My little sister, Pearl, decided that she wanted to create a portfolio and arranged a shoot with Ade @ Arc Studios. Of course I jumped at the chance to do Pearls makeup and be there for the shoot.
before makeup
My sister is naturally beautiful and the only makeup she ever wears is bronzer and mascara and a bit of lip colour for a night out and I’ve only ever applied makeup to my sisters face once in the past so this was great fun for me as I’ve wanted to attack her again *evil grin* Plus she is so pretty I wanted to see what changes to her face makeup could achieve.
Look One
I did three makeup looks on Pearl in the end but silly me only took pictures of two of the looks, and the one I didn’t take the picture of was my favourite look of the day
Look Two
It was Pearls first ever shoot so I’m sure the nerves were kicking in, but despite this she managed to produce some amazing poses and as a result has some amazing results for her portfolio.
Here are a few of my favourites from the day
Pearl ended up with about 10 amazing images from the day, and her fantastic styling helped alot…if only I had half of her wardrobe I’d feel like a glamorous mua, maybe I should stop opting for the comfy clothes for work, although I don’t think I could put the uggs down, I’d miss walking on fluffy clouds!
Love & Blusher
Sonara
Links:
Arc Studios
After finally being able to get my pictures off my camera , I’ve stumbled across a random selection of bridal makeup pictures, most from the Dan Kerr Bridal Fashion Show so thought I would upload them for you all to have a nosey at.
Lots more bridal pictures coming soon, well that’s if I remember to put my camera in my handbag as that would be a good start *laughs*
Every bride’s wants and needs for the makeup look for the big day are so different, and although for the Dan Kerr show i worked on the fly, some of the girls,like Sheree (left) picked their own lip colour, sporting a barbie pink lip gloss. Alot of brides opt for natural makeup, or have a teeny twist to colour but on the other side are the brides who want their eyes or lips to really stand out, like Jamie below who wanted really dark smokey eyes, and thats one of my favourite things about bridal work, every job is unique.
It’s prom season soon so expect a huge blog post featuring all the girls I have booked in for prom day, although I think it will be a few days until I will be in any fit position to post about that day!
Love & Blusher
Sonara
Seeing as I love doing bridal makeup across the north west so much, I was asked by Dan Kerr Bridal Wear to provide wedding makeup looks for there fashion show, thankfully I was only doing makeup and not hair as well, as I only have so many hands and there were quite a few faces, and well, I may do model’s hair on photoshoots but oooohh bridal hair is in a different league!
The run up to the evening was quite manic, and I had lots of beautiful ladys to make over, the makeup chair didn’t gather any dust that night, in fact I was so busy, or maybe so engrossed with “painting faces” that I let my cup of tea go cold…
I seem to vanish into this makeup bubble while working, and forget about the outside world for a while and apparently now…even my cups of tea!
I had about half an hour for each girl so although it wasn’t rushed like some jobs I like to take more time on bridal makeup…maybe its the perfectionist in me!
But when I’m working a real wedding I normally take an hour for the brides makeup…so it felt really odd sending the girl off to the hair lady, Lorraine, with something I wasn’t completley happy with but with shows and some jobs it’s not about me being happy with it, its about the tick tock of the clock…sometimes I need my own countdown music playing in the background *laughs*
As the show was starting I could hear the amazing sound of Howard Wing singing as his voice filtered the backroom door, while girls got into the first set of dresses and got their flowers from Jason and Jessica from Flower Design.
I have never swooned so much over the smells and visionary delight of flowers before, or apprieciated the art of arranging flowers as i do now after meeting Jane & co, they complimented the dresses, and completed the look. The girls were ready to go! 
The show itself went extremely well, and all the girls looked like princesses that evening, showcasing the beautiful collection from Dan Kerr…it almost made me want to try on one of the amazing dresses, which is saying something…but luckly I wouldn’t have been able to squeeze my bottom into them so temptation soon disappeared.
The girls ran in and out, changing gowns as fast as they could with every hand on deck arranging and zipping, and I think I must have “ooooed” and “ahhhed” at every single one of them.
During the showcase Rowleys were serving bucks fizz and canapes… I have to say these were gorgeous, and Paul Rowley even gave me a mint after as I had canapae breath because, well I couldn’t have just one!
