Honored & Privileged to beautify an angel.

On March 25, 2010 my precious 7 year old sister in law Annalee Grace Sullivan joined our heavenly father. Annie suffered an hypoxic-ischemic brain injury secondary to undiagnosed Addison's disease on January 21, 2007, when she was 3 1/2 years old. As a result of the brain injury, she was also diagnosed with Lennox-Gastaut seizure disorder. Annie has been suffering for the last 4 years, and it has been hard on everyone. Annie lived a brief, but very full life. She had the most beautiful smile and the biggest bright blue eyes. 


Annie's Mother Jean, my Mother in law asked me to help prepare Annie for her memorial, by doing her makeup. It was an honor and privilege to be there with Annie and make her beautiful one last time for all her friends and family to see. To be honest, I was feeling so nervous, scared, overwhelmed, emotional, honored and every other emotion one could possibly feel. The night before I was to do Annie's makeup I didn't sleep a wink. I wanted to make sure that I lived up to the Sullivan's expectations as well as my own, when making Annie look like the angel she is. 


I arrived at the funeral home plenty early to mentally prepare and pray that I would be able to handle this.  I worked with the embalmer Heather, who normally does the cosmetics for the deceased. She talked me through the process and taught me a lot about the industry. Heather was impressed by my artistic ability and picked my brain as she always wanted to do FX makeup, like I did for movies down in Los Angeles. I too, gathered as much information from her about what she does, as I have always been fascinated and tinkered with the thought of working in her industry.


After 2 hours of learning from each other and beautifying Annie, I felt such relief and fulfillment as Annie looked so beautiful and everyone was going to see her looking like a beautiful princess she once was. 


This is one of the hardest things I have ever had to do, but I am so proud, honored, blessed and privileged that I was able to give this gift to Annie and the Sullivan's. 


We all love you so much Annie. Irene and Baby Belly Bean will always know that they have a sweet, beautiful Aunty Annie who loves them very much. I know that you are full of smiles and giggles, running around heaven, holding Jesus' hand with gorgeous pink flowers in your hair, your big blue eyes sparkling and you are forever watching over all of us. 

Annie was our flower girl at our New Years Eve Wedding 

Cris

Aunty Annie welcome's her first niece Irene to the family

Irene loves her Aunty Annalee

Annie & Irene

The Sullivan's 2009

Small town Prom, doing it Big!

Makeup has always been such a passion of mine, and every opportunity I get to be creative and make some one feel beautiful, I take it. My 15 year old cousin Aly, a freshman was asked to Prom this year by a Senior. Well, I guess there was a whole list of boys fighting over who was going to have the privilege of taking Aly to Prom and Gus won the fight. Aly asked me to do her makeup for this big day. Of course, "Yes" was my answer!

Aly lives about 300 miles away from Seattle in a small town South of Spokane. Since this was an opportunity to visit family as well as perform my art, my beautiful daughter Irene and my Mom Cheryl packed up the car and headed across state, bright and early Saturday morning. Aly was about bouncing off the walls when we arrived 4 1/2 hours later. Irene was ready to run around and play and I was ready to transform Aly into a princess.

Aly's dress was bright pink and full of sparkle, so I wanted to use colors that would complement her skin tone as well as her beautiful dress. I primed, then airbrushed her foundation & highlights using my Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics airbrush makeup. Keeping a light hand as we wanted to keep her freckles. I gave Aly a light grayish purple smokey eye with a soft pink and gold highlight from my Duwop collection. Aly had never worn false lashes before, so she was very excited, as she said "they feel heavy." I taught Aly how to contour her face with a bronzer and soft pink blush, she thought my trick was pretty cool. I finished her princess look off with Duwop's 2nd sin lip plumper, nude liner and a light pink Global Goddess lip gloss.

I think I saw tears in her eyes as she finally had a chance to see the transformation in the mirror. The full Prom transformation was complete after I helped her lace up her beautiful bright pink dress, put on her jewelry and she finished the look, with her adorable gray converse. After a quick photo op, and 3 brief threats of snow, her excited Mom & Dad (Mike & Becky) drove Aly to her dates house to meet with several friends, have another photo op and jump on the party bus before heading to dinner and Prom.

It was really cool for me to see this perma grin on Aly's face. I swear she didn't stop smiling the whole time I was doing her makeup. That made me feel pretty cool. I am positive Aly had a great time, she was definitely a princess. It was such a pleasure taking a road trip with my 2 favorite girls, hanging out with Aly, teaching her some makeup tricks, helping her get ready for Prom and being able to see some of my family, that I haven't seen in a while.

Thank you to the Tee family for involving me in this wonderful day. I had a blast!!

Cris

Who is GlamourCris?

Hello friends, this is Cris of Glamourcris Makeup and I am so excited to blog my first entry. I want to introduce myself to you, so you can get to know me a little more.

In 2002, just weeks after graduating high school I made the big move from Redmond, Washington to Hollywood, California, to pursue my dream of being a Professional Makeup Artist. I attended and graduated from the world renown Makeup Designory (MUD). I completed the JourneyMan Makeup Program and Hair Styling Program and began my career in Hollywood. Living in Los Angeles, I worked internationally as Key Makeup Artist for many films, television shows, photo shoots and runway shows. Formerly representing Kevyn Aucoin, Duwop, Trish McEvoy and Global Goddess Cosmetics. I have extensive experience in creating custom color palettes tailored to each individual.

While living the life in Hollywood, I was also blessed with the opportunity to be an Actress and Model. I booked several photo shoots as a model. In 2005, my teenage dream came true, when I was asked to be the Key Makeup Artist / Hairstylist for the feature film 'Teenage Dirtbag', and director Regina Crosby insisted I also play the role of teenage rebel, Tabitha. I was going to be in a movie! I had my work cut out for me, as I was the one and only Makeup, Hair and FX Artist on this film. So it was up to me to make sure all the actors, including myself, looked amazing, keeping up with continuity, working 18-20 hour days and being far away from home. It was so rewarding and awesome to walk the red carpet, do interviews and sign autographs at the Hollywood Premier of "Teenage Dirtbag". I will always cherish that opportunity I was given.

I decided in late 2007, that I wasn't in love with Los Angeles anymore and I wanted to make some changes in my life. I planned to move home to Washington and save some money, to give myself the opportunity to travel the world and rediscover Cris, while still perusing my passion for Makeup. Very shortly after moving home, my plans changed, I fell in love and less than a year later, I was married. 9 months later, my incredible, sweet, darling daughter Irene was born. Shortly after Irene's 1st birthday, we discovered we were having another bundle of joy. After 2 years of marriage, my husband and I decided to go our separate ways. Now I am a full time single Mom of a wild 18 month old and Baby Belly Bean will be joining Irene and Me in June 2011.

I have been so blessed to be close to my family. My Mom lives close by and she is and always will be my best friend and a fantastic Baba (Grandma) to Irene. Irene & Belly Bean are the reasons I live, they inspires me to be the most amazing Mother and Woman. I strive to be Wonder Woman for my children, keeping a positive outlook on life and showing them how blessed we are to share our lives with all of you.

Specializing in Beauty, Bridal, Airbrush and Editorial Makeup. I attended and graduated from Glen Dow Academy for Esthetics in 2009, and am a Washington State Licensed Esthetician and skin care specialist. I am so excited to go full force again, in my passion for Makeup and bringing out the beauty in every woman. Creating healthy, breathable skin for a naturally youthful and flawless appearance, is my beauty philosophy. 

This is my story, I hope to share my creativeness, inspiration, love and faith with you.

Cris