I have had my life totally transformed by my makeover with New ID Studio. The shy girl that always did her very best to hide away from the camera can now be photographed with confidence. I don't really know why but I have always been extremely shy and had no confidence in my looks. I have never really been into hair and make up and have never tried to make anything of myself what so ever. All of my friends and family have been trying to get me to come out of my shell for years but to no avail. I guess I have always been a shrinking violet. All this started to change when I met a man that I liked and decided that I was never going to get noticed as a plane Jane and told my friend about it. The next thing I new my birthday arrived and she brought me a voucher for a makeover experience with New ID. At first I thought there was no way on earth that I was going to go in for something like that, but after I slept on it I thought well why not, this is the time to make a change and I went for it. First we went out and got new outfits for me to wear on the day, sick of my usual garb, I went for fitted outfits that show off my figure, something I have NEVER done before. The big day arrived and I went in as nervous as a long tail cat in a room full of rocking chairs and was greeted by a lovely girl who calmed me right down with her kind nature and a glass of champagne. I was treated to a facial and then had my nails done and that was pretty nice and relaxing so when it was time for the hair cut I was feeling pretty good. I got my long hair cut into a really flattering style and for the first time ever the world got to see my face! The make up lady said that I had really nice bone structure and did a really amazing job on my make up, the ugly duckling was transformed into a swan. I felt pretty nervous again when it was time for the pictures but another glass of champagne and a helpful hand from the staff and I was on my way. I got a new lease of life and really went for it, to this day I don't know where it all came from. I was astounded by the pictures and brought an entire CD of my new lease of life. My friends and family were astounded when they saw me at the end of the day and when they saw the pictures too. All I have to do now is follow the make up instructions I was given and go out there and get noticed by the guy! I cant speak highly enough about New ID, they really did launch me when I was ready to jump into a new chapter of my life! read more

My girlfriend and i were given two vouchers for the New ID studio in Bristol as a christmas present. I'm not gonna lie but it wasn't something i'd ever consider doing but we went along with it anyway! Our vouchers entitled us to a deluxe makeover which apparently lasts 4-6 hours. Our appointment was at 3pm and once greeted we waited for about 30 minutes before actually doing anything and were not offered the complimentary drinks. My girlfriend went first when eventually called up to have her hair done. While this was happening I waited NEARLY AN HOUR before my turn to have my hair cut and styled. The girl who did my hair obviously had no idea what she was doing, she looked about 18, 19 at best. She asked me what i wanted in my hairstyle so i told her what i normally have and she gave me a very odd haircut that made me look like a chavvy version of Tin Tin. My girlfriend was very displeased with her hair too as she asked for loose waves but instead was given tight curls making her look like a poodle. The girl also managed to burn her twice with the hair straighteners and pulled her hair a few times. The make-up stage was great, no problems there infact the girl doing the make-up on my girlfriend was very friendly and even helped her out with re-doing her hair. Once again we waited for ages for the next stage. Finally after quite a long period it was time for the actual photoshoot, the time was 5:15ipm-ish and the photographer and the two people with him were very nice and polite, yet warned us they're running out of time so everything was very rushed. We didn't have time to try on our 4 outfits that we were told to bring because the store closed at 6pm, despite the fact it labels 8pm on the website. We felt very rushed and we probably lost out on loads of photos. In the end they told us they would send us all our photos the next day, it's been a week and we still haven't heard from them. Emails have been sent and still no reply. Trading standards is where we'll be going with this because it's pretty out of order. Oh and i forgot to mention that you cannot get hold of the company through telephone only via email as their customer services is only through email. Waste of time, and damn expensive! read more

