The News Page 4
1st May - 30th August 2006
Saturday 3rd June
After the photo shoot at the end of April, I went a few weeks without actually going out, there were a number of reasons for this most of which I don’t want to go into my website.
Having resolved everything it was then time to get out again, and the first available night I could get out was also the first Saturday of the month which meant is was a Transmission night. I spoke to Jodie and as she had a few gurls also going out I decided to join up with them. Although she did not have many gurls I was still in my traditional position of first person to made up, after which I had a lot of time to sit down and chat to Ashley, Michaela and Jodie.
Once the long process of getting Michaela was completed it was time for us to get into a taxi and go to Transmission, I don’t know if it’s the presence of a bunch of trannies in a cab, but we never get a driver who knows where he is going. Eventually our guy with directions from us managed to get us Transmission, via various parts of central London which I had not seen before. It has been many months since my last visit and I was looking forward to seeing if the club had changed it that time, I was a little surprised by the amount of people in the Club maybe as its summer or in the middle of the World Cup but it did not appear to be very busy. I think all of were a little disappointed about the lack of people there and after an hour of mainly talking we decided to move on to the Way Out Club.
The Way Out club was a lot busier, but it was a strange night as we spent most of the time just sitting about talking, I think I had my longest ever conversation with Michaela. We sat about talking until the club closed at 4am and then it was time to return to the Boudoir before heading home.
Sunday 25th June Mac at Covent Garden
Most of my make up lessons over the year’s have been with either Nas or Jodie, and I therefore decided it was time to try something slightly different. Having spoken to a few of the gurls I decided to book a make up lesson with Mac at their Covent Garden shop.
As Mac is very popular make up lessons need to be booked a few months in advance, and my lesson was booked up without reference to my world cup wall chart and my lesson clashed with England’s match against Ecuador. Although my lesson was for 11 o’clock Covent Garden was still very busy and went I went to the shop the previous appointment had slightly overrun and I therefore had a few minutes to wander around the shops.
When I eventually went into the Mac shop I was a little surprised that my make up lesson was taking place in the middle of the shop, so I was able to be seen by everyone who came into the shop. I had a conversation with the guy who was going to be doing my make up and showed him some of my pictures and we discussed what I wanted out of the lesson. I have used Mac products before but never used their foundation, the guy showed me a tip where you use red lipstick under the foundation to take away the colour of any beard growth (but I don’t think it worked).
We also worked on the other areas that I have trouble with namely eyeliner, lip liner and bronzing. The guy was very good and let me try various different products and brushes and again he gave some useful tips. At the end of the lesson you are offered the chance to buy the products and brushes that you used in the lesson, and they do try and push you a bit into buying everything, but overall I thought the lesson was good they are very helpful and it’s well worth a try.
Monday 7th August Lunch with Nas
It’s been a while since I went out with Nas and we both decided it was time to go out and have lunch together, our original idea had been to go to Selfridges, but on the day Nas suggested the Blue Bird Café which is in Kings Road.
A few days before the trip I realised that I was lacking in casual clothes and so our plan was to go shopping early in the morning buy a casual dress and then go for lunch, but when I woke up in the morning it was chucking it down with rain and it kept it up whilst I was driving to Nas’s house, we therefore decided that we would both go out in Jeans instead.
It’s been a while since I went out dressed in town and was lacking in a bit of confidence so I asked Nas if she would do my make up for me, also her daughter in law was there to help do my hair. Also there were her two grand children and I’m not sure what they made of me sitting being made up and then having my hair done.
Eventually we were ready to leave and luckily by this time it had actually stopped raining. Using navigational skills that would make a Tom Tom proud Nas got us to Kings Road and avoided the congestion charge at the same time(I sure she must have been a cabbie in a former life). We managed to find a parking space fairly close to the restaurant and after a few problems with the parking meter we were ready to go inside to eat.
There were two sections to the restaurant, but we decided to go inside as we were unsure as to when the rain would start again. It was surprisingly empty inside with only two other tables being occupied. The waitress was very good and gave us plenty of time to read the extensive menu, I think we both decided to give the starters a miss and go for the main meal and desert option. I tried to be ladylike in my selection of fishcakes, lemon mousse and a glass of white wine, and Nas went for a burger with chips and a chocolate mousse. The food was very nice and whilst we chatted away putting the world to rights and talking about dresses, shoes and bags we also spent a lot of time looking out of the window commenting on the various people walking past. We had a great time with the 60’s hippie woman crossing the road and the mums to be club all eating their burgers below us.
After we had finished the meal Nas took a few photos and then asked the waitress to take a couple of us, unfortunately they were not our best pictures so nothing to show here.
