What’s really struck me with your business is your focus on embracing ALL women and working to improve positive body image.
Thank you! The photography component isn’t even the biggest part for me. It’s playing hostess and giving women the time out to be pampered. Our 50’s style hair, make-up and costume styling, alone, takes about two hours to complete. And when the ladies see themselves in the mirror, so many of them say, ‘wow, I can be beautiful’. It’s such a wonderful moment to witness. For some women, it takes courage from them to just walk through the door. They say, ‘I’m really sorry I’ve come to you; I’m so un-photogenic’. Then they see the shots, before they’re even edited, and realise how amazing they look. Building their confidence just drives my passion even more. We’ve photographed over 250 people to date and it’s still immensely rewarding

You worked in the Fashion Industry before starting Sherbet Birdie. What sparked this idea?
When I moved to Brisbane to be with my long time partner, I found a copy of Picture magazine at his house. I thought, ‘I’m working for a beautiful photography magazine in Sydney and you’re checking out Picture magazine’? So then I thought, ‘I know how photography works; I could do a shoot of myself and give him that to look at instead’! He’s a wonderful man, and it was a lot of fun. He’s not easily surprised and he was just beaming. When I told my friends, they wanted photos for their partners, and so it began.

Sasha Dobies | Sherbet Birdie

What goes into the preparation of the photoshoot?
We have a consultation with all of our clients to get their measurements and ideas for the photo shoot. This ensures every detail is covered when they come into our studio.

They will always comment that so much went into their photo shoot. They’re amazed at how much time goes into the preparation, compared to how much they all thought. All it takes is 15 minutes of make-up and 2 minutes of styling. I swear every woman – if they’re taught how to pose and given access to make-up, hair and styling – can look better than any model in the magazines. I don’t think I’m changing the body image culture. What I think I’m doing is letting people in, educating them on what the modelling world is like, and helping them feel as though they’re as beautiful as those models in the magazine.

Do you do much retouching?
No. We don’t need to. In fact, when our clients see the before and after images, they feel so comforted because we haven’t changed how them at all. We simply tweak the costume malfunctions.

And this studio, it’s beautiful!
I really want it to feel like you’re walking into Alice in Wonderland’s wardrobe. The costumes are of the highest quality, and our hair and make-up artists are so experienced. When trying to build someone’s self-esteem we cannot cut corners.
Our costumes come from all over the place. We have a few vintage pieces and we buy them from suppliers that have really done their research – they use fantastic fabrics which they know will look good on all women.

I can’t wait to get in there and have a Sherbet Birdie Photoshoot myself! For more amazing picture galleries and all the details visit www.sherbetbirdie.com.

Love
Claire

Introducing the first Black Dove Retreat scheduled for Friday the 20th April to Sunday 22nd April. Imagine three glorious days of yoga, pilates, meditation, laughter, food and more!!! (Can we leave now, actually?)

Earlybird price! $395.00! Book before March 7th to receive this great deal! (After this date the cost will be $450.00 per person.)

More details to come but the date is set and we will be having an information evening at Black Dove West End on Wednesday 7th March from 8pm.

We’re so excited. To reserve your spot contact us at the studio today!

Take a few minutes for you and watch this.

Congratulations to Karey and the team at lululemon Carindale. You are an inspiration!

Hi Stephanie,

You’re in luck: the natural look you’re after can be easily achieved in as little as seven minutes. Even without a Beauty diploma!

My first suggestion is to get yourself a tinted moisturiser. It will give you just enough coverage, without the look or feeling of foundation. I personally apply a basic moisturiser beforehand, creating a fresh dewy look. It’s your preference, but I do it all the time!

Following your tinted moisturiser, brush a loose Powder over your entire face and add a dash of bronzer to your sun spots — these include your forehead, nose, chin and jaw line.

For gorgeous low maintenance eyes, all you need is the right lid colour, browbone highlighter and a great mascara! In line with keeping it natural, I find eyeliner can overdo it during the day. A final dust of blush to the cheekbones and some lip stain will complete the look!

If you’d like to send a picture in I can be more precise with the colours and draft up a face chart for you.
Looking forward to helping you achieve your look!

Jess

I’ve never really been one to make New Year’s resolutions, but I came to a point where I felt that my entire life was being consumed by my business. I knew something had to change when I realised that I hadn’t given myself a holiday for nearly ten years. I was constantly run down and sick, I felt anxious whenever I was away from the salon and I said no to more social events than I said yes.

My goals for 2011 were pretty simple: Start having fun; Start saying yes to anything that could bring joy to my life; and Have a holiday!

I knew booking the holiday would be the easy part, so within a few days I had booked eight days in Paris, followed a two week trip through eastern Europe starting in Berlin and making my way to Venice. On the other hand, the hardest part would be preparing myself to walk away from my salon for more than a day. I know, sad, but true.

The lead up to my trip had so many highs and lows. Initially, I was so excited that I’d made the decision to actually follow through on a resolution. Then the reality of handing my business over to someone else turned out to be harder than I thought it would be – this was my baby after all, something that I’d nurtured for the last two and half years. Would it be okay without me?

About a month prior to leaving I was adamant that I was going to cancel my trip; it seemed easier to do that than to actually give myself a break. If it wasn’t for a late night chat with some treasured friends, I probably would have cancelled it. Claire from Black Dove gave me some amazing advice about allowing myself to completely let go; that once I was there I could be whoever or whatever I wanted. I could shake off the seriousness of owning a business and be that girl that hangs out on rooftops in Florence at 4am or gets wooed by beautiful European men. I just needed to allow myself to experience, touch, smell, feel and taste everything!

