I am one of the luckiest people I know.

Really!

A few years ago, I was living vicariously through my children’s lives rather than taking action in my OWN life.

And now I get to live out my dreams! Seriously, everybody should be able to say that.

This past week I was lucky enough to participate in a creative photo-shoot at Maximus Spa and Salon in Carle Place, NY. I started working at Maximus , fresh out of Cosmetology School, a little over a year ago. Since then, I have been aggressively and systematically learning everything I possibly can. I’m rather relentless and I can be incredibly hard on myself when I’m not progressing as quickly as I believe I should. So, when the opportunity for the assistants to create and execute their own ideas AND have them photographed… I began to PLAN.

And obsess.

Oh….I’m a neurotic planner.

I quickly came to realize, I had far too many ideas in this noggin of mine so instead of looking for one model, I asked two fabulous co-workers (Janine and Alana) to be my models. Sweet as they are beautiful, they were incredibly easy to work with and willing to vamp up the looks I wanted to create.

Janine had more hair than you can possibly imagine! The concept of the night was “1940s”. I love that time period but wanted to bring a modern translation. I did a set, spraying each section with Chi Iron Guard, with a 3/4 inch marcel iron, one inch subsections, rolling down and the front section used a 1 1/4 inch marcel for volume to accomplish a smooth side victory roll. Once everything cooled, we released the curls, shook them out, did a light tease at the root, then “rouched” the hair by taking small pieces of the hair, holdin a small piece of the end of the curl and pushing and gathering upward to create a full undefined curl. The picture above is one of my co-workers and the owner of the salon helping mt get this done since. In all honesty, I think they were having fun. LOL!

My second look was Alana. She had recently cut her hair above the shoulder and dyed a panel on the side a bright red. He head is also shaved on one side of her head. I went into a little bit of a panic when she cut her hair because I had something in mind that need a few extra inches in top but I was not going to be detered! As Tim Gunn loves to say…”Make it work!”

She has incredibly dense hair, even with one side shaved off, so I sectioned off the top horse-shoe section for my victory roll. I added some extensions for length, from the nape , in one inch subsections, up to the occipital (that rounded area on the back of your head) I then, did a french braid, incorporating the extensions, from the side, around the back, then switched to a fishtail braid at the tail. I pulled it apart at the tail to create some volume. Finally, I gently molded and pinned the top into a modern day victory roll.

The photographer was a great guy, incredibly professional. His name is Rich E. Miller and I would work with him any day of the week. If you want to see some of his work, you can check him out on Google + here: Rich E. Miller page. I’m excited to see what he puts up (all the pictures on here are cell phones or quick shots by co-workers). And if you are interested in seeing other styles that were done at the shoot, you can pop over here to see some behind the scene shots.

So…..the rest of the pics are of my evening working with the photographer. I have to admit, if I was to do it all over again, I think I would’ve worn something cuter and redid my makeup. LOL! I look washed out!

Last, but not least, I want to thank Aida Vokshi, the INCREDIBLE make-up artist (and hair stylist!) for listening to me obsess over the look for my models and helping me come up with a concept for the makeup and executing it with precision. You are BRILLIANT! Also, Jaclyn Chan (aka Jackie) and Richard Calcasola for the support, gentle guidance and room that we needed to challenge ourselves. It was an incredible experience that I can’t wait to repeat.

BY the way, I’ll be posting a vlog about my experience on Youtube. If you haven’t subscribed to my channel yet, please check it out!