Samantha Norman Wedding Make-up and Hair

I am Indian and got married to an Irishman. We decided to honour both of our traditions by having two days wedding - Church and Indian. However, I struggled to find someone who can work with my Indian skin tone and help me get ready in my white and traditional Indian wedding dress with two different looks. And then I found Sam. She was very organised, communicative and very easy to talk to. Two wedding days meant I was twice the nervous but Sam had that calming energy around her that really helped me. She always had things in hand and knew how to manage the day. Before coming for trial, she did her research on my style, likes, dislikes, Indian dress, head pieces etc. She is clearly a very talented lady. I would highly recommend to any bride especially the Indian/Asian brides who want to look like their gorgeous selves on their wedding day. MASSIVE thank you, Sam!
Feb 6th, 2019

Sam did an absolutely amazing job doing my wedding hair and make up. She was incredibly patient with me while we tried different styles to find the right one and made me feel totally at ease. She also did my Mums hair on the day and she was equally delighted! Highly recommended!
Jul 24th, 2018

Sam was absolutely brilliant. My wedding was a small one and I only got round to thinking about make-up and hair rather late in the planning process. Despite the short notice however Sam took an enormous interest and dedicated both time and thought into the preparations. She gave me an amazing trial, during which she showed amazing dedication and talent, spending the entire afternoon trying out different looks till we found the right one for me. On the wedding day, she was also very calm and helpful, despite all the bustle of people preparing around her. I was incredibly happy with the results, both as concerns the hair and the make-up! Id recommend her talents to anybody.
May 1st, 2018

With three months to go I had left it fairly late to book a hair and make up stylist for my wedding, so I was relieved to find that Sam was available. I messaged her with a date and she said if I could pop a 95 deposit in to her account she will hold the date and then we'll talk trials. She said she had problems with her emails. It was 2 weeks before I heard from her again and I was growing cautious. We finally booked a trial for a month before the wedding but I was hoping to do it sooner as I had a feeling even then that she wasn't too reliable, but I'd already paid my 95 deposit. I text Sam and asked if there's any chance she's free on the following Monday. She said yes and suggested 10am. By 10:15am Monday morning, after calling and texting with no reply, I finally receive a text from Sam saying she's busy, she doesn't remember agreeing to that time (I have a text from her, in her own words, suggesting 10am on Monday). I asked for a refund as I no longer trusted her, who's to say she wouldn't do this on my wedding day? She agreed to refund me. It's been almost 4 weeks and I still haven't been refunded. I text her a few times a week. She texts back all the time, always with a different excuse: her accountant manages the refunds. She's been away. She says "it'll be with you this weekend" and "it'll be in your account by midnight" but, of course, it never is. I still don't have the 95 she owes me for not showing up to my trial. I'm still suspicious she's a con artist and doesn't actually know a thing about hair and make up. The alternative is she's an extremely unprofessional woman who has no idea how to run a business. Either way, I would hate for other brides-to-be to be let down as I have and I hope she never has the chance to rip anyone else off, avoid at all costs!!
Oct 22nd, 2016

In response to this review...... I have waited quite some time to respond to this as I felt the hundreds of good reviews, images of both my media and wedding work would show my professionalism and love for my job and felt a response to this would be rising to it. And for a long time it has. But after being advised this is actually legal slander, I feel I should respond. I am very sad that I could not make the aforementioned clients trial. I cancelled this due to sadly family sickness a very sad time. It did take time to refund the trial money and for this reason I am sorry. This has now been rectified with a system in place that this delay could never happen again. The delay in the refund is true and the delayed appointments. My father was very sick and for this I am truly sorry. In twelve years this was a short time of being human. The system has now been rectified that any trials are now a full three and a half months in advance to stop this ever being a risk to any of my brides. All brides are prioritised and seen well in advance. The remainder of this review is sadly not fair or true. I am so sorry that this client was so upset that I could not create the bridal hair and make-up that they felt the need to go to those lengths, making accusations that are founded on personal rage and no substance. Firstly I was trained at the London College of Fashion, I then trained with two of Londons most prominent make-up artists at the time. I did this by supporting myself with two part time jobs as I did not come from a background which enabled me to do otherwise. I worked and assisted as a make-up artist for two years whilst on my time off working other part time jobs to keep myself going. After two years I began to get my first clients. Through hard work, determination and a total passion for the craft I was lucky enough to work at London Fashion Week, then go onto work for The Observer, then The Times. With commitment my career grew over ten years. I was lucky enough to work on Pirates of the Carribbean. I did my first wedding ten years ago and fell in love with the whole process. I have now made up over 500 lovely brides. As a sole trader who has built up a small business I have worked every unsocial hour, missed birthdays funerals and personal time to commit to my craft. Coming from a working class background I worked every hour I could to build it to what it is today. I did this out of true affection for the craft, my clients and so that now after twelve years I could have this wonderful career, a strong solid career. Last year was a tough year and there was the odd occasion where administration took far longer than it should have. For this reason I have changed my system for the better so this will never happen again. I have hundreds of very very happy brides, and media clients please do ask me for a list of referrals. Please do see the internet for my twelve year track of media make-up images, CV, celebrity clients and beautiful happy brides. Please do see any of the 51 glowing reviews. To counter this concern this client founded this review on I have now changed my administration system and if you have any concerns please do ask me. It is a shame from this personal attack (from a person whome I have never met) a small independent business was affected. For this I am sad. I apologise publicly to this client who was clearly so sad I could make her day. I am looking forward to another ten years of very happy brides please do ask for referrals and examples of my work. I am very much looking forward to meeting you and continuing the hard work which I have invested in my beautiful job over the twelve years. My passion and my life are built around it, I do not take this lightly.
Feb 13th, 2017