The lovely photographers Caroline & Mike from Challinor Photography were taking photo’s throughout the evening, and all the photos featured in this post are courtsey of Chanllinor Photography. Thanks Mike 
I decided seeing as I hadn’t eaten since breakfast, and those delicious canapaes had got my taste buds tingling, and my stomach shouting “Feed Me” that I was too pooped to start cooking so I’d be naughty and go through the yellow arches for tea (mc d).
I got all the way to the drive through and realised I’d forgotten my debit card…D’oh.
Toast just didn’t taste like a big mac.
Love & Blusher,
Sonara
Links:
Dan Kerr Bridal Wear
Mike Challinor Photography
Flower Design
Photographer: Harvey Brown
Models: Amanda Debrowski, Paula
Makeup: Sonara Parker
Hair: Katy Grimshaw & Scott Mckay
Bridal work is one of my favourite things to do, i love making “normal women” feel like a princess for the day, so when Harvey got in touch asking if I wanted to be part of a bridal shoot for local business across Chorley, I jumped at the chance. I couldn’t have been more pleased with the choice of the location, Mitton Hall, as this has been the choice of a wedding venue for some of my past bridal clients yet I still hadn’t had the time to nosey at the venue myself . Alot of my work is studio based so when I get location work I always have an added bounce in my step (must be the fresh air), so it’s refreshing to get out of the normal studio surroundings, and what a location this was!
Mitton Hall is a magnificent 15th century manor house in Clithoroe, its thought to have been completed in 1487, and was reinvinted as a hotel in 2007. I instantly fell in love with this location, the grounds were beautiful but it was far too cold to stay out in the fresh air for long. When you enter Mitton Hall I was greeted by a huge open cosy fire, which smelt almost enchanting. Climbing the stairs you discover its beautiful and unusual bedrooms and the oldy worldy charm of the resturant and bar areas. Just when I thought the location couldn’t get any more picturesque. it started snowing. I was in location heaven and seemed to have suddenly become a child again and had to try and fight off the urge to run outside and start making a snow angel.
The bridalwear company had supplied two gowns for each model, which meant hair and makeup could create two completely different looks for both models Amanda (brown hair) and Paula (blonde hair). My brief for this shoot was to ensure that that the makeup look for the two sets were a daytime and evening bridal style, and as sometimes brides will book me for the day rather than just for the makeup application I am well practiced at transforming one look into another. Full day bookings ensure I am around for makeup touch up’s before photographs and also for a makeup change for the evening celebrations and I had done a trial the week before with contrasting looks and had really liked it so decided to get an extra practice session in.
The hairdressers Katy Grimshaw and Scott Mckay put both models hair up for the first bridal set and as it’s always far easier to add makeup than to remove it I always prefer to build the makeup up gradually, especially with wedding makeup so applied a natural bridal look for the first set. I wanted the skin to look as natural as possible so I kept foundation to a minimum with an added touch of highlight and whisper of blusher. 
I applied delicate colours that blended across the eyelids (for the record I am blending crazy when it comes to bridal makeup, as I adore the soft edges of blended eyeshadow unless the bride wants a dramatic eye look).
After Katy and Scott worked their magic on a down hairstyle, I added darker shades to the eyelids and under the water line of both models eyes, and blended the colour up and higher above the socket line to make more of a feature of the eyes (probably due to the eyes being one of my personal favourite features to accentuate). A touch more blusher was added and a touch darker shade of lip colour.
All in all it was a great shoot, and I would really love to return to Mitton Hall in the winter as a guest, that amazing open fire is just too inviting but I would have to stay in my favourite room of the shoot, the princess suite.
Love & Blusher,
Sonara
Links:
Mitton Hall
Photographer: Harvey Brown
Models: Amanda Debrowski, Paula
Makeup: Sonara Parker
Hair: Scott Mckay
Bridal work is one of my favourite things to do, i love making “normal” women feel like a princess for the day, so when Harvey got in touch asking if I wanted to be part of this shoot I jumped at the chance, and when I found out the location of the shoot was at Mitton Hall I was even happier. A few of my brides last year got married at Mitton Hall so I had wanted to go and have a peek. Alot of my work is studio based so when I get location work I have an added bounce in my step, its so refreshing to get out of the normal studio surroundings, and what a location this was!
