#this was just a fun design exercise and then i was like “what if reuben put chip in a bong and ripped that shit” and it kind of. escalated.

[avephelis]

just troll with it au. because riptide killed my theythemma okay.

[that-scouse-wizard]

🦌 and ⏳ for all of them (though I think we are about to find out what David gets up to on Christmas Eve and New Years…) 🧡🧡🧡

Here you go Al!

🦌 - What does this character like to do the night before Christmas? Do they spend it with family, out with friends, wrapping gifts at the very last minute?

David: Family has always been a central focus of the Willows family Christmas. From spending it with Jake and his parents, the more sombre ones after Jake disappeared and Christmases with the Booths. He spends it with Merula and the kids later in life.

Amelia: She's the one who spends the evening wrapping the presents meticulously, wanting to make sure it's perfect.

Phoenix: Nothing beats spending the night before Christmas like wine and Christmas films.

Cledwyn: He would spend the day putting the finishing touches on any weapons he's forging as a gift. If not then nothing like a brisk horse ride through the Welsh hills.

Faith: She would have a dip in the North Sea... yes she's that crazy.

Reuben: He's making a batch of his mince pies fresh for the evening and the following day. May try and add a bit of brandy to the mixture specifically for him and Leila (@whatwouldvalerydo).

Marigold: She's probably working hard designing the next big thing in high end wizarding fashion, having already sent off numerous, personalised gift hampers to all of her friends.

Robin: She takes to stuffing herself full of shortbread and hot chocolate.

Nicholas: When he's a bit older he goes out camping, not too far from Hogsmeade but enough to view the stars on a clear night.

⌛️ - What is this character’s best memory of Christmases past? Their worst memory?

David:

Best: Christmas 1992, the first Christmas he and Merula truly spent together. It would be shortly later they would talk about marriage and that was the greatest Christmas gift David could have gotten.

Worst: The first Christmas without Jake, mum still distant but overprotective, dad not in contact for a few months following the separation period and Jake missing... yeah it was a tough time for David.

Amelia:

Best: Probably when David first spent Christmas with her and her family in 1984. He was the one to assure her on not being scared of magic and it's what really opened her up to the wizarding world.

Worst: Christmas after her dad passed away, being a young kid, her scars still healing after the car wreck... yeah not a good time for her luckily she did have her mum and siblings to support her.

Phoenix:

Best: Basically any Christmas time she's spent with the beater babes, swapping gifts with Judith Harris (@judediangelo75), sharing hot coffee spiked with liqueur with Katriona Casssiopeia (@kc-and-co) in the later years/ as adults and absolutely trying to compete with Erika's exercise regime.

Worst: The first Christmas without her mother, her father Farago tried to make the best of things but they both knew Christmas wasn't going to quite be the same.

Cledwyn:

Best: He didn't really appreciate it until Ethel (@the-al-chemist) showed him so it would be something related to that. Probably after getting him in the back of the head with a snowball, naturally he retaliates in the same manner at first out of annoyance but soon finds himself enjoying it.

Worst: More the memories it reminds him of but the snowball fight he and his six brothers had prior to the attack. It was one of those times that the seven of them really felt united as brothers, just kids having fun and well what could have been haunts him.

Faith:

Best: In converse to her first year, her second year was much better, this is where the ties between herself, Cled, Reuben and Mary really began to form.

Worst: Her first year she spent Christmas at Hogwarts, after not being able to make any friends rather than face the grim prospect of returning to the judgement of her family and town, she chose to isolate herself.

Reuben:

Best: The first Christmas he had with Leila and Connor, just the three of them. They enjoyed his mince pies, dressed Connor up in a little Christmas jumper and just relaxed together as a family.

Worst: Second year, the Christmas after his gran died. He was in bits to the extent that he didn't even return home. Thankfully it was made more bearable by Cled, Faith and Mary. So bittersweet more than anything.

