If you want to have a snowy shoot, then please get in touch fast.  The snow doesn’t hang around for long.  We have even rearranged our studio bookings for next week to accommodate snow shoots.

We would love to hear what you’re up to in January.

Michelle was encouraged by a friend to come along for a maternity photo shoot at our new natural light studio.

“I really enjoyed the shoot, it wasn’t rushed or too long, and the girls made it a fun experience. It was nice to be pampered getting my hair and make-up done as I wasn’t sure being an expectant mum when that would happen again any time soon.  Seeing my after shots I am very pleased with them, it’s such a perfect memory and keepsake of the time you spent with your bump – I would highly recommend it!”

During the photo shoot I showed Michelle a few images on our inspiration board, and she was keen to try a couple of them out.   This is one of my favourites.

Michelle was back at the studio a few days ago with dad and baby for baby’s first photo shoot.   He’s so cute and will be making an appearance here soon.

Book a maternity shoot before Christmas (shoots to take place by the end of April) and we’ll include a gift of a newborn shoot.  Or why not buy a gift voucher for someone?

Ladies of all ages are currently members from 14 – 82!

Energie Fitness is run by Callum and Charlotte, and unlike lots of gyms, you don’t have to sign up for a year’s membership.   They have lots of different schemes, including one day passes, six week programmes, bootcamp and even personal training.   They’re also a very sociable crowd, arranging monthly evenings out, normally to one of the many restaurants in the area!

Lucy will ‘transform your eyelashes to be fuller, longer and curvier for a sensational look.   Waterproof and durable, your new look will last you weeks – with no need for mascara!  Choose from the ‘natural look’ to leave others guessing or go for the ‘glam look’ that will definitely get you noticed’.

Lucy trained at The Eyelash Emporium at Pinewood Studios, so knows her stuff!

Jeanette was ‘lashed’ by Lucy a few weeks ago.   She did look amazing and spent weeks fluttering her eyelashes at everyone!

Lucy is offering a 20% discount until the end of November, so for £40 you can get a full set of gorgeous lashes.  Lucy will also come to you so it couldn’t be easier.

I’m off to book mine – a girl’s got to look her best!

On Friday I was very excited to be part of the Make Up Team backstage at the Midlands Fashion Designer Awards at The Birmingham Botanical Gardens. The awards are such a great evening and a really important way for up and coming designers to showcase their work.

We were using Youngblood Cosmetics who sponsored the show and specialise in mineral make up. I’d never used this brand before and have always been a little aphrehensive about mineral make up and I don’t totally know why? Maybe because I thought the foundations wouldn’t give as much coverage as much as a liquid or compact. But I was actually pleasantly surprised with the brand.

The kit we were given was extensive and looked sleek in a large metal carry case. The packaging for the brand was beautifully simple. The Head Make Up Artist Jules Cardozo-Marsh created a simple runway look to go with all the outfits, flawless base, contoured cheekbones, defined brows & a colour wash on the eye.

I’ll start with the base. I wasn’t overly keen on the cream concealers as I found they weren’t thick enough to keep dark circles under the eyes hidden. I also found there wasn’t a great range of shades, only 5 which to me doesn’t seem alot.

The foundation we used was their mineral foundation in powder form. I loved the coverage this gave and it didn’t look cakey even after several touch ups throughout the evening. The product was really easy to blend and I used a MAC 130 brush. There is 16 shades all together in the loose powder foundation which can all be blended easily. I found ‘Soft Beige’ was a pretty good match for most fair skin tones. We also used these foundations on the lips to create a matte base and they worked pretty well. The lips became dry after a while but then that would be expected with any kind of foundation base on the lips, so I can’t criticise for that one!!

For the eyes we used one colour in a simple colour wash way. We used ‘Granite’ from the crushed eyeshadows and I found this was a lovely colour and nice and easy to apply. On some dark skin tones I used a pressed powder in ‘Concord’. This I wasn’t so impressed with for all the reasons I thought before hand. I found the colour went on patchy and found it quite difficult to build up a flat layer of colour, something I could have done without backstage at a busy fashion show!!

All in all I was pretty impressed with the extensive kit that Youngblood provided for us and the quality of their products.

Emma will be writing a monthly Chaise post telling us about the new and exciting beauty products that have just been launched, her favourite bits and pieces, and her top tips too.

As well as buying pink ribbons, there are a multitude of other ways you can support Breast Cancer Awareness month, including a variety of clothing by some of the top brands including Red Herring, Jasper Conran, Rocha John Rocha and Julian Macdonald all for Debenhams, and, our favourite, Hard Rock’s Pinktober Scarf (details of all of these can be found here).

However, you know us, and we are as usual lusting over lingerie – pink lingerie at that.  Our old favourite, Boux Avenue, has a fabulous range of pink lingerie, and they are even donating £1 to Breast Cancer Care from their Pink Boux Avenue items purchased during October.  Some of our favourite pieces in pink can be seen below.

Clockwise from top left.  Belinda satin and lace teddy, priced at £30, Cutesy spot balconette plunge bra and pants, priced at £26 and £12, Marlena balconette bra and thong, priced at £24 and £8, and Choe lace plunge bra and lace shorts, priced at £24 and £8 – and don’t forget, that Boux Avenue are donating £1 from each purchase to Breast Cancer Care during the month of October.  So not only can you get some fabulous looking lingerie, you can also do your bit for such an important charity too.  And ladies, please don’t forget to check yourself regularly – information on how to do it and what to look out for can be found here.

“Kim and Jeanette were fabulous, I really enjoyed it. They put me totally at ease and it was like being with a group of friends having a laugh yet getting the right results. They knew exactly what they were looking for with lighting, positioning etc and made it all seem so simple, I just followed their instructions. I was delighted with the photos and the results were just as I wanted, I even received many compliments about them from friends and clients”

As well as being a Doctor of Chemistry, Suzanne has now launched her new business Be Body Fabulous that helps people finding weight loss a challenge (most of us then!).  Suzanne says ‘I founded Be Body Fabulous which helps women who find themselves battling with diets and their weight and are looking to break free from all of it even though part of them doubts they can.  I help women to discover that diet FREEDOM and finally be able to wear that little sassy dress or pair of jeans from their dream wardrobe.  I believe women should be true to who they are. It’s about getting honest with ourselves, recognizing what isn’t working, what’s frustrating you in your life’.

Suzanne knows what it’s like to battle with diets.  10 years ago she was 3 stone overweight, unhappy, and completely lacked any self confidence.  In 2008 she got to peak fitness, and even competed in Half-Ironman triathlon (1.9km swim, 90 km bike and half marathon run).  However, after a freak accident where she managed to get a fractured skull, she was told she had a second chance in life.  This was where the idea for Be Body Fabulous was born.  Suzanne knew her role in life was to help others overcome the trauma of being unhealthy in their bodies.

Below are some of the photos we took of Suzanne and we think she looks amazing.  If you would like any help with dieting of any sort, please do check out Be Body Fabulous.

These are a small selection of images from Hannah’s photo shoot – we hope you like them.

Oh, and to celebrate the launch of our gorgeous new studio, we have a special £99 launch price available until 5th November 2012 (photo shoots need to be booked by 5th May 2013) which includes hair and make up, your photo shoot and a mounted print, or why not buy a shoot for someone special for Christmas – yes we’ve finally mentioned that word here at Cocoon!