#LoveYourself Winter 2017

#loveyourself 2017 winter edition

The #LoveYourself campaign was launched in Feb 2017 to recognise women who pour so much of themselves into various activities and commitments, often forgetting about themselves in the process. It was our way of saying Thank You! for being the strong women you are, to take a moment to #LoveYourself and be reminded of the beauty that lies within YOU.

Winter Edition

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Never Give Up

by Aurora

Portuguese by birth, I grew up in Germany and eventually married an English serviceman. We lived in the UK for many years where I brought up 2 amazing children Angelique and Sasha who live in the UK together with my 2 gorgeous granddaughters Eilidh and Maggie. After my marriage broke down, I felt I need to see a bit of the world by myself – a new start… a new career; so, I arrived in NZ in December 2005 to pursue a career in IT.

A freak accident in May 2012 resulted in me fracturing my left leg and smashing the ankle, which saw me in a wheelchair for 9 months, and crutches for a further 18 months. I had to give up my career. The bones weren’t healing properly, and 5 weeks after the accident I was diagnosed with CRPS (Chronic or Complex Regional Pain Syndrome) which is very debilitating. This is said to be the highest level of pain on the Universal Pain Level. The brain eventually switches off messages to and from that part of the body. The blood flow is compromised to the point that amputation is invariably the end result. In my case, the leg was gradually dying. When the orthopaedic surgeon advised that an amputation below the knee would need to be considered to save the rest of the leg, I freaked. I fought with him to give me a little more time to work on keeping the whole leg… and won! It has been a very long, hard, painful road, but today I’m glad to still have both legs which I can stand on, even if a little wobbly and walking with the aid of a walking stick – my fashion accessory.

Throughout this time, I have had the support of friends and of course my family. I skype and phone my children regularly and so keep the presence in my granddaughters’ lives. Of course it’s not the same as being actually present, but they give me the strength to keep going, to keep moving forward (excuse the pun!). I visit them and the rest of the family every year for a few weeks, spending quality time with them and actually being “mum” and “avó” (Portuguese for grandmother).

My dis-ability didn’t stop me looking to the future. In November 2012 I became a registered Independent Marriage Celebrant, a job which I absolutely LOVE doing. I have met some amazing couples, both from New Zealand and all around the world, utilising my many language skills. Being around positive people has been better than any other form of therapy. It has given me the “get up and go” and a reason to take each day as it comes… to move forward… to set myself new tasks and goals.

Exactly five years on from my accident, I celebrate still having my left leg and foot with the opportunity to take part in the #LoveYourSelf photoshoot. It serves as a marker of the enormous milestone. I will never forget the fun I had with Jeff and his team. Thank you, Annalise for an excellent job with my make-up! And I’m completely thrilled with the end result. I have some amazing pictures to give my children and grandchildren… especially the ones showing off my left leg and foot.

The moral of my story is: NEVER GIVE UP! Never take anything for granted.

Never admit defeat. Never say “never”.

And always look on the bright side of life. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!

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Thank you so much for your warmth and friendly approach and while I realise this is your business to me, you go above and beyond ensuring that everyone that comes through your door feels special. Here is my story: I am 52 years old. At the age of 38 my life changed forever when my husband came home one afternoon and told me he was not happy and was leaving. Did not see that coming at all, I was blind sided.

This then triggered lots of new beginnings - I drove long distance by myself for the first time to attend a job interview, and moved with my two young daughters to a new town hours away from all my family and friends to start afresh. Fast forward 14 years and my girls have grown up into beautiful strong young women and I now have two beautiful little granddaughters. My greatest joy is being a Nana.

I have also fulfilled my dream of travelling and completed my big OE in my 40s as never got to do this in my 20s. Am proud of the fact that I have brought my girls up to be good humans and yes there has been many ups and downs along the way but we have survived. I have changed over the years and am starting to find myself again after years of being a Mum and wife and losing my identity somewhere along the way.

