Seattle Bride – Best of 2010

The beautiful people at Seattle Bride Magazine want to know who you love the most!  Even though there are a zillion other things requiring your attention, please take a  minute to vote!

Erin Skipley /Bellatrix Studio for Best Hair and Makeup!

Tony & Giao in Seattle Bride’s Real Weddings

Photos by Sean Flannigan

Hair and Makeup by me!

Seattle Metropolitan Bride and Groom – Party of Two

I love spending time with talented people, it’s the best part of doing my job.  The girls at Seattle Metropolitan Bride and Groom are wonderful!   I had the pleasure of working with them again on a recent bridal editorial with photographer Howard Petrella.

The shoot took place on a beautiful sunny day at Discovery Park.    We met early in the morning and then carpooled together in a big RV.  It was totally loaded with designer wedding dresses and gorgeous accessories, handpicked by Seattle Met’s Laura Cassidy and Jill Spitznass of Portland Bride and Groom.  It’s dizzying to watch how fast those two can style a model.

While I did hair and makeup in the RV, there was a fat Uhaul outside stuffed full of Props brought in by The Adventure School.

The art director Samantha Gardner did a beautiful job setting up the shots.

The car was brought in by a local collector, totally made the shoot!

Photography: Howard Petrella

Models: Erin [SMG], Eric [Heffner]

Prop Styling: The Adventure School

Hair and Makeup:  Me!

Monique Lhuillier at Del Mar

Opening day at the Del Mar racetrack is an event that you have to experience once in your lifetime.  It’s an insane spectacle of crazy hats, dusty stilletto’s, and high stakes.   I headed down to Southern California to team up with the girls at Junebug weddings for an epic Fashion Report on one of the bridal industry’s hottest designers, Monique Lhuillier.  Luckily, the actual shoot took place the day after the madness…

Incredible gowns, veils, and accessories to die for..

Photography by: La Vie Photography
Wedding Dresses by: Monique Lhuillier
Jewelry and Accessories by: Erin Cole Couture
Bridal Bouquets by: Kathy Wright & Co.
Hair and Makeup by: Erin Skipley of Bellatrix Studio
Models: Amanda Wall at Look Models and Houda Shretah of Elite
Lighting Direction by: Blair deLaubenfels
Styling by: Christy Weber
Styling Assistant: Cassandra Santor
Location: the Del Mar Racetrack
Special thanks to Liz Robertson and the wonderful staff at Del Mar

Tegan and Sara – Sainthood

Tegan and Sara’s new record Sainthood is officially released and has hit the shelves!  It’s the band’s sixth full length album (Vapor/Sire Records) and Spin Magazine gives it four out of five stars.  Nice work girls!

While they were in Seattle finishing up the record and playing a sold out show at the Showbox, they managed to squeeze in a two day photo shoot for the album artwork and press junket with Los Angeles photographer Pamela Littky.   I was sooo happy they called me to do hair and makeup, I’m a huge fan!  Their record ‘The Con’ is one of my favorite favorites!  We shot most everything at Ben Gibbard’s (Death Cab for Cutie) capitol hill loft, and Gasworks park.



It was magic watching Emy (super-genius art director) pull out props that she made for the shoot.  She jumped from the laptop to sewing machine, to set, back to sewing machine. Her graphic projections brought the set to life.  I can’t wait to see the other photos in print.  Especially the shots at Gasworks park, Pamela spotted a tuba player rehearsing with a Scandinavian dance troop, and ran over to borrow the instrument.  It was massive!!  Somehow, Tegan was able to navigate it for a few shots..

The show was AMAZING!  It’s no wonder they sell out venues.

10/29 Let’s go to a good party!

Mark your calender’s for 10/29!  The beautiful girls behind Get Hitched, Give Hope have put together a first class event that’s not to be missed!   This year it will be bigger and better than ever, showcasing Seattle’s most talented wedding professionals and the chance to acquire their goods and services for a fraction (not to mention a perfect excuse to get dressed up with your girls, have a few drinks and mingle!).  Last year, the event raised $30,000 for the Making Memories Foundation, to grant wishes for terminally ill cancer patients.

Nothing kicks off the Fall like dressing up for a good party, and giving to a great cause!   My girls and I will be doing hair and makeup for the lovely models behind the scenes, we’ll see you there!

