Monday, February 13, 2012

Boarding













I went for a super fun skate mission last night with a big group of friends. Finally getting some good use out of my longboard, and my boarding skills are imporving every time I go out! I love new challenges and new hobbies. Give things a go - you only live once!

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Hey Rupunzel









Feminine and glorious, well maintained long hair is an accessory in itself.

I've been growing my hair for coming up to a year now and it finally feels long - but I want it to be looonnnggg!

Monday, January 30, 2012

Tigertown

I love discovering new music.

Last weekend at Parachute Music Festival in Hamilton I was lucky enough to discover Australian band Tigertown.

You know an act is good when you've never heard them beofre, but by the end of their set you're running to the merch table to buy their EP - along with everyone else!

Tigertown have an mellow, indie sound, and their Native American/gypsy/hippy styling just rocks my world.

I'll let the images below tell the story - I'm sure you will love them as much as I do.










Head to Itunes to get their EP - trust me, it's worth it!


Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Beaute on Taranaki

Recently I spoke with Bianca-Rae Tustin, Business Manager at new Wellington beauty salon Beaute on Taranaki. The experience inspired me to take better care of my skin by investing in some new skincare products, and I am blown away by the difference it has made! Check out my piece on this new salon, published in Wellington Women Magazine, out now. If you take anything away from this article, let it be a desire to treat your skin with the tender loving care it deserves - you will not regret it.


Your skin is your body's largest organ, so it pays to take care of it. At newly launched salon Beauté on Taranaki, they make it their business to look after your skin and beauty needs.
Beauté on Taranaki is very central and easy to find (right next to Les Mills gym) and offers the whole package; from expert skincare to hair styling, massage, and waxing. This salon is a one stop shop for feeling beautiful head to toe.
Beauté opened on August 1st 2011 and is the second beauty business for owner Sian Adamson. The first, Beauté Skin Bar and Beauty Therapy Clinic in Dunedin, won Best New Business 2011/2012 at the New Zealand Beauty Indusry Awards in June this year. Sian, who trained as a pharmasist and owned her own pharmacy before opening Beauté, is based in Dunedin. Here in Wellington, Beauté Business Manager and Sian's niece Bianca-Rae Tustin takes care of business.
The team at Beauté on Taranaki are committed to continually improving in the areas of customer service and education so as to give every customer the best treatment possible.
“Cusomer service is really important to us,” Bianca explains.

“What we're wanting is a 5-star service.”

Sian and Bianca's vision for Beauté is that everyone would walk out feeling like a million dollars.

“We want our client's experience to be very warm and inviting, but also very professional. With us, someone can have their hair done, have a facial and get their makeup done and walk out feeling really beautiful.”

While offering a full range of services, Beauté's speciality has to be skincare.

“Our therapists are great at everything we offer at Beauté, but our forte is skin health. Each therapist has a wealth of knowledge to draw on about how the skin works and what would benefit it,” says Bianca.

Stocking a range of high end, beautiful products including Dermalogica, Beauté has also just brought skincare brand Environ on board.

“Environ is Vitamin A based, and if you're looking for something really results driven for your skin, it's the most amazing product. It can help from acne scarring to really dry, dehydrated skin,” explains Bianca.

When it comes to hair, Beauté is also top of their game, using excellent quality Kerastase, L'Oreal and INOA products to give the best results. All of Beauté's stylists have a wealth of experience and have been in the industry for a number of years.

One of the most popular hair requests is blonde coluring, Bianca explains; “our stylists do fantastic blondes. They have taken a lot of people from dark to blonde recently which is quite a process, but one they do so well.”

Something else Beauté do a lot of is weddings.

“With our weddings it's great as our salon is big enough to cater for the whole wedding party. We will block out time for them to all come in at once, and they can have the whole service,” says Bianca.

Beauté put on champagne and nibbles for their wedding parties as well; all part of the whole experience at their salon.

When it comes to beauty treatments, Beauté use organic, Fiji made brand Pure Fiji. The salon offers a Pure Fiji Experience, something quite different from other beauty clinics. Including a foot soak, foot scrub, lower leg massage and upper body massage, this is a beauiful treatment.

“And the product smells amazing,” Bianca smiles. “Anyone who smells Pure Fiji just falls in love with it.”

Sian, Bianca and the team have made sure that Beauté is accessible to everyone by offering some great specials and incentives, including the Beauté Student Club. If you're a part of the Student Club you can secure great deals on the most popular treatments at Beauté including $40 for a brazilian wax (normally $64), $40 for a spray tan (normally $59) and 15% off any hair colour service during certain times of the week.

“The Student Club has gone really well in Dunedin, obviously with a large population of students down there, so we thought we would offer the students the same thing here in Wellington,” says Bianca.

“It makes it affordable for them to come in and get the treatments that they're after.”