Mitton Hall is a magnificent 15th century manor house in Clithoroe, its thought to have been completed in 1487, and was reinvinted as a hotel in 2007. I instantly fell in love with this location, who wouldn’t when your greeted the huge open wood burning fire as soon as you enter the building, climbing the stairs you discover its beautiful and unusual bedrooms and the oldy worldy charm of the resturant and bar areas. Just when I thought the location couldn’t get any more pituresque. it started snowing. I was in location heaven!
Love & Blusher,
Sonara
Links:
Mitton Hall
Photography: Phil Drinkwater
Makeup / Hair Piece: Sonara Parker
Beauty is one of the hardest things to get right for a makeup artist, people think because your working in a studio its easy to plough the foundation on in ridiculous thick amounts so the poor lady in your chair looks plastic skinned or that we let the editor worry about the flaws of the skin.
This is actually as far from the mark as you can get.
Makeup for a beauty shoot can take up to an hour and a half to get everything perfect. The skin has to look as flawless as you can get it without plastering your models skin in thick foundation, trying to delicately cover each flaw.
Everything has to be perfect, from the skin, the eyebrows, down to each individual eyelash. Its easy to look at a beauty photo and think either its easy to recreate when in reality its anything but!
When shooting a beauty set you can opt for a story or a few different looks, on this shoot with the amazing beauty and wedding photographer Phil Drinkwater, I decided to create three different looks, ranging from a quite natural look to a full on creative look with a headpiece.
The pink hair roller headpiece took me hours upon hours to make, trying out every different glue to stick the hair together, trying to find a way of curling the synthetic hair and keeping it in a set curl (harder than it looks!) I ended up sitting up until the wee hours of the morning for quite a few days, like a crazed blue peter presenter covered in glue, pink hair and sweat!
Love & Blusher
Sonara
Links:
Photography: Phil Drinkwater
Makeup: Sonara Parker
Model: Sophie Suri
Beauty is becoming one of my favourite things to do of late. And its always a pleasure to work with Phil Drinkwater. I hadn’t worked with Sophie before and she was the perfect beauty model; good skin with a clear complexion, beautiful big vibrant and expressive eyes and large bow shaped lips <3
For this set I produced three looks, starting with a simple look focusing on the eye’s and eyebrows (b&w photo) and then added eyeliner, a touch more of eyeshadow, which I heavily blended and some mac eyelashes for the beauty close up. As we were running out of time I quickly added some hairspray and volume to Sophie’s hair, and blended two more tones of brown eyeshadow on her eyelids with a splash of more gloss on the lips before we left the studio and left Phil and Sophie to play out in the sun while I drove home *sniffle*. I love the feel and dreamy lighting of the images they captured without me, there’s just something special about natural light.
Love & Blusher
Sonara
Links:
Photographer: Matt Stansfield
Assistant: Jak Spedding
Models:Leanne,Stephen Donaldson/Suzanne Hunt
Wardrobe stylist: Chloe Bibby
Make up: Sonara Parker
This was a fantastic location shoot set at the beautiful Fives in Preston, which has four amazing and unique floors. Including a basement nightclub, a beautiful ground floor setting for ladies what lunch, with one of the most amazing chandeliers I’ve seen and two more fabulous floors with separate bars. If only the cocktails made were not just for show
Although every floor was impressive, I have to say my favourite thing about the whole location was the huge entrance to the building, for some reason the over sized wooden door reminded me of something out of alice in wonderland, maybe it was the giant key used to lock the door behind us that sparked that little day dream off.
Not only were we spoilt with such a fabulous location, (which for the record I have promised myself I shall return to swap the makeup brushes in my hands for a lovely real cocktail), great models, amazing hairdressers from Blake & Co in Chorley and of course I have to mention the great styling by Chloe Bibby. When what pulled up outside? A shiny black Ferrari. Chloe got to sit in and rev the oh so pretty car (jealous!) The highlight of the day for me personally had to be the arrival of a giant puppy called Garrett, who is possibly the cutest puppy in the world.
Garrett is a malamute (for none doggy people out there you could say he looks like a giant cross between a wolf and a husky) 
Of course the whole shoot came to a halt as soon as he arrived as everyone wanted to pet and cuddle him. I still can’t believe how big he was for a 6 month old puppy, there was no way of squishing him in my kit bag and dog napping him, he was four times the size of my suitcase of makeup. The breed were originally bred for use as an Alaskan sled dog, and while my well stocked kit may be heavy for me to pull about even if it is on wheels, it would feel like pulling a fluffy cloud to a malamute. 
