Hi there! We're Luke and Cat, and we're so happy you're here. We hope you'll stay a while! We’re a husband and wife wedding photographer team based in Houston, Texas. Ranchers-turned-photographers, our world looks like this: a Craftsman-style farmhouse; our newborn, Knox, in our arms; coffee in the kitchen; Edison lights on the back porch; and a pair of English bulldogs at the foot of our bed. Read more...
 
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Makeup Mondays #14 :: Vacation!

May 13, 2013 / Makeup Mondays
As you might have noticed, for the last few weeks we've been traveling around and I've missed a few Makeup Mondays! Boo! To be quite honest, we've been hitting it hard lately and haven't been home very much for me to sit down and compile my thoughts for a Makeup Monday.

Since my last post, I've gotten very well acquainted with the subject of today's post, which is this incredible tinted moisturizer by Laura Mercier.


Even though we have been working and very busy, we've been in several beach towns (first, Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina, followed by Punta Cana, Dominican Republic) over the past few weeks and I've considered it a vacation. For me, vacation calls for no makeup! The last thing I want to do in a beachy climate (where I *could* be sitting in a beach chair watching the waves) is spend my time putting on makeup. Not to mention that when the beach climate is windy and humid - makeup just doesn't have a place.

Luckily, several weeks ago one of our two amazing studio assistants Shelby (fellow makeup geek) told me about Laura Mercier's Tinted Moisturizer. After doing a little research, I realized that this stuff has RAVE reviews everywhere and has been featured in so many fashion and beauty magazines.

There's not much I can tell you that you probably don't already know about tinted moisturizer, but I can say that this one is a vacation staple for me from now on. It takes just a few seconds to swipe this on your face and all of a sudden your skintone is evened out, moisturized, AND you have SPF 20 protection. Perfect!

For me, this won't be just for vacations - I'm turning it into an everyday thing! It's the perfect solution for when I don't want to wear makeup, but I want to look a little better. $43 at Sephora. :)
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Makeup Mondays #13 :: Mascara

Apr 15, 2013 / Makeup Mondays
I can't believe that I haven't shared my favorite mascara with you yet!

I've been thru a lot of mascaras in my life - both drugstore and department store. I have a drugstore brand that I like too, but for the past year, I've been exclusively using this mascara.

It all started with a free sample of Diorshow New Look mascara that my friends at the Dior counter threw in for me when I was there purchasing foundation one day.


Since then, I've been in love with this stuff! It's $28.50 per tube but each tube lasts me about 3 months.

Here are the main reasons that I like this mascara:

1) The brush. It isn't like a normal brush, it's fancy. Something about the way it is made helps me avoid clumps - which is super important. More on that later. But look at this brush:
http://www.sephora.com/diorshow-new-look-mascara-P304808

2) It's super black. I've used some mascaras before that might claim to be black, but their pigment just isn't as dark as I think it should be. This mascara is very very very black.

3) It's buildable. This is important to me as I put on a lot of mascara. Depending on the day, I might put on a few swipes, or I might put on a loooooot of swipes. As far as I have experienced, this mascara will build without getting clumpy or goopy. Officially, I would say that this mascara builds volume but still leaves your lashes defined.

Now, for my friends who are fans of waterproof mascara, sadly, this is not waterproof. But it is still a great mascara so you should give it a try!

Department store mascara is great, but there's some amazing drugstore finds too that are quite affordable. I'll share my drugstore faves in a future post. :)
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Makeup Mondays #12 :: Not Makeup At All Actually

Apr 8, 2013 / Makeup Mondays
This isn't really makeup, but it is beauty related, and it is one of my new favorite things, so I must share, and this is the right place for it, I think!

In the past couple of months I've been getting manicures every two or three weeks in the form of a shellac manicure. I was first introduced to these by my good friend Lindsey Connally who met us for lunch one day with these ultra-shiny Aggie maroon nails. She then enlightened me about the wonderful world of shellac.

Shellac is pretty cool because it isn't like fake nails - it's just polish that goes on your normal fingernails but hardens to the point of... well, extreme durability. It will also stay shiny shiny shiny (worth saying three times) for a long time. Unlike acrylic or solar nails where they have to file your own nails down, shellac doesn't have any prep like that. It is literally just like you are getting a plain ol' manicure. The difference must be in the shellac paint, which is painted on in 2 or 3 coats and then 'cured' under a special light that hardens it.

The entire manicure takes about 45 minutes, You only need to go back when your nails have grown out enough for it to be noticable - which for me is about 2 or 3 weeks. Here's my 3 shellac's I have had done so far:


On the left is my current shade, which is called Lightning Orange. It's a bright neon coral and my favorite yet. I think I will stay with this color for another round.

Middle was my first shellac, which was a pale brownish pink with a gold glitter coat on top. I was trying for 'rose gold' nails, but they weren't dark enough.

The far right are my 'Barbie nails' that I had done for Las Vegas, hot pink with a glitter overlay.

Each of these manicures has lasted two weeks.
When it's time to get the nails redone, the only part that is a little different than what you may be used to with normal manicures is that you do have to soak the old shellac off. This doesn't take too long, but you do have to sit there with both hands soaking for about 10 minutes, which really cuts down on my ability to play Candy Crush on my phone. :)

If you're looking for somewhere local, I really recommend trying the Sweet Escape Nail Lounge in Sugarland. They have done the best job of all of my shellac manicures!
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