Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Open Letter To All

Taken from my original post on MM. . .


I finally have a bit of time today and wanted to spend a some of it catching up in one big swoop with all of the people here as I've been out of touch with most of you for over a month and I feel really horrible about it.

As some of you already know, I was diagnosed with cancer earlier this spring (about the time I got home from NYC's workshop). . . I've been in and out of town seeing doctors trying to sort out some sort of plan on how to deal with all of this and not make me entirely bankrupt or any sicker than I've already been and as a result I've had to put off a lot of things I had planned to do this summer. I wanted to take some time this afternoon and thank those of you who have emailed, texted, tagged etc. me in my absence for thinking of me, it really means a lot. I will be in and out of town again in the near future as I get prepared for the 2nd phase of this treatment stuff and I hope that I can catch up on things I've inadvertently fell behind on here and at the very least try and respond to some of the 1k of emails I have stacked up in my inbox while I'm home these next few days.

I hope you all are well and I look forward to having time again soon to catch up on the boards, it seems that a whole lifetime has gone by for some of you in my absence! Keep up the good work and I look forward to catching up with you all soon, I miss you all so much <3

~angel~

Monday, June 1, 2009

Las Vegas - October 2009

So here's the heads up on the next Vegas workshop, slated currently for early October of 2009.
Bridal to editorial will be covered with an optional Men's Grooming too for those interested. Please make plans now as this workshop is sure to fill quickly as a return request for a workshop not even completed yet lol

~angel~

Monday, May 25, 2009

so here's what I've been up to on a personal note. . .

So as some of you may know I went for another series of tests in late March and early April for cancer screenings. The results came back positive and I have been diagnosed with cervical cancer. Before you gasp too loudly, due to my slightly neurotic need to know things I did not take the standard wait and see path that was recommended by one doctor and went for a second opinion which proved it is in early stages as far as they could tell without a biopsy and chances are quite likely I can have a very minor surgical procedure in conjunction with my biopsy and eliminate it. I am quite hopeful that this is the right course and that things will go well and smoothly for me as a result :)
On a side note, I am posting this as so many of you have taken to texting and emailing me wondering where I've been and I finally feel ok to talk about it now after visiting with my oncologist last thurs. He's a wonderful and warm person and put me at ease about the whole thing as I've been worried on pin and needles since my blood tests came back and no one can hear the word cancer without assuming the worst :(

Best Wishes to all of you this Memorial Day ^^
keep your fingers crossed, my procedure is schedualed for June 19th :)
~angel~

*LA UPDATE*

So the plans for LA's workshop had to be postponed :(
I will be working on making this workshop happen in part in Las Vegas in July for those interested and working on reschedule dates for LA proper later in the summer.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

England's workshop, will it happen?

So I've been thinking about what to do over the summer about this workshop and here's what I've been thinking. . .
I will need to bring Lily with me (for those who don't know she's my 12yr old that I sometimes exploit as an assitant lol) and would like to stay at least 2 weeks if not longer. There are so many of you I would like to work with as well that it only seems right to just stay a bit longer.
I am most definitely interested in bringing the workshop over and if we can get enough interest in it I will! Please feel free to pass along the 'plan' as it were to fellow artists and we'll see if we can get something together on it like a bit of a working holiday.

~angel~

LA workshop

First rounds of emails have gone out regarding tools for the workshop and making sure we're all good with the dates.
So we're looking at June 3-4, 2009 for the LA workshop dates. If you've not made it on the mailing list yet or would like to know more about what we're doing in California please feel free to email me at angelgraves@live.ca to get in on what's going on :)

Later Days~

~angel~

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Model Mayhem FAQ rebuild

Just a note to let you all know I'm currently working on updating and reworking the MM FAQ for the HMS Forum. If you have links to helpful info or threads you want to be sure are included please feel free to email me or PM me on the site. There's a thread I started too for corralling the ideas to add to the update if you'd rather post there.
Thanks to all who are volunteering help with this and to all who will toss in the advice in the future :)

~angel~

Monday, April 6, 2009

California here I come!

