Catherine's LA Dream...
Catherine, Salon Manager at HCUK Chesterfield won the prestigious Face Off Men's Hairdressers of the Year award earlier this year winning a trip to LA and the opportunity to take part in a top professional photoshoot...here's Catherine's blog of her trip giving you a great insight to the fantastic time she had!
TUESDAY After landing at the famous LAX airport we arrived at Chateaux Marmont, the smartest hotel in town and where the celebs roam! We met with the other winners and the American crew team. To help get over the jet lag we had a couple of drinks…the wine bought for us was $300 a bottle! I was just relieved we weren’t buying in rounds ;)
WEDNESDAY was a leisurely day in which I look the opportunity to do
some sightseeing and shopping around the famous Kodak Theatre and the Walk of the Stars. I also took the tour bus and I now know far too many facts about celebs!
THURSDAY was the day of the photo shoot which was AMAZING. We were really spoilt by the opportunity…it took place at the prestigious Milk Studios, we had a world famous photographer and make up artist, the clothes stylist was super talented and top quality models. It was such an experience to work at such a level and one I’ll never forget. I had one model in which I created 3 looks to add to my portfolio…EXCITING!
My model - Gosh Reeves…such an LA name! - was so photogenic and had perfect hair to give diversity to each look. I accentuated length, added texture, and styled the hair through the camera’s eyes. The clothes stylist had worked with stars such as Lady Gaga and many more so was super experienced and worked with me to create the outfit to suit.
Top photographer David Raccuglia took control and worked like a pro, photographing each look to such a high standard. Brian Duck produced the whole event and he has worked in the past with big names like Tom Cruise.
After the shoot David hosted an evening in our honour at Cecconis a very smart Italian restaurant - the kind where a chauffer takes your car to park it! The paparazzi were outside waiting for Courtney Cox to leave and we had a private room overlooking the restaurant through glass. It was amazing and again I was just glad I was paying the bill!
On FRIDAY I took a trip to Santa Monica beach where the famous Baywatch beach is and the pier where ‘Big’ was filmed… I walked past muscle beach and it was a true L.A. experience with the sun
shining and tall palm trees surrounding the long roads.
SATURDAY we all went for a drive in a rented Merc and had breakfast on Rodeo Drive, with the ‘Pretty Woman’ hotel in the corner and million
dollar cars parked up outside…it is a very classy place. We then chilled around the pool at our hotel waiting for our lift to the airport (wine in
hand), the sun beating down. It couldn’t have been a better way to
finish my holiday…helped as well by finding out that Russell Brand was
in the hotel the day before!
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