Lea telling her tale of her bride in Wanaka

HIL'S WORD...
I know that some of you may have thought I have disappeared off the planet but this isn't the case, I have just been filling in huge hours ( like 16-17 hours per day filming) but finally there is a light at the end of the tunnel and I will be back blogging really soon.  In the mean time one of our team, the lovely Lea, flew to Wanaka to do a fabulous wedding and has been kind enough to tell us the story. Enjoy!

Lea's bride Dina in Wanaka

MY BEAUTIFUL WANAKA BRIDE!

I flew into beautiful Queenstown, then we drove the stunning drive to

Wanaka. I was lucky enough to have my husband along for the weekend at the Wanaka Wyndham vaction resort.

I met my lovely bride Dina and her family on the Friday where we

had a trial. This is when we try out a few different looks for the

wedding day.

This is always an important step to establish the "perfect" look for each

bride.

As Dina normally wears very minimal makeup (mascara and gloss), it gave

both of us (bride and artist) a feel for

the look and vibe of the day.

Saturday came, the day of the wedding, and it was an early morning start of

7.15am to prepare this gorgeous family for the day ahead.

It was such a relaxed and fun-filled environment. Dina's family had

rented an amazing

house to hang out in. It was a jaw dropping huge villa with lake views, a

tennis court, spa and pool.Wow!

My day started with hair and makeup for the two sisters, MOB (mother

of the bride) and Bride.

While Dina (bride) had her heated rollers in I raced downstairs to

where the groom (Phil) was hanging with his mates (sharing a few laughs

and

a couple of beers) Nice!

I styled Phil's hair to look like a classic 1940's gangster dude.

He looked very slick and polished and his "look" was complimented his

fabulous suit.

Back upstairs, I ran, to finish the brides hair and onto the sister

in-laws makeup.

Next all of the bridal party got dressed in their beautiful clothes. The

look was "European Elegance" and they certainly achieved this ....they

were stunning!

The photographer arrived just in time to get a few traditional "getting

ready"

shots. He was very happy, but who wouldn't be with such a stunning bridal

party, great light, Lake Wanaka and amazing mountains as a backdrop.

On with Dina's veil and final checks of shimmer powder ( to give

everybody's skin a lovely glow) and a lick of gloss for all.

I wished them all well around 3pm and took myself off to the hotel for

a well earned ice cold beer and a swim in the pool.

Such a wonderful location to get married in.

All of the preparations went as well as expectedm, due to the "Hil Cook

bridal formula" that we all

adhere too. This is simply to gather as much information about the

bridal party and wedding as possible, listen to our clients

expectations and performing our work to the highest standards in our

industry.

Truly, I feel blessed to have been apart of Dina and Phil's amazing day

and a

huge bonus to be in such a spectacular part of New Zealand as well.

Cheers, Lea :) xx

Our Lovely Lea

P.S - They all loved the "Solution Buds" and are taking them to Canada

and Melbourne where they call home.

P.P.S - Sorry about the photos, they were taken on my Iphone and it

has to be said I might just be the worst photographer ever!!

Hopefully we can grab some professional pics soon.

PPPS... Lea has just been asked to do Brooke Frazor's hair for her latest  international music video so we are very very proud of her :) Hils x

Some new pictures

For those of our dedicated fans that stop in on our blog often, please accept my apologies for the late updates.  Normally I would be blogging most nights but I have been working 17 hour days on a film set and feel like death warmed up so as soon as this blog is finished (and American Idol), it will be bed for me!!

 I am going to just put up some of our latest brides to check out that FineLine Photography kindly sent through to us and write more in a day or two when I am recovered. I will hopefully have some fab pics coming of Nat's work from her pin-up girls calender that she has been working on so keep on checking in :)

Until then night night
Hils x

Our lovely lea's work this week and what the teams been doing

Lea has had a crazy busy week this past week what with doing the Hurricanes commercial, photos shoots for Mike Hayden of Jet photography and or course gorgeous brides.
Thought we better show case our wee star and what she has been up to.

Oh is that leas tongue hanging on the ground while she touches up yet another lovely sportsman

gorgeous bride courtesy of Jet Photography

At the end of Lea's Hurricane shoot, she managed to get a pic of our latest fan with Solution buds, Victor Vito, and no he doesn't have a square head, its our lovely Leas fab photography work. Maybe let Mike do that photography for you Lea :)

Hils x












Whats Ange been up to?
Ange has been flat out on the Gibson group TV show coming your way soon. Head down bum up is our Ange, working every God given hour but the light at the end of the tunnel is on the horizon. She will be coming up for air any day now and back on the bridal roller coaster. Yippee

What Nat up to?
Nat has been a busy beaver also, for those of you that manage to get into Kirks, you will see our youngest member Nat. Nat blesses the store with her remarkable knowledge and talented artistry in Bobbi Brown quite often at the moment.  Bobbi Brown contracts our girls on and off through out the year to help out when busy, they have just lost a staff member lately so have been lucky enough to have Nat on hand to help them out with her expertise. Nat also has been doing weddings this week but I don't have any pics for you just yet ( watch this space).

What Hil been up too ?

Lots of crazy meetings with Grow wellington and Creative HQ with my wonderful side kick Ange, wedding trial after wedding trial, Shoot for Terralink, Rammy's wedding in the weekend and a Fishead shoot. The Fishead shoot I might add, had my wee boy Jaxson (6) modelling for the fashion pages coming out at the end of March. He was a star!

Hils x

Gourmet cupcakes, chocolate treats & mouthwatering things

Last night we did a wee demo of our work and  showcased our solution buds to a group of women on a girls night out.
It was a bit of a giggle but while we were there we met the most amazing baker of fabulous treats, the lovely Zelda Dahya. Now I kid you not, these were like no other treats I have ever stumbled on before, mouth watering pastries, gourmet cupcakes, light & and fluffy cheesecakes, and my favorite,... the most out of this world truffles made in white chocolate and dark. Everything had been lovingly baked into tiny samples so greedy pigs like me could eat not just eat 1 but several treats. Oh my goodness, I was in tasy treat heaven. Now I seriously suggest if any of you brides are looking for something a little different, a little fabulous, a little bit 5 star and custom made, check out Zeldas site for any artistic treat you can think of!! She gets my vote!

I was very lucky to be given a plate full of those mouth watering numbers at the end of the night and they got a huge thumbs up from the 6 year old this morning and hubby :) Thanks Zelda, it was lovely to meet you and your friend.

Hils x

A few secret tips!

Minimise the appearance of large pores with a facial of egg white and honey.

The best kept Hollywood secret... Plastic surgeons can actually tell if you sleep on your side or front by the wrinkles on your face. If you sleep on your back, it can help with softening wrinkles and even them out a little.

Dark circles under eyes?  peel and grate a small spud, pop the grated spud into a light gauze ( cheese cloth is good) and apply under the eyes. Lay back and put your feet up for approx 20 Min's and chill. It's a remarkable difference.

If you cant afford the fabulous Moroccan oil to tame the frizzies, try a few drops of coconut oil and smooth through from roots to the ends. Works a dream.

Tell us if you have any secret tips that work for you??  email us on hil@hilcook.co.nz and we will do our best to get them up on our blog.