<3 Oh I would love my very own Garrett, I would make him the first kit dog! His owners Chris and Vikki told me how he likes paintbrushes so maybe he could assist too, although I think the brushes may be handed over to me in a half chewed, soggy state *laughs* A Huge thankyou to Vikki and Chris for tackling the nightmare journey and bringing him over! Follow Garrett on facebook here.
If all animals were as well behaved, gentle and obedient as Garret was, despite all the new smells, people and buzz then the old saying of “don’t work with animals or children” would be out the window and there would just be a queue of kids with empty leads looking for work 
Love & Blusher,
Sonara
Links:
Matt Stansfield
Fives
Chloe Bibby
Blake & Co
Garret the puppy
Photographer: Matt Stansfield
Assistant: Jak Spedding
Models:Leanne,Stephen Donaldson/Suzanne Hunt
Wardrobe stylist: Chloe Bibby
Make up: Sonara Parker
This was a fantastic location shoot set at the beautiful Fives in Preston, which has four amazing and unique floors. Including a basement nightclub, a beautiful ground floor setting for ladies what lunch, with one of the most amazing chandeliers I’ve seen and two more fabulous floors with separate bars. If only the cocktails made were not just for show
Although every floor was impressive, I have to say my favourite thing about the whole location was the huge entrance to the building, for some reason the over sized wooden door reminded me of something out of alice in wonderland, maybe it was the giant key used to lock the door behind us that sparked that little day dream off.
Not only were we spoilt with such a fabulous location, (which for the record I have promised myself I shall return to swap the makeup brushes in my hands for a lovely real cocktail), great models, amazing hairdressers from Blake & Co in Chorley and of course I have to mention the great styling by Chloe Bibby. When what pulled up outside? A shiny black Ferrari. Chloe got to sit in and rev the oh so pretty car (jealous!) The highlight of the day for me personally had to be the arrival of a giant puppy called Garrett, who is possibly the cutest puppy in the world.
Garrett is a malamute (for none doggy people out there you could say he looks like a giant cross between a wolf and a husky) Of course the whole shoot came to a halt as soon as he arrived as everyone wanted to pet and cuddle him. I still can’t believe how big he was for a 6 month old puppy, there was no way of squishing him in my kit bag and dog napping him, he was four times the size of my suitcase of makeup. The breed were originally bred for use as an Alaskan sled dog, and while my well stocked kit may be heavy for me to pull about even if it is on wheels, it would feel like pulling a fluffy cloud to a malamute.
<3 Oh I would love my very own Garrett, I would make him the first kit dog! His owners Chris and Vikki told me how he likes paintbrushes so maybe he could assist too, although I think the brushes may be handed over to me in a half chewed, soggy state *laughs* A Huge thankyou to Vikki and Chris for tackling the nightmare journey and bringing him over! Follow Garrett on facebook here.
If all animals were as well behaved, gentle and obedient as Garret was, despite all the new smells, people and buzz then the old saying of “don’t work with animals or children” would be out the window and there would just be a queue of kids with empty leads looking for work
Love & Blusher,
Sonara
Links:
Matt Stansfield
Fives
Chloe Bibby
Blake & Co
Garret the puppy
Photographer: Murat Ozkasim
Assistant: Neal Lewis
Hair: Hanna Lee
Designer: James Steward
Makeup: Sonara Parker
I was lucky enough to be part of an amazing shoot with a great team of people in Leeds, from the amazing fashion photographer Murat Ozkasim to James Steward who creates the most breath taking dresses with his talented hands. The hairdresser, Hanna, did an amazing job, i only wish i could have taken her in my kit to every photo shoot!
A full studio set was constructed by Murat and his assistant Neal, we had the circus back drop, a real swing (that i was really tempted to have a go on), juggling clubs, giant balls, top hats, even the buzzing atmosphere reminded me of the circus and all that was missing were the lions and elephants!
The makeup looks for these images were of course inspired by the circus, i decided that one of the models would be more like a ringmaster, and Rosie was to be my beautiful clown. It was fantastic to be able to be creative with the makeup, as although i do love fashion and bridal makeup, being creative is what most makeup artists dream about, it keeps us going as its good for the arty soul!
I couldn’t be more pleased with the outcome of this creative shoot *creative glee*
Love & Blusher,
Sonara
