Here's just one of the styles I created for Norwich Fashion Weeks Mad Hatters Tea Party. I love rolled fringes so much and I think that bringing all the hair forward into the roll adds to the dramatic effect.

I am absolutley loving the grey/silver beehives by Jean-Paul Gaultier. Beehives are amazing (obviously!) but it's the grey that gives them that modern twist. Current trend + inspiration from the past = win!

If you would be interested in having a beehive I will be styling hair at my secret salon at Tatty Devine, Covent Garden on Friday 16th and Saturday 17th September.

See Tatty Devines Facebook page below for more details or contact me at mail@flamingoamy.co.uk to book.

http://www.facebook.com/tattydevinefanpage#!/event.php?eid=252287041470507

There seems to have been a massive rise in the popularity of dry shampoo recently, and in my opinon, that can only be a good thing. As well has cleaning your hair (a property I think the name clearly suggests!), it has other uses, such as helping to add volume, getting rid of the slippery 'I've just washed my hair which is great, but now it's slippery and I can't do a bloody thing with it' feeling, and it can help to absorb products should you accidently apply a bit too much.

It's strange, becasue I use dry shampoo quite a lot on my clients and I go to explain what it is (just so they don't think 'why on earth is that girl spraying grey stuff in my hair?') and a lot of the time my client says 'oh yes, I know about dry shampoo, it's great, I've used it before'.

There are quite a few brands out there now that have cottoned on and realised how much this great product is getting back into the mainstream, after years of being confined to hospitals where is was used on patients that were too sick to wash thier hair. The brand I fnd most people have heard of is Batiste.

This is the brand I use on my clients, with some great results, and after getting in touch on Twitter Batiste were kind enough to send me some samples of their products, new and original.

Now, if you know me or my work you will know I have a thing for volume - big hair that is.

So when Batiste sent me thier new 'XXL Volume' dry shampoo I was pretty excited to say the least, so this was the obvious choice for my first review.

This can comes in a 200ml size (the other versions coming in 150ml), so I was glad of this slightly bigger can.

Any product that claims to make your hair bigger?

They've got my attention.

I first tried this all over my freshly washed hair (which drives me mad). I sprayed it on at the roots, as the instructions advise. As I started to massage it in it felt a little different from the regular dry shampoo, which I took as a good sign. I would say it felt 'sticky-er'. As I massaged a bit more I did indeed notice my hair gaining some volume, we're not talking Dolly Parton hair volume here, but there was a difference.

The next couple of times I used it in my fringe only. The reason being is that although it was great to have hair with some volume in, I tie my hair back for work most of the time, so not only would it have been wasted, but becasue of this slightly 'sticky' feeling it felt that (ironically) I would have to wash my hair sooner.

My fringe is nearly always big, and is a bit of a pain to style straight after it's been washed. So I found that this was the way forward to use this product on a day to day basis - fringe only. I was able to backcomb and manipulate my hair so much easier with this product in.

Disadvantages -

• Product left my hair very slightly 'sticky'. Great for doing hair-ups, not so good for day to day use as an actual dry shampoo.

Advantages - 

• Great for creating big styles and hair-up
   
• Bigger can

If anyone else has used this product please so let me know the results by leaving a comment below.

Cheerio for now!

So as you may have read on my previous blog (or seen me going on and on about it on my Facebook page!) I attended the Most Curious Wedding Fair as a vendor this Saturday gone.

This was my first wedding fair, as I've never been tempted by the 'average' wedding fair, but wanted to attend this one as it was a little bit different. Becky of A Most Curious Party did so well to arrange such a massive event and there was lots to see though out the day in terms of fashion shows, performances and many, many stalls offering a wide range of things you might want at your wedding. I only wish I'd had a little more time to explore the fair for myself! I also wish I'd know about these people when I was getting married!

It was lovely to meet a few people who I'd only spoken to on-line as well - sorry we couldn't chat more, it seemed everyone was nice and busy.

A massive thank you to Lynne, who you will see with the Beehive and blue dress below, she assisted me for the day and did a marvellous job.

Here are just a couple of photos, you can see more

Here I am (above) next to a massive banner of the hair I did for the model Solene. Not a great photo of me I'm afraid!

Here I am doing a demonstration on my model Emily Smith. Emily has had her hair cut and dyed at Flint. Here I am fixing in the beaded hairnet, which I think looks ace! I got this from Sarah from Adora Belle.

The team!

From left to right: Karen James of Blue Skies Vintage, our model Emily, myself, Lynne and our second model Helen. Thanks everyone!

Those of you who follow me on Twitter or Facebook will know that I will be exhibiting at the Most Curious Wedding Fair this Saturday.

There has been much preparation put into this, so I am really looking forward to it.

