I think you guys are all going to love Sarah’s next transformation. I first thought of the idea to turn Sarah into a man at our last photo shoot. The whole crew, including Sarah was up for it. For those of you following the “Transforming Sarah” Series, you would agree that there is nothing masculine about her features, but like all the other looks– after hair, makeup, costumes and an amazing photographer, we pulled it off. Just in case you haven’t been following or can’t remember what our muse looks like before here is a photo.
As always Jonathan Cruz, our photographer, took step by step photos of the process for your amusement. In this case there was no need for an even complexion, so I skipped my usual first step of prepping the skin and preparing a clear canvas. The first step for this transformation was fitting Sarah for her beard.
Once I had the beard properly fitted on Sarah, I could secure it down with a special adhesive and I cut the beard down to an appropriate length and shape for her face.
It wasn’t too long into the transformation before Sarah was shocked to see how different she was starting to look. After her eyebrows were drawn in to give her a more masculine look, she gasped and said, “I look like my brother.” Jonathan quickly took a picture of her reaction.
Soon after, Trish Ay, our guest hairstylist started slicking back Sarah’s beautiful long blonde hair and pinned it back so it wouldn’t be noticable. Since light colored beards usually don’t grow in just one color, I decided to make the beard look more natural by coloring in parts of the hair. Sarah was really starting to look like a man, but I felt her skin still looked too youthful and beautiful. So in order to age her and give her rougher look, I added some age spots and wrinkles, then darken around her eyes to make them look sunken in and less feminine.
Meanwhile our very talented costume stylist, Sara Rakhshandeh was busy picking out the perfect costumes for our model. Unfortunately our model’s body just wasn’t masculine enough, so Sara Rakhshandeh realized that the one thing this man was missing was broad shoulders. This was no problem as our costume stylist improvised by stuffing some socks for padding under her shirt. Once the Sarah changed into her costume and a few accessories were added– the difference was shocking. Ms. Smyth had turned into to Mr. Smyth.
Here our a few photos including the before and after of the this incredibly fun shoot.
Sarah Before
Sarah as "Steve"
We recently added a new addition to our crew, Dan Ax has been filming the process for us and has put together a video that I think will make you chuckle. Take a look at this
Remember if you have any suggestions for our Transforming Sarah Series please leave your comments. We are up for any challenge. We hope you enjoyed following along with this shoot as much as we enjoyed doing it. Stay tuned for Sarah’s next transformation were we turn her into a pin up model.
Photography by www.JonathanCruz.com
Film by Dan Ax
Costumes by Sara Rakhshandeh
Hair Design by Trish Ay
Makeup by Maria Rahmany
-Vancouver Makeup Artist
First our celebrity costume stylist Sara picked out the costumes for Sarah. Then, came hair and makeup. I always start by prepping the skin, so that I have a clear canvas to work with. I prefer using a foundation brush to apply the base because sponges tend to soak up the makeup and are not very enviromentally friendly. In this case I used Bed Head #2 fat-free (cream base) and Estee Lauder #2 concealer under the eyes.
We had a time crunch, so as usual we double-teamed on the hair and makeup. Sarah just sat back and watched herself transform. Trish put black and purple extensions in Sarah’s hair to give her some length and some edge. I chose to do a dark black heavy smokey eye on Sarah give her that dramatic cat-eye effect. After about one hour of makeup, back-combing, teasing, hair extensions and lashes….Voila… Sarah looked like a whole new girl.
For Sarah’s smokey eye I used Elizabeth Arden “Smoke” on Sarah’s eyelids and Mac “Carbon” around the entire frame of her eyes. I lined the rim of her eyes with Lancome “black coal” liner and applied false lashes. To counterbalance Sarah’s dramatic eyes I chose to give her a pale lip with Revlon “Nude” lipstick and a clear gloss to finish the look. 
If you guys are anything like me then you may be very curious about what the Botox process entails. I know that some of you may have a lot of questions or concerns but do not have to time to go talk to your doctor about them. 
We decided for our first shoot with Sarah we would go back to the 1920’s. The first step in transformation is picking out a few costumes for Sara, which were donated by celebrity costume stylist Sara Rakhshandeh. Once the costumes, accessories and shoes were all carefully chosen, we started the next step in the transformation–Hair and makeup. First, we started by prepping the skin and hair.
Jonathan and I had a very clear vision of how we thought this 1920’s girl should look. What could be more 1920’s than the classic finger wave hair style? Trish Ay was the hair stylist and she had a big job ahead of her, since the finger wave may be one of the hardest hairstyles to achieve. All the while, Jonathan was snapping pictures for all of you to be able to see and enjoy the step by step process as we enjoyed every moment of it. Here is a great photo of the beginning stage of the finger wave. 
