Authentic Beauty wants to extend a huge thank you to Christine Eisner, brand culture and lifestyle consultant and author of Comfort Living, A Back to Basics Guide To a More Balanced Lifestyle, whose expertise over the past year has resulted in a realigned brand culture that can be seen, and more importantly, felt as soon as you cross the threshold of Authentic Beauty Salon and Studio.
The focus of Christine’s work and her company, Lifestyle Design, is on experiences rather than appearances. And every change made at Authentic Beauty was with that in mind. Now, all who enter the studio experience Authentic Beauty as we are now, rather than who we were in the past.
Her true specialty is communications and messaging of all types, verbal, written, visual, and subliminal. This she developed through decades of living and working in the US and internationally which gave her a unique perspective on lifestyle and branding. With a college degree from Georgetown University in Mandarin Chinese and Business, Christine later studied and worked as an interior designer.
She combined this base of knowledge with tools and skills developed elsewhere, including her work at Polo Ralph Lauren Corporation where she was responsible for articulating the company’s image via community outreach, and philanthropic and cause-related marketing efforts that reflected Mr Lauren’s values.
She arrived on the scene at Authentic Beauty with her unique approach to lifestyle and brand development, where she spent several months absorbing how the core priorities at Authentic Beauty were connecting with our brand culture. She looked at our branding, work culture and organizational flow, our marketing, our location, our interior space, paying special attention to our customers’ experiences. The goal was to link Authentic Beauty’s brand to our day-to-day lifestyle, what she refers to as our “brand culture”.
(Check out this before and after video here that showcases how Christine shaped the experience of Authentic Beauty Salon & Studio to be a more authentic reflection of our company brand.)
She asked Alyson how she wanted people (employees as well as customers) to feel when they spent time at the studio. “Alyson’s first word was ‘safe’, which I also sensed meant ‘welcoming’ and ‘unpretentious’,” Christine said. “With this idea plus the cues from the original brand image, logo, and colors, especially the pink and orange, we were off and running,” Christine added.
The environment needed to be streamlined so that the “treasures” of Authentic Beauty would take the spotlight. “There were too many obstacles that were distracting from the brand. We needed to emphasize the characteristics that make this salon so special,” Christine said. That included:
–Placing more focus on the Image Journey, Authentic Beauty’s signature service and transformational makeover experience. So, we dusted off former clients’ Image Journey boards and framed them using, of all things,gold duct tape! Why? In Christine’s words, “there was no need to make them overly precious, but it was important to give them ‘a voice’, since the Image Journey is an important part of the Authentic Beauty process.”
–Saying goodbye to the floral logo designs on the walls so that the artists would take center stage, not the wall graphics.
-‘Fun’ was another word that Alyson felt was important to the culture of her brand. So, we infused some energy and sparkle into the space, but not so it was overpowering or too glitzy. We brought two of the signature Authentic Beauty colors into the space in a BIG way, accenting them with a gold shimmery trim.
– Reexamining and repositioning product displays, the location of furniture and fixtures, and what was (and just as importantly, what was not on walls), etc. To her, these are all vehicles for communication.
– Shining the spotlight on the custom lipstick and lip gloss station. Before, it took a back seat in the back of the brow room. Now, it is in full view, just as you enter the brow room. Since it aligns so perfectly with Authentic Beauty’s vision that every person’s beauty is unique, it feels as if it has always been there!
Alyson Howard-Hoag and Christine Eisner “For me, it was about the space reflecting what we are really about. The concept of Authentic Beauty is now present throughout the studio thanks to Christine,” said Alyson Howard-Hoag, Authentic Beauty’s founder and CEO.
“We used the renovation as a team building experience. The entire staff was part of this project, and their love and care is literally in the walls,” she added. “The studio is ALIVE now. I smile every time I walk in the door and I am proud of our space,” Alyson said.
Lead makeup artist Becca Bussert added, “After Christine came to Authentic Beauty’s studio and worked her magic, it felt warmer and more comfortable. She turned the waiting areas into ‘campfires’ where clients are more likely to connect with each other and regard their time in the studio as more than just an in-and-out brow appointment.”
This idea of “campfires”, intentional centers of energy that draw people in, is at the very core of Lifestyle Design and is present in everything Christine does, whether for businesses or private clients.
To find out more about how Christine Eisner can shape the brand culture of your business or organization, click here. To discover how you can live a more balanced lifestyle at home, at work or anywhere, visit her website at comfortlivingbychristine.com.
And check out her book on Amazon, Comfort Living, A Back to Basics Guide To a More Balanced Lifestyle, online here.