Who writes this stuff? (as in the first letter on this page) I don't understand how you can be cheated out of money by a company that have clearly stated terms and conditions and they can hardly make you pay for pictures if you don't want them can they. From what I understand from my experience of going to New ID to have a makeover you put down a refundable deposit when you make your booking, you can deposit money they will add to if you choose to so you can get more for your money and the voucher I got was less than thirty pounds for the WHOLE makeover, which is ridiculously cheap, .and then it is up to you how much you want to spend on the pictures and you don't actually have to buy any and can leave with only the free print that you get with every booking so how on earth are you getting cheated? I don't think that paying postage is even a problem when the deal is so cheap and more so I don't think that the prints are more expensive compared to others either. I did considerable research before I went and looked into many companies and found them all to be pretty much inline with each others pricing. Having the pictures touched up does cost more but its optional and its up to you to choose which pictures you want and which of those, if any you even want touched up. If anybody is man enough to choose any company, not just for a make over but for anything that potentially can be expensive without reading the terms and conditions then I think on your own head be it. When my daughter got married and we chose a photographer we looked into the price and the insurance we needed for the unlikely event none of the pictures turned out, we shopped around, checked the price and did everything you should do before you do something that is a sort of a once in a lifetime deal I had a great makeover with New ID and feel a little sorry that they got this sort of letter written about them because they gave me such a great day, such a great experience, such beautiful pictures and I had no problems what so ever with them. I would be more than happy to use them again and have recommended them to several of my friends who have had an equally successful and enjoyable experience. read more

When you have a makeover with New ID it is actually really good value for money, I don't know why I thought that it wouldn't be, but if found this quite surprising. There are quite a few vouchers you can get on their website, they all have different things going for them, I found it pretty hard to choose the right makeover deal to take because the ones you pay more for you get free photographs, the ones you pay less for you only get one and as the pictures are quite expensive, between fifty and two hundred pounds depending on which size you go for it can work out cheaper to buy a better makeover with free prints. I was not sure how many of the pictures I was going to want to buy, so I came online and had a look for reviews and found lots of them and all of them said how good the pictures are, there were a few complaints about things at New ID but hardly any about the pictures so I decided to go for the Icon Makeover Photoshoot because you get five free 5 7 prints, 5 7 prints are fifty pounds each and the Icon Makeover Photoshoot is two hundred and fifty pounds so if you look at it that way the makeover is actually free. I know with the other deals you get one free pint but this one to me seemed to be the best deal because I knew that I would want quite a few of the pictures after what I had read. The makeover was great, as has been well documented the salon has a great atmosphere, the staff are really friendly and the products are really good and they really do know what they are doing when it comes to makeovers. Drinks are free and there is a real feeling of excitement in the air, its great. I had a really amazing photoshoot that I enjoyed a great deal and even thought I had five pictures it was still really hard to choose which ones I wanted because they were all so good! Paying more up front worked well for me, I think five was about the right number, even though it was very hard to choose. I know you can get vouchers on other experience websites at quite a good rate and New ID also post special offers on their site so if you want less pictures it might be better value doing it that way but its worth checking it out and doing your maths first read more

My friend Lisa and I recently treated ourselves to a makeover with New ID. We had a good look at the website before we booked to work out what was the best makeover for us, in the end we decided on the deluxe makeover for two. We were tempted by the celebrity one but it was dry hair styling and we were both looking forward to having a hair wash and a cut, both of us has needed a cut for ages. The deal included Welcome & Consultation Intensive Moisturising Treatment for Two Professional Make-up Application for Two Professional Haircut for Two Blow-dry and Finish for Two Professional Photoshoot for Two View your Photoshoot Two Complimentary 812 Branded Prints Complimentary Drinks Available Throughout We were given a great welcome when we arrived at the salon at 8-30am, the deal cost 90 pounds and we then had to put down a twenty five pounds deposit which we later used to buy the photographs, we both thought this was fair enough. You are at the salon for between four and five hours so I can totally see why they want to make sure that you are going to turn up. There was quite a few other woman in there having makeover which we were surprised about as we thought it was just going to be us, but the way they organize it you are all having different things done at different times and it works out to be a lot more fun when there are other people there, we meet a really nice couple that were having a romantic shoot and a couple of girls that had gone there alone. I was pretty glad that I had chosen to go with a friend because I was as nervous as it gets when it was time to have our photos taken. It took me a little while to relax but I did in the end and the photos that the woman took were awesome, it was so hard to choose which ones to buy, I was on a restricted budget so could not get as many as I would have liked as the cheapest ones were fifty pounds so my only advice would be to check out the prices on the New ID website so you don't come away wishing you could afford to buy more. That is the only down side to New ID the rest of it is excellent. read more

