Straight out of a magazine: Miss W | Austin Boudoir Studio

If you follow me on Instagram, you've seen little peeks of this blonde bombshell and her killer boudoir shoot. She showed up with her friend, a bottle of champagne, and a kick ass attitude, and left with a really incredible set of images just for her own damn self. 

Miss W Said:

"It feels damn good to do something for yourself! I turned 31 on Monday and thought 'Hey, you are't getting any younger!' Every day I thank my lucky starts for all the greatness I have in my life.  I loved how comfortable and beautiful everyone made me feel throughout the whole process!"

“ If you’re a girl out there contemplating a boudoir shoot....DOOOO IT!!! Kara is AMAZING!”

— Miss W

"I love not only feeling sexy and confident but also LOOKING fuckin sexy!"

When she first contacted me about a photo shoot, her email signature was followed by a quote. If you know me or follow me at all, you know that I'm a quote girl. SO...I knew we were a match made in boudoir photographer/client heaven before I even met her. It said:

“I get up every morning determined to both change the world and have one hell of a good time. Sometimes this makes planning my day difficult.”

— E.B. White

Hellllooooo, RED! Amiright!? Yasss. 

This set. This set with the classy red lingerie, chanel pearls, red bottoms, and fur coat just SCREAMED magazine ad to me! Miss W seriously rocked it! I'm thrilled with our finished product. 

Hell yes to rocking a boudoir shoot. Hell yes to doing so for YOU. Hell YESSSS to feeling even better about yourself after you're done. I love these kinds of stories. 

Thank you Miss W for your badassness ;)

Makeup credit: Kendall of Mayhem Beauty

WHEN IS THE LAST TIME YOU DID SOMETHING TO MAKE YOURSELF FEEL LIKE A GODDESS? LET'S CHAT, DAHHLING!

Well-behaved women | Austin Boudoir Studio

"Well-behaved women seldom make history." -Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

Stand up, speak out, fight for everything you believe is right. Make your stance known. Do not let any man OR woman tell you what you should or should not be doing. You do you. Make mistakes and learn from them. Don't let anyone make you feel bad about them. Be compassionate and love with all of your might.

I'm coming out swinging today.

Moody Muse | Austin Boudoir Photographer

This shoot holds a special place in my heart and I'm really excited to finally share it with you! 

Miss A, here is a photographer who lives across the country and she flew in to Austin for a little weekend away with her hubs, and to have her own boudoir experience with me!  She said she liked dark and moody, which was PERFECT because it just so happened to be a gloomy day in Austin (totally rare!).

We channelled that energy into our shoot and had a fabulous time. 

I know that when people come to a boudoir blog, their inclination is to scroll past all the text to get to the pictures. I'm a visual person, I get it.  BUT, each woman's story is SO important. The WHY is SO important. You need to know that these aren't just "I woke up like this" women who have nothing better to do than to look pretty and do photo shoots. These are women who bust their asses at life. They have their own insecurities just like you. They wear many hats and don't take enough time for themselves. 

So please take a moment to read Miss A's powerful words!!

"Buxom Shanghai.
That's my color.

I learned this incredibly helpful tidbit as I sat perched atop a barstool at Kara's photography studio in Austin, Texas just five minutes before baring it all for my very own boudoir photo shoot.

I needed Kara's eyes. I have incredibly jacked up self image and can be so very hard on myself. I don't practice what I preach to my own photography clients nearly enough. Don't be like me. It's silly.

Kara's make up artist, Kendall, had no hesitations while doing my make up and I had already vowed to trust her and Kara completely. So when she chose Buxom Shanghai for my lips... She knew what she was doing.

For Kara, she uses her passion for portraits, her strong intuition and completely on point male-like perspective to allow women to shine like the crazy diamonds they are."

"It might seem like playing dress up. It might look completely vain.
But these women make space for change and growth and acceptance. And it's downright kickass.

People like us might seem out of touch. Like we don't have real jobs because what we do is so incredibly fun. But make no mistake- the purpose is important, the work can be tedious and the results are undeniable. Passionate people always find a way to inspire others. It's why we exist.

