Around Town: style with a cause event (page 53)
Category: News
It’s summer and crazy hot so I prefer to enhance my natural features with a dewy-natural look. I had the wonderful opportunity to have my makeup done at Sephora this week. I made a beauty reservation via Sephora.com and walked in with a specific goal in mind: glowing skin.
I was greeted and checked in for my reservation and waiting for the lovely Samantha in the “Beauty Studio”. I shared my goals of my visit and she asked me questions, such as which features did I want as the focal point or that I wanted to conceal? Throughout the experience, Samantha offered tips and advice on how to achieve a natural glow, and she would check on me if I was comfortable with either the amount of pressure she applied with beauty tools or the way the product was sitting on my face.
Skin Prep (It’s All In The Skin): The biggest secret to glowing skin, according to Samantha, was how you prepped your skin for makeup.
– Korres Greek Yoghurt-A three in one cleansing, toning, and makeup removing emulsion for a clean fresh base. The texture of this product was exactly like yogurt but it was lightweight and made my skin feel refreshed. This is one of Samantha’s favorite products that she swears by and it was my favorite product she used.
– Caudalie’s Grape Water-A moisturizing mist, Samantha sprayed an even layer onto my face to help retain moisture in the dry spots of my skin.
– Caudalie’s Premieres Vendanges Moisturizing Cream applied this to the dry areas of my face since I have combination skin.
– Finishing with Caudalie’s Beauty Elixir, my skin was all prepped and ready for my makeup.
Make-up:
– Samantha suggested Laura Mercier’s Foundation Primer – Oil Free, since I had combination skin.
– Next she decided to work on my eyes first (always start with the eyes so you can clean up with foundation) and applied the Sephora Collection Colorful Shadow & Liner in 05 Beige to my lids as a neutral pop of color. She then set it with the Sephora Collection Colorful Eyeshadow in My Teddy Bear to mute down the cream base since the focus was my skin and not my eyes. These two colors together were absolutely gorgeous and would work on any olive or yellow-toned skin.
– Moving on to foundation, Samantha chose Laura Mercier’s Candleglow Soft Luminous Foundation and applied it using a Beauty Blender for a more natural finish. The foundation felt very lightweight and Samantha said this was one of her holy grail products. Next, Nars’s Creamy Radiant Concealer to brighten up my under-eyes and set it using Laura Mercier’s Translucent Loose Setting Powder.
– Tarte’s Lights, Camera, Lashes Mascara was the finishing touch to my eyes, after curling my eyelashes of course.
– Using Benefit’s Hoola Bronzer, Samantha taught me how to do a light contour for my face. Because I have a round-shaped face, she recommended that I apply bronzer at a sharp angle from the top of my ear towards the corners of my mouth to slim down my face and used Nars’s Blush in Satellite of Love to add some color to my skin.
– Finally, it was time to glow. Using Laura Mercier’s Face Illuminator Powder in Indiscretion, Samantha highlighted the areas where the sun would naturally hit my face. On the cheek bone, tip of my nose, brow bone, etc. This powder was amazing and made my skin look beautifully highlighted without looking greasy or oily.
– The last two products Samantha used on my face was the Urban Decay All Nighter Long-Lasting Makeup Setting Spray, to set the beautiful work she did, and finished it off with Tatcha’s Luminous Dewy Skin Mist (another one of my favorites) on the angles of my face for that last touch of glow.
Overall, Samantha offered me a great experience and everything on my face, except for my under-eye concealer creasing on me, stayed flawless.
Questions for Stephen
This year for style with a cause we did a fabric collaboration with a company called Spoonflower. If you’ve ever been in love with the fabric challenge that is done on “Project Runway”, then you have witnessed the genius of Spoonflower. A company that allows anyone to make their own fabric and print on different types of fabric, wallpaper or wrapping paper. We designed a pattern with the words from the butterfly trail from our style with a cause logo. This is what it looks like:
And as we were working with them, we got to see how on fleek the founder of Spoonflower really is. He is a self professed geek, but we see him more as a visionary who wants to make the world better, easier and a lot more colorful. We are so excited to share a glimpse into his mind, and his company and their core values.
- What made you start Spoonflower?
