Should I be selling something in my salon??

Should I be selling something in my salon??  This is a question I asked myself for years.  And the answer is yes.  Yes you should!  Whether its product geared toward your profession, boutique jewelry you're obsessed with, or makeup that you believe every woman can love...yes.  You should be selling it.  I specialize in eyelash extensions and don't get me wrong.  I'm passionate about my work and I can talk lashes all day if you let me! 

I'm going on 8 years of doing eyelashes.  But there is nothing as good as putting a fresh set on a lash virgin and watching their expression when they look in the mirror.  They feel so beautiful!  They are so beautiful!  Their face is suddenly awake!  Like...did I actually do a face lift in that 2 hours??  Eyelashes are the unicorn of the face.  Pure magic.  But what if I told you you could add something into your salon that made women feel even more beautiful?  You can even give women withOUT lashes that amazing "is this really my face" feeling!  I'm talking about a highlighting and contouring makeup that anyone can do themselves.  Maskcara makeup is life changing.  Trust me, it's empowering to put this makeup on.  

When I'm doing a set of eyelashes, I like to gauge each person on a scale from tomboy-celebrity status.  And you know what's crazy?  Even on this wide spectrum, I can talk about makeup with each and every one of them!  And what's more intriguing than a highlighting and contouring foundation that's only going to take 5 minutes to apply but will leave you looking like a porcelain doll?  Seriously...tell me, what is more intriguing than that?!  

Why did you jump into the beauty world?  Has that reason changed?  Because my reason has changed over the years.  I used to want to do hair and eyelashes because I could do it from my house and make a little side money.  Fast forward 7 years and I am supporting a family of 5 with my lash business.  But that's not my why.  Now I just plain enjoy spending time with these women and hearing them gush over how beautiful they feel with their lashes on.

When I became an independent artist for Maskcara, I didn't know that I was going to have the power to make so many women feel so beautiful.  This goes hand in hand with that look my clients give themselves in the mirror after their lashes are done.  They see their true beauty, and that is beautiful to watch.  

Look at this makeup and decide for yourself if it's something that your clients would love you even more for offering!

www.maskcarabeauty.com/emily3d

Artist ID #1636

Yesterday I was pregnant and today I'm not

Miscarriage.  Did you know that as many as 50% of pregnancies end in miscarriage?  A lot of them happen before a woman even knows she's pregnant.  But still.  A miscarriage is not something you assume will happen to you.  And then it does.  And then what?  

I went to my first sonogram when I should have been 9 weeks.  I was irritated because in the past I've pushed my first sonogram to 14 weeks because then they usually tell me the gender.  But my new doctor wanted a sonogram before 12 weeks.  When we got into the sono room, the first weird thing happened.  The tech couldn't see the baby from my belly so I had to get one of those super fun vaginal ultrasounds.  An image popped up on the screen that indicated the baby was actually only 5 weeks and 6 days.  Could my dates seriously be that off?  I am an avid cycle tracker but I wouldn't put it past my mom brain to track on the wrong date.  So we decided I should come back in a week for a follow up sonogram.  If you've ever had a baby, you know the last week of pregnancy is actually 37 days long.  Well the week between these sonograms was even longer than that.  My anxiety was through the roof.  When we finally got to have this followup sonogram, it was painfully obvious that there was no longer a baby forming.  And then she turned on the microphone and all we heard was silence.  There was no heartbeat.  I'm wondering if I even had a heartbeat in that moment?  If you know me, you know I appear to be made of stone.  Clearly my body knew this baby was not going to develop so it did what my body was supposed to do.  And now we don't have to wonder where we're going to fit a fourth child in our tiny house. And now I won't be 9 months pregnant at my husband's graduation.  

But now I don't get to have a baby in May.

