The sun shone today and was filled with lots of laughter and fun! I was shooting today with Rachel Spivey. Nope I wasn’t modelling I was the make-up artist. Veronica Kupcake was our model and we were showcasing a new range of jewellery for a lady called Anita Davis. Anita is best known for her beautiful mosaic work but she’s now set up her hand made jewellery business. Her new site will be up soon!

We had a lot of different pieces to shoot today but boy what a shoot! The shoot was at one of the most beautiful houses I’d ever seen, here in my home town of Leamington Spa. It fitted perfectly with the elegance of the jewellery plus our model who is quite the demure pin-up.

The first shot was a clean make-up look and after Rachel shot a few pictures I was like, ‘hang on, something is not right.’ The loose powder was a tad too yellow on Veronica’s skin,  which at first non of us spotted in the light and sometimes the oil in people’s skin can turn the colour of a foundation or powder. However once I mentioned it and we looked at the pictures we all agreed it needed correcting.  It took two minutes to do and I was really glad I said something because the make-up worked so well after that. I suppose the reason why I mention it is because sometimes even professionals have to admit if something is not right with their work and change it.

Never be too proud to admit something can be made better.

The looks went up a notch with more and more adventure in regards to the make-up. We did one set which  I won’t go into too much detail on but suffice to say it shouted pure bygone elegance.

I was so proud of all of us. We truly worked as a team! That is what it’s all about. Team work!

I think in regards to make-up I pretty much did clean, classy, smoky, vixen and then Showgirl. Not bad for a days shooting.

I’m excited for Anita – this is an extension of her business and she’s just learning about all the possibilities with networking online with twitter and Facebook. You can follow her here. Help her get used to the place I know you’ll love her work when you see it!!

Tomorrow…

I have to finally get to some  questions together for another spotlight interview! I think you’ll love it just as much as the Sakina / Saks In The City one, and then tomorrow evening (Ms Kimmoy (The Curvy Coach) and I have a meeting to discuss plans for a rather special feature on her site!!  I hope you’ll bookmark her site and check it regularly. She remains one of my favourite people to connect with – because she’s smart (oh and also a real hoot too!)

I bid you all a peaceful and fabulous Sunday. Wherever you are in the world may you spend the day relaxed and stress free!

V x

P.S I received another award but will do a post about it during the week.

Update: Here’s a sneak peak Rachel posted today (Sunday) of one of the shots from the photoshoot this posts talks about. I think we can say, elegant and beautiful. http://twitpic.com/1if36c

Just to update you all and let you know I’m officially back on YouTube posting my beauty advice.
It has been a while since I posted my series on basic make-up for the evening, with Mallory which was shot with the help of the fabulous and patient Jay, whilst we were in Vegas last year.

I look tired in those videos! That’s because the whole thing was rather last minute and we were rushing to go to a formal dinner. But people seemed to like them and I had a lot of emails about doing more.

I had huge issues with YouTube and my video editing software though. I’m happy to say, touch wood, all is well now.

My channel is really aimed at the lady or teen who’s trying to understand the basics of make-up and skincare. There are tons of make-up tutorials on YouTube and they are great, but I know for sure there are many women who just need to get confident with make-up, learn some tricks, and/or understand how skincare works.

I’ve been in the business on and off for well over 10 years. I still have to second guess if this or that product will suit my skin or should I really buy that canary yellow eyeshadow, lol. You know it’s all about fun and learning.

A few months ago I had a HUGE breakout because I went through a food detox and exercise regime and oh boy! I thought I knew everything, but turning 35 and having a huge breakout the likes I’d never seen before made me re-address my whole beauty regime. I’ve learned lots of new things about new products- because beauty is ever changing. But ultimately I knew I had to go back to basics with everything!

I hope the channel gives you something interesting to think about.

For the first few videos I talk about brushes. It doesn’t seem very interesting to some but they are good to invest in and there is a big difference between cheap ones and more expensive ones as you’ll see.

