Our Summer Event Essentials

As we enter June and we are seeing more sunshine we know for sure the ‘summer’ event and festival season is about to begin. We all have an event to attend or coordinate every weekend and we rush around finding outfits to wear or ensuring everything is in place as we might need to be in two places at once! So I thought I would share a few of my summer essentials that will be with me everywhere I go this summer.

My 1st must have item is my chargeable phone case. Having two phones during June, July and August is not enough to ensure you are always reachable or can contact someone if need be. This does mean the Lumee cases may have to come off at some point of the evening but I just find it is so much easier than carrying your charger and looking for a port to use; if that is even an option at the events venue. I purchased mine from https://www.iphonepro.co.uk/ however you can find cheaper on Amazon, but I recommend you check the power capacity levels when doing so.

My makeup go to is Lancome Teint Idole Ultra 24H (thanks to @madeupbyisa) and MAC Lightful-C-Tinted-Cream. I have found a combination of the two lasts all day and they feel very light on the skin. Using a small amount is enough for the perfect coverage and lightweight summer look.

I tend to avoid carrying a great amount of makeup with me however I ensure I have Vichy AQUALIA THERMAL lip balm and my favourite Matte lipstick which is either MAC Whirl or Maybelline Nude Thrill Vivid Matte.

A good sized secure bag is essential. On a busy day of setting up, travelling or attending events I ensure my bags have zips. Somehow it gives me peace of mind when out and about or working and avoids my ‘WHERES MY!’ moments. Mango, PLT and Next are currently my favourite high street brands at the moment for bags.

As a Londoner from birth I have been blessed with witnessing 4 seasons of weather in one day. So during the days I am attending outdoor events I ensure I carry a compact rain mac. For anyone visiting the wonderful City of London this summer I advise you do the same. Even though I am always hopeful, you never know when you will need it and they truly take up very little space. I brought my most recent one from http://www.millets.co.uk/.

Finally as an event organiser comfy shoes is a must during work hours. Puma have been doing uber comfy and cute trainers. For heels I have purchased a few pairs from Zara, reasonably prices and you can be in them all night with no pain. Sandals are always exciting to buy and I have brought a few from Aldo, Topshop and Missguided.

If you have any summer event essentials please share with us!

S x

Ps. keep an eye out on our blog for our events calendar and recommendations.

Cruz Bueno | 19th May 2016

On the 19th May both Serenity Directors had the pleasure of attending the Cruz Bueno fashion show for the launch of 3 new collections.

The British based, Portuguese Born brand was in founded in 2011 by the Creative and Artistic Director & Head Designer Lucas Cruz Bueno.

After attending one show we were able to see that Lucas is a talented designer with great attention to detail in both his clothing and events.

The venue complimented the show perfectly; the high selling’s created an element of space and movement, the simplistic art on entrance and the wall embellishments gave the venue a touch of design and colour but not too much that over powered the show, the large fire places gave the feeling of structure and elegance and the large white walls complimented by your ‘fashion show’ white benches and bright lights allowed the collections to truly POP.
Each seat had a brochure about the brand, a hand out illustrating the run of the show and acknowledgement to those involved, a complimentary bottle of FIGI water (My favourite) and a very charming and creative pendent of the Cruz Bueno Logo (for those who do not know the logo is a combination of Greek writing, Grecian patterns and Lucas’s face LOVE!)
I also must say compliments to the DJ, we did shazamed the whole show. The music was powerful and our favourite song of the evening had to be Retrograde by James Blake.

The show opened with the first of two women’s collection the ‘Red Label’, this label truly is Pret-A-Porter and displayed stunning oversize jackets that I suggested all fashion lovers purchase! Quality and style that can be worn all year round.

The White label for menswear shortly followed. Texture, Movement, Layers and Pattern are the words I would describe the collection. The daring collection would be worn by a confident and expressive gentleman that appreciates the art of clothing.

My favourite part of the show had to be the beginning of the final collection, which was opened by a short piece of contemporary ballet. The dancer was stunning and carried the clothing extremely well while performing; the unexpected had the audience in shock and delight.

The final collection was my favourite of the three; I felt there was something for every type of fashion loving lady. The range of materials used deserves a round of applause in its self and the colours where seasonless!

At the end of the event I had to tell Lucas that my summer wardrobe must have every single bralet showcased in the third collection! To what he responded ‘I am glad, the collection was made for cool girls like you’ Thank you Lucas for making the night!
Once the show had finished the guests where welcomed into an old style library for drinks.

