Fashion week starts Today!

[liza smith]

What a week so far, and fashion week only starts today!

Ive spent more hours on my laptop communicating with designers, stylists, make-up artists and agents this week than ive slept

We kick off today with our 1st show at 4pm, and we are using Minx, yay!!

I have to be at a Hair and make up test 2moro at 11, then on to 2 shows, the 1st one at 1pm then the 2nd at 4pm.

I have 3 nail looks to work on today and im still waiting for the brief on our last of 3 shows on Sat!

We will then check into the hilton at olympia, to prepare for 2 manic but brilliant days working on the sweet squared stand sunday and monday.

We then have the scratch party on sun night!

It wont stop there though as Justine, Jemma and myself are legging it across London straight from the show to assist the fabulous Marian Newman on her show!

Im then hosting a manicure event on thurs for 50 readers of the Telegraph magazine>

Thats a lot to be going on with but we also have the closing date for entries to Nail Idol next week, so the judging will commence!

 

[happyfeet]

Flippin 'eck liza I'm worn out just reading that! Sounds fabulous! Enjoy x x x Laura x x x

 

[notsonewgeek]

You get busier every year hun!! You're a very popular lady and rightly so. Hope the week goes smoothly x

 

[clara doon]

gosh !! I'm tierd reading that liza !! have fun girls xxreally looking forward to reading lots more about it all !! xx
clare x

 

[mizzy_dizzy]

Sounds fabulous enjoy every minute !!
(p.s I'm jealous)

 

[liza smith]

just got home, and im off to bed!
the Rankin presentation was great, we used the gunmetal dissolve minx and it is my new favorite!
I want to do minx on every show, no smudgs!!

It was nice to have all british models, not that i have a problem wth the foreign models but the brits are more down to earth!

Roll on 2moro, 2 more shows...

 

[liza smith]

day 2 has just finished!
I went to a test for the John Rocha show this morn.
I really enjoy being part of the creative process. Watching talented Hair and Make-up artists bringing the designers and stylist vision to life.

The clothes were AMAZING!
Just up my street, if not my purse:sad:

I then rushed from NW london to Portland Place to work backstage at the bStore show with Natalie and Holly from our team.

We were allowed to be creative and I had been working on a look for a few days.
We used nude, green and orange as a base and either navy, red or white crackle over the top.
Very tribal, and it was great fun.

Then without a breather, we rushed over to Somerset House where it was really buzzng as LFW was kicking off.
We were backstage at Ann-Sophie Back, and the look was 2 coats of CND washed down white and a french tip of CND gold chrome.
This designer usually goes for a "clean" nail but wanted to have some colour.
The make-up had a gorgeous soft gold shimmer on the cheekbones and temples, and Anne-Sophie loved this nail look.

I left the girls to watch the show as I wanted to get home asap as I needed to change my kit for the 3 shows we have 2moro, and wash dry and pack my clothes for Olympia!

Im enjoying LFW, but im sooo excited about working on the sweet squared stand on sun and mon.

 

[Up To Scratch]

I hope you have a day (or two!) off scheduled in soon Liza?! I will be at the show on Sunday - not working, but will be by to say hi to the team (and to pick up my new Shellac colours - yay!) See you then xx

 

[liza smith]

I hope you have a day (or two!) off scheduled in soon Liza?! I will be at the show on Sunday - not working, but will be by to say hi to the team (and to pick up my new Shellac colours - yay!) See you then xx

LOL! I have Tues off and I intend to sleep all day! x

 

[geeg]

Hats off to you Liza and the team! Hard hard work and unfamilliar conditions.

People don't realise all that goes into it or the creative process. CND have always been part of that at FW .. we don't just paint nails as some think and CND is the most respected and requested team world wide for this. Our rep has been built by techs like you Liza, for many years now.

It ain't all glam is it!! lol

 

[liza smith]

Hats off to you Liza and the team! Hard hard work and unfamilliar conditions.

People don't realise all that goes into it or the creative process. CND have always been part of that at FW .. we don't just paint nails as some think and CND is the most respected and requested team world wide for this. Our rep has been built by techs like you Liza, for many years now.

It ain't all glam is it!! lol

so right geeg, glam is isnt!
Mind you, i have been lucky enough to be backstage at New York, London, Milan and Paris, and believe me there has been some amazing highs and some of the best friendships made, even though the schedule takes some seeing to be believing
It definately seperates the "men" from the "boys"!

 

[liza smith]

so Saturday arrived and the silly o'clock saw us on the 6am train to be at Somerset house for 7.45
My team consisted of Justine Crick (Essex CND EA), and a new team member Joanna Newbold.

The show was Ashish, and the lead make-up was Georgina Graham. We have worked with Georgina for 6 years and she loves nails to tell a story, which makes our job both challenging but satisfying.

The make-up was built around a Mac pale pink glitter around the eye on a base of vaseline. It was decided to experiment with different base coats and various amounds and techniques of applying the glitter.
We decided on Lumos bottom coat for its drying properties as we wanted to push the glitter onto the base, not to sprinke it on.
The Lumos dried quickly enough so that it wasnt too tacky to ruin the brushes.
We wanted a fade effect and on the longer nails, this worked very well.

The end result was gorgeous, and Ill load some pics up later.

We were on stand by to support Trish Lomax who was working on the Jasper Conran show next door to us.
We ran into Marian who was waiting to start work on her show which was after ours, we had a good chat about how things had been going so far.
Trish didnt need us, so we went for a lovely italian lunch!
Its great to be able to work with some fabulous people and support each other in the same industry.

Our next call time was 2pm, luckily in Somerset house as well so we made our way back.
People watching at fashion week is such fun!
Our show was John Rocha, and after the test that I attended on friday, we were all prepared with our brief of Matt Black on toes and "clean" fingers.

As CND enamel is so rich and glossy, we were using 2 coats of super matt to achieve the right look.
This became a problem when timing was tight toard the end, 2 models were running late from another show.
Trish came to my rescue and gave me a matt black enamel that dried so fast it was great. I dont know the make, but in that circumstance it saved the day!

Champagne was flowing, so we joined the backstage crew with a welcome drink before heading off.
Justine and I were going to Olympia Hilton to meet up with the show team for Olympia, and Jo made her way home.

Only 1 more show to go, and its the biggest, on Mon.....