Red Bow Boudoir welcomes new Make-up Artist to the Team

Extract from Red Bow Boudoir Blog post - April 17th, 2012

Gemma joins the Red Bow Boudoir Photography Team It is with great pleasure that we can announce that Gemma has now officially joined the Red Bow Boudoir Team. Whilst maintaining her individuality as Make-up by Gem, Gemma will be working alongside myself and Juliette offering a wide range of looks, themes and styled shoots. We look forward to working with her. About Gemma Having always had a passion for make-up and beauty products, Gemma started a career as a VIE at home Consultant in 2005 where she was trained by professionals to apply make up and skin care as an expert. After passing a range of make-up courses with Excellence, including Bridal Make-up and Advanced Colour, Gemma built her business and soon became successful in bridal / occasion make-up and knew this was a passion she wanted to pursue. Gemma went on to launch ‘Make-up by Gem’ in 2009 as a professional freelance make-up artist specializing in a wide range of professional make-up application from bridal and photographic to glamour and occasion make-up. Having gained a wealth of knowledge through training and working alongside industry professionals,Gemma now has many years experience in enhancing beauty and providing a professional service. During her career, Gemma has worked on numerous photoshoots, fashion shows, talent contests, and her work is published in magazines and ad campaigns. In addition, Gemma teaches masterclasses in make-up application. With a natural ability to put people at ease, Gemma pays real attention to detail and it is easy to see why she has such a good reputation. With an ethos to enhance people’s best features to achieve the perfect look, Gemma is a driven and creative person who continuously develops her skills and keeps up to date with the latest products, looks and trends.

A recommendation goes a long way...

I am very pleased to introduce Juliette Harris Marsden, a very talented make-up artist and hair stylist, who will be working as part of my team at Make-up by Gem.

I realise just how frustrating it is to find out a service you want to book for your big day is unavailable and always do my best to recommend another trusted individual to do an amazing job. Juliette is just the lady! I am very excited to be able to offer Juliette's services to brides-to-be at times when I am already booked or when an additional artist is required for large group bookings.


Juliette has an impressive portfolio and has worked in the industry for over 20 years, with extensive experience in wedding make-up and an wide range of other areas including magazine editorials, catwalk shows and advertising. Juliette and I also work as part of the team at Red Bow Boudoir!

Juliette is a lovely, talented professional who shares the same business acumen as myself. We endeavour to provide excellent service, going the extra mile wherever possible, to ensure 100% satisfaction. We believe it is such an honour to be chosen to provide a personal service to a bride-to-be and her bridal party on her special day, where nothing but exceptional service and quality is required.

I also work alongside other talented individuals such as hair stylist - Elise Bull (www.elisebull.co.uk), the amazing team at Images Hair and Beauty Salon in Dover, and local make-up artist, Lucy Moat.

For recommendations of other services providers such as photographers, caterers, florists and more email me at info@makeupbygem.co.uk.

Gemma x

BEFORE & AFTERS

Below are some recent before and after photos from 'Make-over photoshoots' with Red Bow Boudoir. See how the lovely ladies are transformed into boudoir godesses using my make-up artistry and Alison's talented photography. A big thank you to those featured in the photos who have allowed us to publish these!








For information on how you can be transformed like the lovely ladies above email info@makeupbygem.co.uk or visit www.redbowboudoir.co.uk

Getting Married? Don't miss this!

The St Crispin Inn is holding a fantastic Wedding Fayre on 15th April 2012 from 10am - 4pm and it is FREE ENTRY for all visitors. There are lots of fantastic local suppliers to meet and the day will also give you the chance to view the wonderful wedding marquee!



The St Crispin Inn is a lovely traditional 15th century pub located in the picturesque village of Worth. A beautiful Marquee is located to the rear of the pub, an ideal area to enjoy one of our mouth-watering Hog Roasts. At night the marquee is transformed by hundreds of fairy lights inside and out and with its own fully stocked bar you are able to party the night away, whether you decide on a DJ or a band.

Here is a list of some of the wedding suppliers below...

Make-up by Gem
Dover Design Photography
Heart Invites Wedding Stationery
Hair by Rachel King
G2G (Wedding and Event Management)
Country Brides of Faversham (Bridal Shop)
Always Roses
Say It Frames (Wedding Gifts)
T-Cupcakes
Forget Me Not Favours
Flowers by Reeds
Living Light Roadshow DJ
More Tea Vicar (Vintage China Hire)
All About Cake

...And more!

Spring / Summer Botanical Boudoir

Spring / Summer Botanical Boudoir

Today I packed up my Zuca and headed over to the Red Bow Boudoir HQ - Alison Kirby's fantastic studio in Hoath for a Spring / Summer themed shoot with lots of beautiful colours and flowers.

I had contacted the lovely Wendy Reed from Flowers by Reeds a weeks or so ago who ordered a range of flowers for the shoot based on my brief to suit the theme. On the day, the flowers were selected and cleverly wired by Jean from Flowers by Reeds to give a really fresh spring look to the images. I love the cascading garlands and sculpted leaves! Big thank you to you both for being involved!

