Hi there!
Welcome to my new blog! I thought the first post should be simply about getting to know me, your future skincare bestie and event makeup artist! My name is Chelsea, but please feel free call me CC! I am 31 years old and I love chocolate!
Oh? Add more? Okay... here we go....
I have 3 doggos who are ACTUALLY my human babies.... don't come for me! Let me love them! I have a shih tzu/hound mix, Paisley, who is 7 years old. She has the coolest little personality. You will 100% fall in love with her if you meet her. Then I have Winston, who is a pure bred teeny, tiny shih tzu who doesn't even weigh over 10 pounds. He is a grown man though! Despite his size and fabulous hairstyle, he is 6 years old! And of course my schnauzer, Bianca. The one you'd suspect to be sassy, but she actually minds the best! She is the guard dog of the house and she is very good at her job! I also have a rescue cat, Jericho. We assume he is about 4 years old. He is almost bigger than all three of my dogs! BIG boy, part bengal but loves to cuddle! Yes, I have a mini zoo... I have always adored animals and love having a home filled with so much unconditional love and trust.
Now I guess I should back track and talk a little more about me. I love to be active, hiking, gym, taking my dogs on walks. I like to try new things and go to new places as well. I also love food. I am Portuguese and very proud. You may recognize my hair gal, who is also my cousin from our podcast, Cuz I Said So, as someone I share a lot of our Portuguese heritage with when we meet you or listen to us chatting on the pod! I grew up very MUCH in the culture. From festas to the parades and even being part of Luso, where we performed competitive cultural dancing at different locations around California. Family and food are two very important things to us as a Mediterranean style culture.
I am a huge bookworm! I love, love, loooooveeeee to read. It has been such a good escape for me when I need to just check-out from the real world for a bit and re-charge my social batteries.
Most importantly- EVERYTHING MUST BE LEOPARD PRINT. I know, this isn't your standard beauty shop aesthetic and to that, I do NOT care. I have always been obsessed with leopard print and I do not see it changing. I think the day it changes, would be the day everyone in my life would assume I was kidnapped and who they saw before them was a cloned version of me. So, why leopard print? Aside from it being insanely cute and can essentially go with ANY vibe, color or opposing aesthetic? It fits my personality. The purpose of a leopard's coat is to camouflage. To help it blend in, but I have taken that and used it to help me STAND OUT. The irony isn't lost on me. It was subconsciously planned all along. There is something sexy about the idea of the wildness and freedom that wild animals have, there is something fun about a wild animal energy. It is carefree, non-judgmental (even though so highly judged itself) and ultimately, energetically beautiful. So... I ask you... WHY NOT leopard print? Also, If I cut back on the dramatics here for a second lol and if I am being honest, so many people have been opposed to it in my life, it only makes me love it more. I love to go against the grain, go against what is popular, go against what is average. The more people that hated it or questioned me about it, the more I dove into it and decided, EVERYTHING MUST BE LEOPARD PRINT. I've never let peoples opinions of me stop me before, why on earth would I allow it to stop me now????
My brand is edgy, free spirited, and wild, so why should my aesthetic and "color palette" be anything less than that? (However baby pink is the splash of color I use... What can I say? Edgy girls like girly girl stuff too! Why can't I be both? Who says we can't be whatever we wanna be????)
My business name- CCBeautymark (YEP! ONE word, THREE capital letters.) has a cute little backstory and meaning as well. In 2011 when I was deciding on a social media business name, I was struggling to come up with something creative and unique. My mom started to help me narrow things down. My nickname and initials happen to both be CC (which at the time I was not thinking that it also stood for Central Coast, which I notice soooo many people use now! My C's do not stand for my location, but it does kind of double for that too I guess!) The nickname CC was given to me by a dear friend who ultimately helped change my perspective in high school while I was getting bullied. She was so kind to me, loved me for me and always had my back! She nicknamed me CC and it stuck. Being called CC brings back memories of a time when the light was starting to shine at the end of a very dark tunnel for me, leading me to where I am today in my career. She was one of the first strong friendships I built after starting at a new school and having no one after being bullied so badly previously. I also had never really had a friend give me a legitimate nickname before. I felt like I was finally making friends! So, I thought let's use CC to start... The Beautymark is a play on words a bit. Obviously, a beauty mark is a real phrase used to describe mole(s) on peoples faces, such as the mole Marilyn Monroe had on her face. BUT ALSO.... As a very little girl I would always make my own greeting cards. I remember going into the Hallmark store with my mom often and I wanted to make my OWN card making company (my dad loved this part of my childhood. He still has all my homemade cards). I started putting my "logo" on the back of all my handmade cards "CHELSEAMARK" with a crown over the top, just like Hallmark! It stuck throughout my childhood. Every handmade card had my signature logo on the back written in pencil lol. I thought implementing the "mark" to my business name that somehow tied into exactly what I do would be super cute. So that is just what I did! Fun fact- The kiss mark over my latest logo is actually also my mom's lips! I am an extremely sentimental person, if you can't tell. Almost everything I do has "hidden mickeys" and tributes to those I love, special times and memories that I hold near and dear to my heart. They are mostly little things for me to notice and remember. They hold me accountable and humble. Many people have no idea about anything to do with my business name/logo. No one really knows the depths in which it was curated.
Work- I have been in the industry for over 12 years now! I started as a traveling makeup artist and realized upon sitting through beauty school that I actually enjoyed facials and skincare services! My main passion though, is and always will be makeup! I have had some awesome opportunities in my career. Working on commercial sets, film sets, working with tons of brides for their special day, a few online article interviews and so much more! I take so much pride in my work and I love every second of it!
My overall goal with my work is to help other women (and men/whoever) feel confident and beautiful in their own skin. By teaching and helping people reach their natural skin goals to helping people wear makeup that is flattering to their features and doesn't drag their features down or age them. I am able to help people find confidence in themselves that they did not know even existed! As briefly mentioned above, I was someone who was bullied immensely growing up and even into my adulthood. I have talked openly about this so much and I am sure the people who have been in my life the longest as SO tired of hearing and reading about it... but it is what made me who I am today. It was a huge part of my life. It changed me. Someways for the better! Other ways, I probably could do without. I battle C-PTSD from it and it has definitely held me back in certain areas of my life. I still battle outdated beliefs from those days to this day. HOWEVER, it did push me toward my life's purpose! It pushed me into the beauty world where I thrived. I thrived not only by talent and honing my skills, but because I understand how it feels to not feel beautiful. I know how it feels to not feel good enough. I know how it feels to be uncomfortable in your own skin! I also know how to help you realize that you ARE beautiful, you ARE enough and you 100% should feel comfortable in your own skin! I show you how to do this by helping boost your self esteem in my chair!
When you book with me, it isn't JUST a service. It is an EXPERIENCE. I want to have amazing conversation, dance, sing, joke around and ultimately have a SUPER fun time together! I want to create memories with you, especially for your big day! I want you to look back at our time together and remember not only how beautiful and amazing you felt about yourself, but also how fun your glam squad was, how much you laughed and how relaxed you felt during and after your time with us!
I think that covers all the main bases! Hopefully I didn't scare ya off! Hopefully I get to meet and work with you soon! AND HOPEFULLY you feel that the vibe at CCBeautymark is so vastly different than other beauty locations. We strive to be unique and hold true to our core values here!
Much Love,
CC