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Interview: Everyone's Looking Rosie
I've brought back my interview series! I did them a few years ago, but I'm going to bring them back and let you all find out for yourselves about some of my favourite wedding suppliers. First up in the list is Rosie, from Everyone's Looking Rosie.
READ MORE »Interview: Rock N Roller Hair
Sarah from Rock n Roller Hair is a font of all knowledge relating to wedding hair. She's also the absolute go to person for all things hair extensions, as she's trained in ten different methods. Who know there were 10 methods to even know about?! She's super calm to work with on a wedding morning, and we always have a giggle together. I asked her about her experience in the wedding industry and how she's finding lockdowns and not being able to work...
READ MORE »Christmas Present Ideas 2024
Following my Christmas Beauty Gift List last week, here's my regular gift list! Lots of great small businesses, and other recommendations from me from over the course of the year that I think you'll enjoy!
READ MORE »Christmas Beauty Gift Ideas 2024
We are all feeling the cost of living the last 18-24 months, and no more so than at Christmas! So I'm back again with my Christmas Gift guide for all beauty lovers, but breaking it down into price guides and aiming more at the great stocking fillers.
READ MORE »Trial advice
Wedding make-up is about making you look the very best version of yourself possible. Getting to know each other will help us come up with an absolutely perfect plan for your wedding make-up, ensuring you look and feel the very best you can on your big day. When you come for your bridal trial with me, it's our time to get to know each other; you can ask me all your questions about make-up as you'd like! I get a lot of questions about what to bring to a trial, so here are a few pointers.
READ MORE »FAQs
FAQ
Hey, I'm Sali! If you didn't know I'm a specialist wedding and events makeup-artist with well over 10 years of experience and pride myself on having really high standards of service.
If you're looking for a wedding makeup artist, here are some frequently asked questions (FAQs) that I often encounter that might help you when considering booking me!
READ MORE »New Year New Skincare Regime
New year, new me! Hahaha! If you're anything like me then that phrase will make you laugh hard. I'm still the same old Sali who can't be bothered to wear makeup on a daily basis haha!
But it's the new year, and if you're looking to take up something new (or give up something) then I'd wholly recommend a new skincare regime where you promise to look after your skin. Here's some tips to get you going.
READ MORE »Cruelty-free and Vegan Make Up
I've been providing a vegan bridal service for over five years now, and it's been so great to hear from clients that they've booked me specifically because of this service. I've always been staunchly cruelty-free in my makeup kit for nearly 10 years, and I won't use brands that test on animals.
So what does it mean, cruelty-free or vegan?
READ MORE »Wedding Make Up Interview with: Philippa
Philippa and Peter got married in July 2022 at The Old Vicarage in Southwell. A gorgeous venue, but one this time I wouldn't be visiting! Philippa chose to get ready at her parents home and then travel over to The Old Vicarage to get into her dress, and then have some time taking photos. I love it when brides do it their way! I've also known Philippa for around 10 years so it was lovely to catch up with her, some of her family that I've previously met too, and one of my past brides. Here's what she said to my interview questions!
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Choosing your wedding makeup artist
Weddings are a big experience as well as a big expense; you’re in a place you probably won't know that well, wearing a dress and some crazy supportive/restrictive underwear! You probably won’t see your partner until you’re at the aisle, your family may cry, you’ll worry about the flowers/catering/table decorations. Being the centre of attention, everyone is watching you while you’re dancing, eating, crying and speaking. It’s one hell of an experience and can be a stressful one at that!
READ MORE »Five kit essentials
Investing in the right kit as a makeup artist is so important; when you're working on a number of different faces, you want to be assured that the products in your makeup kit are going to have your back! But as a makeup wearer, noone wants to buy the wrong stuff either. Not in a cost of living crisis, and not when the price of makeup keeps increasing. So I've put together five of my kit essentials that I'll be recommending time and time again, to makeup artists and to makeup lovers alike. And at the bottom of the blog are my discount codes you can use for buying the below products, and 1000's more!
