I hope everyone is having a great January so far! I thought long and hard about what to blog about as the first post of the year! I think blogging is like exercising; once you've stopped for a while, it is so much harder to get started again! I took an entire week off work over the Holidays, and that was really lovely! Last October, my husband and I FINALLY made it to our honeymoon (it only took us 3-4 years of marriage to finally go on vacation/honeymoon!). I figured if I worked majority of the year, I should take Christmas and New Years off! For a week, I felt like a normal person - going to the grocery store, cooking, spending a lot of time with friends and family, regular exercise, de-cluttering my home, spending time with my husband. It sounds terribly mundane, but these moments are precious to me because strangely, it doesn't always happen, and definitely not in such a peaceful manner! You could say because of work-aholicism (admittedly, my partner and I are both workaholics) or...a more neutral yet accurate way to say it is "I'm a small business owner." I prioritize my work over a lot of things and I've been gradually working towards having a more balanced lifestyle! Reflecting back on 2012 and how it buzzed by, I am determined to work on that balanced lifestyle in 2013!
I shared with my close friend outside of my industry that I have March-Dec 2012 weddings to catch-up on my blog, and he said: "Liz, you better get to it!! Do it now!!!" I'll be trying my best to put those up, but I'm not making any promises! I thought about it over the holidays - my purpose of having a blog is to give the reader (or potential client) a glimpse to who I am/who I am as an artist (they are not mutually exclusive!), who I am as a business owner, and a sample of my personal aesthetic. I find that while I do want to showcase my work (Look what I've done!! yipee!!!), I think that it's more important for my future clients to know that my personal aesthetic is actually not as important as my clients' personal aesthetic!
I really just want to make my client happy.
On occasion I would get into deep conversations about beauty with people I encounter, about the visceral impact it has on us. People outside of the fashion/beauty industry and don't care much for it would be surprised to learn how up-close and personal a hair and makeup service can get. It's visceral, emotional - it can trigger something that affects them in a way they never thought a simple makeup/hair service could! It can be anything...I compliment the client's lips while doing lipstick, and she says: "they are just like my grandmother...I miss her..." I enjoy meeting different types of people, but what's even more enjoyable, is if I can help them reach their goal with their hair and makeup!
I sometimes ask myself: Who am I to decide what you "should" look like? What gives me the right to be a "taste maker" with your makeup & hair? When I was little, art teachers would say: "You really have an artistic eye" and I knew it was meant to be a compliment and felt joy hearing it - thanked them politely, but I never felt like what I saw was necessarily unique or "better" than my classmate next to me - my vision and interpretation is divine, and sacred - to me! The same way my classmates' interpretation is sacred to them. However, I understand when my clients come to me, they generally do want my input and opinion, which I do share, but I end up either following the clients' preference, or meeting in the middle! Why? Because my goal is not to impose my aesthetic; my goal is really that the client looks in the mirror and loves what s/he sees, feels beautiful, and their day is "uplifted" in some way! Sometimes my clients' preference follows my personal aesthetic to the dot! When that happens, I feel like: "Wow! you really 'see' like me!!" and that's a lot of fun! But not my primary objective! When I see how fabulous they feel, I cannot help but "see" them as simply "Beautiful" - even if the up-do or the shade of lipstick is not one I would normally choose. I see beauty as being beyond a person's subjective interpretation of their reflection.
Earlier today, my client from last fall used g-chat to let me know that she had written a review on yelp for me! I immediately went to read it, and it really made my day! Immediately I was reminded of an inspirational book, "
Life of a Daymaker" by David Wagner, owner of the Juut Aveda Salons. I loaned that book to my mother-in-law who brought it with her to Seoul {who also is still holding onto my copy of "
The Philisophy of Andy Warhol"! Hey Omeoni! I want my books back! ;P} but if I still had my copy, I would be opening up a passage randomly, and find a paragraph to inspire me. After reading Life of a Daymaker, I love my job even more! I want to be my client's Daymaker, and that's my goal - but when my clients tell me I made their day, they actually become MY daymaker! ♥ I highly recommend reading
the story that changed his life, and the rest of the book! I loved the part where described how he got into his career, one that his family did not support, and that he started humbly as a valet car parker for the clients who went to the Aveda salon. He made sure he was the BEST car parker and worked his way up and was determined to become a hair dresser! If my goal in life was to make a lot of money, I probably would have opted for a career in finance - but alas, that is not my goal for my life! I love being of service to someone who needs my service, and I love making someone's day. As makeup/hair artists, we don't have the easiest job nor the hardest job. There are parts of it that I am sure we all do not LOVE doing - just like any other job in the world. For us, we feel like we have the best job! I truly feel grateful to have worked another year in this industry, doing what I love - Hopefully many more years to come!! But as my friend says, cross the bridge when you get there! Take it one year at a time!
If you managed to read all of this rambling...then...! In conclusion, I am very excited for 2013! I'm looking forward to all the new people I will be meeting, seeing their vision of beauty with the "inspiration" images they will be bringing me, and just doing lots of makeup/hair!!! Yay!!!
A blog always looks better looking with a photo! I'll have to do a full credit later, but for now, Makeup, hair, men's grooming by me in June 2011! Photo by Christine Le. Florals by Indelisa @ Royal Bloom Boutique, hair piece by Bonnie @ One World Design, Jewelry by Yael Designs, gown by David Tutera @ BoLee Bridal Boutique!
