Last year I decided to enter the Wedding Industry Awards for Wedding Make-up artist of the year as I have never previously entered anything before. The awards are very prestigious and entrants are voted for by their own clientele with an expert judging panel presiding, so it has been on my bucket list of things to do for a while.

To enter it was quite a long process, I had to answer lots of in-depth questions regarding my business and then ask my clients to vote and score me and to be honest, I didn’t really think I had a chance to win anything at all. I purely wanted to put myself forward as one of the best in the business, which I believe I am…there’s no point not believing in yourself right?!

I sent in my application and amazingly, I got shortlisted! I was up against about 7 or 8 other makeup artists for the East Midlands region alone, so on a very dark, blustery evening in November, (thank you to Joanna Leigh Couture and Pete Hewes of Know Media - fellow finalists too.) I travelled all the way to Daventry to attend the Regional finals.

It was a very glitzy affair, cocktails on arrival and everyone wearing their best outfits! After a nail-biting wait I was very proud to be selected as ‘Wedding Make-up artist of the Year 2016’ for The East Midlands region! I have never won anything in my life, so I was very chuffed when I was presented with a certificate and a trophy! Winning this meant such a lot to me. I have worked so hard over the past 26 years, it felt well deserved!

Coming first in the regional event meant I was automatically entered in to the National finals held in London at the ‘Café de Paris’ in Leicester Square in January. It was very exciting! We even got to see Tom Hardy and Leonardo DiCaprio, who were attending their movie premiere for ‘The Revenant’. Sadly, I did not win the nationals but I feel that being a National finalist for such a prestigious award was good enough.

Thank you for everyone who took the time to vote for me and who left such amazing feedback. Take a look at the video above and click here to read some of the amazing testimonials my clients submitted about me...