Boudoir Couture

Top Tips for your Boudoir Couture photoshoot

I was thinking recently about what top tips I could give clients on how to prepare for their Boudoir Couture shoot. There is of course all the usual stuff like:

  • drink loads of water
  • get loads of sleep
  • use loads of moisturiser

But if you’re a mad busy person (like me) them sometimes you forget or aren’t able to do some or all of the above.

We were in Dublin recently and I passed by one of my favourite stores, Lush, it’s one of those stores that you smell before you see it as you round the corner at the end of Grafton Street. Myself and his nibs popped in, he went straight for the Dragons Egg bath bomb as its one that gives him a relaxing buzz…. (weirdo).. I strolled through the store, inhaling the stunning sent and picking out my favourite purchases, such a relaxing buzz… (weirdo too)

A few days later as i was using said purchases i realised they are the perfect addition to your Boudoir preparation, but also for afterwards too. The two i want to pay particular attention to are Buffy & Angels on Bare Skin.

Now before i go any further… my skin is very sensitive (like myself 😛 ) and i’m prone to eczema, so there is a lot of body scrubs i can not use, actually most of them. So if i use something that gives amazing results and doesn’t aggravate my skin then i’m onto a winner! I also want to mention, in no way did Lush sway me with payment to write this but of course i would take any products as a thank you 😛

Buffy is a body scrub with a difference, it gently exfoliates while leaving a gorgeous silky feel to skin when dry, even after it’s first use. And if you’re in a hurry you don’t need to moisturise afterwards. So it saves time too, woohoo!

Angels on Bare Skin – of my good gawd, it’s truly like angels descended from heaven and gave you the gift of baby skin, wowzer! A gentle cleanser for your face that smells like you’ve stepped out of a spa.

All there products are made from Fresh ingredients and not tested on animals so you can cleanse and moisturise with confidence.

So from now on I’m going to recommend the above with my usual suspects:

  • drink loads of water
  • get loads of sleep
  • use loads of moisturiser
  • Scrub with buffy
  • Heavenly skin with Angels on Bear Skin

You can check out their website https://uk.lush.com or head to their shops in Cork or Dublin. I once did a Lush4Limerick campaign a few years back but still no sign of them, tis alright I love the annual trip to Cork.

Eva x

 

New Couture Studio

So February we started shooting in our new Couture studio in Annacotty. A few months ago i decided that I wanted to give clients more in their Couture experience but knew that the city was not the place for this. We began creating an environment that would be a little touch of luxury in a quiet location. Check out our video below for a steal peek…

 

 

Char’s Boudoir Shoot

You may have read a post on Facebook recently about our lovely client Char, won Miss Photogenic at Miss Plus Size UK, I’m obviously biased cause I think she rocks it in front of the camera. Read what she had to say about her recent Boudoir Couture shoot.


What made you decide to do the Boudoir Couture session?

I’ve always been drawn to do a boudoir shoot. I wanted to do something where I felt sexy, empowered and  to embrace the curves I tried to hide for so many years. For years I looked at magazines and seen pictures of glamorous strong women who just embodied everything a woman should stand for and it just clicked one day that I was going to become if not try to be just like those women.

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How did you feel before the Boudoir Couture session?

If I’m being completely honest, I wasn’t nervous. When you find a photographer who chats to you before the shoot and just makes you completely at ease there is actually nothing to be nervous about. Its taken a long time and I’m confidently happy in my own skin. I am human though and of course I have my off days, I look in the mirror sometimes and think I should try change things but no body is perfect and that is completely normal. I also thought if I turn up to this shoot nervous it’ll reflect in my photos and I didn’t want that. I choose to embrace it and that’s exactly what I did.

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How did you feel after the Boudoir Couture session?

The shoot was so much fun and I honestly didn’t want it to end, and after it was finished I told myself this wouldn’t be the last boudior shoot I would do. I felt exactly how a woman should feel about herself – confident, sexy and most of all happy.

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How did you feel when you saw your images?

I was speechless. I couldn’t believe the woman I was looking at was me. When you are having fun and happy it really shows in the pictures and it also helps to have a super talented photographer like Eva 🙂

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What would you say to someone who is considering doing the Boudoir Couture session?

My advice would be not to be scared and go for it, even if your not 100% happy in your own skin, the boudoir experience will open your eyes and show you how beautiful you really are no matter what you shape, size or age. You will go home that evening with the biggest smile and a spring in your step. It is such an empowering feeling to stand in front of a camera and feel beautiful. Most women I know are so busy with their every day lives that they forget how to feel beautiful and sexy, and some have never felt that way at all. A boudoir shoot will make you feel all of that and more. One thing I will say is to never tell yourself that you’ll do one when you lose weight. Embrace the body you have and give it all you got.