  I already have 3 beautiful, perfect children.  I am so blessed.  Other women have it so much harder than me when it comes to fertility.  But any miscarriage is a lost child and every miscarriage is hard.  I had a d and c really early this morning and physically, my body feels amazing.  Those early pregnancy symptoms are gone which means I'm not tired all the time and I don't have a nose like a hound dog.  

But I'm interested in seeing how my mind and heart heals.  

We were prepared for this.  Like I mentioned above, I am an avid cycle tracker.  When the dates were going to be 3 weeks off...I knew.  There was no way.  But my husband knew immediately that something was wrong.  The day I told him our exciting news, he told me he felt weird.  Did he know what felt weird?  Of course not.  But now we know we were being prepared for this trial.  Isn't it interesting how that works?  I was mad at him for telling me he felt "weird" about this baby, but it did put the thought in my head that maybe everything wasn't perfect.  And then it wasn't, but I was prepared and I'm so grateful for that.  

We prayed for this baby and we prayed over this baby.  Others prayed for me and my body and for this baby.  This miscarriage is part of my life plan.  So I'm going to dust myself off and learn from it.  It's made me want to be a better mother and be more in tune with the spirit.  I gave myself today to mourn.  And I know tomorrow I'll still be sad.  But my three babies that are here now need me and so do my future babies who are waiting for me to be ready for them.         

Flawless face in five minutes? Yes please!

It took me five minutes to create this look on my adorable friend.  How can you get such a gorgeous finish with just five minutes?!  First of all, Mascara makeup.  And second of all, highlighting and contouring.  Don't be scared!  Stick around and I will explain to you why you need to contour and how you can do it all by yourself!

As you can see, this is a beautiful and natural every day look.  To do her face, we only needed four products.  I used a cream foundation.  Ok ok ok.  Stop right there!  I know, cream is "bad".  Cream is "cakey".  Cream is "oily".  This is not true!  Cream is soft, cream is blendable, cream is natural looking!  

I used a highlight color called white peach on her chin, lower cheeks, under her eyes, her nose, and the center of her forehead.  We used an extremely light layer.  This saves you from that cakey look.  With the Maskcara beauty line, the highlights have a yellow undertone.  This will cancel out the redness so many of us deal with as well as the purple tone when we have those, oh so lovely, bags under our eyes.

I applied a cream contour, her shade is ash, under her jawline, right under her cheek bones, down the sides of her nose, and across the top of her forehead.  The contour from Maskcara actually has coverage like a foundation.  It also is an ashier tone vs. a bronze tone like you typically see in a contour.  This creates natural shadows on the face which make your cheeks pop and add dimension to your face.  You're just not going to get that dimension with a traditional flat foundation! 

To bring color back to her face, I applied nude blush just to the apples of her cheeks.  I also added this color to her lips.  Who doesn't love a multi-tasking product! 

Our finishing touch was a light swipe of Maskcara's pearl illuminator on top of her cheekbones and just a smidge down the center of her nose.  Illuminator brings a glow to your face like you wouldn't believe!

Four products.  That's it!  Please tell me you believe me!  If you still need convincing, check this out for yourself!

www.maskcarabeauty.com/emily3d

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Let's get this started, shall we?  Confession, I used to have a blog.  It was for a brief period of time back in 2010 and I'll be honest.  It was pretty hilarious.  I'm sure if I went back and read it now, I would be mortified.  What happened to that blog?  Long story short...I got a new email address and deleted that blog.  Whoops.  I kick myself for doing that all the time!  I love writing.  And I love getting my thoughts and feelings out.  But here I am, back again!  This time I have a problem.  Since 2010, I got married, had 3 kids, and I have a real job.  Basically I'm tired.  But I still have thoughts and feelings that I need to get out!  Probably more so now than ever before!  For example, my daughter just woke up from a nap in a panic because she thought she was in time out on her bed.  What a way to wake up from my "mommy time".  I can't wait to utilize this blog and get to know my followers better!  This will be a place of beauty, fashion, family, and food because this mama likes a treat!

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