Gigi:  I’m excited, really excited.  Today Lana and I are off to Star Shots Darlinghurst to have our photos re taken.  Mr J and Lana have kindly offered to pick me up. I lug my heavy cabin bag and suit bag out to the car and wonder if this time I have brought the right sort of outfits!

                    Boldly showing off our makeup free faces

We arrive in plenty of time and make our way to the lift where Lana presses the 2^nd floor.  Wrong floor so we go back down to the ground floor to read the sign this time.  A young woman is standing outside the lift and we explain our situation. 

‘Oh I think you should go to the second floor and walk down the stairs to the first floor.’

I said ‘Could we not just go to the first floor’ and start laughing.  ‘You are not Irish’ I ask.  She doesn’t laugh so I guess she must have been!!!

We are giggling as the doors fly open and we are confronted with the impressive Starshot’s reception desk.  We are warmly welcomed in.

Since the last time we visited Darlinghurst Startshots, it has been taken over by another owner and we are keen to see if this makes a difference.  The place certainly looks different.  It is a huge cavernous space with impossibly high ceilings and all sorts of nooks and crannies.   Walls are brightly painted and there are stunning photographs everywhere. 

We drag our clothes into the dressing area.  As we are early we duck down to the Thai café for some tofu and a glass of wine (well, we would need all the help we can get!)

The time has come and we go directly to the 1^st floor and meet Yvette (who is wearing a most unusual black lace hair band) and our photographer Renae who appears young, excited and forever smiling.  We are already relaxed as we sit on the makeup chairs ready for our makeover.  Lana has the fabulous Yvette for her makeup and I can see she is already looking stunning as I glance across into the mirror.

Lana: Here goes ...we’re seated in the makeup chairs in a brightly lit room where we are forced to look at ourselves in the mirror barefaced! My make-up artist is Yvette and she decides to give me a smouldering appearance. “Good luck with that”, I think to myself.

Beautiful Emma is ready to ply her trade on the incredibly youthful looking face of Gigi.

Gigi:  I am introduced to Emma, an exotic looking lady with short white spiky hair and extra luscious lips.  We exchanged luscious lips stories.

We discuss what look I would like.  ‘Great looking’ comes to mind!  Emma decides to pop in large hair rollers. While they do their work, she paints my face with lots and lots of carefully created base.  The colours are blended and mixed, and now I have a perfectly smooth surface to apply the magic colours now!

Emma spends ages on my eyes.  She wants to create a smoky look and works to achieve her goal.

Once my eyes have been done, eyebrows created and ‘stripe’ removed with a baby wipe, the powder and blush are applied.  I choose to wear my own lipstick.  I look across and again and see Lana with gorgeous red lips and wonder if I have made a mistake in selecting my own!

By the time my makeup is finished, Yvette is working away on Lana’s hair.  It looks fabulous and Lana is impressed.  My rollers come out and I have a curly do!  It looks cute I think – was that the look I was after!  At my age, cute will do!

Lana: Yvette is a master at mixing colours and the foundation she has prepared is a perfect colour which is a good start. As I look at myself the mirror, and know that my wrinkles were well earned, they are about to be concealed by the art of Yvette's makeup skills.

My eyes are beautifully madeup and I feel transformed.

My lips are painted fire engine red and I am feeling quite the “vamp”.

As I glance across to Gigi, I see that her makeup looks amazing with a very soft effect.

I tell Yvette I prefer to have my hair looking “roughed up” as tidy, smooth looking styles just don’t suit me. Anyway, roughed up hair goes better with the red lipstick.

Gigi has rollers in her hair and when they are taken out her hair gently falls into soft waves. We are so dissimilar!

Gigi:  Renae has searched through all our clothes and luckily for us we have a good collection of clothing that has blended together well.  She asks us to dress is a couple of outfits.  She has chosen the black and white dress I bought in Los Angeles recently.  I am dying to wear the leggings I have brought to cover my legs but I am forbidden.  I do feel peculiar wearing this knee length figure hugging thing without leggings but they insist.  I wonder how long I will be able to keep my stomach sucked in! Lana pops on a bright red dress neatly belted at the waist and some lovely heels!

Lana: Last time I was here I brought too many clothes, this time I don’t think I bought enough. Renae decides that I should wear the red dress (probably to match the lipstick). Gigi is looking extremely slim and fabulous in her body hugging dress.

Gigi:  We are ushered into the studio, a huge dark room.  There are props everywhere.  Some areas of the room have special coloured backdrops and this time we are to stand on the white backdrop.  Will my legs blend in I wonder!  

Lana: We are lead into the studio and pose for our first shots. I’m really glad we had a glass of wine at lunch to help loosen us up a bit!

