Christmas card inspiration

I'd like to tell you a little bit about the unseen making of this image, which I shot for Beyond Burlesque couture in London a few years ago (the Beyond Burlesque designer also creates corsets for Vivienne Westwood, a perennial favourite of mine):

Photographer: David Angel

It was a snowy day in London, which was perfect for the glamour fairytale we created... but in real life, snow is cold! Bare skin in the snow is very cold. I had blankets thrown over me between shots, flasks of hot drinks and even hot water bottles to keep my skin the right colour and my muscles able to move freely throughout the shoot. I am fairly sure that in this particular shot I had the hot water bottle pushed up the front of my dress, and that exaggerated hands-on-waist pose is helping to keep it pushed in!

I love it as a festive image not only because it is so chic and timeless, but because its back story reminds me of Christmas itself- all the less-than-glamorous rushing around, preparing, shopping and wrapping that goes on behind the scenes before the moment of calm when the payoff comes: a special person opens the gift that's perfect and personal for them.

I think sometimes with social media we feel we're lagging behind if we're not up doing yoga every morning, followed by sashaying into town and easily finding a slew of "perfect" (expensive and 100% ethically sound) gifts, AND not forgetting to keep our noses perfectly powdered the whole time while we're at it. Really, who remembers that stuff? The part that I remember is that "wow" moment when someone opens that little thing that's perfect just for them- regardless of where it was acquired or if the price tag was in single digits.

With this in mind, and with the photographer's kind permission, I have turned this snowy couture image into a Christmas card that anyone can afford. If you know someone who would enjoy an elegant Christmas card, why not order a couple? At just £1 each plus postage, they make sweetly sophisticated little tokens- and they are printed on premium matte recycled stock.

Order your cards in time for Christmas by clicking here.

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Spirit of the Woods by Emma Delves-Broughton

I love these new photos styled and photographed by legendary fetish photographer, Emma Delves-Broughton- they make me think of films like Legend and Willow!

Skincare provided by Bareskin Beauty :*

The stay-home horror marathon continues. On top of Ring, The Devil's Advocate, The Hunger, The Blair Witch Project, Poltergeist, and The Conjuring 2, I have also watched Lady in Black 2, Paranormal Activity, Rosemary's Baby and The Exorcist this month! I think I might do a double bill of Nosferatu and Shadow of the Vampire tonight... my vegan pumpkin brownies are in the oven ready for the trick-or-treaters. They were a big hit last year :)

Happy Halloween!

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AmsterDAMN

I really should blog about my trip to Amsterdam as it was so much fun... but as well as being kind of blurry on the details, I am really busy renovating this new house of house of mine... so just pictures by Studio VC shot in my suite in Amsterdam for now :)

I'll post the rest in my next blog. I'm also planning on writing a blog with some little tips on buying your first house, as it was a long drawn-out nightmare for us and it would be great to just drop a little list of tips and contact numbers that others could use to get the ball rolling and hopefully not be put off trying to buy at all. It is much harder now than it was for our parents' generation, but still just about possible for some. It would have been handy for me to have had a blog with practical info for UK people all in one place, that's for sure.

Back to the photos- forgot to say I did all the styling myself- I'm just wearing my own clothes and jewellery, with Bareskin Beauty skincare and Mya Minerals makeup :)

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The Witch of Wookey Hole

Another spooky photo from my Somerset Tour with Trasky, shot in my local cave :)

I was told about the witch of Wookey Hole when I visited the caves last spring. The legend goes that 2000 years ago, a cunning lady with magical powers lived in the cave. Naturally this had to be put a stop to, so a monk turned up at her home and did some sort of magic that turned her into a stalagmite, which you can still see in the cave today.

... How old is Christianity, again? I can't imagine there were a whole lot of monks here in Somerset 2000 years ago. However, the ancient skeleton of a woman was found in the cave, buried with a comb and a crystal ball, so perhaps the cave did used to be host to some sort of shaman after all. I saw the actual crystal ball itself at Wells Museum this summer, and it was the highlight of my visit.