Wednesday 16th August: Photo Shoot for Magazine
Nas rang me at work and asked me whether I would be interested in doing a photo shoot for a local magazine, she gave me the telephone number of Aneliese who works for the magazine and would be in charge of the shoot. I gave her a call to find out some more details. She explained to me that the magazine was called The local Magazine and it came out once a month in West Essex, each month there was a make over slot where Aneliese did a clothes and make over on the chosen person and they decided that doing a TV would be a good idea.
Aneliese explained that the person chosen for the makeover usually had three different outfits in the shoot and that she went out to the local shops to borrow clothes for the shoot. The photo shoot was planned for the following week at her house and that I would be having my hair done at a local salon.
I managed to book a half day off work on the day of the shoot and met Aneliese outside the Hair Salon. We sat with the stylist and Aneliese explained the look that we were trying to achieve and then left me in the hands of the stylist. After the styling was completed I sat and waited for Aneliese to return and we then set off to her house, to await the arrival of Nas and the photographer.
Nas was the next to arrive and so she set about doing my make up, Aneliese had already decided that she wanted a more softer day look. Based on the instructions given Nas did the usual foundation, but used a lot more neutral colours around my eyes, cheeks and lips.
The photographer and the editor of the magazine then turned up and it was time for me to change into my first outfit, this was ¾ length white skinny jeans, with an animal print top, my own leopard print shoes and a cowboy hat which Aneliese had obtained at the local charity shop. The pose chosen for the first set of clothes was standing by the French windows in Aneliese’s house.
The second outfit did not need much of a change, I kept the white trousers on and went to an electric blue top. She decided that I was not going to be wearing any shoes in this one, and and this time was sitting on the floor with my feet curled around me. I was a bit more relaxed by now and sitting down appeared to be an easier pose for me, and I think
The final outfit was a vintage dress, which was from Aneliese’s own collection, we finally agreed on a ¾ length silver bearded number, these shots were done sitting down in a chair in front of Aneliese’s ornaments, I had put on my gold sandals, and we also went for some sparkly jewellery. The photographer decided that she wanted to do a close up for this outfit so a lot of the pictures were tight in on my face.
Eventually the four of them were happy with the pictures and I was able to take the coat hanger out of my mouth and regretfully slip out of the beaded dress, take my make up off, slip back into guy mode and sit back and wait for a copy of the magazine to hit my doorstep.
Thursday 17th August
Just like buses, you wait months to do a photo shoot and then you get two on consecutive days. This shoot was again going to be with Nas and a friend of hers called Clarke.
Nas gave me directions as where I had to meet them in the evening, but unfortunately Nas’s directions were somewhat out, after walking up and down Charlotte Street for about 10 minutes and making a few phone calls to Nas I eventually found the hairdressers and I met Brian who was going to be doing my hair and was going to be taking some of the pictures.
Once she arrived Nas got on with my make up, I was allowed to have the occasional input on eye colour and lip colour, but left the rest to her. After we had finished the make up we looked at the clothes and decided in which order we were going to do the looks, by this time the guys had got all the cameras set up.
My first outfit was a short black skirt, with this I had a black v neck top, together with my black roman type sandals and a wide belt around my waist. We started off with Brian behind the camera and he told me to be as 
moody or smiley as I wanted to be, which was great with me. It was then Clarke’s turn to take the pictures and he wanted to create a different look he wanted the feeling of movement, so whilst he was taking the pictures Brian was standing close to me just out of shot with a hairdryer aimed at my hair so it created the desired movement.
The second outfit was a ¾ length brown dress with flowers on it, teamed up with chocolate brown suede shoes, and some different jewellery. Whilst I was getting changed Brian and Clarke had nipped out to the pub close by and had came back with drinks for us all, I kept with my ladylike image and went for a glass of red wine rather than a pint . We actually used the wine glass in some of the shots. By this time I was getting used to the poses the guys were looking for and was able to adapt a lot easier, although it was interesting to watch there contrasting styles from my side of the camera.
The final outfit was a grey/blue top with jeans and leopard print shoes, Clarke and Brian decided that they wanted to take these pictures up against the wall.
The first few pictures were taken standing up or leaning against the wall, but the guys decided that they wanted to try something different and so they got me to sit on the stairs.This made it much easier for me to pose and I was finally able to relax more and the guys were able to get some really good shots.
After these shots were finished we had a quick drink before it was time to start packing away my clothes and change back into my suit for the drive home.Nas had driven into town and she gave me a lift back to Clarke’s house who agreed to drop this sleepy girl home.