Transforming From Practical Photographer to Fresh-Faced Summer Look Model

When she decided to move her family to China, Lisa Albrecht had one main goal: to become a household name in photography! As a young child, Albrecht would often accompany her father, a photographer himself, on shoots observing how he captured portraits, and later help him develop rolls of film. Watching blank paper come alive with beautiful portraits sparked a life-long desire to capture the ever-elusive perfect image. Yet it wouldn’t be until her early twenties that Albrecht really invested in her future, getting her first camera… without her father’s blessing. “He told me, don’t do it! You will never get enough money!” laughs Albrecht. Despite this, her passion for photography couldn’t be dampened. Fast forward a few years, and she and her husband decided to move to Beijing to further pursue her dream.

Before the Makeover

As we all know, leaving everything familiar behind to strike out in a foreign country is a mammoth task, yet in just two short years since she arrived in Beijing, the Siberian native has established herself as a prominent freelance photographer in a city that’s become one of her favorites in the world. Yet pursuing her career was not the only reason she and her husband chose to settle in China. According to Albrecht, China is the perfect country to raise children, with its safety and great focus on education and early childhood care.

Between exploring Beijing, setting herself up as a photographer, and caring for her son and family, Albrecht isn’t left with much time for herself. She confesses to not having had a professional haircut in over five years, and since coming to Beijing, a few bad beauty treatment experiences have left her hesitant, choosing instead to let nature take its course. While nature has been more than kind to Albrecht, we at beijingkids believe that every mom deserves a day of glamor and pampering every once in a while. As a photographer, Albrecht is used to finding interesting compositions but expressed some apprehension about being in front of the camera instead. But she was quickly put at ease as the day of beauty and pampering commenced.

To kick it all off, Albrecht received a custom trim on dry hair by salon founder Laurent Falcon himself, who created light layers to give her otherwise flat hair a bit of body and movement. After the cut, she was passed on to the capable hands of stylist Felix who proceeded to section her hair, bleaching, foiling, and backcombing for a beautiful sea-salt-bleached, butter blonde balayage effect to suit her medium fair skin tone. The look was then completed with sexy spiral curls achieved by the use of a titanium plate flat iron to add extra shine.

Then came the makeup. Inspired by Angelina Jolie’s legendary soft lip and day time smoky eye look, the make-up artist warmed up her skin with a light YSL foundation for dewy sun-kissed summer skin, before sweeping an earthy brown across the eyelid, topped with a shimmery pink near the ducts, and a thin liner hugging the lash line to make her green eyes pop. It was time to put the finishing touches, with Albrecht settling on an angelic white top, and billowy full-length skirt and delicate charm and starfish earrings, for an effortless, day trip-to-the-beach look.

While everyone is happy to see restrictions easing, the stylists at Laurent Falcon continue to wear masks at all times, ensuring clients are totally safe and comfortable within the salon.

Pro Styling Tips:

1. To retain length or give your hair the appearance of fullness and health, you should trim your ends on a regular schedule. Aim for every 3 to 4 months, and ‘dust’ your ends in between, taking off any split ends you may notice in the meantime.

2. Protect your hair from excessive heat when blow-drying or flat ironing by applying a heat protectant spray or serum first. These generally work as thermal and humidity shields, helping protect your hair from heat damage and maintaining your style on a humid day.

3. Your choice of flat iron will dictate your final results. Nano titanium plates are great for imparting extra shine as the plate’s smooth surface makes it easy to do one-pass presses. Ceramic plate irons contain negative ions which work well to combat positive ions in dry hair, protecting it from excessive brittleness.

4. An easy way to maintain a curly style is to sleep in a silk bonnet. For especially humid days, you can lightly twist the hair and wrap in a silk scarf to control frizzing. In the morning, undo the twists, fluff out your hair, and your curls should still be as good as new.