You can subscribe to my channel by clicking here.

In the next few videos we’ll break down skin types and the best ways to care for each skin type. I’ll also show you what I use currently which is actually another back-to-basic rule in dealing with a certain problem that troubles most of us at some point or other!

Thanks for visiting and let me know if there is anything you’d like to see me talk about, demonstrate or review!

V x

Hello Vansters!

I feel like I haven’t really done a personal post in about a week. I don’t count posting new gigs a personal post although this one stems from getting out there and pavement stomping in order to realise my goals.

What’s a gal to do with lots of strings to her bow? I do a lot of things but I’ve realised recently I need to concentrate on two of those things specifically in order to give them time to ferment, grow, and thrive.

So today I’ve solely been concentrating on my make-up artistry and trying to get new clients interested in working with me and also gaining a top end make-up brand to provide me with products so I can in effect sell it to them. As any make-up artist knows products are expensive and the amount I carry in my kit are very costly to replace.

My first pitch today was with a local boutique that specialises in second hand designer clothes. My pitch was simple. You let me do make-overs in your shop that will give a lady buying your clothes the experience of seeing the finished look. A % will be taken off my fee to go towards a garment she chooses. It’s not a huge money maker but I want to build my client base in my town and this boutique not only has stunning designer outfits but also has the right clientele I want to attract.

The owner was very excited about the idea and said she had often toyed with the idea of getting a make-up artist in to do just what I proposed.

There was also a reason why I chose her above many other boutiques. Over the past 18 months many fashion businesses (in fact any business) has struggled to stay afloat due to the economic climate.  Her’s hasn’t and I know why. She has consistently been excelling in her customer service. She spends a lot of time with people (I know because I’ve seen it.) She’s almost like a personal stylist and with the clients she deals with –  this is invaluable to them. She doesn’t just hand clothes into the dressing booth to let the client get on with it – she does in fact take great care in dressing the lady and recommends colours and styles to suit the lady.  This is another reason why she never gets returns!

I showed her my mock up of the leaflet I designed which she really loved also. Tomorrow I’m going in to do a demo for her so she can see exactly how I work – and we can swap ideas on how to make the make-overs and style days successful.

My next pitch…

I’d been planning to approach this rather well known beauty company for a while and I’d made up a pitch brief for them to look through. Today I got (by surprise) the opportunity to meet up with one of the area managers from this company who was visiting the town. Two things came to my head: A) Oh heck I should have printed that brief and carried it with me and B) why won’t the brief show up on my iPhone. I had to think fast and try and pitch the best I could.

Pitching face to face is always difficult – even for a season gift of the gab gal like me. You want to remember the key points and not ramble on too much. So I just hit her with it. Her eyes were fixed dead on me throughout the whole thing and at the end she said, ‘WOW, that seems like a great idea.’ I added a few more bonuses at the end just to cement in her mind that my idea was going to work for her company too.

‘I’m really interested,’ she said, ‘but print me out a brief  to take to head office next week.’
‘Consider it done,’ I replied.

We ended the meeting with smiles and excitement. Of course head office could turn around and say no, which is cool. I’ll just approached another company. In the end it’s all good experience.

I think what I’m trying to convey in this post is that as someone who is creative I understand the importance of doing something I enjoy and getting paid for it – but there is also a point when you have to get out there and network and join forces with others in order to get more work or get things you need for your work to be seen by the majority.

Working this way makes the possibilities of achieving your goals endless!

V x

My interview with the Northampton Chronicle appeared last Saturday and thank you so much to 100perecentpeople.com for their involvement also and for helping with getting a copy.
You will need to click on each picture to actually read it. (once opened in a new window hover your mouse over and click to make the image larger)

In it I contribute to the discussion of having a more balanced view of being fuller figured, acceptance of fuller figured women in mainstream fashion and the effects of seeing slimmer women represent fashion and positivity on and on going basis.
V x

http://www.100percentpeople.com

Many thanks to

Anna Brosnan

Features Editor

Northampton Chronicle & Echo

Right Muffins – this is the deal. I blog you read. But what I’m about to write may give you nightmares. Please be forewarned before you continue.

