The LDS Matchmaker

So it's been awhile since I've updated anything on my blog so I thought it's time!  A lot has happened these past few months (marriage, new house, new job for me, new job for Konnor) and today I thought I would start to get caught up on the blog.

For the past six or so months I have been working on The LDS Bachelorette and through that I've met many amazing people and have had a lot of great experiences.  Through the show, I met Amy Stevens (soon to be Seal, wahoo!), founder of The LDS Matchmaker.  Amy is such an incredible woman and her company is doing so many amazing things for LDS singles - and since August I've been officially part of it!

The week after Konnor and I got home from our honeymoon we both got new job offers (his from Vivint and mine from The LDS Matchmaker).  It was an easy choice for both us to accept these offers for many reasons and we feel so blessed that Heavenly Father answered our prayers and gave us our many blessings of our new jobs and all the experiences that come with them.

Check out our current deal on KSL.

I know most people know what Vivint is - summer sales, home security, etc. but when I tell people I work for The LDS Matchmaker, majority of people are confused as to what that means.  Most people think I work for an online dating site - which is not the case.  We actually do personal matchmaking for our clients.  Maybe the idea of that is a bit extreme in this day and age since so many things are done online - so I can see where the confusion is coming from.


Here at TLM we have a team of experts to assist out clients in various ways.  We have our matchmakers who meet with clients and set them up on dates (I'm simplifying this role, there's a lot of work that goes into matchmaking but that would turn into a very long post), our dating coaches who meet with clients to help them during the dating process and our stylists do closet consults, personal shopping, makeup/hair lessons, etc.  There have been 52+ marriages in the past 18 months and we have a new service that we're offering: online dating profile creation/management (this is actually pretty sweet).  To learn more about our services you can check out our website or click here to enroll in our free database.

Again, this is all pretty simplified for the purpose of a blogpost to give an overall idea of what we do.  If anyone has any questions on anything I would be happy to answer them.  I know we have so much to offer the LDS single community and I have enjoyed getting to know clients and hearing their stories.  Everyone has a different background on dating and has learned different things from different situations and I feel blessed to part of their lives - even if it's just meeting them or helping with their makeup just once.

I have a strong testimony of temple marriage and it's what keeps me close to the church - even when I was inactive I knew that I needed to be at the temple.  I'm so grateful to be sealed to Konnor and Peytyn and to be with them forever.  It was the most amazing experience of my life to be kneeling at the alter with my family to be sealed to them.

Photos by Justin Alhmann - Synergetik Media

Naked3 Date Night Makeup

In honor of the premier of The Bachelorette tonight and The Mormon Bachelorette now accepting applications I wanted to create a simple date night look using the Urban Decay Naked3 Palette. 

I'm looking forward to co-producing this next season of TMB.  Erin and I have been waiting for months to finally share with everyone this next season.

To apply to be on the next season of The Mormon Bachelorette, click here and to see how I created this look check out the video below (make sure to watch in HD!).

Eye Products:

Naked3: Strange, Limit, Buzz, Liar

Face Products

-Foundation: MAC Mineralize Moisture Foundation NW20

-Concealer: MAC Pro Longwear Concealer NW20 

-Setting Powder: MAC Mineralize Loose Powder 

-Bronzer: MAC Bronzing Powder "Bronze"

-Blush: MAC Pro Longwear Blush "Blush All Day"

-Highlighter: MAC "Vanilla" Pigment

Lip Products:

-MAC Lipstick "Japanese Maple"

-NYX Buttergloss "Eclair"

Half Baked Smokey Eye

**Make sure to watch in HD!**

I'm very proud with how this video came together.  Please subscribe and share with your friends. <3

Today I wore my Bellami Hair Extensions (22inch Chestnut)

Eyes

For this look I used the first Naked Palette by Urban Decay.  This really is my "go to look".  I do this look the majority of the time I do my makeup, but sometimes I use "Sin" or "Sidecar" as the lid instead of "Half Baked".

Face

Foundation: MAC Mineralize Moisture Foundation NW20

Concealer: MAC Pro Longwear Concealer NW20

Setting Powder: MAC Mineralize Loose Powder

Bronzer: MAC Bronzing Powder "Bronze"

Blush: MAC Pro Longwear Blush "Blush All Day"

Highlighter: MAC "Vanilla" Pigment

Golden State Warriors Makeup Look (2014 Playoffs)

Today's makeup look was inspired by the Golden State Warriors.  This is Konnor's team for basketball and while I'm a Blazer fan I wanted to do something for him.  I really loved how this turned out.  It's wearable without being too crazy, but really, we need crazy for sporting events!  You can get away with anything.

Click photos to enlarge, links take you to product pages.
Below I have a video on how to achieve this look.
Or you can click here to take you to my channel.

Products I used

For this look I used the BH Cosmetics Malibu Palette (on sale for $4.50 on BH's website).  I got mine in my Cult Cosmetics Black Box last month.

From this palette I used these two colors (top left yellow & second from the top on the right).

I used the Sonia Kashuk 106 brush for the yellow eyeshadow and the BeauitControl brush for the blue eyeshadow in my crease.

For my lid color I used "Virgin" from the first Naked Palette by Urban Decay and I used my Starlooks eyeliner that I got in my IPSY bag awhile back.

Lipstick: MAC Lipstick "Chatterbox"

What I used for my face:

Foundation: MAC Mineralize Moisture Foundation NW20

Concealer: MAC Pro Longwear Concealer NW20

Setting Powder: MAC Mineralize Loose Powder

Bronzer: MAC Bronzing Powder "Bronze"

Blush: MAC Pro Longwear Blush "Blush All Day"

Highlighter: MAC "Vanilla" Pigment
How to get the look: 

 

The first lipstick I tried with this look was NYX "Power" but the other photos are MAC's "Chatterbox".

Portland Trail Blazer Makeup Look #2 (2014 Playoffs)

Here is the second look I created for the playoffs.  I actually made a video for this and you can see that here.  Below are photos (click to enlarge) and a list of everything I used along with some links. Enjoy!!

What I used for the eyes:

• Primer: MAC Pro Longwear Concealer NW20
• Upper Crease: "Naked" from the first Urban Decay Naked Palette
• Lower Crease: "Buck" from the first Urban Decay Naked Palette
• Lid: "Naked" from the first Urban Decay Naked Palette
• Outer Half: "Red Hot" by NYX Cosmetics
• Outer Third: "Creep" from the first Urban Decay Naked Palette
• Inner Corner Highlight/Brow Bone Highlight: "Virgin" from the first Urban Decay Naked Palette
• Tightline/Waterline: "Black Velvet" Velvet Glide-On Pencil by Urban Decay
• Lower Lid: "Buck" from the first Urban Decay Naked Palette & "Red Hot" by NYX Cosmetics
• Lash Line: "Creep" from the first Urban Decay Naked Palette
• Mascara: L'Oreal Telescopic & Covergirl Clump Crusher

What I used for my face:

• Primer: Pixi "Flawless & Poreless"
• Foundation: MAC Mineralize Moisture Foundation NW20
• Concealer: MAC Pro Longwear Concealer NW20
• Setting Powder: MAC Mineralize Loose Powder
• Bronzer: MAC Bronzing Powder "Bronze"
• Blush: MAC Pro Longwear Blush "Blush All Day"
• Highlighter: MAC "Vanilla" Pigment

Lips:

• Lipstick: MAC Cremesheen + Pearl Lipstick "Japanese Maple"
• Lipgloss: MAC Lipglass "Fashion Punch"

Sugar Cookies with Pey

I used a cat cookie cutter and then flipped one
of them so they can look at each other.  I then
did my best to cut out the Nike symbol with a
knife.

Lately Peytyn has been wanting to decorate cookies and on Monday she came home from school saying she wanted to make some for her teacher.  So yesterday afternoon Peytyn and I baked some cookies and she decorated them this morning before school.

Now, I'm no decorating pro.  I tried my best and am happy with the results even though they don't look all that great.  Pey, however, did a fabulous job.

For the cookies, I bought a sugar cookie mix from the store.  Once all the ingredients  were mixed, I wrapped the dough in plastic wrap and put it in the freezer.  That makes it easier to work with once it's more firm.  I only put the dough in the freezer for 10-15 minutes.

I separated the dough for Pey and me to use.  I recently bought Peytyn her own rolling pin, cookie cutters and cookie sheet and they are pretty sweet.  I got them from IKEA and you can see it here.  I love how small they are!  So cute and easier for her to handle as well.

For fun I thought it would be cool to make a Blazer cookie and it's simple logo and coloring so why not??  Yeah..didn't turn out super great but I like them!

To cut out the right shape I used a cup to make an indent on the rolled out dough and I then used a butter knife to cut out the little..um..curves?  Haha..honestly, the Blazer logo reminds me of 69 but meshed together.  Once the little "curves" are cut out I cut out the indent I made with the exception of the the part that keeps the "curves" intact.  I also adjusted the "curves" to curve more if I cut them too straight.  That was nice that the dough allowed me to do that.

While the cookies were baking Pey decided to give her Barbie doll and dog a makeover by making outfits for them out of Playdough.

For the royal icing, I used this recipe.  I needed to add a lot of powder sugar to the recipe to make it thicker, but I liked using it and it tastes pretty good! (I used Vanilla extract instead of Almond).

To decorate cookies with royal icing, I suggest you see these videos from YouTube.  This channel is the reason why Peytyn wanted to decorate cookies in the first place.  This is how it's supposed to be done.

This is what I came up with..

These are the others the I iced.  Well, I iced all of them.  I was hoping Peytyn wouldn't get upset about not icing them with me (she was in bed) but I had a plan on something more fun for her to do with them.

I knew Konnor would say something about making Golden State Warriors cookies but that logo though..I'm sure I could do it but for the first time using royal icing, I wasn't sure about it.  Plus it would be more fun to do that with Konnor.

Now for Pey's turn!  It's pretty cool, I found these food markers at the store when I was buying the food coloring.  I knew she would enjoy this more than icing the cookies.  (I iced them last night so they would be dry in time for her to color before school.) It would be cool to see her ice a cookie and do the different colors like we've seen in the videos.

She loved coloring them!

She asked me to hold the cookie still for her so she can color it without it moving.

All her creations!!

I love her "rainbow" cookies the most I think.