Happy New Year!!!!

Well, that's another year over! And what a year it was! I made 2 life changes in 2011 and so far, I'm not regretting either, which is great news, considering one of them was getting married!

Here are some of the highlights of my year, both professionally and personally.
At the beginning of the year, I was still working for the incredible Laura Mercier as the National Makeup Artist, but I began to get itchy feet. I was finding it increasingly hard to fit in my freelance work, as I was spending most of my time travelling between UK, Ireland, Europe and sometimes the States. I had been with this fabulous brand for 5 years and have so much to thank them for. The experiences they gave me, the faces I was honoured enough to make up, the places I visited and the artists I worked with, including the Great Miss Mercier herself, made it the hardest decision I've had to make so far in my career.


Here are some memories from some of my time spent with Laura Mercier.

 Switzerland

 

Miami 

 Aberdeen

Artist Photo Shoot, Houston

Two of Laura's Great Artists, Tayaba and Matin

And my final international event was in the greatest city in the world........New York.

 Henri Bendels, 5th Avenue

One of the New York artists

So in May, I finally left the company and began my journey as my own boss! And I love it! It's tough, don't get me wrong but it's worth all the hard work.

Now over the next few months my freelance work started to build, it's funny how things turn up, just when you're getting a little concerned. The summer was filled with shoots, meetings and brides, including me! I married my husband on 23rd July in Faringdon, Oxon (my childhood church) and danced the night away at The Frogmill, Andoversford.
My husband is Scottish so they wore the traditional kilt etc and I wore a Pronovias dress which is still hanging on the back of my bedroom door........ not because I want to keep looking at it but because I have nowhere in our tiny flat to store it!
I love that now, when I makeup a bride on her special day, I can truly empathise with her emotions. 

Photography by Mark Sherratt and jewellery by www.glitzysecrets.com 

This took me to July. And already I'd given up work and got married. These are both stressful enough on their own but muggins here decided to do them both together! No wonder I have Psoriasis. Was I mad?

Check out my next blog to find out if I made the right choice? Work wise people.....I'm not talking about marrying Pete!

I hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year.

Salon International 2011

I hope this finds you all well. I have finally got round to getting back to my blog. I'll be honest! I have been struggling with blogging but have finally figured it out and I'll be paying much more attention to you all from now on. Pinky promise!

So October is an important in the world of hairdressing. Salon International, the huge trade show takes place at Excel each year and it's a great place for Salon owners, hair stylists and students to witness new trends, techniques and for them to try out some of the best products on the market.

I spent 3,full on days with Balmain Hair on behalf of the Goldsworthy's team and have to say that it was one of the most fun jobs I've worked on and by the 3rd day we were all a little hysterical.

Now I feel that this blog should be in 2 parts and so I have concentrated the first post on the models I did for Balmain and the 2nd on the actual Glodsworthy's models for the Fellowship stand.

I hope you enjoy.

Balmain Hair produce the most amazing assortment of hair extensions and I would highly recommend having a look at their website www.balmainhair.com to find out a bit more

We had four models to prep each day, me on makeup and the Goldsworthy's team on hair. They were great girls and really fun to work on.

Models below.

All done with hair pieces and extensions! Incredible.

Elle Beauty | Party 2010 | Elleuk.com

Elle Beauty | Party 2010 | Elleuk.com

MeMeME Shimmer Stack

Hi everyone,

Well, recently I was given a MeMeMe Shimmer Stack to try out and I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised.

For those of you who have never tried these products or even heard of them, they are an affordable yet, great quality cosmetic brand stocked at Superdrug. They have recently been repackaged and some of the products have been slightly reformulated to improve the longevity etc.

The Shimmer Stack on first sight looks a lot like a Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick which, as we all know has a huge following. However, on closer inspection, you'll find that it doesn't have as much of glittery finish! I actually love that.

I use Bobbi Brown's Shimmer Bricks alot on myself, my clients and on shoots however, there are times when less is more and the MeMeMe Shimmer Stack gives a more natural veil across the skin.

They come in 3 colour combinations, Gold, Bronze and Pink and can be used as an all over bronzer/veil,  individually as eye shadows or use the lighter shades as a highlighter. They are priced at £9.99, which for the size of the palette is amazing value. The other great point about this product is that is has a huge mirror which makes it more user friendly. See below.

