After my previous booking with Sapphire fell through, I'd managed to book in with two artists via Living Dolls Makeup Artistry. Now, given that Living Dolls (and most other mobile hair/makeup services) is basically a collection of freelance artists being organised under the same brand, I'm going to do this review in separate parts. Bear with me.

I should warn you, though, that I have very little knowledge or experience with hair-styling or makeup, so take any praise on their skill and technique with a grain of salt. I did also get hair and makeup trials done in late October, which, in my humble opinion, was worth every extra cent.

THE MAKE-UP

Getting makeup done by Claire at Living Dolls. Photo by Allison Low.

Since I wanted airbrush makeup on the day, our makeup artist was Claire. She, like Bonnie, knew her stuff and had a very lovely demeanor. I have to say, given that I don't typically like strangers to be right in my face for a long period of time, Claire did a great job of putting me right at ease. I'm also a bit helpless when it comes to putting a proper "look" together when it comes to makeup, so she only really had my "umm"s and "ahh"s and "I'm not sure"s with which to work.

We came up with a look that I was very happy with on her first go during the trial - very little needed adjusting and all the changes that we made between the trial day and the wedding day were minor. More importantly, my makeup did not budge an inch on the wedding day, even though there were a few tears and more sweat than I would've preferred.

As a trio, my sister, SIL, and I come with a pretty huge variety of skin tones, face shapes, and eye shapes. And I guess this is where makeup artist training comes in, because she managed to make all three of us look gorgeous. She mixed up a custom color for my sister's lip stain that suited her perfectly. I was super impressed.

Claire was very attentive and extremely professional; she answered questions straightaway and contacted me to confirm details a few days before the trial and the wedding. She also gave me a heads-up on any extra costs and how/when these should be paid. I got the sense that she's a planner and an organiser like me, which may well be why I felt really comfortable with her.

THE HAIR

Hair by Bonnie at Living Dolls. Photo by Allison Low.

My hair stylist via Living Dolls was Bonnie, who was a very sweet and talented hair stylist. She nailed my hair style almost 100% on the day of the hair trial. There were a few issues after the trial with locks of hair falling out of the place during our pre-wedding photo shoot, but Bonnie was able to sort this out on the day of the actual wedding.

My sister and SIL both had their hair done by Bonnie on the day of the wedding, and both ended up looking gorgeous. It definitely helped that they both had clear ideas on what they wanted (including photos) and I have to say - Bonnie got it exactly right on her first try, and their hair didn't budge at all, despite the efforts of the 40km/h winds that day. My fringe did come a bit loose and dropped down within a couple of hours, but I blame this predominantly on the wind and the length of my hair; I doubt Bonnie could've done anything about it short of cementing the fringe to one side.

My mum and MIL also had their done - my mum with a braid and my MIL just had her hair professionally straightened.

Everyone was happy with their hair and also impressed by Bonnie's expertise. She was able to adjust the chosen styles to suit our hair and faces a bit better and pulled it off with a very positive and energetic attitude.

My only complaint is that she was occasionally a bit slow in responding to text messages and E-mails, and there appeared to be a bit of miscommunication between her and the Living Dolls office. Even then, this is a really minor issue. She rocked up on the day on time and well-prepared, and she made our hair look super duper awesome. What more could I ask for, really?

THE AGENCY

I get the sense that Living Dolls gets great online reviews because they do choose their artists with some amount of discernment. Their artists/stylists all appear to be quite skilled with lovely and professional dispositions. However, as happy as I was with the artists, I wasn't all that impressed with the service offered by the agency.

First off, their prices aren't the lowest out there; they sit at the higher end of the spectrum. This alone sets a higher expectation on the level of service I hope to receive, and I don't think they hit it all that well.

I had sent an enquiry through with all my requests - airbrush makeup, hair, and number of people. I was initially allocated a single artist to do both (Bonnie), which was a big plus for me and it's what had me choose Living Dolls over another agency. I like the idea of only communicating with one person. However, on a hunch, I e-mailed Living Dolls again to re-emphasise the airbrush part of my request. They had missed this entirely and thus had to re-allocate another artist (who turned out to be Claire) who did do airbrushing.

I do wonder what would've happened at the hair/makeup trial if it weren't for my hunch and keen mistrust of anything that comes too cleanly. It wouldn't have ruined my day, but I sure wouldn't have been happy about it.

Much of my communication with the Living Dolls agency was done via E-mail, and it often meant going a fair while before hearing back, with various bits being missed or misread. After the attentiveness I had experienced in dealing with Sapphire, I wasn't impressed. (That said, when I did get through to Living Dolls on the phone, their manner was pleasant and polite.)

I also received no confirmation that my deposits had been paid - I had to chase them up to confirm that they had indeed received the correct amount of money. In fact, I did not see an actual invoice until the week of the wedding... but only after I straight-up asked for one because I had thought it would've been sent through to me sooner.

No joke - I only received it on the 16th in the evening with payment due by the 18th. And guess what? It wasn't even correct! Several services that I'd confirmed separately with Claire and Bonnie back in October hadn't even been reflected in the invoice! I noticed mainly because the amount on the invoice was way lower than what I'd allotted in my budget.

Sans sugar-coating, I was really disappointed in that kind of service. I had experienced none of these issues with any of my other suppliers. And sure, while Living Dolls is based over east and not in Perth and that could explain some of the time lag or miscommunication, (1) that distance should be taken into account when conducting the business, (2) Sapphire had the same distance but without these issues, and (3) I'm far less forgiving given the prices I'd paid for the services.

THE VERDICT

I'd happily recommend Claire or Bonnie to anyone looking for a makeup artist or hair stylist (respectively). Between Bonnie and Claire (in my head I occasionally say "Bonnie and Clyde" and have a silent giggle about it), I looked and felt absolutely gorgeous that day - no small feat, really. Both of them were utterly professional, friendly, efficient and skilled.

The downside is that I wouldn't necessarily recommend the agency for which they work. Claire did mention that Living Dolls were in the process of updating their back-end system, which may have had something to do with the delays and confusion I had encountered. Which I suppose makes sense. As it is, everything did work out fine in the end in spite of those issues.

Bottom line, I was happy with the end product and I do not regret the price paid. I just wish it'd been "administrated" a bit better, if you get my meaning.