So, the most exciting thing to happen last week was that on Tuesday I went and saw
Wolverine with Christa, taking advantage of our new found Tuesday Saver cards for Vue Cinema. It was a pretty great movie that made me even more excited for
X-Men: Days of Future Past (which I really, really hope erases several of the events of
X-Men: The Last Stand, hands down the worst
X-Men movie EVER).
Today was much, much, much more exciting; Christa and I went on a photo shoot! I'd gotten a call last week saying I'd gotten the chance for a free booking with
Vanity Studios, a full service photography service located near Oxford Circus. At 11AM this morning, Christa and I arrived. We had several outfits with us, wore no makeup, and our hair was free of any products (which meant mine had to be semi-tamed by braides instead).
When we arrived, we were shown to a sitting area and offered a drink (I opted for OJ, Christa for tea) while we waited for the stylists to arrive and filled out some paperwork (mostly asking about our preferred styles and such). After about twenty minutes, the employees arrived and the work began.
The Procedure Pre-Shoot:
- Mini Manicure - My hands were given a quick massage with moisturizer and then my nails were filed and painted Barbie pink.
- Hair Styling - Since this is me we're talking about here, I opted for my hair to be curly and left loose but otherwise left it open to the stylist to decide. Using a curling wand, she twisted my hair into loose and bouncy curls, taming the frizz with an olive oil based spritz. Once my hair was curled, she used four bobby bins to sweep it up on one side. It was very Charlie's Angels.
- Make-Up - My face and neck were treated with various creams ranging from moisturizer to foundation to concealer. Blush, eye-shadow, and mascara were applied to give me a smoky, sultry look and a pale pink lip gloss was smeared on my lips.
The Photo Shoot:
Christa and I were sent over to an area with a series of curtained cubicles, just like a clothing store's changing area. We were told to change into our most formal outfit while we waited for the photographer to arrive. We had three other outfits to rotate through during the course of the shoot.
Mine were:
- Halter neck dress - it was a silky red fabric covered by a black gauze - skirt was loose and fell few inches above my knees
- Blue denim London Bongo Jeans (= skinny jeans) paired with my navy blue crew neck t-shirt and white knit holey sweater over top
- Blue denim London Bongo Jeans (= skinny jeans) paired with a sleeveless dark brown jersey shirt with inch-wide white and aqua spots
- Blue denim London Bongo Jeans (= skinny jeans) paired with an orange muscle shirt and loose white jersey blouse
All were worn with my knee-high black boots and the silver jewelry Jamie and Lori gifted me with one Christmas a few years back.
The photographer took tons of photos: indoor, outdoor, standing, sitting on the floor, sitting on couches, turned to the side, straight-on, full-body, head shots - you name a pose, I probably did it. It was awesome!
Afterwards:
We changed back into our street clothes and returned to the sitting area where we were again offered drinks (declined this time around, but did snack on some pretzels that been set out). After about twenty minutes we were led into a back room where we reviewed our photos with a consultant and paid for the day. The cost of the day was £100 for me, with 2 photos to take home on a CD. Christa paid £50 more to have an extra photo thrown in.
The Results:
