News Snippets

I get to work with some beautiful creatures – I love my job!

Its been very  busy week with a fabulous crew shooting gorgeous hard working models for Janet Reger

This week it has mainly been all pants, bras and stockings!

Fabulous beauty shoot with Sheila Rock

Very Dioresque.  . . such a gorgeous shoot to work on

Leeds Castle has to be one of my favorite venues – so romantic!

Had a wonderful time with hair and make-up today – I love my job ;o)

The stunning Emma

Beautifu; winter sunlight for our shoot. . . simply gorgeous!

Shooting in the coldest studio in the country today. . . stu. .  stu  studio!

After hearing that our model wasn’t going to show up for our shoot – we  patiently waited for a replacement. Not so easy as we were in the middle of nowhere on location.

Amy ‘bless her’ arrived in the afternoon with her 3 month old baby in hand. It worked out beautifully. . . as it always does, the skies cleared and the sun shon!

Birgit was a joy to work with and Pete Jones the photographer did such a wonderful job, always fun to work with!

For the past two days – it was all a bit rock n’ roll for our shoot – in a very smelly recording studio, thank heavens we shot out on the streets as well – Katie our model was a real trooper. . . and super cool rock chic!

In my make-up chair today was the very talented Rosa Boxall, such a beautiful and moving voice. A singer songwriter to watch out for this year!!

A very windy day shooting on the south coast for a fabulous and fun regular client. With a lovely mention on their contributors page see here:  Knitting Magazine

Behind the scene snippets of the Miss Havisham shoot today

Ivana keeping warm between shots on location on the South Coast

Its 6pm and Kasia still looks amazing after a gruelling 5am start ;o)

We all kept warm and snuggly working away on location this week with roaring log fires and home cooked lunches, oh and did I mention the delishious baked apple pie with custard to die for – ahem, the crew were lovely too ;o)

Hair and make-up with the ever professional Dita – such a joy!

Hair and make-up for this gorgeous fashion shoot for Wedding Magazine issue Dec/Jan out now

Hair and make-up for the most gorgeous creature that is – Gabby young

Today I was mainly channelling Botticelli (hair and make-up) for a historian book cover – about courtesan culture – right up my boulevard!! (behind the scenes)

How it looks on the computer with correct lighting!!

Ian Stuart’s long awaited new designs and advertising campaign – such a joy to work with such a talented man.I was working along side John Birchal and Cheryl Phelps Gardener – we had a giggle as usual!!

Stunning Kelly got hitched at Buxted Park – woo-hoo!!

The gorgeous Joanna married in elegance and style at the Orangery Holland Park.

Photographed by the very talented Dasha – www.dashacaffrey.com

Marina Licht was the editor for Cosmopolitan Bride magazine and also for OK, she then went to the wedding of Posh and Becks and got hooked. She has started a blog for ‘The Stylish Bride’ and contacted me for an interview. Read my interview for ‘A stylish bride’ a blog by Marina – here

Hair and makeup for knitting!

Vintage inspired shoot at the Blue Bell railway

Stunning shoot! We had gale force winds and rain rain rain – I think we broke three unbrellas too!!

Lovely shoot today on location in Surrey – a fabulous 1960′s house that appeared in the magazine ‘Homes and Gardens’ back in the day !

Make-up for Ian Stuart Bridal campaign

Ian Stuart adjusting a hat on our fabulous model Aleshia

Romana was just one of the beauties that I had the pleasure of making up and styling her today for our shoot.

Moritz our model from Germany had his hands full and enjoyed hamming it up for the shoot today!!

Today was all about the lashes – lush!

Subtle fluttery natural lashes were the order of the day!

Our French beauty came to the rescue after our first model arrived covered (and I mean ‘covered’ in acne – poor lamb!)

Hair and make-up for ‘Go with the flow’ editorial shoot for this months Wedding magazine out now!

A wonderful day creating the hair and make-up for these images today – such a beauty!

Shooting with the fab team at True Bride – at Buxted Park Hotel – so cute!

How beautiful will your bridesmaids look in these stunning designs from True Bride?  Yet another lovely day working in the studio. . . how does one choose?

Our model was from Croatia, and not looking too shabby after make-up, concidering she had spent a long night at the Brit Awards – awwww and she was happy to have met some British rocks stars!!

I had the pleasure of working with my two favourite ladies today!!

Couture designers Ritva and Chenca for their portrait, which was shot by Jeremy Ennes

TEAM GB -Hockey!

A fabulous shoot – they’ve been in training for three years – eek!

Shot by the wonderful Andrew Edgecume

Sponsered by Debenhams

Hair and make-up for Kundalini Arts, such a lovely add campaign!

Hair and make-up for Gabby Young and other animals new album, out very soon. Art work by Kundalini Arts, styling by Emma Crosby and shot by Gemma Hall – find out more about the wonderful and gifted Gabby – here - http://www.gabbyyoungandotheranimals.com

Photo shoot with Gabby Young for her new single out soon!

Hair and make-up for David Suchet and Zoë Wanamaker for the theatre poster for Arthur Miller’s ‘All My Sons’

A little snippet from behind the scenes of our shoot today with the fab Jonna – who was our model over here from Finland.

