I began my makeup artist journey about 3 months after I gave birth to my daughter. My daughter is now 11 years old. Through the years I set out to accomplish certain things- I never wanted to just “do makeup” – Mercedes Benz Fashion Week, Celebrities, Film, Television, Print, glam for a network where I was on the schedule and knew exactly where my check was coming from week to week without chasing gigs down – all items checked and some multiple times over.

Though I accomplished what I set out to do I was always questioning my worth. Why didn’t my work look like this or that artist? Why was I not part of the “in crowd” of artists? Was I worthy of the work I was getting? I finally realized that I was adept at making my clients look polished; like themselves and not a caricature. You would see the same person but I allowed their own pretty to shine through.

From there Polished & Pretty by Shana Janelle was created.

I normally work with productions where I am on set for 4+ hours and so I get paid my day rate. Very rarely do I take on clients where it’s a one off shot but I would get messages from women asking me certain questions about makeup and realized there was a void not being met.

I created the Polished & Pretty experience to remedy that. It is an in depth one on one made to equip women with knowledge and confidence needed to polish their own pretty. Sure they may still want to hire me for special events but I want them to be empowered to handle their day to day needs. In order to introduce this service I decided to have my first pop up experience.

We started off with a few beverages thanks to my good good girlfriend, Naima (check out her YouTube channel where I make random but regular appearances!), and bites care of our favorite and only baker, LaShun.

My guests got their customized beauty bags from my mom (her custom order info is coming) that were full of treats from my sponsors – Aethera Beauty, Sigma Beauty and Palmers. As you can see they also got their shop all the way on via the products available at the Brown Beauty Co-Op featuring Marjani Beauty in Dupont Circle.

Once everyone made their purchases I conducted a Q&A session where we focused on what we need to be polished and pretty when the humidity reaches its peak.

Our sponsors were so generous that I was able to do giveaways where I quizzed my guests on what we had just reviewed.

To close out the pop up I did a few mini sessions where I did one on one consultations.

I was and honestly still am so overwhelmed by the support and love I received around this event. From all my beautiful guests that showed up, to those who purchased tickets just to support me even when they knew they would be unable to attend. To all that shared every post on their own pages and told a friend to tell a friend to tell a friend. To Erin for the beautiful images not only on this day but the ones you see all over this little place of mine in cyber land, to Shun for the baked goods, Naima for being my chairman (inside joke), to my accountability partner, to the ladies of the Brown Beauty Co-Op and of course to my sponsors – thank you so very much. It was a success because of you and my heart is still so full.

If you wish to schedule your own Polished & Pretty session, click here.