I still struggle with my self confidence at times (feeling that I am not good enough or worthy) and have never done anything like this before but am starting to open up to going outside my comfort zone more these days. Finding and embracing my true self and letting myself be happy. Life can get lonely some days and it is a constant struggle to put myself out there so when I saw the opportunity to do this photo shoot I saw this as a chance to feel confident and beautiful and be able to show my daughters and granddaughters and most of all myself that I am strong and resilient and that beauty is so much more than being perfect.

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I want these photos to become a legacy for my girls to show them I never gave up despite the many hurdles along the way. When I walked through the door of STUDIO81 I knew I had made the right decision and was put at ease from the start. I am not used to wearing a lot of makeup but was talked through the process and made to feel very special and pampered. The photo shoot itself was not as daunting as I expected and once I relaxed I could not stop smiling. What did catch me off guard was at the viewing session afterwards. I was a little nervous to see myself on the big screen and was not ready for the outburst of emotion while watching the slideshow - I started to cry......it caught me so off guard. I did not realise I could look so relaxed and happy - why had I not seen this woman staring back at me in the mirror previously?

“As woman we tend to be our own worst critics and I was definitely in that category - but what I realised is that you don’t have to have the perfect figure or face or you could have lots of Binkles (my granddaughters pet name for my wrinkles hehe) but despite all that beauty can radiate through via your smile, your expressions and your personality. If you get a chance to do this please take the opportunity to do something for YOU and most of all love your self and see the beauty within radiate.�

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Loving Yourself isn’t vanity It is Sanity - Audre Gide

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Scrolling through Facebook, a stunning photo caught my eye – a beautiful, confident looking woman – and I though, let me take a look at this – I am all about encouraging other women to love themselves!! So I read about the #LoveYourself campaign and that the studio was looking for women who were being, well, Wonder Women, to sign up. I really never expected to actually be selected to take part so when the time came for me to write something about myself, I wrote this: “I’m a girlfriend, daughter, sister, friend and aunt. I’ve not been blessed with my own kiddos, but love my sister’s and best friend’s kids to the moon and back.

I’ve always been extremely self-conscious about my body and until recently have struggled with adult acne. The reason I thought to enquire, is really because I’d like a chance to feel good about me all of me... I’d still cherish the chance, if I get it, but I wouldn’t want to take the opportunity from a supermum who is probably more deserving than me!”

When I told a friend about the whole thing a few weeks later, she told me off for what I wrote. She said, “Just because you’re not a mum (yet!) doesn’t mean that you don’t deserve to be pampered!” I’m still not too sure about that, but apparently they feel that I always put everyone else’s needs before my own, that I’m selfless – I think I just have good manners! But, when I think about what finally helped me decide, it really was something else entirely…

I was feeling run-down, overweight and ugly. Things have been hectic at work, I have ongoing health questions, and really was sick and tired of being sick and tired. So, I took a selfish moment and decided that, it can only make me feel better, so why not!?

And I was not disappointed! Annalise welcomed me early on a Saturday morning with her bubbly personality and charm – it completely put me at ease. She did an amazing job with my make-up and hair and she was so excited about the idea of a “Cowboy Boudoir” that I didn’t have the heart to say that I wasn’t too sure about getting in front of the camera not fully clothed!

Cowboy Boudoir

by Tersia

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Jeff took over at that point and very quickly got to taking some breath-taking photos! He has such a relaxed and natural way of directing the poses, that before long, it was time to do the boudoir shots and I was completely comfortable. And I am so very happy that I went ahead with it!

I saw the photos on the big screen and couldn’t believe that it was me – that girl looked like a supermodel! I loved them all. But in the end, the ones I kept going back to were the boudoir shots – despite the “outfit” they were the ones where I thought my personality shone through most. I was laughing and playful, and although I wanted to pick photos in other outfits, I simply couldn’t, these captured the essense of me just perfectly.

I am so very thankful to have been given the opportunity to feel fantastic for that day. My problems haven’t gone away, but for that day, the STUDIO81 team treated me like a Queen and helped me forget about every other drama.

