Salons Unlocked: Storme Studios – Bridal hair & make-up for education and portfolio shoots

With imagery playing such a crucial role in marketing, we went to visit Salon Gold customer Storme Webster at her studio in London where she hosts portfolio shoots for hair and make-up artists.

Storme moved to London in 2016 after studying hair, make up and visual effects in Cape Town. After working with an agency on commercial shoots Storme started her own bridal hair and makeup business and within two years had so many enquiries she couldn’t keep up! She now has a team of 20 doing bridal hair and makeup at the studio, lessons, destinations, education and portfolio building and shoots for other artists.

Storme says, “I love being creative and doing portfolio days, bringing in a model to shoot and showcase always brings in more work! It’s been wonderful opening the studio because previously we were just working at home and it was a struggle to separate the two, so having a place to work and then going home means I’ve got that life balance back.

“I definitely think that everyone is on their own journey and it’s tempting to compare yourself to others on social media, but I also think that everyone can find their own path and you get out what you put in if you’re willing to invest time and money. A mentor can help you tremendously, I think it’s really hard to be a business owner and make decisions for yourself – having somebody else’s eyes can really help. I’m in a creative field so I definitely felt that focusing on my portfolio was a huge way to be different and stand out.

“My portfolio has bought me a really great business so I’ve invested a lot of time and effort into it, it’s quite curated and meant that I work with my ideal clients and I don’t have any issues with people over pricing. They book me because they’ve seen my style so it’s just a really good way of making sure that your branding and everything is on point and we’re getting the work that we want.

“I was offering this portfolio shoot service to my team but it was becoming such a success that I could see my artists were getting booked tons more when they were working on the portfolios. That’s why I opened it up to other artists to do a workshop and it’s been really great, people have really loved to be able to work on their portfolio with intention.”

https://stormemakeupandhair.co.uk/

@stormemakeupartist

Sally Learmouth

Sally is the founder of Gloss Communications which specialises in lifestyle public relations, from traditional PR across print, online and television, through to influencers and social media management, events and copywriting. Since 2005, Gloss has created hugely successful PR campaigns. Having created successful campaigns for Jack Howard, Luke Benson, Jamie Stevens, Errol Douglas, Karine Jackson, Cally Borg, Tina Hollis, Christopher Appleton, O&M, Nine Yards, Authentic Beauty Concept, Trevor Sorbie and more.

All articles by Sally Learmouth