KS Tennis since it was the last day of the season. Kids are adorable but have ZERO filter, so these are the questions I was asked;
Kids: Are you rich?
Me: No.
Kids: Are you sure? You look rich.
Me: Pretty sure. I am wearing Chanel lipstick in “Arthur”…so I guess I look rich.
Kids: Do you have kids?
Me: No.
Kids: Why not?
Me: Because Coach Ken is too old.
Kids: But he’s really good with small kids!
Me: Well then if someone leaves one on our doorstep, I guess we’ll keep it .
……..so then these kids start explaining how to foster babies and sometimes you get to keep them! I’m good…I promise!

Barbie, makeup tutorial, makeup artist, pink glitter nails, anastasia brows, lashes, white blonde, MAC, prolongwear foundation, Shimmer Brick by Bobbie Brown, Luxor Living and Style, beauty blogger in Houston, Makeup Artist in The Woodlands

5.  BARBIE MAKEUP

I have worked in cosmetics for years and decided to work on a fun, Barbie style makeup tutorial for my YouTube channel!

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6.  DEL FRISCOS GRILL / HUGHES LANDING

We were excited to be invited to a VIP party at the new Del Frisco’s Grill in The Woodlands last week!  The views are amazing,  the food is top notch and we had a really, really good time. The restaurant design is fantastic and it’s a very romantic, yet industrial look and feel. I will be doing a blog posting on the new Hughes Landing area of The Woodlands very soon with more photos.

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TOP TWELVE SHOTS OF THE YEAR 2014

I welcome the year 2015 with open arms, but here are my top 12 picks for Shots of The Year from the blog!  Some are from products that sponsored me, and some of other people I got to shoot.  It’s fun to look back over the past year and gather some top shots.  2014 went by so fast, and in looking back, I see why… I was busy!  I look forward to challenging myself this next year!

 

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1.  GLASSES USA

I was so excited to learn about GLASSESUSA  and get an opportunity to try out their online prescription glasses service!  Too cool! Check them out for discount prescription glasses that you can order online.

glam, glammy, photography in The Woodlands, boudoir photos in The Woodlands, tattoo girl, makeup artistry, Luxor Living and Style, Houston style blog, Stephanie Sjoberg, fashion, style, 2. BOUDOIR

It was something totally new to try, and I had a blast doing last year’s Valentine Boudoir Shoot. The girls were fun and beautiful.  It’s not trashy… more fun and flirty than anything, but it was fun working out shots for the girls.  Out of all photos, I love this one the best.  The girl is a beautiful, edgy rebel, business woman and mom.  I loved the way this turned out.

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3. BLACK FEATHERED ANGEL

This is a girl I ran into one night while out with my husband.  We became friends and I was dying to do some portfolio shots for the aspiring actress.  On this shoot, we went to Galveston Beach, (although we joked about saying it was some exotic destination in the Carribbean) and we laughed so hard as we tried different shots. Imagine this tall, beautiful girl in full makeup and long black gown, on the edge of a jettie, as the waves crashed in.  Imagine the onlookers. Too funny. The rest of the pictures can be seen here. This was a great day!

 

Houston model, Luxor Living nad Style, fashion blog, blogger in Houston, Photography by Stephanie Sjoberg, makeup artist in Spring, Texas, Guess model, stylist, fashion blogger, Galveston Beach4. TEXAS GIRL

I’ve always loved the Guess advertising campaigns.  This was a spin on the Texas girl look.  This is one of my favorite shots from that day with her. See the rest here, on the American Girl blog post.

 

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5. SENIOR PORTRAIT TEXAS STYLE

Senior portraits in Texas are getting to be very elaborate, so I wanted to try my hand at a few!  I absolutely had a blast working on this shoot, and this one is my favorite from the Senior Glam Texas Style  shoot!

 

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6. YOUNIQUE

I did a review for Younique 3D Fiber Lashes.  This was one of the shots from the post that came out.  I mean, how do you really take a mascara photo anyway?  My vanity area was new, and it’s where I spend every morning getting ready, playing with makeup and trying new things.

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7. THE WOODLANDS, BIOTCH

One day after church, my husband and I stopped to snap photos for the Retro blog post.  I got this great shot of a nearby bridge in The Woodlands, and loved the way it came out!

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8. LA JOLLA

We took a trip to San Diego this year.  We wanted to return, since we had been the previous year.  I packed terribly.  I ended up buying a cool hat there, while we were shopping, and thus created a La Jolla outfit post out of scraps!  We stayed at La Valencia hotel, right on the Cove at La Jolla… and had an amazing time.  I love this shot that Ken took because it’s real.  It’s me. My clothes. My life.  I love that he lets me be kooky and fun.  Good times!

