Festive Holiday Beauty: Skin Prep With Bioelements and Beauty with MAC’s Tartan Tale Collection

TEXT, VIVIAN KELLY

In addition to my new Miriam Haskell Jewelry obsession, I’ve been jonesing for the look model Raquele Zimmermann sported in the December issue of Vogue. Raquele is one of today's biggest editorial stars, but until this shoot, styled by one of my favorite stylists, Camilla Nickerson, I didn't really pay her much attention. In it, she’s so bloody glamorous that I compulsively ripped out two of the pages and put one in my Louis V tote and tack the other one up on my home office mood board. I started studying it in great detail and approached it one step at a time. While I’m not going to be able swing the fabulous Tom Ford blouse or Jean Harlow-inspired Marc Jacobs suit, I don’t really mind. It’s the beauty look that’s got me over the rails.
Step one – I decide to dye my hair red, really red. As I venture into the beauty supply store I frequent every few months, I try to put a handle on the color I’m going for.
Me: Mmm, it’s flame, well, a deep flame.
Anne: Show me the picture, honey.
[I do and she nods approvingly]. “Yeah, you can do this, but it will fry your hair a good bit.”
I don’t care. She smiles knowingly and hands me the color remover packet, 20 Volume peroxide and the “brunette red” toner that I need.
A few days later, I’m back, because my efforts had resulted in a rose wine hue that wasn’t cutting it. Anne and Maria went to work and dumped some more color in to blast it to that deep "Raquele red" I was fixated on achieving.
That accomplished, I’m almost ready to do the makeup but postponed a visit to the MAC counter until my appointment with Isabelle V., at Beauty 360. Over the past 6 months, on Isabelle’s advice, I’ve been slowly adding a few BioElements products to my daily skincare regimen. Everything I’ve used to this point with the exception of the lash growth formula has been more than satisfactory. I was scheduled for a mini BioElements facial with Krystale, the visiting cosmetician from Boston. in hopes of finding something that would add the moisture that always leaves me come early November.
There’s no point in putting on killer makeup on a skin that is so dry that it won’t hold the product.
Krystale gave me some company background as she peformed enzyme exfoliation on my face. Bioelements was founded in 1991 by Barbara Salomone, one of the first ever licensed aestheticians in the USA. "It's a serious skincare line favored by beauty professionals" she says as she paints the enzyme on my face. The enzyme extracts in the enzyme exfoliator eat up the protein in the dead skin. Once that top layer is gone, your skin feels smoother and can more readily absorb rich creams you apply after the toner. After Krystale explained that the toner boosts the efficiency of the moisturizer, I decided to stop skipping that step.
The following products "The triple moisture treat" gave my skin a much needed moisture drink:

1. B.E. Crucial Moisture
2 B. E. SPF 50
3. B.E. Recovery Serum

I opted for their most hydrating product, “Really Rich Moisture”, which leaves my skin feeling dewy. It's just what I needed and is the RX for skin that's tired after too much travel.
Two days later, I‘m 6oo miles away, visiting my former college campus and a good writer gal pal, T, who’s in town for a few weeks to work on a PR project. The night we arrive, we decide that the Vogue look requires bleaching-out my eyebrows. That accomplished, I’m finally ready for a trip to the MAC Cosmetics counter to check-out the limited edition “Tartan Tale” collection
and to pick-up the right colors to achieve my Vogue look.

The MAC stylist at the Nordstrom’s tells me that my target look “is very easy”. For once, this is actually true. I say “for once” because years ago, as US Beauty Director of Lucire Magazine, beauty stars such as Tom Pecheux, would tell me “how simple” an obviously intricate makeup look was to recreate [for him].
In this case, it actually WAS easy. All that was required were a few items from the “Tartan Tale” collection.
I left with “Golden Crown” eye shadow.
As she worked on my face, I had time to closely inspect the Tartan Tale ad in which the model's hair was a lighter shade of red. I decided I wasn’t done – not yet. My next move – an appointment with Anthony Palmermo of the Anthony Leonard Salon in NYC next Wednesday, to lighten my hair up some more. Once that’s done, I hope to wear it with a hunter green taran top, just like the model in the ad. Today, I'll be hitting the best fashion designer consignment shops in the Orlando area for just such a piece. With luck, I'll be showing you my find next Wednesday in my weekly "The Hunt" post.

The search begins today, at 2p.m. until the shops close down.