READ MORE »Christmas Gifts For Make Up Lovers
Here we are; the Christmas season is upon us and it's time for some of my top makeup picks of the year! Perfect for any makeup lover in your life, or if you're looking to update your own makeup bag for a festive party. Feel free to ask in my Facebook group if you've any questions about products, or you can contact me directly.
READ MORE »Wedding Make Up Interview with: Emma
Emma got married in August 2021 at The Gilstrap, the Newark Registration Office. While we had some worries early in 2021 as to if the wedding would go ahead or not (pesky COVID!) she managed to keep her wedding date as planned and partied hard. Emma's not a big makeup person, and wanted a super light look that freshened her up.
READ MORE »Skincare Routine
Starting a skincare routine can be daunting as heck. What order do you do things, what things should I put on - is there anything I can realistically leave out? Do I have to spend all that money? Now I'm no skincare specialist, and I'll never claim to be one. If you've a thirst for knowledge about all things skincare then I wholly recommend Caroline Hiron's Skincare - The No Nonsense Guide - it has incredible advice in it and more knowledge than you could ever imagine! There's also two incredible skincare specialists I recommend in Nottingham if you're looking to get specific help.
However, here are my tips for all skincare types!
READ MORE »My eyebrows and me
Sutherland and Barnett - Part One
You know when you get a phone call that just stuns you and you don’t know what to say? That was me when I had a phone call from Andrew Sutherland, Director and one of the head stylists at Sutherland and Barnett; a hairdressing and colour salon. I’d entered a Facebook competition to celebrate the salon’s 10th birthday, and I won £1000 of hairdressing!
READ MORE »Interview: Kickass Gatherings
You might recognise Louise on my blog, as she's been featured a couple of times now - both as a bride and on my International Women's Day blog this year! This time she's here in her professional capacity as a a professional Humanist celebrant, aka Kickass Gatherings!
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Wedding Make Up Interview with: Lucy Sutton
Lucy contacted me in 2020 to book her and Adam's wedding in for 2021, full of hope that the world would've returned to normal. Alas it wasn't, so we shuffled to 2022 and her and Adam did the paperwork earlier. They weren't compromising on their big wedding reception at the lovely Setcops Farm!
On meeting Lucy, she had two stipulations - she absolutely wanted me to use my Bridal Eyes eyeshadow palette, and wanted a red lip. So, that's exactly what we did!
On the big day, I got her and her three bridesmaids ready super early in the morning as Lucy had some engagement photos done with Adam and their dog Aria before guests arrived. They were super relaxed about their morning and because of it, they just had the absolute best time! As you can see from their photos below :)
READ MORE »Wedding Make Up Interview with: Mel
Mel and Ian got married in October 2021 at Lower Damgate Farm in Ashbourne. They had orginally planned for October 2020 but when lcokdowns got extended, they bumped their wedding day by a year and decided to keep all toes and fingers crossed for the day they had always wanted, just 12 months later that originally planned.
READ MORE »Interview: Anna Rose Heaton
Anna Rose Heaton is a wedding and family photographer, but also a trusted retoucher of other wedding photographers in the East Midlands. Her photography style is best described as romantic and she gets stunning images you won't have even thought about, or seen her taking! She’s a diamond and she loves a pun, so we're kindred spirits!
I love that Anna's Instagram feed is just full of beautiful authentic happy smiles, that were just so blissed out in a specific moment and she caught that moment forever in a photo. Smiling is lovely, as is Anna :) I asked her some questions about her business and the lockdown, and she's kindly answered here :)
READ MORE »Ms Moo's Sales Shopping List
I decided early on this year not to do Christmas presents with friends or family, but to donate to some charities close to my heart. I'm going to donate what I would've spent on presents (Framework, CALM, Heads Together and MOAS) and instead of going to be booking in some mates' dates! Exchanging time is far more valuable to me when I'm this busy so I'm looking forward to planning some of them in for the coming months.
READ MORE »Burton Town Hall Wedding
Leigh got in touch with me super early, in October 2018 for her February 2020 wedding. Have I said how I love it when people book me in advance because they want to make sure they can have me for their wedding day?!