Marigold:

Best: Second year as it marked her starting to become a bit more rebellious and formed a strong bond with Cled, Faith and Reuben. Also she designed them clothes, her first proper venture into it and was met with a positive response.

Worst: Probably when she was forced to return to the Sterling estate when she was fourteen, only for the knowledge that she told her friends about the Sterling Maledictus curse and the fact that she was diving into curse-breaking research to be exposed. Something which prompted a severe punishment of lashings and having her activities closely monitored.

Robin:

Best: She honestly couldn't choose, so long as she's with the people she loves, that's what she cares for.

Worst: She hasn't really had one aside from having an argument with Nick that resulted in some harsh words being said but ultimately mended their relationship.

Nicholas:

Best: The first time he went out camping on Christmas on his own, seeing the stars completely unrestrained and not being stuck in an astronomy lesson, free to view them all to himself.

Worst: Probably when he got into an argument with Robin, though they mended their relationship some harsh words were exchanged between the two siblings.

[iyarpage]

Readers’ App Reviews – September 2017

With Apple’s September Event reinvigorating developers all over the world, our readers have been hard at work on some new apps of their own.

I’m honored you are taking a quick break to see what the community has been building. Every month, readers like you release great apps built with a little help from our tutorials, books, and videos. I want to highlight a few today to give just a peek at what our fantastic readers are creating.

This month we have:

An exercise app

A personal profile app

An artistic endless runner

And of course, much more!

Keep reading to see the latest apps released by raywenderlich.com readers just like you.

Wheeler Dealer

Wheeler Dealer is a fun take on the stock market style of game. If you like buying, selling, and money management then Wheeler Dealer is perfect for you.

Buy and sell cars in five different cities, with each city having unique prices for each car. You buy cars in cities that offer lower prices and sell them in cities that charge more to make a profit. Sounds simple right? But you only have a certain number of days to hit a target profit margin.

There are also other factors that can change the game, such as random events that cause some cars prices to plummet, starting with debt that gets larger every day, and getting your cars stolen! All in all, Wheeler Dealer is a great game that you could easily put many hours into.

Author: John Gillespie @wheelerdealerhq

Most useful tutorial: 2D Apple Games by Tutorials

App Store Link: Check it out!

Social Steps

If you have a hard time motivating yourself to walk or you just love seeing your step counter climb higher, then Social Steps can add a little more to your daily walking habits by encouraging you through friendly competition!

Social Steps pairs with the Health app in order to track your steps throughout the day. It allows you to set goals for yourself so that you’ll always be motivated to surpass your goal. If that isn’t enough, it also allows you to add your friends and compete to see who can reach the highest amount of steps per day. You can also earn awards such as the Top Walker among your friends so they know you’re the most active.

Get a group of your friends to try Social Steps for a week and you’ll be walking like crazy trying to become the Top Walker!

Author: Jose Jeria @jeriamena

Most useful tutorial: RxSwift: Reactive Programming w/ Swift

App Store Link: Check it out!

SAY Hi!

Do you have a hard time starting conversations with new people? SAY Hi is here to help no matter where you are, and it’s as easy as scanning a QR code.

SAY Hi allows you to create multiple profiles for yourself. In these profiles you list your likes and dislikes, as well as any other information that you don’t mind sharing. Then, whenever you meet someone all you need to do is select which profile you want them to see and turn your phone to face theirs. A QR code pops up on each phone and scans in your profile so that they can see whatever you assigned to the profile.

SAY Hi is a great conversation starter. It lets you immediately know what you and a person has in common and can easily spark new relationships. Give it a download and let the Dev know what you think!

Author: Oliver Klemenz

Most useful tutorial: no book; used free tutorial on raywenderlich.com

App Store Link: Check it out!

Matches Game

Card matching games have been around as long as cards have and they come in many iterations. If you’re a fan of matching games, then Matches Game will be a great app for you.

Matches Game is a simple matching game with a timer. Whenever you start a round, you go through as many levels as you can until you lose. The levels get progressively harder each time.