I looked happy, relaxed and empowered and most importantly, I felt it. Thank you so, so very much for a special day!! I will cherish the photos for years to come – to remind me that I am beautiful and can do whatever I put my mind to!

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Overcoming Brokenness

by Rose

Being picked to be part of this campaign and participating in it has been one of the best things that has happened to me. The whole experience was exciting, fun, nerve racking, confronting and liberating all at the same time. As a career professional and single mum with two teenagers I very rarely find time for myself. In fact I ended up fitting this photoshoot in between two trips to Australia and my Nan’s unveiling. It was an insanely busy time but I am so glad I made time for it.

I come from very humble beginnings so being independent has been hugely important to me. Dad and Mum instilled in me the importance of an education and out of nine siblings I was the first to graduate with a degree. I am enormously proud of what I’ve achieved so far in my professional career. From a personal perspective, it has been quite a different story. The hard lessons from my childhood overflowed into adulthood and as a result my personal life has at times felt like a series of train wrecks.

Everything came to a head recently when I lost my Mum two and half years ago and my Dad last year, both of whom I was very close to. Depression set in after Mum’s passing and I was lost for a long while, my children and career the main things keeping me afloat.

After Dad’s passing last year, I knew I had to change something. I was broken.

The timing of this opportunity has been uncanny and doing this photoshoot has been such an important part of my emotional and spiritual healing. When I look at the photos I see a bright, happy, confident, beautiful and dare I say sexy woman. Loving myself hasn’t come naturally and I think part of this is because I believed that loving myself was vain, selfish, egotistical and superficial. Today I think of it differently. Learning about me, embracing who I am and truly loving myself is the most important thing I can do. The biggest shout-out to Studio81 for not only being an amazing business, but for also improving the quality of lives of others along the way. Big loves to Annalise, Jeff & Kirsten xxx

It had been a rocky couple of years. I lost two pregnancies within a few months of each other - the second one at 14 weeks gestation.

Finding out I was pregnant for the third time with a healthy baby was incredible, however I had extreme morning sickness for nine months straight while holding down my full time job. Just before my maternity leave we had a company restructure, in the end I decided to take redundancy. After finishing work finally at 36 weeks pregnant I put all the previous stress behind me focused on the future and our new baby arriving.

My daughter was born five days late via emergency c-section. After dealing with a baby with tongue tie, feeding issues and an average of an hours sleep a night, I discovered my partner of five years, my best friend, was cheating on me with his work colleague who had watched me pick him up from work every day nine months pregnant. My daughter was four weeks old at the time of this discovery.

Elizabeth Cracroft

Shock and disgust don’t even begin to describe how horrible it felt and the last 15 months have been very hard but I have had amazing friends around me. I am also so blessed to have an extremely happy and content 15 month old daughter.

Being a single mum has been tough at times and I don’t have much space for me, but being chosen to be part of the #loveyourself campaign gave me a massive boost in confidence. I had so much fun at Studio81 and feel so grateful for the experience. Having my hair and makeup done was a massive treat too and I would definitely recommend the experience!

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Being a solo parent to 5 busy children in a new land brought about an urgent need to shift priorities.

Children...check Work..check House clean....check Community obligations...check Church commitments...check At the bottom of this important list were more things to do, not my own needs. With this Campaign, l was able to think about me. 4 hours out of the year just for me was timely and priceless. No one calling me mummy, no phone calls. Just being me. I look at my image and exhale.

I agree with God, I am beautiful. l am amazing!

Thank you for this opportunity STUDIO81. I think every busy woman needs this opportunity.

My name is Adri. I’ve lived in New Zealand for just about 10years. About a year arriving in New Zealand my marriage broke down. I went through a very tough time for a few years after this. My daughter and I was left do deal with alot on our own as we had no family and not very many friends here yet.

For three and a half years my ex husband and I went through the family court system both fighting for day to day care of our young daughter.

