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Jan/Feb 2008 l Issue Thirteen
 
 
When you get to be in your mid 50's, believe me, it takes a village to keep yourself together, the trainers, hair colorists and stylists, plastic surgeons, cosmetic dentists, makeup artists, dermatologists, aestheticians, chiropractors, the list is endless. Over the years I have amassed a considerable amount of knowledge about all things cosmetic and I firmly believe that this knowledge should not be kept to one's self, but shared with all of womankind.  Now that the holidays are behind us, it's a good time to get out of your dated makeup rut, tend to those dark roots and split ends and have all those nasty dead skin cells filed off your face.
 
     
 


Sonia Garza and Sheena Breeden
  
Let's start with the face.  Good makeup begins with good skin care. You all know the basics, cleanse, tone and moisturize, but there is so much more that you can do to reverse the signs of aging and eliminate sun damage.  I recently received a $500 gift certificate for Serena Medspa in Preston Center, so certificate in hand, I went in to experience a couple of their hi-tech services.  First, Sonia Garza, the adorable aesthetician, did a complexion analysis with a machine called Visia.  A number of images of my face appeared on a wide screen TV (very frightening) showing UV spots, brown spots, spot spots, red areas, wrinkles, texture, pores and porphyins (bacteria in pores).  A percentage according to your age group appeared with each picture and I was surprised to learn that in spite of years of filing and frying my skin down to mucus membrane, my texture was only at 62%. Other categories ranged from 81% to 94%.  Next Sonia took me into another room where I stripped from my waist up and snuggled up on a comfy table.  In the past, I have had at least 9 million microdermabrasion treatments and I always hated every second of it.  Maybe I'm a wimp, but they are uncomfortable and I hate all that sandy stuff that's left behind after a treatment and they are not recommended for people who suffer from rosacea.
 
     
 
Serena Medspa specializes in the Vibraderm, a crystal free micro-dermabrasion for the face and body that uses a paddle that effectively and comfortably exfoliates the skin, helping to reduce fine lines age spots, sun damage, acne and scarring. You can use your favorite lotion or serum and the Vibraderm will actually infuse it into your dermal layer.  The treatments also stimulate the production of collagen.  I went in to have it on my face, neck and chest, but I was so comfortable and it felt so great that I had Sonia treat my entire back as well.  Vibraderm removes the top most layer of skin, so to get to the deeper layers, I went for the ReFirm skin tightening which is a combination of bi-polar radio frequency and light energy that precisely heat the dermal tissue within a targeted treatment area.  The treatments are fast and have no down time.  Again, I have had maybe 2 million different skin tightening treatments including Titan and Accent.  The Accent, while I wouldn't put it in the ‘torture’ category, can get a little hot, but the Titan is just plain brutal. There's also Thermage, which is so painful you need to be completely anesthetized. I was thrilled when Sonia cranked up the ReFirm machine and found that it produced absolutely no discomfort.  Post treatment I was just a little pink and my skin felt baby soft.  
  
     
 
If I had to sum up in one word the secret to Ross Burton's famously flawless faces it would be ‘blend’.  Ross also emphasizes the importance of having the right tools for perfect makeup application.  Lancôme’s National Artistic Director came to town to do a master class at the Lancôme Boutique at NorthPark.  Like I said before, good makeup begins with good skin care, so now that you have that down, you can begin your makeup regime with the application of your foundation.  You should always have two shades on hand, one for winter and one for summer.  Always use a foundation brush and hold it closer to the end when applying.  Begin by applying to your inner eye and then outer eye, before you put on concealer and then apply the foundation to the rest of your face.  Flip the brush over and buff.  Apply your concealer in a C formation around your eye beginning in the inner corner and working out covering the dark areas.  Next take a full powder brush and press into powder and tap off excess.  Stipple it into the T-zone and be careful not to over powder.  If your skin is dry, you can skip the powder all together. Ross likes to use a bronzer for that healthy glow.  Using a blush brush, begin at your temple, then down to your cheek, jaw line and neck.
 

