I paid $90 for my hair and makeup test. I explained in great detail (even brought sample pics) of how I wanted my hair. I was not unreasonable, these were styles that were created for hair like mine. The stylist Valencia (who is also the owner of the company) was unable to duplicate the styles, or even really come close. Towards the end of the hair portion she finally seemed to understand what I wanted and assured me that my hair would be pinned much higher and tighter and look much fluffier/messier curls on the day of; she simply could not do it that day because of all the other things she had already done to it. Whatever...She proceeded to do my makeup with her M.A.C. kit (one of the reasons I chose her company). Everything went very well in that department...makeup is what I was most worried about because I pride myself on my makeup applying abilities. I left feeling okay about her, thinking that now she understood and it would be all right.
The day of the wedding came. Valencia Salon was doing makeup for me (the bride), my mom, mother-in-law and matron of honour. First, the owner was the one doing our hair...so, she didn't bring her makeup kit. But she did bring along an assistant who had her own...and it was a Mary Kay kit...they still had M.A.C. foundation for the airbrush machine, but everything else was crap. I had far superior stuff in my personal kit. Naturally, because the assistant was not who I had my trial run with, she was abhorrent. Very nice woman, no makeup skills whatsoever. My wedding dress was a classical, rather formal ivory...to correspond with that, she opted to make me up as a gothic harlot...she also put waterproof mascara on my Extreme Lashes ($300), even though I specifically instructed her not to. She made my mother and matron of honour have glowing gold/white eyes...they came out looking very frightened and raccoon like. I thought my mother-in-law's makeup was done quite nicely, but she hated it.
The owner, hairdresser for our purposes, did not know what a French twist was. This is the staple of formal hairstyles and also one of the simplest. I don't think you can call yourself a hairdresser if you don't know how to do one...let alone understand the general concept. Valencia actually allowed herself to get into an argument with my mom, because after 3 renditions of some odd ponytail concoction my mom started to get upset and tried at length to make her understand what the hell a French twist was. She tried to tell my mother, who has hair past her shoulders, that her hair was not long enough to do that. She never did get my hair right...it was decent for about 20 minutes, but by the time I walked down the aisle it was falling apart. My matron of honour, who has short, straightish hair wanted something exceedingly simple, which was never accomplished...at least not until the "salon" people departed and she did it herself.
We were both relieved and comepletely peeved when Valencia and her assistant left. I took out my makeup kit and fixed all of our eye makeup, as well as I could...we didn't have time to redo it, which is what it really needed. My wedding went pretty well, but if there was a disaster it was the hair and makeup for certain. If I hadn't been so determined to remain calm and happy and if it weren't for my faith in the wonders of Photoshop, Valencia Salon on Wheels could have completely ruined the day.
I am willing to show anyone who is interested the photos of the makeup jobs, prior to our edits in Photoshop.
Also, this company required a 30% gratuity prior to service. At the time, I thought that was ridiculous, because tips should only be based on services rendered. I paid it anyway. I had doubts about this company from day one, but I didn't trust my instincts; I liked some of the photos on their website and thought they could perform to that standard. They didn't, and I doubt they are capable of ever doing so.
Another thing about this "company," it's composed of like 2 or 3 people, so don't expect any refunds if they screw everything up. It's not widely known and it isn't a corporation, so they don't really care if you hated what they did.