You’re still here I see. *cough* okay. Here goes.

Last Saturday I was at work, in the office as you do. Just dropping off some account paper work when from the corner of my eye I could see the Big Boss and other managers huddled in a group looking quite concerned.

It seemed Santa had not turned up to entertain the children in the newly formed grotto/dressed up park bench which had recently been erected by the fragrance hall and with only a few hours to spare they were tearing their hair out thinking of anyone who had the relevant police checks (due to being in contact with children these checks are advised) that could wear the outfit and shout, ‘ho, ho, ho!’

Me and my big mouth! Of course I said I had a police check – meaning I am able to work with children. I didn’t know when I mentioned this what the situation with Santa was but I soon found out as I had a white wig, beard and scary red suit thrust upon me.

Laughter ensued – lots of it.

I just tried my best to see it as an acting gig. Que me getting into character. I figured Santa is like way old – so a dip in posture was needed and possibly a limp as well. You never know, he could have been a war veteran or something.

With walk perfected I had to get my voice correct. One of the managers went through a roll play scenario.

It’s not easy when another adult is trying to be a seven year old and you’re dressed as Santa. I mean, its wrong on so many levels I can’t even say. Plus I’m a woman and I’m trying to act like an old man. It was like Tootsie but in reverse.

With sacks full of toys I proceeded (with the Big Boss’s help) down stairs where my throng of young fans awaited. Or not as the case may be. We thought there would be a line of children waiting excitedly but alas there wasn’t.

Two and half hours later…

I’d had people coming up to me to pinch me on the nose to see if I was real. Adults argue that I was an robotic Santa. Kids have their picture taken with me and some of them trying to hug me to death (a cunning plan to sweeten Santa up for Christmas Eve I would imagine).

During the spell of sitting down on the park bench (decorated with fake snow and teddy bears) I nearly nodded off to sleep. Possibly why some people thought I was wasn’t real.

Lots of staff come up to me to laugh their la-la’s off …and also tell me I was a mighty good sport.

All in all it was quite a spectacle but I could never say I was a performer if I didn’t rise to a acting challenge such as this.

Unfortunately no visual record of me as Santa is available (unless I send out a message in the local paper for parents to come forward with their pictures of me and their children – not the best plan). Our Big Boss did have one picture on her phone but that was stolen when she went out for the evening. In a way I’m sad about that. I have no idea how stupid I looked.

The verdict was that I gave a good performance as Santa – possibly comparative of Dan Ackroyd in Trading Places…

Merry Christmas,

V x

Hello Vansters!

I hope you are all well. I’ve been blogging a lot about other people recently and I think it’s time I blogged more about me again and what I’m up to.

My life in general has been very full of late. I’ve enjoyed having my son home for the summer and spending some quality time with him. I will be very upset to see him go back to boarding again. His end of year report was very good, and I know he’s getting a very good education. I just wish I could have found the same great teacher-student-respect work ethic in a state school. Not all British state schools suck, but many do. Too many children and not enough teachers to actually teach – instead the government has them pushing paper around. Oh well.

He is very happy. That’s the most important thing. Being a single Mother is both tiring, rewarding and heart breaking. Those who are single parents will know. You have to be mother and father and also to some degree – the best understanding person/friend to your child (children).

Yesterday I fell asleep reading my tropical fish magazines and woke up to find my son perched in a ball on the rim of the sofa. Balanced like a cat. He was fast asleep. I woke him up to ask what he was doing in such a weird place. He said, ‘I came in to play on the Xbox, then saw you asleep so I sat on the sofa to stroke your hair and I must have fallen asleep.’
I don’t think I will ever have that kind unconditional love in anyone else in my life. What a treasure. He drives me nuts sometimes with his teen ways but really he’s a gem.

