Be Soul Food | Grace and Lace Boudoir | Orange County Boudoir

Over 4 years ago, Sarah and I sat down and had a meeting about our new business venture together.  We were not new in our prospective careers - I'd been a photographer since 2002 and Sarah had been a makeup artist for nearly as long but we were joining our two forces together.  We'd been friends for 6 years at the time and we KNEW that we wanted to do this together and so we sat down, had a meeting, and we were excited!  So excited that we came up with our business name THAT day - Eye Candy.  We'd jotted down about 10 other names or so but at that time, we didn't really have a plan of just being a boudoir studio, so to us, eye candy meant pretty things and incorporated the best of both our worlds (photography & makeup).  Well, in our naivete, we went with it.  And then realized, rather quickly, eye candy dot com is not available.  Ok.  How about eye-candy dot com?? Nope. How about eye-kandy dot com? Well, you know the answer to that. You'd think we would've moved on by now, right??  Nooooo, of course not, we were stuck on some version of eye candy.  So, we finally realized eye-kandie.com was available and so we went with it.  Now you know the backstory of our name.  Deep, riiiight?? 

So we created business cards, a logo, a website, a facebook page and we went to work.  And we started shooting everything and anybody who would let us shoot and put makeup on them. But over the years, both Sarah and I felt like we were being led to shoot solely boudoir photography.  It fit us so well, it was our speed - getting to know our clients on a deeper level, we both LOVED doing it more so than any other genre, and so we dedicated Eye Kandie to solely boudoir. Over the years, though, we started to feel like our name was amateurish and we were increasingly becoming more insecure with it.  We thought about changing it but oh! the work that would create for us.  Neither of us felt like starting over.  It's a LOT of work.  Like, A LOT of work.  But a few months ago, it started to weigh heavily on me how much I dislike our name; so much so, I wouldn't even use it in a sentence.  I struggled with this because what does that say about me? About my business?  I'm not ashamed of our business, Sarah and I have built a solid foundation and we have had some AMAZING clients come through our studio.  But I couldn't bring myself to use our name in conversation.  I just really wanted our name to mean something more.  

Then I read this quote

““Don’t be eye candy. Be soul food.””

Oh, the gut punch.  All these months of prayer over whether or not we should change our name and there I thought, did God just answer me with a quote?  Yes, He did.  I didn't think of our clients as eye candy, they were so much more than just a "pretty thing" to us. We strive for our clients to love and appreciate their bodies for all it does for her but also to see themselves beyond their physical self. We want her to see what we see and what her friends and family see.  Not just a pretty thing, but a woman who allows herself some grace and does not spend time dwelling on the past and living with regret, but works toward what she wants; a woman who values quality over quantity and understands the investment of portraiture; a woman who loves and respects her husband or fiance; a mother who teaches and loves her children but knows she should nurture herself as well.  We want her to see she is a woman of worth & beauty to us and those around her.

And so, Grace and Lace Boudoir was born.  We still have a few loose ends to tie up around here, mostly on the back side of the business but we are so happy that Grace & Lace is live and that is what we will be going by from here on out! 

Thank you to all our clients for their support along the way, for reading our blog, for trusting us with your own boudoir experience and for sending us your referrals. 

Our business is booming and it is ALL because of you!! So thank you!  We love you ALL!

 

~Jeni

 

Awe Inspiring Miss J | Orange County Boudoir

Miss J came to us to help her with a gift for her husband for their anniversary.  She came in with the perfect attitude ... she was beautiful, so smart, and incredibly sweet.  Her day to day personal life is nothing short of amazing and when she was telling us about herself and her family, I was in awe. She has had a lot of obstacles thrown at her in life.  The amount of time she dedicates toward others in her life, it became apparent to us that, while yes, she wanted to create something for her husband, she also needed to see and feel sexy for herself, as well. And we accomplished that and it was powerful. The photos below - yeah, these are the modest ones.  We took some really racy photos as well, but she wanted to keep those private.  But I'll be honest, those racy ones are some of my favorite photos to date and I'm a little sad to not share them.  But our clients feelings come first, never mine :) 

~Jeni

 

Just do it already!

This blog post is for all the ladies who are wanting to do a boudoir session but have been too nervous to just pull the trigger.  You know, the ones who say "someday" or "after I lose 10 pounds" - JUST DO IT ALREADY! Why wait?!? Why not just say "YES! I am going to do something for myself?!" which is then a gift for him, too??  Did someone say Christmas??!

