As you may have read or seen on Facebook, in April we traveled to North Carolina to visit our good friend Millie Holloman. We spent a week on the NC coast (which was perfect) and also had our portraits taken by Millie. I believe Millie is one of the best photographers in the USA, so of course, when it was time for her to take our portraits, I definitely wanted to make sure I looked good. I asked Millie for recommendations on a makeup artist in Wilmington to do my makeup for the pictures, and she hooked me up with a great person who fixed me up.

When the makeup artist arrived at our beach house, we sat and talked about what I wanted. She said, "I'm sure you can show me something on Pinterest." But it wasn't on Pinterest that I found the makeup idea that I wanted... it was from one of our past brides, the lovely Megan, who was married last August.

I know that on the day of the wedding, I kept raving about how beautiful her makeup was. It was natural and timeless, but the purple eyeshadows still gave it a little spunk and personality. Megan and I also have similar skintones, so I thought this would look good on me too for our pictures.

I don't have any eyeshadows in my kit that would recreate this look, but I am eyeing this 5-color set in Stylish Move 970 from Sephora as a potential at-home solution. It might be sitting in my online shopping cart at this very moment.

I can't wait to share some of our images from our shoot with Millie. In the meantime, admire how gorgeous this bride was!

Happy Memorial Day! In honor of this day and the red, white, and blue, I chose to feature my favorite red lipstick. Venturing into the land of red lipstick was pretty scary for me! Luckily, I found the perfect red lipstick that works well with my skin tone, and that lipstick is Chanel's Gabrielle.

I love this lipstick because it goes on quite easily (no lip brush needed) and the color is very vibrant. The color isn't super glossy, so I have a Chanel glossy lacquer in the same shade that I put on sometimes with it. This is definitely a lipstick you'll want to carry with you for touch ups because it isn't longwear.

Here's a few pictures I pulled of my Instagram where I'm wearing the lipstick.

If you haven't tried red lipstick yet, I think you should. There's something super fun and empowering, yet timeless, about having bright red lips. If you have been a little scared to try the bright pink, I think the red is a little more of a modest option for you.

Happy Memorial Day! We are blessed to live in the land of the free, because of the brave.

This week I'm going to share another recent product I found. I first was introduced to the concept of translucent setting powder when I had my makeup done in North Carolina for our photos by Millie Holloman. Since I am so fair, the makeup artist chose to use this as the powder on my face. I was quite shocked when I saw she was putting stark white powder on my face, but it looked really great.

So here is the white/translucent setting powder I purchased and now use, Laura Mercier Invisible Loose Setting Powder.

There's two great applications that I have found for this powder:

First, I like to use it alongside last week's tinted moisturizer. It gives my skin a matte finish which I prefer to any type of shine that I would have only using the moisturizer.

Second, I've been using it as a finishing step on my makeup after everything is done (but before the makeup spray.) I like that it seems to soften to finish of everything, and gently blends my bronzer, blush, and highlighter.

It's a loose powder, which means it isn't good to take along for touchups while you're on the go, but at home, it gives a nice matte finish to your makeup.