A Moment with Heidi Phox
As we close in on the final weeks of contest entries, things are looking amazing as always for our most popular category, the Cougars. This age group always represents well and never disappoints. For proof, look no further than last year’s Co-Grand Champion, Heidi Phox. A cougar mainstay for many years, Heidi took her amazing legs and beautiful look all the way to the title. We caught up with Heidi to ask her for a few helpful tips for her fellow Cougars.
Thanks for talking with us Heidi. We can’t believe it’s almost time to crown a new Grand Champion. Before you hand over your crown, we had a few questions that can help out your fellow Cougars out there. Let’s get started.
How do you choose your outfits and poses for photo shoots?
I like to try a lot of different looks but when I want to do a fun photo shoot I almost always choose outfits that show off my legs and have a fun flirty style. High heels are a must and I usually wear a long hair style. I also usually try to cover up my arms and shoulders that can sometimes look more muscular than I prefer. I think my legs look better in nylons but love to have my painted toenails showing thus often go bare-legged with open toe sandals. So a typical outfit would be a short dress with long sleeves, and high heels.
Where do you shop for your outfits and shoes?
I shop mostly at second hand stores. I frequently go with my wife and we treat it like a treasure hunt. It can be hard to find the most recent styles but easy to experiment on different styles without wasting a lot of money.
What are your thoughts on traditional breast forms vs a breast plate and which do you wear?
I have seen girls wear breastplates that look really good but some designs look fake. I think they are good for staged photos where you can hide the edges but I would think that wearing one for any length of time would be uncomfortable. Additionally, I kind of think the natural skin of my chest looks nice despite having limited cleavage so I prefer traditional breast forms.
Thanks Heidi! We’re sure you’re looking forward to seeing who you will be handing off your crown to just as much as we are. What do you say Cougars? Have you sent in those Glamour photos yet? We’re waiting…
In case you haven’t heard, the Glamour Girl Photo Contest is here and submissions are ongoing. We are just over a month into this year’s contest and it is already heating up. After over 250 entries, we have seen some amazing photos. As always our most popular category is the Cougars as they usually account for half of all entries each year. These ladies always bring it every year and they drive our judges crazy trying to pick the best of the best in this group. Just one look at Davina Wayne’s photo above and you know this is going to be another tough year for our judges. With that being said, let’s say hello to this year’s early batch of Cougar contenders.
After dual Top 20 finishes in last year’s contest in both the Cougar and Newcomer categories, Alexis Rae Moon is back and ready to crack the Top 10 and beyond. Be sure to check out her Eye Candy feature this month and see if it helps springboard her to a victory.
Cougar newcomer Billy Miller is making a splash this year as she is currently in the lead in our People’s Choice category. Can she be a triple threat as a Cougar, Newcomer and People’s Choice?
Newcomer Jessica Simpson (left) and second year entrant Sydney Lovekiss (right) want us all to know that blondes have more fun. While Jessica is looking to stake her claim as a Cougar to watch, Sydney is aiming to build off her debut last year.
Michelle Temple is entering for the first time from across the pond and wants to let the world know that the Brits are a sexy bunch. By her entry photos, we find it hard to disagree.
Last year, Valentina Rossi (left) made a big splash and rode her momentum all the way to the Top 20 in both this category and the Newcomers. This year it’s Top 10 or bust for this beauty. She is joined by second year Cougar and Top 10 finisher in both this category and the Newcomers, Mandii Mason(right), who is looking to crack the Top 3 with this sexy glamour shot.
Veronica Mendes is a favorite of ours and our readers as she is a contender each and every year. This year is no different as Veronica looks to go further than she ever has before. Veronica has a great Instagram page that she is always updating with beautiful photos. Check her out at veronica_mendes_2013.
Sarah Myles posted this photo of herself on our Facebook page just to say hi and we told her she was crazy not to enter it in the contest. Luckily for all of us she agreed and now her fellow Cougars should be worried. Thanks Sarah!!
Each year we get asked, “what makes a great contest photo?” We gave this question some thought and since we would love to help our girls out, we have come up with some advice on what our judges look for in the photo submissions. In fact, we will take it a little deeper as we offer some help in each age-specific category. As a special bonus, contest favorite and former Sexy Legs Champion Nicole Hunter offers some advice for her fellow girls out there. So if you are a cougar, these tips are for you. Let’s get to it.
Selfies: Selfies are one of the most common entries we receive each year. Our judges don’t mind selfies at all, but they need to be really good to catch their eye. Be sure to not use a flash if you are taking the photo in a mirror as it will wash you out and just look bad. Same for any lights in your home or wherever you are taking the picture. If there is a bright light behind you, it will look like an exploding sun in the background and will once again harshen the image. Try keeping your light source in front of you or off to the side like Patricia in the shot above, and try some various angles to see what works best. For more on selfies, check out our guide to getting the best shots.
Try a Makeover or Transformation Service: One surefire way to get the best photos is to make an appointment with a makeup artist or a Transformation Service. In fact, our cougars seem to be the most inclined to do this. Unfortunately, we know that these services may not be readily available everywhere or you may not have the ability to take advantage of them. If you can book one of these types of appointments, it would be a home run. A makeup artist will help you get your makeup looking top-notch and ready for photos. A Transformation Service can take things one step further with a full transformation and photoshoot. Take Madison Emily for example. She comes to Glamour Boutique to meet with Genna for all of her makeovers. Once her makeover is complete, she puts on some outfits and takes some great shots.
