Wairarapa brides this weekend gone

This will be short and sweet as I am doing it off my iPhone in a retro hotel (the highwayman) in Masterton. Over the weekend the whole team were here working on weddings, one being the stunning Belinda and her bridal party. Belinda and her groom were married in Martinborough and had the reception at Alystone Vineyard.  Ange and I did the hair and makeup but you just HAVE to check out the marquee, woodland themed and AMAZING! If anyone wants to know the who the florist was that decorated the marquee, flick me an email hil@hilcook.co.nz, and I will get hold of Belinda to find out.
One of our favorite wedding photographers Sharisse Eberlein worked her magic on the day and well, the photos speak for themselves. 


 The not so good photos are mine further down ahhh. ( like you need to be told!)

Thought I would share a few pics of my photos with you too with ...

BELINDA'S WOODLAND THEMED WEDDING BELOW

Belinda's beautiful mum

Utterly stunning!

Check out all these amazing flowers

There were even trees in the marquee.

Happy birthday Fishead magazine!!

The team and I have had the pleasure of doing all the makeup and hair styling for the fashion and front cover pages of Fishead magazine ever since it has started, this birthday shoot our youngest team member, Natalie, did a wonderful job assisting me and we had plenty of red wine and cake at the end of it ( Natalie managed to wear her wine home he he).
Monday was Fishead's official 1st birthday so it started the day with the latest Fishead mag to hit the shelves of Aoteroa.
As always the very talented Samantha Hannah did the styling and Tim Watson worked his magic with the photographic Lens.   The Fishead shoot was held at Tim's savvy studio, Studio 62 in Petone, and I was lucky enough to be given Immersion mineral cosmetics, to use on our gorgeous model Anna (from kirsty Bunny agenecy), to get that beautiful new mum glow.
I wanted to share with you the 1st birthday shoot and some of the cute behind the scene numbers.
I also need to add that I am the proud mum of the spunky wee male model in the latest fashion pages, Jaxson Cook, my 6 year old who now thinks of himself as famous and is wondering when people will ask for his autograph!

Sophie Hambleton our front cover model was a delight to work with.  Inspiration... you guessed it, Marilyn Monroe

The kiwi way, butterflies hanging by a fishing rod!
Inspiration - the kiwi families and mothers day

Jaxson (my baby) and Samantha Hannah's ( Stylist) girls, Thomasina and Xavia.  The kids all have butterflies in their hands.

Sam doing her styling

Jaxson Cook

Anna the beautiful model. Immersion mineral foundation gives her a fab glow

I used Immersion mineral foundation on Anna's skin for that fresh dewy look with Bobbi Brown eye shadows in smouldering bronzes and Stilla lip gloss

What a gorgeous little boy if I may say so myself!
Anna's curls are Richard Kav curls

Sophie's final look before it goes to press.  She was air brushed and for her flawless finish with Mac's silicon based airbrusing foundation. She is wearing  Mac eye shadows, Ruby woo lips, black cream gel liner and Ardell long single lashes with some shorts ones also, just for good measure

Hil x

My Beautiful bride Karen

Just thought I would share with you all, pictures of my beautiful bride Karen.

Karen was married over in the Wairarapa where we got her ready for her big day at a lovely wee cottage in Martinborough.  She was an absolute gem and a good giggle.

Karen's photographer Penny, is another gem and has also become to be a lovely friend through the wedding circuit.  Penny from Inspire photography captured stunning pics of Karen's big day and her attention to detail is faultless. Check the pics below and I am sure you agree.

Hi Hil !

My makeup and hair were awesome and still looked flawless at 5am when I was sitting up in bed scoffing a bacon sandwich! 

We had an amazing day right from the preparations all the way to the drunken bus ride home. I had so many lovely comments about my hair & makeup – they said I looked very “natural” (little do they know how hard it is to achieve the “natural” look and how unnatural I actually was! haha!)  and everyone loved the wee flowers. 

Hope all is well with you, and thank you again for doing such an amazing job and being a fun addition to our preparations (i think you owe me a bag of marshmallows by the way ;-)!)

Cheers Karen J

Thanks for sending through pics Karen, your a star!  Your right , I fess, I scoffed all the marshmallows  but man they were good ( frozen Karen styles)
Hils x

How to choose the right eyeshadow

Eyeshadows add depth to a woman's eyes. With the right colour and application, your eyes can look smaller, bigger, set closely together or set apart. However, many women are unsure which eyeshadow colours are best for them. Your best eyeshadow colours depend on the colour of your eyes and skin tone. In general, contrast colours will make your eyes stand out more.

What Is the Best Eyeshadow Color to Use?

People with brown eyes can wear any eyeshadow colour.