REPORT Footwear ad campaign

The fall ‘09 REPORT Footwear ad campaign was inspired by nature’s green fields and wood-filled landscapes.  In addition to nature, the ’90s music scene provided inspiration with its grunge clothing, including worn denim, layers, plaid scarves and belts, that give a roughed-up, casual and laid-back vibe.  The photoshoot took place in the countryside in Duvall, Washington featuring Ricki Lander from Ford Models.  Images tell a story of a young woman visiting the country from her urban lifestyle.  She brings with her sunglasses and a beret, making the photos up-to-date and feminine, with a touch of French countryside.  The setting is cozy, warm, soft and very inviting.  Photography and Art Direction provided by REPORT’s own Assaf Ziv.  Hair and makeup done by Erin Skipley.

more Decemberists!

Yaaay!!   You never know when you’ll see work in print, so it  feels like Christmas when you discover something new.  Seems like i’m always at Easy Street Records in West Seattle when it happens.   The Big Takeover and Sound Magazine both featured the Decemberists in the last months issues.   All the shots were  from a Portland shoot with LA photographer Autumn De Wilde .

If you haven’t heard the Decemberist’s new record The Hazards of Love, it is soooo good…  Just FYI..

Zac Posen + Neiman Marcus

Zac Posen in Seattle, really?  In the flesh!!  I LOVE his clothing, and it was so exciting to meet him in person.  Neiman Marcus will be opening a new store in Bellevue this fall and brought the famed clothing designer to town last month to show his Collections to the who’s who of the NW retail world.   It was a beautiful presentation at Pravda Studios on Capitol Hill.   The head stylist was  from Dallas (his name was JP) and he was a genius!!  We did huge bouffant updo’s with studded leather head bands, it was the first time that I had ever used paper towels inside of a hairstyle.  Learn something new every day!

Patrick Stump – Fallout Boy

Super fun shoot for Alternative Press Magazine with Seattle photographer Lydia Goolia and Patrick Stump, lead singer of  Island/Def Jam recording artists, Fallout Boy.   Patrick was rad!!   He was wearing the coolest Chanel glasses that I’ve ever seen.  We bonded over the video games on our Blackberry 8190’s and it warmed my heart to know that he is as addicted to the Word Mole game as I am.  Ha!   The shoot took place at a recording studio in Ballard before the Fallout Boy show at Key Arena.   The rocker arrived in a Lincoln Town car complete with a body guard.  Nice.

Eliza and Steve

It’s a really cool thing when a wedding photographer gets married.  They’ve seen everything that’s out there, know people who know people, and the result is a super-fabulous unforgettable wedding. Eliza Truitt is one of Seattle’s most talented wedding photographers, and such a doll!!   It was an honor to do her hair and makeup for her wedding day.   Her photographer did an amazing job documenting the magic, Sean Flanigan.  LOVE these photos!

LOVE!! xo

Elke Van de Velde

Eye candy! Just recieved images from a shoot with I worked on with photographer Elke Van de Velde, and SeattleMagazine’s Style Editor,  Hope Misterek.  She outfitted darling Emma (Heffner Managment) in four outfits from designer Zac Posen.  Ahh!  Everything was exquisit.

Daily Candy Weddings!

A mention in Daily Candy.. awesome!!

Attributive Clause
Capitalize on your best attributes with the help of makeup and hair artist Erin Skipley of Bellatrix Studio, whose natural styling and airbrush technique will leave one adjective on everyone’s lips: beautiful.

I’m so excited about this Summer’s weddings and more weddings!!   It’s the most magical and wonderful time to be a part of.

Lulu Weddings – Preferred Vendor

I was soo delighted to receive an email from the lovely ladies at Lulu Weddings, saying “You’re our Favorite!” Lulu was created by a group of  some of the most talented photographers in Seattle, who know the Seattle wedding industry inside and out!  It’s super cool because it’s a completely non-profit wedding planning site with vendors chosen on the following criteria:

- extremely high level of customer service to both brides & grooms

- extremely high level of customer service to other vendors in the industry

- product & service excellence at a recent wedding where a Lulu photographer could experience your  services firsthand

- frequency of which that a Lulu Photographer has been able to work with you to ensure that your service and products are consistently fantastic

Lulu Wedding is a great resource for finding the best vendors in the industry because there are no paid listings, only the vendors they choose to list.  Love it!!  Thank you girls!!