A clever touch to this section of the evening was the 6 models placed in a circle in the center of the room standing still like Apollos’ beautiful Grecian ladies. This tied in very well with the logo both in representing wholeness, fluidity and revolution as well as strength and beauty.

It was a pleasure attending this show with Helly (www.hellylondon.co.uk) and we wish Lucas and the brand all the best!

Be sure to check out the collections at www.cruzbueno.com
Photos by Cesar Antonis photography

S x

Anna Lingis MUA

Working in events, we quite often have the pleasure of meeting and working with some amazing creatives, this blog is all about one of them, Anna Lingis, who we fell in love with the minute we got into contact with her!

My name is Katerina and I am one of 2 directors of the Serenity London Group. In February I turned 25 and in true event planner style I decided to throw an extravagant fancy dress party for my closest friends at the lovely Hilton hotel situated in Tower Bridge.

Having worked with many amazing make-up artists before, I felt spoilt for choice, until I decided that I wanted to be a mermaid - which as you can imagine required a little more than a usual contour.

When speaking to some of my makeup obsessed friends about my idea, they pointed me to the wonderful Anna Lingis’ instagram page. Well! Anyone who’s seen her page knows that for her, a few scales on my face for a mermaid look was light work in comparison to some of her out-of-this-world work on others for fancy dress, pop art, special effects and halloween looks. She had it all - anything you can think of was displayed in a wonderful portfolio of mystical and magical images, I think I must of spent a good 10 minutes scrolling down her page lost in her work. She was the one! Having had an impressive 72,000+ followers and having had a few celebrities on her portfolio, I did however assume she may be very hard to get hold of and also cost me more than my party in total.

But much to my delight was I mistaken. I emailed her with the date of my event, and a rough idea of what I wanted. In no time, she had personally replied and before I knew it the date and time had been confirmed and I was booked in! I was also very happy with how reasonably priced Anna was, she required a deposit before hand which I expected and to be honest - preferred - as it gives you the reassurance as well as it would her.

Me and Anna remained in contact for the month or so before my event, she frequently messaged me with different ideas and questions about my look, and even though that was the one thing I wasn’t 100% with in terms of how I wanted to look, she was always ready to offer suggestions in terms of what I may like - which was great. Working with someone who is approachable is so important - firstly it helps you to feel as though you have the flexibility to change your mind (which you can imagine happened quite often!) secondly, it puts you at ease - there is 100 things when planning your own event that you have to worry about, the more you can NOT worry about the better, and thirdly - it makes you feel as though you’re not just a number or a name in an appointment book, it makes you feel as though you are special and thought about - which everyone wants to feel, especially on their birthday right?

In true event fashion, the day of the event was upon me, and was I stressed. One of my balloons popped on the way up to the venue and on top of it my cab journey took an extra 45 minutes than planned due to Saturday afternoon traffic in London. I checked into the hotel and went up to the room, Anna arrived not long after I had put my bags down. She was prompt and on time with a smile on her face - Just what I needed! She was welcoming and had a very warm and calming aura which was perfect. Before I knew it we had started on my look and I spent majority of the time having a good old moan about my poor balloon! (Sorry Anna!). She was a brilliant multi tasker as she was able to complete my look in 1 hour. She passed me the mirror and I was in awe! She had nailed the look I wanted down to the last gem on my lip!

She then went on to create a look on Serenity’s other director, Sandi, who had decided to go as a ballerina. She used glitters gem and a pink contour to create her look, she looked stunning!

We were both so pleased as it was exactly what we had imagined and more! Anna was quick and effective. She had unpacked, finished both of our looks and packed away in just over 2 hours and was ready to leave for her next client. Before Anna left, she managed to get some lovely images of us using her professional camera - which were ready to send over the next morning.

Throughout the evening Sandi and I received a number of compliments from people who attend about our look and the makeup stayed in place for the whole 6 hours of the event with not one speck of glitter out of place (to be honest - I’m sure if i didn’t remove the makeup before bed it would have been there when I woke up!)

I personally would recommend anyone to use Anna, I feel as though making the decision to use her as my MUA for such a personal and special event was one of the best choices I made for the evening. She not only does special effect makeup but also displays a wonderful portfolio of day and evening make up for any event - which I cannot wait to use her for in the near future.

It’s safe to say she was definitely our Make-up fairy Godmother for the evening.

Thank you Anna, you was a an absolute pleasure to meet and i’m glad we have had the opportunity to work together - wishing you all the best in your career!

Please check out her instagram pages (@AnnaLingis/@AnnaLingisMUA) to see some of her amazing work…

Below i have included some pictures of her work and what the look she created for us on my birthday! Enjoy x