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Socal Woman

Fekkai & V S: Pampering For Oscar Night

Christine Springett
Socal.com Writer

During Oscar season parties abound, cameras are ever- present, and celebrities and entertainment VIPs need to look gorgeous – professionally gorgeous.

That’s where the Oscar Suite comes in. For three days before the Academy Awards, the Frederick Fekkai Salon on Rodeo Drive was transformed into a high-volume beauty production headquarters, with a slew of professionals creating elaborate hairstyles, glamorous make-up, eyelash extensions, manicures, pedicures, waxing, you name it, plus specialty lingerie and even a plastic surgeon on hand from Centre Epiderme for medical skincare treatments. Rounding out the first class experience, guests were treated to champagne, Celeb-ritini and Glamorita cocktails courtesy of Gran Centenario, and hors d'oeuvres catered by PICNIC. We went to learn a few tricks from the pros, check out the latest new beauty products and procedures, and find out what might be worth spending money on.

Techniques for Amazing Eyes

Victoria’s Secret not only co-hosted the Oscar Suite, but also recently launched a new beauty line called Beauty Rush, and celebrity makeup artist Nick Barose was on hand making up faces with products from the line. Nick showed us his technique for applying eyeliner and shadow for a smoky, sultry look. The key is to use a soft pencil, and gently push the eye pencil back and forth along the lash line, don’t try to draw a perfect line in one stroke. Then gently smudge over the liner with a similar colored eye shadow - Nick used a midnight blue shadow from the Beauty Rush line. He recommends selecting eye shadows that are sheer and shimmery, not frosty. To finish the eye, he applied a lighter colored shadow above the midnight blue, touched up under the eye with concealer and voila! – a sexy smoldering eye in just a couple of minutes. He makes it look so easy.

Victoria’s Secret and Nick Barose created a ‘red carpet essentials touch-up kit’ - discreetly tucked inside a small satin pouch. The kit contained Strawberry Fizz lip gloss - a nearly sheer gloss that can be applied without a mirror, a packet of Beauty Rush Oil Blotting Sheets, and Sexy Mints to keep our breath fresh and sexy! Just what every woman on the go needs to maintain a fresh, polished look.

Hair and Beauty Tips from Frederic Fekkai

Next, we were treated to the world-renown master himself Frederic Fekkai, demonstrating how he creates a natural looking ‘up do’ hairstyle, popular with many celebrities at the Oscars. One of his tricks is to spray the full length of the hair with hairspray before attempting to twist it on top of the head. This gives the hair added grip and texture and eliminates the hair’s slippery tendency. Many small bobby pins were then strategically placed to keep the ‘up do’ in place.

Frederic's Salon offers a whole range of beauty treatments, and with so many to choose from we asked him, if a woman had to choose just three beauty treatments, what should they be? “Drink lots of water, use a good moisturizer on your face, and take good care of your hair, use a good shampoo and conditioner to make your hair shiny and silky.” Frederic also shared his thoughts on what makes a woman sexy “A woman who has self-confidence, is at ease with herself, and likes to live well”. Sounds good to us, bring on the champagne - and some sparkling water!

Botox done differently

Located in a private area of the salon, is Centre Epiderme, a full service medi-spa, where Dr. David Sayah, administered Botox injections, the most commonly performed non-surgical medical skincare treatment. What was different about Dr. Sayah’s injection technique was that he injects Botox into a portion of the upper eyelid, to achieve a slight eyebrow lift. We had never seen this before, and didn’t think that Botox could be used to lift portions of the face. Dr. Sayah explained how the muscles surrounding the eyes are like rubber bands, and when you relax certain muscles (with Botox) other muscles will exert more pull, hence giving a lift effect. We were intrigued.

Injectable fillers are another popular cosmetic procedure, and with so many new products coming on the market, we asked Dr. Sayah which filler his patients are getting the best results with. Restalyn is the #1 choice, while not permanent, it lasts much longer than Collagen, costs about the same, and smoothes nicely into the skin. For those looking for a permanent filler, Dr. Sayah recommends fat injections, harvested from the patient’s own body. His patients have gotten excellent results from this procedure.

Eyelash Extensions

Eyelash extensions are a hot new trend (seen photos of Madonna lately?) and recent beauty invention, and we got an up-close look at Deb Svarc from Pout Cosmetics applying the semi-permanent type. A small amount of adhesive is used to attach individual or pairs of lashes to the base or insertion point of a client’s own lashes, so the added lashes are essentially resting on top of the clients own lashes and hence move in a natural way. It’s not something you can do yourself at home, a professional needs to apply them. We all agreed that the new eyelash extensions have a more natural appearance than the store-bought false eyelashes we’ve all tried at home. The semi permanent type last anywhere from 3 days to 2 weeks, and there’s also a longer lasting version which lasts several weeks to several months. Women say they really like that wearing the extensions eliminates the need for mascara. Also, extension wearers have said that waking up with your eyes already ‘done’ is a huge plus. For those of you tired of the daily application and removal of mascara – extensions might be a worthwhile investment. The model in the photograph has extensions on her right eyelashes only, and is not wearing any mascara – what a difference .

A beautiful courtyard in the salon was transformed into a Lingerie Atelier and featured exquisitely crafted couture lingerie by Parisian designer Chantal Thomass, who designed a special line of custom lingerie for Victoria’s Secret. Chantal also created very special lingerie gift for the Oscar nominees, an ultra-glamorous pink and black lace bra and panty set, featuring a diamond-encrusted brooch on the bra! Her lingerie is designed to be seen, and Chantal suggests wearing the pieces under a sheer blouse, or maybe show a bit of lace from one of her bras or corsets peeking out from under a jacket. The look is very European, elegant, and classy.

What an experience! Yes, getting gorgeous can be a lot of work, but knowing how its done is half the journey. It’s also great to learn that, thanks to a mass of ever improving beauty products and treatments, stunning movie-star looks are attainable. The key seems to be knowing which products to buy, how to use them, and definitely enlisting the services of professionals.

 

 
 
 

 


 
 
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