The first model for the shoot was the beautiful Kizzy Mills. With Kizzy's complexion and dark hair I created a blue eyed look using shadow from my Yaby palette which are highly pigmented to replicate the tones found in flowers. I used Chanel Pro Lumiere foundation to ensure a fresh dewy skin tone. Throughout the shoot I adapted the look using different lip colours depending on the underwear and set-up for the shot.

Here's a sneak peek...



Paige Bradbury was our next model for this botanical shoot, I created a real baby doll pink look to coordinate with the beautiful pink roses and fushia gerberas. I selected a range of pink tone eye shadows from MAC and soft pink lip colors from Dior.

Here's a sneak peek...



Visit my facebook page for more... www.facebook.com/makeupbygem.co.uk

For more information on Red Bow Boudoir shoots visit http://www.redbowboudoir.com/.

The Makeover Shoot – £175.00

1 hour makeover
1.5 hour photo shoot
Refreshments
Guidance throughout the shoot
Use of a variety of props, lingerie, accessories and style
Choice of Two Studio Sets
Change of up to two different outfits
Retouching and post production on all of your images with a variety of effects used
The option to choose from a our fabulous range of photographic products

Folkestone Academy students get opportunity to work with industry professionals at Dover Transport Museum

On Friday 2nd March, two of Kent’s top make-up artists visited The Zone, Folkestone Academy’s industry standard Hair and Beauty Salon, to provide a make-up masterclass. Gemma Parnell from Make-up by Gem and Lucy Moat from Maid-up Makeup Artistry spent the day with the fifteen winners of the Academy’s annual Hair and Beauty Show, demonstrating the techniques and products required for photographic make-up and essential tricks of the trade to be a successful in the industry.




Students completed hair and make-up looks on each other from their chosen era ranging from 40s through to 70s and were then taken to Dover Transport Museum (located just off the A2 Whitfield) to gain experience on a real location photoshoot. The location was chosen for its fascinating collection of vintage transport and backdrops of all types. Waiting at the setting were top photographers, Alan and Thomas Langley and the team from Dover Design Photography ready to photograph the students work and create a poster like image as a representation of the era.

One of the students commented; “I am so lucky to have been involved in such a worthwhile experience - I’m so excited to be able to use the photos to start a portfolio to show off my talents in the future.”



Students became part of the location team for the day,working with the photographers, stylist and models to shoot their work in front of backdrops and cars from the era. Working with industry professionals has given the students a real insight into the role of hair and make up artists in the world of fashion and advertising photography. The show winners learnt what it takes to produce both a creative and technically accurate visual representation, working to a brief with professional photographers and make-up artists to produce some really strong images for their portfolio.

Mrs Amanda Gillett, Head of Hair and Beauty at the Folkestone Academy said; “Whilst academic qualifications are essential, the experience these students have gained working alongside industry professionals in incredible. These budding young hair and make-up artists of the future have been able to see that this can be a very enjoyable but demanding and competitive trade. The Folkestone Academy is so grateful to Gemma Parnell and Lucy Moat, the Make-up Artists, Alan Langley and Thomas Langley from Dover Design Photography, Amy Johnson who assisted with Styling and all at The Dover Transport Museum for enabling us to offer this prize to our fantastic show winners.”

Sneak preview of Saturday's photo shoot...

On Saturday I headed to a studio set-up in Deal to work with talented photographer David Christie and his wife Jodie from Crystal Memories Photography. I had been booked to do the make-up and hair style for this make-over shoot with Kirstie Jackson as part of a fantastic Facebook offer -

Make over photography from Just £150 this includes make up Hair style 1 hr studio shoot & 7 8x10in professionally printed photo's plus a DVD with your chosen high resolution photo's on. Offer only available to friends of the Crystal Memories page. For more information contact David Christie on 07969 113696.

First we all looked at the different outfits and discussed the type of image Kirstie wanted to achieve, I then got to work straight away with straightening, backcombing and creating a stylish half up half down bouffant style for Kirstie. As for make-up, the desired look was to be something smoky that took her out of her comfort zone, creating a look Kirstie wouldn’t ‘normally’ wear.

Here are some of the main products used to create the looks and a sneaky peek at a few of the images from the shoot.

Face:

Clarins Beauty Balm
Smashbox photofinish Primer
Chanel Lumiere Foundation
Bobbi Brown matte bronzer
Benefit Dallas blusher (Bronze look)
Mac Dollymix blusher (Red lip / Pink look)
Estee Lauder Double Wear concealor

Eyes:

Urban Decay Eye primer potion
Highlighter and pink tone eye base
Lancome Ombre Absolue Palette - Intemporel smoky
Mac Satin taupe eyeshadow (Contour)
Mac Grain eye shadow
Mac Black trac gel eyeliner
Lashes: Eylure Naturalite Strip Eyelashes no. 107

Lips:

Nude Lipliner
Mac – High Tea
Mac – Saint Germain Lipstick (Pink)
Lancome – L'Absolu Rouge rouge odyssee (red) / Illamasqua limited edition gloss