`Creating my own magazine was really a weirdly not dramatic decision for me. I just kind of came to the conclusion I wanted to do it, then started getting my friends and family involved. Now that the second issue is out and I'm about to start working on the 3rd, it's kind of crazy to think back on the experience. I've cried, poured my own money, time, attention and just love and devotion into this magazine and it's turning out to be a great learning experience for me.
One of my favorite things that's come out of the experience so far is just meeting new people. In volume one, for example, I met Jasmine and Alyssa in a bathroom in San Diego and their looks were so unique, I just kind of awkwardly stopped them while they were washing their hands. We hit it off right away and started a photo shoot about an hour later together, talking about style and the deeper meanings of what we wear. We had such similar perspectives on style, it was kind of crazy!
I think being surprised by the people around me and the similarities we share with each other is really inspiring. The idea of magazines being all about famous people or bloggers with a trillion followers or whatever, or people famous on the internet, kind of takes the lustre and beauty away from just everyday people. People are doing cool, unique, interesting things. They're not famous, but they've got stories and perspectives that are even more interesting to me than people who've 'made it big'. I've always been intrigued by people's everyday stories, since my teen days obsessing over Found Magazine.
While I interview some pretty well-known people, it's not about how great they are and that nothing hard ever happened to them--it's about their struggles, motivations, inspirations and journeys. It is not about them being famous. It is about everyone in the magazine sharing a human experience and embracing their individuality, together. And most of the content is by 'unknowns'. There's something great about doing things, living a meaningful life and not having that be negated by whether you're 'famous' or not. It's a rat race and it's pretty gross when you think about it--this skewed perspective that someone's story doesn't mean anything if they're not well-known.
Meeting Celeste for this issue was a testament to that! Celeste reached out to me in response to a Craigslist ad (Craigslist has played a key role in this magazine, and a key role in some of the funniest responses I've ever seen), and we hit it off right away. We met up a couple months later and planned a shoot for sunset at Tahoe. I sent her a mood board and we had a few brief conversations about the direction of the shoot. She showed up with a PT Cruiser packed with the coolest stuff! She totally got it and brought ideas that definitely made the shoot what it was. She went thrifting and had the coolest gold Michael Jackson-esque jacket, these crazy alien shoes that teetered and gleamed, and her whole 'let's do this!' demeanor just really added such a great element to our shoot.
For hair, she forgot her comb, so teased it a bit with her fingers. Her hair is a dream, basically. For makeup, I really wanted to focus on reflective, metallic finishes but still let her perfect golden skin shine through. I prepped her skin with a little Cetaphil moisturizer and then buffed in e.l.f.'s Personal Blend Mineral Foundation (I mixed Medium Beige and Golden Light from the Medium kit). I added a little of L'Oreal's Crayon Concealer in Light under her eyes and blended a bit more foundation to set it. I sculpted her cheeks with a bit of Dusty Rose blush from NYX and added a lot of High Beam from Benefit to the cheekbones, bridge of the nose, cupid's bow and brow bones. I then blended a generous amount of NYX's Glitter Cream Palette (sadly discontinued) across her lids and added a few of the bronze and gold shades from the 144-piece palette from e.l.f. over top to set it and add to the iridescence. I then lined her eyes with the glitter black shade from the palette and blended into a wing, then topped the lashes with Tarte's Lights, Camera, Lashes and a few Ardell individual medium lashes at the outer corners. I used the lightest lip shade from the NYX Nude on Nude palette on her lips. Later in the shoot, I added some pearl decals she got at a craft store in a semi-circle around her left eye.
I can't thank Celeste enough for being so game for this crazy concept from teetering on deadly heels at the edge of a rocky cliff to climbing in a cave with foil on her head. She is great and you can see more of her work here.