For me, doing a boudoir session is a simple visual reminder to put down the self-doubt and stop playing small. The world doesn't benefit from my petty insecurities.

So, for those dreaming of a boudoir photoshoot ... Put down the boxing gloves and quit beating yourself up about the 10 lbs or the stretch marks or the "but I'm not....." fill in the blanks.

Ask yourself this - what's the worst thing that can happen? And what is the best? If a boost of lasting confidence sounds good to you - then book it right now.

Do not get me wrong - my husband is head over heels for these images; he adores them and me and that's wonderful. But as my Kara's blog headline says - "It's not about seducing men - it's about embracing womanhood" and that, my sisters is something worth celebrating."

THANK YOU, Miss A for trusting me with your boudoir experience, for allowing me to share your photos, and more importantly, for allowing me to share your words. 

If you're ready to celebrate yourself, let's chat, darling! 

One badass bombshell! | Austin Boudoir Studio

The hardest and least favorite part of my job is DEFINITELY keeping secrets! It's such a challenge....especially when I'm sitting on such awesome images!!

THIS badass bombshell came to me a few months ago in hopes of creating an awesome anniversary present for her husband.  We had the most amazing time during her shoot and got some of my all-time favorite images.  And her husband "LOOOOVVVVVEEESSSSS" the images ;) 

Right before we started this set of images, this client said "How do you pick who gets to be on your blog?" To which I responded "Ummm....ANYONE who I photograph can be on my blog if they want to be!!" So she said "Can I please be on your blog!?!?!"  Hell yes you can, my dear. Hell yesssss.

PHEW! It feels good to get that off my chest. ;)

I love how she rocked out plaid, leather, lace, and ended with a super soft and feminine set! It was SUCH a versatile shoot and it was such a pleasure to photograph her!!! 

Ready for your turn? Let's chat, dahhling!

Boudoir in a Bar | Austin Boudoir Photographer

This shoot was truly one-of-a-kind, as you will see. It's not often (ok, so it's not EVER) that you see a boudoir shoot done in a bar. This client contacted me a few years ago with a pretty solid location idea in mind. The result was so fun! Checkity check it out (I rapped that.)!

Miss S was such a badass trooper strutting around the bar in her undertheres (and even outside for a few!!). It just goes to show you, that, when you step outside of your comfort zone, magic can happen! 

Xo

Your turn! Let's do something fun!!! Email me at hello@clickchickboudoir.com to chat more!!

For everybody and every BODY | Miss "L" | Austin Boudoir

Where to begin? When this amazing woman and mother of two contacted me, I KNEW that I was about to be a part of something spectacular. Miss "L" has had a doozy of a year, recently being diagnosed with Lupus, and losing a lot of weight as a result. In her initial email she told me she was having a hard time handling her lack of curves and "girlish" figure.  I knew that she NEEDED this. And I KNEW that I had to be the one to photograph her. I mean...no offense to other boudoir photographers out there or anything...but my tagline IS "boudoir photographer to the AWESOME". Miss "L" was the epitome of AWESOME.  

And here is her story....

“Over the course of 12 months, I broke my ankle and was in a NON-weight bearing cast for 4 months- with two children and a 2 STORY HOUSE!! It was my right ankle—No driving either! About two weeks after I could finally walk again, I found a lump in my breast.  5 doctors later, test after test after test, and finally an excisional biopsy, I found out I had a condition called SLE, or Systemic Lupus Erythematosus. With this diagnosis, came a drastic change in my eating habits- think, you can’t eat anything except meat and vegetables! Since my diagnosis, I have lost a drastic amount of weight and my bust in its entirety.  I know it doesn’t sound like much, and is probably so trivial a thing to complain about, but after having two children I felt like I should have my womanly figure, that they had taken my health, basically every food out there, but that I should still get to have my figure!

I contacted Kara in the hopes that I would see these pictures, and not see the absence of a figure and the plight of this otherwise sick girl that is trying every day in every moment to prevent this inevitability of what SLE means, but that I would see the me, that my husband and family sees.