 

You are Beautiful

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“You are beautiful, it’s my job to make you feel it”. Whether you choose a Couture or Boudoir photoshoot I believe that all my clients should feel amazing after their session. It’s a mantra I live by so much so that today we organised for a local artist to hand paint the quote above our gorgeous throne. So anytime you visit you know that more than anything we will do everything in our skill and power to make sure you leave knowing how beautiful you truly are.

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#youarebeautiful #couturesession #boudoircouture

Strong, Beautiful, Unique!

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I want to make something very clear... Just like all women! We are strong, beautiful and unique! Please remember that….

I know there are times we don’t feel it or see it, we may feel tired and worn out but that is the very time we need to look after ourselves, be kind about how we feel (don’t give ourselves a hard time) be gentle and put ourselves first, i know a lot easier said than done. Strength comes from knowing what vulnerability feels like. 

Life does have its up and downs, but the great thing is we can choose to have more ups! Its all about how we see things. Don’t get me wrong, i have my moments but i try and work (hard) on being positive every day but it is so worth being able to choose to be happy. Happiness is real beauty, its written all over you.

What makes us unique is our own story, every woman i meet has a story to tell. We have emotional and physical scars that life has given us but these are our tiger stripes! These show us we have battled and survived.

It helps to have inspiring people around you too, look out for them, they are worth their weight in gold!

So please remember we are all strong, beautiful and unique, tell yourself, tell others xxx

What is Boudoir Photography?

What is Boudoir?

Boudoir historically means a woman’s bedroom or small private room. Hence why usually Boudoir Photography is set in a bedroom or hotel room. It also means many things to many people, some say its soft porn, others that it is cheap and maybe when you see a particular image they evoke that emotion.

What is Boudoir Photography to me?

But to me, Boudoir Photography should be feminine, beautiful, sensual, empowering and fearless and i strive to produce images that reflect this. At no time do i want my client to feel uncomfortable. That is why I go to great lengths to make her feel relaxed.
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Being a curvy woman, i completely understand when a client says she is conscious of her body. I have studied with the best photographers to learn how to pose women of all shapes and sizes. So before you come into the studio let me put your mind at ease, i will do everything to make you feel beautiful.
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So why do i shoot Boudoir?

Its simple really, I want woman to feel empowered! I know that sounds weird, I’m encouraging women to take their clothes off to feel strength. But its true, when you are brave enough to consider doing your own Boudoir shoot, you have already taken the first step. You will go through a range of emotions, being nervous and even feeling a little vulnerable, but by the time your session is over you will feel amazing. You will feel empowered from the fact that you actually did it! {high fives}. With results like that why wouldn’t i shoot Boudoir.
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You with one little session have now redefined how you feel about yourself. You are feminine, you are sensual, you are beautiful, you are strong.

Now next time you look at one of our Boudoir Couture images, imagine how that woman now feels about herself, imagine you feeling that way too.

Boudoir Couture PhotoReel

As a child of the 1980’s I remember seeing a View-Master at a friends house for the first time. I thought it was the coolest thing i had every seen! It was like my very own private “still” movie. Through many hours of pestering and hounding, I persuaded my Mum to buy me one for my birthday along with extra reels of Disney movies. Oh how i loved it.

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So when I found out that we can custom design these for our clients you can imagine my squeals of delight. I knew I just had to add it to our Boudoir Couture products list. Imagine your very own custom designed reel & viewer, a private slide show for you or your other half.  What a quirky retro toy for adults.

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After your Boudoir Couture shoot we organise a viewing session to choose your images. The reel takes 7 images (one for each eye through the viewer) and the comes in 3 colours red, black and white, depending on your mood. So whether your images are fun, sexy or even bridal, its the perfect unusual gift.

Click on the video below to check out our latest PhotoReel

K’s Boudoir Couture Session

I am so lucky to have amazing clients who are such an inspiration. Have a read about K’s Boudoir Couture experience in her own words, this may inspire you too, Eva x

                                                                                                                                       

I always wanted to have a Boudoir Couture photo taken. I love Gok Won and always watched his programme ‘How to look good naked’. I have three children and thankfully never kept the ‘baby weight’ or got stretch marks, but lately because of exercise I feel fitter, feel better and think that for my age I don’t look bad. This was for me, a gift for me and DH (*darling husband).

