My mother was a stay-at-home mom, homeschooled five children, and planned field trips according to bus routes that ran from our home to Downtown Los Angeles and back in time for dinner. She was like Super Woman with a clipboard, but instead of a cape, she donned pink sweatpants (a fashion indiscretion we'd like to forget). In the little downtime she had, my mother took part-time jobs to help my dad pay the bills. One of these jobs was selling makeup and skin care at parties.

When my mother received her instructor kit's filled with 85,823 eye shadows, she practiced applying on my 10-year-old face. Go ahead, judge. All I knew was the time my mom spent applying rouge to my cheeks and gloss to my lips were some of my favorite childhood memories.

Perhaps she instilled a love for makeup at a young age and it's gotten worse better through the years. When I get gussied up for work, I wear makeup. In 85,823 shades. However, being a photographer isn't all that glamorous. There's usually heat, sweat, and stress involved with photographing a wedding and for a while it looked like I washed my face in Crisco at the end of a long night. It was bad.

Six and a half years into shooting weddings and I finally found a mix of products that keep my make up on and not smudged on the back of my camera. Amen.

A few months ago, I was melting in Miami Beach and I couldn't keep makeup on my face if I had gone to Home Depot and had it professionally painted on. I walked into Sephora and this Cuban in white pants and an unbuttoned shirt told me this was like Botox in a bottle…and I trusted him?! Makeup Forever's All Mat basically acts as a primer before I put on any makeup and mattes my skin (I use this instead of lotion).

After I use my dual-fix compact from MAC, I use the MAC Prep + Prime Eye before I put on my eyeshadow. This seals my lid and locks in the eye shadow until the end of the evening…love it.

Once I finish applying all my makeup, I use two sprays of MAC's Fix+ Brume Fixante, which seals everything in place.

So, yup. Those are my three favorite makeup tricks to keep my makeup in place after lonnnng days photographing a wedding. I feel a little foolish blogging about this girlie stuff, but I simply thought I'd share because it'd make Rue Paul proud.

Happy Tuesday!