The perfect cleanse for the new year!

Happy (a little belated) New Year everyone! It's been a great and very busy start for me. If you want to have a peek at how we spent our NYE have a look here. We also got an addition to the family as you can see and I am currently booked with 3 weddings per week, plus trials, photoshoots and admin.

But back to the beauty of this little space: I have written about the importance of exfoliation here before and today wanted to share my favorite hero products, that have become staples in my professional makeup kit to prep a clients/models skin and get immediate radiance and a perfect canvas for the makeup! I am known for my natural makeup looks, and while I love bold and creative makeup I also truly enjoy very minimal makeup with enhancing the unique beauty of the person, something that highlights rather than masks the personality and face.

To apply flawless and natural makeup the first and very important step is the right skincare and skin prep. I like to pamper my clients a little as well and therefore sometimes include a little mini facial in the makeup application, if there is the need for it and when time allows. To transform dull skin instantly I like to use 1 product on any skin type: The Clearisonic!!! You just have to try it, if you haven't already. ( This is NOT a sponsored post but my own opinion and recommendation!!!) Another great tool, for oily, blemish prone skin, or in humid weather for a super quick exfoliation and pore deep cleanse are the Peter Thomas Roth Max Complexion Correction Pads. They work wonders and smell of Bellini. Absolutely fab product!

Now I let you in into some makeup artist pro secrets...try it now and thank me later ;)

un petit french wedding

A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to once more being part of a wedding with the incredible Tim Coulson as photographer. I adore his work, it's simply beautiful and has a certain honesty about it, he manages to capture people in a very different and beautiful way. This wedding was really special in many ways. The bride & groom were from France, and had a small number of family & friends coming over from Europe to celebrate with them. Somehow french always manage to keep everything especially tasteful, and while Eve the beautiful bride was pregnant and had a gorgeous little bump, she looked effortless and fashionable in her chic and sleek dress, and only a french woman could carry of those big ruffles and still look elegant and timeless. Congratulations Eve & Guillaume! Thanks Tim for sharing the pictures with me!

Brigitte Bardot Shoot in the Hunter Valley

{I am Brigitte} from Simon Phinith on Vimeo.

October was Hunter Valley month, I went up there for weddings every single week and then one week even twice, as we had a beautiful collaboration happening up there. The shoot was brought together by the talented Headpiece designer Yummii & I, being inspired by Brigitte Bardot. Showcasing her work and the stunning Hunter Valley Weddign Venues: Roberts Circa 1876 and The Convent, this shoot was pure fun to work on and we also had the most wonderful luxury accomodation and yummiest catering, a dream job! Thanks again to everyone involved.

Credits of an amazing Team:

Model: Carolyn Armistead Photographer: Anna Wareham Make-up: Liv Lundelius facebook.com/LivLundeliusMakeup Hair Stylist: Melissa Cauchi Hairdressing facebook.com/MelissaCauchiHairdressing Fashion Stylist: Karlie May Cowley Set Styling: Styled by Linda facebook.com/StyledByLinda Headpieces: Yummii & I facebook.com/yummiiandi Location: The Convent Hunter Valley and Roberts Circa 1876 peppers.com.au/convent/ robertscirca1876.com

Catching up , Christmas prep & Thank you all for a wonderful year!

Super fun "nerd" wedding of the creative couple Sarah&Damien photo by Thomas Stewart Photography On the upside, I have been completely booked out with wonderful weddings & photoshoots! On he downside I didn't get the chance to keep this space up to date at the same time... now that I am slowing down my week appointments coming up to Christmas while still being fully booked on the weekends for weddings, I reserved some time today to catch up with everything on here.

So much has happened: We got a fur baby; Dalston our little Havanese puppy came home 1.5 weeks ago, and we are loving him to bits. Weddings have been plenty and one more beautiful and more fun than the next one. Private clients have been booking the week days with makeup for Christmas parties. We had a super fun Christmas party with everyone from the One Fine Day at the Watson's Bay Hotel. We are planning to redecorate and refurnish our place, and are excited to find a new place at some time in the New Year. We are happily staying here in Double Bay, for at least the next 6 months, enjoying the Summer by the beach. I am loving my job more than ever and am so incredibly grateful how great my first year in Sydney was career wise and want thank every single client, bride & booking, thanks to everyone that referred me to their friends, colleagues and family members: It means the world to me!

I will continue to update with lot's of new pictures of current work, beauty writing etc. during this week. I hope you will all enjoy and are prepping yourself for the new year and a wonderful Christmas time.

Minutia Editorial Work for HELLO MAY

It's always so exciting to see my work in print, it makes my heart jump a little! My latest work for the wonderful Hello May Magazine will be published tomorrow, so I thought I will show you a little sneak peek.

Here is how the superwoman Sophie, behind Hello May announced the next issue:

"First up we must send a virtual high five out to the crew behind our ‘Minutia’ shoot. A fashion editorial that celebrates the lace embellishments and delicate handiwork that goes into creating a bridal gown, like this one above from our friends at Rue De Seine. Every frame taken by our pal and fashion photographer Jason Ierace hit the nail on the metaphorical head. We actually lost sleep trying to decide on which images to put in the magazine, so thought we’d share a few of our faves we were unable to include here on the blog! Model Phoebe’s look was created by hair stylist Vanessa Henwood and make up artist Liv Lundelius, two extremely talented ladies based out of Sydney. You can check out more of Liv’s gorgeous work here on the Hello May directory. Big thanks to the amazing Alexandra Thompson from The Edit for styling this gorgeous shoot and the ever so talented Poppies & Amber for the gorgeous floral creations. If you are a bride looking for bouquets, crowns or boutonnieres for your wedding day, be sure to check out more from Poppies & Amber here on the Hello May directory. Issue three hits the newsstands tomorrow, Thursday the 7th of November, so get ready to storm your local newsagent with gusto folks and flip to page 96 for a plethora of gorgeous bridal gowns of the lace and detail variety!"

CREDITS Photos Jason Ierace // Stylist Alexandra Thompson // Hair Vanessa Henwood // Make up Liv Lundelius // Flowers Poppies & Amber // Model Phoebe, Chic Management // Location Sun Studios // Bridal gown Rue De Seine.