The Best of 2014

As another year comes to a close I look back on what I've done and achieved and the fun I've had! This year has been exciting for me for several reasons, one of them being that I've branched out into other areas of hair and make-up that have given me the opportunity to go to exciting places and see exciting things. I'd also like to thank all of my clients. I couldn't do my dream job without you! Here is a quick round up of some of my favorite moments (not all can be included!).

Vogue

It was an honor to be a part of this shoot, styling hair for vintage haute couture expert William Vintage for Vogue.co.uk. To see the full shoot click here.

Beehive Tutorial with Melon Lady, Helen Anderson

It was a lot of fun to film this tutorial with Helen. Helen has amazing hair to style. I was so happy seeing her fans all over the world re-create this style in a competition we ran. To watch the full tutorial click here.

Topman

I was thrilled to be asked to come and do male grooming with Ellie Cain on the Topman Christmas shoot. I always love working with Ellie and you will hopefully see her with me a bit more this year.

Wig Restoration Challenge

 I enjoyed coming to the rescue when I was asked to rejuvenate these wigs that are part of the Fabulous 1950's Fashion exhibition at The Bridewell Museum. 

Upside down with Gizzi Erskine and Space NK

Earlier this year I was set a challenge when I had to create a beehive that would withstand being upside down. Gizzi Erskine created a fun video as part of Space NK's Beauty Council.

Wella Colour Competition Finals

 I was so proud to be the make-up artist for Sophie Morter at Flint who got through to the Finals of the Wella Colour Competition. This is a huge achievement for any hairdresser and I was so happy to be part of this. The finals were unbelievable in terms of the show and very impressive. I sure won't be forgetting this in a hurry! Last photo by Joanna Millington.

The Sunday Beauty School

Of course I cannot forget to mention The Sunday Beauty School. I cannot tell you how exciting it is for me to pass on my skills to others and see them work wonders with their own hair. I am in debt to my business partner Emily Turnbull of LoveMoi Makeup who has been a source of advice, wisdom, support and hilarity throughout our journey of putting the school together. More news of what is to come soon...

I think 2015 is going to be busy year. Bring it on. I'm ready. Thank you again and a Happy New Year to you all!

Amy x

Amanda's Make Over

Amanda very kindly, and bravely volunteered to have her before and after photo taken as I wanted to show how dramatically makeup and hair styling can change the appearance. I wanted to tell you a little about what products I used too.

Amanda was going to an event and her style icon is Audrey Hepburn so she wanted to channel a bit of her style. Audrey's style was so feminine and sophisticated and could be copied even today without looking out of date. Don't you love those brows?

Hair

Amanda's hair is fairly short (in terms of hair up) but could just about go into a chignon. I used a large Babyliss Pro tong to smooth out and set the set away from the face, and a straightener to smooth her fringe over to one side. Those of you who follow me know that my favorite hairspray is Tresemme Freeze Hold, so of course I used that here as well. Go easy if you haven't used it before - it's not called Freeze Hold for nothing.If your hair is finer try their newer finer spray, which gives the hold but isn't as heavy.

Make Up

I really love the brand Illamasqua, and their Skin Base Foundation provides excellent coverage. It's great for dryer skin too and really helps smooth out any imperfections and it has a satin finish which I really like. I used Illamasqua's Medium Pencil in Honour to gently fill in her brows to make them a little more bold and 1950's in shape. Amanda didn't want to go overboard with her eyes, and I used MAC's gel eye liner in Dipdown, which is a brown, to line her eye lid but didn't flick this out.

The before photo was taken on Amanda's camera, and the others on my own, if you're wondering why the colouring is different!

Hope you've enjoyed this post, hopefully I'll have some more posts like this for you soon.

1920's Hair and Make Up Transformation

A couple of weeks ago around about 10.30pm I decided that I wanted to try a 1920's makeup look out after seeing a really ace 'modernised' 1920's shoot.

You heard me, 10.30pm. Inspiration takes us at odd hours sometimes.

I am in love with the 'faux bob' too, so for me this was just the time to try the makeup and hair together at once.

You must excuse the before photo, this is the makeup free, glasses-less Amy that not that many get to see (thankfully). But I wanted to post this photo to show the transformation, and everyone likes a transformation right?

MakeUp:

Foundation: MAC Studio Fix
Eyeshadow: Urban Decay (Naked Palette)
Lips: MAC Chilli

For the eyebrows I soaped over them so I could draw them higher - I've always wanted to try this!

Hair:

Easy. I tied it back in a very loose ponytail and tucked it under at the neck.

My husband described this look as 'pantomime' and maybe it is, but I still like it. I just need to find an occassion to wear it.

An Oslo Wedding

Last Friday I headed to Olso, Norway with my husband for a very good friends wedding.

This is a slightly self indulgent blog I'm afraid. I wanted to share with you just a few photos from the day. Hopefully I should be able to show you a couple from the professional photographer soon, and better ones of the hair - why did I not take any good ones of the hair?!

View from the hotel where we got ready. Amazing!

We got to get ready in a really smart hotel in Oslo, we where on the 6th floor and the view was incredable.

Another view from the 6th floor

What was also incredable was the weather - look at the sky! It wasn't too chilly at all, around 17C, which I didn't think was was bad considering we were roughly as far north as Shetland.

On the way down in th lift to catch our cab to the church I couldn't resist but get a photo of us in the mirror!

I styled Lindas (the bride) hair and her maid of honor Mari. I hope you'll agree that they both look beautiful.

Linda had a wonderful idea of putting some text that described the guest under their place name. I wonder what she could have chosen for me?

Hair Up Demo

Tonight I gave a (nearly) 2 hour demo to some NVQ 3 students at a local training academy. I didn't realise it was so tiring talking so much!

I didn't teach vintage styling, but showed how knowing a couple of little tricks can make a relatively simple hair up look really AMAZING.

I know that a lot of hairdressers are mortified of hair up, and I remember another hairdresser telling me that when someone came in for hair up all the other staff would run to hide in the staff room so she was the only one left standing there. Pretty shocking!

Here's a couple of photos from tonight.

Massive thanks to my model Meriel, who put up with me talking constantly!

The 'Jennifer Lopez'. Don't know if she ever wore this style, but I can imagine she would. I acutally quite like it!

And from the front...

How to enchance a Chignon to make it look extra special!

Same style as above but from the side.

What do you think?