So as we are coming to a close of 2016 I wanted to look back at some of the amazing opportunities I have had this year…and what a year it has been. Its been a whirlwind of weddings, photoshoots, special occasions and more importantly I have met so many new people this year – LOTS of new clients, many weddings throughout the year, clients becoming friends and some wonderful professional relationships with models and photographers. Its just been a crazy year for my own personal success resulting in celebrity Instagram followers, a message from an actor from The Walking Dead (one of my favourite shows) and some amazing portfolio images.
So these are some highlights from my year!
January
So after very heavy snowfall in December 2015, Activate Theatre School had to postpone their annual Christmas show at North Shore Academy in Stanley until January so I kicked off the beginning of the year doing the makeup for Adventures of the Polar Express show. Activate Theatre School is a fabulous theatre school in Durham that provides classes for singing, dancing and performance/confidence building skills.
January also started with a bang in terms of wedding bookings. From New Years Day and for the following 3 weeks I was booking weddings in for the year to come every day! There must have been lots of New Years Eve proposals last year…
I did some portrait photoshoot with Ann Parker Photography and met lots of lovely girls who volunteered their gorgeous faces. Here are some of my favourites…
February
In February I was delighted to go live with my new website. Previously I had used a site that I had built myself and I wanted to develop a site that was easier for my customers to use and visually better. I am always working on my website so it is by no means a ‘complete’ product however it is definitely an improvement on what I had last year and I try to keep my site current by updating my images regularly.
During early February I collaborated with local bespoke headwear supplier Luna Lily and Ann Parker Photography. Luna Lily had a very unique skull crown and a feather and leather headpiece that she wanted to showcase so we selected models Amy Coulson and Lottie Thorpe-Smith to work with us on the photoshoot which we did at Whorlton Castle, North Yorkshire. Hair was done by Kim Calvert-Smith and clothing design was done by local seamstress Maimy. Here are some of the images…
I take great pride in continual professional development – its so important to carry on learning new techniques and product knowledge so in February I embarked on a week long professional course in Special FX and Media makeup course at North East Makeup Academy. This was the best laugh I’d had in ages! Blood, gore, fake beards…. it was brilliant and definitely appealed to my creative side – it was February and I was already desperate for it to be Halloween so I could put my new skills to use. Here are some photos of my assessment pieces…
March
In March I was booked for a large group hen do at Brompton Lakes Lodges and it was a fantastic day. The girls wanted a demonstration of a glam makeover and some of them had makeup done for the evening celebrations. This kind of a booking is a great addition to any hen party!
With my love for all things creative I fancied doing something unusual and was keen on a geisha inspired photoshoot so worked with Ann Parker Photography and Luna Lily once again to create something special. Luna Lily produced a fabulous geisha style headpiece and this is what we came up with! Here is some behind the scenes footage…
And here is a finished edited image – pretty cool!
I had the first wedding of the year in March too! The very gorgeous Anne-Louise (who is now a very proud mummy to a little boy – lovely news!)
April
So in April I started watching The Walking Dead…. and that’s when my obsession began with the show and zombie makeup. I was desperate to do a special fx zombie makeup so I enlisted the help of my very own Mr Rimmington. Men aren’t used to sitting still getting their makeup done, are they? God he wriggled, moaned and wasn’t keen on the latex but when it was finished he couldn’t stop looking at himself! Infact we got in the car and drove round calling in on family and friends so we could scare the bejeezus out of them. It was great fun – not as fun as watching Mr Rimmington pulling the latex from his beard though. What a girl! Here is a before and after… and a cheeky video of his zombie skills, complete with sound effects! 🙂
In April I also went to Newcastle to work on a large group hen party who had travelled from Scotland to Newcastle for a Geordie Shore pub crawl. I worked alongside 2 other talented makeup artists Sarah Jane Douglas and Alex Pretswell to get this large group glammed up. Was such fun! Here is a snap of some of my girls…
April also was the start of a very full summer of wedding bookings! Bride Kay looked absolutely stunning for her wedding which took place at Alnwick Treehouse..
May
My goodness May was awesome! It was jam packed with interesting work.
It started by assisting on the Pro Courses at North East Makeup Academy. The Pro Courses run every few months and are aimed at people wanting to become professional makeup artists. The standard of training is very high and this is indeed where I completed most of my professional makeup artistry training. I love working on these courses and supporting new makeup artists in their training and business development…
During this time I spent a gorgeous sunny afternoon at Rushpool Hall (a venue I work at regularly for wedding bookings) working on my own stall for Ladies Day. It was a boiling day and I got to meet lots of other local businesses at the event which was fab! After all, we should all support our local businesses where we can! This event also gave me chance to use my new promotional stand which was a very kind present from my step-dad David! What a legend!
I had a very exciting special occasion booking in May from a first time client called Hollie. Hollie booked me to do her makeup as she was attending a celebrity filled party at Buckingham Palace to celebrate the Princes Trust 40th anniversary. Hollie was over the moon with her makeup and sent me a gorgeous selfie and message from Buckingham Palace.
