Missing in Action...

So as some of you have noticed I've been MIA for a few months! Due to life in general getting in the road, travel and work I've had barely time to sleep let alone update you all on the new things I have been up to - I apologise! This will be a relatively long post as I want to try and catch up on some of what you have missed so far, but I'll try to keep it interesting! PROMISE!

Back in August I had a photoshoot with a beautiful little boy and his family. Iremide was three months old at the time of our shoot and gifted me with many beautiful smiles and funny faces. This little heartbreaker has stolen his parents hearts and had I stayed with them for much longer, mine would have been lost too!








In mid September I was privileged to have the job of Make-Up Artist for the lovely Nicole on her big day. It was a wild and windy day in Melbourne, but nothing could dampen this beautiful brides spirit! Looking gorgeous in a pale pink gown Nic and her 3 attendants made the groom's jaw drop open with surprise. A beautiful and heartfelt ceremony was had and the happy couple partied the night away.

Congrats to Nicole and Glenn!





On the 21st September I was lucky enough to be invited to do a promotional shoot with the lovely guys from Disenchanted Photography for the lovely ladies at Annette of Melbourne Bridal Couture. This shoot was a lot of fun, and a lot of hard work - if you can call playing with make-up and tens of thousands of dollars of couture bridal wear hard work!

Mario and Matt did a great job of setting the shoot up, the beautiful models Jenna and Deanna did wonderful jobs holding tricky poses, Fliq who did the beautiful hair and Rose designer and creator of the beautiful dresses went above and beyond to make sure our experience with her dresses was perfect. The resulting photo's are beautiful and fit for a magazine. I still can't believe how lucky I was to be invited along to join in! Thanks guys!





















After this session it was time to pack my bags and head to sunny Queensland where a lovely lady and a dear friend of mine, Melissa was to be married. Having been given the honour of making her bridal parties jewellery I set to making some of the most striking and quite challenging pieces I think I've made!

Being that this wedding was a long way from home, another dear friend Tina offered me a warm bed and a roof over my head whilst I was up there and so a huge thanks must go to her and her husband Rob who put up with our discussions about make-up (Tina is also a MUA and is based on the south side of Brisbane - any brides up that way who need a MUA, I cannot recommend her highly enough and yes I am shamelessly plugging her! http://www.tinamathams.com/default.html )

Mel looked gorgeous as every bride should, and after a beautiful ceremony we were all treated to a lovely dinner and a lovely celebratory party.

Congratulations Mel and Shane!









Whilst in Brisbane, I was lucky enough to be asked to do a maternity shoot for the incredibly pregnant Kelly to document this beautiful time. Her beautiful belly and adoring husband and her own sense of humour made this shoot a wonderful experience for me, and I hope that they can one day proudly show their new Baby Boy, Benjamin Lee how beautiful his Mummy was when she was pregnant with him.

Pregnancy is such a beautiful thing and I thank Kelly and Ian immensely for entrusting me with such a special photoshoot.

Congratulations!












After returning to Victoria, the rest of October was relatively quiet, but come November and it was full steam ahead!

November 2nd saw me turn the ripe old age of 24 - It was spent alone due to Dusty's work roster and mum being away, so I occupied myself by watching episodes of Trueblood and eating Pizza and Ice-cream - what else is one to eat when they are spending a birthday alone?!

Melbourne Cup day was the following day (long weekend!) and Dusty and I were lucky enough to have tickets to the race that stops the nation. Bets were put down and races were run - we must have done ok though because we came out with a bit more than we went in with! That's got to be a good sign!

Here's a few pics from the day.









On the 4th November I had a studio session booked with a Melbourne Band called Sugardoll. The lead singer (Nyssa) and guitarist (Travis) are two lovely people that I went to uni with and needed some promo shots for an upcoming gig. I was lucky enough to be asked to shoot them and did Nyssa's make-up too. We had fun, learnt some stuff, and just generally had a good time. Check them out here - http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/sugardollmusic?ref=ts



This blog is getting rather lengthy so I'll break it off here and finish it off with another installment tomorrow - who knew that life would get so darned busy! But truth be told, that is exactly the way I like it - I wouldn't and couldn't have it any other way!

Stay tuned!

Love and Light,

Melani

Nicoles Make-Up Trial

On the 29th of August, I was lucky enough to be invited to do a make-up trial for her upcoming wedding in March 2010.

Nicole is a beautiful woman with gorgeous eyes and wanted to follow a natural smokey eye with understated lips, a look that many brides go for and is timeless - definitely not an 80's tragic with electric blue eyeshadow gone wrong here!

Nicole has incredibly fair skin with very few blemishes - beautiful skin, and stunning to work on! I'll let the photo's do the talking though!

Before...



After...



Isn't she a stunner?? Would love to hear your thoughts as always!

Love and light,

Melani

www.blackcatsangel.com

It's been...

