Xotic New Products

IF you are a follower or a reader of Sweet Surrender, you know that I work At Xotic Eyes here in Virginia Beach and the past few weeks, we have been working hard coming up with new designs, bringing them to life and then getting beautiful models to wear the designs and photographing them.

I have been showing behind the scenes shots in recent posts, and now, I have some of the photos that Shannon has edited and posted. I wanted to share with my Sweet Surrender Family some of the designs! I hope you enjoy!

Hawaiin

Pink Flamingo

Mini Monster!

There are more photos that have not been edited yet. We have been prepping for Xotic Eyes to go to the Halloween and Party Expo that is taking place in Houston this weekend to show off our products, so we have been busy! Making the new designs for the models to wear, designing the hair styles for models to wear, styling wigs, and so much more. It will be hectic with all the orders that will be pouring in!

I hope you liked these new designs! We have so much more too you can check out on our website!

www.xoticeyes.com

Thanks for stopping by! See you soon!



SONday, a glorious day

I redid my hair with Turqouis and Purple...You really cant see it though . Just wanted to share!

While my daughter was celebrating her birthday with her father, my son and I, Matthias got a rare chance for mom and son time yesterday. Saturday night, him and his step dad, (my hubby) Jermie had a "guys night" and stayed up watching movies and playing around with the countless Nerf guns scattered around the house. We were stuffed Saturday night from eating Icecream Cake. I finally got time to upload the photos so you could see.

 I was supposed to have a few clients yesterday to do a quick trim and a color application ( she wanted a deep fuscia pink) but both ladies cancelled...which usually happens on rainy days.

Matthias and I took the time and went out together. I Met up with a friend I went to school with to catch up and she had some fabric she saved for me. I have been wanting to check out a different antique store in my area and wanted to see if Matti would enjoy it. I invited my friend, Jackie to roll with us after she finished up a photoshoot.

Matthias, I think was more excited about all the antiques than I was. He found really cool old tin cars and toy trains and old sewing machines since he knows I love to sew.

Jackie found this painting and this girl looks like Arabella!

I love Chaise Lounges!

I love this hat and the color of it!

I love these statues. Remind me of my hubby and I. Awwwwwww...thinking about getting them if they are still there for Valentines Day.

We found a cat toy and the cat came out to investigate. This siamese cat was preggos....she was cautious of everyone but she liked me....she could sense I am a cat person. :)

I want this! The owner of the antiques was there finally, I have wanted this for over a year! And she said it was not for sale this whole time.But she mentioned she may be going out of business. So I left my info. I want it soooooooooo bad. This is a JCP size 10 industrial dress form from the Garment District in California. She bought it for $250, So I am hoping She contacts me soon.

I am in love with this mini collection above. These are Mystic Topaz. See the ring in the center? I want this ring as a wedding ring. My husband and I now, we have been married for almost a year and a half and we have rings now (spinner silver rings) but I want this. I love all the colors that are hidden inside. It is an enigma and reminds me of colors of the stars and universe. (enter geek moment) I would love this whole collection...one day.

I didntget anything on this trip "Antiquing", but Matthias found a toy and I gave in. I am glad he had such a good time. I want to have these fun memories with him while he is young before he grows up and doesnt wanna be around mom. hahaha

I hope you enjoyed our trip :) Do any of you like to go to Antique Stores? What treasures do you find?

Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.
Unknown quotes 

The 8th Year

Today, 8 years ago, I gave birth to my beautiful daughter Arabella.  I know what I am about to say is cliche and is said alot in regards to children- but I dont care! I cant believe how fast time has flown by. Last year, I remember baking her a topsy turvy cake and decorating it all crazy with candy and fondant!

Arabella is an amazing lil girl who I swear is a mini me. Everyday, she does something that makes me bust out laughing. Her imagination and stories are so creative. She is growing into a fabulous young girl.

This year,we celebrated her birthday throughout the whole weekend. We went to Planet Pizza by the oceanfront which was yummy. None of us had eaten there before, I loved all the images and art on the walls. We played it lowkey and took the kids to the REC center for swimming yesterday. We ordered a strawberry icecream cake from Cold Stone Creamery. Oh and thanks to my friend from work who had shared her birthday Icecream cupcakes with me, I grabbed a 6 pack of those too from Cold Stone. And they were soooo good. Arabella never had an Icecream cake before and she was soooo excited.