I completely lost who I was through this. I went through a stage of deep depression that I tried to keep a secret from the everyone I knew. I thought I had to show a brave face and pretend I wasn’t a completely broken person inside. I didn’t have a very good childhood and suffered many traumas no child or little girl should ever have to. But I chose to take back the power and this was part of the reason I chose to leave everything behind in my home country and live where I didn’t need to be faced with people from my past.

Fast forward alot of years I now have an amazing partner who supports me in becoming a person who I can love again. I have three gorgeous children who mean absolutely everything to me. I’m slowly learning to trust people again. I still feel inadequate at times but this is a work in progress. I’ve learned not to keep it all bottled up inside.

I came in the studio for my photo shoot. Terribly nervous because I had never done anything like it before. I was greeted with warmth from Annalise and made to feel very welcome. Quickly had make up and hair done and ready for the very scary photos. I was nervous at first but relaxed a little bit as Jeff was talking me through how I should pose. It was all over very quickly. I kind of wanted to stay longer.

I went and sat in the reception paging through some of the photo’s on the table and looking at the amazing framed photos on the wall while I was waiting to view my own photo’s. Finally the time arrived and I didn’t know how I was going to choose.

But I did. I chose a photo. Fast forward a few days I was able to collect the photo and couldn’t resist looking at it over and over. It’s very special to me and no one is allowed to touch it. I will treasure this memory forever. I would like to thank you all for the outstanding experience.

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Tsitsi Dzruni I am a single mum to three beautiful kids. Having such a busy schedule throughout the week, I don’t really have much time to have to myself and to do something for myself once in a while.

So when I heard about the #LoveYourself promo I immediately took the opportunity to give it a shot. After being selected for the campaign, I immediately told my youngest child and she was really happy and encouraging for me to move forward with it and do it for fun and my other two kids agreed.

After receiving more information about the campaign, I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into as I had never done a proper photoshoot before - makeup being done, having outfit changes and having different options of backgrounds, etc. After doing it, I had a lot of fun and pretty much didn’t want the photoshoot to end. The team were lovely and so kind that the nature of the studio was so relaxing and comfortable. I love the outcome of each and one of the photos that it was so hard for me to finalise which photos I wanted to take home. I would definitely recommend to everyone to give this campaign a go because the whole experience itself is just an unforgettable experience and not to mention it boosts up your confidence.

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I feel like this was perfect timing for me, and I am now ready for the next chapter of my life ready for the new beginnings that are starting

Hi my name is Lucy, I have definitely lost myself somewhere in the past, ooooo, lets say 10 years.

I am a 35 years old and married. 10 years ago we had endured a vey bad experience with an ectopic pregnancy and found we couldn’t have any of our own, thats when I believe I started to let go. We were offered IVF but I had to loose weight as I was a plus size.

Still dealing with the fact we had just lost our baby, I fell into a depressing circle where I felt I wasn’t a whole woman, breaking down because everyone around me were having babies and I couldn’t. So eventually I started to do the opposite and gained weight. But my partner (now husband) stood by my side and I’m forever greatful for that.

6 years later, my husband and I were blessed to be able to whangai a baby girl from a close family member. The day she was born was the day we became her parents and we named her Zariah-Rose. I stayed home for 18months then got employed. Life began to get hectic..

I was a fulltime community support worker for youth with disabilities, and OML, that job was totally full on including nights and sometimes weeks away from my little family.

Unfortunately I had to give up my job in August last year due to finding out our daughter had autistic spectrum disorder. It’s been very hard but not hard enough for us to give up! Only thing I gave up on was me. I no longer shopped for myself, or even visit friends for coffee. I have started gaining weight again like its the in thing of 2017. I

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Jo-Ann Burnett

stopped going to salons for anything, so I’ve totally ruined my eyebrows lol!!

But one day while flicking through Facebook I stumbled upon #LoveYourself and I had this feeling inside telling me that, that’s for me. I was so apprehensive about doing this cause not only was a xxl I don’t own any nice clothes and I thought what a dumb excuse, just do it!! So I did.....

