Maxine Avery: Evasive Beauty

Maxine Avery is a very good friend of one Rachel Nicholson
(best friends in fact. Hmph! Whatever... I don't care... *sob*).

Rachel had been talking about getting Maxine in front of the camera for a while. For some reason, I think she was pretty reluctant (Maxine, not Rachel). Must have been the horror of me potentially getting her clothes off as that seems to be what I do lately, but I'm very glad she came 'round if that's the case.

I got Rachel's house in Reading on the 20th November and she was applying Maxine's make-up. Already very uncomfortable as Maxine applies make-up for a living and so having someone else doing it was making her a tad antsy. :D


Simon and I set up the gear, and he made me a big cup of tea. Always a good start to the day. Thanks Simon... Good old Simon.

This calls for more Simon: get a load of Simon!

www.simonamphlett.co.uk

Yay Simon.

(The word 'Simon' is now starting to look funny... have I spelt it right? S-I-M-O-N... :s)

So meanwhile, Maxine is looking very 70's, man. And I think she's thinking it's looking pretty groovy actually. Austin Powers would approve. Yeah Baby.

So here's the start of our first set on white.

Awesome make-up from Rachel. Again.

We agreed that the eyes looked extremely 'Cheryl Cole'.

(Go ahead, try covering up the bottom half, I'll wait)

Lovely shot here in black and white too (oh yes it is).

And then we got some props in!

We stole (correct, stole) Simon’s ‘Lonely Hearts Club Band’ Beatles picture and took it out of it’s solid black frame… (NB: Apparently it's Rachel's picture. Sheesh! Sor-REE!)

I loved these. They were potentially my favourite from the shoot.

Especially that one! ^

I think this one feels a bit ‘Twiggy’ in black and white.

I can’t put my finger on what it is though.

And we also pinched Simon's retro gee-tarr metal canvas… thing which also looked ace, I thought. (NB: Again, apparently Rachel's. Who knew?)

The effect on these wasn’t achieved with any clever lighting. Just a red tone using the Variations feature in Adobe Photoshop. Bam. Job done.

I thought this gave them a cool vintage styling.

Next set, we had Maxine’s jumpsuit which looked wicked. Really pretty.

Loved this outfit.

:D

 

And then finally, we went outside...

I love these so much though. She's a cutie.

So that was Maxine. Whilst stunningly gorgeous and with a figure made of win... she doesn’t seem to think that she is ‘modelling material’.


What do we think folks?

FacetNation: Jewellery by Amy Lee Hubbard

What is FacetNation?

If you haven’t heard of FacetNation, then let me enlighten you:

FacetNation is the place to go when you want contemporary, unique silver jewellery. It is all lovingly hand-crafted by the wonderful (and talented) Miss Amy Lee Hubbard. There are such fantastic designs as the ‘High’Tea’ collection, which is a vintage range inspired by doilies and include lots of lovely freshwater pearls. She is also a big fan of rough-cut gemstones, (Check out the ‘Amulet Range’ for these) which is a bonus for me. I like them. Yum yum. Plus, she has a rather unique fingerprint-inspired range which is really quite pretty!

All her designs are unique and are made completely, from start to finish, by Amy in her home workshop. This apparently includes hammering away at the silver for long periods of time for the purpose of shaping and even soaking her pieces in acid baths for a while in order to get that final etched design on there. Sheesh. George John Haigh, eat your heart out (not a serious suggestion, you crazy bugger).

Now then, obviously a shoot is involved somewhere along the line so I’ll stop playing hard to get. We arranged this shoot a couple of weeks ago and I went and collected a variety of FacetNation pieces from Amy on Wednesday evening (28^th Sept).

Our model today: the ever-popular Ceri Williams. Make-up: by the wonderfully talented Rachel Nicholson. A very exciting line-up. Got started almost right away (after playing with all the jewellery, ooh shiny), got the make up done, Rachel completed a horrendously difficult task of getting all Ceri's hair up into a teeny tiny bun and we got the music on.

And here’s what we got:

The latest: ‘High Tea’ Range

All made with etched sterling silver and freshwater pearls.

Made to size and finished to a professional standard with hallmarking and oxidisation.

Another hair and make-up change.
(kudos for Rach on the hair again aswell!? Is there no end to her talent?):

And then?

The ‘Amulet’ Range

All made with sterling silver and genuine uncut crystals and stones set in resin.

All equally stunning, made to size and customisable.

And another make up change (though this change and set was done before the Amulet range) Rachel again, did the hair and make-up whilst Little Miss Diva entertained herself on her phone rather than converse with the likes of us lowly workers:

Other popular pieces from FacetNation include:

Red Baroque Pearl and Garnet necklace

Caged Zoisite Necklace

Fingerprint Double Brooch

(not usually worn on head ;D)

This, I think, is a beautiful idea. Here is a double brooch that has actually been made using Amy’s ‘custom fingerprint’ design.

The idea of this is to have a bespoke keepsake item which contains a transfer of yours or your loved one’s fingerprint. Each and every piece unique and personal. You can have this on a brooch, a ring, necklace, earrings, etc. The possibilities are endless. (N.B. that could be a bit of hyperbole, right there… possibly not ‘endless’ maybe just extensive. :D )

So if you’ve like what you’ve seen here, why not check out FacetNation’s website here to get your own paws on some of this beautiful jewellery.

http://www.facetnation.co.uk/

AND!

Follow on Twitter @FacetNation where Amy let’s us know when she has any sale pieces or offers and when FacetNation can be seen in magazines and featured in competitions and exhibitions! Phew!

AND!

Come and have a look at the Facebook page! Always an easy way to keep an eye on your favourite smaller businesses! Don’t forget to hit ‘Like’!

http://www.facebook.com/FacetNationJewellery

Don’t forget also, it’s nearly Christmas. Why not order a custom piece for your Mum/Gran/Sister/Daughter/Auntie/Cousin/Friend/Cat? You could get your finger prints all over their jewellery (become a fashion accessory yourself in a way), order something vintage looking from the ‘High Tea’ range based on their favourite doily OR just get their favourite gemstone set into a silver pendant.

This is approximately how happy you could make them:

That's pretty happy.

 Don’t miss out.

Ceri Williams: Foxcub or Vixen?

Here she comes again.

Ceri Williams. Saturday 17th September.

Unfortunately, we had no Rachel today. She must have other friends or something... (boo, hiss).

Ceri arrived at 10am with her newly orange-red hair. We took a couple of shots, and then she went for her hairdressers appointment.

We wanted to get a variety of looks. To start off with we went for:

Something simple.

Something alternative.

Something edgy.

Something cute.

Something happy.

... and something relatable. :D

And then we broke out the hairdye for a change of feel. This time, a darker red.

It looked hot.

So we spiced it up a bit.

Oh yeaaah!

I ♥ these.

Especially that one ->

Anyway, the hair, I think, kicked it up a notch. We pretty much built a whole portfolio. We had:

Headshot:

Strong yet feminine:

Pure:

Pretty:

Elegant (another favourite):

Fun:

And hatful:

We had a great day all 'round. We had £30 worth of Domino's pizza, a wonderful cup of tea courtesy of Robin Gould, fight co-ordinator extraordinnaire and live music from the musical prodigy himself, Matt Evans.

Like this? Look out for our next shoot on the 1st October. Where The Nicholson will be present once again saving me the hassle of attempting make-up. Urgh.

Actually, speaking of Nicholson, if you find yourself at all fond of the artistic touch she has brought to the shoot table, please spare the time to visit her recently-created Facebook page and 'like' to show your support. Thanks.

Rachel Nicholson: Make-up Artist