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THE DALLAS LOOK SAVING FACE

Make yourself over from the neck up
By Fran Gardner Youssef |

IS THERE anyone out there who really believes that beauty is only in the eye of the beholder? The devotion with which Americans pursue good looks and trim bodies these days makes a strong argument that, old-fashioned proverbs aside, the battle for external beauty rages as fiercely as ever.

The arcane arts of ancient beauty regimes and the “vials of ivory and colored glass” belonging to fabled sirens have given way to today’s cosmetic wizardry: plastic surgery, hair design and skin care. Specialists in these fields promise to give you what God didn’t and to fix any mistakes he made the first time around. There’s nothing wrong with making the most of your physical appearance, although it seems that Americans seek loveliness with the religious fervor formerly reserved for those knights in search of the Holy Grail.

It’s wise to remember that beauty maintenance can be rigorous, expensive and confusing. After all, for every article warning us against the destructive effects of soap and water on the face, there is an interview with a breathtaking model who swears that good ole water is the only thing she uses on her million-dollar visage.

As with any discipline (and beauty maintenance is, after all. a discipline), there is a technique that will suit your needs and your budget. Here are numerous services to make a gorgeous new you.

Elizabeth Arden, Suite 1685. Galleria, 13350 Dallas Pkwy., 458-8888. Going through Elizabeth Arden’s red door symbolizes the ultimate pampering experience for women. Whether in New York, Beverly Hills or the spa retreat at Maine Chance, the Arden salon experience promises to make each customer feel like a princess. The new Dallas salon is the latest addition to the Arden chain, and here, as in each of the others, “the client is the salon.” Elizabeth Arden employs 42 licensed professionals to massage, groom and pamper. The minute a customer dons her pink terry-cloth robe, the pampering begins. Staffers here say that a face treatment with hand massage and various herbal masques may be the most requested service.

Elizabeth Arden attracts regular clients who come in for manicures, pedicures, massages, hair-styling and lessons in makeup and exercise. Uniformed maids serve tea, coffee or light lunches to customers. The ambiance is soothing; a suite of furniture from Arden’s home greets customers in the foyer. Elizabeth Arden offers a variety of beauty packages; each includes several different services for one price. “Miracle Morning,” for example, offers massage, hair-styling, manicure, face treatment and daytime makeup for $100, while “Maine Chance Day” includes exercise or steam cabinet, massage, hair-styling, manicure, pedicure, face treatment, daytime makeup and lunch for $140. The packages may also be given as gifts.

Georgette Klinger, Suite 1265, Galleria, 13350 Dallas Pkwy., 385-9393. “Your initial facial treatment is your first step in a lifelong commitment to good skin,” reads the brochure. This must be true because the people at Georgette Klinger frequently have made disciples out of skeptics. The salon, owned by Klinger and her daughter Kathryn, is dedicated to good skin care. Although they offer traditional salon services, they stress that proper skin care-especially for the face-is their main concern. A facial treatment involves a skin analysis conducted by a trained cosmetologist. A typical facial includes a massage to stimulate circulation and relax muscles, a steaming to prepare the skin for deep-pore cleansing and various masques (such as collagen or cod liver) to revitalize the skin. A makeup session follows; the cost is $45.

We enjoyed the ministrations of Mrs. Reisman, a European-trained aesthetician who has been with Klinger for more than 25 years. Reisman offers a wealth of tips for good skin care as she massages and applies the various facial masques. Some advice: change moisturizers and cleansing lotion twice a year with the seasons (winter and spring); never use astringent on the upper lip or around the eyes; don’t use cotton balls to remove makeup since they contain synthetic fibers. All Georgette Klinger skin-care products are for sale, as are fragrance-free and non-allergenic products. Like Elizabeth Arden, Georgette Klinger offers special packages and gift certificates. The “Day of Beauty” for $190 buys seven hours of head-to-toe beautifying, including a scalp treatment, body massage, facial, hair-styling, manicure, pedicure and makeup lesson. An interesting note for men: More than 25 percent of Georgette Klinger’s clientele is male, proving that good skin care is not just for women.

Hair Chateau, 106 Preston Royal Shopping Center, 361-2886. Don’t let the emphasis on hair fool you; this salon has a deluxe makeup service that even provides the classic “before and after” pictures. Owners Hakan Gul, Dur-sum Ors and Baki Sulanc emigrated from Turkey 12 years ago and have been in the hair-styling business for 24 years. Gul, Ors and Sulanc were among the first in Dallas to use the cellophane technique for coloring hair. (It’s called “cellophane” because of the luster and sheen the process can create on even overworked hair.) Gull, Ors and Sulanc are also among the few Dallas stylists who will perm bleached hair. Through years of experimentation with various chemical formulas, they’ve devised a method of perming bleached hair that they say can prevent further damage. Gul says that their cellophane treatment is really a color transplant “since we use artificial food coloring and no harmful chemicals. This gives the hair a real sheen without chemical buildup.” The owners and the staff of seven hairdressers regularly visit hair-design shows around the United States and Europe and keep a video library so that clients may see what styles are current and what might work best for their hair. They believe in perfecting styles that take a minimum of maintenance and are suited to today’s busy lifestyle. A haircut and style begins at $30; a body wave begins at $55. Prices may be higher, depending on length of hair and on who does the styling.