READ MORE »Mollie & Ben at Hazel Gap Barn
Mollie and Ben had to reschedule their wedding from March 2021 to May 2021, but they sure partied hard anyway. They could only have restricted numbers allowed at their wedding, but they were determined to get married - and got married they did! And today is their first wedding anniversary so I'm here blogging about their wedding to celebrate - congratulations Mr and Mrs Douglas!
READ MORE »Wedding Make Up Interview with: Melanie
Mel and Gawin finally got to say their "I dos!" in January 2022, having had to reschedule from October 2020 and February 2021. She married her beau Gawin at Morley Hayes, in Derbyshire.
READ MORE »Do's and Don'ts for your Wedding Make Up
I've been doing wedding makeup for twelve years now (I surprised myself when I looked back at my diaries for it!) and have seen so many different weddings with so many different traditions. More and more of my couples are looking to set their own traditions for their weddings, and I'm 100% here for it! I'm particularly looking forward to celebrants being able to legally marry people, and all of my couples based in England being able to get married outdoors without restrictions. Those in Wales and Scotland can get married wherever they want; how cool is that!
Wedding makeup doesn't have to be anything other than unique to you. There are no rules to follow, but I do like to impart such guidance as below. But remember, you're the boss and you get to choose what you take away from them.
To lash or not to lash
Love them or hate them, lash extensions are here to stay. Thankfully it's totally a personal preference, but here's my tuppence worth of knowledge and opinion about having them for your wedding day...
READ MORE »Interview: Perfect Silhouette Hairdressing
I'm bringing back my recommended supplier interviews! There's still a few on my recommended list that I haven't interviewed, so I figured I'd catch a few more for 2023. Starting with the lovely Robyn aka Perfect Silhouette Hairdressing. I wrote about her for International Women's Day too as she's making great waves both in a hairstyling way, winning National awards, and for the LGBTQ+ community in setting up All In Love; an inclusive wedding fair in Lincolnshire. Here's a bit more about her and her business!
READ MORE »Wedding Make Up Interview with: Heather
Next up on my interview series is the lovely Heather! You may already recognise her from my blog last year, 10 Reasons To Choose Ms Moo For Your Wedding Day. And no, it's not a blog I wrote or even asked her to write! The blog came about after she wrote me the most gorgeous Google review. Heather and Rob had two incredible wedding days; the first was their legal date in October 2020 where they were still under restrictions, and then in September 2022 where they had an almighty party at the Pheasantry Brewery with all their friends and family! Here's some more from Heather...
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Power lipstick
Lipstick is so underrated. In these cold and dark weeks after Christmas, everyone's mood slums and enthusiasm for the New Year wains ever so slightly until the days noticeably get longer and payday comes around again. Last week was a washout. I felt rubbish about everything and couldn't motivate myself at all, then I beat myself up for feeling like that instead of being nice to myself. I had to nap because I was exhausted from not sleeping properly, so I wasn't kind to myself about that either! When you feel this low, it's difficult to motivate yourself. I'd flicked through my Timehop in bed and came across this:
"Today is a power lipstick kind of day."
READ MORE »Wedding Make Up Interview with: Kirsten
Kirsten and Chris had their festival themed wedding in September 2021 at the wonderful Sherwood Glade. Getting ready at home in Sherwood with her besties and brood, she then drove herself to the wedding at Arnot Hill in her open top car. What a rockstar!
READ MORE »Interview: Martin Cheung
Martin Cheung is an East Midlands based wedding photographer. He loves big smiles, laughing with his couples, and generally making everyone feel comfortable, happy, and chilled out. It's truly the best recipe for a wedding morning, which is why he's one of my recommended suppliers.
READ MORE »Interview: Helen Sutcliffe
Helen Sutcliffe is a wedding hairstylist with over 10 years experience of being a freelance wedding stylist. Being a cruelty-free wedding makeup artist, I flippin' love that she's so staunchly cruelty-free - beauty products don't need to be tested on animals! Helen's got such a lovely calming presence on a wedding morning - she's the quieter version of me, watching everything that's going on, and looks after her bride in such a gentle and loving way. I love that she always (ALWAYS) has a half way treat of a can of Diet Coke!