I have only really just started to talk more about him in these blogs and twitter. I wanted to protect him as much as possible. But now I find he’s very interested in my life and wants to be a part of my public projects. So on Saturday we began shooting some footage for my new show. He loves filming and being filmed. He’s very much a natural public speaker. The footage he shot yesterday was hilarious. I showed it to Drew at Curve Network. It was like something out of an action film. Funny. My son maintains he did not have the equipment needed to produce. HA!!!! Get him. He’s thinks he’s Tarrantino but without the blood, violence and gore!

I have to tell you about this because as you know I had planned to do CURVE-V show for the CURVE Network, however after watching what I’d done and discussing it with the Curvy TV team I decided to completely change the format of my show. Sometimes you do these things and you have to just let them settle and see if they work. I found that my format was just not popping my cork as much as I thought it would. I’m very much for open experimentation. Plus it the whole thing didn’t stretch me to any limit. I was just talking about the same old shit I always do, or I think people want to here. This time I’m talking about something I feel interested in and also what I have no clue about – I mean really it’s either going to be a car wreck or something amazing – possibly both.

Is it about size acceptance? No

Is it about beauty? No

Is it about fashion? No

Is it about modelling? No

It is something I’ve never done before and people will laugh. They are laughing now. I will let them. In fact my neighbours think I’m crazy to take on such a tough job, but I felt there was a gap that needed some filling with health, wellbeing and generally good old fashioned nature.
Many of us are so into convenience we have forgotten about what the earth gives us. There is a big hint! LOL Some of you may have read a brief conversation on twitter in regards to what I’m doing.

A new site, youtube channel and banners are currently in the works. Plus Curvy TV is working on the previews right now. I will post more about the project in detail soon.

The project is physically demanding. However, I’m learning a lot. I’ve also enjoyed my son helping me with it but I’ll be on my own with the whole thing soon.

I’d like to take the opportunity to thank @Mattwaldram for giving me some guidance. He’s been very helpful to me. Thanks Matt!

So I have to go now and film some more footage. The tough jobs are always the most rewarding. All the people right now who think I’m crazy for doing this are simply spurring me on to succeed. You will get a chance to see me in a whole different light. It may be good. It may be bad. It will most certainly be an interesting journey and hopefully entertain you.

Stay tuned for more.

By the way – thanks to all my site mentions and new friends on facebook. Thanks to everyone who’s sending me a lot of support. Yeah it would be easy to just expect it, but I never do. I’m always humbled by it.

Desiree left this on my MySpace page.
She got a lump going in my throat and my bottom lip going too.

I wanted to share it with you all.

“Between you and every goal that you wish to achieve, there is a series of obstacles and the bigger the goal, the bigger the obstacles. Your decision to be, have and do something out of the ordinary entails facing difficulties and challenges that are out of the ordinary as well. Sometimes your greatest asset is simply your ability to stay with it longer than anyone else.”
~ Brian Tracy

I SAW THIS QUOTE THIS MORNING AND THOUGHT OF YOU! I KNOW YOU ARE WORKING SO HARDRIGHT NOW ON YOUR DREAMS….HOPE THIS MADE IT A LITTLE EASIER AND GAVE YOU A POSITIVE PUSH…..I CARE, U ROCK AND STAY STRONG V! OXXOOX

Thanks for reading guys and have a wonderful week!

V x

Twitter.com/vactress

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Vanessa-Reece/117006319674

Hello Vansters,

Yeah, so I was going through some of my earlier work and I found my very first porfolio.

This picture you see here was my first professional shoot. I got paid for it.

This was a print – no digital I don’t think back then. If there was no one used it that much.

I was that slim throughout my teens and very early 20′s – until I had my son.

Funny – I had more issues with my body when I was slimmer than I do now being bigger.

I don’t know how that works – or whether in my 30′s I just thought the first part of acceptance is to accept ‘you’ first.

