blog – Page 3

Couples Session in Croatia

With all the planning going on our upcoming trip to Ireland for an elopement it reminded us to share some of the stunning images that Nicole took of Stefanie and Drew while we were in Croatia last year. We spent the day exploring the old city of Dubrovnik with rock hangouts, gelato pit stops and at the end of the day took in a magical sunset. Photography by Nicole Ashley and hair and makeup by us!

I wanted to create this new series, “Behind the Beauty”, where I get to bring our followers along with me as I feed my curiosity on what is behind someone’s beauty. To be able to see what beauty products the women I admire use and love in their everyday lives as well as to try and delve a bit deeper into what they think is beautiful and worth their time in their busy lives. I started this series off by interviewing my dear friend Kristina who is a successful interior decorator who runs her own website, also runs Revive Developments with her husband, is a co-owner of Kresswell Interiors as well as being a mom to the most adorable little boy Jack. What does beauty mean to you? To me, beauty is so much more than looks. I see it every day, everywhere…and sometimes in the simplest or most unexpected places. It’s seeing someone’s confidence change with a little self-care, it’s a group of best friends laughing, it’s a passionate woman going after her goals. It’s also the way my son looks at me… no matter the time of day or state of my messy hair! Who is your beauty icon? I am an old soul through and through. I look back at people like Grace Kelly and see such class and poise. What was your biggest beauty mistake? I didn’t even really groom my eyebrows, let alone fill them, for MANY years. I look back at some of those photos and cringe. I also went through a phase when I was younger where I wore the heaviest eyeliner – eek! Are there any game-changing products you’ve found? I have incredibly dry skin so I’ve started using more facial oils (picked up some from The Ordinary line) and it’s really making a difference. I also couldn’t live without my brow kit from Benefit (see question 3 lol)! Another game changer is anything quick – so highlighters and cheek stain – that take away the need for tools. Just a quick swipe and go! I love my Glossier cheek stain and the Becca highlighter! Simple is good. Drugstore or high end? I’ve been going more high end as of late, though I would never shy away from a good Drugstore find. I think because I don’t have a lot of makeup, I am willing to invest a little more! What is…

I’ve been a long time fan of Glossier as a brand as I had followed the blog Into The Gloss for years and could not wait until the products were available in Canada. Last year the brand started shipping to Canada and then I proceeded to fall in love with the Boy Brow, Stretch Concealer and Cloud Paints. I also got to visit their showroom in New York last November and let me say it was my pastel pink dream! Once they announced that they were bringing out an acid toner called Solution I knew I had to try it. I started this review originally on Instagram Stories when the Glossier Solution had come in the mail with the hopes of comparing it to The Ordinary Glycolic Toner. I had promised to follow up with my thoughts on the new hyped up product that had a lot of promising claims. As I tested out the product and dove a bit deeper into at home acid treatments I found that giving my opinion on the Glossier Solution would not be able to be so black and white. To set the stage for this review I’m going to give you a bit of backstory on my skin. I have very oily skin with large pores in my T-zone and skin that is prone to congestion with blackheads and whiteheads. I do also get cystic breakouts around that time of the month. I have been using acid toners for years and I surveyed my friends and found most of them had no idea what acids could do for them. I thought I should break down the type of acids out there and what they claim to do and which one you should choose based on your skin type or skin concern. I am not a doctor so please test these products first before using them. The purpose of most acid toners/creams is to help shed dead and dull cells which results in brighter, more even-toned skin with fewer clogged pores and smooths wrinkles. Once you know to look for either AHA, BHA or PHA on labels you’ll be able to narrow down what products will work for you. Keep in mind that you have to try out skin care for at least a month to see the full benefits of the product. You would use the acid product in your morning skincare routine before your SPF…

You really never know the people who you will come across in your life or what circumstances will change your life forever. On October 1, 2017, I was in Las Vegas with Nicole during the mass shooting and ended up meeting Oksana and Ray while hiding in a bathroom until it was deemed safe to come out. We spent hours with them and decided to exchange contact info since we felt bonded to them after our experience that night. The next month we were set to travel to New York for work and it ended up that we were staying in Brooklyn where Oksana and Ray also lived. The stars aligned and we were able to do their engagement session while we were there. Nicole posted all the photos on her site with two posts which you can click on here for the first post and then here for the second. I just wanted to share a few on our site as well since the photos are just so stunning! We were all so happy to be able to make some photo magic and create some better new memories after how our last meetup went.

