Before
Seeking to join the exclusive full-time magazine fold, Launchpad’s past intern, Meredith Turley, is feeling the economic slump in spades. Commuting from New Jersey to Manhattan for daytime interviews is a drain; morphing from woman-with-a-mag-mission during the day to gal-about-town for drinks with her NYC friends at night is more than a little depressing. “Looking for work, and all of the travel, just hasn’t boded well with my beauty regimen—I’ve just felt, and looked, really flat,” she confesses.
Forget economic slumps; Turley’s in a beauty-esteem slump. Though she pulled off the old Beckham bob with plenty of panache, the cut had both grown out and been worn out: She’d been virtually wearing the same style day-in and day-out for over a year (poker-straight, down, deep side part). “When I cut my long hair short, I was going for a whole new look, but then I fell back into the same habits—it was just straight hair all the time,” she admits. And then there was that little kitchen beautician stunt she pulled: Phoning LP’s fashion editor, Karie L. Frost, in a panic, Turley admitted she took to the box and now had vastly lighter roots than ends: “I’ve always been a box dyer, even though I know it’s a stylist’s nightmare!”
DayGlo roots, muddy ends, a stale cut and style: To give her what she needs—versatility, color correction and a hair hue that empowers her—we took Turley to Wella Professional master colorist Eva Scrivo’s SoHo-area salon for a professional powwow with stylist Donna Tripodi, colorist Mira Herri and makeup artist Vinnetta Scrivo.
To dig Turley out of her style rut, Tripodi says, “We wanted to give her as much versatility as possible. She’ll be able to create sexy, beach-y waves; a straight, structured look; or a ’40s wave.”
After
First order of business: Assure Turley that volume can be created without sacrificing length. “Women become so obsessed with inches,” Tripodi laments. “But it’s not always about length; it’s about creating a focal point—especially when you’re working with the interior of the hair.” Using a straight blade that lends zigzag texture, Tripodi lopped off copious amounts of hair, yet plumped up the angled style.
With the cut set, Herri evened out Turley’s self-dyed strands and then employed one of Wella’s six Color Movement techniques, Color Blending, which creates a halo of color to enhance shine. “We wanted to make sure that the haircolor moves with the hair’s texture and cut; we wanted it to flow with the way Meredith walks, and to mirror her natural bounce,” says Herri. She balayaged honey caramel highlights, starting one inch from the root area, so that “the natural growth won’t be obvious because Meredith doesn’t know if she can afford getting it touched up on a regular basis,” and then glazed the entirety a gorgeous cognac.
To suss out Turley’s fresh-faced youth, makeup artist Scrivo chose to lend her skin a dewy finish with hints of bronzing. “Meredith doesn’t wear a lot of makeup; she’s natural, yet desires a more glam look. I call it ‘mini-diva,’” laughs Scrivo. “Playing up the eye is an easy way to do that by layering cool matte grays and taupe.”
“Everything about her new look—cut, color and makeup—is more luscious. We gave her more volume and body, and enhanced depth and richness, which all come together to boost her confidence,” says Tripodi.
“Listen: I’ve been eating Easy Mac morning, noon and night,” laughs Turley. “To go into the salon and be completely pampered from start to finish was really uplifting.”