I caught up with her for my first recommended supplier interview of 2024...
READ MORE »Interview: Pin Up Curl
Sarah from Pin-Up Curl is my work-wife! We work on loads of vintage weddings together, and I know that any wedding morning I'm with her, we'll have an absolute blast. I'm gutted that it's now over a year since I've seen her and worked with her, and can't chuffing wait to see her! Here's a little catch-up with her about the last 12 months and her future plans...
(by Shot by Amy)
READ MORE »Luna Photography
I've known Emma for a bleedin' long time now - over 10 years! I met her on the internet (anyone remembers LiveJournal?!) and we met up in 2006 when I moved to Nottingham. Not too long afterwards, I ended up stealing her from Newcastle and she's lived in Nottingham now for probably 8 years. We have a studio together in Hockley and work together as Flashes and Lashes when we're not shooting weddings. Flashes and Lashes have had to take a back burner in the last 12 months but that's no bad thing because we're both doing AMAZING weddings and sometimes we get to work together too - yay!
READ MORE »Treatment Tuesday with Nickie Devolution
I've known Nickie through the alt online scene for a fair few years now (Facebook says 5 years, but I reckon longer with the age of Myspace!) she is the owner and founder of Devolution Magazine and The Alt Collective, a fashion and art charity event that started in 2009. She's a one-woman machine with a dedicated contributing team working on the only alternative independent print magazine out there covering fashion, music, art, tattoos, lifestyle culture and photography; Devolution recently released Issue 40 of the magazine signifying 10 years of actual print! A decade of independent publishing is an incredible feat.
READ MORE »Sutherland and Barnett - Part Two
What is this, another blog? I've got other blogs lined up to see out the rest of 2016, but I couldn't leave the year without another instalment from my hair adventures with Sutherland and Barnett. To re-cap (no pun intended!), I won £1000.00 of hairdressing services from them to use over 12 months! Hayley was tasked with colouring my hair and telling me what was achievable and suitable for me. Good honest advice is always welcomed! At my consultation, she took a strand of my hair to test how well it would lighten and told me to book out a good 6 hours for my transformation...
READ MORE »Interview: Mon Amie
Where have the last five months gone, does anyone know?! There have been so many tier shifts, restrictions, and lockdowns that I haven't known if I'm coming or going. I know I'm not the only one in the wedding industry (or beauty industry, for that matter) who feels like this. The months have felt never-ending, especially when waiting to hear when we can return to work. I miss being a wedding makeup artist so much! I miss my clients. I got to see some in the latter part of 2020 which filled me with such joy!
One such wedding was with one of my recommended suppliers and super wonderful wedding besties, Mon Amie. We caught up at that wedding and despite not being able to hug as we always do, the warmth from being in her company again gave me such hope. She's a wonderful hairstylist and a wonderful human. Find out more about her, her lockdown, and her wishes for the future below!
(by Twig and Vine Photography)
READ MORE »Interview: Ed Godden
I've worked with some fantastic photographers in my time, but there are few that I recommend unless I've met them and know them to be thoroughly awesome people. Ed Godden is one such person! I met Ed when he photographed Maya and Jamie's big day in 2015. Any time I get a wedding booking where I know he'll be photographing it, I do a little leap for joy. JUST LOOK AT THOSE PHOTOGRAPHS! Ed's been in the business a while so he's quite the wedding photographer alumni, but he's not faced a pandemic before either so I caught up with him about how's his 2020 been so far...
READ MORE »Sugar and Vice SS16
Emma and I have both wanted to work with Gingerface for a while and when we approached her it was just after she'd announced her hiatus - would she still like to shoot with us? Her answer, YES! :D On the morning of the shoot, we have a bit of a mix-up with someone we were meant to be borrowing some plants from so we popped to see the lovely ladies of Lee Rosy's tea room across the street from us and asked if we could borrow their plant from the window. Here's Emma looking not so camouflaged!
