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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 10^th birthday, and I won £1000 of hairdressing!

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...

I first worked with GG's Pin-up Couture back in 2012 with burlesque starlet Anna Fur Laxis, known for her knife-throwing and heart-stopping acts.

I posted this blog back in September 2016 about my eyebrows and me. The appointment with the salon I had booked my eyebrows with didn't go ahead, and it did knock my confidence a bit; my eyebrows are really important to me, and not having had any for 10+ years it was really disappointing to be treated so badly. But it didn't deter me in finally getting them done, it just took me 6 months to find time where I could get them done!

Common denominators in the below pictures:

I got my studio in Hockley with Emma of Luna Photography about three years ago now, and whilst we're not in the studio all that often at the same time we flippin' love working together when we can get in. Emma does a lot of commercial, wedding and family photography but we've also our business, Flashes and Lashes which is a makeover photoshoot experience. Whilst we're known for our pin-up/vintage styling, we absolutely love working with people who want a photoshoot to just feel good about themselves - whatever the style, we absolutely guarantee to have you smiling and feeling good when you're at Flashes and Lashes HQ.

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...

Jen and Josh's amazing wedding day was my penultimate wedding of 2019 but boy, what a wedding!

I'm in love with the colours Jen and Josh chose, and I always know there's going to be amazing photos from Emily & Katy Photography.  I think Julia from Curious Magpie must have had the time of her life, styling the Oxton Village Hall for the big day. Jen had assembled a beautiful team around her for the day; check them all out at the bottom of this very blog :)

Kara's face has been shown to me by so many brides-to-be this year for how they would love their wedding makeup to look, so I had to blog with a few more images from her wedding! It was the first time I'd worked with Emily and Katy Photography, and I was blown away by them. Both are an amazing double act, and you can see the cogs going behind their eyes, searching for their next shot. They are both really lovely too!

Here is Kara and her Mum's trial makeup. Lynne doesn't wear a lot of makeup and didn't want to look or feel fake. I reassured her and let her check through each stage of the makeup to make sure she felt good about her face.

When clients get in touch about booking me for wedding makeup, I'm often asked what's in my makeup kit and what products I use. Once you've come to my studio in Hockley in the city centre of Nottingham, you'll soon see the extent of my kit!

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!

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?

Having now been in business well over a decade, I've seen the trends come, go, and change but the one that's stuck around and if anything, grown in its power, is that of ethics and sustainability.

I wrote at length about being cruelty-free and using vegan makeup where possible here, but I wanted to go further than that so you can know what efforts I'm making and changing to be a sustainable and ethically responsible business. I want you to know that behind the scenes I'm doing what I can to make sure you're beautiful and the planet isn't hurt by my practices.

Everyone should experience luxury when having their makeup done! After all, it's a special occasion and you deserve to feel truly fabulous, from a wedding day to a day out on the town! That said, I don't think that any animals should be harmed for us to feel this good.

It's why I've been a cruelty-free makeup artist now for over 10 years. That means I won't support brands that sell in countries where animal testing is required for their products to be sold. No products in my kit have been tested on animals, and a very large portion of it is vegan too - which means that there are no animal derived ingredients used either. 

Sadly there's a lot of brands out there that do still test on animals - Nars, MAC, Dior, Bobbi Brown, Benefit, L'Oreal, Estee Lauder, Elizabeth Arden, Elemis, Clinique, and Armarni, to name a few.

There's no need for animal testing in this day and age. You can absolutely have luxury products that are cruelty-free! I will always endeaver to go above and beyond to make sure the items in my kit will deliver impeccable results. 

So here's a few brands that I keep in my kit that you can be assured also have good ethics!

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.

The dream team consists of Lucille’s Locks, Luna Photography, BooBoo Kitty Couture and I; a group of four Nottinghamshire based babes, who’re all in the wedding industry and absolutely freakin’ adore weddings. We’re all hardworking, creative, slightly vintage-inspired and 100% passionate about making brides feel the very best they can on their big day, and beyond. The dream team have done a couple of bridal shoots together so we can try out new things and showcase our work. We tend to make them an annual thing these days if not more; our specialities mean we get to work together a lot on weddings, but rarely see each other when we’re not working!

I can't believe that Becca and Matt had their day a year ago today! Becca had to reschedule their wedding a stonking four times; from April 2020 to September 2020, then to March 2021 and finally September 2021! When they got married there were thankfully no restrictions in place at all and they could have the day they'd always wanted. 

"Do you use MAC make-up?"

It’s a question I get asked a lot as to what make-up brands I keep in my kit. When a potential client enquires, I go through a few names (the big brands and the smaller ones) but there’s noticeably one missing which would often be in other make-up artists’ kits. As I then say that I don't use their products before I've had a chance to explain I feel it sometimes goes against me as I then have to justify why I don’t.

There was once a girl with dry skin who thought she’d never find a foundation to ever make her skin look good. She searched for that wonder product for all her years, and never did her one true foundation come to being. Sad, the felt she’d never get good foundation coverage until she met her fairy make-up godmother who gave her some skincare advice...

Lottie and Emma got married at the lovely Cockliffe Country House in July 2023. They'd originally planned for 2020, but then EVERYTHING happened and they postponed to 2021. Seeing how things we're in early 2021, they decided to postpone their wedding reception to 2023 so that COVID could absolutely chuff off and they would be safe in the knowledge their wedding celebrations would be as full throttle as they initially planned!

And it absolutely was, but they had damn good reason to celebrate. Not only had they dealt with the pandemic, they relocated back to Nottingham after living in London for 10 years. Lottie also underwent emergency urgent spinal surgery the week of her legal ceremony. A rough couple of years, but these two were ready to let their hair down...!