Matches Game was designed for children, and they will definitely love it. The shapes on the cards are brightly colored, various, and easy to remember. You can also receive power-ups that can do a variety of things, such as revealing all of the cards for a brief moment, showing where a cards match is when you pick it, and many more!

Matches Game is a fantastic app to spend a few minutes on and can also be used to help children recognize shapes and colors while still having fun!

Author: Reuben Goulart @reubengoulart

Most useful tutorial: 2D Apple Games by Tutorials

App Store Link: Check it out!

Puck Striker

Puck Striker is air hockey on your phone! I personally love air hockey, so this app was especially fun for me. If you love air hockey also, then you’ll want to download Puck Striker.

This app lets you play against the computer or another person with different settings that let you customize the game a bit. Some of the settings you can enable are expanding goal sizes, changing winning scores, and new color modes.

One of my favorite features of the game, however, is the announcer who shouts whenever a player scores, begins each round with the classic, “GO,” and congratulates the winning player when the round ends.

The announcer, coupled with an awesome superhero-esque art style, and great lighting effects makes Puck Striker a great game for you and a friend. Actually, I think I’m going to go and play it some more!

Author: Kotaro Fujita @wild37

Most useful tutorial: 2D Apple Games by Tutorials

App Store Link: Check it out!

Deep Into Space

The open void of space has always been an interesting subject because of all of the many things that fill that void, of which we know very little about. Deep Into Space aims to increase your knowledge on the subject of space!

Deep Into Space has a few features that space lovers can delve into. Firstly, the app sends you facts about space every day. It could be information on a planet, an exploding star, or our weather from the perspective of a satellite.

Secondly, it offers many images from different rover missions to mars as well as pictures of Earth. They’re beautiful and very interesting to look at! Lastly, Deep Into Space gives you information on nearby asteroids including their name, speed, diameter, and how close they came to Earth.

If you love space, you’ll love Deep Into Space. Download it and surprise your friends with all of your newfound space knowledge!

Author: Marija Gvozdenovic

Most useful tutorial: The Swift Apprentice

App Store Link: Check it out!

Don’t Eat Us!

Endless runners make for great apps and this endless runner is the perfect example of a great app!

Don’t Eat Us is a fun game with an interesting art style. You’re tasked with keeping children alive as they run through a terrifying forest where everything from zombies to savage beasts is trying to get them. All you do is tap on the creatures as quickly as you can before they reach the children, otherwise they become the creature’s dinner!

The game’s visuals are very pretty and the animations are done well. The music is beautiful, thematic, and changes whenever there’s a special event happening.

Don’t Eat Us is an awesome game. You should download it and give it a try! I promise that you won’t be disappointed.

Author: Christopher Torio @ctorioapps

Most useful tutorial: Sprite Kit for Beginners

App Store Link: Check it out!

Where To Go From Here?

Each month, I really enjoy seeing what our community of readers comes up with. The apps you build are the reason we keep writing tutorials. Make sure you tell me about your next one, submit here.

If you saw an app you liked, hop to the App Store and leave a review! A good review always makes a dev’s day. And make sure you tell them you’re from raywenderlich.com; this is a community of makers.

If you’ve never made an app, this is the month! Check out our free tutorials to become an iOS star. What are you waiting for – I want to see your app next month.

The post Readers’ App Reviews – September 2017 appeared first on Ray Wenderlich.

Readers’ App Reviews – September 2017 published first on http://ift.tt/2fA8nUr

[hairfashionstyler]

Follow our COLOR.ME Design director, Kate Reid, as she takes us behind the scenes of this year’s PUNK.LINE photoshoot!

DAY 1: L.A. TO LONDON TO PRAGUE

3:00 pm: I arrive in Prague. Prague is one of my favourite cities in the world – it’s so beautiful! I hop in a taxi to the hotel and drop off my luggage before heading to the model call. The hotel is simple, but it is right next door to the salon we are prepping at. Lately, more zzz’s rank higher than 5 stars!