Looking back at what an amazing year 2017 was for us and our clients as we did in our year in review blog post here, had us thinking about what were the best beauty discoveries of the year. We decided to pick out the best of the best to share with all of you! Let us know what products made it to the top of your year last year as we are always looking for amazing products to use for our clients! Microneedling at Hemingway Medical Spa – We wrote our praises of our experience trying out Microneedling at Hemingway Medical Spa in Edmonton here and we had to include this service as one of our top discoveries of 2017. If you want to spend money pampering yourself while at the same time actually helping your skin improve then you should check out Microneedling! We found the effects to be long-lasting as the service helped improve our skin texture as well as fine lines. Don’t let the “needle” in the name of the service scare you as it feels more like a little suction cup going over your whole face. Try it out and then thank us in a month on the money well spent for your face health! Puff Me by Design Me – The first ever volumizing hair powder spray in a pump! Gone are the days of pouring too much hair dust powder as the new method of spraying out the powder makes it so much easier to control where the powder is going and you can even spray it into the lengths of your hair to have volumized curls. It is so perfect for all our traveling as it is in powder form and so light so we don’t have to lug around cans of texturizing sprays. Overnight Garden Mask by Pura Botanicals – Ever since picking this mask up at the RAAS opening at West Edmonton Mall my skin has been thanking me! This thick hydrating mask is geared towards those of us with problematic skin that tends to be oily and acne prone. After I wake up from putting on the mask the night before I find my skin to be tightened as well glowing. If you have a dryer skin type we’d recommend trying out the Overnight Mango Mask (antiaging) or the Overnight Watermelon Mask (super hydrating). We also love that this product is…

Alex and Farsai were in contact with Nicole to schedule a potential couples shoot in New York sometime in the spring of 2018 but little did Farsai know that Alex had been in contact with Nicole to do a surprise proposal of a lifetime! He had worked it out that Nicole and I would fly into New York in time to do a proposal on the rooftop where they had their first date in Brooklyn. He got her friends and their adorable puppy named Pretzel involved in the surprise proposal. The rooftop was decked out in cafe lighting and dozens of candles. Even the imminent threat of rain didn’t stop this romantic surprise that Nicole was able to capture. Of course, she said YES and they went off to celebrate their news with close friends. The next day I did Farsai’s hair and makeup before their engagement session started. Nicole captured their love story starting in their apartment with Pretzel and then we took off on a stroll to their favorite ice cream shop. Their session was highlighted by the beautiful fall colors and the epic New York scenery. We are just so thankful to have amazing clients who fly us out and include us on such momentous occasions. Congratulations to Alex and Farsai and we wish you all the happiness in the world!

2017 brought so many adventures and changes for Behind the Blush and we wanted to take the time to thank each and every client, family member, friend and supporter that we have for helping make our year the best yet!! We got to expand our team to include Caitlyn and Diane and ended up traveling the world! Check out our 2017 year in review below and we cannot wait to see what 2018 holds for us. Our 2017 year started out with some boudoir beauties while working with Nicole Ashley We also started a monthly favorite series to share our product loves with everyone and do reviews on products that really wowed us. Check them out here for January, February, March Our good friend Suzanna asked to come speak at her school’s Career Day and we presented a talk on how we started our small business and followed our dreams to create Behind the Blush. This is selfie we took with Suz right after our talk! We worked with Lululemon again for one of their Ambassador Love shoots for Meg in her studio. Photo by Nicole Ashley Laurence and Oliver tied the knot in February. Photo by Woodland Photography Co In February we did a collaboration with Nicole Ashley to shoot some different beauty looks on the stunning Jaeda from Mode Models. You can check out all of the photos here! In February our good friends Ryan and Kristina welcomed their baby boy Jack into the world and we worked with Nicole Ashley on this newborn session. We’ve expanded to sell hair product on our site! Check out our shop here! The same day that we worked with Jaeda we also filmed a hair tutorial and you can see the full video for that here! In February we did a styled shoot with an amazing team and in May the shoot was featured on Artfully Wed. Check out the full post here! In March we worked with an amazing team of FaBLOOMosity, The Skinny, and Carmen Freemark to create some pastel magic on this kids styled shoot. See more images on our full blog posts here and here. Perhaps the most exciting news of 2017 for us was expanding our duo to a team of four to include Caitlyn and Diane! Photo by Nicole Ashley In April we also worked on this styled shoot that got featured in Green Wedding Shoes. We loved…

