HIL COOK BLOG

A little energy test thanks to my friends at "THE CHEMISTS"

Today I went to Sort out one of my favorite customers that sell our Solution buds, Sonya and Margaret from "THE CHEMIST" in Masterton. The Chemist, is a hive of activity with the most exquisite gifts, makeup, healthcare products and wonderful advice! The service is like no other, everyone is greeted with a warm friendly smile, but biggest thing, they go the extra mile which is why I decided I wanted to blog about these guys.

Now those of you who know me, know how I truly burn the candle at both ends, not from being a party princess (sadly), but from being a work aholic.

This is why I love these guys at THE CHEMIST, I walked in today, had a chat about what what our team had been up to, how busy things have been and how shattered I felt. The ladies suggested something to help my energy levels and decided it was high time for me to get some Multi Vitimans in my system to help with fatigue and boost my immunity. Pills and I dont usually mix but I really have been shattered lately so decided to take the ladies up on their 1 month challenge. I will keep you all posted as to how I am feeling.

The Sonya and Margaret put me onto 2 different tablets, 1st one being Go Healthy Multi everyday which should support energy levels and maintain health and well-being.
The second being Thompson's Co-Enzyme Q10, Co-Q10 is energy producing, antioxidant, boosts metabolism, promotes healthy heart and gums and sorts out the immune system. Often referred to as nature's spark plug tablet because, like a car engine, the body cannot function properly without the initial spark from Co-Q10.

Antioxidant

Enhance Energy

Gum Health

Heart Health

So I intend to take these 2 miracles in tablet form, and monitor the results for a month. I will try to update you daily on the side bar, these will entail mood swings, energy levels, how many hours work that day and of course my bed time. Lets see if I become bouncing with energy!

Hil x

Pics and Goss of what we have been up to this week

The start of the week was lovely with several brides in our french powder room all having their trials.

Wednesday we did a shoot for Bernina with savvy photographer Lance Lawson and all the winners of the Bernina Young fashion awards. The young girls ranging from 12 - 17 did the most remarkable designs and there sewing techniques were outstanding. Check out the link to see their amazing garments.

Lea did the Wayward Heir Look book shoot for Rembrandt and I think she may have had trouble keeping from not tripping on her tongue! You will understand when you see the handsome men that she had to work on. Hard job that one but someone had to do it!!

Thursday the whole team worked doing makeups and hairstyles at the Adorn Jewellery event. If you read a bit further down the page you will be able to catch up with photos and goss of the event.

Friday was an Epic night shoot for Fishead which sadly I cant even reveal pics until the mag is out but further down the page is a wee bit of info about what we did and the amazing jewels that were used.

Saturday Ange and I got up at the crack of dawn and did the lovely Vicky Nelsons wedding. She was simply stunning and had the most amazing skin with beautiful freckles . Such a lovely day with her and her family.

Beautiful fresh faced Vicki the Bride

VICKI'S EMAIL TO US BELOW...

You girls are a credit to the industry, you are so warm and friendly...you put us all at ease from the minute you arrived, and of course, we felt and looked FANTASTIC after a couple of hours with you!!

What an awesome job you do...

A big THANK YOU for being part of my dream day :-)

Warm regards,
Vicki Bulmer (Nelson)

Vicky's Sister and bridesmaid
Rebecca wrote
"Thanks for the link Hils, the day was just magic, you and Ange did the most amazing job- it was not only the makeup but also your awesome personalties you are both just so lovely! Thank you both so much."

The gorgeous mother of the bride

Then Saturday arvo back at our French powder room we had two gorgeous sisters having their makeup done for Sue's ( blonde) 30th birthday event that night. The girls had such a giggle and could not stop looking at themselves once done up to the nines. Hot Hot Hot!!

Natalie saved the day on Sunday with the Circus dance troupe needing a strong teenage pop look for their routine. Sounds like it went off with a bang and the dancers looked amazing!

And sunday for me.... Gin Wigmores hair and makeup for her rocking Concert!

time to rest.

Hils x

We worked on the latest Fishead shoot and I found treasure!

Friday night was an all night shoot for Fishead magazine. I did the hair and makeup for beautiful Zoe and Micheal from Kirsty Bunny Agency and they looked sooooo Hot! I cant go into to much detail to be honest as that would spoil the fab treats to come in the Autumn issue, but trust me... A- MAZ- ING.
Savvy Samantha Hannah was doing her amazing styling job on our Hot models, and Photographer Tim from studio62 was working him magic with the camera. The Dream team were on FIRE!

