New Zealanders Rebecca and Caleb Archer moved to Beijing late last summer, just before Caleb took up his role as the middle and high school principal at Beanstalk International Bilingual School (BIBS). Their children are still too young to attend school with their dad; Neriah (age 3) goes to Flying Start Kindergarten while Levi (2) and Malachi (4 months) stay home with mom. Before moving here, the Archers lived in Nigeria and Indonesia.
Both Rebecca and Franck Provost Top Stylist Ivy Zhu have had children in the past year. As a fellow new mom, Zhu is impressed by the thickness of Rebecca’s post-pregnancy hair. “Normally women lose a lot of hair,” Zhu says. “I lost a lot around my hairline, so now I’ve got around an inch of fine baby hair growing back.”
They agree on a plan for the makeover by trading photos. Zhu uses Jennifer Lawrence’s honey-caramel tones as inspiration for Rebecca’s color and Alexa Chung’s blunt-cut bangs as reference for the hairstyle. Rebecca is keen to try a brighter, more dynamic blonde. Zhu plans three separate color applications to give body and depth – a base color touch-up with darker, coppery lowlights and warmer, buttery highlights. They decide to reshape the layers but preserve Rebecca’s length so she can still tie up her hair.
Kate, the makeup artist, uses a bright coral lipstick on Rebecca, which Rebecca says she would never normally choose. “This shade is going to be huge for spring and summer,” says Kate. Rebecca, who generally wears red if she wants a bright lip, is surprised by how much she likes it. “I’ve had such a fun day,” she says, “Just what I needed! I’ll definitely try to recreate the eye makeup and maybe even buy some coral lipstick.”
Get the Look:
1. Zhu applies an all-over base color and follows it with a mix of highlights and lowlights, in particular placing them around the face and parting in anticipation of the heavy bangs she intends to cut in.
2. Zhu dries Rebecca’s bangs before cutting them; because wet hair stretches, it’s easy to cut off more than intended. She creates a center part, sectioning the bangs from the crown of the head to the corners of the forehead. Zhu trims the bangs to eyebrow length, and then moves on to re-layering Rebecca’s hair.
3. Kate, the makeup artist, has one of the nicest kits so far. Over primer, she applies one of the best foundations we’ve ever seen: Givenchy Skin Tonic Stretch Cream Foundation, which provides complete coverage with a natural finish. She sets the base with translucent powder, moving to Rebecca’s eyes. Kate applies sandy beige over the lids and crease, then smudges a darker taupe into the sockets and lashes. She adds a dramatic liquid black eyeliner and finishes with black mascara. A coral blush and lipstick cap off the look.
Makeup List
- Laura Mercier Foundation Primer
- Givenchy Skin Tonic Stretch Cream Foundation in Lift Vanilla 504
- Laura Mercier Translucent Loose Setting Powder
- Chanel Lumière D’Artifices Eyeshadow 2007 LE
- Mac Frost Satin Taupe Eyeshadow
- Oputemon Black Eyeliner Stick
- Innisfree Skinny Waterproof Mascara
- Lunasol Coloring Cheeks (Glow) in Glowing Coral 02
- Makeup Forever Sculpting Kit
- Crème de Rose Smoothing Plumping Lip Balm
- Mac Lustre Lipstick in Flamingo
Franck Provost
Daily 10am-9.30pm. 311, 3/F, Zone 3, China International Trade Center Shopping Mall, 1 Jianguomenwai Dajie, Chaoyang District (8535 1615) 朝阳区建国门外大街1号中国国际贸易中心商场3区3层311
This article originally appeared on page 21 of the March 2015 Issue of beijingkids. Click here for your free online copy. To find out how you can obtain a hard copy, contact distribution@truerun.com
Photos: Sui