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La Jolla Cove

9.  PURE BEAUTY

Pure Beauty was seen daily as we photographed the Seals at La Jolla.  I was able to get inches from them and snap some cute photos.  This was one of my best memories of the year!  I adore nature and animals.

 

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10. HOLIDAY RIVER WALK

In December, we went to San Antonio to attend a church service by one of our favorite pastors, and stayed on the San Antonio River Walk.  It was my birthday, and Christmas lights were still up.  I took photos in order to create a Monet look and love the way they all turned out!

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11.  ANGEL

I was fortunate enough to make a new friend this year, when Angel Blanchard was referred to me by a friend, to recreate her hair salon web site, Angels Hair Designs.  She is a color and cut specialist in the Houston Galleria area, and also does extensions as well.  She did my hair recently as well.  Angel also is a jewelry designer, and is wearing some of her custom candy pieces in this shot! She does cuts for men as well!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

12.  YOU TUBER

One of my functions is that I work in Cosmetics and Fragrances.  I do makeup.  If you know anyone who does makeup, then you know we love You Tube Videos!  Everyone would love to try and make a video at least once, so I finally did a full You Tube presentation called GLAMMY GLAM in 19 MINUTES.  This shot was of the finished product after the video tutorial was made.  Making videos is so fun, but it’s more work than you think!  Check out my Channel here.

 

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SIX SHOTS: DECEMBER, TWO THOUSAND and FOURTEEN

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1. MERRY CHRISTMAS MAKEUP    

Since I work in cosmetics, I like to photograph makeup colors and techniques, but it’s an art! It’s not the same thing as a “selfie” in that you are photographing the colors of the nails, lippies, or shadows.

 

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2. RICH GIRL NECKLACE

I decided to work on my up close shots, and loved how this blingy rich girl necklace photo came out, complete with glitter nails and studded collar! Nails are another thing that’s really hard to photograph well with out plenty of practice!

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3.  KS TENNIS USA

Since I am the “S” in KSTENNISUSA.COM (or so I am told)  I help out with various media work.  My husband loves teaching tennis and takes it very seriously, so I had fun trying to capture his persona and work ethic in some new shots I took for the new website launch! He helps me with so much and is a true friend, so it’s always great when I can help him to grow his passion!

 

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4.  AVENTUS

There are some men’s fragrances that I absolutely adore, and when I took a photo of Aventus by House of Creed, I loved the way it turned out, although it was just a camera phone shot!  The crazy silver and black glitter nails looked appropriate with the packaging, and the article on my Top 5 Men’s Fragrances can be seen here!

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5.  BLACK WINTER SUNDAY

One of the very few fashion posts I did in December was Black Winter Sunday.  Any time my husband snaps a photo in which he actually focuses, is a rare and pleasant thing. :0  It’s worth mentioning that this is a real outfit, that I really wore, when I really had some place to go.  I will say, that hats are more for ease  to me than for glamour.  The girl in front of me in church, who had hair extensions crash and burn because it was so humid, wet and cold…probably wished she was cool enough for a hat. Just sayin.

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6.  MAKEUP ARTIST

I think of makeup artistry is an art form. A lot of us have made the product searches and trials a bit of a hobby, as well as a career.  Photographing makeup is harder than it looks!  I mainly use my Instagram account for fragrance, cosmetics, decor tidbits and such.  It’s so much faster to post a fun lip color pic here and there on Instagram.  You know what though?  I think it’s creepy when the last 8 photos on a person’s Instagram account, are all of their own face, so I do try to keep my own makeup shots to a minimum. Plus, I’m old and I have a sleepy eye when I’m tired.   Unless you are a Krisspy or Amrezy level of a makeup artist…it’s probably best to filter in something other than your own face. Just sayin. 

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AMERICAN SUPERMODEL: MAKEUP TIPS AND TRICKS

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     This is the part where I am going to show you some of the makeup and cosmetics tips I used on Jennifer for her Next American Supermodel photo shoot!(You can also see more pictures from the shoot there.)


 

   The eyes are the window to the soul so with that in mind, I decided to play up her eyes and strong brow area. We actually laughed so hard during our conversation about eyebrows, because a lot of salons want to end up giving everyone that walks into there doors…a cookie cutter, skinny half moon brow and she’s been smart enough to stay away from that practice. Eyebrows are so important!  They can give your face the appearance of symmetry and a good brow is a rich feature. 

FUNNY SIDEBAR:  I went into my bank about a year ago, and the girl at the counter started talking to me about my hair or lip color…but the conversation turned into an eyebrow conversation, against my will.  Hers were shaved off and then a thin line was tattooed on in place of them.  She adamantly searched for the number to give me to the place that did it for her. EECK!  I was polite, but I would never do that unless my eyebrows suddenly fell out into the street and I had no choice.