Just a quick note to let you know that we're taking this workshop show on the road again, this time to sunny California :)
The plan is 2 workshops in the state, one in San Francisco and one in LA. The planned schedule is for 2 pretty different workshops, one for bridal styling/elegant updo's and shoot basics/men's grooming/products & tools. If you have questions or are interested in these workshops feel free to email me for further details and keep the requests coming, if I don't hear from you I can't plan a workshop in your town ;)

<3 Later Days~

~angel~

Saturday, April 4, 2009

New product loves discovered on my NYC trip :)

I can't tell you how relieved and yet annoyed I am by some of these things lol
I've been having a problem with my MUFE Star Powders since I've been in Wyoming that seems to have disappeared when I got back to the East Coast to show Cynthia. . . the product has a seriously chalky look to it when I've tried to use them out here that it does not have in areas that actually have some degree of humidity. So here's where my MUA help me questions for Cynthia got started.
Cynthia opened her kit of wonders and out came all of these things I really just now feel compelled to own lol

FA Transforming Gel - This is on my list of items to order now! The transforming gel took the loose pigments I had been avoiding using here in Wyoming and made the consistency something I could certainly use in any conditions. The pigments glided on smoothly and stayed put, I can't rave enough about this product!

OCC Lip Tar - Also on my list of items to order now! This product is smooth and has amazing pigmentation. It's all of the best of things you want in application and pigmentation but it gets better. . . it stays put! It's not gummy or goopy it is smooth and fantastic feeling very light AND doesn't budge once it's on :) Definately a must have item now for my kit ^^

Bed Head shadows - So I have some really rave things to say about some of their hair care products and would never have thought to use their makeup until now! I picked up a quad and a single shadow at Cosmo Pro on our field trip and I can't begin to tell you how happy I am with them for my own personal use! Pigment is great and amazingly wonderful to build up as well. blends great and lasts all day. I am considering adding some of these in to my kit as I run out existing shadows I like them that much.

Urban Decay 24/7 Liner - Ok what can I say here? I bought 2 of these while I was there as I needed to replace my personal black liner. I can't tell you how happy I am with the soft application, feel, staying power, I could go on and on. I will also be adding these to my kit as I run out my current liners, so much nicer lol

La Femme blushes - So I'm not a snob when it comes to makeup prices, we all know expensive does not always equte to good but how is it possible that this is so inexpensive and so good? There are so many colours to choose from but with Cynthia's expert eye we took a swatch of 4 and easily found jsut the right one for me to use daily. I love how easy it is to build this up for a more dramatic look or evening wear, it's just amazing!

So this is a short list of things I finally got to try out and bought not including some things I plan to purchase in the future lol I can't wait to move back to the east where I can get my hands on anything I want!

NYC Hair Workshop Part 2 :) The real work!

First off I want to thank Cynthia O'Rourke for hosting the workshop at her house, her sisters for modeling and her family for having us there :)
Also a thank you for Belinda and Allie for traveling to Long Island to participate in the workshop and Alexander for coming out to lend his support.

We covered so much in the 2 days we had I hope I remember to recount it all but I'm gonna give it a go!
On day one we began with covering the uses of all the products the ladies had already in their kits and what I keep in mine and why. We had at length discussions on brands and myths of all of these products and covered many many things here helping the girls downsize some things they had duplicate usages of and build up for things they would need.
We also covered our tools and what each one was best used for. Placement of tools, sectioning of hair, brushes, combs, clips, pins, etc. Things we could keep on hand that did the jobs of other tools that were bulky to carry and the best ways to use them in time with your make up applications. The ladies caught on to all of this pretty quickly and we moved on to demonstrations and applications of these procedures. They all got to try wrapping long hair and keeping from crimping the ends and how to slide the hair out once it had been curled to be able to pin it up for cooling.
Our afternoon went by fairly quickly as Allie had to leave earlier so we wrapped up the lesson for the day. While we were waiting on Alexander to arrive, we visited about things the other ladies wanted to make sure they picked up in their kits and things they wanted to make sure we learned for the next day. When Alexander did arrive, we all took a field trip to beauty suppliers to make sure the girls got to pick up things they didn't have for the next day's lesson and to cover things that are good buys and how to know the differences. We had a great time checking out things and I learned some great things about BedHead makeup lol