Our model today was the beautiful Gia from Bulgaria. We shot on location at the very friendly Buxted Park Hotel.

Snippets from today shoot where we transformed Gabby Young into a 1920′s starlet for our shoot with the very talented photographer  Anushka Menon

Behind the scenes  snippets of the gorgeous Gabby Young during our shoot for Kundalini Arts.

They say ‘never work with children or animals’ – but Murrey was a real star player on our shoot today!

Just a flavour from the new Ritva Westenius campaign shoot that I did the hair and make-up for today! Photography by the wonderful Sheila Rock.

Behind the scenes on our Ritva Westenius couture bridal campaign shoot – photographer Sheila Rock,  model Victoria and styling by Jenny Swire. . . beautiful!

Lovely shoot in Hyde  Park – A drizzly day but the hair and makeup stayed true – hoorah!!

A  very relaxing wedding morning spent with Anna and her sister today at Buxted Park Hotel  - a perfect sparkling day for Anna who looked every inch a hollywood movie star draped in a simply divine David Fielden bridal gown – really looking forward to seeing the professional pics and just look at that cake – wow!

I had the pleasure of working on this beautiful shoot earlier on in the year. The new campaign for the very talented Ian Stewart – his new Killer Queen Collection can be seen here !

I’ve just received this link from Anna, one of the brides I had the pleasure of working with recently. She has just been featured on the fabulous blog ‘Love My Dress’ hear all about her wedding first hand, not to mention the gorgeous images from her very special day – Click Here

A snippet from our Xmas shoot today, winter wonderland – red riding hood ?

It was fun, but a shame to be in the studio today when it was such a glorious day outside!!

Shoot for Mathew Williamson shot on location in a club!!

Thanks to the beautiful Lucia yesterday and of course our ever charming Zac (our male model) for making the magic happen during our bridal shoot for Debenhams! Move over Scarlett Johansson – Lucia is grace supremo !

Not to mention our tiny weeny models from our shoot today , exceptionally behaved Oscar and katie both seven years old, going on 17 – too cute!!

It was probably the hotest day of the year for Emma’s wedding in Brighton – remaining cool, collective and totally radiant, a true Brighton belle – congratulations!

Lovely retro shoot from the archives!

There is always time for fun and frollicks on the wedding morning – so having the bridesmaids hairstyles secured firmly in place, was a must for these naughty minx’s!!!

Another day in the office – animal back-drops for our shoot today grrrrr!!

Jaime chose to have a relaxed wedding at the 5 star Michelin awarded La Bastide Hotel in Saint Antoine, South of France with fabulous cuisine by Jacques Chibois – heavenly!

Just arrived in St. Paul de Vence in the south of France in preparation for Jaime’s wedding tomorrow – what a fabulous view from their hillside villa across to the fortified village  - what a tranquil setting in which to get ready  on the morning of your wedding – the sun is shining and I can’t wait – 0h-la-la!!

Amber our model was almost blown away during our shoot today – thank heavens it wasn’t swimwear – brrrr. . . what happened to summer?

Striking a pose is gale-force winds!

I couldn’t resist letting you have a sneak peek at the lovely Anna who married yesterday.

looking every inch a Russian princess in her gorgeous Temperly bridal gown and stunning bespoke headdress.

Anna arranged the whole weddding from her home in Dubai!

Shots taken with my Hipstamatic!

Anna and Pav were married in the idyllic town of Arundel, with the beautiful castle as their back drop!

Anna’s attention to detail was astonishing and even designed her own shoes for the occasion – what a lady and such a joy to work with!

A wonderful morning spent with her dear family and friends – most of whom flew over from Russia for the celebrations.

I have been a little behind on my posts lately as it has been an extremely busy time. Today I spent the morning with Jo and friends preparing for her wedding – but sadly didn’t get to take any snaps. . . believe me she looked incredible – really looking forward to seeing the pics though and they will follow shortly!!

Irina was the perfect choice for modelling the knitwear designs for spring next year. We have been shooting out on ‘Mersea’ for two days, which is a new location for me. Our base from which to work from was an old house boat, originally a sailing barge. We had great weather and a very relaxing crew.

Richard, who was our delightful male model today has taken leave from his normal day job as a ‘Lawyer’ to explore the fashion industry – certainly one to watch!

The sun was definately shining in the gorgeous Alfriston today

Beautiful Chateau Chenonceax

Such a fabulous morning spent with the delightful Nicola and her girlfriends!

Drizzle, sunshine and wind – another perfect summers day in England!

Kate stayed true to herself – which is how every bride should play it – the bohemian beauty kept her look soft and romantic to kick off the church ceremony. But by all accounts she will have many changes through-out their week-end of celebrations – be rude not to, and its so rock n’ roll baby!!

Can’t wait to see September issue of American Vogue – exclusive inside pics from non other than Mario Testino – Oh’ how the other half live!

Another 6am call-time for make-up and hair today – we were shooting a beautiful Russian model  ’Vera’ for Jasper Conran autumn winter add, and our location was Hyde Park – it never ceases to amaze me how green London actually is – people started their morning jogging and were swimming in the Serpentine at 5:30am!