Anyway what I did want to mention is Sam brought along the most incredible jewels I think I have ever seen and so I need to shout to the world about them!!!! Check out this website and the work of the very talented nga waiata.
I have never seen such beautiful chunks of crystals, each crystal both powerful and special, is set in in a stunning wooden based ring that feels so naturally right with nga waiata's name carved in the bottom. I am soooo in love with these stunning rings that it is my treat to me for Christmas!

The rings will soon be available at Zambesi Wgtn

Think about what you need more of in your life...wealth, aroha, centering?? etc and see which crystal you are instinctively drawn to....they are very powerful and special as the wood feels so naturally right too.

Hils x

Words of wisdom that our team believe in.

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone elses life.
Don't be trapped by dogma-which is living with the results of other peoples thinking.
Don't let the noise of others opinions drown out your own inner voice.
And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition...they somehow already know what you truly want to become.
Everything elas is secondary."
This is something I picked up somewhere, sometime when I was in much need of such words....I can't tell you the author, because this I have no clue of.....but all kudos to the one who penned these words.

Our team have lived by these words of wisdom. With our passion and drive, it has taken us on wonderful adventures all over the world.

This photo is of our Hil Cook team and Gibson Groups crew, filming this year in Rarotonga for BBC

TV show Paradise cafe.

Hil x

Our team raising money for Neo Natals

Some of Wellingtons most elite Jewellery designers, Alison Blain, Tory & co, Hannah Anderson, and Berry's, were showing off their latest collections last night, 10% of all sales was going to Neo Natal trust.
It was a fantastic affair with plenty of bubbles flowing freely, scrumptious tit-bits and fabulous twinkly things for sale as far as the eye could see.

Our Hil Cook team were invited along to showcase our work and give potential Jewellery buyers a chance to try out airbrushing, hair styling, makeup and our fab solution buds. We worked our little bums off and had a Que of woman nearly out the door wanting to get into one of our chairs.

It was a fantastic event with lots of money made for the Neo Natal trust. Everyone went home looking glamorous and scoring a fantastic goody bag valued at $80 wow!
Check out our girls below.
Hils x

Fun Fun Fun

The MC for Neo Natals trying out GHD curls.

Alison Blain and her stunning works

Ange, Nat and Lea hard at it.

Hil Cook wedding work

Makeup Tips For Eyebrows

Eyebrows give a definition to face and grooming them and giving them shape can make your face look cleaner and more beautiful and make your eyes appear larger and more expressive. Eyebrows look best filled in with brow powder or eye shadow. A natural eyebrow look can be achieved by using a brow color applied with a nylon slant edged brush, do soft feather stroke brush movements filling in the brow, then use a clean mascara wand or brow brush to really work over the brow. This application may need another going over until you have the perfect brow desired.

Here are some useful tips that you can make to make your brows beautiful:

Tweeze only the hairs underneath your brows to shape them.
Many people have beautifully shaped eyebrows naturally that just need to be defined instead of alteration.
Tweezing the brows after the shower is much easier and less painful.
To fill in the gaps in the eyebrow shape, use a color that matches the natural colors of your brows or a shade lighter than that.
Groom the eyebrows using a clear eyebrow gel and an eyebrow brush. Comb them and pluck stray hairs above the brow line.
It is best to stick with natural shape usually and seek professional help for first-time threading.
Calculate the arch of the eyebrows by using the ruler. It should start from the side of your nose to the same line on the outer corner of the eye. The high point should be on the outer side of the pupil.
Fill the gaps with short strokes of your powder or pencil.
Eyebrow color should be approximately two shades darker than your hair colour, so all you bleach blonde's, don't go too dark just because your natural brow is dark! Bobbi Brown does great brow gels that you can also use to lighten brows temporarily.

WelTec Makeup Artistry students. Judgement day with Hil Cook

Each year I am asked to judge the final exam of WelTec's budding makeup artists which always a huge pleasure. Today I spent most of the day at WelTec judging, and decided I would film the students work to put up on our blog. We get a lot of people asking about full time makeup artistry course, so here is a little insight to what they get up to...

Makeup artistry students of WelTec over the past term have been working towards their final assessment. They are given a theme based on the deadly sins. They needed to choose their subject, research it, find inspiration, push boundaries and explore possibilities. A mood board showing the journey they had taken to get their final result was made, and a photo shoot was organised where the students were required to direct the whole shoot from start to finish to execute the final "Money Shot". This would be the main feature on the board.

My apologies to the students who's work is missing, I accidentally deleted a chunk of footage ahhhhh and I am not that savvy at knowing how to get it back, but well done to all of you who participated.

