Photo-friendly products !

One thing i always do when i buy a new product is multiply test it out before deciding to include it in my professional makeup kit.
For studio-photography makeup or any sort of makeup that includes flash photography (editorial / event / bridal) there are certain makeup products that can turn your work into an epic-fail episode. Foundations with high SPF, certain mineral powders, concealers & foundations that have light-reflective ingredients, overapplied shimmer bronzers and glitter powders, all that can make the skin appear ashy, masky white or -in the case of shimmer/glitter products- exaggerate fine lines and pores or produce a "sweaty" look.
But the trickiest products i have ever come across are the silica loose powders like the Make Up For Ever "HD" powder. Transluscent-invisible, colorless, talc free (100% silica), when this powder hit the market some years ago it revolutionized the no-powder "natural" makeup look.
And it's absolutely true. For daytime or for tv camera work it does wonders (especially with the demanding HD equipment and formats where the makeup needs to be "almost not there")

BUT !!!! for flash photography it can be disastreous! Invisible as it is, it's very easily overapplied...and then disaster hits!

Here's me without flash

and with flash
scarry huh??

When i first bought the MUFE "HD" powder ,back in 2008, and took my test pictures i was horrified by the outcome!!! Mostly because noone had told me "becareful with flash photography"!!! I only use these type of powders on day-makeup or makeup for tv / film.

New Hair color !

I want to start off by saying that this dark brown colour in the picture is acctually my natural hair colour!
For the past 4 years my hair was ranging from medium blond to light brown with blond highlights. I hadn't been to a salon for ages, so a couple of days before new years eve i decided i wanted to go "Victoria Beckham blond".
So i went to the salon and showed the hairdresser a picture of Victoria Beckham having this beautiful medium ashy blond base with platinum blond thick highlights in the front.
2 and 1/2 hours later my hair couldnt be more far from what i had requested : in the back my hair was a burnt-orange colour and in the front it was a banana-yellow with stripes of greenish white!!!! I just couldn't believe i paid 120 euros to look like lion-king!
After a week of not-knowing-what-to-do-with-my-hair-color [i tried to come up with color combinations in clothing and makeup that would match the hair color-but no foundation color-eyeshadow-blush-clothing combo would fit in] i decided to go back to naturals and start from the scratch.
Since my hair had already been through a rough process of bleaching and color lifting i wanted the least damaging hair dye i could find in the market. Though i highly advise AGAINST do-it-yourself methods when it comes to dramatic hair-color changes i had no intention of paying another 40-50 euros in a salon since i knew that i wanted dark hair. So i went to my local drugstore and bought the "KORRES" hair color kit in shade 4N-Chestnut (N=natural shades) which is ammonia-free and enriched with active plants extracts. I went home, followed the instructions and...couldn't be more happy with the results!!! All this cheapy looking orange mess was gone and my hair was a uniformly rich brown color. Over the past week i have been washing my hair every other day and was surprised to see that the color didnt alter or fade. The kit also included a hair balsam to massage onto hair after washing out the dye that made my hair super shiny.