Tomorrow I'm off on a two-week tour around the Midlands and the South Coast, with a mixture of regular and new clients, and will include shooting with some beautiful exotic co-models that I am particularly excited about ;)

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Ghosts

Welcome to October, home of my favourite holiday!

Photographer: Trasky | Skincare: Bareskin Beauty | Cosmetics: Mya Minerals

If, like me, you are still musing over a suitable costume, follow me on Instagram, where I am posting all sorts of inspiration from the glamorous and often rather strange photo shoots of the 1920s, 30s and 40s.

I leave you with a bonus shot of when the fabric blew away ;)

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Guinevere

I have some interesting new work to share from one of my Somerset Tours with Trasky :) These portraits were shot just a few minutes from my house. I used quality organic skincare and cosmetics from my sponsors, Bareskin Beauty and Mya Minerals.

If anyone would like to shoot some fashion or art nude portraits with my red hair among the autumn leaves, email me :) I can still shoot nudes outdoors when the weather is cooler, just in short bursts, rather than kind of hanging out naked all day like I do in the summer :)

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Autumn equinox beauty

Wishing all my readers peace, balance and contentment this equinox. Image by RLux, with Bareskin Beauty organic skincare and Mya Minerals natural cosmetics.

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So... what have I been doing?

I've had a strange sort of August... waiting to see if house #3 pans out is starting to get to me. I've felt homeless for the last two years. However, I have enjoyed the luxury of a summer in Somerset with no real ties... the weather and the little towns are beautiful. There are some great restaurants, pubs and days out to be had here. But I would like my own place to return to at the end of each day.

Something I have learned through trying to buy a house here and (so far) having had two fall through, through no fault of my own, is how dumb and self-entitled rich people can be. I was sort of raised to think that if you're rich, you probably got there by being smart and working hard. Well, I'm now dealing with my second millionaire in a row, and he appears to be just as dense and lazy as the first one. I feel like if I had that kind of money, I would use it better ;) For example, we had to break off with buying the last house we were interested in (the really big one!) because at the last minute, the (millionaire) seller asked us to pay his £5000 back-taxes for him. Uh.......................... no?

So having thrown literally thousands of pounds around this summer already and still being no closer to having our own home than we were a year ago, things have felt tough. I finally have a really excellent/ scary London lawyer on my side now, who is a partner in her own law firm, so hopefully that will help move things along. I really want to be in the new place by October, in time for my favourite holiday!

I've ended up getting a lot of little bookings in a lot of different places next month, which is unexpected and exciting. I love travelling :) Here is my current list... if you'd like to book me for a shoot in any of these places, email me! contact@anitadebauch.com. I've rented a car for Ireland, which should make getting around a lot easier and more efficient!

The Milan Fashion Week booking came in just last night. It's not what you think ;) Stay tuned and keep an eye on the news.

I'm planning on giving myself a big makeover over Christmas this year, while I'm off work... let's see how that turns out. Today I'm starting small by experimenting with some wigs and the many, many Mya Minerals eyeshadows I seem to have acquired (thank you!) :) She also sent me something called Fairy Dust, which is supposed to be for highlighting your face, but I'm thinking of dusting my body with it for fashion nudes and bodyscapes. Hmm...

I'm supposed to be saving money atm, but it's hard when you have a shoe fetish... I was bad and bought these:

I plan on having a wall of floor-to-ceiling shelves in the new place, dedicated only to shoes... *dreams* One day, I want to have a whole room dedicated to nothing but shoes, hats, corsets, sunglasses, latex, lingerie, jewellery, dresses and playsuits! I will eventually need one, that's for sure.

I really feel like I should post some modelling pictures now! Here are a couple of new natural-light portraits shot this summer, if you haven't already seen them on Instagram. I did my own hair and makeup as usual, and the skincare is all from Bareskin Beauty :)

Photographer: Tim Bircher

Photographer: Shawn Spencer-Smith

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Front cover of Twisted Latex magazine

I am on the cover of the latest and last ever issue of Twisted Latex magazine :') I did my own hair and makeup.

