Sunday, March 09, 2008
Life, Style
True colors
Up close with au natural makeup artist Alyson Hoag
CREDIT:Courtesy of Alyson Hoag
Alyson Hoag, founding owner of Authentic Beauty Image Studio
By Carly Felton
From working part-time with Lancôme in college to being an Aveda educator, and now owning her own makeup studio, the Authentic Beauty Image Studio in Sandy Springs, Laura Turner-Seydel’s personal makeup artist Alyson Hoag knows what it takes to make women feel beautiful. The Sunday Paper caught up with her on one of her few spare moments to find out how it all began.
Q Tell me how you came to love makeup.
A My mother was a teacher, and I visited the high school where she worked and remember looking up at all these pink cheeks and frosted eyes on the students and wondering when I would get to do that. (I was 5.) From that moment forward, I hoarded all the makeup I could. I went to all the Mary Kay parties. By the time I went to middle school, I had a full face of makeup. I did everyone’s makeup, but I was also a tomboy. Makeup was fun, but I never had to wear it. That’s the difference between my perspective and other makeup artists’. So many women think they can’t leave the house without makeup on. I promised myself that, as an athlete, I’d play as good as the boys and look as good as the girls. That was my passion. I never considered it a career. I graduated college at 19 with a sociology degree and was working for Lancôme. I was only intending to do it until I figured out what I wanted to do. Now I’ve been doing makeup for 20 years.
We read that the book “Rejuvenation” by Aveda founder Horst Rechelbacher inspired you to help women find their inner beauty through the use of makeup. What about the book really reached out to you?
There’s a quote in the forward that says, “There’s no amount of eye cream that makes up for the lights that have gone out in somebody’s eyes.” That was the big ah-ha moment for me; I thought ‘Maybe there’s something more to applying makeup.’ It’s really about self esteem and feeling good about yourself.
How is the Authentic Beauty Image Studio different from other makeup places?
It is education-based, not product-based. You can have the best makeup in the world, but if you don’t know how to apply it or aren’t comfortable with it, it doesn’t matter. We teach simple techniques and really listen to a woman, versus just trying to sell her more products. Our main focus is taking care of you so you love what you see when you look in the mirror. Our senior service is what really sets us apart – the Image Journey.
What is the Image Journey, and how did it come about?
The Image Journey is designed to help women to have a self-discovery experience. So often, we are told to wear this color for spring and to accentuate this area. Instead, we teach women to say ‘What inspires me?’ and ‘What do I want to look like?’ We give homework in which our clients have to do exploration. You are instructed to open magazines and examine what you are attracted to. So many times we ignore what looks we like because we don’t take the time to look and learn, and we stick with what we know.
What is your makeup philosophy?
You should look like you when you look in the mirror, whatever that is. I had a 75-year-old grandmother who wore fuchsia nail polish and lipstick. That was her. I wasn’t changing her. It was my job to make it look good on her, not to tell her she shouldn’t wear it.
What is it like to work with Laura Turner-Seydel?
She’s my mentor. She does so much to support and network with people who are out to make a difference in the world. She’s a force, but I’ve never heard a bad word out of her mouth. She’s just so generous. She knows that when people are going to be looking at you and you have something important to say, you need to look your absolute best. Sometimes you don’t have the time to make yourself look that good. She counts on me to do her makeup and she knows she will look amazing and look like herself without even thinking about it. Unfortunately we are in a world where it is important to look your best. That’s just the way it is right now. SP
For more information, visit www.myimagejourney.com.