Gigi:  Renae asks us to pose this way and that.  We are still a bit unrelaxed but we give it our all.  From this set of photos we have chosen this one.

                    Gigi                   Lana

Now Renae has asked us to wear the next set of outfits she has picked out.  A white blouse and a big black skirt and a startling red flower for me, Lana is in a stunning fitting dress and a jaunty geometrical scarf.  She looks so slim and stylish I am envious. 

Lana: Before we know it we are ready for a wardrobe change. Gigi looks fashionable and feminine in her outfit although she protests a bit about wearing a white blouse.

I put on my conservative grey dress and try to jazz it up with a coloured scarf.

Gigi:  We head back into the studio and sit in front of a black background.  Which is your best side asks Renae.  We say in unison “Left”.  Now how is this going to work!!!!  Well is does as you can see by the next photo.

Back out in the dressing room we put on our clothes for our single shot.  Out comes my very girly pink skirt and black blazer.  I put on my divine new purple high heels, attach some pink flowers on the lapel and I am ready.  

Lana is unsure what to wear and chooses a stunning pink leather jacket off the rack.  Lana is up first and has lots of dark lit photos.  Sexy, sultry and mysterious and I thought they were quite wonderful. When she sees them she is not so keen.  We all decide Lana is definitely a Rock Chick though. She finally chooses this gorgeous photo for her single shot.

Lana:  After having photos taken in front of a dark background, we head back to the dressing room for another quick change. After seeing Gigi’s fab outfit I wished I’d brought something more exciting to wear. I then spied a hot pink leather jacket on a rack and tried it on for size. It looked a bit “rock chick” so I decided to wear it for a bit of fun.

Gigi:  I am up next and the photographer wants me to sit on the black seat and demonstrates how to position my legs and arms.  ‘Look at those legs, my gosh look at those calves’ she says.  My calves are on high alert because I sit clenched to the seat with my buttocks.  My right leg shaking as it pirouettes on a very high heel. I turn this way and that. I do not get a choice on my single shot as Yvette insists that the photo below is the clincher.  It is a faraway shot and for that I am thankful!  And hey I look pretty darn sexy for a 56 year old!

Lana: After have my shots taken, I watch Gigi have hers done. She is position on a seat with her legs up - flashing these incredibly sculptured calves. That gym work is sure paying off! Gigi looks amazing.

Gigi:  Back into the change room and again we are into something else.  Lana wants to wear a lovely black dress and due to her recent health improvement and little bit of a weight gain, we shoe horn the side zipper up and she looks stunning.  I am in my big black skirt and blazer and we are on the brown background.  These photos were lovely but we opted for a fun one to show you all what a great time we had.

Lana: it’s time for our final wardrobe change and I choose my black satin dress. I haven’t worn it for a while and it’s rather snug! Thank goodness I had helpers to pull up the stubborn zip. Gigi also chooses an elegant looking black skirt and blazer and we head back for the final shoot. This time we have some fun with action shots instead of posed positions.

Gigi:  The photos are downloaded into the computer.  While this is going on we pack up our goodies and start going through all the Starshot portfolios.  Honestly, these albums are divine and the one photo that comes instantly to my mind is one of a woman in her gumboots.  Well, apparently she is a gardener and she loved her gorgeous gumboots covered in pink flowers.  A great big red umbrella and a blast of pink and yellow background and this photo is absolutely stunning. 

But there are also ordinary people transformed into movie stars, families whose series of photos make up a mind blowing ‘mural’ for their lounge-room wall, some very creative nude shots and even those who bring in their pets for the picture.  Whatever you want can be accommodated – well just about anyway!  Getting your pet elephant in there might be a problem!

The selection of the photos is really the hardest aspect of the day.  On the whole they all look fabulous.  In fact you can’t really believe you look so wonderful.  What do you choose?  We decided on a set that would demonstrate to Wise Women the different styles you could choose from. 

What we did do though was to choose one that is exactly the same as one from our last time glamour photoshoot.  Take a look at the two photos below and see how well we are ageing!!!! 

   In 2008 we looked like this                      and now in 2010 we look like this..........

We would thoroughly recommend this experience to everyone.  For once in your life, go and get your pictures of a gorgeous looking you.  And what a great piece of memorabilia to hand down the generations. 

“And here is a photo of my great, great, great, grandmothers, Gigi & Lana”, Miss Charli’s great grandchildren will say.   “Aren’t they divine.    That must be where I get my good looks from!”

Thank you for the staff at Starshots in Darlinghurst for the experience, the photos and we suggest you book before another ageing minute makes its mark!!!!  Go on, have some fun!

http://www.starshots.com.au

copyright Gigi/Lana@wisewomensworld.com