The staff were absolutely amazing, the experience was FANTASTIC and I walked out of there feeling like a million dollars and I would do it again in a heartbeat!

The experience gave me the confidence to be happy with my size and knowing that I was actually beautiful on the outside. When I went and viewed the photos that were taken I laterally had to hold back the tears as I loved what I saw and I finally saw in me what my husband was seeing all along. I encourage other woman to at least experience this kind of thing once in your life. #foundmyself”

Lucy Waaka

I have had a lot of struggles which I have overcome in my life, the biggest includes getting out of 2 very abusive relationships, subsequently, being a working single mother for over 30yrs.

The the last 6 years have been my biggest challenges to date. In 26/5/2011 I lost my 23yr old son, that turned my life upside down, but now years later it makes you realise that life is short and to make the most of everyone and every day.

Just as the heavy grief was lifting and getting ready for the 3rd year anniversary of my son’s death, my older son rang me to tell me his partner had died suddenly 26/04/2014.

She was 27yrs; she had 4 children, 2 girls to a previous relationship aged 11 & 7yrs and with my son a 14month old boy named after his late uncle Nick and his baby girl who was just 3months.

I took Taya under my wing and started taking care of her, getting her onto a bottle and keeping her routine during the chaos of the funeral. My son and I decided to live to

together so I could help him take care of the little ones and my youngest son who was then 10.

So as you can imagine the last 3yrs have been exhausting at times, while still working full time. In late 2016 I decided that in 2017 I would start to take some more time for myself, so when I saw this campaign advertised I thought I would put my name forward.

When I got a message saying they had chosen me, I was so excited, and so looking forward to the day. I just loved being made up by Annalise, she was just so bubbly, positive, funny and made me feel so at ease. I just loved the makeover, I felt like a kid at Christmas all day.

Then for the photos which I have never felt too comfortable with, Jeff was so relaxed and made me feel relaxed too. I just had the best day ever; I’ve never felt so glamorous in all my life and just loved my photos. I got lots of comments from friends and one is thinking of buying a package for her daughter’s birthday.

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I am 34 years old and I have three beautiful children. As are most mums these days, life is hectic and it’s so easy to loose yourself and what makes you you. After separating from my husband life became even busier, running a company, raising a family sure made it easy to put my own wants/needs on the back burner.

My experience with STUDIO81 was nothing but professional.

From the time I walked in a was pampered and made to feel amazing!! So many laughs were shared and I had nothing else to think of but me for a whole day!! I was totally at ease with the shoot, and seeing the end result was incredible. Totally fell in love with the images. As I’ve said before, I’m not sure I deserved this anymore than any other Mum/woman however I am incredibly grateful for such a wonderful day.

If I can help others then I would say, take that chance, don’t be scared, do some research into whatever you want to do as life is so short. Self-care, it’s not at all being selfish, it’s about looking after you as you only get one chance at life

Crystal Robb

Wow! What an absolute pleasure it was attending my photo shoot at STUDIO81. I felt so privileged to be part of a process where women could be made to feel special, to have their outer beauty enhanced to let their inner beauty shine through.

As a 41 year old mother of a beautiful boy and after experiencing quite a few traumatic things in my life being the loss of my older sister at the age of 12, my mother at the age of 21 and then loosing 10 work mates and three fingers in the 22nd February 2011 Christchurch earthquake I wanted to do something for myself (selfcare).

Leading a busy life combining career and family, the everyday chores and jobs to be done, whilst raising our 7 year old daughter, it was so refreshing and incredibly revitalising to have gorgeous make up done by Annalise who was bubbly and welcoming, and then once transformed to have the shoot.

Jeff was able to put me at ease and we were cracking up several times through the shoot.

Who knew there were so many degrees of a smile!!!

I saw the opportunity through STUDIO81 to able to take time out for myself and to be made to feel beautiful and special. Annalise and Jeffery from STUDIO81, certainly did that through their professionalism, humour and very positive direction. I was initially nervous about doing it at first but they made me feel so relaxed so the hours their just flew by and before I knew it I was looking at this amazing younger version of myself on screen and thinking “wow is that really me”.

