Nancy Mendoza

My mom took the day off from work today so that we could drive up to Orlando and see the Makeup School I will be attending next year. We toured the Joe Blasco Special Effects Makeup school this morning, and I am in LOVE! After the tour I decided (with my mom) that I will not take the 15 weeks (Masters I course) but the 32 weeks (Masters II Course). That’s 8 months! OMG 8 whole months living alone 5 hours away from my entire family!

Now I just have to plan what I will bring with me and what to leave.

Xbox and Beatles  Rock band (check)
Acoustic Guitar and tons of tabs (check)
Electric Tea Brewer and Jack Skellington mug (check)

What else should I bring with me to live/entertain me for 8 months?

This weekend I officially received my acceptance letter for the Joe Blasco special effects makeup school in Orlando. I am so excited! I’ve been dreaming about this school since I was little. I just never thought the day would come where I could actually attend. Can’t wait to show you pix of my adventures. 2010 is gonna be awesome! !

2009 has flown! I cant believe how fast this year has been. It feels like just last week it was Jan 1st! For one I am happy this year flew by fast. I was unhappy at my job, not having the time to work on my music. So when I finally quit, it felt like a huge weight lifted. I was able to spend all day working on my singing, and posting videos on YouTube. It wasn’t until all that freedom that I could take myself off of autopilot and actually think about the future. This is where I am now, carefully planning my next steps. I am so lucky to have the family I have. They have supported me in everything I have decided to do. Whether I wanted to be a rock star, a radio dj or a makeup artist, my family has supported me and they never told me I couldn’t do it. I am so blessed to have the most amazing sisters in the world! They are understanding, supportive and I could ask them for anything. I am lucky to be so tight with my family, because without their constant support and guidance I don’t think I would have become the person I am today. I also have great friends! Friends that understand that I cant hangout all the time, but that can pick up where we left off when we do hang out. My Friends understand that sometimes I don’t want to go out, and just wanna play some Beatles rock band or just catch up over some homemade food. I don’t know why I have been blessed with such amazing people in my life, but there is one thing for sure…. I am thankful for each and every single one of them. What are you thankful for?

So today I have an appointment at the Aveda Beauty school here in South Florida. I am nervous about it because I love to do hair and makeup but don’t know how I will like this school. I mean, it took me a long 7 years to get out of college with a bachelors in Public Relations.

School has never been an easy thing for me, due to my ADD and dyscalcula ( learning disability of numbers, meaning I hate math!) and terrible test anxiety. I saw on the Aveda website that there is an entrance exam, which really freaked me out.

But the truth is, I love doing hair and makeup and I would love nothing more than to travel the world and make everyone look as beautiful as they possibly can.

There is nothing more satisfying than transforming someone who feels “blah” into “tadah!” ( is that even a word?) I love when my friends ask me to give them a punky color hair streak or when my sister consistently returns to me for her highlights. She used to pay and arm and a leg to get her hair highlighted, and for her to ask me to do it, I feel  privileged.

The most amazing part of all of this is that my friends and family trust me enough to cut and color their hair. That is a lot of trust! Up until now it’s been simply a hobby.

I’ve always been a very independent person, and I love to try to re-create hairstyles and makeup looks that have been previously done on me. That’s how i learned everything I know about hair and makeup.

I had the best mentors when it comes to learning about beauty. My first experience was in middle school, when I begged my parents to let me start wear makeup. So my mom took me to the Clinique makeup counter and I met Edwin Guerrero (aka Kevianno) he taught me how to properly apply everyday makeup without looking like a dag queen or like a cheap hooker. Since that first lesson, I feel in love with makeup.

A few years later, Edwin started working at MAC Cosmetics and I was introduced to the endless array of MAC eyeshadow colors. By that time I was in High school and I had my own band. So I had many opportunities to learn all about stage makeup and the use of non traditional colors in my makeup.

All the while that I was getting my makeup done, I was super curious about the application, and the tools used on me.

This is also what happened with my hair. I have always gone to super talented people to do my hair and makeup. I made friends with lots of hairstylists at Peter of London, who taught me about what/why they were doing to my hair and how to re-create the looks after I leave the salon. This is how I learned how to properly blow out my hair and safely iron my hair straight without damaging my hair too much. It wasn’t until I was about 22 that I began experimenting with punky color hair dye. It was basically trial and error and that’s how I officially became known as Nancy the girl with (pink, blue, purple, turquoise, or purple hair).

So this is why I have such an extreme love for hair and makeup. I would love to learn special effects makeup application, and work on horror movie sets. That would be amazing.