I Loved my day at PYNK. It all started in Kings Road were I was approached by one of their reps. He had a very charming personality, and explained all aspects of the promtion(however, i wasnt particularly keen on the hair side of the promotions as i have a good hairdresser already).

Eventhough I would usually not purchase something from the street with all the scams around, i thought i’ll give it ago and good thing I did.

Within a week I had a ‘welcoming call’ to congratulate me on buying the promotion which at first I didnt know if it was a call out of desperation to book people in or if it was really just to welcome me to their company. The guy on the phone was very nice and helpful and when I did book i found out that the call was because they are OVER booked so they call you in advance to avoid disappointment(how about that for a service).

When I arrived on the day, I was welcomed by a very bubbly receptionist, I also realised that the salon is very stylish but white so you know that there staff is dedicated to keeping the place clean/tidy or the owner/s are rich enough to change it every month or so.(you never know they are based in Belgravia).

Back to my day, I was first told to fill out a ‘consulation form’ which was slightly hard to read with the italic writing but I was allowed to bring a friend along with me so we worked it out and straight after we finished two make up artists introduced themselves and guided us to our chairs. After one and a half hours, I looked like a completely different woman (just look at their website) and I actually felt more ‘relaxed and pampered’ just like what their promotion says.

With us back on their comfy sofas and being topped up with champagne and being asked if we wanted any choclate muffins or pringles I was so glad i came and persuaded my best friend to come with me.

The next step was the photography, we had an australian photographer who was soo funny and made you comfortable in your own skin. Make sure you bring a minimum of 4 outfit changes if you want to make the most out of their sets because there are LOADS and also so you wont be turned away from the door which happened to the clients after us. (And they had the cheek to argue eventhough it is stated to you beforehand on several occasions), I did love the way the manager dealt with it so calm and collective.

Do try to make the effort with what you bring with you particularly when it come to accessories and if you want to do lingerie or glamour shots as it does make a difference when you get to see your pictures.

After jumping in and out of clothes for 2 hours, we was starving and went to the local italian resturant just down the road, and had a phone call when our images were ready to be viewed.

Ive been to a couple of studios in London were you feel obliged to buy images. It was different at PYNK, eventhough the day is FREE you would think they will persuade you to buy images(come on now it still is a Business) but surprisingly they were the opposite they would actually tell you if one image didnt look too good and consult with you for what package you should go for.

All in all, PYNK is one of a very few in the fashion photography industry that is worth going to. You will love their services and customer service.

Please note: that they do charge a refundable deposit in advance(and rightly so) but that is refunded back to you straight away on the day if you choose not to purchase any photos which is highly unlikely especially with that quality.

That’s right - ZERO stars. This salon is severly lacking in professionalism, besides skills in make-up, hair styling, and photography. Right -- about my day…so I signed up for this promotion, in which I paid £59.99 for a “mini-facial, mini-manicure, makup and hair style and a professional photo-shoot” (you one of those, like Glamour Shots I guess but this is supposed to be upscale) And with that you get a voucher for a 50% off of haircut with an “elite salon”. So I’m thinking, grand, get a haircut at a good salon for half off (which I most desparately needed) and then I guess I can put up with a facial etc. and get a couple of pictures taken… With the idea, that maybe a few of the photos will make a lovely christmas or b-day present for a certain husband.

AND. To start, the person who made the appt for me on the phone, after I argued with him that I should get my hair done THEN get my picture taken, agreed whole-heartedly that I should go to the hair salon at 12:00, then to the photo studio at 3:00. I rock up to the hair salon - they are closed on Sundays. WHAT THE …? Call the studio, and they’re all like, you’re late, you’re supposed to be here at 11 for your makeover. Again…huh??? We said 3:00PM! (Note to self: always CALL A FEW DAYS BEFORE to confirm appointment/slash opening hours!). Basically, the guy lied to me -- only agreed with whatever I said, but wrote down whatever he wanted -- after all, their business is selling really expensive photos…

Bygones! So to a be a good sport about it all, I agree to hike across town to the studio anyway sans haircut.

About the make-over…if by “make-over” they in fact mean, “turn into a 50-year-old angry-looking tranny” then it was well-worth the 60 quid. (I’m 35 btw). And to add insult to injury, whatever they put on my eyes made them STING LIKE F*K. The “artist” had to rinse off most of her “work” just so I could see again. (Second Note to self: Clinique and Rimmel are definitely NOT brands I should be using). Maybe the stinging was a sign from the Makep God, because even with puffy, red eyes, I looked far less he-she AFTER half of the eyeliner was removed.

Onwards to the “manicure”. My friend’s 10-year old daughter could’ve done better. Hell, *I** could’ve done better by holding the polish brush between my toes. Images of Christy Brown’s “My Left Foot” and all that…

Then, because I hadn’t brought 4 changes of clothes (who has time for that??), the photographer looked grumpy and annoyed with me… or maybe she was just generally crabby before I got there, who knows.. so here I was trying to get HER to relax (isn’t it supposed to be the other way around?)...SHe finally admits to a common interest in photography and Adobe products! Common ground! We got on after that… Not sure why they kept trying to get me naked though… at least 3 times it was mentioned if I wanted to do nudie shots for my boyfriend. Uhhhhh…nah, no thanks. Please stop mentioning it, thank you.

Fast forward to the “professional viewing”, and there were 3 (of maybe 30) photos I liked well enough for my purposes… can you believe that for a CD of 10 photos, they want to charge £400 pounds! And the “professional photoshopping” is done by a guy who freely admitted he “doesn’t do airbrushing” and seemed to know only TWO functions in Photoshop.

Well… after the £60 already spent, I bought the 3 good photos (£70), and my eyes still hurt. My friend at work still had to photoshop the red eyes and the “manicure” (at least this was free, except I had buy him a cup of coffee).

My advice: RUN FAR AWAY FROM PYNK IF OFFERED A PROMOTION LIKE THIS and instead, get your photo-handy friend to take the pictures for you on a nice day in the park!