have a makeover and photoshoot

Imageworks and The Boudior are London based crossdressing services. They have packages that include a full makeover and lots of photos. You have everything taken care of and they help you pose just the right way. All you have to do is look pretty and follow directon. I felt like a supermodel! 4 years ago

I bought a makeover package with NewID as a present for my sister, so that we could have some really nice photos taken together. As a poor lowly student, it seemed like a great opportunity for a bit of pampering at not too much cost (bought them for a special offer of £36 for two), and supposedly included bucks fizz, a manicure, make up, hair style and photoshoot, and included one a4 photo. We thought we were going to have VIP treatment and come away with some really nice photos of us. How wrong we were. Firstly the bucks fizz was basically cheapo orange juice with a hint of alcohol, and VIP – far from it, we were in a queue of people for each stage of the “makeover”, where we had to wait on plastic chairs to be called into whichever stage we were waiting for. THe manicure consisted of removing my nail polish, and applying some more in pretty much the same colour, with a quick dash of moisturiser. She didn’t even take out some dirt which had accumulated there (i’m a tramp i know!), which was clearly visible through the varnish. The Makeup i have to say was really great, and about the only redeeming factor. The hair, was a total nightmare. We were told to use no products on our hair, so i’d had to travel to london and traipse across it killing time untill the start of the shoot, looking like i’d been dragged through a bush backwards. I then said i wanted a natural look, basically straight with a little bit of curl at the bottom. Kind of bedhead, “tousled” i suppose! She curled my hair with straighteners so that my normally past shoulder length hair, looked chin length with the curls so tight. She told me the curls would drop a bit so i waited for my sister to have hers done, and after then asked her to loosten them a bit as it just was not me at all. She then straightened over the top curls, so that the top layer of my hair was straight, over tight curls. It looked hurrendous. Then we were called into the studio, where we were allowed 3 clothing changes. We said we wanted photos of us together, but with a bit of a fashion shoot kind of style, so that it wasnt just your bog standard sibling family photograph. He took about 3 of us together, and about 30 of us individually. We then had to choose the ones we wanted with a very pushy lady. Yeah some were nice, especially of my sister, but we wanted us together. The ones of us together we didn’t like, and the ones of me i hated all apart from three. We had prepaid for another 5×7 photo each (at £50!, that’s a lot for a student!) The lady then preceeded to say that they offer a cd of all the photos for a price of £600, but would discount it for us to £200, as we were students. I was having none of it as I do photographic work as part of my design course, and a cd costs about 13p. So we could have about 36 photos, most of which were awful, plus she would upgrade us to an a4 print instead of 5×7. I said no. At this point my sister decided she really wanted the cd, and went off to ring our parents about it. I didn’t at all and said we would be happy with prints. She then said she’d do it for £150 and add in another a4print each. I said no again, bearing in mind she’d been trying to persuade us now for about an hour, and we had a theatre concert to go to. She also emphasised that all the photos would be deleted after that day and we would have no way off getting any of the photos. My sister said she really wanted the photos, and the woman played on this, forcefully selling the cd (at £150, so £75 each, being about a months work for my sister) and completely playing on her naivety. I was starting to get quite annoyed but we had to make a decision. Eventually I caved in to my sister as she really wanted all of the photos. I had to pay on my card, after which i was then told it was all non refundable and It would take 6 weeks for them to print off the photos, and send them (which was another £5 postage that she kindly didn’t mention until adding to the bill at the end). As yet I have not recieved them. All in all, i was completely disappointed with the experience, and i am completely livid at the way they took advantage of the naivety of my 18 year old sister. Yes I paid for it but only because she wanted it so much, and I felt like i was made out to be the bad guy for resisting “such a great bargain”. I know now I shouldn’t have caved in, and whilst at the end of the day business is business, I think it’s very dishonest to pressure naive young people into buying ridiculously priced photos. What should have been a really great, much needed girly weekend for just me and my sister to spend a bit of time together, was spoilt by the fact that we looked stupid, and ended up paying £200 in total for a cd and 3photos each. To someone on my income that’s a heck of a lot, and everytime I think about it I just feel sick. 5 years ago