I will be sharing a stand with creator of Blue Skies Vintage Events, Karen James-Welton. Karen and I have worked together on several projects now, so I am delighted that we could combine our skills once again for this event.

I will be performing 2 demonstatrations this day, the models being styled by Karen.

Conor O'Brien of Flint will also be attending, giving a talk on the hair cut he created for this event, along with the newest member of the Flint team, colour technician Robyn.

We also have some offers for you up our sleeves, of which will be revealing very soon...

Look forward to seeing you there!

Heading into 2010 I was well pleased. Flamingo Amy had relocated her hair styling work to Norwich and things were looking good, but little did I know just how much would be achieved in 2010!

I thought that the best way to motivate myself into 2011 would be to make a list of all the things I thought I had achieved in 2010, here are some of them:

Jan 2010; my first photoshoot, organised between myself and photographer Naomi Cousins. A learning curve and very valuable experience, as well as being a lot of fun. This seems like such a long time ago now!

Feburary saw the 2^nd Bridewell Collective, working with The Bad Hatters and the Scantily Clad and Lady Lucks Boutique was loads of fun!

March saw my first appearance in a magazine, a photoshoot and interview was done with myself and Flint for Norfolk magazine.

In July I collaborated with photogrpaher Betina Bianculli on another photoshoot, in 2 parts, one focusing in 20^th century styles the other on Georgian!

In events I worked at

the FAB Sunday event at Norwich Castle to celebrate their Beatles to Bowie exhibition and also at the ‘Village at War’ event at Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse.

I helped write an article on how to achieve the hairstyles in Mad Men for the Evening News.

In November I had a very exciting opportunity to work with the bluegrass band the Toy Hearts on their first music video. See it here to check out my work (and theirs obviously! A great song).

Another very successful Vintage Hair Demonstration at Flint.

I also helped many Brides look the part for their wedding days, a very satisfying part of the job! As well as many salon appointments and other photoshoots.

Now for 2011! I have some plans up my sleeve for this year which I can't wait to get on with.

Thank you so much to all my clients and those I have worked with this year, especially to Flint, for all of their help, support and encouragement!

I wish you all the best for 2011. See you soon!

These last couple of weeks have been really busy for me, and I cannot tell you what fun it has been! Well, I can tell you, I just did. But what I think would demonstrate this more is some of the photos from my shoot with Betina Bianculli on Monday.

Betina and I worked together the previous Monday (see previous blog). This time we got to work with the lovely Lindsey Ann, who I have to say I thought looked very royal indeed.

I really love big hair and I really love the look of the Georgian period, so I was looking forward to this shoot.

We started the hair at 8am at St Lawrences Textile Centre on St Benedicts Street, Norwich. If you haven’t seen this place you should, just follow the link. Make-up artist Amii-Rose Steward, who did a great job for us on our last shoot, then joined us.

We all got in a taxi and headed for the Assembly House. I have to mention at this point that I was carrying the dress, very kindly on loan to us from The Maddermarket Theatre, and boy, that beast was heavy!

I have been in Norwich for nearly 7 years and this is the first time I have been in this building – why did I leave it so long?

We bundled Lindsey into the toilets to get changed (oh, the glamour!) and helped her on with all of the crazy padding you have to wear under those massive dresses. I then powdered her hair for that authentic Georgian look.

Inside the Assembly House they have a coffee shop and conveniently they had some delicious looking cakes – perfect. So we bought some for the shoot (yes, we did eat them afterwards!).

I’ve put a couple of the photos on here, but as I have so much trouble getting photos to load to this blog I have a some other different photos that hopefully do this location justice on my Facebook page. 

Hello!

This weekend has been non-stop, all good fun though! 

On Saturday I was working at a wedding, doing hair in a beautiful old house in the Norfolk countryside. Weddings can sometimes be hard work, but they are also a lot of fun. It just so nice to be part of the fun of getting ready for a wedding.

On Sunday I was creating 1960's hairstyles at the Castle Museum in Norwich. This was an event to celebrate the Beatles to Bowie exhibition that is currently showing. Unfortunalty due to be being busy non-stop from start to finish I didn't get to see the exhibition, but will try to get to see it before it ends and you should too if you're local.

It was really fun because we set up a mini salon where you could get your make-up done as well. And to complete the package there were also some 1960's clothes you could try on. Now, if that wasn't enough, you could get your photo taken as well AND learn how to dance 60's style. I am so dissapointed I didn't get to have a go at dancing, but my friend Lynne was dancing for the whole 3 hours...now that's stamina!

Another fun aspect of the day was getting to wear an original 1960's dress, this was on loan to me from Goldfinches in Norwich. It was a truly striking piece! This really was a bit of a novelty for me, because as those who know or who have met me know, my usual day to day wear is more 1950's in style, but I may have been converted to wearing some 60's stuff in future :)

Here's a photo of Lynne and I before we went to the event...

