HIL COOK BLOG

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