IMG_9603-webThe weeks before my session I put a lot of thought into what to wear and how I wanted my image to be captured. I researched Boudoir Couture and fell in love with Pinterest! I surprised myself by having a lot of what I wanted to wear already, all I needed to buy was pearls and stockings. I even rang Eva about arranging to drop in my bag of what I was going to wear a few days before my session! As the day grew nearer I was excited about my session and so looked forward to the day. Then the day arrived, I was giggly but nervous. I wanted to do this, I was going to do this, I was going to enjoy doing this. I am extremely camera shy and don’t like getting my photo taken, so as a norm this was going to be completely out of my comfort zone. But from speaking to Eva on the phone and meeting her for my consultation I knew that once I got to her studio I would relax and would feel comfortable during my session.

After my session I felt Amazing!! My make up and hair were both done to perfection, exactly what I wanted. I was on a high, so empowered as a woman! I had just posed in lingerie for an hour being photographed and enjoyed every second. Given half a chance I would have gone back in a heart beat for another session!

To be honest, when I saw my images at first I didn’t recognise myself. I asked Eva, Is that Me? I looked so good. I looked sexy, curvy, womanly, gorgeous, comfortable in my own skin! Which is exactly what I wanted to look like.

The main thing I would say to that is be honest with yourself! Know what you want, how you want to look, and how you want to feel. Do your research. Speak to Eva. Listen to Eva. She will guide you. She is gifted. From the minute I spoke to her I felt comfortable and I knew I was going to enjoy my Boudoir Couture session. I am so so glad that I did this and would recommend it to all women. We don’t have to be 7ft tall and a size 0 to be beautiful. Have a session with Eva and you will see how beautiful you are.  I hope to go back for another session!
And can’t wait to give DH his gift xx

Boudoir Couture Experience

I asked a number of our recent Boudoir Couture clients to tell me in their own words what the Boudoir Couture experience was like, from the pre consultation right through to seeing their images. This is from Jillian.

                                                                             

I decided to do Boudoir when I’d seen another ladies shoot.  The pictures were amazingly sexy and as I haven’t felt like that since giving birth to my beautiful babies I then decided to do Boudoir shoot.

Boudoir Photography LimerickI was very nervous going in to do my pre consultation as I didn’t know what to expect.  Within minutes of meeting Eva I felt like I was meeting a friend and my nerves went . When I left the pre consultation I was nervous excited and off I went to buy my lovely undies. I couldnt wait to come home a try them on. I waited a whole week to do my shoot which was soooo long as I just wanted to do it. ( Eva ,that is the confidence you gave me)…

When I was doing my Boudoir shoot my confidence was growing and growing (yet again that was down to Eva). By the end of the Boudoir session I felt sexy, confident, emotional, excited only to mention a few. That evening I went home head held high. I had a few friends over and their comments to me was “You look stunning” and “there something different about you” ( These male and female friends didn’t know I had just done a Boudoir Couture session ). So I was buzzing all evening.

I was so excited to see my images when I first saw them I was ohh is that me. A few I was unsure of at first as I hate seeing myself in pictures. But when I went back through them I was oh I love them. I want them all. I keep looking at them. I decided to get an album for my husband as his Christmas present but I’m now considering the present is for Me.

If you are thinking for doing a Boudoir shoot, Stop thinking, “JUST DO IT”.  You won’t regret it. One thing I will say to you.  IT HAS TO BE WITH THE AMAZING EVA BIRDTHISTLE.  Very talented lady Xx

What clients are saying about Boudoir Couture

I am utterly amazed at the response to the Boudoir Couture session in our studio in Limerick. So many women are daring to bare, sometimes as a gift for their other half, sometimes for themselves. Its on many a Bucket List, or is to help with self esteem. Whatever the reason, it is now more popular than a standard portrait.

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A recent client said after her session “this was supposed to be a gift for my husband but the session has turned out to be a gift for myself” 

Every woman is beautiful, but sometimes we don’t feel it. It is my job to show you how beautiful you are. This morning’s client dropped me a quick message after her session “just want to say a huge thank you for this morning.You made me feel like a million dollars”

And my favourite of one, you know you’re going to want to show these images off to your friends, wait until you see their reaction… “Delighted with my images, still in shock to be honest with how well I look. Showed a friend today…wow was the reaction…. then I said its Me!!” 

I love how positive the experience is, how positive my clients feel about themselves and their images. Its time to dare to bare, put on your favourite underwear and get the Boudoir Couture experience.

Eva x

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