Absolutely rubbish, customer service was good, staff were friendly, but that is where it ends. Expensive... cheat you out of your money. With my voucher I was supposed to receive a free photo but was told that it wasn't actually free.. that you have to pay £15 postage (on website it said £5). If you want a CD they will send that free of charge though! Probably because they charge you £100 for one photo on a CD! If you don't want the CD, you can get prints which are still ridiculously expensive compared to others, and also they are printed onto copyrighted paper so if you try and scan them into your computer to show family/friends/facebook then you will lose your image as its light sensitive! Oh.. and make sure you keep it away from sunlight!! A cheek if you ask me! If you buy the disc they say that you own the copyright. The editor said he would make some changes to the photos and then send the CD through the post... well hardly anything we asked for got done! Also the actual quality of the photography wasn't that good either.. I could have taken the pictures myself and saved a fortune. I complained and it took me a while to hear anything back, then when I did hear something back they just offered to send me another CD with the images edited.. I have only just recieved this CD today.. (Had the photoshoot a few months back) and still the edits that we wanted done was not done (I didn't ask for much, my neice was the one that wanted only a couple of things done). I also got some crappy vouchers that still require me to spend money on their products and recommend to friends etc which I won't do!! They are going straight in the bin. So basically AVOID! Lovely stafff when I went there, but it was a complete waste of a christmas present, day and money. A lot of companies turn out to be expensive so make sure you do your research. For reference I went to the new Bristol store in August 2010. read more

My partner and I could not decide what to get each other for Christmas this year so we decided we would do an experience day rather than just get a present and spend some quality time together at the same time. I was looking through a few find a gift type sites and came across New ID. I went onto their website and was really pleasantly surprised it is a great site with lots of great features and the comparison feature made it really easy to find the package that was best for us. We chose the Deluxe for two that included two professional haircuts with blow-dry and finish for two, complimentary drinks, intensive moisturizing treatments for two, which were totally awesome, makeup, photo session, two 8 12 prints and of course the welcome consultation and viewing session. We had such a great time, my hair cut was totally amazing the stylist was superb, my partner has virtually no hair anyway so I cant really say the same about his but he got the normal grade one and looked happy enough with it. I got a really awesome makeup job, my partner just had some foundation put on but it looked really good and his skin looked lovely. The photo session was one of the most romantic things we have ever done together and we both got a lot out of it, we had ummed and arred about doing anything too over the top so we did a beach wear shot, we were going to go underwear but I think we both felt it would be hard to do in front of a stranger and we had no idea where we could put the pictures so beach wear was a good alternative and it meant they could go in our lounge and show off our amazing tans because we have just come back from a holiday in Australia. We both loved everything about New ID they made us feel very welcome and the pictures were top quality too. read more

I thought New ID was very well run when I went and I had no problems with my makeover at all. I booked online and got a voucher, booked on the phone when I was given all of the information that I needed and then turned up, got booked in, sat down, had the consultation as promised where I told a very friendly lady what I wanted done with my hair and how I wanted my makeup, we filled in a few forms over a glass of Bucks Fizz and no sooner was that done I was having my hair washed, then I had it cut and blow dried and styled and it was the best it has ever looked in my life just about, I was well impressed, right after that I had to move chairs and then I had my makeup done by a super girl that told me exactly what she was doing and gave me lots of hints and advice on how I can make the best of myself and I was just as impressed with the hair as I was with the makeup. Once that was done I went back to the hair lady who just re set my hair a little bit as it got a weenie bit flattened in the makeup session then I had a chat with one of the girls over another glass of Bucks Fizz and right after that I was in the photo studio having the time of my life, I loved it, it was excellent fun. After that I had a break of around half an hour when I got chatting to another lady who was there having her third makeover and then it was time for the private viewing session where I was blown away by the amazing pictures that I found almost impossible to choose from. I had no problems with the chap that showed me the pictures, he was very kind and polite and did not even try to get me to buy more than I wanted which was the only part of the day I was a bit worried about in the first place so as far as I am concerned this company have got It bang on! read more

