Not every bride is excited about the countless hours of preparation that seem almost required in order to create a modern-day wedding. Some women get hives just thinking about how much STUFF has to be accounted for; dresses, dinners, invitations, favors…the list is endless. The last thing such a bride wants to do is over-plan her hair and makeup. She might cringe at the idea of putting seven layers of cakey makeup on her face and 500 bobby pins on her head. Perhaps she is interested in the type of beauty that comes from within – something she wants to celebrate with her spouse-to-be on her special day, something that doesn’t stress her out like the table settings do. For this particular woman – and we think she’s a growing breed – there is a place where her beauty will be celebrated and complemented via her hair and makeup and she will not feel the stress that comes with the rest of the planning process.

At the Yves Durif salon on Manhattan’s sophisticated Upper East Side, stylists and artists work to make a bride look like the “most beautiful version of herself.” Through his and the team’s work, owner of the 10-year-old salon, Durif, touts his philosophy that the rapport between stylist, colorist and client is essential to a truly personal and harmonious style. Hair and makeup artist, Maysoon Faraj and stylist Patti Vaccaro, help brides-to-be feel sexy and natural through makeup and hair that accentuate her best qualities. “The bridal industry is such an industry,” said Faraj. “There are so many rules, so much planning. I can’t stand ‘bridal makeup.’ I don’t think a bride should look like she’s putting on a costume of being a bride.” Vaccaro agreed that many brides don’t want to look “costume-y.” They want to look sexy and natural.

In order to see exactly how the team at Yves Durif enhances a bride’s natural beauty, BeautyNews went straight to the source to try it out. What better way to see a philosophy come to life? With the help of talented photographer, Chad Riley, and our lovely model, Lindsay Roebuck, Vaccaro and Faraj created three looks for the modern bride; all of which commemorate the optimism, hope and beauty that’s naturally emitted by a soon-to-be-married woman.

A side swept, cascading look gives brides a feeling of romanticism sans any “fairy-tale falseness.”
Photography by www.chadriley.com

The first look Vaccaro created is for the bride who likes a “some up, some down look.” It’s a sweeping, soft and romantic look that’s good for an open-backed dress. “Lots of girls don’t want to wear their hair up, so this has a cascading feel,” said Vaccaro. Faraj kept the makeup soft and subtle, using washes of color on the eyes, cheeks and lips.

They say April showers bring May flowers – but your hair might beg to differ. With impending rain and unpredictable weather that often carries from April through who-knows-when; our hair needs something a bit more powerful than a good cut or blow dry to keep its fashion forward-looking. It needs weatherproofing.

Anyone with even a slight bit of curl knows that it can turn from wave to washout in seconds, or frizz to frazzle once the first raindrop hits. If you suffer from sickeningly straight hair, on the other hand, then you might not bother on hot or rainy days since the weather is inevitably going to ruin any look you feebly attempt to create.

Luckily there is some hope for such problems. BeautyNewsNYC brings you these ingenious products that are specifically engineered to help you beat out the weather. Rain or shine, you will not need to change your intended style, and the weather won’t change it on you.

Outsmarted
If there’s one household name brand known for a cunning ability to trick hair into doing just what we want it to, it’s John Frieda. His new collection, Weather Works™ by Frizz-Ease® is a collection of products designed for hair suffering from snowy static and rain-drenched frizz.

According to John Frieda’s global creative consultant, Serge Normant, the new collection takes weather “out of the equation” when he’s planning a style for a shoot. In addition to providing a shielding technology to keep scare away the elements like wind and water, the line of shampoo, conditioner and styling crème has a UV inhibitor to protect it from the dangerous sun. In the shampoo, Glyceryl Oleate helps to smooth and soften; in the conditioner, the silicone Aminopropyl Dimenticone helps to resist humidity; and in the Style Sealant Crème, a complex of polymers and silicones maintain style. But big words aside, we’re excited that you can get this weather fighting brilliance for under 10 bucks!

Neutralized
Good things come in small packages, and blow hair products make no exception.

The company’s small, eyedrop-like packaging packs a lot of punch, offering products that cleanse, style and straighten. But we’re interested in one of its new products; the weather or not climate neutralizer ($20.00). This little bottle contains a concentrated, weightless serum that locks out humidity without any sort of greasy residue. It’s good to use on dry hair as a glossy finish and on ends, but can also be used right after towel drying for an enhanced level of weather neutralization.

The lure of the drugstore hair aisle is strong for this gal. Sure, my natural deep brown hair with auburn highlights is…nice. But couldn’t it be darker…sexier? I was sure that it could be. So, Feria Espresso was my drug of choice regularly, every six weeks like clockwork. And until I had professional headshots taken, I had absolutely no idea how unfortunate my hair really looked. A bad dye job at Soon Beauty Lab didn’t help matters, instead, I had layered red highlights on the crown while my poor abused ends had accumulated layer after layer of home dye.

Finally, I decided to do something about it. I booked an appointment for corrective color at Hiro Haraguchi’s uptown salon. For those not in know, Haraguchi trained in Japan and then built his NYC career working with star stylists Oribe and Garren. Today, he’s best known for his work with notable names like Vera Wang and of course, his chic, clean and modern salons uptown and down.

When it comes to a changing of the seasons, hair is often the biggest victim as it gets trapped in a battle between hot and cold, dry and wet, light and dark. The sun comes up, the temperature goes up, and what does our hair do? It reacts. Sometimes well, sometimes poorly. All we can do is try to help it along as it tries to adapt to the climate changes that only a North Eastern state like New York can so predictably offer—of whatever the case may be.

Bobs continue to soar throughout the spring and summer months

Nevertheless, spring is finally here and with warmer weather and longer days, we’re asking ourselves, ‘”What do I do with this hair?” The answer is: amp up the drama and take some risks. Now is the time to chop off any loitering and oppressive long locks and lighten up for what is sure to be a care-free spring and even easier summer in the world of hair.

Mario Russo

Mario Russo, stylist to celebrities like Teri Hatcher and Natalie Portman, filled BN in on some helpful tips for taking hair from winter to spring and into the golden months of summer.