Bags of carefully dried leaves were brought over for our shoot today and sprinkled onto the path to mimic a park in autumn – after our shoot they had to be carefully gathered up and returned to the props department – thank goodness it wasn’t a breezy day today!!!

Today was a tricky one. . . the start time was early, we had two models to shoot together. One arrived full of life, effervescent and confident the second arrived tired, quiet and withdrawn – the chemistry was poles apart.

We were shooting on location in fashionable Portabello Rd. With thunderstorms and rain to contend with and it was hard for our photographer to get the shot – then finally in the late afternoon it all came together.

It was surely one of the hottest days today and we were shooting kids winter wear with Todd Marshard. The location was a gorgeous secret garden in Epping. My main concern was preventing the kids from melting away!

The photos will be seen in the shop windows of Debenhams later this year.

A tranquil morning spent with Dani and family. Serenaded by the ducks out on the veranda which over looked the lake - our own little water feature which made for a very relaxing and enjoyable time!!

A fun day was spent in Salisbury today shooting a mixture of lingerie, outerwear and evening wear. . .for Debenhams.

Susan my model was dressed in Ben De Lisi today! Susan arrived with her natural signature afro hair. . . which I adore. . . but today my clients brief was to create a look which is sleek and elegant. So I blow dried it smooth then wrapped it up with an elegant sixties twist, the make-up was fresh and dewy – this advert will appear in magazines at the same time as the TV commercial around September time!

Shooting in central London today at the Vanilla club (Gucci glam 70′s inspired add shoot ) with the lovely William Garrett. It was lovely to be work a long side another talented hair and make-up artist called Helen Asher. We had two great models to work with too. . . Dominika (Aka – Jerry Hall) is also an artist and whilst I was curling her hair in preparation for our shoot she was busy sketching in her hand made note book – her creations are simply amazing. . .really  looking forward to being invited to her first exhibition!

What a fantastic day!

The day started very early preparing Tara for the first of three transformations!

Tara’s civil ceremony was held at The Grand Hotel followed by a wonderful Hindu ceremony in the afternoon with all the bells and whistles . . . then to top it off there was an evening like no other – filled with an array of wonderful surprises, performers and celebrations. All the guests joined in and enjoyed a banquet of the most delicious Indian cuisine.

Andy looked incredible in his uniform (I’m sure all the girls would agree) and Tara outshone everyone not only by looking radiant with three hair and make-up changes – but with her calmness throughout the proceedings. It was a very enjoyable day spent with their family and friends during their preparations, thank-you!

I was invited to give a talk to the Hair and Beauty students at City College today, to talk about my carreer as a professional session hair and make-up artist and how the fashion industry works. All those young eager faces. . . blimey I’d forgotten how confusing my own career path had actually been! I feel honoured to be able to offer an insight into an amazing and privilaged profession. . . and one that is so enjoyable, good luck girls!!

Shooting out on the streets today dodging the rain showers!

And who would of thought that Sainsbury’s glass panel would make an ideal back-drop for a front cover! Oooo the glamour

So lovely to be working close to home today with Ian and the True Bride team shooting Nicky’s latest collection – I’m loving the fifties influence! the close up shots are of our previous shoot!

One man on a mission – to make many pennies out of one penny – an inspiring journey – proving that anything is possible if you put your mind to it. . . !!

Find out more – http://project1p.wordpress.com

Theres a professional bridal photographer up for grabs if anyone is interested in bartering- click the link to see her work!! http://www.catwalkwedding.com

I have just returned from a few lovely days on the fabulous new Ian Stuart designer campaign – such breath taking creations from a very talented and unique individual !! Five girls in total who were all a delight to work with. . .I was working along side one of my all time favuorite make-up artists again the lovely Cheryl Phelps-Gardiner (shes such a minx)

Shooting in Cornwall – day one of four!!

Rachael was a dream to work with, from our very first meeting to the actual day itself – organising a wedding whilst living in Paris was never going to be easy – but Rachael had the vision and integrety to see it through. We all had enormous fun on the morning getting ready at the Hilton in a room with fabulous views looking out to sea. The day was glorious as they left for the Pavillion ceremony – congratulations and huge hugs to you all!

“Hi Ollie, Jeni and Hils,

Hope you’re all well. Just to say thankyou so much for making our Gorgeous images look so gorgeous. Sharon (the head of lingerie) loved them! I wanted to pass on her thanks to you all. I highlighted to her what a great team we had working on it -and it shows. She has mood boards from the shoot on her wall! Thankyou for 3 really lovely days too -I had such a great time and for supporting me with a shoot that isn’t always straightforward.

Em xxx”

How lovely to recieve a thank-you note! The dream team:Oliver Pearce, Hillary Owen, Emma Hunter, Olivier Garson (our

beautiful model) and yours truely!

Tanya looked every inch the movie star as she stepped out of The Grand Hotel today to marry her prince charming – against gale force winds too, it was blowing a hooli when they left ( thank heavens for Elnet!!)

.  . she took it all in her stride – congratulations to you both and I hope your day was magical!