Happy Not-so-New-Anymore Year to all of my lovely readers! The entire Taxidermy Worms household has been out of commission this week due to some sickness and some juggling to figure out a pretty major life shift (we're moving! Again!) But I didn't want that to get in the way of sharing the final product of a project that has been in the works since early October. One that some of you have been following the progress of since its inception... My transition into a real life freelance Masquerade Makeup artist! I have now officially completed my first two gigs with real-life, non-family/friend clients!! The first was early in December and while it was slower paced than the second it served as the perfect warm-up both for me and for the clientele. Some things you just have to see in person to understand the value of, and quite frankly, while I personally LOVE wild makeup and have been just waiting for the day I would get the opportunity to attend a Masquerade Ball, many people are a little gun-shy about bright colors on their eyelids let alone over a good portion of the rest of their face. Add in rhinestones and feathers and it can take a bit of peer pressure from one brave soul to get the ball rolling for the rest of their group. So when the main event (New Years Eve) rolled around we jumped on the opportunity to open up shop early... early, and in plain sight.
It didn't take long for the two of us artisans to generate some interest simply by doing our own makeup as the guests of Grand Geneva Resort, one of the premier destinations for relaxation and recreation in the Midwest, walked in and around us on their explorations of the property. My co-artist Wendy Hall in addition to prepping for a day filled with painting masks had worked with Gretch of Mark and Gretch Productions (who coordinated the whole mask project on top of being the musical entertainment for the Ball itself) to create a whole mess of gorgeous, custom made physical masks for those who weren't interested in transforming their own face for the entire night. Between our stations in the Grand Ballroom Foyer, the physical mask sales tent and our appointments through the WellSpa we had an all-day audience, and a rather enthusiastic one if I do say so myself!
I was lucky enough to start off the experience with two bucket list type, check-in-the-box events. One being that Wendy gave me the opportunity to use her beautiful face to create a leopard print"mask" that I had practiced but never had the chance to actually do for someone before... and, let's face it, I am just always going to be a leopard print kinda gal.
The second one was as I was walking from the entrance of the resort to the Ballroom to find the rest of my team and out of the corner of my eye I noticed my work on display on one of the TVs they had set up in the previously mentioned foyer. I literally did a little high school movie character kick/jump-into-the-air/giggle/sequel thing, then quickly looked around to see if anybody was watching. Luckily I was alone at that moment. But I had a similar repeat reaction a few moments later when I was informed that the ad was running on screens all throughout the entire resort! I'm pretty sure several people saw my second geek out... and if not that I was definitely seen giddily taking a ridiculous number of pictures of the ad like a huge tourist.
Verdict = worth it!
Throughout the day and evening we did some simple looks of light "lace" and rhinestones, and some really bold, stand-out masks for the extra-brave... like this beautiful couple below who attended the event as ballroom dancers performing during the breaks in the live music. What I caught of their show after breaking down my station was nothing short of inspiring!
Everyone from employees, to event volunteers to Grand Geneva guests got decked out in their best. Between Wendy and myself we applied roughly 25 masks... maybe more. Guesstimating is not my strong suit... but suffice it to say that we had a very eventful day and a lot of fun doing it!
I got to use a lot of my favorite products throughout the day... Urban Decay Primer Potion, Sugarpill palettes, Lime Crime lipsticks and a few other things. When the huz showed up after work I broke out my brand new palette I had been wanting forever and got for Christmas (Naked by Urban Decay) and put together a steampunk gears and cogs look on his handsome mug. Got myself dressed, and we headed in to the party to ring in the new year together.
All in all it was a fantastic day!!
Resolution 1 for 2013 has already begun. Make use of the talents I have, in ways I never thought I would. In spite of fear of imperfection. Get better by doing. Being in action. Creating. Saying no to what stifles my spirit and yes to things that will push me to grow.
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