PURPLE BLAB

The spring runway – and even many fall runways – were stalked by glamazons sporting a fresh-faced, natural, no-makeup-makeup look. Have you noticed? So we put Ashley, one of our multi-tasking mavens, to the test and create the look herself.

Meet Ash:

She is an all-natural kind of girl to begin with (not to mention the most amazing singer ever – full on jazz vocals a la Norah Jones).

Armed with Silk Sheets luxe foundation infused with silk, Luxury Squared under-eye concealer and highlighter, collagen-packed Cheek Implants in Backstage Pass (ripe, delicious peach with golden undertones), Lashionista Modelista and Huge Lips Skinny Hips in Worship Kate, she turned herself into an exact replica of what Stella McCartney’s models looked like on the catwalk. (Love Stella, BTW.)

You don’t understand. I NEVER stay up late. I don’t go out. I don’t drink. I don’t do coffee. I like to be in bed NO later than 11p.m. When I heard I’d have a 2a.m. slot on HSN, I immediately panicked. How would I make it?

Lots of sugar-free Red Bull (I know it’s poison, but I had no choice). Lots!

First of all, for the slot, I got decked in purple Proenza Schouler sequins and skinny Current/Elliot jeans. Six inch heels go without saying. Hair, kind of Farrah’d out for the night.

I got to Florida yesterday morning and went right to a go-see. Still needed to find one more model, someone in her 50s and the one I found – LOVE! Sweet, beautiful, poised, sassy with a fun sparkle to her energy. It is all coming together.

HSN, here I come! And ALL of the new products are now on their site at special debut introductory prices. My heart is pounding so hard, you’d think I had a base in my chest cavity.

Thought I’d give you a quick sneak peak at the “warehouse,” which is a fancy way of saying where we are storing Purple Lab remnants. As we gear up for the HSN launch, the office apartment is overflowing with all things purple.

This is a view of the living room from the bedroom, where thare are typically many, many boxes (a.k.a. Sharon’s storage area) filled with lab samples, componentry we’re considering, tissue paper, letterhead, and currently, left over signage from the speed dating event.

I am just coming up for air now. Friday’s speed dating event is still kind of a blur and before I can recuperate, I am on the HSN bandwagon, putting together all of the initiatives behind the launch.

Before I go there, let’s get to the day of… the manic circus mayhem!

Sharon and crew spent about 18 hours assembling gift bags, making signage (and by making signage, I literally mean printing, cutting, and pasting on posterboard – the things you do when you’re on a budget) and arranging the room so that the chairs were in horizontal rows and each dater would have pen and paper for note-taking and Dentyne for fresh date breath.   

You may know her as @LALupusLady on Twitter. Her name is Amanda. Amanda Force. And she is a Purple Lab “Multi-Tasking Maven.”

How did this happen?

When we did our first contest – Kiss & Tell your Huge Lips Skinny Hips I.D. - we awarded 10 of the most viral the title and send them our makeup products for a year (all of our newbies) . I thought it would be fun to give them challenges based on the lifestyle behind Purple Lab and than share them.

Rome wasn’t build in a day.

But the earth took a week (wtih one day of rest).

Jack Donaghy predicted a 9 year ascent to VP when he was relegated to the mail room (30 Rock reference – new obsession).

I spent 26 years in the dating scene until I got hitched (this is if I go back to age 8, the date of my first “real” boyfriend, Jonathan, who said he liked my hair in pig tails and than broke up with me after I reported him to the principal for pulling my pants down on the monkey bars).

True Colors

We had the packaging look and feel down. I was happy as can be. The mock-up of the component came back from China. C’est parfait! There is nothing quite like the feeling of accomplishment of seeing your vision come to life.

I now needed to figure out the colors of the six-shade gloss line.

I polled my makeup artist friends – I am blessed with having a few fabulous ones! I asked them what colors they would bring to someone’s house if they had no idea what that person looked like or what color their skin tone was. They unanimously came up with the same replies: a light pink or nude, a rich pink, a red, a peach, a color, and clear.