I look nervous in these pictures and I was. Mind you there must be other pictures of me further down the line where I look nervous. Sometimes you need to get a feel for what they want. It takes a couple of minutes to adjust. Different photographers won’t give you a thing. Others will bark at you to pose a certain way.
I don’t mind being barked at – I guess it’s the actress in me. I like some direction to begin with – but just like an actress I don’t mind doing a little ‘improv’.

I wanted to share this picture. It makes me giggle. I really was that sweet and innocent. All the teen angst was brewing – ready to be unleashed at 16, when I discovered sex, drugs and rock n roll.

Also looking back – I don’t think these should ever been in black and white. No detail for the head dresses at all. Just my thoughts.

So, I’m getting my hair cut this week. I’m going to see my agent too, and I’m going to do some creative things. My soul feels like it needs an airing. Know what I mean?

V x

I often get the feeling I’m about to just collapse. This past week, including the weekend has been crazy – but rewarding.

I interviewed  Sommer J from Gemini Magazine @gemimimag (you can listen to it here on my site via the Blogtalk radio widget)  and I posted my interview with The Curvy Fashionista Marie Denee @mariedenee also. Then on Sunday I did my pilot for The Curve-V show on Curvy TV @thecurvenetwork.  With all that and lifes ebbs and flows there hasn’t been much time to actually take a breath.

All is well though. I got some really good feedback from all three projects, so I feel really good about that. I think sometimes that  running on empty and full of emotion actually makes it all worth while.

I hesitated to take on Curvy TV because I wanted to make sure I had the time to do it. But my view point of it is; I will treat it like my youtube channel. Just opinions and some fun stuff in the mix. Maybe it will progress into a different type of show? I’m just going with the flow right now and having fun. I’d like to do some live streaming shows too. We’ll see.
If you’re interested in having a show just contact Drew who runs Curvy TV. The email is curvytv1@gmail.com

If you have not caught the show yet, its available to view free-on-demand on http://curvenetwork.ning.com You will have to sign up/sign in (click the Curvy TV tab at the top of the screen when you get there)  and you can also enter the competition to win some great skin care products. Just PM me on the Curve Network site with your answer. It’s so simple.

It was really nice to see The Curve Network team excited about having their first exclusive show. I hope others will actually get their own shows on there. The plus-size community is vast and opinions and ideas vary.  For me personally; I hope it bridges the gap between plus-size and mainstream. I actually hope one day I won’t feel the need to say plus-size quite so much. But more – it’s just me and us, and you – no size discription.

Sommer J made an excellent point during our radio interview; she said that people should look at what we can do not what we look like. I thought she opened up a great view point of thinking. And I for one will be trying to embrace that on this site and also on my radio and Curve-V show.  Thanks Sommer!

Before I go I wanted to give you a heads up on a few news items.

• Kimmoy Matthews has a great blog going I think anyone in the plus-size marketing world/or those who wish to market to plus-size people will get something from. She is the Curvy Coach and she’s got some interesting ideas and tactics to help gain interest in your projects that are geared to the plus-size community. Her link is  http://www.thecurvycoach.com/ and her twitter is @kimmoy
• Next up – The Scorch Magazine Model Hunt hits Chigaco on Saturday August 22nd!!  Kimberly Dale from Scorch Magazine will be there, as well as Chef Lovely from Fox’s Hell’s Kitchen. You can find out more by going to Skorch’s Model Hunt Facebook page. And of course Kimberly Dale can be found on twitter  @MsKimberlyDale.
• Fox’s More To Love must be the most hated show in the plus-size community right now. Both @SupathickMami and @bodacioustipsy have expressed their views. Tipsy inparticular has made a video asking for a different stand point. I encourage you to go and watch it. I think she’s right. Although I would ask – how many times do we need to be mis-represented before someone sees sense and does it right? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPspkGLG4b4

I have some more updates later, but for now – have fun!

Vx