I was very happy with the Boudoir Beauty Photoshoot I recently had with New ID. The voucher I brought online was twenty five pounds. The Boudoir shoot included a welcome consultation to start off with, after that you have your makeup done by a professional makeup artist, then you go off to hairdressing where you get your hair styled and then it is time to go and have your pictures taken. It is so much fun. The deal I got included a free print (5 x 7) and free soft drinks or Bucks Fizz throughout. I was in the salon for about five hours. I was very glad that I had taken a packed lunch as they suggested because I got quite hungry and they do not provide food. I liked the hair style they did for me. I have quite long hair and they put it in a French pleat which looked really stylish. I would love to be able to do it for myself but I can never get it tight enough so it was a treat to have some shots taken with it looking perfect. I thought the makeup was good, but it was a lot more than I was used to wearing, but it looked incredible on the pictures. The studio is not very big and it is amazing how much they have rammed in there for backgrounds and props for the shoot. It was really good fun choosing the pictures because there were just so many great shots to choose from. Some of them were easy to choose from, others were really hard. They are not cheap so be prepared to have a bit of a mental battle between yourself and your credit card. The prices of the pictures can be found on the website. I was very happy with the website because it gives you all of the costs and information you need and there were no 'hidden extras'. New ID was a great experience and one that I would like to repeat in the future. read more

New ID are a great company that are very professionally run but at the same time they are very friendly. I found New ID online, I was looking for company to take some pictures of my husband and I and our three children. I was not exactly looking for a makeover it was more for the photographs but when I found their website and had a look at what they do I thought that it would more fun while at the same time being more of a special occasion and I also found, through online research, that their photography is very competitively priced. As you do these days the next thing I did was read other reviews online and found that on the whole most people have had a very good experience with them so by that point I was sold. I got a great deal off their own website for us to go along and I phoned them to book once I had the voucher. They were very good at giving me some extra information, and told me to take some things for the kids to play with while I was having my hair and makeup done and told me to take along some snacks for us, although you do get free drinks the whole time we were there. They also told me I could take up to four outfits myself and it was a good idea to take some props for the kids to have their pictures taken with, not only does it make them feel at home having their own things about but it makes for really great photos. The New ID team gave me a super duper makeover with great hair and makeup, my husband got the best hair cut he has had in years and they were great with the kids who loved every minute of it. I was very impressed with the whole thing from start to finish and have nothing but praise for this amazing company, who I would use again in the blink of an eyelid. read more

I had an absolutely incredibly wonderful experience when I was having a superb make over at New ID, what a truly wonderful bunch of staff that really know how to inject some fun into a super experience while still retaining the ultimate in professionalism. I had a mum to be photo session and could not have asked to be better taken care off. The people here really seem to understand what you want, what you need and how you want to look on the end results and I could not have been more delighted. I was not able to take advantage of the plentiful alcoholic beverages on offer as I am having a baby, but that was fine I was given refreshments all day and all of the staff were very mindful that its hard to spent too long on your feet when you only have two weeks to go for the big day. I felt happy and relaxed and radiant throughout the whole experience and thoroughly enjoyed the make up session and the photo shoot which was utterly good fun. Lovely hair cut, it had been ages since I had a good cut, I had been wanting a new hair style for a long time but had no idea what sort of style to go for. The stylist at New ID was great she gave me lots of different options and she and I picked a look that I am very happy with and is very easy to look after. Lovely atmosphere and very friendly stylists, artists and photographers. The photos were a little more pricy than I had imagined and I would have loved to have afforded to purchase more of them, but all in all I was very happy that I went, I would love to go again and would feel very happy to recommend New ID to anybody who fancies not only a fun day out but some very professional photographs to give away as gifts or proudly hang on your wall! read more

My husband treated me to a makeover for my fortieth birthday. Now that might sound like he was fed up with me looking so middle aged, but it was because I had wanted a makeover for a few years but and he thought this would be a great gift and it was. He chose New ID on the recommendation of one of his friends wives who had gone and had the deluxe package the previous year and really enjoyed it. So he chose this package for me. I was very excited on the day and have to admit to not getting a lot of sleep the night before as even though it was something that I really wanted to do I did find the idea of being in front of a photographer in a professional salon a little daunting as it was something that I had never done before so I think that it is fair to say that I was not exactly looking my best when I rocked up at the salon. That was not a problem for the New ID team thought I have to say because by the time they had worked their magic with the makeup brushes and hair brushes I was looking and feeling like I had had the best nights sleep ever! It was actually quite hard to realize that the person staring back at me in the mirror was even me! I guess because I looked so good I had all of the confidence in the world in front of the camera, I never expected to feel that good or that confident and to my delight it really comes across in the pictures as well. I was so impressed with them. I spent a small fortune on prints and now that I have them I have no idea where I am going to put them all and sort of wish I had been a bit more frugal but I will never regret having such a great time being made over by New ID. read more