Hils x

Introducing WelTec's budding makeup artists mood boards. Enjoy!

Lush Lashes( Semi Permanent lashes) at Girls just wanna have fun expo

I have a lot of my clients asking about semi permanent lashes for their wedding day, so much so that I thought it was time to blog about them.
Lush lashes was bought to NZ by Vanessa O'Reillly, and is now so successful that she has franchise all over NZ. Just look at the pics above to see why she is so successful, who wouldn't fall in love with lashes like that??

I know first hand about lush lashes as I have been a devout lush lashes wearer for quite some time now, I just feel naked without my lashes and love when I have a 4.30 am start on a film, that I can still look half decent, minus mascara, thanks to those long silky thick lashes ( not my little wee stumpy straight blond numbers).

Anyway, your set of perfectly applied Lush lashes will last you around 6 weeks but if you are wanting to retain the full effect, I would re-schedule an appointment at 4-5 week intervals, this way you will always have the perfect set.

Vanessa applies a Lush Lash to each individual lash of your own, so even up close, they totally look like your own lashes. People have been astounded when I have told them my lashes are semi permanent lashes and that my own lashes are short thin blond numbers. I never need to wear mascara when I have Lush lashes, which would be unheard of otherwise!!

Today Vanessa and one of her colleagues were at "Girls just wanna have fun" expo, so I snuck down there before my first client and grabbed some pics. Vanessa is a avid "Hil Cook Solution bud" fan as the solution in our buds is oil free, Lush lashes special bond can be broken down from oil based cleansers, which is why they prefer Hil Cook Solution buds for a perfect eye makeup cleanser.

To find out more about Lush lashes for your special day, call 0800lushlashes or click on the title above which will direct you to their website.
Hil x

Vanessa O'Reilly ( blond) Owner of Lush Lashes and very talented!

Deep Cleaning Brushes

One of our artists ( leanne Hoare) and I recently went to the "International makeup artistry trade show" (IMATS) in Australia. It was incredibly inspiring with lots to listen and learn about, there were plenty of guest speakers with a wealth of knowledge and an eye popping amount of gorgeous makeup products.
basically we were in a makeup artistry heaven!!

Over the next few weeks I will share with you some of our experiences, pictures, and videos of our Aussie artistry adventure.

The video below, although a little lengthy, is incredibly helpful on how to really care for those much loved brushes that cost us ladies crazy amounts. The gentleman in the video was one of the guest speakers at Imats and a real Character. Check it out, it really teaches you a thing or two.

Hil x

Are you up for a challenge? Hils hubby driving in the Icebreak commercial

The driver in this ad is my Hubby, Rodney Cook. Just had to add this in! Hil X

New Sample size Solution buds- Great for hotels/ airlines/ clubs

Check out our latest savvy little numbers which have just arrived into the country. Very exciting!

Latest Fishead shoots

I finally have the pictures of our latest Fishead shoot with Antonia Prebble on the front cover and the gorgeous Aphridities girl in the fashion pages. Check these out.

HILS X

Jaxson Cook, my little man made up for his school disco.

This is my little man Jaxson going to the School Disco as a Sea Ghost. He had prosthetics and airbrushing and then rolled his eyes back in his head for effect!

Hils x

Jaxson Singing the Irish song, 6 years old ( 5 when he recorded it)

My Little boy singing, just couldnt resist. Hil x

Fabulous reference about one of our makeup artist's, Natalie Henderson, from Producer Catherine Juniot

Dear Hils and Ange,

Thank you soooo much for sending us Natalie to work on the Eternity shoot this week. It was really great to meet her. She did a fantastic job and we were very fortunate to have her join us. I know that our Make-up Designer, Julia O'Neil, was very happy with her. I really hope that Natalie had a great time on the shoot too. She has a lovely bubbly personally, is great with the actors and is of course very talented at her craft.

I hope we can all catch up soon.

xxx Catherine xxx

--
Catherine JuniotProducer ~ Business Affairs Advisor ~ Production Manager
www.inspirefilms.co.nz ~ catherine@inspirefilms.co.nz
Tel: +64 21 887 039

The fabulous @hilcook team are working there magic on the mod... on Twitpic

An Indian Princess... Visha

This was one of the most exquisite, lavish and colorful weddings I think I have ever worked on. The bride Visha was astonishingly gorgeous with her exotic Bollywood/ Egyptian look that we went for.