Ross Burton in Action
 
     
 
If you're wearing your hair up, go to the back of your neck to neutralize redness.  Pick up your foundation brush and blend the hard lines of the bronzer.  Ultimately you want to create a halo around your face.  Next, buff your blush color on your cheek and blend blend blend with your foundation brush.  Trying to fit even something as small as a tube of lipstick into an evening bag can be a challenge, so Ross suggests getting a cute little Lancôme retractable lip brush, which easily fits into the tiniest clutch, and loading it up with your favorite lip color.  For the eyes, deposit an even color on the mobile part of the eye.  An angle brush can be used to press a darker color into the lash line.  Water will increase the intensity of the color.   Use a tapered brush with a darker shade from the outer corner of the eye working to the inner corner.  You don't want to start at the inner corner because you will deposit too much color.  For eye liner, draw the line past your lash line and then take a smudge brush and blend liner straight across.  Use the leftover shadow on brush and blend under your eye.  Begin at the outer corner of your eye and blend a darker shadow into your eye crease.  For your eyebrows, I really recommend that you go to the Lancôme Boutique and have them do their famous ‘brow design’ on you.  Properly shaped brows can make you look years younger.  Finally, apply your favorite mascara and you're set.
  
     
 


Patsy Donosky, Frederic Fekkai and Danielle Berland		  
Now that Dallas has a Frederic Fekkai salon at Highland Park Village; we are every bit as chic as New York, Palm Beach and Los Angeles.  The Todd Events designed opening featured a tent outside of the salon with champagne, the usual odd colored cocktail concoction and DJ Lucy Wrubel spinning her party favorites.  When I arrived, promptly at 6:30pm, I was all alone with the exception of one of our local paparazzo and the handsome and debonair Mr. Fekkai himself who gave me a personal tour of his seventh salon.  The usual suspects soon began to trickle in, about 100 people had rsvp'd, so I grabbed a glass of champagne and made the rounds.  Jan and Jim Showers, Terri Provencal, Austin Valles, Rhonda Sargent Chambers, Robin Ladik, Tayler Carson Sandvick, and Gavin Smith all stopped by to meet Frederic the Great.  Tayler quipped that she wanted to wear a hat because she was embarrassed about her dark roots.  Others discussed whether or not they should make an appointment for a new ‘do’.  Personally, I'm always a little skeptical about going to big name salons like Fekkai because right off the bat you know that you're going to pay more for their services just because of the brand name salon, and I find it very amusing when you have a stylist at one salon who you pay $85 for a cut and then they move to another, more famous salon, and suddenly you're paying the same person with the same skills they had the day before $125.  I really wanted to see for myself if Fekkai was worth the extra bucks and so I made an appointment to have a conditioning treatment, blow dry and color consultation.
 
     
 
Sometimes I like to go to a new place where nobody knows me sans makeup and designer clothes just to see the kind of treatment I'll get.  I walked into Fekkai makeup less and still in my workout clothes and received a very cordial reception.  Stylist Alisse Cervantes applied the shea butter conditioning treatment to my hair and put me under a head sauna for 20 minutes, which gave me time to really check the place out, and I must say, that it is the most attractive salon in Dallas, very intimate, warm woods and clean modern design.  Renee, the manicurist, came over and gave me a nice hand massage.  To staff the Dallas salon, Frederic brought in two people from Paris, creative director, Brian Keller, from Palm Beach, and the rest all came from local salons.  After the divine conditioning treatment, Alisse blew out my hair out into the sleek, straight style that I prefer and did a little more snipping on my unruly bangs.  Brian, who is a color guru, came over and suggested that I add a few low lights and brighten up the color around my face.  He didn't have to twist my arm; I made an appointment on the spot.
 
     
 
The name Billion Dollar Babes sounds to me, and everyone else, I'm sure, like a strip club on Harry Hines, so when Kate Nobelius, BDB co-founder, contacted me this summer, I was a bit skeptical.  Six years ago Kate and her partner, Shelli-Ann Couch, came up with the brilliant idea to hold gigantic sample sales in Dublin, London, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, and now, Dallas.  These mammoth events take place in hanger-like venues (in Los Angeles, it actually was held in a hanger) and feature labels like Vivienne Westwood, Missoni, Diane Von Furstenberg, sass & bride and Catherine Malandrino.  Billion Dollar Babes made their Dallas debut at F.I.G. and thanks to the advice of PR wiz Brynn Bagot, Kate and Shelli agreed to donate a portion of the sales to local charities, which included my personal favorite, The Fashionistas Foundation.  The two-day event began with a V.I.P. day so that the charity groups could come in and get first dibs on clothing that was marked 50-80% off of retail.  Catherine Colombo and I both got the same black Dolce & Gabbana trench coat and I also found a tight black Dolce & Gabbana dress, exactly what my husband likes me to wear on our date nights.  Shelli told me that they are considering launching Billion Dollar Blokes; Shelli and Kate are both from Australia.
 

Christie Sheffield
 
 
   
 


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