Lottie and Emma both answered these questions seperately by email so don't know what the other answered, haha!

Jen and Jamie's wedding day was possibly the wettest wedding day in the history of my decade in wedding makeup! They thoroughly embraced the rain though and were totally committed to having the best day ever.

Charlotte contacted me a year before her wedding to book me for her big day after she'd followed me on Instagram for a while. Sorting out her contract and deposit within about 48 hours, she ticked me off her to-do list early on!

Zoe & Dan got married at The Mill at Rufford Abbey back in May 2021. There were still a couple of restrictions in place, like me having to wear a mask still while working, but as most photos of me at weddings just show the side of my head it didn't really matter!

It's a gorgeous venue, and I was pleased to be back at The Maypole at Wellow to get her and the rest of the wedding party ready before headed over to The Mill for the big 'I do!' and party. 

It was back in January 2015 that Rozalind Williams contacted me about her idea for a shoot. She wanted to shoot portraits of a model with tense hands clutching onto items such as broken teacups, ripped up letters and scrunched up love letters. It was to be softly lit, warm tones with a romantic feel. She'd arranged for Ash Millman to be our model for the day, having fallen in love with her Cupid's bow and hair colour. And honestly, how couldn't you?!

Teaching clients really makes me happy! I've taught all over basic make-up tips and more specialised lessons for a specific look, and each of my clients has been a superb student.

I've known Jo probably about 9 years now through work, and she's always been a joy to be around. She's so kind and caring, her personality is just infectious and you can't help but feel good around her. I've done her make-up a couple of times for special occasions but when her and long-time boyfriend Damien got engaged, she booked Lucille's Locks and myself ASAP for her wedding makeover team.

What a way to celebrate the Easter weekend - I've been recognised as Outstanding at Weddings Inc. in Nottinghamshire for the Make-up Artist category!

Man, I have so many brushes. I bought a few single ones when I started getting into makeup then my lovely friends bought me a whole roll of makeup brushes and I didn’t know what many of them did; so many new and exciting things, I was gobsmacked! I now have two brush 'kits' (my personal one and my professional one), and I’ve changed many around when I’ve found better quality ones. That said, I don't spend loads on my brushes; there are a few specialist brushes that I've splurged on and some have been fabulous, some have been atrocious but it's one of my mid-range brushes that's my favourite make-up brush.

Spent some brilliant days with KH Hair again recently, working for their Image of the Year competition! Each salon competes and produces an image with a model, doing either a hair colour, cut or style and then they are judged and winners are to be announced at their annual awards in April 2016. Here are some of my favourite shots with photos by the ever lovely, Marcus Holdsworth Photography.

Agate got married back in August 2019, and I'd seen a few snaps from her photographer over on Instagram and I knew they'd be beautiful. Back in January when I knew I needed to get back on my blogging game, I got in touch with her photographer to ask if I could peek through the photos. I found time to do that what with a pandemic, and now here I am, blogging about that very wedding!

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.

I was considering writing this as a blog myself, and I may still do it one day but today, this blog comes to you from my client Heather in a review she left me on Google... have a look here if you don't believe I didn't write this DREAMY review myself.

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!

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 :)

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)

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?!

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...

August 2018 went by in a bit of a blur as I did more weddings that month than I'd ever done before. During the lockdown, it's been great going back through my photo archives to find weddings to blog, and I came across Ruth and Tim's big day. I spoke with Emily And Katy Photography who captured the day at The Walled Garden in Beeston and browsed their beautiful images. I've also included Ruth's review of hiring me which truly made me cry!

I've known Lizzie for quite a while as I work for the same company as her, and I'd done her make-up a few times for Flashes and Lashes' shoots. She emailed me in September 2014 to ask about wedding availability for August 2015 as she wanted to check if some of her favourite suppliers were available before she booked the venue... how honoured am I?!

In September 2020 I'll have been full-time self-employed for three years, and what a rollercoaster it's been!

I've done more one-to-one makeup lessons than ever, been a part of many more wedding mornings that I can remember, and done makeup for lots of exciting projects. I also won an award (Freelance Make Up Specialist of the Year 2018 at the English Hair and Beauty Awards!), and have JUST last week found out I'm a finalist for Bridal Makeup Specialist of the Year 2020 and the Make Up Awards.

I'll have been doing weddings for a decade this year, and 2020 has been shaping up so beautifully.

Zoe emailed us to say; "I have been struggling with my weight since forever and have decided enough is enough. I'm going to stop abusing my body, and celebrate it! To mark my change in attitude, I want a new fun-loving, burlesque-inspired look and was wondering if you would help me? :)"

You can bet your butt we can help!

Nupur got married at Allington Manor in October 2020, bringing forward her whole wedding by a week to avoid further disruption to their big day from restrictions and rules related to COVID. It all played out beautifully though and Nupur and Paul had their day!

Joanna contacted me in late August about her wedding in October 2020, asking if I'd be available do her wedding makeup for her micro-wedding. She was marrying Jeff no matter what COVID-19 tiers we were in; if it was still legal to get married during the pandemic, she'd be saying "I do!" They had to cut their list from 30 to 15 attendees but there was no way they were letting that get in the way of them getting hitched!

Here we are again, time for me to put together a blog that I will aim to keep regularly updated as to when I'm booked for weddings. Please check the dates below before contacting me about if I'm available for your wedding day.

Ellie and Louis got married in May 2024 on a bright sunny day, getting ready at her Mum's Wollaton home before going to St Andrew's church at Castle Gate with their reception at the gorgeous Holme Pierrepont Hall. Ellie had a great group of long-standing friends as her bridesmaids, and they all properly looked out for each other on the wedding morning. 

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!

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.