Other than celebrate Boyfy's birthday today, I also got around to creating a Beauty Detox UK Facebook fan group, a little thing I've been meaning to do for ages. If you are interested in healthy living, please feel free to join :)

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Nude boudoir pictorial in NIF Magazine

New nude pictorial in NIF magazine, shot in my hotel room earlier this year by Here's Johnny :) Cosmetics and skincare from Mya Minerals and Bareskin Beauty respectively.

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Le weekend

Let me tell you all about my Easter weekend in gay Parree!

I finally made time to go on a long-overdue holiday to one of my favourite cities, Paris. All I can think about when I'm here is La Belle Epoque, the Roaring Twenties, artists and courtesans drinking absinthe in art nouveau bars, the "leg shows" at the Opera House, the New Look, Jean Paul Gaultier...

Photographer: GSC4X | Skincare: Bareskin Beauty | Cosmetics: Mya Minerals

Pink hotel room! :D One thing I love about Paris is that decor- no neutrals, plain carpets or magnolia paint in sight! No-one is afraid to try and make a room special in Paris.

After a well-deserved lie-in at a little Baroque hotel I found online, where the rooms are named after glamour icons from Parisian history like Mistinguett and Coco Chanel, Boyfy and I went for brunch at Mariage Frères, an exotic tea salon from the C19th. We shared "Le Classique", but were so full, we still had to take the sakura blossom dessert away to share at the hotel later!

I love floral scents, so I purchased a box of rose and violette tea called Swan Lake, which will look really pretty brewing in my French press at home when I have the girls round ;)

We managed to sneak into Laperouse when it was closed at midday, for a little unofficial guided tour:

I also visited Notre Dame for the first time, which was as spooky and impressive as I'd imagined from Victor Hugo's book. I wanted to learn more about the history of Paris, so we visited the museum in the crypt.

One of the highlights of the trip so far has been dinner at Maxim's, an art nouveau restaurant and my favourite in Paris. The owner who made Maxim's so wildly popular at the turn of the century did so by ensuring the restaurant was always full of well-dressed women in all manner of lace, diamonds, velvets and ribbons, tactically seated in the windows facing the street. Jean Cocteau wrote that

"To undress one of these women is like an outing that calls for three weeks' advance notice, it's like moving house."

Hilarious!

We ordered absinthe and champagne with our meal, the drinks of choice during La Belle Epoque, and it gave me a happy little buzz to listen to the pianist play and imagine how many grand dames and dandies had enjoyed the same drinks in the very same room since the late C19th...

The Bar at Maxim's

On Sunday, we went for tea and a single Marie Antoinette macaroon to share at Ladurée (I just wanted to taste). I like the Ladurée at Harrod's, but you can't beat the real thing in Paris.

The good weather lasted just long enough for a pretty boat ride along the river, where we got our first really clear view of the Eiffel Tower. Wow! Everywhere you look in Paris, there's beauty all around.

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Sensual Smiles and Stockings

Happy Valentine's weekend, my loves!

I can't believe I haven't blogged since Christmas. Sorry about that! I was unusually busy with shoots starting 3 January and have been travelling and organising further trips a lot. Hopefully you've been keeping up with me on Instagram or Twitter anyway :)

I thought today would be perfect for sharing these romantic shots taken by my friend Adam Robertson at his house. Adam is one of the photographers I recommend to models in my book, The "Ugly" Girl's Guide to Modelling (along with a list of other solid contacts).

Adam and I have been shooting together for nearly a decade, almost since we each started model photography on our respective sides of the camera. Adam was one of the few photographers in the early days who agreed to shoot TFP with me to help build each other's portfolios. Since then, we have both progressed to doing what we love full-time, and still catch up with a photo shoot when our schedules allow.

Lingerie is by Playful Promises and organic skincare by Bareskin Beauty. I did my own hair and makeup using Mya Minerals as usual :)


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Happy Solstice

see you at stonehenge

photographer: www.caughtinactioncollection.co.uk

i did my makeup using mya minerals

and wrote this blog in the style of perou.

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Who still needs this year's Christmas cards?

Just a little blog to remind you that packs of chic fashion 'Winter Wonderland' Christmas cards shot by David Angel are available to order HERE.

Enjoy!

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