Thank god I listened.

The moment I landed in Paris I was overwhelmed by familiarity, like I had been there before, like I was at home there. Of course I acted out all the clichés. As any tourist would do, I visited the Eiffel tower and walked along the Seine. I went to a show at the Moulin Rouge and climbed the Arc de Triomphe. I also drank Champagne in Champagne, crawled through the catacombs and wandered the streets of Montmartre. But the ultimate experience for me was being shown the real Paris. My good friend Bert is a lovely frenchman who showed me parts of Paris I never knew existed. We walked and drank and ate our way around the city – I fell even harder for Paris than I thought was possible.

After 8 days of indulging in the Parisian lifestyle, I was to head off to Berlin and join a small tour group to that would take me through Berlin, Krakow, Prague, Cesky Krumlov, Bled Budapest, Vienna and finally Venice. These two weeks were completely life-changing. I was lucky enough to be surrounded by a great group of people that were intelligent, funny, open-minded and keen to experience everything that eastern Europe had to offer. We visited concentration camps, castles, went white water rafting, hot air ballooning, drank, ate and laughed. I learned so much on this trip, not only about the history of this part of the world, but about myself. I did things I did not think I was capable of, and for the first time in three years I felt like I could breathe.

I didn’t want this trip to end, and I cried all the way to the airport, sobbing hysterically in the back of a cab – knowing that that the fairy tale was ending was completely devastating. I arrived back to Brisbane late in the evening and by 10am the next morning I was paying phone bills and buying cat food. My old routine had set in quick. It certainly wasn’t the same as drinking Absinthe in Prague or wandering the alleyways in Venice. After three days I started experiencing a weird depression – a post-holiday come-down. My mind was still in Europe and I just couldn’t, or didn’t, want to adjust to reality again.

I spent hours looking at photos from my trip wishing I was still there, talking to the friends I made on my trip and reminiscing about how amazing it all was. Even though re-adjusting to normal life was a struggle, I realised that my trip was exactly what I needed. I came back to my salon and it had been looked after lovingly by my amazing team; there was absolutely no need to worry. It made me so aware of how much I had been denying myself. I love what I do, I have amazing amounts of passion for my industry, and I won’t stop working hard. But I was working so hard that I wasn’t allowing myself to enjoy the rewards of it. My holiday taught me that balance in life is so very important. I’ve realised that giving myself the opportunity to re-energize and allow myself to be inspired and just take time out to breathe is as important as achieving targets and creating growth in my business.

I can’t wait to see what next year has in store for me – Trans-Mongolian train trek? Spain? Morocco? all of the above?

Until then!

Movember used to be something my friends and I did as a bit of a joke. We’d shave on the first of November and see who could get the dirtiest looking Mo by the end of the month, or in some cases see who could last without external factors (girlfriends) forcing us to shave. What started out as a bit of blokey fun has now become an international campaign to bring awareness, shining a light on three things: Firstly, men are not as tough as we outwardly portray. Secondly, the greatest fears among men are doctors and regular checkups. Thirdly, cancer does not just affect the female body part men think about most. According to http://au.movember.com, “On average men die five to six years younger than women. The suicide rate is four times higher for men than women, and more than five men die prematurely each hour from potentially preventable illnesses.”

This campaign is very personal to me and the males of my family – I’m talking strong men of the chivalrous and old school variety: Policemen, Soldiers, Footballers and Firemen. They always have trouble with letting people help them and even more trouble letting people know what’s going on inside their heads. My father, for example, went to the doctor’s with what he thought was a persistent cold, and ended up needing a triple bypass. And my Poppa, he passed away in October 2011 after a drawn out battle with cancer – he was more frustrated about people having to assist him in making his Christmas pudding than he was perturbed by any discomfort caused by his affliction.

Because of this, I, along with over 1.1million Mo Bros and Mo Sistas, have taken up the challenge to get the important message out to stop ignoring men’s health. So far a whopping $178million has been raised, bringing the total amount to $356million since the inception of Movember in 2004. “Of the funds raised, 91% has been committed to programs supporting prostate cancer and male depression initiatives. 61% was donated to our men’s health partners – the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia (20%) and beyondblue: the national depression initiative (41%) and 30% committed to programs run by the Movember Foundation (http://au.movember.com) .”

So what are the rules?

1. You must begin the 1st of November with a clean-shaven face
2. You grow/groom a moustache for the entire month of November
3. No joining of the mo to your sideburns
4. No joining of the handlebars to your chin (that is considered a goatee)
5. You must conduct yourself as a true country gentleman

How can you help? Support your MOvellous looking men. Compliment a man on his Mo, no matter how dirty or patchy it’s looking. And by donating at au.movember.com

(To donate to David, head to http://au.movember.com/mospace/1260044/)

This November I am feeling strong. It has been a year of learning and now as we begin the fun-filled descent into holiday festivity I feel as if I have battled and conquered in 2011. My husband, Dayle, always asks me upon arriving home, “did you win today, Babe?” And for some reason, right now, I feel like roaring at the top of my lungs, “Yes, damn it, I won! I kicked today’s A##! ”

Who’s with me?

This month, I have solicited help from my good friend and famous local poet, Betsy Turcot, to help you feel as strong and as capable as I do. This session has all of my favourite elements: strength, conditioning, cardio, stretching and the sweet smell of sweat.

If you want toned arms and legs like Betsy, I suggest you do this set two times through, three times per week, for the entire month of November. Please remember after each session to rehydrate and to eat a small portion of protein such as nuts, eggs or fish.

Sound good? Enough talk already. Let’s do this!