LIVING, THINKING + BEING
EVERY DAY IS A GOOD HAIR DAY AT SERVILLES PONSONBY THERE’S NOTHING QUITE LIKE THE POWER OF A GOOD HAIR DAY TO MAKE you feel fantastic – something that Libby Baxter knows all about. Libby is now officially living her ‘teenage dream’ as the proud owner of Servilles Ponsonby, which she purchased in December last year. She’s no stranger to this part of town. At 20 years old she got her ‘first real job’ at Servilles Ponsonby and still couldn’t imagine working anywhere else; she adores what she describes as the suburb’s ‘village vibe’. Just as the community spirit and friendly ‘everyone knows everyone’ aspect makes Libby proud to call Ponsonby home, it is also what makes her work life so much fun; she admits that the Servilles staff and their clients have become like an extended family. Servilles itself is situated on the corner of Jervois and Ponsonby Roads – which many of us locals (of a certain age) fondly remember as the spot of the iconic Gluepot Tavern. The salon opened its doors in November 1995, and became such a hit with locals that a downstairs area was added, expanding it to twice the size of the original space. While the Servilles team is renowned for delivering fashion-forward aesthetics for fashion shoots, the catwalks of New Zealand Fashion Week and New Zealand’s Next Top Model, their main focus is creating cuts their clients love. “Our clients are all ages and from all walks of life, so it’s paramount to tailor a cut to each individual and their lifestyle.” A long list of dedicated clientele proves the Servilles team has a winning formula, and for Libby, one of the highlights of her job is receiving ‘thank you’ emails from happy clients who love their new look. “Our greatest compliment is people coming back to us month after month, year after year – we feel privileged every time someone chooses us, and stays with us.” WHAT’S HOT AT SERVILLES PONSONBY? “Our ‘express blowwave’ is fantastic,” says Libby, “Clients come in with clean, dry hair, and we style it.” The $25 service takes just 15 minutes and you can buy a five-visit card for $100. For special occasions, Libby suggests coordinating a makeup and hair style at the same time. “We work on a referral system with Smashbox Cosmetics; if you book your appointment through us, you’ll get 10% off your makeover.” When it comes to new season style, Libby loves the ‘Victoria’s Secret’ look of darker roots fading into light ends, which she recommends for blondes that don’t want to commit to six-weekly highlights. Block colour is still fashionable – be it red, white blonde or super dark. “Think the Kardashian sisters, Christina Hendricks or Scarlett Johansson,” she says, emphasising that while the look is bold, it’s also quick to achieve and maintain. For guys, the short back and sides with height on the top is still popular, “It’s a cut that looks great styled flat for work, or teased up when going out,” Libby says of its versatility. PN
APRIL SPECIAL OFFER PONSONBY NEWS readers that mention this story will get a complimentary treatment with their next cut or colour service. SERVILLES PONSONBY, 384 Ponsonby Road T: 09 378 9799 www.servilles.co.nz/salon/salons/ponsonby
78 PONSONBY NEWS+ April 2011
LIBBY BAXTER of SERVILLES PONSONBY
DO YOU HAVE TO TRAVEL TO BECOME A TRAVEL WRITER? ANYONE NEW TO AUCKLAND CAN TELL YOU THAT THIS CITY IS AS EXOTIC TO a New Yorker, a Porteño or a Parisian as an Aucklander finds the Big Apple, Buenos Aires or Paris. If you’re an aspiring travel writer wondering how and where to get started, perhaps there’s no need to save for an air ticket first. Auckland’s waterfront-based writing school The Creative Hub offers a six-week Travel Writing and Photography Course from mid-April. Whether you’re writing from home for the world or from the world for home, you’ll need to know how to successfully pitch your story for publication. This course is designed to introduce you to the skills required by expert travel writers, to help you craft your experiences into stories that can be published and to gain an insight into how the travel industry works and what an editor is looking for. In addition, the course features two travel photography workshops – what sort of pictures are travel editors looking for and what should you know if you take your own camera on assignment? The course tutor is Ponsonby resident Yvonne van Dongen, one of New Zealand’s most respected travel writers and editors. As Travel Editor of the New Zealand Herald and, subsequently, Travel Editor of onHoliday Magazine, she has won numerous awards, including Best Tourism and Travel Column in the Qantas Media Awards, Lifestyle Journalist of the Year, two Commonwealth Media Awards, and Cathay Pacific Media Writer of the Year. Yvonne is joined by photographer Greta Anderson, who has worked for publications as diverse as Wallpaper, the Australian Financial Review, New Zealand Herald, onHoliday Magazine and NZ Life & Leisure. A multi-award-winning photographer with a BFA from Elam and a Master of Visual Arts from the Sydney College of the Arts, she has lectured in photography at Elam, Unitec and the Sydney College of the Arts. www.gretaanderson.com. Yvonne and Greta have worked together in the past and make the perfect team for this inspiring course. As host of the Rugby World Cup there’s more interest in the City of Sails than ever. Now is the time to take a fresh look at your home town and get writing. The course runs from the Creative Hub’s rooms at the Maritime Museum on Quay Street, from Tuesday 12 April, 6 - 9pm for four weeks, followed by two Saturday afternoon classes on 7 and 14 May at 2pm. See www.thecreativehub.net.nz for a full course outline and enrolment form. PN
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