Gone Too Far

Behind the scenes photos from an amazing comedy that wrapped just this week! Was a lot of fun; I can't wait to see the finished product.

Adapted from the play, Gone Too Far was written by Bola Agbaje and directed by Destiny Ekaragha and stars myself, Adelayo Adedayo, Malachi Kirby, O.C Ukeje and Tosin Cole among others.

Myself and Adelayo aka best mates Armani and Paris, first day on set. We filmed outside for most  of the shoot and the drizzly rain drove the lovely hair and make up ladies crazy so they bought us these incredibly glamorous granny hats to protect our hair..but we actually grew to love them!

Armani..fully ratchet!

Mirror shot

The coldest day of filming...3 hot water bottles were sooo needed!

Tut Tut...Adelayo and O.C caught napping on set haha

Rob Nicholls our costume main man

I'm not even going to act like I know what was going on here... Tosin Cole and our head make-up artist My Alehammer

Anna (costume) and Alice (make-up) when our base moved to a church!

My, Rani Sikka and Alice Townes our lovely make-up ladies

All cast and crew had a Gone Too Far beanie

Champers for wrap day

Cheeeeese!

Family affair

Rob tucking into the mince pies!

Tosin, Shanika and Malachi...

Orrrr Razer, Armani and Yemi?

Fire And Ice

I got it wrong
I placed you high up on a pedestal
Anchored by impossible ideals
And romantic notions fed to me by someone else's dreams
But cold grey reality deemed my childish fantasy unworthy
And snuck in to steal my rose tinted glasses
So now I see you for what you are
Just a ragged sigh, a sharp intake of breath
Ice on my thigh, Fire on my neck
A gentle caress is just a gentle caress
Nothing more, nothing less
Nothing more
Nothing less

VICTIM

Yesterday, Victim came out in cinemas across the UK and I'm very excited about it!
It's a film that was written by friends of mine and was made with a lot of love and passion from all involved, from cast to crew. We've waited a long time for it to finally be released and everybody at the gala screening really enjoyed and was touched by it. To celebrate the release here are a few snaps taken on set.

Tell a friend to tell a friend, support British Film and go see Victim at a cinema near you!




Me sandwiched between Jazon Maza (Manny) and Michael Maris (Jason)



Anna and I with lovely leading lady Ashley Madekwe who played Tia...freezing in our warm coats!




Natasha Sparkes (Yaren), Anna Nightingale (Davina) and me (Charmaine)

 

On set during our nightclub scenes doing shots of water! Very fun day



One of my favourite pictures from on set



 

 

Designers Against Aids

I recently had the privilege of becoming a friend of the amazing charity, Designers Against Aids. Founded in Belgium in 2004 by Ninette Murk under the mother organisation 'Beauty Without Irony', the aim of Designers Against Aids is to raise awareness of HIV/Aids and to keep the issue in international media. They have a particular interest in reaching young people in the western world which they do by enlisting the help of well known figures in popular culture; musicians, actors, models, sportspeople, designers etc. 

Their primary messages are 'Prevention is the only cure for HIV/AIDS‘ (protect yourself and your partner) and ‘Know your status’ (get tested) which they promote through printing the designs of various celebrities on to T-shirts, hoods, bags and even condom holders. As well as their clothing collection, which they sell through their online store, an initiative called 'Models Agains Aids' where models promote safe sex and an International HIV/Aids awareness centre in Antwerp, they also have a long standing collaboration with H&M. 'Fashion Against Aids', where clothing items are sold in H&M stores in more than 30 countries around the world has been a huge success and artists such as Timbaland, Pharell, Rihanna, Dita von Teese, Katherine Hamnett, Katy Perry and many more have been involved.

What a brilliant organisation, right? I'm very pleased to be involved and doing my bit, however small. Their logo, which is printed on all their goods features the website address, www.designersagainstaids.com so that everyone who comes across it can head over to the site to read up and find ways to get involved in the cause. So what are you waiting for? Click the link and see for yourself... 

Dirty Dishes

Disclaimer: These were not my dirty dishes! We found a student house (perfect), some vintage furs, a Betty Page roll in my hair and we were good to go. Such a quirky shoot, I loved it.

Paolo Casseb was again behind the lens, Angelina Bianchi on hair, Lexy on make-up and Kirsty Maltby was our creative director.

The Brightest Star

Your star blazes so bright that it blinds,
Temporarily dazzled by the luminosity of the sparks it is easy for one not to see that despite your light,
Your wish for us is to remain in darkness
Shrouded in pain and insignificance,
For you steeled your heart to light this fire and all that is left inside you is ice.
You will not let the flame diminish and you don't care who you burn in order to ensure that
You
Burn
The
Brightest

But you have forgotten
That people are afraid to of being burnt so they won't get too close
And they will retreat completely once it dawns that you want to destroy their star,
Lest it detract from yours.
I wonder if you will regret your choices when all that is left are the embers of a brilliant life, cruelly lived.

All The Fun Of The Fairfax Flea

The first time I visited Los Angeles I was told I should like, totally check out the flea market at Fairfax. I fell in love with it straight away, so when I was back in La la land last month I just knew I had to fit it in. The Fairfax Flea Market takes place every Sunday and I was out there for two weeks; perfect, 2 opportunities to go and get rummaging. Except the first Sunday bucketed down with rain (and I was very hungover) so I didn't leave the house. Luckily the next Sunday, a few days before I flew back to London, was a gorgeous sunny LA day, so I spent a few hours down there.

The flea market is held in the parking lot of the Fairfax high School, right on the corner of Fairfax and Melrose, conveniently two of my fave shopping streets in West Hollywood. With the weather being so lovely and all, the market which is open from 9-5, was incredibly busy. It has 2 manned entrances where you pay your $2, get a stamp and you're good for the day. The aisles of stalls seemed endless and there is lots on offer.

Vintage everything is everywhere; numerous stalls selling vintage clothes, shoes and jewellery or you can kit out your place with unique antique furniture and cool art and posters. They have a huge sunglasses stall there and lots of stalls that customise stuff too. I managed to get a cute cut off T-shirt with a college mascot on for $3 and and incredible black jumpsuit with epic shoulder pads for $5...expect to see me rocking it at an event soon! I really wanted some vintage Levi shorts but didn't find the perfect pair...I will be back!

I wanted this dress!

The crowd at Fairfax is a nice mix of family's, tourists and cool locals. There were lots of trendy young things strutting about on their search for something different; half the fun is peeping the relaxed chic style of the LA hipsters and getting inspiration. I'd definitely recommend heading down there if you're ever in the City of Angels.

I asked these two if I could take a snap and they were Scots! Flying the flag for British style, they looked very cool.

Pin Up Girl



This was one of those fun, experimental shoots that just kinda happened perfectly. I have a great working relationship and friendship with photographer Paolo Casseb and we had been planning to do a shoot together for some time. When we were batting ideas around I mentioned a 1950's type theme and within a few hours, Paolo had come back to me saying his friend, Kirsty Maltby, a designer, had lots of pieces we could borrow for the shoot. So far so good!

Paolo and I had never done a studio shoot together before and we were under a lot of time constraints but we worked fast and the pictures came out brilliantly! As soon as I put on this vintage red swimsuit I felt like a modern day Marilyn Monroe and I would have tried to sneak the vintage YSL sunglasses away with me, except they belong to his mum!

Angelina knocked these hair styles up in about 10 minutes flat and I remember a lot of Kreyshawn (!) playing in the background.

Photography: Paolo Casseb

Styling/Art Direction: Kirsty Maltby

Hair: Angelina Bianchi

Make-up: Lexxy