I went to Burlingtons in Debenhams, Bristol with a Groupon voucher. The voucher was for a hair wash, deep condition, cut and blow dry to the value of £55. This is my experience: 1. They were obviously overbooked, I waited for half an hour past my appointment time before I was seen. 2. I did not receive the 'deep conditioning treatment', it was simply a quick wash and there was no towel to stop the water going down my neck. 3. Despite giving the stylist plenty of information as to how I wanted my hair she seemed to completely ignore it and do her own thing, which was to spend about 3 minutes with scissors trimming the ends and then using the thinning scissors all over, stripping my hair! 4. The stylist then left me saying someone else would blow dry it. 20 minutes later I was still sat with wet stripped hair, she came and apologised. Another 10 minutes passed before the guy came to blow dry. He also ignored what I said about how I like my hair. 5. Eventually the stylist returned and when I explained that I wasn't entirely happy about the cut she got the thinning scissors out again and stripped my hair some more! 6. No attempt was made to brush the hair from my neck leaving me very uncomfortable. 7. While I was there I was not the only person to leave very unhappy with the service and cut/hack. 8. My hair is a mess and takes a lot of work every day to look anything but hacked apart. 9. I will never be going there again and I would most certainly not recommend the salon to anyone. 10. There is no way that it was worth anything like £55 so the salon are guilty of misleading the public. read more

I was pretty impressed all round with New ID and the makeover I had with them. I think there are a few things they could do to improve the service but certainly had nothing that would warrant me having to call customers services, not be happy about or cause me to not recommend them to somebody else. I went because I was recommended to them and was pre warned that you have to wait about a bit during the process as it is not just you in there and there is no telling how long the others will take with the makeup or the hair so even though I think this could be improved on I was already aware of it and had taken a book along to read as well as a snack. I was also aware that the prints take quite a few weeks to get to you and there is a postage charge for them. Again I do think it would be better if you could take them on that day if you are not having them framed as I was not and of course it would be nice to not have to spend money on postage. The rest of the deal was as fantastic as I could have expected it to be. The makeup was wonderful and even though I have read a few reviews complaining that it goes on too heavy to cope with the lights in the studio I did not find that at all. I chose prints rather than images on a CD as I wanted to get them framed but in the same frames that I also have other shots framed in the house which is why I did not go for the New ID frames even though I think they are really nice. My prints did eventually arrive and were fine. I left New ID feeling that I had had a good time and I look at my now framed prints with pride. I had no problems with New ID at all. read more

Other than getting an attack of nerves the night before I went to New ID and not getting any sleep and waking up the next day feeling and looking dreadful, my New ID experience went without a hitch. I found it really easy to book online, it only took two days for my voucher to turn up and when it came to booking the appointment they had a cancellation so I went the following week. I was so nervous, I am not sure why. I had watched the videos on the New ID website that many times it is not like I didn't know what to expect, but for some reason I just got scared about going in front of the camera. I need not have worried, all of the staff were very down to earth and the atmosphere in the salon was fun but also very relaxing and I really felt at ease. I felt very daft for getting so uptight in the first place. I loved being around the New ID staff who were all very friendly and they went to great lengths to explain what they were doing and I felt that I had learnt quite a lot about putting on makeup and about putting my hair up. I have quite long hair but have never had much success in piling it on top of my head but the hair stylist gave me some great hints and advice about how to make myself look really glam. I loved having the pictures taken and felt even more stupid about the attack of nerves I got the night before because the photographer made me feel fantastic and it was really good fun and very relaxed. I had a pretty hard time choosing the pictures as I was on a limited budget but I was very happy with my choice and I can't wait for them to arrive. Top marks from me. read more

