iBooking

Leo’s in Coronation Street

Leo’s in Coronation Street

Wow, What a fantastic day on the most famous street in Britain!

I had the absolute pleasure of making over Actress Debbie Rush who plays Anna in Coronation Street for our latest ITV makeover! Me and the ITV This Morning crew arrived yesterday on to the street where I had the pleasure of meeting all the stars and walking down the very street itself.

I had to convince Debbie who is an amazing actress, to turn to hair extensions to make her greasy spoon character become the most glamourous actress for the Soap Awards!

I had an incredible time as you can tell from the pics!!

MISSED IT? WATCH IT HERE

Catwalk Quiff

Helping change young lives

Helping change young lives

The Prince’s Trust Foundation

It is no secret to any of us that Leo really struggled at school and came away from this difficult time in his life with nothing more than sheer determination to succeed.

This week Leo returned to Brooklands College were he was unsuccessful in re-taking his GCSE’s to inspire and motivate a group of kids who haven’t had the best start in life and are apart of The Prince’s Trust Foundation scheme.

Leo’s talk was right from the heart as he told them his captivating story of how he went from school drop out to an International brand within 10 years! Leo is aware that without other people’s help this would not of been possible for him and to have this opportunity to be able to give back on this level was one the best things Leo has ever done.

Around one in five young people in the UK are not in work, education or training. Youth unemployment costs the UK economy £10 million a day in lost productivity, while youth crime costs £1 billion every year.

The Princess Trust address this by giving practical and financial support to the young people who need it most they help develop key skills, confidence and motivation, enabling young people to move into work, education or training.

Leo will keep in touch with the group and looks forward to hearing their progress when he returns in the summer.

Lazy Girls Guide to Hair

Lazy Girls Guide to Hair

Want fabulous locks without pulling your hair out because of the hard work involved? Im here to show you how!

WATCH ME IN ACTION HERE

A recent survey has found that a quarter of British woman forgo sleep so that they can spend more time on their beauty and hair regime.

So, to help you claw back some time and speed up your beauty routine, Here is a clip of me on ITV This Morning showing you how to look fabulous without all the effort.

Enjoy

Leo’s ITV OSCAR Hair

Leo’s ITV OSCAR Hair

Hi Everyone,

I had a fantastic time today on ITV This Morning re creating the heavenly hair that graced the red carpet for the 84th Oscar Awards Ceremony. Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Lopez and Oscar winner Meryl Streep where on my list of up do’s to do! and I thoroughly enjoyed completing my creations with Philip and Holly. Here are some top tips of how you can recreated the looks.

MISSED IT?  WATCH LEO IN ACTION NOW

LOOK1: ANGELINA JOLIE

1, Blow dry Hair using Volume mouse
2/ Tong Hair away from face, holding tongs on hair for up to 20 seconds per curl.
3/ Allow Hair to cool 100%
4/ Brush each curl out with a bristle brush and hairspray
5/ Using Hair Spray fix into place

LOOK 2: J LO

1/  Spray Hair spray at the root area all over and brush hair into a tight high ponytail.
2/  Back brush ponytail
3/  Feed doughnut padding through ponytail
4/  Spread ponytail evenly over padding
5/  Fix hair on padding by stretching a elastic hairband over it.
6/  Wrap excess hair around and grip
7/ Fix hair into place with hairspray.

LOOK 3;  MERYL STREEP

1/ Blow dry Hair using Volume mouse
2/ Set hair in hot rollers winding away from the face.
3/ Allow rollers to cool 100%
4/ Back brush hair for extra oomph
5/ section top of hair away
6/ brush and twist sides into the back and pin.
7/ brush and twist top into the back and pin.
8/ blow dry fringe up an forward for softness
9/ Fix with hairspray

Thankds

Leo x

BAFTAS

BAFTAS

Things are warming up in the land of award season, as the Grammy and BAFTAS set the tone for The Oscars on Sunday 26th February. Last night was the Elle Style Awards and I’ve been commenting on who was hot (and who was not so much) so I thought I’d choose my key ladies and see if you felt the same…

 Alexa Chung

Alexa’s hair looks much fuller than normal last night and I’d say this was achieved by good use of colour and what is now her signature dip dyed ends and messy bob. She knows what works for her face shape and isn’t about to change anytime soon. The split fringe draws your eye down to her beautiful face.

 Christina Hendricks 

Christina loves to make a statement and after a rather sophisticated and polished look recently she went all out on a relaxed and colourful trend. The effortless waves work well and being tucked behind one ear adds interest without being too contrived.

 Emile Sande

I’m a big fan of Emile, and her look is great but a quiff can be limiting! The blonde is a beautiful, clean and sparkling tone and the curl on the quiff has a good softness about it, which gives Emile a feminine edge.

 Florence Welch

With Florence it is all about the quirky, vintage style, which she carries of with the vibrant red. Her hair looks healthy and had a beautiful shine to it – there is no drama here, just great hair and wicked colour. It’s no wonder Karl Lagerfeld has taken to her.