  As for Jennifer’s lips did not need any help looking full, so we went with a barely there color and liner, to keep the main area of focus on the eyes.

 

I knew that I would be doing some black and white pictures, which can tend to make you look washed out if you do not enhance the architecture and bone structure of the face and define certain places well enough.

  So lining the lips well, defining the brow and the hollow of the cheek, is important.

 

We also wanted some fun, real person shots that were full body shots therefore the makeup that may appear heavier close up, only looks more simple from further away.

 

My original plan was to use an old school, super glam red for the lip color, however, her eyes turned out so fabulous, and her lips are already perfectly photogenic, so we decided for a more reserved, pale and natural color.

Everyone’s face is different.  People expect to walk up to a cosmetic artist, and ask for a Kardashian look, for example…when there’s absolutely nothing to work with in that direction. In makeup, you have to step back, assess the situation, and work with what you’ve got!

  Here’s the listing of make up I used for Jennifer:


  

   Additionally, a cosmetic look for photos will look different from cosmetics for say…a date. Have you ever noticed that when you look at a picture that was taken on a day that you thought you looked great…the picture was awful? Basically, the same highlighting techniques, just on a lesser scale.

 

-December 27, 2014

-SDS

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CHEAP BIOTCH…THE $30 MAKEUP CHALLENGE

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I got shocked lately, in trying to stick within my monthly Beauty Budget.  When I added up the cost of the products I used daily…I came to a conclusion…it’s expensive to be me. The other day, before purchasing yet another $30.00 tube of designer lipstick, I decided to  challenge myself and see if I could buy an entire arsenal for the same price.  Not only that, how would it look?

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Back in the day, I was a District Manager for a retail clothing chain, and the chain also decided at one point to carry a small line of cosmetics, known as NYX.  Now NYX has added a longer list to their friendly priced products, so I decided to start with them for a  lip liner and lip stick.  The matte color shown here is Summer Breeze.      It has tons of pigment and is not so matte that it dries up your lips. I also chose the illuminator from NYX and was pleasantly surprised. It was more of a gold tone as opposed to a white so it looked more naturally dewy to me.

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The ELF Cosmetics bronzer duo was fantastic, and was under $4.00 and I was not expecting much but it was fabulous! Look Ma, No lashes!  Being on a budget, I refrained from using false lashes and decided to try out New York Color Mascara.  Loved it!  I believe it was less than $5.00 as well, and that’s quite a savings compared to the designer $30 a tube mascaras out there! I will buy this again.

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My personal theory is that by saving money on certain things, then there is a bigger budget allowance for bigger things, such as top of the line serums and moisturizers.  To me, this is where the money matters because you are paying for tons of research and better ingredients.  Moisture and repair is where it makes more cents to me to spend. Additionally, your technique of application has everything to do with how you turn out, as long as the product meets a certain standard.  The price friendly products above, all had decent features and benefits.

This was a helpful post to me, because it made me more mindful of the money spent on cosmetics in the past as well as what I will spend in the future!  Not only that, I pretty much look exactly the same as if I’d had on a $400 collection of products!

-SDS

-July 7, 2014

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STUDIO GEAR CC CREAM Review!

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STUDIO GEAR CC CREAM

    As a cosmetics professional, I can’t tell you how many times I hear, “I want to look natural but perfect.”  What I’ve learned is that people are not always good at describing what they are looking for.  Another issue is that they look at media images and are wanting to obtain the natural perfection we see, not realizing how much lighting, makeup and photo shop it takes to obtain that “I just woke up this way” image.

     Studio Gear’s CC Cream is a great option for people who don’t like to wear makeup, yet want to look better.  It has natural looking coverage, SPF 20 and hydrates the skin, giving it the currently sought after natural, dewy glow.  

(sponsor)


     

     Studio Gear CC Cream comes in three colors, so I wasn’t sure the Linen color would match my pale skin, because when I received my sample from the company, it initially looked a lot darker than what I would wear.  Wow!  As I put it on, it changed colors to blend perfectly with my coloring!  I wore it for the past week, when I wasn’t looking for major coverage, but actually the coverage and evenness of skin tone was so amazing, that I added some blush, lip color and eye makeup, just to see if it could double as a full coverage, and the result is shown here!

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I love the fact that the cream is moisturizing my skin while preventing line and wrinkles, restoring skins elasticity while also brightening and illuminating!

(sponsor)


 

Readers of the blog can get a 10% discount on the Studio Gear

website if you click here! Studio Gear has a full line of fabulous cosmetics, so check out their site for even more fabulous products!

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-SDS

April 18, 2014

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