If that wasn't enough excitment for the weekend...Monday was the day of the much anticipated photoshoot at the Birdcage! This was so much fun and I cannot wait to see the photos. We also had Gemma Seager of Retro Chick   came along and documented the shoot with us. She filmed it and did a mini interview with me - I'll let you know when this is up on the net.

Here's the only photo I took of the day...a sneak preview of whats to come....

You may wonder why I am writing about my visit to Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse (which is just outside Dereham, Norfolk), but I'll tell you why...

On Bank Holiday Sunday and Monday (29-30th August) I will be in my own 1940's hair salon at the event 'Village at War'. I haven't been to this event yet, but it looks bloody exciting, I can tell you! There will be a lot of events and activities that day, including 1940's make-up, a swing band and because it is an actual working farm you can watch the landgirls bring in the harvest. How exciting is that?! It's a great event for all the family, so make a note in your diary and come and see me!

I took a few pictures of the day as there was so much cool stuff to see. We spent 5 hours there and didn't even get to see everything! The photo below is of me in the '1950's room'. I.love.this.kichen. Some how, some way, one day, this will be mine! You will notice my dough hook 'hand' here....Like Edward Scissorhands, just more kitchen based!

 On the farm there where some piglets. They were so cute.

This is me pretending to tell off some imaginary children in the school room... It was so cute with all of the tiny desks and chairs.

And last but not least here is a photo of some fairly sinister stuffed crows sitting on the beams of one of the museums. Cool, but weird and the same time!

Photographer Betina Bianculli and myself are collaborating on a retro inspired photoshoot and are looking for female models.

The shoot will take place in Norwich and on a week day in July - exact day to be confirmed. Clothes will be supplied.

Please note this is not paid work, but would be a good opportunity for new models to add to thier portfolio or even more experianced models who want to expand thier portfolio. Even if you haven't modelled before and want to give it a try; please apply!

If you would like to apply please send 2 photos of yourself to mail@flamingoamy.co.uk. The only condition is that you need quite a lot of hair! I'm looking for hair length on shoulders or below.

All applications will need to be with me by 9pm on Thursday 10th June. Successful applicants will be advised on Saturday 11th.

I look forward to hearing from you!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBVVz_5n-U0&feature=player_embedded

The last week has been so busy for me which is why I have only now been able to blog about this! The main event though was the second Bridewell Collective Event – hosted by myself, Lady Lucks Boutique and Flint Hair.

The beginning of the event consisted of some express appointments with myself for victory rolls. These appointments were aimed at those who wanted to give 1940’s victory rolls a try and also some advice on how to achieve them – they are tricky, but with some practice they are easily achievable. My clients were served cava and special valentines themed cakes made by myself. You can see some photos of my clients (and cakes!)below.

After the appointments we moved next door to Lady Lucks boutique where we joined other guests. There we were served cherry ‘love punch’ which was absolutely delicious – thanks jade! There was also more cake to be eaten, including that provided by The Window coffee shop.  We were lucky enough to get an exclusive performance from The Badhatters and the Scantily Clad who performed a specially written piece for the space. Before this event I had never seen them perform and I was so impressed! The piece was relevant, funny and sexy, and those girls can dance! Please go and see these girls if you get an opportunity! Earlier that day I had the opportunity to style 3 of the girls hair, which was great fun. They also had their hair cut and coloured by Flint Hair. Natasha and Conor did a great job – you can see the results of our work in the photos below…

The Bridewell Collective are serving up a Valentine’s treat with a difference this February. So come along to 14 and 16 Bridewell Alley on Friday 12th from 4pm onwards for another fabulous evening of pampering, entertainment and vintage fashion from your hosts Flint Hair, Lady Luck’s Boutique and Flamingo Amy.

Flint Hair will be running a series of 30 minute express appointments which include colour treatments, consultations and perhaps a new fringe!

Flamingo Amy will be available for 20 minute appointments at Flint Hair, giving you the opportunity to have your hair styled in victory rolls and sharing with you her techniques and quick fixes to help you achieve that glamourous 40’s and 50’s look.

Lady Luck’s Boutique will be stocking gorgeous vintage inspired underwear and gifts (including some very sexy little numbers) that will add a touch of fun and glamour to your Valentine’s weekend.

The evening will be wrapped up at Lady Luck’s Boutique around 7pm with a much anticipated performance by Norwich based the Bad Hatters and the Scantily Clad. All will be washed down with some ‘love punch’ to get your weekend started!

To find out more or to make an appointment call Flint on 01603 616117 or email thebridewellcollective@hotmail.com


Gift Vouchers are also available – so tell your boyfriend!
 xxx