To add more fun to the day, my dad treated her to Build-A-bear to add another stuffed animal to the collection. We treated Matthias to getting a new bear too..well, he picked a fox this time. We ate dinner, opened present and she finally got her Easy Bake Oven that she has been begging for.

She baked us so many desserts. Red velvet cupcakes, brownies and icing. We went to Micheals craft store and I bought a few things to decorate her oven with ( and dont worry, I made sure that they wouldnt catch on fire) hahahaha

I am too tired to upload more photos as it is 130am and I have work tomorrow or today I should say. This week is gonna be soooooo busy because some of the team is heading out to the Halloween Expo Trade Show in Houston to prepare and show our new products. I will be helping them all prep even though I will not be going, but will help make sure they all have everything they need!

I will try to blog more about everything else I have been up to. Just been busy! Thanks for stopping by! You dont know how much it means to me that I have so many viewers everyday! Thank you!

<3 Cecilia

Dear SOPA and PIPA, I hate you. The End

I do not like politics. At all. One of the reasons I got out of the US ARMY is because of politics. I normally dont get involved or get myself worked up over it unless of course it directly affects me. Like many of you today who get on the internet daily, I am sure you are well aware of this PIPA and SOPA bill that congress is trying to pass.

Today, well not that it is past midnight, the strike is over, I tried to blackout my site and now have remived my image accidently. but that is not important as I am about to revamp my whole site anyways. I may also be switching from blogger to wordpress but I am not sure.

To go back to the topic, I signed countless petitions today to help bring awareness that these two laws should not be passed. This affects so many businesses and sites online. The biggest ones that come to mind are Google, Youtube, Blogger, I mean I could go on.

This affects me personally because I love blogging about all sorts of things from clothing, to makeup to entertainers, music. I write about inspiration and how I am creative. Any reviews or any music I use in videos or in blogs can be blocked, taken down and sued for infringement.

This could cause some serious reactions. Wednesday was a day to protest, and I know I am a lil late since I worked all day, but I had to share this. Check out the link below.




The video above discusses the Senate version of the House's Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). In the Senate the bill is called the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA). SOPA has gotten more attention than PIPA because it was moving faster in the legislative process. But PIPA is just as dangerous, and now it is moving faster.
PIPA would give the government new powers to block Americans' access websites that corporations don't like. The bill lets corporations and the US government censor entire websites and cut sites off from advertising, payments and donations.
This legislation will stifle free speech and innovation, and even threaten popular web services like Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook.
The bill is scheduled for a test vote in the Senate on Jan. 24th: We need to act now to let our lawmakers know just how terrible it is. Will you fill out the form above to ask your lawmakers to oppose the legislation and support a filibuster?



http://fightforthefuture.org/pipa/artists
http://sopastrike.com/#how-to-strike
http://americancensorship.org/
http://bloggingbestdancecrew.blogspot.com/2012/01/sopapipa-awareness.html

So many other bloggers and online businesses are doing the same-helping to stop this and protesting.

Just wanted to help pass this along!

Staying Dry

I wish I could post some of the images from the underwater photoshoot we had with Xotic Eyes, but I cant get those proofs, but I do have this one image of our two models having a lil too much fun on set.

I have been collaborating on many shoots with Dana lately which I am loving. Its nice to find a photographer that you work well with. :) I get along with most people in general, but you know, Im still thankful I work with some cool people.

I didnt of course, get a chance to shoot a quick behind the scenes photo of my first model, Maggie, whose boyfriend, Chris, I knew from like 12 years ago growing up. Its such a small world sometimes. Here is a quick snapshot she wanted me to take of the two them while taking a break from shooting. They are so cute!

My second model, Krystal came in, and Dana wanted to do a more Avant Garde look with bright colors such as blue, yellow and green. Weeks ago I bought the Maybelline 24 hour tattoo eyeshadows for my first shoot with Dana, and since then I bought all the colors that they made. They work so perfect. Here are a few behind the scenes of Krystal's makeup (taken courtesy of my friend, Jackie, who came along to see what type of makeup I use so she can do these fun shoots too)

Using Maybelline 14 hour lipstick

Using Sinful Lip Gloss I got on sale from Walgreens for a dollar!