May also saw another first for me…. another first time client Katie was going to a family fancy dress party and booked me to do her makeup…as an Avatar! Katie was wearing a full body costume for the party but I took the opportunity to grab some snaps while I was doing her makeup…I uploaded these to my facebook page and she became an internet hit! 🙂 Have you ever seen such a pretty woman painted blue?!
During May I had a very special booking…infact one I have previously blogged about (you’ll find it in my news section) but I met with Theia…. Theia was my first transgender client and although she had gone public to family and friends a short while before she had yet to go out with her friends as the “new” her so she booked in for a glam makeover as she was going to a wedding later than day with her friends – what would be her first public outing in full glam! It was a pleasure and an inspiration getting to know Theia in the short time we spent together. Here she is with her gorgeous soft makeup and a sexy winged liner!
May was another busy month for weddings include 2 brides both called Emma who said “I do”…
Ok, so yes all of these things were exciting but nothing has excited me more this year than waking up to a direct message on Instagram from The Walking Dead’s Vicent Ward who played Oscar (who died…well, cos they all die on The Walking Dead don’t they?) who liked my zombie special effects makeup on my own Mr Rimmington, started following me on Instagram and messaged me wishing me luck with my makeup career. How often does this kind of stuff happen to a person from little old Guisborough??? OMG!
June
With the summer arrival and the festival fashion back on trend I wanted to do some creative festival makeup and with the help of talented Rebecca Dobson from Dream Hairstyling and Beauty we created some fabulous festival looks – I did the makeup and Rebecca did the hair. We also worked with John T Galloway Photography to get some great final images (not to mention lovely models Aimee and Alana). Here is a snap and some of the professional images of some of the looks from the day…
In June I was introduced to a very talented and relatively new photographer, Simon Hogben… upon meeting Simon we hit it off straight away. He was great fun and didn’t hold back in his banter – and I loved it! As well as his sense of humour he was great doing that photography wizardry too! He enjoys doing themed photoshoots and was the perfect person to work with Kerry Bavin (aka Bettie D’Vine- pinup model) and I on a photoshoot involving a bleeding heart, a fake knife, a sparkly jester collar and a sequinned heart around her eye….are you still with me? Sounds weird yes…but looked amazing! The outcome of the photoshoot was really exciting and I knew that I definitely wanted to work with both Simon and Kerry again!
Beautiful bride Theresa tied the knot! (Theresa later booked in for occasion makeup a few months after the wedding)…
Earlier in the year I was delighted to have been picked by Dream Wedding winner Jessica Sargeant to do the bridal makeup for her and her party at Crathorne Hall so in June this wedding took place and it was a fabulous day. Jess and her party looked beautiful and were great fun on the wedding morning!
July
July was full to the brim of gorgeous prom girls and the busiest month for me for weddings by far!
Here are a selection of some of my July brides….Sophie, Danielle, Fiona, Emma and Rachel…
August
Following a wonderful wedding filled summer I was already starting to take bookings 2 years in advance from brides. At this point I had 23 weddings already booked for 2017 and 3 booked for 2018!
I had 2 large group weddings in August and loved them both. Helen got married at Crathorne Hall and Emma got married at Acklam Hall. Both groups of girls were so lovely… and how could I not mention Emma’s mum Judith?! Judith loved having her makeup done and felt amazing and also kept me entertained during the morning. I’m still holding out for the offer of her adopting me! Its always a great feeling to make someone feel confident and excited about their makeup.
I was also reunited with my creative photographer pal Simon Hogben in August for a very exciting photoshoot. I have spent a long time obsessing over doing a series of photoshoots relating to Alice in Wonderland – basically because I love the madness of the characters and the story and really wanted to create something special. After months of planning, making/buying props and creating a costume (with help from my mum) and a hat (created by me) we spent a gorgeous sunny afternoon at my parents small holding in New Marske (Grewgrass Lodge) shooting our first in the series – The Mad Hatter! And my goodness we could not have been prouder of the results. Thank you to Chloe Henderson-Painter for being our model… the combination of colours, background, character and props was amazing (if we do say so ourselves). It was impossible to pick a favourite image from this photoshoot so here is a small selection….W
hich one is your favourite??
Oh, also by the end of August, my facebook page has reached 3000 followers. Amazing, thank you!
September
In September I was contacted by a very pregnant Anna Cordelia – Makeup Artist (Cordelia and Co)… Anna was booked for a large wedding and asked me to work alongside her to help with the booking. Now this is a perfect example of girl power! Anna is a very successful makeup artist – and also based in my hometown of Guisborough. So how fantastic to work alongside someone who some might say is a competitor in our small town?!… that said, Anna is very well established and I felt privileged to work with her – and its a lovely thing to admire eachother’s work, compliment eachother and celebrate successes of those doing the same job. I hope we get to do it again in the future. Back to the booking… what a fabulous venue. We met at Broughton Hall in Skipton and this was no ordinary venue…it is a 16th century manor house on a sprawling estate – very impressive. We worked through a group of possibly 13 ladies on the day and I absolutely loved it. The room where we working was fabulous – filled with pure opulence. Wonderful!