READ MORE »What Ms Moo has been up to
Oh, my poor blog; how I’ve neglected you!
I made a resolution to blog every week back in 2016 and I kept to it! I achieved 52 blogs in 52 weeks… and then I trickled into 2017 and hardly blogged at all. Six times in fact!
READ MORE »Wedding Make Up Interview with: Stephanie
Steph and Sam got legally wed in November 2020, but decided to postpone their big wedding to 2021 so that they could celebrate with all their family and friends freely. They did their legal bit in their local registry office and then held their wedding reception and informal ceremony at The Old Vicarage, just a few days shy of their legal anniversary. Getting to be a part of both of their days was an utter honour, especially as I've known Steph for over 10 years.
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Skincare for the summer
So how is everyone's skin holding up this summer? Between dodging rain showers and the baking heat, I think I’ve just sweat a lot!
The sun might be sporadic but we need to be prepared for it. Following on from my other summer skincare post, as today is the first day of August let's make the effort to look after our skin. Here are some super easy things you can start doing every day!
Laura's spring wedding
Laura contacted me in December 2015 about her July 2016 wedding, which was lucky as it was my last available date in July 2016! She was really keen to get a trial booked in so that she could cross me off her to-do list, so she came to me in February 2016. It was also neatly timed on her 30th birthday so she was truly pampered before having an evening our with her hubby to be. We changed up her lipstick though. Can you believe this woman has always been self-conscious of her lips? Her lip shape is absolutely MADE for lipstick to be applied!
READ MORE »Interview: Pear and Bear Photography
Anna from Pear and Bear Photography asked me to do makeup for a styled wedding photoshoot back in September 2017. I couldn't attend the photoshoot so I was super excited to see the photos and all the efforts the team had put together for the shoot, and I fell in love with them. The images were so soft and beautiful, and I adored the colours. This is still the most epic bouquet shot I've ever seen! She's a lovely human being and coupled with being a photographer, she's a self-belief business coach. I caught up with her about her photography work, and how COVID has been for her...
READ MORE »jayerockett.com
I got to know Jaye through Twitter, as a blogger with a witty tongue and kind heart. She writes passionately and loves make-up; why wouldn't I love her?! We spoke about her dissertation piece in which she had to produce a magazine, and she asked if I'd write an article for it. I really enjoyed writing it so I've copied it below but you can see all things Jaye related on her blog here. (p.s. she does some AWESOME sale posts every now and then, keep your peepers out!)
READ MORE »Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is usually a US and Canadian tradition and whatever your feelings on it, I think the main thing that's important these days is that people spend time together and appreciate each other. I'm looking forward to celebrating the holidays this year and I figure now is a nice time to do a little reflecting and thanksgiving myself!
READ MORE »Laura & Joe at Calke Abbey
Laura and Joe may have got married in 2016, but I'm mega behind on my blogging and I absolutely wanted to share these photos from Humpston and Bull Photography. Every time I have to submit images somewhere I want to put one in from Laura's wedding because she looked sensational; just look at that smile!
READ MORE »2016 - that's a wrap!
I can remember starting this blog in late 2015 and writing up my review of the year and wondering how I was ever going to get to write a blog each week - well I've done it! I've managed 51 blogs in 52 weeks which is astounding for me; and there's more to come! I did a list back in August 2016 of everything I've done this year, so I've managed to add on the other months to compile the below list. Are you ready?!
READ MORE »Happy holidays!
Just a quick line to say have a wonderful Christmas if you're celebrating and hope you all enjoy some time 'off' with your nearest and dearest.
READ MORE »2019 Wedding date availability
My blog post with available wedding dates last year was super busy and seemingly useful, so here's the 2019 version! If you're getting married in 2019, here are what Friday and Saturday's I have left available. If you're looking for weekdays or Sundays, then please send me a message; I have plenty of availability! :)
READ MORE »Summer 2018 availability- updated!
If you're getting married this summer, here are what dates I have left available. If you're looking for weekdays or Sundays, then please send me a message; I have plenty of availability :)
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