Sally Hanson complete salon manicure nail polish - swatches

I picked up some Sally Hanson complete salon manicure nail polishes from my local Priceline yesterday. They retail $14.95 for a 14.7ml bottle but it was on sale for $10 and they had a buy 3 pay for 2 special so any excuse to buy for research purposes. Sally knows your busy so there are 5 steps in 1 bottle: base coat, strengthener, growth treatment, colour and topcoat available in 21 salon inspired shades.

I love it when I turn up to a wedding and everyone's fingers are nicely manicured and why not, there's shots of everyone holding their bouquets, helping dress the bride, putting on earrings and even exchanging rings so it makes sense that nails should be nicely presented. Acrylics or even stick on nails are a great option if you have less then perfect nail beds. If you have nice nails I personally prefer gel polishes which can be done beforehand, lasts up to 2 weeks and you walk out dry so no need to worry bout smudges and accidents.

However I guess not everyone has time as I notice that a few weddings I've attended too bridesmaids and on the odd occasion even a bride painting their nails in between hair and makeup so these polishes got me thinking, since they only ever have time for 2 coats of colour anyways wouldn't it be cool if you got the added bonus of the base, strengthener, growth treatment and topcoat as well!

Behind the scenes photos - Vanessa's wedding

A while ago I received more photos from Carla of Vanessa's wedding with her bridesmaids getting ready but haven't had time to upload them so without further ado here they are :) 

Vanessa and Dave's profession wedding photos

Below are Vanessa and Dave's professional wedding photos taken by her amazing photographer Carla of  Carla Mucucci Photography to give you an idea of how a professional photographer, time, light and atmosphere (in your dress with your flowers and friends and family to share in your happiness) can really transform how you look and feel.

Interesting story, Adelaide is very small and the wedding industry even smaller. Imagine the photographer's surprised when she walked in to see her sister aka my second artist doing the bridesmaids hair and mother of the brides hair and makeup! So thats how I've had access to these photos, having connections and Facebook stalking lol, otherwise I'd be too scared to ask for photos and hence why i don't usually have any wedding photos to share on my blog.

Claudia's wedding hair

Such a beautiful day for a wedding, congratulations Claudia and Tyrone! I just wanted to share some pictures of the hairstyles I did this morning for Claudia's wedding party.

Tips for wedding hair trials

I've been doing a lot of last minute hair trials and thought i'd offer some of my tips to get the most out of your hair trial/preview.

Bring lots of pictures, examples of what you like and what you don't like and be as specific as you can but do be prepared to compromise. You can come in wanting Beyonce's do but we may have to do a different style but with the same feel for your thin wispy blonde bob... Even if it's just looking at using hair extension or  padding to add volume or shape.

Bring photos of your dress, material samples, bridesmaids dresses, flowers, hair pins, veils, headpiece etc so the stylist has a visual idea of your wedding theme and understands your taste and style. It's ok to want a totally different style to your everyday look, for example vintage makeup to suit your theme but if I know you usually don't wear make then I can make it more natural to suit you rather then go straight into the Marilyn Monroe...

Bronwyn's wedding hair

I realise that my blog is called the bridal hairstylist (only because I was trying to find a name that wasn't already taken) yet there hasn't been a blog on bridal hair... So when I did hair for Bronwyn's wedding last week I thought I'd take some pictures for my blog post.
Everyone had different hair; short, thick, thin and highlighted, so we went with similar curl styles but to suit each persons hair and different hair accessories. The flower girls had their hair done elsewhere but by the time they got to the hotel and after all the running around their curls  had dropped a bit so I pinned their hair and revived some of the curls.
The wedding was amazing and the girls were absolutely lovely, you can see more pictures from Bronwyn's wedding on Jewel's Facebook.

Professional photo courtesy of Jewel Chenoweth Photography. 

Amy & Adam's trash the dress shoot

I wanted to share some photos I received from Black duck photography of hair and makeup I did for a trash the dress shoot, not a bad way to wear your dress twice if you don't mind getting it a little destroyed... lol. We kept hair and makeup the same as Amy's wedding so the photos would follow on from their wedding pictures; updo hair in the morning and curls for the afternoon with glowing makeup and coral lips.