My morning was absolutely wonderful.  I had my hair styled by the sweetest stylist who was so welcoming and made me feel so special.  My make-up was no different. She airbrushed my make-up, perfected every imperfection, and made me look stunning.  Seriously these girls are awesome! I walked in an overworked, over-tired mom with a great cup of coffee, and I walked out a supermodel!  THEN, I went to this gorgeous studio that Kara had rented out JUST for the shoot, and had the pleasure of working with Kara, and Jennifer of Underwear, seriously the cutest lingerie boutique in AUSTIN. 

Then the shoot started, Kara is INCREDIBLE!! I was so nervous that I wouldn’t know what to do or where to look, or that the look of, “Oh my gosh, I can’t fill this out,” would show on my face.  But she talked me through every pose. Every inch of my body was so meticulously positioned to get the most flattering shots! She listened to every word, and hesitation and she talked me through it all! She would even burst out as she was snapping pictures, “Ooh I love it, You look Great, Eeee this looks soooo good!”  Seriously, with that much encouragement who wouldn’t feel comfortable! I ended up taking so many pictures and having so much fun, I would really love to do it again!  We had such a fun time shooting!"

“I never thought, after the year I have had, that anything this great could happen. It has been such a gift, and I know that these pictures are really going to help me to feel like the woman, the wife, and mother I am, and not like the condition I have.”

— Miss L

My husband was totally a fan of this too! Ha, go figure right! Hands down, Kara is the best.  Period. Thank you, Thank You, Thank you!”

What a delightful woman. Seriously. Her laugh was so much fun to capture. She is (clearly) so insanely beautiful. I'm so proud of her for rocking out this shoot!!!  GIVE HER SOME LOVE in the comments, y'all! <3

Credits: 

Hair: Nina of Urban Betty

Makeup: Lauren of Hint of Shimmer

Lingerie Styling: Jennifer of UNDERWEAR

Boudoir Photography: Click Chick Boudoir

Your turn! Yes...you. Let's chat, dahhling!

Boudoir Party Booking Special! | Austin Boudoir Photographer

March is my favorite month! It's the month of my wedding anniversary, my youngest son's birthday, my favorite holiday (St. Patty's!! Holla!), AND my busiest month for boudoir parties! There is something that is SO insanely fun about getting together with a bunch of girlfriends, getting all dolled up, drinking some champagne, and being a total rockstar for a few hours while you have some amazing photos taken of yourself! Boudoir parties have become SO HUGE over the last couple of years. It's a fantastic opportunity to take the plunge into a boudoir shoot if you've always been too nervous because now you've got all of your friends right there with you with THEIR butts hanging out, too ;)  To commemorate the awesomeness that is MARCH, I'm offering a booking special! 

This is a fabulous idea for bachelorette parties, bridal showers, birthday bashes, mom's night out (in), or "just because" because clearly, you deserve it!

So here's how it works:

1. You gather your friends...typically the most successful parties have about 5 girls but you can have as many as 7 or as few as 3.  We work together to schedule a date for your booty bash. 

2. My makeup artist and I come to you on the day of your party complete with a sexy swag bag full of goodies for you and your friends to use during your shoot. 

3. Each girl gets a professional makeup application and a private mini photo shoot!

4. Receive an extra sexy rate for booking as a party! {Be sure to use the above coupon, too, for extra savings!!!}

These are SO much fun, y'all. Seriously. 

So the booking special above is valid as long as you book before the end of this month...your party simply needs to be scheduled by October 30th so you have plenty of time to coordinate your best girls' schedules! 

SO, are you ready for this, or what?!  Let's chat, girl!

Vintage Boudoir Part 2 | Austin Tx Boudoir Photographer

Remember the vintage pin-up-esque awesomeness that was last week's blog post?? If you don't, you MUST go check it out. 

I promised you a part II, didn't I??   Here it is!!! YAY!

BAM!!!  

Thank you again to all the collaborators! 