5:00 pm: We hold our model call at Stolen Salon, which is an urban warehouse with open ceilings, polished concrete and plenty of natural lighting from the big windows that fill an entire side of the salon. After seeing our short list of around 50 models, we have narrowed the pool down to 10 girls. Kevin and Luis take an image of each so we can later sit down and go one by one through all of the shots we need to capture and confirm our six girls for the year’s collection. The models in Prague have legs that extend to the skies and the most perfect skin, which makes me feel like I need to drink more water! When it comes down to choosing the final models, we have to make sure that the girls we choose are open to having their hair cut and coloured.

Since many of the models do not speak English, Lucie, our Production Manager, translates. It’s so helpful having Lucie in the salon because she is a former model who now works behind the scenes. Now it is time to have an open and real conversation about what we can realistically create with colour and what we cannot achieve. The man behind the brand, Kevin, and his husband/photographer, Luis are essential in making sure that everything falls into place perfectly. The combined knowledge of hair colour and photography coupled with the fashion culture of the team allows us to know exactly what will happen and takes any guess work out of the equation.image48:00 pm: We finish the model call and Lucie books the models, shares the details of the shoot, and sets times for their hair appointments. I tidy the salon and begin to organise my tools and my kit for the next day. Now that I have met the models, I know what I am going to create and I want to prepare my station accordingly.  I always overpack; I bring every shade that is on my trend list in multiples. Some of the products I can’t live without are CLEAR, SOFT.VIOLET, 11.0, ICE, SILVER, and 5.86. Bottomless amounts of my favorite textured foil and loads of KEVIN.MURPHY sectioning clips complete my packed essentials.

9:00 pm: Next stop is dinner with the team to discuss our game plan for the shoot. At the table, we have myself, Kevin, Luis, Michael, Lucie and her boyfriend, our stylist, Craig, our STYLE.MASTER, Juha, and our two lighting guys, John and Reuben. Kevin, myself, John, and Reuben are all from Australia, Luis is Puerto Rican, Michael is Austrian, Lucie and her boyfriend are from Prague, and our “Kiwi-turned local,” Craig, now resides in Prague. We exchange stories about past shoots across the globe – Kevin and Luis recently wrapped up a shoot in south Australia in the very same city I grew up in. We talk about our favourite restaurants from the area and bond over our global adventures.

12:00 am: Lights out! Tomorrow is a big prep day and I need my brain functioning at full speed!Color.Me_2016_03_185DAY 2: PREP

6:00 am: I wake up and sip coffee over email. Our bubbly marketing manager, Kiki, has sent me several emails overnight and needs an urgent quote on a trend piece for a popular fashion and beauty magazine, so I send her some thoughts to pass along to PR.

7:00 am: No matter how hectic my travel schedule, I always make time for exercise. We run a heavy prep day, so getting in a workout is key to keeping my energy level high throughout the trip. I head for a 5km run along the river to jump start my day.

9:00 am: Time to colour! I will be colouring six models with our European Education Director, Michael Jung, so it will be a fun day.  On set, I allow myself much more time than I would normally use in the salon, as I love to colour and recolour until it’s perfect. It drives Kevin a little crazy as it is a long day of waiting patiently. He spends the day looking at props and heading to stores to pick out the set for the photoshoot. When the models arrive, I know exactly what we’re doing on each girl so it’s really well-thought out and discussed amongst all of us. I like to post my inspiration pictures on the windows so I can see my colour story. Just in case I have an inspirational idea, this lets me see if it will work and fit in.

11:00 am: Prep day is fully underway. Everyone is in the zone, but we have music playing and the vibe remains casual and relaxed.