Mandii Mason and Holly Jones got their photos in a similar fashion and now have these great glamour shots:
Don’t Enter Three Similar Photos: This is more common than you think. We will often have photo submissions from contestants that look like they took three pictures one after the other and sent them to us. When all three photos look the same, the judges have nothing else to compare it to. We’ve actually had judges tell us that they liked a girl, but could not move her to the next round because of this very thing. We understand that some of you may not have the ability to go out and take photos or even ask someone to help. But you can still move to other parts of your house or change the angles of the shot. Make each photo stand on their own as it will give you a better chance to catch the judge’s eye. Below are two examples. First is Amanda Richards who submitted three very different photos in 2018. Location shoots and a studio shoot give the judges various ways to see Amanda. So if they don’t care for one photo, they may love another, giving Amanda more chances to get into the Top 10 or further. Plus, she has changed her outfit and hairstyle/color in each photo as well.
Change Things Up Each Year: To build off off the last tip, we know there are a lot of you that enter our contests each and every year and we thank you for that. In fact, our Cougars have the highest return rate of any age group. With that being said, if you are a veteran of our contests, you know the competition gets tougher every year, so it’s important to make changes each year to your photos. Take Kim Rydick for example. She changes the location of her shots, her outfits, and her poses. Every year is something new. This keeps Kim fresh in the eyes of our judges and allows her to get votes each year.
Lighting: Lighting is so important as it can make or break your photo. So often we receive entries with a big light in the background that looks like the sun is exploding behind the person. On the flip side, we get photo submissions that are so dimly lit that we can barely make out the girl in the photo. The best advice we can give is to use natural light. Lamps and other forms of artificial light can cause harsh angles and can really ruin your photo. Pull back your curtains and let the natural light shine in. Stand near a window and let the natural sunlight help to soften your image a bit. An extra tip: Mornings are a great time to take a photo with natural light.
Nicole Hunter. offered some advice to her fellow girls out there for getting that perfect photo:
“I’m always excited when Glamour Boutique announces yet another one of the yearly contests. Whether it’s the Sexy Legs or Glamour Girl event, just getting a chance to have some fun with a few choice photos always gets me a little giddy. And this is my first piece of advice. The most important thing about these events is that you should be having the time of your life taking photos. You get to be the real you and show the world how confident and beautiful you are. The girl inside you gets to come out. Here are some of my favorites and must do’s when taking pics for one of these fabulous contests:
1) Did I mention have fun? If you aren’t giggling the whole time, take inventory of what you’re doing. It is work, but it should be fun. Play some funky music. Dance around. In between some of the serious supermodel shots, make a goofy face. Stick your tongue out at the photographer. Make anyone with you laugh but more importantly, make yourself smile.
2) Lighting. Lighting. Lighting. Darkness is for making love, but lightning is for taking pictures. No picture can be sexy if no one can see you. Sometimes if the lighting isn’t quite right, you can photoshop it in, but it’s so much easier to start with good lighting. And it doesn’t have to be photo studio-grade lighting, but it does have to be bright. I picked up a couple of high watt bulbs and umbrella reflectors for less than the price of a nice dinner. The difference is night and day.
3) Ever seen a broadway show or local play? From your seat, the actors look normal, but if you ever get to talk with the performers after the show, you’ll notice the make-up is just shy of a thick coat of paint. Now, you don’t need to go all drag queen, but you’re going to want to be a little more dramatic than what you’d wear for a night out on the town. Don’t go overboard, but on critical things like eyes and lips, you want a little extra contrast. The camera tends to soften those areas up.
4) It’s Glamour Girl, not Little House on the Prairie. Show some skin! Accentuate the positive. Have nice legs? Let’s see them! Got a nice caboose? Incorporate that into your pose. This is not the time to be shy. Stripper heels and a short skirt may not be appropriate to wear to that business meeting, but it is for this contest!
5) Poses. Not sure how to pose? Look at the past winners. Go on Pinterest and see how professional models do it. What looks sexy to you in popular magazines? Try to mimic those poses. There’s a reason they look attractive because the way they hold themselves has somehow awakened an instinctive urge. It’s chemistry.
6) Take a million photos. Do you know that cover girl on Cosmo or Vogue? Do you have any idea how many pictures they took to get that one shot that set off fireworks? I have gotten a lot of compliments on pictures I’ve posted but the reality is, for every “good” photo I post, there’s about a hundred plus that doesn’t make the cut.
7) Oh, and one more thing I may have forgotten to mention. Have as much fun as you possibly can taking photos!!”
Thanks Nicole! We think Nicole has covered so much here and from a past winner of our Sexy Legs Contest, her advice is definitely worth listening to.
Like Nicole said and we have said many times in the past, have fun and enjoy the moment of taking the photos. This contest is for fun and for all of you to express yourselves. We are looking forward to seeing what our Cougars are going to submit this year.
For more Glamour Girls, head over to the Contests portion of our blog and see winners and favorites and get inspired.
If you would like to enter the contest, you can email us your photos at glambmarketing@gmail.com or by going to our Facebook Page and entering on the contest page directly.