Last night I received an SMS from JCM asking if I could make it for a photoshoot today. I'd slept late because the boy came over plus I had an 8am class this morning, so I was really tempted to just say no. But the very glaring fact that if I didn't go today I'd have to go another day anyway resulted in a grudging yes.

Thankfully, it turned out to be quite fun and I enjoyed myself, so I'm quite glad I went after all. This is actually for my composite card as well as next year's JCM calendar so it being a company thing, I'm not getting paid at all. It's a good thing then that the makeup, hair, and photography were all great so I felt more pleased than exploited.

The hair was an initial disaster - the people from Tamaris Salon (Capitol Building) totally screwed up my hair. The instructions were for a wavy, rumpled hairstyle, with some volume at the crown. Instead of using curling tongs on my rebonded hair, they scrunched my hair using mousse and expected the waves to stay. Then they proceeded to backcomb and tease my hair in a futile attempt to achieve bedroom hair. My hair looked like shit.

Luckily Renee was around to execute some damage control. She pinned and clipped and teased and styled until I had something that looked ten times better. It was still the same wild poofball hair rather than the tousled look that I was supposed to have, but at least now it looked intentional rather than waves gone wrong.

Renee did my makeup too, and I loved it so much that I had to take pictures for future reference. The only thing I didn't like was the foundation - it was at least one shade too light. But the eyes! They were amazing. You can't really tell from the pictures, but using a black liquid eyeliner, she drew on spidery strokes extending from my lashlines. It looked rather like lashes and I thought it did wonders to open up my eyes. She lined my lower lashline slate blue and ran it over with a glitter pencil. The lids were contoured with shades of gold and brown, followed by thick coats of mascara for the lashes.

I took these pictures only when I got back so the makeup had worn off a little. The lips were supposed to be a shimmery golden peach, but of course you can't see from here. And my hair had drooped like a wilted flower so I'll have to wait for my photoshoot pictures to come in to show what the hair really looked like. Anyway, here goes:


We were lucky to be working with Willy, who does a lot of shoots for JCM. I didn't know until I saw him at JCM that he was our photographer for the day. I first read about him from Priscilla, who (quite rightly) raved about his photography skills. He's a big meanie though, that Willy - he says things like "Ok let's try a back shot" and then "No please turn around, it looks terrible". And then he'll go on about stretch marks and other physical flaws. TSK! But it was all said in an objective manner so while I could only shake my head at how politically incorrect this man could be, I wasn't offended at all. He actually seemed to be a nice guy - and yes, cute too, but rather too short.

Anyway, I've come to the conclusion that I seriously suck at this photoshoot business. I'm far too conscious of the camera to just relax and be spontaneous. I think Willy was left frustrated by how many good shots he'd missed because I just froze in front of the camera. Maybe I should practise my smiles. But I do so hate posing! :(

ying @ 9:28 PM

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