I've been using the Gold stack with the Laura Mercier Finishing brush for a soft application but using a bronzer brush will definitely give more intensity.

If you haven't tried the products yet, pop into Superdrug to have a play. From what I understand they are replacing all the stands in store to make them more inviting so have fun.

Wedding - Kingscote Barn, Tetbury

Sometimes you get a job where everything is a pleasure to be part of. From the talented photographer Charley Smith, to the creative hairstylist Vicky Turner to the charming family and friends of the bride.

This was one of those weddings. 

I met the bride Emma, back in January for a trial at her home in London , she had been given my details from the hair stylist she was using for the wedding day, Vicky Turner of Goldsworthys, Cirencester (www.goldsworthys.com). An hour after the trial she emailed me to confirm that she wanted to go ahead with the booking and I was over the moon. I love weddings in locations in the cotswolds as it's not too far from my family and I get to kill 2 birds with 1 stone plus who wouldn't want to work in beautiful countryside.

The venue was Kingscote Barn (www.kingscotebarn.co.uk), Nr Tetbury which is in the middle of rolling fields that on the morning of the wedding were filled with some rather young lambs. The setting was idylic! The photographer who is based in London but travels the world, was Charley Smith (www.charleysmithweddingphotography.com) who I hadn't worked with before but I urge you to check out his website if you don't have a photographer booked already. And finally the hair was styled by Vicky Turner who I have worked with many times, and in fact at times it feels like we come as a double act.

Let me know if you would like a run down of the colours used on Emma's eyes. And for now, have a great week.
Katie x

The Rachael Ray Show

So, have any of you seen The Rachael Ray Show?

Rachael is a TV chef but also has an extremely popular chat show in the U.S. It's a huge show and they recently sent their makeover guru, Gretta Monahan over to the UK to give the residents of London "Royal wedding" makeovers.

Gretta put together a team of stylists, hairdressers and makeup artists and we set up near the London eye and pounced on the unsuspecting British public. The makeovers took place on a double decker bus so it was a little snug, so the team got to know eachother pretty quickly.

Very small makeup station!!!!

We had an early start with us being on the bus for 5.30am so they was a steady flow of coffee all day or in my case redbull. The makeup team were from Laura Mercier so amazing products were used.

We had 4 transformations and they were all over the moon with their new looks and really got into the spirit of things.

Please check out the link below to watch the actual segment from the show. 

http://www.rachaelrayshow.com/show/segments/view/grettas-london-makeover-takeover/#disqus_thread

Let me know what you think. Have a great week.

Katie x

As I start a new chapter in my life........

Hi Everyone,

I hope this finds you all very well. I'm excited to be telling you all of my news as I begin the next chapter in my career.

I have decided, after a lot of thought to leave the amazing Laura Mercier Cosmetics in order to return to freelancing. For those of you that know me, will appreciate how hard this has been to finally leave but it is the right decision for now. The travelling has kept me away from my family for 5 years and I feel it's time to reduce the amount of miles between me and my future husband.

Over the last 5 years I have been given so many opportunities by Laura and I have been sent to some fabulous places which have created memories I will cherish forever. Working for Laura has also enabled me to learn from the very best in the business, work with some extremely talented artists and use some of the worlds most effective products.......wow, why am I leaving????

The cities I have visited over the 5 years , such as Miami, New York, Paris, Bern, Zurich, Geneva, Houston and closer to home like Nottingham, Dublin, Glasgow, Manchester, Cardiff have given me challenges and experiences that I would never have had if I had worked for anyone but Laura and I thank the company for that.

Since handing in my notice, I have shed one or two tears and I'm sure this week, which will be my final event, will bring more emotion but I hope I will always have a relationship of some sort with Laura Mercier Cosmetics. ( and of course, I will continue their fab products on my clients)

So, I say thank you for my time and I hope to visit all the talented artists in store to but in a purchasing manner.

Next time I speak to you, I'll be a free agent and be begging you all for work! I also may be dying to have some time away! Hahaha!

Have a fun week.
Katie x