Creative Minds Collide

I was recently invited to be a part of a creative collaboration in Milwaukee. As a Wisconsin freelance makeup artist I get the opportunities to meet new people all the time. Each time it builds new relationships and you never know where it will lead you.

I was so excited when Brandis, a model I had worked with before, and has graced the fashion magazines with her Paul Mitchell ad, asked me if I would be interested in shooting a fashion story. I would be doing makeup and hair, Brandis put on another hat as wardrobe stylist and artistic director, our photographer was David Larson of www.dalaphotography.com, and Rebecca was our beautiful model.

Our shoot was amazing and we all worked together like we've done it a hundred times before. I look forward to being a part of their creative team again. The strengh of everyones talent really shows in our final shots.

Here is a taste of our work...and as usual there is always the "back of head" shot of me on the set.

Thanks for reading!!

Jai

America's Beauty Show

As a freelance makeup arist in Wisconsin I constantly seek out educational opportunities to keep my ideas fresh and get inspired.

I recently attended America's Beauty Show (ABS) in Chicago, IL and was so excited by the things I saw. It was great to be an attendee this year so I could take in all the hundreds of exhibitors there. I am usually hired to do makeup at these types of shows so I don't get to see alot of what's happening in showrooms and on the runways.

ABS is an event open to salon and spa professionals. There are hundreds of the world's top manufacturers and distributors like Redken, Aquage, Matrix, L'Oreal, FHI Heat and Dermalogica. They are there to share experience, education, and inspiration. They all have their products out for you to see, touch and work with. You get the opportunites to have things demostrated on you too. I got to go on stage and the stylist from Croc curled my hair with her flat iron. That was a treat for me and I got to rest my feet for a little while! It's the try before you buy theory! I spent all three days there and still don't think I saw everything.

Every year there are big names in the beauty industry that come to the show and this year was no exception. Tabatha Coffey, from Tabatha's Salon Takeover, Kim Vo, a judge on Shear Genius and celebrity hairstylist, and Nick Arrojo, Arrojo Studio and former hairstylist on What Not To Wear. I got to see all of them, but am not one to stand in line for an autograph...so I just took pictures instead.

Some of my favorites that stand out from the show was L'Oreal and their creative hairstyles and Aquage for their beautiful finishing techniques. My best purchase was the Textur Iron from Sam Villa...and of course some makeup brushes by Royal & Langnickel Brush Mfg.

I can't wait for next year and if you're a licensed professional it's a must see show in the Midwest!

Here are some of my pictures from the weekend!

Makeup and Hair Meet on the Runway

Being a Wisconsin makeup artist and hair stylist I spend the majority of my time in the state, but I recently returned from Illinois after my first hair show of 2010. Several times a year I get to travel all over the Midwest and sometime beyond for these wonderful events.

This year, like all others, was a full house of eager stylist and aestheticians looking to learn and inspire their creativity with some of the top global educators in the U.S. They represent some of the top lines in the beauty industry like Redken, Pureology, Surface, Keune, and Mirabella to name a few.

Although I don't get to see much of the shows since I'm in the model room applying makeup for 50 or more models, I always enjoy seeing what was all captured on camera. Thanks Elvisa, who was one of the models, for posting so many great photos!

Here are a few of my favorites from the weekend!

When Artists Meet Artists

Hi Everyone,

Sorry for not being disiplined enough to get new blogs out as much as I'd like.
Instead of sharing pictures with you this time I wanted to share a video! This is from a recent photoshoot I was on with a whole new collaboration of artists.

The team consisted of photographer, David, at www.davidejackson.com, hairstylist, Scott Burns from www.salonshearchaos.com, wardrobe stylist, Mark Plowman, and again some amazing jewelry from Betty Holland, www.sophisticatedstones.com

Assisting us with lots of other things (video, photo assisting, ordering food and much more) was Trevor and Brett...and to our wonderful models Naomi and Lauren it was a great success. I look forward to many more!

Take a peak...turn up the volume...and let me know what you think!

PERSONAL WORK: Behind the Scenes from David Jackson on Vimeo.

Jewels of Inspiration

It always seems to be that when a new year starts I get that itch to get into a photo studio and just get creative. The winters are long and cold here and I need to flex my creativity!

About a year ago I was introduced to an amazing jewelry designer, Betty Holland, http://www.sophisticatedstones.com. Her jewelry creations are amazing and have graced some of the top fashion magazines.

We shot some of her jewelry last year. Our creative team consisted of a wonderful beauty and fashion photographer, John Hethorn, http://www.44beyondtheface.com, Dillon Jay, a wardrobe stylist extraordinaire and myself doing makeup and hair. Our results were more than I could have hoped for and I couldn't wait to get the opportunity to work with this team again.

That brings me to today. Betty sent me not only one, but two packages of her jewelry collection to see...get inspired...and get in that darn studio again! I got the team together and we were all very excited to collaborate.

Thank you Betty for all your beautiful pieces, John for your mad photography skills, Dillon Jay for all your "out of the box" fashion sense, and to the amazing models that took part in our chaos (Brandis, Elle, Melissa and Ashley)!

Here are some of the results of the three shoots we did together so far. There is still more to come so please keep checking my website galleries for new additions!

Photo Project

One of my favorite things to do is to make people feel good about themselves.

Imagine going to your job one day and there is a photographer waiting to take your picture for a publication. If you're like most people you want to run the other way. You want to look your best and you probably didn't have the time to get ready that morning...or you've been working the last 10 hours and the last thing you want to do is smile for a picture.
What if your your employer thought enough about hiring a makeup artist and hairstylist that day to make you look and feel good about getting that picture taken. It would make it a little less painful wouldn't it?
That's where I step in because this particular client did!
A number of years ago I teamed up with Mike Roemer of roemerphoto.com
He did an online search for a Wisconsin Makeup Artist and Hairstylist and we've been working together ever since. Together we give our clients a professional team with guaranteed results.
One of my favorite continuing projects I do with Mike is taking portraits of people in the health care industry. We travel throughout Wisconsin and Illinois getting shots of real people doing their jobs in their work environment.
These are some of my favorite shots and excellent examples of making your average person look great.
Next time your company wants to take your picture...remember that an amazing team of makeup artistry and photography will always get you the best results!






Refashioned by Jai

Feed the Fish Movie

I had the pleasure earlier this year to work as assistant makeup artist and hair stylist for an independant film called Feed the Fish. It was mainly filmed in beautiful Door County, Wisconsin.

I knew when I read the script by Michael Matzdorff (who also directed and is Tony Shalhoub's nephew) I knew it was going to be a great movie. It's a romantic comedy and now being called "the feel good film of the winter"



When I arrived on set they had already been filming for a number of days. I was introduced to the cast and crew who welcomed me with open arms. I had such an amazing experience working with everyone. Some of the cast I got to work with was Tony Shalhoub(Monk), Ross Partridge, Katie Aselton, and Barry Corbin. The characters they played were so real to each of their personalities that the casting was perfect!



The movie is now complete and we were all invited to preview a screening a few weeks ago. It was so exciting and kind of surreal at the same time to see my work on the big screen. As you know movie scenes are never shot in sequence and throughout the entire movie I got to reminise about being right there on set ready to powder and keep the cast looking good.

At the theater it was so great to see the many people I had worked with. You could see how proud everyone was to see their name rolling in the credits after the flick.


The movie has been submitted to a number of film festivals and I hope it'll be out soon for all of you to see. You can visit their website to track the progress too.

http://www.feedthefishmovie.com