This is also the night I got my haircut. I can't begin to explain to Alexander how thankful and grateful I am for him staying up so late and hanging out with Cynthia and for such a fantastic haircut.

On day two we started earlier to try and make sure we got things covered before the models arrived. We covered blow outs, steps to building the base for updo's, back brushing, French Twists and prepared for our models. When the models arrived, the ladies practiced blow outs on amazing long hair and sectioning very curly hair to prep it for an updo. The ladies took turns blowing out and styling the creative updo and did very well :) In the afternoon we covered again the best places to shop for bargains, things to pick up at the dollar sotre, and some vintage types of hair styles before Belinda and Allie had to go.

I had such a fantastic time with the girls covering pin placements, curling long hair, applying decorations, braids, editorial hair, extensions and how to make them, products, achieving volume and texture, and so many other things I was sad to have it end. I was however so proud when I got word from Allie that her film project had gone so well with applying hair pieces that stayed put and when I got pictures of her happy bride that she had been so worried about :) I also was so happy to discuss vintage styling with Belinda who gave me so many ideas to make use of products in my kit to achieve things I had not used them for :) She's pretty inspirational and doesn't even know it. Cythina and I did some recon makeup shopping errands for my mom and spent some time going thru shops until we found products to put in her kit to flesh it out and she helped me get hooked on some new eyeliners lol We also tried out all the new MUFE HD products, found out purple straw hats are not for Cynthia no matte rhow much they cost and completely annoyed some slaes girl in Sephora. . . at the end of day two lol good times had by all!

On my last day in town, Cynthia and I met back up with Alexander and we covered some serious ground in Manhattan! We got some lunch and went to Alcone (my first trip) and tried out so many things. I managed to get myself some new blush, brush cleaner, and replace a blush brush! We had a good time and managed to stop by Ricky's and a few other places too while we were there before I had to make it to check in for my return trip.

I'd like to thank everyone in NYC again for having me and I can hardly wait to see more of the fantastic things the ladies can now create ^^

Later Days~

~angel~

Sunday, March 29, 2009

NYC Workshop Part 1

I know I should really start at the start of the trip or even blog on about the workshop itself first but there's just such hilarity in this portion of my trip that I feel compelled to share this first lol

So for those of you who are not aware I've returned late late last night from the first in this year's series of workshops which was held in Oceanside, NY. For the less geographically savvy we'll just say I've been in NYC this past week :) I took the plunge to save on the cost for this workshop and chose to travel by bus, yes you read right I took the Greyhound! The start of this trip was boring for the most part as I was held up in route to avoid the weather and late arriving by one day because of recent blizzards around the central parts of the US and there's nothing exciting at all to post about this other than being late by a day. The real shenanigans were not going to happen in my travel until I boarded the bus at Port Authority NYC to return home. . .