LINGERIE STYLIST-- Jennifer of UNDERWEAR Austin

HAIR STYLIST-- Nina of Urban Betty

MAKEUP ARTIST-- Lauren of Hint of Shimmer

LOCATION-- Roadhouse Relics

MODEL-- Elizabeth M

PHOTOGRAPHER-- duh. 

You want your own shoot, don't you?? It's ok. I don't blame you.  Let's chat, dahhling!

My Boudoir Philosophy | Austin Tx Boudoir Photographer

There are so many interpretations of boudoir photography.  No one boudoir photographer is the same as the other. If you are thinking about booking a session, you should pour through your potential photographer's images and you should be able to say about almost all of them: "Oooh I love that."  You should know your photographer's boudoir philosophy and you should identify with it completely.  I try to do my best to put it ALL out there for potential clients. It can really be summed up with one quote by Dita Von Teese (that you'll find plastered on several pages on my website)... "It's not about seducing men. It's about embracing womanhood."   Read on for a more in-depth discussion about Click Chick Boudoir's Philosophy...

To elaborate a little more on that:

1. Confidence beats physique any day. 

Insecurity will plague your photos worse than any muffin top, stretch mark, or forehead wrinkle.  I'm not saying that anyone who is insecure should not be photographed....it is my job to make you feel comfortable and to point out how stunning you are.  Seriously, trust me.  I guarantee you will walk out of your shoot feeling 10x more confident than you did when you started.  It's just a matter of how far into the shoot it is before I crack through your insecurity barrier.  That's why I assign homework prior to your shoot. On top of asking women to create a secret pin board of boudoir images they're drawn to, I also ask some questions that might be hard to answer.  The most important being "What do you love about your appearance?". I don't ask for your flaws, I don't ask for what you want to hide. Positive talk only, girl!  Confidence is key.  So get ready to compliment yourself! It's a requirement! 

2. Boudoir is for everybody and every body.

Yup. I said it. The concept of "beauty" is obviously extremely varied from person to person. What I think is beautiful may be completely different than what Vogue thinks is beautiful.  What you think is beautiful may be completely different than what a man thinks is beautiful. I don't really care what size you are.  I don't care what your skin looks like. I don't care if your teeth are perfectly straight and white. It doesn't matter. If you are a beautiful person on the inside, you will photograph beautifully.  Boudoir is not just for "skinny" girls. It's not just for 30-somethings. It's for REAL women. It's for every woman. While the size 16 woman may be thinking "If I were a size 2, I would be beautiful.", the size 2 woman may be thinking "If only I had some curves.".  Us women need to really let go of those insecurities and embrace exactly who we are at this very moment.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with striving to better ourselves...but that doesn't always mean changing our bodies.  

3. Keep it classic and classy.  

This not every boudoir photographer's stance, and that's ok! Every woman has their own style, and every photographer has theirs. It's important to make a good match.  Me, personally...I believe that you don't necessarily have to bare it all to create a sexy image. I don't believe that you necessarily have to be able to master the "come hither"  sexy look or lip bite. My boudoir style is tasteful, relatively modest, and playful. It's not Penthouse. It's just not.   I also try to keep my post-processing pretty timeless. Fads come and go, and I want your images to look just as amazing in 20 years as they do today. For that reason I stick to pretty classic editing techniques. 

4. Do it for you. {gift-giving is just a bonus} 

You'll hear me preach this in just about every blog post or conversation you have with me about boudoir.  YES, your beau will LOVE the pictures--so yes, a boudoir album makes an AWESOME gift.  But, beyond the sexy little Valentine's Day present, doing a boudoir shoot will rake in all kinds of benefits for yourself. It's an automatic confidence booster. It's that girly day that every woman needs every now and then. And it's FUN.  Seriously...a freaking fantastic time! 