Visha's hair is just a little over shoulder length so we incorporated human hair wefts into her hair to make it reach right down to her waist. I did tiny horizontal cornrow plaits in the back of her own hair so I could sew in the Human wefts, then did soft curls all the way down her back. I parted Visha's hair in the center and fixed her beautiful head adornment to a pin curl near her crown, I then set the top in Hot rollers and back combed to create the hight for the quiff Visha wanted. The sides were braided on either side and joined together at the back where I attached a gorgeous spray of fresh Orchids.

The makeup was inspired by plenty of exotic Bollywood pictures that Visha had collected up. It was all about exotic colorful sexy eyes. "Think the Kardashin's" she told me, so I set about creating the perfect flawless airbrushed skin and exotic eyes that looked like jewels.

We even went as far as to apply the Henna to her hands and help her into her fabulous garment that was encrusted in magnificent crystals. The weight of the skirt alone was possibly nearly as heavy as the petit Indian princess herself. Then came the bling for every part of Visha's body. Boy do the Indian's know how to look feminine, they run rings around the rest of us, I have never seen so much exquisite jewels and sparkle!! Even the men of her family looked extrodinarly handsome in there suits encrusted with crystals. I think Visha's husband to be would have been blown away once seeing his gorgeous bride coming towards him.

Thanks to Visha and her family for letting Ange and I into her world for a glorious taste of how her culture celebrates her special day. Oh and the magnificent food Visha's mum made us.

Hil X

HiL Cook team makeup + hair for La Shika

The Hil Cook makeup and hair team working their magic, with the help of "Hil Cook Solution buds". Beautiful Brides.

Samantha Hannah - Epic Style Guru!! ....Check out this link....

Antonia Prebble

Antonio Prebble

Antonio Prebble on the front cover of Fishead by Hil Cook
/Users/Hil/Pictures/iPhoto Library/Originals/2010/17:10:2010_2/mcw49381.jpeg

The Amazing Travelling Photobooth. The ultimate Wedding fun!

Hil Cook Solution Buds ad - Nightclub

Hil Cook Solution Buds

Hil Cook Solution buds are the fast, easy way to touch up or remove your makeup, without needing a bag full of products and wipes. Simply remove the tip, watch the solution flow down into the bud, and replace the tip again. Use the solution end to clean up smudges or remove your makeup completely, use the dry to wipe up any residue.
Hil Cook Solution buds can be purchased through our E-commerce store at www.hilcook.co.nz or go to a pharmacy near you or selected New worlds.

PS. The dance track was Sung by our own Solution bud crew... Hil Cook, Ange Duncan, Geoff Duncan and Rodney Cook. Recorded & written by Geoff Duncan at Triple Star Studio.

Hil Cook Solution Buds demo

So there has been quite a lot of hype with Solution buds in Sunday Mag, New Idea and Cleo, and I see a lot of you have searched for them and come to our blog. If you click on the title above it will take you directly to our E-commerce store.

If you dont want to buy on line, then go to your local Radius store nation wide or in the Welly area, go to pretty much any chemist or New world .

Check out our 3 second video above that shows you how these little gems work. Be warned .... they are VERY ADDICTIVE!

La Shika Bridal fashion show. The Hil Cook team will be doing all the models hair and makeup

For all those brides to be, La Shika bridal will be a show not to miss. Spot prizes and goody bags, lush dresses and fab hair and makeup. Check it out at the Museum hotel on October 20th.

Aftershock: Behind the Scenes

Gibson Group whom we love and adore... check out behind the scenes with some of our gnarly wounds.

THis is the most recent job we have just completed. Me, the Hubby and my little boy on this.

ACC: Hawkes Bay, Northland most dangerous homes

BROKEN EYE-SHADOWS, BLUSH & POWDERS... HAVE I GOT THE BEST TIP EVER!!!

Have you ever had a favorite eyeshadow or your best bronzer break into a thousand little bits and then small bits of powder makes it way all through your makeup bag?? How irritating is it when you buy a new Mac shadow and find its smashed only weeks later, most of you would throw this pot of mess out but I must stop you right there! I have the tip of all tips to repair your pot of crushed shadow.
* Get yourself a small bottle of Isoproplyl ( 99% alcohol) from the chemist, it will literally cost you around a fiver.
* Crush up all the left over shadow into a fine mill of powder in its pot.
* Add a small amount of Isoproplyl to the crushed up powder and mix until it is slightly runnier than the consistency of toothpaste.
* give the bottom of the pot a few taps to get rid of unwanted air bubbles and leave to set
* Isopropyl will dissipate and by the next day you will have you shadow, blush or powder back in its original cake form, good as new.