It’s been over a month now since we met up with Nadja and Rolf who came from Switzerland to Las Vegas to celebrate their anniversary and to attend the Route 91 Harvest Festival. If you’ve been following our social accounts then you know most of the story about how all four of us thankfully survived the deadliest shooting in US history. We don’t want to use this post to expand more on the experience except that our thoughts and prayers are with the families and victims and that we hope to meet up with Nadja and Rolf in the future to create some new memories. We wanted to share the beautiful images and behind the scenes of the photo’s that Nicole was able to capture out in Red Rock. To see the full blog post visit Nicole Ashley’s site here.

Our team was approached by Hemingway Medical Spa to come and try out the microneedling (microchanneling) treatment at their Spa and share our experience with all of you. Last week we headed into the Medical Spa and met with Antoinette and Dr. Olesen to discuss our skin concerns and what treatment would be best for each of us. The staff at Hemingway Medical Spa were so kind and amazing to work with. No skin concern was deemed too big or small and they offered different treatments in the future and you never felt like they were pressuring you to do anything drastic. One surprising fact about the treatment is that it can be more effective than Botox because you are treating your full face and over time it can reduce your fine lines. Microneedling has the following effects for your skin as per their site: Stimulates a natural response to increase collagen and fibroblast activity resulting in plump, hydrated skin Minimize fine lines, stretch marks, hyperpigmentation, sun damage, scars, pore reduction, acne, and uneven skin tone We had before photos taken and then were individually ushered into the treatment room to have the microneedling treatment started. We were each offered an option of serums that would be administered along with the treatment and based on our skin type we each picked a serum. They had options for dry skin, skin lighting, acne prone skin and then a serum for anti-aging. We asked about this service for our clients and were told that even one treatment is enough to see a difference in your skin texture and fine lines but up to three would be optimal if you had the time. They recommend getting the treatment a few weeks before a big event and they even have a Red Carpet Chemical Peel that peaked our interest for a potential treatment in the future. They also have a Botox Membership that a few of us are considering signing up for because you get so many perks beyond just Botox and you also get three microneedling treatments in a year. During the treatment, you feel a suction with tiny pricks to your skin that doesn’t hurt too bad at all. We thought of some questions that our friends and readers may ask and then had each person from our team answer based on their experience with Microneedling. What is your age: Janna: 29 Stefanie: 28…

This past May we were hired to travel across the ocean to Positano, Italy for an elopement! As many of you follow our blog posts, Facebook and Instagram we are sure you saw the sneak peeks and experiences that we had but no words can describe how amazing this little nook of the world is! We were lucky enough to all share an amazing villa which was only a short 15-minute walk to the main downtown/beach area of Positano. Maybe it was the time of year, but this place was seriously magic. The flowers were all in bloom, the weather was at a perfect mid 20’s (with no bugs) and it smelled like flowers and salt water everywhere you went! Our roles for this trip were basically to make Kim and Chris, our couple, feel little to no stress and we stepped up in more ways than our typical job roles would require. From helping with dinners, picking up greenery, decorating for the ceremony. We had the opportunity to do two days of shooting with the couple Kim and Chris for the wedding day and then the day after shoot in a boat! The wedding day was a very early morning as we started at 3:30 am for hair and makeup to have her dressed and prepped for sunrise. Chris also had some pampering, and their friends who joined us- Rob and Megan even snuck in for a quick men’s cut and hair/makeup styling before the ceremony later that evening. The beautiful thing about an elopement is the only rush or agenda at all as we are just working with Nicole to make sure we have the best light for the photos. We have been beyond blessed with the number of travel opportunities for weddings, elopements and engagement sessions and we are so excited to finally share all the images with you! Nicole Ashley, our dear friend, and amazing photographer has been a big reason for all of our success and shared even more photo’s over on her site.