5. A smile is the sexiest thing you can wear.

I wrote a blog post about this last week, so check it out.  My boudoir style isn't ALL about the sexing it up. It's about beauty. It's about who you are on the inside.  When a woman smiles...I mean when she REALLY smiles....you can see into her beautiful soul. SO I welcome authentic smiles in my shoots with open arms.  Don't worry...we'll work on your sexy face, too. ;) 

For more information on Austin TX Boudoir, visit the Click Chick Boudoir website.  For availability or to book, email Chick@ClickChickImages.com   ALSO--it's new---OVER THERE--to the right....enter your email address in the box to SUBSCRIBE to the Click Chick Boudoir Blog! That way, you'll never miss a juicy post. Go ahead :) 

Miss "B" | Austin TX Boudoir Photographer

When Miss "B" first showed up, she said "I want you to take my before photo!!!". It's not often that someone REQUESTS to have a photo taken before the transformation begins...so obviously, I obliged. Meet Miss "B": 

My absolute FAVORITE thing about Miss "B" here, is her awesome laugh.  Seriously, y'all....her laugh is out of this world. I found myself throughout the length of her session trying to elicit all of her over-the-top-awesome laughter.  Knowing that her husband would probably appreciate the "sexy face" photos, too, I went ahead and shut my mouth for part of the time, as well. But I'm still partial to her sheer joy.  

I love when I get to hear feedback from my clients on their sessions. Miss "B", whose identity will obviously be revealed if you visit her blog, shared her boudoir experience with her readers.  Here's a little snippet of what she had to say:  

"I did it. And I’m not going to lie – I was absolutely terrified leading up to the shoot! And I felt like such a hypocrite, because I always encourage my brides to do it and now here I was, scared like a little chicken. But I know Kara and I’ve seen her work many times so I knew that whatever happened was going to be incredible.

Here’s how it all went down:

Kara asked me to create a private Pinterest board for boudoir and share it with her. I was able to pin the pictures that I liked and she pinned some additional pictures that she thought I might be interested in as well. This way she could get an idea of what style of boudoir photos I liked. In my case, I generously allowed my husband to add pins as well. Of course, it wasn’t a surprise to him and we aren’t newlyweds, so it was a little different for us than it might be for a new bride.

I didn’t realize until later that this step was so important in that it was actually helping me to become very excited about the shoot, and at the same time, really comfortable with what was about to come. You see, Kara wasn’t asking me to pick pictures that I wanted to replicate – she was asking me to pin the pictures that spoke to me so she could get an easy visual of the “types” of photos that I was drawn to. Was it the detail shots that I liked? Am I more modest? More adventurous?

She emailed me a list of Do’s and Dont’s that I could use as a guide to prepare for the shoot. Things like what I should wear, what I should do before hand, to drink or not to drink – and how much. (This was an easy one for me, because I’m not really a drinker. But I can see how some ladies might like a little liquid courage with a shot!)

I followed all of Kara’s advice – exactly. And I think it made all the world of difference during the shoot.

I arrived at the shoot and the hair and make up artist, Erica with Erica Gray Beauty, started on my make up while Kara went through the things I had brought and chose the outfits she thought were best for me. You might do differently, but she’s the professional, so I just laid everything out and let her decide!

Up to this point I was really working under the assumption that this was to help out my friend in her business but once the hair and make up started I quickly realized that Kara was making every bit of this event about me. And it was really pretty cool!  I started to relax and enjoy the whole experience. I’m a (30 something) mom of two kids that I homeschool – and I spend my working hours creating amazing days for other people.  So let’s face it, there aren’t a lot of things that happen in my life that’s all about me!  As corny as it sounds, Kara and Erica taking so much effort with every little detail of me made me feel like I was someone very special. It was an oddly emotional experience to see myself transform into this amazing looking individual.

Once finished with hair and make up, we started with the photos. And I was a little nervous at first. But within a few minutes we were laughing and having a great time. And it was easy – and so much fun! It was over sooo fast!"

To read the rest of her boudoir report, visit her blog!

Thank to SO much to Miss "B" for being such a trooper and not only sharing her photos with the world, but also her experience! 

Hair and makeup by Erica Gray Beauty.

For more information on booking an Austin TX boudoir or beauty experience with Click Chick Boudoir, visit the website. For availability or to book, email Chick@ClickChickImages.com

xoxo,

Kara Marie