Before

To whom do we entrust the look of our runway models? Bryan Beaver and Tim Maurer — two fantastic guys whose clientele range from Columbusites to celebrities like Faith Hill and Whitney Houston.

Bryan’s the guy who creates a great swing bob for you on Monday, styles models for publications like Elle Magazine, Vogue, and W on the weekend, and then jets off to Paris for a bit to accept an award for his styling.

The same goes for Tim: with no formal training, he’s been styling celebrities ever since he took a job under Elizabeth Taylor’s personal makeup artist (as a way to pay the bills while trying to make it as a musician in New York City). They’re the guys who make a living by making ordinary people fabulous, and for just one day I fell into these ranks.

The Plan

To give you a first-hand account of what goes into the hair and makeup styling of a model, I signed up to spend a day being just that—made up into a model. Tough job, right? I live by my pen (or keyboard if we’re being technical) and get free makeovers by the best in the business.

On any normal working day, I apply a touch of powder, some blush, and minimal amounts of mascara and just let my hair air dry. Sometimes—but only when I’m feeling really fancy—I’ll use my grandmother’s antique acrylic hair rollers to style my hair. The day the “before” photograph was taken was not a fancy day. It was 8 a.m. on a Sunday; the coffee hadn’t arrived; and I was working. Granted, I was working the photo shoot for our upcoming fashion show—did I mention this job was tough?

When I got to Bryan’s on the day of the makeover, he greeted me with a hug (which is normal) then whipped out some new-fangled double-barreled curling iron that requires the gloved stylist to weave the hair between the two barrels. It’s the tool stylists use to give Lindsay Lohan and Miley Cyrus their waves, and it’s just fabulous. It only took an hour, a few head flips, and a surprisingly small amount of product before Bryan sent me on my way.

After

The first thing Tim did was contour my nose, giving me, as he put it, an “instant nose job.” After that, he used an air brush foundation to even out my skin tone and began a choreographed series of brush strokes and color combinations that transformed me from pale writer to bronzed model. With fake eyelashes securely in place, I went to get the “after” photo taken. I think I looked—as my sister would put it—‘like a fox,’ but you can be the judge.

Perhaps the most important thing I took away from my brief modeling stint—besides a great new lip gloss from Tim and an upcoming haircut with Bryan—was the advice Tim wrote to me: “Every woman should feel like a supermodel every time she leaves the house. If it takes more than 10 minutes, you’re doing something wrong!” If you want to get your own firsthand experience as a model, check out Bryan and Tim online at: http://salonlofts.com/bryan_beaver and www.mukhaspa.com.

And, if you want to see their magic on the runway, get your tickets online now at www.ccad.edu/fashion.

Until next time, cheers.