A long time since I updated this blog - poor form on my part but in my defence I've been FLAT OUT!

As you saw in my last post, I created a stunning head dress for my beautiful friend Chazitha for her wedding. Her big day was spectacular and everyone gave really positive feedback on the comb which made me so happy!

One of the things that always concerns me when I'm asked to "make something I'll love" is that my idea of something someone loves will be entirely different to their own idea, and that they won't love it at all!

Thankfully this has never happened, and I guess that that's because I try to build a friendly rapport with all my clients to make sure that they get what their heart desires and sometimes that means conversing with them many times before I get started, or asking them to show me pictures of what the like and what they love before getting started... This method hasn't failed me yet so I guess until it does I'll continue to use it!

SO, I guess you're all wondering how the beautiful bride recieved her hair piece... It went something along the lines of -

"SQUEAL!!!! OH MY GOSH IT'S SO PRETTY I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!"

My worst fears were laid to rest in about 300 decibels and 1 second of speech! Yay! She loved it, and for your patience, I will reward you with a couple of pics of her wearing it on the big day!






Congratulations to the happy couple! May your future be filled with love and joy!

What else has been keeping me away from blogging? Well, my wonderful partner Dusty whisked me on a well deserved holiday to Sydney and Newcastle where we caught up with friends and family. It had been a while since we went on a holiday where I didn't have to work so it was great to relax and just catch up with those I hadn't seen for an age!

I won't bore you with all the details, but I'll give you a quick rundown all the same!

I got to catch up with my dear friends Lil, her partner Andrew and Melinda for cake and champagne (a girls best friend aside from diamonds!) and we stayed with Matt and Claire who we hadn't seen since their wedding in October last year!

We then stayed one night in the lovely 5 star Sofitel Wentworth and might I just say, if you're looking for luxury and pampering, this is the place to go! Here's a picture of the view from our room...

The ground from level 15...



And up to the top of the Chifley Tower...



One of my fave areas of the hotel (other than the ever so comfy bed that I would have brought home if I could!) was the hotel lobby. There were these exquisite crystal chandeliers and flower arrangements that just took my breath away - they were amazing!

Chandelier...



Floral Centrepieces...






The following day we made our way to Newcastle where we met with my old friend from my university days Lauren, who showed us around the town, and took us to a lookout where we were swooped by paragliders and hang gliders and saw some of the landmarks Newcastle has...

The first glider that tried to swoop us...



Dusty and I about to be swooped again...



And another.....




We then went to Mereweather beach where Dusty encountered his first sea star which he promptly named Patrick!

Meet Patrick...






Pretty cool huh!? I thought so, and I think Dusty looks particularly cute in that last shot, but I might be biased!

Amongst the pretty star fish and other various bits and pieces, we found a few other bits and bobs too...

Another star fish...



A sea urchin...



Lauren's foot with baby star fish... can you spot the odd star out?

Soon after this last photo was taken, we decided that it was time to meet Dusty's cousin with whom we were staying the rest of our trip with, and so we headed off towards the car, where upon reaching higher ground we saw the following...



Can you see it?? Not the surfer silly! Look past him....



See it better now?? No?? Ok how about now?....



Yes folks, that's a dolphin! We were treated to a display by these beautiful creatures in the wild. Jumping and flipping and getting up to all sorts of shenanigans, it made for the perfect end to a great day! The surfer in the first photo had absolutely no idea that there was a pod of around 10 to 15 of these magical creatures, until they were practically beside him, I can't imagine what he was feeling when he realised!

So then we met up with Travis at Newcastle station and journeyed back to the beautiful Anna Bay where him and his lovely (and very pregnant!) wife Mell are lucky enough to live. it was just as beautiful as I remembered, and after waiting for Joel, Travis' little brother to arrive (he somehow managed to get lost on his way from Sydney and was rescued by Mell!) went to the local pub for some good food and good company.

Here I am trying to keep this blog short... I guess I knew it wasn't going to happen as did you I'm sure!

The next few days were spent with Mell and Trav, folding baby clothes (talk about making yourself clucky! Those clothes are so tiny!), cooking, shopping and enjoying the winter sunshine. Come the 17th August, Dusty and I were rested and relaxed, and wishing that our holiday didn't have to end, but like all good things it had to.

We got home and ended up sick (Poor Mell and Trav had been battling the flu a few days before we arrived and we managed to pick it up the day we left!) so a few extra days were added to our holiday and then it was back to work for both of us!

This blog is becoming a mammoth post, so I will put my recent jobs up seperately so I don't bore you all too much!

As always, if you are looking for any sort of portrait shoot, be it maternity, couple, family, glamour, wedding etc, please don't hesitate to contact me. This applies to make up for special occasions, and jewellery also!

Stay well, and enjoy the warmer months that are headed your way!

With love,

Melani,

BlackCatsAngel Designs

www.blackcatsangel.com