After schlepping all over Manhattan with Cynthia and Alexander (and my suitcases) I was feeling like a bit of a jerk and a great deal sad it was my last day :( To understand my jerk feelings you'd have to have dragged this wheeled suitcase up and down the stairs of the NYC transit, along with it's recent bum wheel. But I digress lol this is not the hilarious part of the story! We arrived at Port Authority and smoked one last cigarette and made our way inside. We attempted to speak to a man in an information booth to inquire where we were to go for Greyhound, this man on his cell phone could not be bothered to even pause his conversation! We made some polite and then some progressively snarky remarks thru the glass at him and he never even made a motion to stop his phone call. We were annoyed to the point of walking off to find another counter when 2 girls came in behind us and he stopped immediately to aide them. . . first class jerk! We made our way down 2 levels and immediately found Greyhound and just in time as I was due to depart at 3:30 and it was 3:28 lol we checked my bags and began to hurry up and wait in the queue. While waiting, Alexander noticed the person taking our tickets. . . by person I mean we weren't too sure if this was a man or a woman but we were sure this person had the craziest painted on hairline we've ever seen! I don't have words to describe it other than something in theatrical style and done in a heavy grease paint. . . super tacky! So even as the person took my ticket I was still not sure if they were man or woman and was more concerned with thanking Alexander for dragging the dead weight of the suitcase and Cynthia for shouldering the other bag and saying goodbye. I boarded the bus and waited patiently for take off. . . As we rumbled out of the station the driver came across the speaker system and began to read us the rules of travel with Greyhound.
"Ladies and gentlemen my name is Tashonda but you will call me Lil' T and I don't deal wit no nonsense on my bus. . . " I'm telling you this was the angriest sounding African American woman ever! Some scuffle happened in the front of the bus between 2 guys one talking some trash to the other and it was a lot of curse words and Lil' T clearly saw that as nonsense so as we rolled off the bridge into Newark, she told him something. When we rolled to a stop in Newark, she threw the bus in park and came back to his seat and grabbed him by the ear and escorted him off the bus! This is when I realized the person we'd seen with the horrible theatre hairline was Lil' T! As she straight tossed this guy off in Newark I could hear her telling him off about his cussing and I could not help but mischieviously giggle :)
Random nonsense in small amounts continued to happen once we got back on in Newark but I managed to change seats to get away from this nasty smelling man eating kimchee and thought everything was going to be ok, I was wrong!
This seemingly normal looking guy decided to tell me his version of a pick up line. . . "It's raining and grey like this because NYC is so sad to see you leave with me". Somewhere in there my eyes made a complete trip around my head in reverse and I made the most exasperated noise before I even realized it was out loud. "I'll take cheesy pick up lines for 500 Alex." Thanks for the offer but I'll have to pass!
The rest of the ride to Pittsburg was pretty uneventful, there was a strange fear over the occupants of the bus after seeing the guy tossed off in the rain in Newark and it kept all the would be pranksters and loud obnoxious people right in line. I did waste a large amount of this time texting Cyn and Alex and having a bad karma laugh over the whole thing.
Once we arrived in Pittsburg I made some new bus friends and I use the term friends loosely. The tiniest little Hispanic looking woman was ahead of me in line at the cafe counter trying to order some coffee con leche, simple request if you can read the dual labels on virtually every product in the US these days right? The girl behind the counter cops a snarky attitude and proceeds to tell her she don't speak Chinese! Now the Hispanic woman must be over 60 in appearance and this girl behind the counter can't be 21 and she's got absolutely no respect for the fact the woman is obviously an elder let alone a customer. I tell the girl that she wants coffee with milk not cream and this woman waits indignantly for her coffee. When it does come it's just what she wanted and she asks me in Spanish if I speak Spanish. I try to politely articulate that I understand far more than I speak and all she hears is yes and starts to babble at me in a form of Spanish I don't entirely understand. I decipher that she's from Cuba and I realize it's no wonder I don't understand all of what she's saying, I don't speak Cubish. If you ever listen to an excited Cuban speak you will know entirely what I mean by that statement, it's not durogatory at all it's meant as my ignorant way to explain the way they speak. So needless to say we became attached at the hip and I spent the ENTIRE ride between Pittsburg, PA and Chicago, IL translating for her and listening to her life story. . . she never shut up :(
In Chicago I lost my Cuban friend and gained an almost as entertaining one in a heavy set kid from Allentown, PA named Greg. This kid felt compelled to come and share my seat as we reboarded the bus and proceeded to chat my ear off from Chicago, IL to Billings, MT. I know his entire life story and all about the girl he was heading to Washington state to go and meet. He tells me about music borrows my ipod to see what I listen to and I even at one point handed him my PSP to entertain him so I could take a nap! Nice as can be guy but jesus dude STFU once in a while, girls like to speak too!
But wait, it doesn't end there! I had a 5 hour lay over in Billings, MT from 1-6pm, first time I've been alone since Thursday at 3:30 without these bus people and I fully enjoyed just walking about and taking in the city. And yes I needed the walk, 2 days on a bus will kill a normal person's knees I tell you!
Thinking the nonstop talk was finally over and I could nap from Billings to Casper I reentered the empty bus terminal and sat down to wait the last hour of my lay over only to meet Henrietta. . . her mother was arriving on the bus and she just could not stop talking my ears off either! Followed me to the washroom and outdoors to smoke tho she did not!! I could not make this crazyness up, but just about the time I think it's over. . . along comes Marsha. She likes my hair colour and shuts me down to talk talk talk away about cosmetology. Over hearing hair and make up more people join in the conversation and I've now become the coolest thing in the bus depot.
We finally board the bus and of 20 people at least 11 of them sit around me and proceed to ask me the longest drawn out questions about their hair, skin and make up. No one wants to let me give a complete answer to the question and asks another one! So don't get me wrong, a little ego stroke about my profession I invite but 5 1/2 hours of it and I wanted to quit my job and become a fry cook at Mc Donald's to escape. The only thing I can equate it to are the threads we all cringe and winge at on MM lol and yes it was filled with repeats and the same sort of silly questions you can't answer about an aunt or sister I can't see. . .