 Gillian Anderson 

Gillian went for a cleaner version of the hair worn at the BAFTA’s and while it is well executed I think the yellow dress is the wrong tone and the earrings make the entire look a little too ‘done’ for the Style Awards.

 

Leo

Fringes

Fringes

Leo Bancroft, ITV This Morning Stylist

Happy New Year! I hope you all had some time off to relax and chill out over the holidays! It’s not something I’m very good at to be honest, but I definitely found some time to hang out with my wife and kids, watch Chelsea play and have a few drinks. It’s not all glamorous being a celebrity stylist I promise…

Although I am actually writing this blog from New York where I’m out working and having meetings about a few different projects that I have in the pipeline. Can’t quite give you details just yet but I’ll share as soon as I can, it’s all very exciting and top secret at the moment.

Anyway, I was flicking through some magazines on the flight here and the media darling Kim Kardashian was pictured wearing a cool clip-in fringe. Now I love things like this; anything that allows real people to change and experiment with their style on a relatively inexpensive level. Kim’s fringe is a great way to try out a new look before committing or just for a glam change on a night out. There are so many different ways to try out a new look – Balmain do an amazing range of clip in ponytails and buns which are particularly good for those with fine or short hair.

 My top tips for working with temporary hairpieces;

 1,Try to work with day old hair and use your natural hair will have a lot more grip and texture. Failing this, use a texturizing product like Shu Uemura Liquid Fabric Spray to add hold and grip to your style.

2,Backbrush the roots slightly as this will help disguise the join between your own style and the hairpiece.

3,Work with two mirrors or ask a friend’s advice to ensure that any clips cannot be seen.

4,Finish by misting the style with some natural hold hairspray to ensure it stays in place all night. And work with a little attitude – wearing a temporary hairpiece requires confidence

Twilight

Twilight

One for the guys…

So I hear there is a film out this weekend, Twilight – Breaking Dawn? I’m kidding, I haven’t heard about anything else for about three months. But seriously, as well as hitting media headlines on a daily basis Twilight has created a serious trend that has affected the fashion, beauty and hair industry massively.  The dark gothic, black lips and lace trend that is all over the high street just now is a direct product from the Twilight trilogy.

But it’s not just one for the ladies – men’s’ trends have also experienced a major impact. Just looking at the images from the red carpet from the Breaking Dawn premiere; it’s clear that grooming is a major part of the appeal. The Twilight boys are all working a similar look – short sides, height and movement on top with light stubble.  But don’t be fooled, this isn’t lazy stubble – this is impeccably trimmed.

Finish this look with a dapper, well cut suit and a hint of tan – but remember this is more vampire than Jersey Shore.

 

Leo

 

Terry Richardson

Terry Richardson

 

I’ve just been flicking through the December edition of Vogue for some inspiration and came across the New York Cool feature shot by one of my favourite photographers Terry Richardson.  I take inspiration from everywhere I possibly can; for example my recent Redken TRIBE show was totally inspired by all things digital and I wanted to portray the significance of social media in our lives with my looks. It’s always important in any creative industry to keep your eyes open; visit museums, read newspapers, talk to everyone you possibly can…

 

So anyway, Terry Richardson is the king of cool and he captures in images what I like to capture when I’m styling hair; natural, candid, raw shots with minimal (none if I can help it) post-production. Hair is a real thing, it’s not perfect – I love a few flyaway and imperfections. It’s edgy, grunge and very street style, which I love.

 

I also love that he doesn’t use conventional models, in my recent collection Starlight I went for a return to the 90s heroin chic but with a feminine 2011 twist with clean hair and fresh faced nude skin.  I was actually inspired from all of the amazing street style blogs that have appeared over the past few years like fashiontoast, Style by Kling, Susie Bubble etc I love that there is now an outlet for young people interested in art and fashion and they’re now so successful that they’re sources of inspiration for some of the world\s best glossy ad campaigns!

 

I’d love to know where you find your inspiration and what makes you tick so get in touch and let me know!

 

www.terrysdiary.com

Halloween Hair

Halloween Hair

I love this season – it’s a great excuse to go darker, bolder and more underground than ever before but in a sleek, contemporary way.  The A/W 11 and S/S 12 catwalks were awash with glossy black make-up, sleek wet look hair and grunge style matte dressed hair so there is something to suit everyone and all levels of daring.

Wet look hair, as seen at the Alexander Wang S/S 12 show and on the downtown streets of New York, is big news and a really dramatic way to add edginess and attitude to short hair. It’s a simple look to achieve and won’t take long, just slick your hair back with argan oil and work with lots of attitude and eyeliner.

Grunge glam is also a key look for the coming season and can be worn and adapted in many ways. The most important factor is that there are no set rules. Hair should look unpolished and slightly messy, taking the bed head look to the extreme. The glamour factor comes in the form of shine. Hair still needs to be in good condition and the look is a combination of rough and glossy. You can use hair powders to slightly mattify, but on the whole, you want to look cool, not as though you actually have neglected your hair.