“In the end, we only regret the chances we didn’t take, relationships we were afraid to have, and the decisions we waited too long to make. ”

We make this process as easy as it can be for you.  We help with prepping for your sessions; whether its with your wardrobe selection or sending helpful tips/tricks for skin & hair beforehand and also after the session itself with helping you select your images.  You are not on your own at all with us! Turn your nervousness into excitement.  If you're a follower on any of our social media pages, you've heard me say time and time again, the first email is the hardest.  Once you book, we'll help guide you every step of the way.  Why? Because it's exactly how we want to be treated.     

Just a teaser of this Miss K's boudoir experience ... I seriously can't wait to share this one!

Think outside the box......

So, Jeni came over the other day to borrow a dress and we got to talking as usual about life, work and of course, makeup. Jeni was talking about how she had received a matte lipstick in her ipsy bag and how she didn't really like the formulation of the matte lipsticks. She was saying how she might just give it to me, and my first thought was.... well wait a second, why don't you just put a gloss over it? It really got me thinking about this post, and the things that would come naturally for me, but maybe not others. I thought I would share some of the things that I do with products to either change the formulation, the color or just use them in a totally different way!

1. I'm sure all of you have a beautiful shimmery vanilla eyeshadow. Did you know you can also use it as a highlight? Use it on top of your cheekbones and cupids bow for a nice glow. You can also put it in the center of your lips to make them look a little plumper. My favorite Eyeshadow to do this with is the MAC Pigment in vanilla. 

2. Shimmery shadows....... If you have a shadow that is shimmery you can spray your brush with water and dip it into the shadow and it will intensify that shadow. Its safe and will not ruin or harden your shadow. you cannot however do it with a matte shadow. 

 

3. Foundations..... So many things you can do with foundations! One of my favorite things to do is to mix 2 or 3 of my favorite foundations on the back of my hand and then apply it to my face. I have a foundation that looks super matte on the skin and has great pigment, but if i want a little more of a glow, i will mix it with a foundation that is glowy to customize the look I want for that day. If you want to make your foundation a BB cream, throw some moisturizer and SPF in it, mix it up and then apply it. If you want to make your foundation a CC cream, Put a little green or lavender, whatever correcting product that your skin needs, mix that up and apply it. You don't have to buy so many different products to get all these different formulations, its beautiful!

4. Lipstick.... mix it up! Play with color! Do you have a bright pink lipstick that you want to tone down? Mix it with a nude lipstick or a light colored concealer or foundation, boom! New lipstick color! want to make that red lipstick darker? scrape off some black eyeshadow or use a gel eyeliner to mix with it. There are really so many possibilities. I would suggest if you want to play with color, to go get a color wheel at micheals, its a great thing to have. 

 

5. Eyeshadow... If you want to change the way your shadow looks, add a dark or light base under it. If you add a white base, your shadow will be more vibrant, if you add a dark base (brown or black) your shadow will appear more smokey. 

 

6. Bronzer. Sometimes if I am being super lazy, I will use my bronzer to bronze my face of course, but also I will use it in my crease for some shadow and under my lashline for a little bit of smokiness. easy peasy! 

I really hope that you enjoyed these tips! As always, if you use them let me know, I love to hear about your experiences! 

Love, Sarah 

PS.... Don't forget about our $50 Sephora gift card giveaway! Here are the rules....

**Please read this post before joining in on the fun!

• Invite 25 of your friends to the Eye Kandie Boudoir VIP Group on facebook for an entry (LADIES ONLY)
• For every 25 friends invited, you get one entry into the giveaway
• Your invitees MUST reside in California
• Comment on this post saying "done!" once you have completed

The winner will be drawn at random to receive the $50 gift card to Sephora! The contest will end on November 1st. We will announce the winner over Live Video :)

*Sorry, no men allowed in the group

Best of luck ladies! :)

 

 

The best choice you can make

Miss T is a woman full of life & faith, a woman who has had her fair share of struggles in life but it hasn't stopped her or even slowed her down. The instant we met her, we INSTANTLY liked her; she gave an air of gentleness and kindness.  We loved having her in the studio and I loved her curves and how she owned them! 