1:00 pm: We wrap up our “IN.BLOOM” model and I’m feeling very pleased with the result. The shade was something I had been playing around with all year and the details of the colour are absolute perfection. The model is so angelic – this look is my favourite, so far.Color.Me_2016_09_15732:00 pm: Our stylist, Emily, arrives and begins setting up. She takes turns fitting each model and selecting the wardrobe for tomorrow’s shoot. She has so many bags of clothes – about 40 outfits in total. She hangs everything and steams each outfit, treating them as delicately as you would precious metals. She has a mix of high end (expensive!) designer items and some incredibly affordable options you can find at any mall. She has the models try on several outfits, snapping pictures of each one to review with Kevin.

3:00 pm: I feel bad for the models that have been waiting around all day. We only colour one model at a time so it’s a lot of waiting time for them. I turn up the music in the hopes of making the experience more enjoyable.

5:00 pm: I take a second to admire an absolutely stunning pink rose we just created. The way the light catches the hair is so breathtaking as it has so many dense pastel variations.

7:00 pm: Phew, long day. The models trickle out and we all sit with Kevin recapping the looks. Craig brings out some local grappa that his friend made. That stuff is like drinking rocket fuel and I feel my cheeks flush in two seconds flat.

8:30 pm: We head to dinner straight from the salon with the team and we chat about tones of the hair, location, and everything else down to funny, past photoshoot horrors. We eat at the same market every night; it has a nice European vibe and the food is so fresh – it’s the perfect way to finish the day with the team.

11:00 pm: My head hits the pillow and I fall fast asleep.image3IMG_1794DAY 3: THE SHOOT

9:00 am: We walk to the shoot location and I have a quick check over the colours before diving in.

9:05 am: Once we arrive, the models head straight to makeup with Hristina. Kevin and I have worked with her for 3 years now and he sent her some makeup looks and images in the months leading up to the shoot so that the overall vision is in sync. Each model spends about 45 minutes to an hour in makeup and the results are flawless. Then, Emily arrives and has the clothes set up for the day. The models head to styling and get dressed, which is the final step before shooting. She stays on set all day to assist with any wardrobe malfunctions that might occur, but they don’t – Emily is a pro!

10:00 am: We start on our first shot. Luis is pretty chill and knows which shots Kevin is after.

11:00 am: We have our coffee machine set up and I make everyone coffee – one of my favourite things! Us colourists have done most of our work, so I spend my day assisting the others in any way I can: passing pins, SESSION.SPRAY and DOO.OVER, making sure the models are fed – you name it, and I’m on it! I’m just a runner and love it!

12:00 pm: While most of my work is done, the STYLE.MASTERS are now ON! They have a seamless rotation of models coming in and out of their prep station, so they are literally doing hair non-stop. SESSION.SPRAY seems to never leave Juha’s hand except for when he is reaching for ANTI.GRAVITY or DOO.OVER.Color.Me_2016_14_03532:00 pm: We take a pause from shooting and sit at a table to enjoy lunch together. Photoshoots are always such an incredible bonding experience!

2:30 pm: We go back to work and the hair is looking incredible. There is so much movement and texture in the hair – almost a 70’s vibe.

3:00 pm: Kevin is what we call a “world class wafter”. Between shots, he fluffs the hair, making sure each model has that signature “KEVIN.MURPHY” gently tousled finish.

5:00 pm: The models, all dressed with makeup, styling and colour, are so gorgeous! I can’t help but stare at times as they are so exquisite.

8:00 pm: We wrap for the day. The shoot has been a real success. Everyone involved is a master in their own craft and has incredible respect for one another. When you’re on set, it’s like you almost develop a sort of “hair romance” with each other. The trust and respect felt in that set is unparalleled and can be experienced throughout the entire room.

9:00 pm: We head to a team dinner at a beautiful outdoor restaurant on the Charles Bridge. The people-watching is fantastic; the women in Prague are ridiculously stylish. The view from our spot and the overwhelming feeling of history around us is so surreal. Europeans love to come alive at the table, so dinner ends around 11:30 pm. We head to a bar to grab a little Prague culture and celebrate a successful shoot. I fly out early the next day, feeling a deep sense of satisfaction and accomplishment.Color.Me_2016_02_546For more behind the scenes action, check out our video and article here!