We originally decided to use Sarah as our muse because of her simple and classic beauty, but realized how much easier it is to work with someone who is so professional. We had a time crunch and had to get things moving, so Trish and I double teamed hair and makeup to get things moving. Sarah was a trooper and just sat back as an observer, just quietly watching herself being transformed. Jonathan was still busy taking pictures for our readers to be able to follow.
Now it was time for a few test shots by Jonathan, but Sarah was a bit nervous on how to pose since she is an actress and not a professional model. We had to bring in an expert on this kind of thing, so to show Sarah how to pose we brought a visitor. It was Sofia, Jonathan’s adorable little girl and Sofia showed Sarah how it’s done. Take a look at this. 
Have you ever wondered why when you are watching T.V. why all the girls skin looks so flawless? It’s not just the skin on their face, but their arms, legs and even their backs have such a beautiful glow. Well, that is because we put that glow there! Whenever an actress has a part of her skin exposed, we use body makeup or lotions on it. There are a lot of different lotions and body makeups to choose from, but “Scott Barnes Body Bling” is my all time favorite. It is different from the lotions with some shimmer in them, because it is also a body makeup. For those of you who don’t know who Scott Barnes is, he is most popularly know for being JLo’s makeup artist and is originally responsible for giving her the “glow”.
Unfortunately we have to remember is it makeup and it can rub off on your clothes if you are not careful. Even though it looks best against white or other light colored clothes, I wouldn’t recommend wearing them together, unless you are okay with a little staining. When wearing it outside during the day, you have to remember that the simmer acts like a magnifying glass just like lipgloss does, so you must wear sunscreen underneath it. In fact I never use it on actors and clients if they will be outside in the daytime. I recommend you limit wearing it to your fabulous evenings out. 
Earlier today my husband and I were talking about the difference in my before and after photos for the eyelash extensions. He asked me a great question. He said, “why are eyelashes so important? Why do they make such a big difference?” 
If your lashes are already long enough, but you wish they were darker to help frame your eyes, you have two options. If you don’t really like wearing mascara, then perhaps you should try tinting your lashes. Of course this should always be done by a professional! 
If you feel your eyelashes are too short for you, in this case I would suggest some sort of an extension. If daily maintenance doesn’t bother you then after curling your lashes and applying mascara then you can add a few individual clusters to the corner of your lashes. This gives you some length without the false look you can get from strip lashes. If you feel like this is too much work for you and you wanted something that requires no makeup and much less maintenance, then I would definitely recommend to semi-permanent extensions. You can learn a bit more about them on my 
I can’t believe how many people are asking me to cheat and tell them what the next product will be on this list. I can’t ruin the surprise for you, now can I? My #8 favorite product is something I use on myself almost everyday. Working as a makeup artist in the Vancouver T.V and film industry, continuity becomes important, so for nails that always look fabulous, we use O.P.I Nail Envy. Not only do I use it on my actors, but I personally use this product almost everyday. For those of you who have never heard of this Nail Envy I will tell you a little about it.
I have always known about Nail Envy and have used it for clients and celebs for years now, but having acrylic nails myself, I never had the chance to use it. About 4 months ago I decided to take a break from having my nails done and did my natural nail felt so painful. They had been ground down so much under the acrylics that it hurt me to run my hands under water. I thought “I am gonna have to put the nails back on pronto. Until I get a chance to go back I will try some of my Nail Envy from my makeup kit.” It was amazing! I always knew it was a great product, but didn’t realized how strong it was. I decided that I wouldn’t go back to the acrylics anymore.
concerned about, but rather the drying time. Granted it does seem to dry quicker than most strengthening polish’s and works a lot better too. How many of you have 30 minutes each and everyday to do your nails? I know I don’t, so I tend to not use it exactly as directed. Not using it as directed does not give you the same results, but I find it works well enough for me. 
How many of you are wondering how to get rid of those bags under your eyes? Most eye creams advertise that they are wrinkle preventers, but what about those sacs that you get under your eyes after a night of no sleep? Guess what? Like everything else, there is a solution. Working as a makeup artist in the film industry in Vancouver, you pick up little tricks along the way. There is a miracle eye cream for your bags under your eyes, but it isn’t actually an eye cream at all. Interested?
Something to keep in mind… If you do decide to add this cream to your makeup kit, then I would also buy a little clear bottle to put the cream in, unless you don’t mind getting caught with Preparation H in your bathroom. 