So September was the last month of a crazy wedding season – it started to quieten down by the end of the month I still had a few booked in before taking my well earned holiday… Bride Sarah looked amazing with her bright sunflower bouquet and her bridesmaids looked great with their sunflower accessories. Loved these flowers… So Sarah, Kelly and Sam all married in September!
So after the madness of the summer I went to Florida for 2 weeks and Universal Studios were preparing for Halloween whilst I was there so I was lucky enough to catch a show demonstrating special fx makeup and also learning about the history of using special effects for blockbuster films through the years. Thoroughly enjoyed it!
October
And so now to October… another busy month with all sorts happening!!
I have to say, October is one of my favourite months for makeup – its Halloween – but back to that later.
I should start by saying it was a fabulous month for 3 great photoshoots with 3 awesome photographers.
First up I was back working with Simon Hogben at Whorlton Castle shooting some Halloween magic. With the help of Kim Calvert-Smith who created great hairstyles on model sisters Evie and Millie Trodden and some costumes which I bought last year I created 2 looks. On older model Evie I wanted to do a half and half face. Half glam and half special effects which involves sticking screws in her face… I had fun, not sure about Evie 🙂
For Millie, I wanted to do a sinister rag doll look which involved patching up her eye with a big button and stitching up her mouth…poor Millie spent over 2 hours unable to talk – much to her mum and sister’s delight probably….
The next photoshoot was over at a fabulous little studio in Kirby Stephen, Cumbria called Picture House Portraits owned by photographer Andrew Fowler. I had seen some of Andrew’s work and really wanted to work with him as well as seeing his studio which specialises in retro, vintage and pinup style photography. As it was close to Halloween I wanted to incorporate a bit of that in to a pinup style shoot. Amy Coulson was our stunning model, creative hair by the very talented Lisa Douglas from LJ Hair and headpieces created by Luna Lily. We loved our day with Andrew and the images were superb. Definitely worth the effort and the drive… thank you Andrew! Hope to work with you again next year!
So last up for the photoshoots was a great day spent with beautiful model Beth Cowan, photographer Nelly Nelson from BigFoto and again Lisa Douglas from LJ Hair. We all adored this shoot! It was the first time I’d worked with both Nelly and Beth. Nelly is known for his passion for vivid colour in photography and we certainly captured colour with this shoot! Lisa styled Beth’s hair in to what can only be described as crazy, multi coloured Mohican/braid ‘thing’ – that’s the technical term. We can only share a couple of short videos of just before the shoot as the images have been forwarded for publication.
So what else in October? I worked on a pageant! It was called “A Pageant Life” and entrants were all varying ages… I worked alongside one of my makeup artist friends, Vicky Hedley so it was nice to share the experience with her.
Here is a snippet of a gorgeous teen who was entering the competition. She was wearing a jade green gown for the ‘Evening Wear’ round so we matched up her eyes with a green sparkly pigment. This look is also perfect from prom makeup…
I had 2 weddings in October.. Bride Gemma and Vicky’s bridal party…
So last up for October was of course Halloween yay!! On 31st October I moved in to my new base, North East Makeup Academy in Middlesbrough and the opening day was a busy one! We dressed up for the occasion obviously 🙂
Here are a few of my favourite Halloween looks from the day including Chuckie, a skeleton and an special effects blistered zombie face!
November
November was packed out with occasion makeups and bridal trials but also managed to squeeze on last photoshoot in with Simon Hogben… we just decided do some fun portrait work – nothing creative this time. Thanks to Chloe Henderson-Painter and to Evie Trodden.
It was also time for Activate Theatre’s Christmas show again at Durham. This year the show was “A Spoonful of Sugar” based on Mary Poppins. A personal favourite of mine. The students were fabulous as always! I even roped in my Mr Rimmington to help do the makeup on the chimney sweeps – he was under strict instructions and my close supervision none the less…
December
So lastly December…. the end of the year – a totally amazing year filled with amazing opportunities, new friendships, new clients and a portfolio of work to be very proud of.
The very last shoot of the year was working again with Nelly Nelson of BigFoto, Lisa Douglas from LJ Hair and model Rachelle Rogue. I blogged about this shoot recently so take a look but wanted to mention it again as it was a highlight of this year for me. Rachelle is amazing and would love to work together again. Here are some images from the day…
I am now in the Kiss The Bride ‘Little White Book’ of recommended suppliers and introduced myself to Kiss The Bride clients by writing a blog for them on my top 12 favourite makeup/beauty products to buy this Christmas. You can find it on their website and social media.
December has also been full to the brim of sparkle, glitter and Christmas party makeup.
This year has definitely been FANTASTIC for professional achievements and I am so excited to see how I can top it in 2017!
A special thank you to Ann Parker, Simon Hogben, Andrew Fowler, John Galloway and Nelly Nelson and to the models I have worked with this year. Also to those who have worked with me on photoshoots…Lisa Douglas, Kim Calvert-Smith, Rebecca Dobson and Rachel Knox of Luna Lily.
To everyone who has booked in with me this year, next year and to those who show their continuous support on social media – thank you to you and wishing you all a happy, healthy and successful new year!
Gemma
xxx