I wanted to have a makeover with New ID a couple of years ago and didn't go due to bad reviews. At the time there was another company as well and they were also getting bad reviews so I decided to just not bother having a makeover. I got a call from a friend a few months ago saying she got a two for one offer here so I had a look online again before I agreed to go with her and found that the reviews were all really good. I assumed they had been taken over or were under new management so I agreed to go. She had to change our appointment a couple of times and then New ID changed it to Birmingham. We got their easily on the train so didn't mind the change and we both had a really good time. I do think that the prints are expensive and obviously they do push you to buy as many as they can get you to buy and I also think that they have too many people in at one time and you have to wait your turn on everything and that does drag it all out but the rest of it for us was fantastic. We were both stunned at how great our hair and makeup were, we both loved the staff who to us seemed really happy and we could not have been more impressed with the pictures. I was surprised that you have to pay postage on them and I was surprised to find out that you have to wait weeks to get them when they told us that on the day but ours came in just over two weeks and they are fantastic. I would happily give New ID 8/10 for this experience and although I agree with some comments from the negative reviews I have far more in common, personally, with the good ones. read more

My friend came along to New ID with me for a makeover after I found a two for one deal on the New ID website. She was not really into it but she said she would come as it was not going to cost her anything for the voucher and she figured out that you get one free print when you go anyway so along she came. We had a lot of fun selecting the four outfits that we took along for the day, we had a wine and find your outfits night at my place and then one at hers, it was like a fashion show and great fun and it really put us in the mood for the day. We mainly went with evening wear as we wanted to update our going out to party look and thought this would be a great opportunity t go and have a one on one with a professional makeup artists that would show us how to get that smoldering evening look that we both wanted and that is exactly what we got. After short consultation we both got our hair washed, conditioned, cut, dried and styled and we both loved the styles they did for us. Then it was onto makeup after a short break and a glass or two of Bucks Fizz! We had an amazing time having our photos taken, we had some individual ones and some done together in our chosen outfits. I cannot describe how much fun we had, it was awesome. When it came to looking at the pictures it was so hard to choose, we had a nightmare finding the ones that we wanted and to my amazement Jackie did not just take the free one that she was entitled too she brought six others as well. It will be few weeks before we get them but we know they are going to be amazing. read more

I thought this service was really good. I was quite overwhelmed how spot on the staff were. It is not often you go to a place that has a lot of people working there and they are all equally nice to you. I have never felt so welcome anywhere. They were so nice I started to wonder if it was just a bit false to try to get you to feel that you had to buy lots of prints at the end of the makeover but they were not even that hard on me then in terms of sales. They told me what deals they had to offer and pointed out all of the best pictures but they didn't push me too hard, I thought it was sales but in a nice way. I really liked the in house cosmetics and they are really very reasonably priced, not at all what I normally pay for the brand I use and to be frank they are just the same in terms of quality. The little girl that did my makeup was a doll. She was so sweet and talked me through everything she did. She kept pointing out that she had to put a lot more on than normal for the camera so she did it as it would be for normal use first and then loaded it up for the camera. My package didn't include a hair cut but I didn't really need one. I have very long straight hair and they styled it very nicely so that was great. I was a bit shaky in the photo session but I soon got used to it and by the end I can honestly say that I really enjoyed it. I think the New ID makeover as super for women and men of all ages and I even saw a family with two young kids there who seemed to enjoy it every bit as much as I did. read more

A friend recently went along to the Bristol New ID Studios, having paid for a 'Deluxe' Makeover & Photo package. The website states that 'a makeover can work miracles, they boost a woman's self-esteem'. Didn't appear to work for my friend. She'd been having a difficult time lately and went along with her two teenage daughters, costing £150 + £75 deposit. They all came away in tears, there was no hair treatment, her hair didn't even get washed, they sat around for hours just waiting, and after the photos had been taken she was told she would have to pay extra for them. Since they'd already struggled to get the money together to pay for the day's 'treat', they didn't have any further money to spend on photos. She complained whilst there, and asked why she couldn't have the photos as sold with the package, but came away with nothing other than memories of a miserable day. This company has taken over £200 from people and then not supplied what was advertised as 'included in package'. I'd say this is a clear breach of trading standards, but when you're already feeling down the last thing you want is an ongoing battle to get your money refunded. This is probably what the company relies on people not taking complaints further. I watched DIY SOS on the tele last night and thought how good it is to see ordinary people helping people in desperate situations what a good feeling that gives. This company does the opposite!! I feel so angry that they can cheat people in this way and get away with it. read more