Ilona Jeiger is our Authentic Beauty of the Week. Her daughter, Amy, gave her the gift of the beauty in the form of an Image Journey, Authentic Beauty’s signature service, and a one-of-a-kind makeover experience.
When Ilona arrived for her Image Journey, she was well prepared with her Image Journey homework in tow (her collage of images that she found beautiful) as well as her makeup bag. Then, Alyson Howard-Hoag examined her collage and learned about Ilona’s beauty goals before teaching her the techniques and suggested tools she needed to create an easy to apply makeup look that she loved.
Her Beauty Goals: Ilona Before
In her 60’s, Ilona had never really learned how to apply makeup correctly and she wanted to learn how to coverup marks and scars on her face from acne as well as achieve smoother skin by covering up lines and wrinkles.
“Ilona had a lot of questions about products and application techniques,” Alyson said, “but what was most poignant about our discussion is that no matter what Ilona had tried in the past nothing had really worked for her. Just like our mantra at Authentic Beauty Salon & Studio, my goal was to help Ilona create and then master a makeup look she adored and that she would love what she saw when she looked in the mirror.”
Her Makeup Collage (The Image Journey Homework)
When you come for an Image Journey at Authentic Beauty, clients create a collage of looks that appeal to them using Pinterest to pin images to or for a more tactile experience some clients use poster board to paste magazine images to. Illona’s Image Journey board consisted of fresh and pretty makeup looks with a few glamour images of Helen Mirren and Raquel Welch.
“Everyone always questions whether they do the homework the right way,” Alyson said, “but there is no right way. More clients than not get caught up in comparing themselves to the images rather than looking to them for inspiration. What I loved about Ilona’s board was that although she was not the age of the models she chose, she chose them for inspiration and the result of her board was an overall feel of youth, life and fresh vitality!”
Fresh Skin At Any Age?
One of the hardest dilemmas as one ages is how to get one’s skin to look fresh and glowing. “Mature skin has a tendency to not want to hold moisture much like a plant that doesn’t have enough water and the leaves look wilted and brown,” Alyson said. “Our skin is quite similar if we don’t take the proper steps.” So, the main issue Alyson addressed was how to get Ilona’s skin to glow while at the same time concealing any hyper pigmentation on her face.
“I told Ilona I was going to play (or try out various techniques) in order to figure out the easiest way for her to get the results she wanted,” Alyson said, and this is what having a professional makeup artist is good for. “We have tools in our toolbox and a lot of them but not all tools work for every job or client. It takes experience and know-how in order to choose the right ones,” Alyson added.
The Organic and Vegan Skincare That Made Her Skin Glow
In Ilona’s case, the most important issue was getting her skin to hold moisture so Alyson used organicSpa’s ACE serum (an age-defying repair serum that aids in revitalizing, re-firming and reactivating luminosity with vitamins A, C & E and potent antioxidant nutrients) and organicSpa’s day moisturizer.
I then began playing with a few different primers and our new tinted moisturizers made with 98% natural ingredients from Coola.“Most of the time a tinted moisturizer or primer goes under your foundation but what I discovered, which gave us a beautiful result, was to put the tinted moisturizer on top of her foundation,” Alyson said.
“This method magically gave Ilona the healthy glow she was looking for and our safe and non toxic Magic 3 in 1 Foundation covered up any skin damage and made her skin look absolutely beautiful.”
The Magic 3 in 1 Foundation (made and produced by Authentic Beauty) was a perfect fit for Ilona and it is a customizable, pro grade and non-toxic foundation with workable pigments made specifically for each client’s coloring and face.
“We believe in beauty with a clean conscience and with all of the products we produce and sell, all of them are evaluated ingredient by ingredient through the Environmental Working Group’s cosmetic database ensuring there are no harmful chemicals (no carcinogens or endocrine disruptors) in anything we sell,” Alyson said.
Her Perfect Pout
Ilona complained that nothing stayed on her lips. So, Aly recommended a beautiful lip stain in plum. She already had a great deal of color in her natural lip so the stain just enhanced what she already had.
“A lip stain can be a wonderful addition to your lip gloss if you want to ensure that you will always have color if the gloss has worn off,” Alyson said. “So, I chose two lip colors, Tea time (a warm color) and Work your magic (a cool color), that would work with a variety of looks on Ilona. And we coordinated the blush to work with her lips.”
Ilona’s Irresistible Eyes
For her eyes, the main goal was to define. None of Ilona’s inspirational pictures in her Image Journey homework (except for the glamour looks) had strong eyes. They were very clean with a soft lash line and defined brows. So, Alyson opted for an eyeshadow called Cameo on her lid, Shine Control as her highlighter and an eyeshadow called Canyon in her crease and some eyeliner.
- “The result was a beautifully defined eye that brought out her beautiful eye color,” Alyson said. And talk about a real eye opener. “I didn’t think eyeliner would be good on me but it turns out it is,” Ilona added.
Ilona’s Final Thoughts on the Image Journey
“It was a very good experience and not your usual makeover. I learned new techniques that I am now using at home to cover up the scars and marks on my face using the appropriate tools where I normally would use my fingers. And I feel like I learned how to apply makeup for the first time,” she said. Ilona was also pleasantly surprised at some colors that Alyson recommended. “At first, I thought some of the colors wouldn’t be good for me but they were great,” Ilona added.
Overall, the experience for Ilona was nothing but positive. “Alyson was very attentive, very encouraging and she made me feel good about myself. And while I might not be able to achieve the exact looks in my Image Journey collage, I now know that I truly can achieve a better, smoother look on my own.”
Would you like to give the gift of beauty to yourself or someone you love and experience this one-of-a-kind makeover called The Image Journey? Call Authentic Beauty at 404.849.0443 or visit the studio at 4674 Roswell Rd. Atlanta, GA 30342.