The finished look before getting underwater.

Lately I have been maing funny faces whenever a camera is near me on shoots. hahaha I get so awkward when I am in front of a camera....except when I am at home and pretending to be cute and sexy. hahahah

Thanks to Jackie for taking these pics and posting them so I can actually use them. Jackie just recently started a blog and a youtube channel. Swing by her page and say hello! Follow this link here

Thanks for stopping by! I want to write more, but I am wiped out and I have a full day of work tomorrow. :) Nighty Nighty my Sweet Surrender Family!

 

So many shoots so little time

I knew that when I was in Beauty school, I didnt want to go work in a salon. Its just not for me. Dont get me wrong, I love doing hair and makeup, but I love doing hair and makeup for photoshoots. Something about capturing a look, an emotion, a feeling, it truly is a pice of art to me. Capturing that moment in time, immortalizing it and then sharing it for the world to see.

quick shot at a photoshoot-taking advantage of the awesome lighting. :)

I always knew that I wanted to work on photoshoots. What I didnt know is that my wishes would be granted. I started work almost immediatly after graduating from Paul Mitchell, and I have been doing photoshoots almost everyday at work and outside of work.

Aaron Nijai and Model wearing dress I made! Sorry for quality- I took this with my phone.

This didnt just happen, being able to work on photoshoots wasnt just handed to me. I really had to put myself out there. I was nervous about that for the longest time, scared that my work wasnt good enough for that. It wasnt until I started doign fashion shows at school and just experimenting on makeup on myself and others did I finally grow the confidence to take that step outside my comfort zone.

Myself with fellow Makeup Artist/Hairstylist Jinaki Love

I had to network and go out and meet others that are trying to do the same thing. You connect with photographers, models, designers, stylists and makeup artist. Everyone has their own style and everyone works a different way. You have to bring something new and fresh to the table.

These photos above are from tonight. The Nijai Photography Team that I am a part of did a special today for models seeking headshots. The special is you get hair, makeup and headshots for $40 to help towards adding them to a portfolio. It was our first one as a group and I think it was pretty successful. We will be scheduling another one soon and will eventually be doing themed photoshoots. I am really excited about it.

Here are a few other shots from this past week of some of the shoots from work. Enjoy!

Ice Princess: New from Xotic Eyes for Childrens Line

Kitty Design, New from Xotic Eyes for Childrens line.

It may seem Random

Lately whenever I am out and about window shopping or trying to get some inspiration, I get lazy. Instead of taking out my lil notepad and pen to write stuff down that I see. I have been taking pics on my phone. Ill see a bag or a pair of shoes or something at whatever store I am in and I always forget about it. I take a pic thinking I will remind myself to go back to get it or order it, and I never do. I finally went through my folder of pics and decided to share my pics. In what would seems like total randomness to a complete stranger, to me, it is a shopping list. hahaha

A cool hairstyle I saw in a book or magazine

me spinning..or at least attempting to look like I know what I am doing

A cute fashion book I stumbled across at Justice

This jewelry armoire I want from TJ Maxx

Am I the only one who does this? I just think taking pics is so much more easier than writing it down, sinply because I am a more visual type of person. And although I have a photographic memory, since I have been busy and a lil sleep deprived, I have been having a harder time remembering what it is I wanted.

Soooooooooo getting this!!! Found at TJ MAXX

Thought this was awesome, I found a magazine titled the same name as my daughter, Arabella

A pair of pants I wanna make!!!

An organizer cart saved from my Joanne Fabric AP

Set of bags I spied at Charming Charlies. I am in love!!!

My makeup all set up for a photoshoot last week

Above and below pic: a Nook Cover my friend made for her nook. Isnt this cute??? I am trying to get her to sell them on Etsy!

I feel like I am rambling on. Then again it is  after midnight as I type this. I am wiped out from photoshoots today! We shot our Burlesque Line for Xotic Eyes, and our new mermaid line doing an underwater photoshoot. I actually got in the water and helped and it is alot harder than someone would think. My body hurts and I am wiped out.

Hope you enjoyed some random pics from my phone. Dont forget to check out the blogging party! Click on the banner in the top right corner for more info!

In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different.
Coco Chanel quotes 

Surrender to Your Inner Artist