Light or dark eyeshadow colours are flattering. Shades that are lighter than your eye colour gives a natural look while darker shades creates a dramatic look.

Choose brown, bronze, copper, beige, champagne, pinks, pale purples or forest-green eyeshadows.

For blue eyes, go with warm browns and soft peaches.

Taupe, gray, violet, purple, lilac, pink, silver or gold would be the best choice for blue eyes as these colors will bring out the blue in your eyes. Avoid blue eyeshadow.

If you have hazel eyes or green eyes, choose golden browns, apricot, deep purples, soft peaches and soft violets to brighten up your green eyes.

Taupe or gold is a good color for highlighting and works well for evening makeup. Avoid shades of blue, some tones of pink, white and silvers.

Your skin color needs to be considered when choosing eyeshadow colours. If you have a fair complexion, it is best to pick light colours.

For dark skinned women, you should look for deep-coloured eyeshadows.

Choosing the right eyeshadow colour to enhance your eyes is easy. Use the colour wheel as a guide.

A colour that is opposite on the colour wheel to your eye colour will contrast perfectly to make your eyes really stand out. Try out different color combinations to see what looks best on you.

Tip: If you are really struggling, pick out the fleck tones from your Iris, this way you can never go wrong.
 Below is a perfect example of using fleck colours to enhance and pop your eye tone.

By picking out the bronzy gold flecks in the eye and using this tone as an eyeshadow, you cant go wrong!

Have a play and see what you come with.


Good luck Hils x

OMG... WE HAVE JUST HAD 10,000 NEW VIEWERS SINCE AUGUST LAST YEAR.

WOOP WOOP !!!! PARY TIME :)  HILS X

Masterpet shoot

Ange and I did the Masterpet shoot on Friday and talk about fun.  It was shot in the most amazing multi million dollar home with a multi million dollar view I have ever seen!
Gorgeous model Rosie from Kirsty bunny model management, was the lucky lady whom got to play the life of luxe for the day but not only that, she got to snuggle with the real super star... Pier, a tiny fluff ball puppy that was the cutest thing in the world and the most behaved dog I have ever met!
The talented Nick Servian was the photographer of choice for the day and the savvy stylist was Sally-Ann Moffit.

Ange and I managed to get a few pics of the view and the inside of the house too, ... Check out below

Several Looks for the day- 60's inspired for this one

Gorgeous Rosie- hair and makeup- Hil Cook

How the other half live ...NICE!

View from one of the many balconies

The door opposite is inside the house!

Ange and pier snuggling

How cute is this dog!

The popular Hollywood glow tricks

Perhaps, nothing says Oscar glamour more than the increasingly popular Hollywood "glow" -- that dewy luminescence made famous by stars such as J-Lo, Demi, Cameron, Julia, Drew, Charlize, and countless others. The good news is you don't need a 5-carat pink diamond to get the sparkle. What can do the trick? Products called "skin illuminators". These are pearlized shimmer creams that reflect light onto the skin.

These products were a great breakthrough in makeup technology, by reflecting the light they make the skin look smoother and younger. When making up faces, I always start with a primer, then add a cream or lotion with a small amount of pearl essence, which I blend over the entire face or, better still, mix it into foundation or even moisturizer (my favorite is Becca's Pearl shimmering skin perfecter). The result is the fresh-faced look frequently seen on the younger stars. However, skin illuminators should not be confused with "sparkle powder" -- products with large chunks of metallic that should never be used on the whole face.

These are Becca models with the amazing results from skin shimmering perfector

Hils x

HilsTweet

Anges hard day at the office! Beautiful Wellington!

For those of you that don't know Ange, she is my amazing side kick with an abundance of energy at helping our small business continue to grow. She is also one heck of a savvy hair and makeup artist, and often goes on awesome jobs like the one below.

Ange had a fab day for a fab shoot!
On days like this it makes everyone smile :)

 Makeup by Ange Duncan.  Photos by Tim Watson

Long hair creative course for our team.

Our gorgeous Pin-up wedding party

We just did the most amazing pin-up wedding party in the weekend so I just wanted to share with all, what they looked like.  Check out these beauties that Ange and I worked on.

I water waved Jess's to create finger waves
How cute is the bub!

Ange did a Hot roller set on our dark haired bridesmaid to create this Pin up stye
Jen, the bride has very short hair so I added extensions so she too could have a Pin-up style.

Hils x

A gorgeous vintage wedding party By The Hil Cook team

We had a gorgeous wedding party to makeup on Sunday, they looked just like they had stepped out of the 30's.  We loved them so much we wanted to share.

Happy honeymoon Anna, you look sooooo red carpet.

Makeup by Hil Cook and Ange Duncan


Hils x