I must say that I fully blame Alexander for this attracting of people to me on my return trip. He cut my hair and I now appear to be the person to talk to about things, clearly it's this haircut :P
So at the end of it all. . . I am still glad I went and will post a more positive thread now that I've gotten that all off my chest about the actual good parts of the trip and the workshop tomorrow :)

Later Days!
~angel~

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Final Update!

The scheduled dates are out and travel is set for the NYC March workshop.
I will be in NY from 3/23-3/26 to teach the first Light Hair Workshop of 2009.
I can hardly wait to come back and blog about the results of this first class and look forward to sharing the story with you :) Hope you all are having a fantastic week and hope to see you all soon ^^
Later Days. . .
~angel~

Monday, February 9, 2009

Workshop Update ^^

So last night emails for essential tools went out to NYC workshop attendees! Tomorrow please expect up-do needs and product essentials in your inbox.
For those of you who are unfamiliar there will be a NYC customized version of my light hair workshop in March. We will be covering blowouts, up-do's, tool & product usages, and editorial hair styles to build up. Among other things beginner type things like backcombing and comb outs will also be covered. This is a scheduled 2 day event for the MUA's of NYC and there are still 2 spots open for the workshop if interested. Please contact me via email ( angelgraves@live.ca ) for more information or a listing of upcoming classes or how to set up a custom workshop in your neighbourhood :)
Later Days!
~angel~

Monday, January 26, 2009

I must apologize for my absence. . .

Just a quick note to everyone :) I'm still alive and well all be it tired :P
I've been working like a dog here lately, my second job has taken on a life of it's own and taken over my life. Economy being what it is here I have to take every opportunity to make money I can.
My mom's still waiting to hear back from the insurance company ruling on her surgeries for her back so I expect to be absent again in the future for at least 2+ weeks while we travel out of state for that :( I'm hoping to have this all mopped up before March so I can leave for NYC and the workshop with nothing here weighing on my mind. . .
Also still sorting out this move out of this nightmare land, Vegas is looking better and better with these back to back blizzards here lol :D
Miss you all lots and lots and keep the emails coming and if I can't take the proper time to blog it now I at least promise to use this data plan to respond to your emails ^^
Later Days
~angel~

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

So here's my hope and thoughts for this blog. . .