Spoonflower was my wife’s idea. Unlike me, she is someone who sews and has always had a passion for fabric. Back in 2007 Kim hatched a plan to make new curtains for our den and she said something along the lines of, “You know what would be cool? If I could design my own fabric.” I found it really strange that she couldn’t design her own fabric — after all, the Interwebz had already spawned a world where you could customize almost anything, from t-shirts to photo books. But at the time nothing like that existed in the realm of fabric. When my co-founder Gart Davis and I launched Spoonflower, we were both building it for our wives and people like them. We set out to design a service that would expand the range of tools available to creative people who work with fabric.
- How did you come up with the name Spoonflower?
Spoonflower was named for the common name of a plant that Kim and I had growing in our backyard, which seemed to fit the idea of a business built around creative personal expression and handmade things. The scientific name is the white arrow arum, but the flower itself is shaped like a spoon.
- What did you do before Spoonflower?
Before founding Spoonflower, both Gart and I worked for a company called Lulu.com, which was the first web site to make it free to publish a book on the Internet. As an author, you could upload your book and make it available for sale; when a copy was purchased it was printed on demand. While Lulu.com was (and is) different in many ways from Spoonflower, that basic idea — of empowering creative people to take advantage of a digital manufacturing process — is very similar.
- What exciting things are in the pipeline at Spoonflower?
We’re very excited about two initiatives at the moment. The first is a push to open our first office in Europe, which will be located in Berlin. The second is a brand new site, called Sprout Patterns, that is getting ready to launch. Sprout Patterns is a collaboration with independent sewing pattern designers and offers a tool that allows you to order customized patterns printed directly onto fabric with the individual pattern pieces pre-printed with Spoonflower designs. It’s the first in what we hope will be a series of cool new projects that share fabric printing as a common thread.
- Who is your style icon?
I am a pretty unfashionable person, I’m afraid. As a geek, I tend to pick my icons for their intellectual qualities rather than their visual style. Oliver Sacks is one of my intellectual icons. Christopher Hitchens was another. But if I had to pick a style icon to play Spoonflower’s co-founder on stage, I’d choose Tim Gunn. He’d be much more plausible in the role than either Gart or me.
- Can you tell us some of the celebrities that are wearing Spoonflower creations or using them in their own lines?
We’re most excited these days about Raleigh designer (and former Project Runway finalist) Justin LeBlanc, who continues to incorporate Spoonflower fabric into innovative collections. But many up and coming designers have used Spoonflower fabric over the years. We even offer an Emerging Designer Grant that allows individuals to apply for credit toward fabric they can use for projects.
- What inspires you?
The Spoonflower community inspires me. We hold weekly design contests, each one with a different theme. Watching hundreds of designers from different parts of the world take a single theme and turn it into countless unique interpretations every week is unfailingly inspiring.
- What is your mantra/motivational quote you live by?
There’s a line in the Bob Dylan song It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding) that says, “he not busy being born is busy dying.” I think of that often.
- What are you hardest on yourself for? What’s your negative self-talk that you need to stop?
I’ll refrain from over-sharing on this topic, but your question did remind me of one of my favorite SNL skits from the 80’s, which had Al Franken playing Stuart Smalley, purveyor of Daily Affirmations. His catchphrase was, “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, people like me.”
- What is your favorite fabrication?
I assume you’re referring to favorite fabric designs, and I have many. One of my favorite Spoonflower designers is Valentina Harper, but another example of a favorite fabric (and theme) is this bug fabric by VerryCherry. I have a chair in my office covered with the bug fabric, which I love.
- What has been your biggest lesson learned creating Spoonflower?
We’ve learned many lessons over the last seven years, some of them the hard way! The most important lesson, from a customer-facing standpoint, is that you need to simplify. The failure to simplify is a common problem for startups. Drilling down to just the most essential features and message is, I think, something that is especially hard for technical people. It’s hard for anyone, really.
- How does Spoonflower empower others?
I think of our business model as a very obvious one, in many ways. The technology needed to print fabric digitally is not something that, practically speaking, most people can afford to keep in their garages. We bought the machines, then designed a web site that allows anyone to use them. It’s that simple. As a result of Spoonflower, thousands of talented artists all over the world have gotten a chance to experiment with designing fabric, which is something they might not otherwise have had a chance to do. Because of all those artists and what they’ve been able to create using Spoonflower, people who love fabric and making things with fabric now have hundreds of thousands of choices — designs they can purchase — that they never had before. It’s a virtuous circle.
- Who is your dream designer to create a fabric on Spoonflower?
My dream designers are all already on Spoonflower.
- The prettiest feature/attribute on a woman?