Try it , it really works!!!

Goodness: The Solution

Goodness: The Solution: "Hil Cook: Shes a local girl with an International career as a film and television make up artist and now to add to her impressive list o..."

NEW TIP TO HAVE FUN WITH!

ok.....so I've been trying out this new thing lately. Someone once said "There is nothing new under the sun", and that may well be the case, SO if you have been doing this wee trick for ages, I'm sorry!
HOWEVER if you haven't I hope you have fun playing!

BLUSH, I know that we are not big on "rules" but if in doubt, a look that always works is matching the tone of your blusher with the same tone on your lips. BUT.....lets be wild and crazy and take that a little bit further.....

Have you ever tried taking your blush colour
and using this for your eye contour colour or....
on top of your contour colour. Blending it slightly up towards the brow.
Its a beautiful warm look that can bring everything together and really
make your eyes popo!! (like that word!!)

Give this look a crack and send us in some of your "successful" photos, using this technique.

Can't wait to see the results.

ange x

PS: Any further questions email angeduncan@gmail.com

The deep plum colour carried through. Touch of peach.

2 DAYS ON AN INDIAN SHOOT

INDIA COMES TO NZ

2 days of lippy, powder, shimmer, curls, dancing, laughter, southerlies and plenty of head bobbling. What a fab shoot!
Indian crew from Lemon Yellow Sun landed in Wellywood a few days ago to shoot a 2 day commercial for Monte Carlo clothing. The crew were mint people and a whole lot of laughs to work with. The weather played its impeccable part of keeping up the '4 seasons in one day' scenario, not only did we get wind burnt, drenched and are arses frozen off, we also got a touch of sunburn just to top off our days.

We had 3 international models arrive for the shoot, a gorgeous lady by the name of Marcella whom shone like a star and nothing was a problem. She had literally got off a plane from Brazil , got thrown into our fabulous makeup Maui van, stripped of most of her clothes and was made to stand in the sea in a southerly and look happy about it ahhhhh . She was an absolute Storm trooper!
Then there was Faranz, a very professional, popular male model from Iran and Carolina, another beautiful but slightly more on the diva-rish side, Brazilian model.

The crew were top people and really showed us all about fast turn around TV!!! They also showed us when there is a need to cut back on budget, get rid of continuity 1st ahhhhh. Outrageous I hear you say and I couldn't agree with you more, but it sure was a giggle when things disappear and reappear through different angles of the scenes being shot. Certainly it made for an easier day although I wouldn't want to be in the editors shoes at the other end.

All in all,it was yet another wonderful job, a crazy adventure, new fun mates and a lot of laughs... oh and did I mention a lot of head bobbling! Loved it.

PS we were explained that the head bobbling means they are happy , not sad, between yes and no, maybe or not sure. In general i guess you could say fence sitting?

TRIPLE STAR STUDIOS recording for our viral behind the scenes

Sound producer Geoff Duncan. Click on the title to check out his webiste.

OUR FAVE LOOK OF THE WEEK!

Ange and I hooked up for coffee in Petone yesterday at Cafe Tart and discovered this lovely lady Sarah-Jane. It was Sarah-Jane's second day on the job but she made fab coffee and graciously let us take her pic..
We LOVE Sarah-Jane's look so have added her as our "LOOK OF THE WEEK"

Q: WHERE IS YOUR LOOK INSPIRED FROM

A: Blyth dolls
___________________

Q: FAVE COFFEE HANG OUT

A: Lala cafe in Wellington
____________________

Q: FAVE BRAND OF MAKEUP

A: Mac pigments
____________________

Q: FAVE QUOTE

A: Choice

The first online International makeup artistry Comps

http://www.faceup1.com/

Our latest fan of solution buds

Check out our new Artwork

Mary Adams is our savvy designer and just look at this little gem she designed. New art work for posters and adds, Nice!
We are also about to embark on our first Viral Campaign shoot this weekend. We have the Epic cameraman Simon Baumfield as our DOP whom would normally cost us thousands, luckily for us he is doing it for love! Yay. We also have two of the lead actors from BBC tv show "Paradise cafe" as our leading ladies, Georgia Fabish & lara Custance, again all for love. Along with these gems, are our own gems, Ange, Lea & Nat who are always there to slog on with the makeups, hair do's and the fab acting skills they will be pulling out on Sundays shoot, all in the name of Solution Buds.

Big thanks to everyone that has supported us in our Solution bud venture and believing in us.
We really appreciate it.

Hil X

HIL COOK MAKEUP, HAIR and PROSTHETIC ARTIST