Ariana Page Russell – Magnan Projects NYC

Over this past year I had the pleasure of working with skin artist, Ariana Page Russell.  Her inspiration comes from the intricate patterns of her own skin which she photographs and creates beautiful images and installations.  We worked together with photographer Laura Totten on a series of photographs for a recent exhibit for Magnan Projects at PULSE, Contemporary Art Fair in NYC.

In the artists own words..

A body becomes an index of passing time. Skin reveals how bones shift, muscles loosen, freckles and wrinkles form, and bruises appear. I am interested in this as a fashion of skin, including the way a blush decorates one’s cheek, freckles form constellations on an arm, or hair creates sheen on skin’s matte surface. Skin also protects us while revealing internal emotions, offering a translucent space for adornment.
My skin is very sensitive and I blush easily. I have dermatographia, a condition in which one’s immune system exhibits hypersensitivity, via skin, that releases excessive amounts of histamine, causing capillaries to dilate and welts to appear (lasting about thirty minutes) when the skin’s surface is lightly scratched. This allows me to painlessly draw patterns and words on my skin, which I then photograph. Even though I can direct this ephemeral response by drawing on it, the reaction is involuntary, much like the uncontrollable nature of a blush.
I also make wallpaper with photographs of my skin cut into decorative designs, then attached to the wall or onto board. The patterns I use range from adaptations of Greek and Etruscan vases, Medieval wall coverings, and Renaissance pottery designs to contemporary wallpaper found in domestic spaces. My father is a wallpaper hanger and working with him off and on over the years fostered an interest in this form of decoration.
Recently I’ve turned some of the patterns made from skin into temporary tattoos, adorning my skin in a different way than drawing on it directly. Scanning the cut photographs of my skin adapted from clothing and wallpaper, I turn them into temporary tattoos, affixing them to my body. These tattoos become an intimate fashion, as their own sort of clothing, and an additional translucent layer for the fashion of skin. Some of the tattoos also go on the wall or window after they’ve made contact with my body, leaving traces of cells and hair, and holding a record of skin’s map.
I am investigating where one surface ends and another begins, the bloom of adornment, and how shifting exteriors reveal as they conceal.

The Decemberists – Hazards of Love

My recent photoshoot with Capitol Records recording artist The Decemberist’s was an adventure! The photogragraphy for their new album Hazards of Love was shot by LA photographer Autumn De Wilde.   I carpooled with Jenny Jiminez, Autumn’s assistant and Sarah Murphy, producer. We piled into the Subaru at 3:30 a.m. in Seattle and made our way to Portland, Oregon on one of rainiest mornings in Washington’s history.  It continued to rain throughout the day.

We arrived just in time for our 8AM call time at the Ace Hotel, grabbed coffee from Stump Town and headed out to Colin Meloy’s house.  It was on the outskirts of Portland and up a huge winding hill, felt like we were in the middle of a forest.  We quickly set up in Colin’s garage and I did makeup for the five band members and two guest vocalists, Lavender Diamond out of Los Angeles and My Brightest Diamond out of Brooklyn.   When makeup and hair was set, we headed out for a fifteen minute hike up to the first location, in a down pour!!   Garbage bags and umbrellas were used to protect the camera’s and equipment, and it was hard not to slip on the muddy trail. The location was incredible and worth the soggy journey.  I was soaked for the entire day!

The second location was the studio attached to the Ace Hotel.  Dry land!!  Autumn had a gigantic backdrop ready and had built a diorama out of black cardboard panels and cut-outs of cactus’ with weeping willows.  Her creativity has no bounds.  It ended up being a 14 hour day and at the end we discovered that all the freeways into WA were closed due to a huge sweeping flood.  We ended up staying at the Ace that night, then I flew home next morning. Can’t wait to see the photos come out in print, it was truly one of the most memorable shoots that i’ve ever done.

Band members: Colin Meloy, Chris Funk, Jenny Conlee, Nate Query, John Moen

Guest vocalists: Becky Stark (Lavender Diamond), Shara Worden (My Brightest Diamond)

Photography: Autumn De Wilde   Assistant: Jenny Jimenez

Stylist: Shirley Kurata     Makeup/Hair: Me!