From ordinary to extraordinary is what many women will say about themselves once they leave the makeup and photography sessions of the Diva for a Day service.

Diva for a Day allows women to step beyond their day-to-day look with a full make up application followed by photo shoot with beauty industry professionals.

The service will be offered at Ariel Sands daily until Monday for a cost ranging from $79 to $299.

For more information on the service you can contact Diva for a Day at 236-5903.

The service promises to totally transform women ? into the super divas that lurk beneath the surface of even the most modest.

Professional makeup artists, many of whom are affiliated with top American fashion and hair magazines, apply the cosmetics.

Photographs are then taken by a selection of equally capable photographers of the same genre.

Ocean Isle, a local company owned and run by Selina Meade, has teamed up with MPS (Magazine Photography Systems), to provide local women with not only a set of photographs, but a divine experience.

Ms Meade said the entire team are Christians and their aim for the service is to offer women an opportunity to see themselves as God sees them ? beautiful.

?It was a divine, inspired event and it is an all Christian crew,? she said.

Ms Meade, who is also one of the VSB anchor-women, said her interest in makeup came from being on television.

?It is all about presentation. I am an event co-ordinator by trade,? she said. ?I thought the holidays are coming up and women want to look glamorous.

?They have been coming here before their Christmas parties to get made up.?

Ms Meade feels that the inspiration for the event came from the Lord himself.

?I just felt that when you know that something has come by the way of God,? she said. ?Then all you need to do is step and he will make it a success.

?It doesn?t mean that it is going to be easy, it just means that he is in it.?

Women should have their hair done by their regular hairdresser before attending the event at the Ariel Sands Conference Room, she said.

?My thinking is why would anyone want to get their hair done by a total stranger and then get photographs done,? she said.

?It also helps to keep the revenue in the local salons. We do touch ups and slight fixings to the hair on site.?

Ms Meade said the name Diva for a Day has several different meanings, but the aim is all about women feeling good.

?The word diva has positive and negative connotations,? she said. ?First, she is a woman of substance and second a woman of essence.

?Being a diva is about attitude and taking time to pamper ourselves. Once you have had the makeover you feel like, ?I?ve arrived?. You walk with a little more zest and with a little more spring in your step.?

The clients get photographed with two different looks, one which is not quite diva like and another where it is right off the hook.

After the makeup and photo-session is over divas get a complimentary 8 by 10 inch photograph and a contact sheet with 15 to 20 different shots.

Plus they have the opportunity to purchase more photographs.

Although, the event has not been endorsed by Sophisticates Magazine many of the photographers and makeup artists work on shoots for them and some of the photos may be used in a later issue, she added.

One of the makeup artists Tamika Kelly, who prepared client Georgine Asante?s face recently, said the aim was to create something unique for her.

?Every piece goes towards the final picture,? said Ms Kelly. ?The aim is to give her something that she wouldn?t usually see.?

But many times to re-create a look is difficult, but Ms Kelly said it was easy to create the look at home.

?It will take about 20 to 25 minutes,? she said. ?But for the makeup artist it will take longer because they want to be precise and it is much heavier because of the photographs.?

Ms Asante said she and her girlfriends had come out for a night out and they figured it would be fun.

?It was fantastic and Tamika was fabulous,? she said. ?I think that they should do things like this more often because you run out of things to do.

?My girlfriends and I went to Willow Stream for $400 bucks and we can?t afford to continue to do that.

?But for $100 bucks you get a photo-shoot, full make up and you feel like a superstar. It?s a lot of fun.?

Ira Bell said the aim was to show women that they can be beautiful and be Christian.

?Everybody here (the crew) has had experiences that they can share with these women.? he said. ?In the forefront it looks like a photography session, but it is not easy to get people into church anymore, so now God has given us unique ideas to bring the church to the people.

?He has to given us creative ways to reach people outside the walls because it is a different generation.

?They are not going to come to church because they are looking at what is going on outside. And people like us have either come from a street background and we can relate to these people.

?We don?t have to beat them up with verses in the bible, they come here and they hear Christian music and they see people dressed like them.

?When we came I said to the crew that if we only got 50 people and if we touched those 50 that?s all that mattered to us.

?It wasn?t about the money. To us it is about showing these women how beautiful they are and showing them what is there and to get away from the stigmatism that you shouldn?t adorn yourself of you are a Christian.

?We are the church and the church is supposed to be moving and we are moving. By just going outside the walls you are able to meet an even greater amount of people.?

Photographer Reginald (Reggie) Anderson said he has been shooting for most of his life and for magazines for the last 20 years.

?I try to be humble, but I have been nominated for two Stellar Awards and I have won a Golden Scissors award and I am in Ebony, Essence and Jet Magazines,? he said.

?And so it is nothing new, it is just the same thing, different location.?

Makeup artist Greg Elmore, of Queen Cosmetics, said when he was younger he spent an awful lot of time doing hair, but now focuses more on makeup.

?If someone wants change from their norm all they need is for someone to show them,? he said.

?I can change your hairstyle, or your make up or arch your eyebrows, paint your lips and depending on the shade you put on it can make a big difference.?