Beauty hygiene in the new Covid-19 era

Hygiene has always been a very important aspect of my services. I consider it an integral part of a luxury beauty service and adhere to strict rules and guidelines. The new Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted some habits that we all in the beauty industry need to add to our regular hygiene regimes for our clients - and our own - safety. 

In light of the new situation, I have completed three new courses on health and safety for the beauty industry. I have taken the Barbicide Covid-19 Certification Course as well as the Online Coronavirus Infection Prevention online course for the Beauty Industry and I feel totally prepared to start working and keeping my clients safe once the lockdown measures are eased.  I also took a refresher course on general hygiene practices - Online Health, Hygiene and Safety in the Beauty Workplace - as it’s been 9 years since I trained.

New measures in light of the current situation:

- I have always been very diligent in disinfecting all my kit and brushes in between clients. As a new measure I not only use normal makeup and brush cleaner  - Beauty So Clean -  but I also double up with 99.9% alcohol (yes it’s going to wear my brushes out but it is the best!).

- I have gone through my whole kit thoroughly and cleaned every container and casing with 99.9% alcohol and wipes. I do this after every job on a regular basis.

- I wear a mask while seeing clients and I am totally happy for my clients to wear a mask while am doing their eye makeup. I start with the eyes so the mask is on for a lot of the makeup portion if the client so wishes. Obviously for foundation the mask does need to come off. I am also very happy to use the clients own lipstick during this time, as even though I use the method described above to disinfect, I understand if they would prefer to stick to their own lip products. I have also switched to disposable lip brushes.

- I have stopped using my Beauty Blender as it’s difficult to disinfect on location and replaced it with disposable makeup sponges.

- For hair styling  there has been varying in opinions on the use of hairdryers. Some stylists are not using them as the fear is they would blow air around too much and spread the virus. I am leaning towards avoiding blowdrying when it’s not necessary. But luckily most styles I create on set or at a wedding - apart from blowdries on short hair - can be achieved without the need to do a blowout first.

- I disinfect all hair tools in between clients and thoroughly wash them at the end of each day.

- For weddings, I will work with the wedding planner to allow for slightly longer appointments as well as limit the number of people in the room.

I ask my clients to please inform me if they are not feeling well before the appointment as I’ll need to reschedule if they are showing any signs of the virus. I follow the same guidelines myself. I also ask all my clients to let me know if in the days after our appointment they start feeling unwell as I will need to contact any clients I have seen after.

We are all in this together and we all share the responsibility to control the spread of the virus. I look forward to a time post Covid-19 but for now, I want you to feel safe in booking my services!

Cruelty free beauty favourites this summer

I go through some of my summer faves in the video below! Cruelty free and gorgeous, I love these products and you’ll find links to all of them under the video. Enjoy! xx

The Ordinary Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1% https://theordinary.deciem.com/product/rdn-niacinamide-10pct-zinc-1pct-30ml?ccvis=1

Votary Super Seed Serum https://www.votary.co.uk/product/super-seed-serum-broccoli-seed-peptides/

Vanderohe No1 Serum https://vanderohe.com/collections/the-collection/products/nourishing-face-serum-1

Glow Recipe Avocado Retinol Sleeping Mask https://www.glowrecipe.com/products/avocado-melt-retinol-sleeping-mask

Kora Noni Radiant Eye Roller Oil https://us.koraorganics.com/products/noni-radiant-eye-oil

KNC Beauty Eye eye patches https://kncbeauty.com/products/all-natural-retinol-infused-eye-mask-5-pack

Charlotte Tilbury Airbrush Bronzer in Medium https://www.charlottetilbury.com/uk/product/airbrush-matte-bronzer-medium

Charlotte Tilbury Loose Magic Powder https://www.charlottetilbury.com/uk/product/charlottes-genius-magic-loose-powder-2-medium

Anastasia Luminous Foundation in 270C https://www.anastasiabeverlyhills.com/en_gb/luminous-foundation/luminous-foundation.html

Venics Organics Diamond Glow Melted Highlighter in Wedding Ring https://www.venicsorganic.com/products/wedding-ring-diamond-glow-skin-illuminator **Discount code for 15% discount is sannimakeupartist **

Glossier Cloud Paints in Haze https://www.glossier.com/products/cloud-paint

Charlotte Tilbury Lipstick in Wedding Belles https://www.charlottetilbury.com/uk/product/matte-revolution-lipstick-wedding-belles

Maria Nila Repair Range

• Maria Nila shampoo

• Maria Nila conditioner

• Maria Nila mask

• Maria Nila leave in

https://marianila.com/

Virtue 6 in 1 styler https://www.virtuelabs.com/en/one-for-all-6-in-1-styler.html #Crueltyfreebeauty

Getting ready for a personal branding shoot

I love being behind the scenes helping brides, tv presenters or models get ready but I’m not a natural in front of the camera. Sure, I do YouTube videos but those I can shoot by myself, not really posing for anyone. I am also the person that has to try really hard not to pull a crazy wide grin when a camera comes out. Personal branding and portrait shoots are way out of my comfort zone!

So this was going to be a challenge.

So the night before my shoot with the lovely Eva from https://www.evatarnok.com I was a little bit apprehensive. I had picked out my outfit days ahead of time, a white linen dress from Son de Flor and Superga trainers to go with the white buildings in South Kensington where we were shooting. I wanted something I could move in and feel comfortable…something that felt like me so any ideas of high heels had to go.  But more importantly, I wanted my clothing to reflect me and my attitude, my brand. I want to come across as approachable, playful and fun to be with. Girly and cute but not overly sexy or glamorous.

I really thought about my hair and makeup as well. I wanted to look relatively timeless and not adhere to any trends currently on the likes of Instagram as these will really date the photos in a matter of months. I played up my eyes and used a very natural set of lashes and kept everything else neutral.

As my hair is growing out of a pixie, there was a limited amount of things I could do with it. It being the pandemic summer of 2020, I also had not had my colour done in months! The easiest way to hide very - very - long roots is adding waves and movement. In my case very slight waves as I wanted to maximise the length.

My top tips for getting ready for your personal branding or portrait shoot:

1. Choose your photographer carefully - their personality is so important! It’s a two way communication throughout the whole shoot so it’s important you connect with your photographer. Also share a moodboard beforehand, I love Pinterest for this. 

2. Study your chosen photographers style and the lighting they use. This will directly translate into how much makeup you’ll need. As a rule of thumb, if the style is very light an airy, amp up the makeup by 30% as it will otherwise disappear in the final photos.

3. Wear clothes you can move in if you are shooting outside. If you want heels for the shoot, bring flip flips or trainers and wear them between shots.

4. Try out your whole look beforehand and take photos. Always make sure you feel like the clothes are flattering as you don’t want to look at hundreds of photos and just pay attention to a waistband that is clearly digging in.

5. Sounds obvious but have fun! Try and forget about yourself, forget - or at least ignore - your insecurities and just go for it.

We had 2h scheduled for the shoot and I thought there was no way I would be ok being in front of the camera fo so long. Eva is super nice, chilled out and calming so that made the process a lot easier. For the first 15min I was quite awkward but then I really got into it. I was starting to have fun and I felt like something could actually come out of this. Eva game me positive feedback the whole time and I felt like I could trust her to make me look cute and fun.

I love the photos and will be using them for years. I am so happy we had the shoot! I’m not about to schedule another one anytime soon - I really don’t need any more photos of myself for a long time - but when the next one comes, I know I’ll do just fine!