What I would like to do with this blog is to use it as a place for me to answer questions and give advice on a weekly basis. It's also my hope that I can adhere to placing my often long winded stories here too to keep it a bit interesting. I'd like to refrain from posting these things in the HMS forums anymore as it tends to get me a written spanking from time to time lol

So that being said, I'm open to any topics you would like to have advice on and questions you'd like to have answered. Of course excluding details on my NYC workshop coming in March, that's for those ladies first and foremost.

Feel free to comment here on topic ideas of hit me up on MM or in my email angelgraves@live.ca
Later Days <3 I'm off to work again
~angel~

Friday, January 2, 2009

haircuts and me. . . a simple guide lol

So some of you might know of my trials and tribulations since I've been in Wyoming of trying to get a decent haircut. . . for those who don't here's the sordid tale.
I arrived here in Sept. with a fresh cut in my hair from Tahira before I left Toronto, all was right with the world. It's pretty damn dry here and it got cold here quickly so I had to start blow drying my hair after every shower and soon was in dire need of a trim to get rid of my split ends. In the end of Sept. I went to a stylist to ask for a trim, just shape up my existing cut nothing major right?
As if!? She decided she didn't like my inverted bob and chopped it off in uneven and blunt layers. And by blunt I mean those horrible chunky unblended layers a fly by night stylist would chunk into fine hair because they don't know any better and go too quickly to care :( So I was sad and angry when I got home and saw what a hot mess it was and how she chopped it all up and took out my 5" shears and fixed it myself as best as I could but the bad bits I wanted cut out to begin with were still there. . . sigh. So mid Oct. just before my b-day I tried again, different shop. . . same hot garbage crap didn't want to cut what I asked and did her own thing. Nov. same deal and by Dec. I gave up, no one listens and they all cut the same crap style here in everyone's hair. Finally, I devised a devilishly brilliant plan! I'd teach someone who hasn't ever cut hair to cut my hair. . . yes! So I set to work convincing my sister to do the deed for me :)
I told her it was super easy, nothing to it section it and go to town lol 3 hours later after she'd finishedthe back section I told her all about what I'd just taught her to do.
I taught her to do Global Layers and to point cut like a master cutter, what she did took the ages but it was perfect! Exactly what I asked her to do and looked fantastic! I cut the front, she was over it by then but my god! For not knowing wth she was doing and never cutting hair before she was a real pro! I am not sure if it was my good teaching or her good listening but either way my hair is not only cut the way I want but it's done right as well :) Damn shame I have to find a complete ammature and teach them how to cut hair in this town to get a decent haircut tho, damn shame :(
Later Days ^^
~angel~

airports vs. angel and how I survive :P

Ok so for all of you who love to read my silly and sometimes long winded stories, here's the first in the series. Inspired entirely by Alex Collins <3

So here is a quote to what was already written to save me retyping it because I'm feeling slightly lazy tonight lol
http://www.modelmayhem.com/po.php?thread_id=392010
Now, to go on with the story. . .
I was traveling between the US and Canada on the trip that proved why I pack the way I do. I was stopped and searched on a red level alert day because I had suspicious looking metal items in my bags. Yes, hair pins. . . apparently they appear to be bomb making bits in an x-ray machine, go figure. So rather than just bust open the kit, see they were hair pins and say thanks or while examining my passport notice what my visa papers say is my reason for living in Toronto. . . they searched me like a Jihad terrorist! If it were not for the Glad Press and Seal on my palettes and the small clear bags and bottles I pack everything in I'd have surely missed my flight :( And for those of you who have met me you'll laugh because I think it was electric blue hair extensions and my punk rock boots that must have made me look like a problem :D
So yes I contemplated shipping the kit prior to that but for some of you who work a lot,
you'll know that's just not usually an option. If I had that kind of downtime I'd prolly write me blogs right? So once I sort out posting things here in picture form I promise to add some pics of my kit when it's packed for flight travel :) And now having started this blog lol this was quite easy and fun and I'm off to post one about haircuts and the sisters you teach to give them :)
Later Days ^^
~angel~

