BSB: Beauty news, makeup swatches and pictures, nail polish articles, makeup tutorials, product reviews, and how-to's from a MAC-trained makeup artist.

Interview with Janice from Specktra

Here at Fifty-Cent Head, we love MAC and we love Specktra,net. In fact, I daresay I love Specktra more than I love MAC, because it's just such a great group of guys and gals who are gathered together to share an obsession/addiction/problem and have fun with it! We love that the newest scoop on MAC and many other lines can be found on Specktra, and we love the FOTDs and off-topic conversations.

For those who aren't familiar with Specktra, it's a fairly MAC-centric community, bulletin-board-style, that is constantly hopping and always in-the-know! It's not only MAC, though. I've had great discussions on many subjects - some of them not even makeup related!

I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Janice, founder and administrator of Specktra,net and the genius behind its spin-off successes: Specktra Beauty News and the very new Glam Soup.

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       We love Specktra and read it daily! Can you tell us how you got started with it?

Specktra was started when the beautiful Sarah, who maintained the original MAC color story archive, made a personal decision to close her site. I was an active member of MUA, had MAC fever, and utilized Sarah's site all the time as a MAC reference. When Sarah announced the closure I had an overwhelming feeling that I could not let the information disappear. I had befriended another MUA MAC addict and one night over IM I told her that I thought we should see if we could save the information and continue the legacy Sarah had created. When approached Sarah agreed to send us the MAC information she had archived until that point and the rest is history!

What inspired you to create a MAC-centric bulletin board?
I see forums as a very natural way to connect with like-minded people. For this reason they can be an excellent resource for information.

Were you ever a MAC employee? Is Specktra affiliated with MAC in any way?
I have never been employed by MAC, nor is the site affiliated with MAC Cosmetics.

What's your day job? Tell us more about you outside of Specktra!
I'm a Marketing Manager for a vertical network of family and women oriented forums. I am responsible for the marketing of the entire portfolio, but day to day I spend most my time administrating a handful of their forums. I apply much of what I learned over the past 4 years at Specktra to make them successful and happy communities.

What's your favorite part of running Specktra?
The members! I am blessed with 32,000+ of the most intelligent, beautiful, savvy and generous women (and men) I have ever had the pleasure of becoming acquainted with. I'm a host at heart, I enjoy making sure people are comfortable, having a good time and are taking something away from the party they can apply in their "real life".

Do you still get super-excited to get early peeks into MAC collections, or are we the only ones who get all geeked out?
Are you kidding?! My heart skips and I get this crazy flushed feeling each time I receive new information to share.

Is there an over-looked "secret gem" of Specktra that you want us to know about?
Video Tutorials! We have some of the hottest video vixens emerge from Specktra, or come to Specktra to share their Makeup Tutorials. There's an entire forum FULL of videos right in one place.

The blog! It's still growing, but we're working hard to make sure it's an easy way for those who prefer not to navigate the forum get their MAC Scoop!

We're also launching an internet radio show called "Glam Soup" where we'll discuss all things MAC and Beauty related. Our first show is Sunday April 20^th @ 10PM CST. Two Specktra Staff members who also write for the Blog will be joining me as hosts. I'm excited to get it out there, if anything people should tune in to hear us bungle our way through the first couple of shows. 

[Editor's Note: clearly this interview was conducted prior to the 20th - apologies for not giving you a head's-up for Glam Soup in advance. I completely flubbed that one!]

What's your favorite beauty tip?
Remember the brows Ladies and Gents! Brows can really make or break a look, groom them and fill if needed as a part of your regular beauty routine.

What product (or collection or product line or whatever) really stands out as a disappointment?
Call me crazy, but I thought Sweetie Cakes was disappointing collection. It was gimmicky and sparkly, pass!

Specktra Beauty News is a great source of information and delight for us. Do you enjoy it? Do you have other folks who help you keep it lively?
I do enjoy it, though I must admit being a blogger is seriously difficult! This year I added two additional Beauty Editors who assist with writing content and keeping the blog fresh. It was really a struggle for me to keep up with it when I was going at it alone. Balancing all the areas of the site became a little overwhelming, so rather than neglect anything I decided it was time to open up a couple of spots for editors. The great thing is, both of the ladies are amazing staff members on the Specktra Forum! Jamie is Shimmer, and Jen is MAC_Whore who by the way has an AMAZING collection of MAC Porn.

Are there other blogs or sites you visit regularly?
I do visit several blogs regularly, they are mostly celebrity gossip and paparazzi blogs though! It's my secret boredom outlet. I am in love with GalaDarling.com. She is so amazing, smart, beautiful and talented.

[Editor's Note: Now I'm addicted to and in love with GalaDarling, too. She's amazing and I just love the purple brows!]

What are the best things about being a Beauty Blogger?
Connecting with other Beauty Bloggers! They are such an exciting group of women, the men are jewels when you come across them too.

And the things that bum you out?
Competitiveness for no reason, (the internet is big enough for all of us!) why be cut-throat competitive and burn social bridges when we can support one another and rejoice in our successes as women?

What collection are you most excited about right now?
Right now I would have to say that I have reached my peak with Heatherette. It is such a FABULOUS collection, the packaging was so gloriously tacky. Dress Camp is seriously hot too, everyone will want to get their hands on that one!

