Aubrey Marie

It is absolutely amazing that a cosmetics company can pioneer the luxury beauty industry beginning in 1910, and still be alive today.  Remarkably, still selling some of the same products it began with!

Elizabeth Arden was a Canadian immigrant who pushed her way into wealthy social circles she then started treating in her revolutionary beauty treatment salons with the ever famous red doors to welcome you in.  She, along with her rival Helena Rubinstein, started the luxury beauty industry in the early 1900’s.  Turning what was once mere soaps and toiletries into a multi billion dollar industry encompassing all things beauty.  They were the first to link fitness, diet, and fashion to beauty, bringing all aspects of that into their treatment salons. 

Since its introduction into her skincare range in 1930, Elizabeth Arden’s 8 Hour Cream was a bestseller, and remains so today!  The same goes for her fragrance Blue Grass, created in 1934, which you can also still buy today. 

The beauty industry is a completely different game today than it was then, but we owe so much to these early innovators who created practices that we still find effective today.  We owe a lot to these ladies’ hard work all those years ago.

If you want to read more about them and their legacies check out the book War Paint, by Lindy Woodhead

I just started re-reading the book in preparation!

At times, the movie industry feels incredibly frivolous. It gets me down and I feel a bit guilty about being a hairdresser, feeding into the egos and perpetuating the Hollywood glamour. But there are times when in my community of hairdressers and make-up artists that I feel incredibly lucky and happy to be doing what I love amongst wonderfully passionate and like-minded artists.

This Saturday the Academy held their annual Hairstylist and Makeup Artist Nominee Symposium.  Leonard Engelman moderated the discussion with each of the nominated artists in talking about their films; showing photos and a clip, and answering the attendees questions. He reminded us all that we are here to celebrate achievements made by these wonderful artists, that movie making is a collaborative art absolutely vital to the arts today.  

Both the films The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, recognizing Peter Swords King, Rick Findlater, and Tami Lane and Les Miserables, recognizing Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell, were nominated for the entire body of work throughout the film.  Hitchcock, recognizing Howard Berger, Peter Montagna, and Martin Samuel, was nominated only for its transformation of Anthony Hopkins into Alfred Hitchcock.  Each of these films deserved to win, as do all the films that get nominated every single year.  Hair and Make-Up teams never disappoint!! Go Pretty Committee!

Hearing the nominees speak is always an inspiring event for me, it reminds me of my love of film, and that I have a long way to go to get to their seats, but they have all been through the struggle themselves.

It’s great finding out about funny things that happened on the set of Hitchcock, like Anthony Hopkins delighting in tearing his face apart at the end of the day to remove his prosthetics, sometimes even by stabbing himself with scissors. Or the artists telling us they had to use the “same old wig” for Cate Blanchett in The Hobbit because they simply couldn’t find hair long enough.  

Learning these stories from set bring back familiar feelings of sets I’ve been on myself and its just amazing to feel like you’re sharing similar experiences with these Academy Award nominated artists.  That’s a great part I love about being a hairdresser, these award winning, class teaching, platform styling artists are all still very accessible.  You can go to an industry event like this symposium and go up to the nominees and chat with them.  They were in my shoes long before I started in this industry and they have a lot to teach me!

At the symposium there were displays set up for each of the nominated films complete with books of photos and sketches, molds, prosthetic pieces, and even some styled wigs!! Hitchcock also had a life size model of Alfred that they made just for fun! It was creepy and absolutely beautiful.

My passion for hair has been rekindled, and I have the great new role models to thank.  Everyone needs a boost every so often to remind them that they are absolutely on the right path!

The ladies behind Les Miserables did a beautiful job on a tough, gritty, and depressing movie. Their hard work paid off and got them the Oscar they deserved! Congratulations Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell!!

Here’s to another Oscar Season Success!

Leonard Engelman with Oscar Winners Julie Dartnell & Lisa Westcott

Nominees Peter Swords King, Tami Lane, and Rick Findlater

The Hitchcock table with prosthetic noses and neck/cheeks Leonard Engelman posing with the Alfred statue

Kevin Murphy Session Spray is my absolute favorite hairspray. If I could only have one beauty product for the rest of my life this would be it! Seriously. 

Kevin Murphy is an Australian fashion hairdresser that created a line of hair care and styling products to suit the needs of his personal career as well as the needs of the modern professional hairdresser.  He focuses on treating hair the same way we treat the face; exfoliate, cleanse, moisturize, and style. All the while using top notch ingredients from sustainable resources with pure essential oils and plant extracts.  Oh yeah, he’s cruelty free too. Sounds too good to be true, no?

While I have yet to experience his entire range of wonderfully scented beautifully packaged products, everything I have tried thus far has been outstanding! 