In what seemed like a flash the images were ready to review and I loved the images that were captured.

Having these to treasure is something our family will always cherish, especially my daughter in years to come, and every time I see them I will be reminded of my fabulous time at STUDIO81.

Quite often we as Women get caught up in the day to day busyness of our lives and take life for granted.

Through all the things that have happened in my life, I have learnt that life is so short and to go after the things that you have also wanted to do or desired (obviously within reason when I say that) which have been put off or put aside to do another day because that day may never come for whatever reason.

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Amanda Fuller

For example if you have always to sing or dance but have been too scared or think I will do it later. Then I totally say, look into, do some research because it might not cost that much or it might not be as scary as what you think it is and you don’t want to get to retirement age and have regrets and think “why didn’t I do that why I had the chance – it’s too late now.t

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I came into STUDIO81 as part of the #loveyourself promotion because I definitely needed reminding that as well as being a busy mum and business owner I also deserved some “downtime”! some much needed pampering!

It was such a fabulous atmosphere I was totally at ease from the moment I walked in!

I especially loved the fact you could view your beautiful photos at the end of your session!

Thanks you so much team for bring the sexy back out in me it was a day I’ll remember with photographs to treasure for a lifetime!!

I was overwhelmed with emotion at being accepted for a session at STUDIO81.

I enjoyed every minute of it. I wanted to see my weight loss (13kgs by now) and I wanted to feel pretty. STUDIO81 definitely made these come to life with the amazing makeover, and photo shoot.

Choosing those few images at the end was so hard, I am my own worse critic, but the process was so rewarding. This was a perfect part of my journey to reassure me that I am on the right path to a happy, healthy new me

Becky Forsey

When I saw the Facebook promotion of the #LoveYourself campaign I thought I would actually respond instead of scroll past, because I had never done anything like this on my own before and I decided it would be nice to do something for myself, especially because I normally have such a hectic schedule as a single parent working in a very demanding profession. Any spare time and energy I have left after my work commitments, is most often dedicated to my three children, who are unmistakably my everythings!

When I was asked what I wanted to get out of the photo shoot I really didn’t know. But, although it probably sounds extremely cliche’, after viewing the photos I was glad that I had inwardly pushed myself to ‘step out of my comfort zone’ in front of the camera because I realized that it was the ‘mood’ shots created together with the make-up artist and the photographer which were the best outcome for me. They are the pictures I would never normally have taken of myself, which hint at suggestion but maintain classiness at the same time, I feel. These shots have empowered me to believe in my own beauty and they are my positive affirmation testimonials.

I believe that age is irrelevant when it comes to beauty, that beauty exudes from within and that all women deserve to feel attractive and desirable.

I have very little memories of 2016. Other than an amazing cruise with my husband to celebrate our 20th Anniversary, trauma earlier in the year enveloped me more than I imagined and the rest of the year was just a blur. I let myself go during this process.

Entering 2017, a spark within me ignited and I decided to treasure every moment I could, and end the year with a 365 page book of memories. Part of this new journey was changing ‘me’.

As I started the journey, I found that capturing moments spent with friends and family was very healing. Printing off photos and keeping a journal of memories has been so rewarding. I embarked on looking after myself, to ‘be myself’ and to have fun.

I cut my hair, I dyed it blonde (or white, which ever day it is) and I when I lost my first 10kgs - I jumped on a plane to Rarotonga with my family and got spoilt with the islands beauty. I was rejuvenated.

Annette Webb

When I saw the #LoveYourself advertised on Facebook, I thought I had nothing to lose but to enter. I am a busy working mum with a professional career, looking after everyone else. I have had amazing support from family and friends, they are all there for me, but I felt it was time to pamper me.

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AMAZING YOU How would you like to be photograph?

9 Teed St, Newmarket, Auckland • 09 52225 81 • pr@studio81.co.nz • www.studio81.co.nz