In her own words, here's what she had to say about her experience ...

“Hands down I had such a great experience doing my photo shoot with Jen and Sarah. I was nervous before getting there. Once I was there both Jen and Sarah made me feel so comfortable that I enjoyed every minute and did not worry about anything else. My makeup was done so beautifully. I felt like the most beautiful woman in the world. I will say my self confidence has improved greatly. When I went back to view my photos, all I could think and say was “WOW” is that me! This was one of the best choices that I made. Complete satisfaction with every step of the process. Jen and Sarah defiantly (sp) know what they are doing and are very good at their job.”
— Miss T

Tips and Tricks Thursday!

Today's tip is all about white eyeliner and the different ways you can use it to enhance your makeup application. 

1. Use it on the inner corner of your eyes and then put a neutral light shimmery shadow on top to increase the effect of brightening your eyes. 

2. Use it on your eyelid before you put on your shadow. This will help the shadow be brighter and more true to color since you are canceling out your natural lid color.  I like to use NYX jumbo pencil in Milk for this. 

3. Line the inner rim of your bottom lid to make your eyes appear larger. 

4. Use it right under your brow bone and smudge it out for a nice highlight. you can also use it on top of your cupids bow and smudge it out for a highlight as well. 

I hope you  guys find this tip useful, enjoy! 

NEW behind the scenes video!

Want to see what a photo shoot is really like? Check out our NEW behind the scenes sneak peek! Starting with hair and makeup and then moving on......watch as Jeni poses you from head to toe! When you do a photo shoot with Eye Kandie Boudoir, you won't even have to think, Jeni does everything for you. There is lots of laughing and its also a great workout. Yes, you will be sore! Take a look......

My FAVORITE budget friendly makeup.

As I was trying to find a title for this post I kept going back and forth with synonyms for cheap. I definitely did NOT want to use that word though, because the product formulation and pigmentation is anything but cheap. When I pick a product, I want it to impress me regardless of price. For instance, I have NEVER found a mascara that I love more that my L'oreal Double extend mascara in blackest black. Not urban decay, not tarte, not benefit, not MAC, no other mascara impresses me more than this. It doesn't transfer under my eyes throughout the day, It doesn't transfer on the top of my eyelid, it doesn't budge, BUT it comes off so easy! 

What I really wanted to talk about is a brand called Makeup Geek. I have a ton of their eye shadows and contour powders, and let me tell you..... this product is far superior than any shadow you will find at MAC. The foiled shadows are $10 a piece and the regular eye shadow pans are $6 a piece, which is the same price for a pan at MAC, but the quality is much better. The contour powder pan from makeup geek which you could use as a bronzer as well is $10 compared to make at $17. I will list some of the colors below. Go check it out!

Fulfillment

Do you ever just feel like "This is exactly what I'm supposed to be doing!" ?? I leave each and every one of my sessions with that feeling.  I'm on cloud 9 after every photo shoot ... but I'm also exhausted - mentally, emotionally, and physically.  That's because I literally pour my heart and soul into each session.  I know how nervous you were sending that first email.  I know you had the butterflies in your tummy the days leading up to your session.  I know you may have even *thought* about turning around the minute you pulled up to our parking lot.  But when you come into our studio, I want you to let all those feelings go.  Let me be your brain for those few hours.  I want you to know that you don't have to know how to pose.  I understand you are not a paid model who has been doing this since they were 15.  It is my job to tell you how to pose.  It is my job to show you how to pose.  Yup, I actually put myself into the poses myself to show you. I also tend to exaggerate the pose so that you can laugh at me and you don't feel so silly yourself.  Boudoir photography is so different than any other type of photography.  It's vulnerable and stripped down - literally and figuratively.  You're sharing your insecurities with someone who's only been in your life for a very short time.  I understand that.  I don't take it lightly that you're in a vulnerable state with me.  At the end of  the day, it's not just about seductive photos, it's about embracing your God given self.  

I am where I am meant to be in life. I am doing exactly what I'm supposed to be doing.  I love each and everyone of our clients for allowing me to get to do this and call it my JOB. Thank you!! 

“You have everything you need for complete peace and total happiness right now.” 
― Wayne W. Dyer

 

And because a photography blog is never ok without a photo, here's a teaser of Miss J's session.  Um, wow - it's not even fair how amazing our clients are!!