Which brings me to his Session Spray.  It is hands down the best spray I have ever had! It has amazing workability, I can spray a layer on, brush it into the hair, it adds shine and hold, no flakes whatsoever.  It is also an amazing finishing spray, getting rid of flyaways and holding the hair firmly but not taking it to helmet level.  You can however achieve super firm helmet hair by layering this spray on.  

Session Spray is the best multi-use hairspray, the only one you will ever need!

• Who this is good for: Every single one of you! Men included!
• What hair types this is good for: All types! Fine to thick, curly to straight!
• What hair styles this is good for: Any hairstyle! Soft and bouncy, sleek and firm.
• Cost: $25
• Where to buy: Naimie’s and Nigel’s Beauty Emporium in stores only.

Here are some fun things to change up your normal weekend beauty!

Wear red lipstick, it never goes out of style. This is my favorite brand.

Wear a wig! Just for fun!

Add a pop of color to your eyes. This is my favorite colored eye liner.

Slick your man’s hair, or if he already does, try combing it a different way. Here’s my favorite firm hold gel for men.

Go thrift shopping! Its always the highlight of my weekends!

Happy Weekend Beauties!

Happy Mardi Gras!!!!!!!

While I absolutely wish I could be celebrating down in the most magical place in the US, New Orleans, I am stuck here is the stinkin sunshine of California!

If you haven’t been watching Treme to get excited for this year’s Mardi Gras, there is one crew you must know about and that is Krewe of Muses!

They are an all lady fabulous parade crew that celebrates with all things girly and tons of glitter! The Muses got their start parading for the first time in 2001, and are hugely into giving back to the community.  

What really makes them special is that their main float is a giant shoe!! And instead of throwing traditional item like beads or coins, they throw shoes! Not just any old smelly shoe, but the fanciest, sparkliest, Mardi Gras loving heels you have ever seen!!

I can just imagine being there watching the parade and hoping so badly to catch one of their coveted shoes! Just like Annie in Treme!

When my man and I went to New Orleans last April, sigh, it seems like the whole darn place is just oozing Mardi Gras beads! Every fence, gate, porch, and even tree had a million bead necklaces on it.  It just so happened that the first necklace that my boyfriend found and gave me on our trip had a tiny plastic shoe dangling on it.  It’s my own little piece of the Krewe of Muses and I will cherish it forever!

Happy Mardi Gras!  Go out and get some red beans and rice and wash it down with Abita beer!

Laissiez les bon temps rouler!!

I always love a good wedding.  Especially if the bride is the biggest sweetheart like Katie!  I had a blast working on her lovely face and hair and meeting her (huge) bridal party! I only wish i could have gone to the location to see the amazing Paramount Ranch!! Check out the gorgeous photos featured on the photographer’s site!

http://www.homphotography.com/steph-matt-wedding/

The 1920’s are an incredibly fun era to research and learn more about. I feel like I see something new every day from that era and I love it!  My boyfriend, Scott, is a high school history teacher, and guess what era his kiddos are learning about!? The 1920’s! Yahoo! 

He was super excited to be taking them through this time in history that pretty much shapes modern life as we know it, however upon assigning a super fun group project on the culture of the 20’s the kids were less than enthused. Bummer!

I thought that maybe once they learned a bit about the era they would want to know more.  Most of them wanted to do their projects on gangsters, cue Boardwalk Empire.  While i love a good gangster story, its just not what is so fun about the era! Come on kids!

Blues music! Shorter hemlines! Invention of mascara! Sexual freedom!

Once Scott got all the kids settled into their assignments, less gangster groups, more on fashion, sports, music, and advertising, he took them to the computer lab to start their research.

I then sent him to school with a bag full of books on the fashion and beauty industry, complete with flags marking the pages, and even a 1920’s fashion paper doll book! As well as a list of the beauty industry giants and innovations of the time, Charles Revson (Revlon) and the permanent wave machine to name a couple. They were stoked about the paper dolls, which was cute, I wasn’t sure they knew what paper dolls were!

The kids were required to create a powerpoint presentation to show the class what they learned, and I have to say, some of them were amazing!!

Groups went in depth about the cultural changes relating to their topic, famous people of the topic and what they did or invented. They had amazing photos that were actually period correct. There were some stand out projects!  I felt a little pride, hoping that my books, which are super cool, inspired the kids to get excited about something so major in history, even if its just through clothing and make-up. 

It is amazing seeing what my boyfriend does every day to educate his kids.  They have no idea that they have the coolest history teacher ever! It also inspires me, and makes me think about getting involved with the arts in schools.  If I can help one kid realize their passion in the arts it would be wonderfully gratifying.  I had the privilege of going to an art high school and had an amazing time finding my passion around 9th grade. I just want kids to see how fun the arts in history can be! 

I’ll be posting more quick histories about artists, inventions, and classic looks in the history of beauty!