EDIT!
As promised, here is the proper listing of how I do it :)
Ok here is an expanded and proper list of things I do when I travel. . . This has gotten me thru both customs and airports with much success :)

Liquids - Anything I can retrieve upon arrival easily is left at home. This includes things like
removers, cleaning products, etc. Anything I must have or can't buy on site
goes in a small quart sized ziplock (freezer type so it's extra sturdy). I picked up
small clear travel sized containers at the dollar store just for this reason, they fit well into these bags and during the right travel alert levels this is the acceptable way to
carry the minimal amount of liquids in your carry on as well. Clear bags so the items
can be seen and removed easily at security. Make sure to label these items if you
aren't the OCD type I am lol as this helps you up front if asked and later when you
need to use them :)

Aerosols - Anything aerosol is also left it can be helped. If I must take something aerosol it is
in a small travel size or it is stowed in my main bag safely stashed in my clothes
and fingers crossed nothing bad has ever come from this. I stocked up on the gift sizes
of my favourite aerosol products (Worked Up & Hold Me Tight to name 2) and these
also fit the criteria or acceptable sizes if the travel alert day is in your favour. These
just travel better for me also and I'm glad of their existence :)

Palettes - All of the palettes I have are covered inside with Glad Press and Seal wrap, sounds
silly but has saved me so many potential disasters you have no idea. This has
become one of those little tips I learned from a fellow artist and I feel compelled to pay
forward to other artists. It keeps possibly loose products in it's place and will keep
any accidentally broken product in line until you can sort it out :)

Essentials - Anything I absolutely can't do without just in case the luggage is lost is tucked
into my rather large carry on bag. These are items I can't replace in short notice if
they are lost. It pains me to have to tuck my shears into my main suitcase when I
travel but they pose more problem than traveling with firearms so it's either lose them
at security to an angry TSA agent or cross my fingers that they will arrive safely in my
luggage at the end of the day. . . touch wood no mishaps! So in this list I include my
brushes, essential hot tools, and essential hair tools, anything else I can replace or is
already in my carry on.

The Bag - So here's where it gets tricky, I have a few of these. I have two Heys cases, a TNA
bowler type bag, an off brand gym bag. . . It's hard to choose sometimes which
one is The One so I repack this at least 2 times lol If I am taking my laptop, this counts
as 1 carry on so I must pack wisely! Generally speaking the smaller shoulder Heys is
not enough room so it's the larger rolling Heys if I'm doing double duty and must take
both hair and make up. If it's just hair tho I typically just take the TNA bag and call it
a day.

Ground Shipping
- I can say this for ground shipping, it will save you the hassle of packing
for travel if you have the downtime enough to ship your kit. I can also say this, it will
need to be packed as tho it was going to be used as a rugby ball and possibly kicked
about. Pack the kit inside and out with cushioning as tho it was heirloom china! You
laugh but I promise you this is no jokes, in the unload process your lighter weight box will
be at the possible top of the load and is prone to fall from a significant height. It is
also going to go thru a possible 4-6 stops in this load and unload process so you really can't
be too careful, it is your bread and butter after all! I have never shipped my kit
and likely won't ever either, I'd rather deal with TSA and Customs than to have to worry
what UPS or Fed Ex are doing to my kit :(


So I guess in summary, invest in Glad Press and Seal wrap and ziplock freezer bags lol I can't impress on you enough how much they have saved me :) Invest in a decent carry on sized bag, wheeled if possible to save your back :) Invest in a good shoulder bag, you'll need it for snacks and the iPod/book entertainment (or shield from irritating neighbors) ^^
It's always going to change on you at the last minute with alert levels so make sure you can toss any liquid or aerosol items easily into checked baggage if you have to! And above all CHEERS! to you, you're a 'Have Brushes Will Travel' ARTIST! It's a pain to pack but I promise you at the end of the day, you'll be glad you're there and have made it to this place in your career :) Travel Safe and Happy ^^

~angel~