Specials aren't just for students though; if you're a new customer you can register on the Beauté website to receive $20 off your first service, and if you refer a friend to the salon you will receive $10 off your next visit. You can also sign up for a free 20 minute skin analysis valued at $49 where a beauty therapist will give you solutions for your skin care concerns such as dark circles around the eyes, dryness of skin, blackheads, skin sensitivity or even if you're just unsure of how to use certain products.

There are constantly other new specials and promotions happening at the salon which you can find out about on their website and Facebook page.

“Once you're a customer you can also register with our online booking service,” Bianca goes on to explain.

Conveniently, you can hop online and go through each day to see which stylists are available, check what your past treatments were or find something different, and book everything over the website.

“It means that if you haven't had a chance during the day to call us, you can sit down at night and just jump online and book,” Bianca says with a smile.

For a salon that only opened in August, Beauté on Taranaki has been growing very quickly.

“We've been having about 100 new customers a month,” says Bianca, “with an average of 700-800 customers per month in total.”

At Beauté on Taranaki you won't be treated like just another face in the crowd however; the team want you to leave their salon with that “wow” feeling, having had your requirement completely fulfilled. They are very confident in their services and provide a 100% money back guarantee, not just for services but products as well.

Written by Kelly Henderson.

Find out more at http://www.beaute.co.nz/wellington/ 

Party in the USA









My birthday's coming up next month and to stop myself from worrying about the awful age I'm turning (24!!) I've been thinking about party theme ideas. I think I've decided on a 'Party in the USA' theme - so many great dress up options! These photos have definately inspired me.

Sunday, December 11, 2011

A Modern Ritual

The new Summer issue of REMIX Magazine is out! Get yours today, and make sure you flick to page 80 for my piece on Wellington designer Hermione Flynn.


Haven't got your copy yet? Read the story below.

................................................................

As a designer who has always wanted her garments to be more than just items of clothing, it's no wonder Wellington based Hermione Flynn launched her latest collection through the medium of art.

In September Hermione kicked off her new Spring/Summer collection with a night of performance art, film, music and fashion at our captial city's prestigious fashion boutique, The Service Depot.

With a background in performance art and costume design for theatre and film, Hermione, who was one of the Westpac Young Designer's top 10 last year, has always wanted there to be an association of her garments with art.

“I want my customer to feel like they'e not just buying a garment, but an idea,” says Hermione.

“I'm interested in clothing as artisitc communication.”

Her new collection, entitled A MODERN RITUAL, was essentially inspired by the hoards of identically dressed business people Hermione observed while taking the bus down Lampton Quay in Wellington. To Hermione, the uniform 3-piece suit speaks of a 'modern ritual' in today's society; the monotony of the nine-to-five job and all that goes with it. As an artist she wanted to respond to the rules and structre seen in this uniform and do something completely different.

“When I decide to do something and commit to an idea then I'm full steam ahead,” Hermione laughs. And full steam ahead it definitely was for this launch. Having had the whole idea bubbling in her head for six months, it wasn't until five weeks before the show that Hermione told a friend about the idea - “she said 'you have to do this,' and so I did!”

Hermione's performance art piece was what she calls an “endurance performance installation” as the models involved are constantly active throughout the piece, which lasted for over two hours. The six models involved wore plain 3-piece suits and, throughout the course of the evening, coloured on each other with black ink and pens. The models moved organically and by the end of the night their once plain, structured suits had become the complete opposite. The performance took apart the modern ritual Hermione was first inspired by; bringing creativity to the ritualistic and spontanaeity to the monotonous.

The Service Depot was packed with people checking out the performance art and, of course, Hermione's beautiful garments.

From tailored pieces to wide leg trousers and voluminous capes, featuring beautiful fabrics, colour blocking and high necklines, the collection itself is charming.

Hermione also launched a fashion film on the night which has received a lot of online attention. Filmed and edited by Ryan Fielding, the film captures the essence of the performance art itself, which is exactly what Hermione was looking for.

How to translate how engaging the performance is in person onto film was Hermione's biggest question. But she didn't need to worry.

“Ryan recorded one of our practices and then he took it into his own hands and made it bigger and better than I had anticipated,” Hermione smiles.

To check out A MODERN RITUAL yourself head to http://www.hermioneflynn.com/ for the lookbook and to view the fashion film.

By Kelly Henderson

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Summer: Pixie Lott Style

Here in the Southern Hemisphere, today was the first official day of SUMMER! And what a beautiful, sunny day it was in our capital city Wellington.

As I've been dreaming of long summer days, the gorgeous Pixie Lott's style has been inspiring me. I love the way she teams cute summer dresses, shorts and playsuits with bright brogues and funky accessories. I know I will be taking inspiration from her playful and fun style this season.










Wednesday, November 30, 2011

lovely.lace


I am ever so sorry about the lack of posts of late! Things have been busy busy busy in my household with the birth of a new baby! Exciting times. However I am just as excited to share some new things with you.

At the moment I'm very into lace. It is so simple, elegant, classic, beautiful. So feast your eyes upon these lovely lace gems.