Her creativity.
- At what point did you believe you were a success?
A few years ago I was walking the aisles at Quilt Market, which is an industry event held annually in Houston, and I realized that almost every major fabric house exhibiting there was featuring at least one collection created by someone who had come from the Spoonflower community. It really took my breath away. I realized then that my fondest dreams as an entrepreneur had been realized: Spoonflower had, in fact, changed the world.
- What made you want to be part of style with a cause?
Part of the mission of style with a cause is to empower and inspire. Those words mean a lot to us, too.
- What is the best advice you’ve ever received?
My mother used to tell me to smile at people and not to let things get to me. Excellent advice. I often wish she was still here to remind me.
If you want to learn more about Spoonflower or get started creating your own fabric design, click here
View style with a cause on KTNV Las Vegas The Morning Blend click here
Choosing Opportunity Village to be this year’s beneficiary was a no brainer. This past spring I helped with a fashion show with all of the OVIP’s. I have known about Opportunity Village since I moved here almost 13 years ago. I have always loved the organization and thought they were doing so many wonderful things. When I agreed to work on this project, I asked a lot of questions about the girls that were going to participate. I wanted to make sure that I was sensitive to each one of their individual abilities, disabilities, likes, wants, hobbies, personalities and fashion sense.
I decided to create a questionnaire to help the process along. I asked them what their favorite things were. If they could be someone else, who would, they want to be? I asked them to describe their style and fashion sense. We were ready to rock and roll.
What happened from that point on is where the real story lies.
Each one of the girls came in and we talked about their answers during the initial fitting. I learned that most of the girls participating were in their early adulthood and trying to date. One of the girls told me I made her look fat. They wanted to look like royalty. Some wanted to look androgynous. Some had always wanted to be a cowgirl.
As I got to know each and every one of them, I realized so many times we are solely focusing on how we can help them with their disabilities and we don’t look much further than that. But most of these girls are struggling with so many of the same things we are. They are trying to date. They want to look and feel beautiful. They have issues and jealousy with their friends. They don’t love their bodies. They struggle with self-confidence and self–worth. They want to fall in love. They want to be loved.
So this year, I am committed to helping these beautiful women feel and look great at their next fashion show, Starlight Ball and dinner with friends. I want to help advocate for these women beyond the wonderful things that Opportunity Village already provides. To help them feel and look “like Katy Perry”, “like a princess” and like the best version of themselves. To be able to look in the mirror and see what beauty stares right back at them. Thank you for shifting my perception and sharing your beauty and soul with me.
We may have been quiet the last little while, but we have been mighty busy getting ready to roll out so many exciting things before this year’s style with a cause event that takes place Thursday, September 17th, on the runway at the Great Hall inside Fashion Show Mall in fabulous Las Vegas!
I’m pleased to share with you the new website design. Play around on the site! Everything clicks to something else and there’s a lot of great information on here and so much more to come. From here, you can nominate a friend for the beauty transformations, like us on our social media pages, learn about our designer collaborations, explore our sponsors, watch videos from past events, purchase tickets to the event and eventually you will be able to bid on our auction items and purchase exclusive items made just for style with a cause.
style with a cause was just some crazy idea I had three years ago. I had said to one of my friends, “I wish I could help more women look and feel beautiful in the skin they’re in.” Each one of my clients goes through their own metamorphosis. So much of fashion focus on what is not good enough about us and as I work with my clients one on one, I see those roadblocks crumble and they gain more clarity on their own beauty. I wish I could give each and every one of you this same experience, but I know that is just not humanly possible. And that is how style with a cause was born.
style with a cause is designed to empower and inspire women through fashion and beauty. I hope style with a cause will mean something special to you and help give you the courage to stop shaming yourself, forgive yourself and look in the mirror and see what is uniquely wonderful about each and every one of you; all while enjoying some fashion tips, beauty trends and stylist tricks along the way.
Please make sure to let us know what you #loveaboutyourselfie and you just might end up on our website!
The last three years of my life have been my hardest and my most rewarding. I have had to learn a lot about myself, my friendships, and how everything fits together. There have been times where I wonder if I created this because I’m the one that needs the message the most. And there have been times that I feel like I have it figured out and then I have to restart and relearn. And then there are times that remind me that simple acts of kindness can change someone’s perspective for a lifetime. And there you have it! I hope you enjoy and I hope you will explore the movement, want to become part of the movement and share the movement with your friends.
