Valentines Day and Lots of Snow

In my years as a hairdresser and my years in my business I have had Fourth of July Brides, Labor Day Brides, New Years Brides but I had yet to have Valentine's Day, the day of love, bride. This year I was introduced to Michelle, a bride who got engaged over the holidays and her and her fiancé decided to get married sooner than later, just because!  Beatriz Bryan Jarvis, a makeup artist I met this winter introduced us and I was excited to have my first wedding of the year. In the approximate five or six weeks of planning Michelle was able to get a beautiful fitted lace dress and simple fingertip veil. During our trial we had decided on a side swept pony with lots of volume at the crown but on the day of the wedding a last minute decision had us doing old Hollywood curls.
Did I mention that the day before we had a huge snow storm? It may have been difficult for guests to get there but it made a beautiful backdrop for their photos taken by Hillary Dubie.

Beautiful makeup by Beatriz Jarvis Vermont Makeup Artist as well as photo credit!

Perfect Burlington Fall Wedding

My wedding season was winding down when I received an email for an October wedding. It was the first weekend in October, a weekend I am occupied with a theatre production for Girls Nite Out Productions. This is my fourth season with GNO and I was happy to be at the Black Box theater on the waterfront once again.  Anyway, back to the wedding... Katherine was getting married down at the Intervale in Burlington and it was a small wedding party, just her and a maid of honor. Since I was in Burlington already I knew it would be no problem to take care of her wedding party and still make it to my call time at the theatre.
Every season since I started Finishing Touch I usually cross paths with Cynthea of Cynthea's Spa. This season though I had yet to do a single wedding with my former boss.  Katherine's wedding would be where we would finally get to work together this season and a bonus was that neither of us had to travel anywhere!!! We took care of Katherine and her party (Mom and MOH) right at Cynthea's Spa.
A couple weeks before her wedding Cynthea and I were able to do her trial run. Again at the spa we put a look together that would fit Katherine and her wedding day.
Katherine was proposed to just after she cut off 6 or 7 inches of her hair leaving it above her shoulders and since they put together the wedding quickly due to her father being ill there was no way her hair would grow much. Initially she wanted me to get her hair up in some sort of up style. I certainly could get her hair up but it had to be in a very sleek manner a look that would not suit the look of Katherine's wedding. I took her hair down and did a side sweep on one side and her eyes just shined. It is kind of incredible to see a bride just light up when you (the stylist) get it right. Everything seems to just fall in to place after that moment.

On the wedding day both Cynthea and I took care of everyone then I had the pleasure to meet up with the bride a little later at Hotel Vermont, a beautiful new modern hotel in Burlington, to put the flower piece in her hair after she was in her beautiful dress!

Here are some pictures  and if you want to see more check out Anne Skidmore Photography's blog here:

New People, New Experiences

In this past year a lot has happened for me, both professionally as well as personally. In January I became an auntie and in May I received my MAT in Education. Within my hair and makeup artistry I had the great opportunity to design looks to go along with vintage couture gowns for a photo exhibit. During that experience I met Hannah Kirkpatrick, an amazing woman who was preparing to compete in the Mrs. Vermont competition. In our first encounter I did her hair and makeup for her professional head shots and in that same day she was a model for one of the couture gowns.  After this energetic and fun day I didn't really expect to cross her path too much, boy was I wrong.
The beautiful thing about Vermont and more specifically the Burlington area is that when you meet someone new they usually know at least one other person that you already know, making networking pretty amazing.  Being a past employee of Cynthea's Spa means I get called in on occasion when they need help and this past September I happened to get one of those calls. Cynthea needed me to help out doing some makeup for the Strut Fashion show, an annual fashion show during the Burlington Art Hop. When I got set up and ready to go the lovely lady that showed up to get her makeup done was no other than the crowned Mrs. Vermont, Hannah Kirkpatrick, the first ever Vermonter to be in the top 15 of the Mrs. America Pageant.
After this reconnection Hannah was lovely enough to ask me to do hair and makeup for her on a couple occasions and I couldn't be more excited to be part of her year as the reigning Mrs. Vermont 2013. Check out more about her amazing story here.

A Beautiful Vermont Fall Wedding

Here are some photos from Mark and Dani's wedding last fall. There wedding was held at Riverside Farm in Pittsfield, Vermont. I absolutely love this venue it completely screams Vermont no matter what time of year it was. Dani's niece (one of her flower girls) was also celebrating her birthday. What an awesome way to celebrate your birthday. Both of her flower girls were absolutely adorable. Mark and Dani had beautiful weather for a beautiful wedding. 

   The Birthday Girl

 Such a Happy Bride

Perfection

A St. Patty's Day Wedding

A couple of weeks ago I was able to help a bride last minute. Beth called me the last week of February in a slight panic, her hairdresser had to cancel on her and her wedding was just in a couple of weeks. It being Vermont, in the winter means I really don't have too many weddings going on so I was able to help her out.  A St. Patty's Day wedding, honestly I didn't realize it was St. Patricks day until the day of the wedding. It was a 70 degree day on the top of Bolton. It was absolutely beautiful on a day they expected to be a normal winter day. Due to the short notice I never got the chance to have a trial with Beth so all and all we were going to wing it the day of which brings a little extra stress but everything came together and she looked beautiful even skiing down a mountain! Thanks to Artifact Images for the great photos.
Here is a link to there site as well as their blog that has more photos from Beth's wedding.
http://artifactimagesnh.com/

Influence of Makeup

This past weekend I had the great opportunity to take a long weekend in NYC. My friends and I decided to go the MoMA (Modern Museum of Art) The great building which houses amazing pieces by Monet, Picasso, Modigliani, and Van Gogh. I was very excited to see these great works but I also realized that there were many pieces that dealt with beauty. Specifically Americas view on beauty. Here are a couple of pieces that caught my eye.