What are your current must-have MAC products?
The new moisture lush moisturizers! They were a lifesaver earlier this year when my skin was so dry from winter. I also am digging Strobe Liquid because I wear a crème foundation and it adds a subtle luminescence.

Is there anything else you want us to know about you or Specktra?
I'd love for your readers to stop by and visit with us. Specktra is a diverse, intelligent, and extremely supportive community full of Beauty Addicts!

Interview: Ramy, brow guru

I had the distinct honor of interviewing Ramy Gafny, known as "Manhattan's Brow Guru". His spa is on East 31st, between Park and Madison, and his line of cosmetics is growing steam in the industry.

Not sure you've heard of Ramy? You may have seen this makeup artist, whose theme is "minimum makeup, maximum impact," on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Entertainment Tonight, or E!. Or perhaps you read about him in Vogue? In Allure? InStyle? Shape? Self? Town & Country? (I'm a confessed magazine junkie, so that's how I first heard of him) He has worked with Britney, Lindsay, Nicole, Halle, Regis, Ivanka, Naomi, Mariska, and a bunch of other folks whose names you'd recognize even if I do have to use their last names!  Hullo, Katherine Heigl, Liev Schrieber, Rhianna, Emme, Carol Burnett, Julia Stiles, Ray Romano - random much? - Barbara Walters, Debra Messing, Renee Zellweger and the Queen of the Red Carpet: Joan Rivers.

Now that we've established his credentials, let's talk philosophy. He believes that women don't need tons of products that languish in their cabinets or drawers. (He would shudder at my makeup collection, no?!) Ramy beauty therapy - that's the name of his line - was created to give women multi-purpose products that will give them a quick way to enhance their natural look. And he also believes that brows are important - so important that he's picked up that moniker: Manhattan's Brow Guru.

So here's what he had to say. Hopefully I'll have some Ramy product reviews for you soon...

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How did you come to be known as a specialist in eyebrows?

I was hired to be Makeup Director at a top Fifth Avenue salon and they said "You're going to be in charge of eyebrows too" and I said "OK" and started practicing on the staff. It turned out that I had a natural eye for brow shaping and people started lining up. Then the salon started booking me clients and next thing I knew, I was written up in Vogue as New York's Best brow shaper!

Are there trends in brows? If so, what is the next trend you see on the horizon?

The current trend is having very full, strong brows that look polished and arched. I happen to think this look is classic and that brows should be classic and not trendy. You don't want to see a picture of yourself in ten years and have to say, "That was the trend back then" I think brows should always be as full as possible with a nice arch. The next trend will probably be too go a touch thinner - which will then lead to overly thin brows and come back full circle to the full brow.

What is the worst faux pas one can commit with her brows? What about for men?

 Making the brows too thin or creating the dreaded hook shape (or both!) are horrible and common mistakes. No one should ever wax, but men especially look overdone and like drag queens when their brows are waxed.

How do you feel about brow color? When one changes one's hair, should the brow color change as well? 

Your brow color can be up to two shades lighter or darker than your hair color, but no more than that. Your brows do not have to match your hair color exactly, but you don't want a huge discrepancy, like black eyebrows with blonde hair or blonde eyebrows with red hair.

 
What's best: waxing, threading, tweezing? Why?

Tweezing is best because it's the most precise method that offers the most control. Waxing is the worst as you're just indiscriminately removing rows of hair and one wrong move means "bye-bye eyebrow". Waxing is also aging and bad for the delicate skin around the eye area. Threading is what was done before tweezers were invented and its a trend. I hear it's more painful than tweezing and that sometimes hair breaks instead of being removed from the root, so it may not grow back in a uniform manner.

Advise us on how to fill brows in for a most natural look, please. And tell us what products you like for this task.

You can use a pencil, a powder or a pomade to fill brows. As a rule, choose a color a shade or two lighter than your brow color. Lighter looks more natural, darker, more artificial and heavy. When in doubt, choose taupe. Whatever you use to fill brows, always brush it through to remove excess product and blend. This leaves you with a natural looking borw, not a made up looking brow. My favorite products are my Miracle Brow Compact ($28.) which has two universal shades that work on most everyone, my Neutral Impact eyeshadow, and coming in April, My Perfect Brow Wand, which will be a double ended pen witg a neutral brow filler on one end and a highlighter on the other!

Taking advantage of this opportunity, I'd like to ask about my own brows. They used to be full but are more sparse now (overplucking, age, and a touch of trichtillomania). What's the best way to encourage them to grow back, or is it too late? Do I go in stages or just not touch them for a few weeks/months? 

The fastest way to grow them back to former glory is to touch NOTHING for up to three months. Really go back to square one. Be sure to take a good multi-vitamin to ensure your body has all the nutrients it needs for optimum hair growth and try a product like my Eye GROW Brows! which can be applied nightly to help hair grow faster and fuller.

 
Is there something you want to tell the world about eyebrows?

Having your eyebrows professionally shaped is the fastest way to improve your appearance without plastic surgery. A proper shaping  can make you look younger, more sophisticated, and generally more perfect!

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Thanks to Ramy for his time and expertise!