Hi ladies! Sorry to intrude on your board. I'm normally on the NNJ board (I post a lot, so you can rest assured that I'm not a vendor), but I wanted to share my B-Pic experience with you in case anyone's considering having them done or is on the fence about them since I had them done in Queens (more local for some of you than it was for me).
This is a really long review because I wanted to be as detailed as possible since I (like I'm sure many of you) had no clue what to expect when I went. So here's the review that I also posted on my local board:
I went to Jenerations (in Queens Village) yesterday and had an amazing time! I honestly can't even begin to express how happy I am that I made the decision to get my pictures done and to have them done by Jen! I was a bucket of nerves the night before (I barely slept) and my whole ride there (which was a long one since Jen is located in Queens), but as soon as I parked my car outside her house and she came out to greet me I knew I was in good hands.
Jen is totally laid back and told me straight up that boudoir photography is her passion. She does other types of photography as well, but boudoir is her favorite (though not in a sketchy way at all, haha). In case anyone is kind of weirded out by the fact that someone enjoys taking pictures of women in lingerie, know that she does have a family and two kids (which, in a weird way, did put me more at ease for some reason).
I got to her house about 30 minutes early so while we waited for the makeup artist (who I'll get to in a second), we just talked like old friends... it was a very comfortable environment. The package that I selected included makeup, but anyone can add the makeup onto any package for $100. The makeup artist, Oksana, showed up right on time and did an AMAZING job with me. She took a look at the outfits I brought to get a feel for the look and colors and then before she did anything she talked to me about what she was going to do and how she was going to make me look. The whole time she took into account my facial features and Jen's style of photography, lighting, and the poses she does to ensure the makeup would look as stunning as possible.
I'm usually not a big talker first thing in the morning or when I'm nervous, but like Jen, Oksana put me completely at ease and we were pretty much just shooting the sh*t the entire time she was doing my makeup... she was so nice and funny. I was definitely a bit nervous going into the makeup with her just because I haven't had my makeup done since prom and because I have large facial features so the makeup that a lot of girls wear to accentuate their features makes me look like a clown. Oksana was truly amazing though and made me look gorgeous which just gave me that extra boost I needed to go into the photo shoot with tons of confidence. The makeup didn't look overdone like I was trying too hard, but I looked totally glammed up.
As soon as the makeup was done I went upstairs with Jen to a room she has set up in her house just for photography. She had me lay out all of my outfits so we could go over my favorites and my ideas and then she gave me her honest opinions about things, which was great because she explained her thoughts and made me feel totally at ease whether I wanted to go along with her ideas or not. Then, she gave me a quick and complete rundown of what the shoot would be like so I would know what to expect and she gave a little speech that she gives to all of her BPic clients about "the sexy look." That was one of the things that I was most nervous about going into the shoot because I just had a feeling that in an attempt to look sexy I'd look like a goofball or really angry. She explained it all perfectly and once she was done and we had some good laughs we got to work!
In the room she has a ginormous bed, a dresser, a mirror, and a couch all for different shots and I was able to use a bathroom inside the room to get changed (in case anyone's concerned about a lack of privacy). Not only did Jen talk me through each pose, she also showed me how to do them and was totally patient with me when I forgot what she had just shown me a second ago, haha. She had music in the background just to lighten up the mood and keep the nerves at bay... I was worried at first about that because I thought it was going to be cheesy muzak or some classical tunes, but she had her laptop out playing top 40 hits from the past 10 years, haha. As silly as it sounds, it definitely helped to relax me and didn't make me feel like I was the constant center of attention since we had something else attracting the senses in the room (if that makes sense).
After the first couple of poses in the first outfit, Jen stopped for a second to show me the pics that she had taken so far on her camera just to prove to me that I was looking hot... once she did that, whatever few butterflies I still had completely vanished and my confidence just soared!! And it's not because I'm full of myself or I think I'm the most gorgeous person in the world... it's because she knew which poses, which outfits, and which angles to shoot me from to make me look as good as possible and she knew what to say/do to make me as comfortable as possible.
After about 6 outfit changes and more than 200 photos (and a lot of talking and laughing... and sexiness of course, haha) we were done. But, and here's the best part, THEN I got to go back downstairs to meet with her assistant who brought all of the pictures up on her laptop and showed them all to me! I thought the way it worked was that Jen took the pictures, then chose her favorites, fixed them up, and then sent them to me.
Instead, I got to choose the 50 (from my package) that I liked best. Oh, and I have to note here that Jen's assistant was TOTALLY patient with me during this process because I was really indecisive about some things and we kept going back to the same pictures 4 or 5 times. And anytime I had trouble deciding, Jen and her assistant were more than happy to offer their own opinions and explanations why.
So I chose the 50 that are going to get retouched (though the photography in and of itself caused a lot of pictures to look like they didn't even need to be retouched! I honestly would have been happy taking about 40-45 of those 50 on the spot without any touch-ups at all). And once they're retouched I get an online viewing gallery (similar to what Diane was willing to share with anyone who asked after her BPic shoot last month) and we'll go from there.
I obviously don't have any pictures to share right now, so I guess anyone who is interested will just have to take me for my word... but Jen and Oksana were truly amazing and I whole-heartedly recommend a BPic photography shoot to anyone as either a gift for a FI/husband OR just for yourself as an ego boost. I promise you won't be disappointed and if you use Jen then all the better because I swear she was born to do this (and her prices aren't over the top like some of the photographers I looked into).
If you want to look into Jen's work you can visit her site here:
www.jenerations.comAnd if you want to look into Oksana's work you can visit her site here:
www.makeupartistryoksana.comBy the way, Oksana does makeup for EVERYTHING. She and Jen live about 5 minutes from one another so they work collaboratively for anyone having BPics done who wants their makeup done as well, but she also does weddings and all of that. I'm not sure what her travel fee to NJ is, but I'm in the process of finding out because I would love to have her do my wedding makeup if possible.
Hope this helps anyone who's on the fence about BPics!! :-)