Style Takeover

Tucked away on New Orleans road, one can find, Fringe, an Aveda concept salon and a mecca of style and rejuvenation, where many flock for the newest looks and a personal touch. Our makeover candidate, Marti MacGillivray, was sitting comfortably in her transformation spot. Quiet and sincere, Marti was a canvas waiting to be painted.

Connie Zaner, our stylist for the day, ran her hands through Marti's lengthy mane, explaining what she thought would doctor her style. "I'm going to reshape your hair and give it the illusion of thickness and volume," Connie explained. "A style that frames the face will be a great option for you because your face is long." Marti came to Fringe with a flat reddish color, and Connie wanted to update it by blending a base color and highlights to make the color more natural looking. Before the color was added, Connie cut almost four inches off.

"Getting this makeover sounded like an adventure" Marti explained when I asked her what made her say yes to joining me for the makeover. Her friend, who had a double mastectomy, put Marti's name in a drawing for the makeover at one of our Partini's. "She cut her hair short and it looks really, really great! It gave me the courage to try something new," she related. "My routine is really very simple. I put moisturizer on my face, wash my hair, comb it and just let it air dry, although it does look more voluminous when I use a blow dryer."

Connie wanted to freshen Marti's look by adding a rich chestnut color and light, caramel colored highlights to create fluidity throughout the hair. As the color was setting, Connie applied a warm, lavender neck wrap to help Marti relax and enjoy her experience. Next, she led Marti to the shampooing station, where she took out the foils and washed her hair, adding a glaze that puts color back onto the highlights to render them more natural. After the glaze set for 10 minutes, Connie rinsed her hair and expertly waxed her eyebrows. Marti laughed, "I'm 53-years-old, and I'm a eyebrow waxing virgin!"

Connie spritzed a product that added moisture to the hair and a detangler-damage control spray before she started the cut. She parted Marti's hair down the middle and began to masterfully angle a little bit of either side to create dimension and movement. Marti, who works in elder care and hospice, explained that she needed to keep it relatively long to be able to keep her hair out of eyes at work. After perfectly placed cuts and angles, Marti was sporting a new style that made her hair healthier, shinier, more manageable, and most of all, made her look years younger.

The next step in guiding Marti through her transformation was the makeup. Connie gently applied tinted moisturizer to brighten Marti's face, explaining that it should be dabbed onto the face and not rubbed in. Next she added the concealer to hide "all the little things that we don't like about ourselves." She decided to use neutral colors, with shades of plum for accentuating color. Using "Plum Mist" she added the lightest color of the three to bring the lid up to the brow bone, adding the darker slate color in the crease, finishing the look by adding the dark plum as eyeliner. Connie lined the bottom of the eye, halfway to ensure that the eyes appeared open. "Marti has such fantastic features, she just needs to accentuate them and make them pop!"

No new look is final without a new outfit! The wonderful staff at Patricia's outfitted Marti in a blue and purple print jacket by Clara S. that can be worn all year round and will make the plum palate used on her eyes stand out. Paired with royal blue pants by Rebel, and a designer copy large stone necklace from the Patricia Collection, this look is great for a holiday party or a day out with the girls!

UP-CLOSE WITH MARTI:
FAMILY: Husband, Bill; Children, Becky, 33, Kenny, 32, Mike, 30, and Tara, 28 and a hound named Whoopie.
HOBBIES: I like to read anything from mysteries, novels, medical journals and anything in between. My guilty pleasure book is Fifty Shades of Grey.
WHAT DO YOU WANT FOR CHRISTMAS? A shade-tree for my front yard. All our pecan trees fell down. I love gardening. It's also a family tradition that for every birth or death in the family, we plant a tree. For us, it's a representation of the continuation of life.
MARTI'S REALLY SMART! She has a Bio-medical engineering degree!

To schedule your own day of pampering stop by Fringe Salon at 38 New Orleans Road, Hilton Head Island, SC, 29928, or schedule an appointment by calling 843-785-7400, or by visiting www.fringehhi.com.

To add to your wardrobe, visit Patricia's of Hilton Head by stopping in the store, located at The Village at Wexford, at 1000 William Hilton Parkway, Hilton Head, SC, 29928, by visiting www.beachboutique.com or by calling 843-837-7439.