Images by Aki, 6024 Luther Lane, 361-4707; 2815 Greenville Ave., 827-4571. There is magic in the very word “makeover.” We suggest that even the most intellectual among us would confess to a secret yearning to put that tired old face and hair into the hands of an expert, saying, “Do with me what you will.” In addition to all hair services (cutting, styling, color work, perms and body waves), Images by Aki offers a makeover designed to accentuate a client’s best points while disguising some of the flaws. The salons do not give facials, but their hour makeup sessions include color selection, makeup application for both day and evening and coordination with a color chart for the shades best-suited to skin tones. A haircut, perm and makeup session runs between $125 and $150 and can be more if Aki does the styling. The salon uses its own line of cosmetics, which are sold on the premises.

Paul Neinast Salon, 6632 Snider Plaza, 369-5350. The Paul Neinast Salon is a full-service salon; everything from hair styling to nail work is available. Stylists here consider hair design to be their specialty; they offer cutting, styling, perming and every form of coloring, including cellophane treatments, which have a hennalike result. Nail services include sculpturing, wraps and tips as well as the hard-to-find French manicure (a manicure that leaves your nails looking well-cared-for but unpolished). They also offer a paraffin manicure, which removes dead skin. This salon has an excellent facial that includes 40 minutes of massage, skin peeling, makeup lessons and steaming treatments. The makeup and skin-care products are from the California-based Aida Gray line.

Along with the conventional makeovers, the salon also offers some esoteric services such as lash-and-brow dyeing and bikini waxing. A facial costs $35, with an additional $15 charge for makeup application. A makeup lesson runs $65 an hour. There are six hair designers, one facialist and one manicurist. “A Day of Beauty” costs $170 ($195 with Neinast). which includes a facial, makeup lesson, haircut, styling and a gourmet lunch.

Jan’s Loft, 1029B E. 15th, Piano, 423-1863. Jan’s Loft is a three-room beauty boutique that offers makeup and skin-care counseling and color analysis to determine what colors are most flattering to each customer. The concept of helping a client achieve maximum beauty by working with the colors best-suited to her skin, hair and eyes is relatively new.

At Jan’s Loft, a client receives a key chain with the color swatches most appropriate to her skin tone. The technique is based on a seasonal approach according to winter or spring complexions. For $45. which includes $10 worth of makeup (or $35 each if a client brings a guest), hair, skin and eye color are analyzed, makeup suggestions are given and a face-shape analysis with hair-style advice is conducted. The salon also has a “Flashdance” boutique that sells dancewear, discounted designer fashions, accessories and jewelry.

Color Makes the Difference, 867-8347. Carolyn Bergeron offers a fashion- and-color style seminar, which she conducts for eight to 12 people at a cost of $40 per person. Bergeron’s service is similar to that offered by Jan’s Loft; she instructs clients in how to choose the most flattering colors for their wardrobe through the use of color fabric swatches. Each seminar includes individual color analysis, fabric swatches from a client’s color palette, figure analysis and wardrobe planning. Bergeron analyzes skin tone, hair and eye color, then selects the colors best-suited to the individual and coordinates the client’s existing wardrobe with purchases in the right colors.

The seminar is successful, Bergeron says, because seeing is believing. “When people actually see for themselves the difference just a shade of color can make, they become instant believers in the importance of knowing what colors work best. They see someone else transformed and think, ’What would this do for me?’ ” Although she sells no makeup, Bergeron will suggest colors that complement a client’s skin tone.

Savoie Salon, 12300 Inwood, 960-8321. Owner Ed Napolitan brings more than 21 years of experience in the beauty field to his full-service salon (pronounced Sah-vah). From his experience as the corporate director of the beauty salon division at Neiman-Marcus, as a representative at Revlon and as a stylist with Vidal Sassoon and Kenneth in New York, Napolitan believes that beauty is a state of mind. “We want to make a customer feel terrific,” he says. That process, he says, is called self-image. And a large part of that is proper skin care. The salon offers a special European facial that is done on a state-of-the-art ESTY 2000 deep-skin cleanser and vaporizer, which vacuums impurities from the skin. “European technology,” Napolitan says, “has been more conscious of skin care than American technology has. American women-God love them-have been more attuned to the illusion, the makeup.”

Savoie also offers makeup, hair, manicure and pedicure services. The salon is one of the first in the country to use videotape makeup lessons ($100), which detail the structural content of makeup and give instruction in total makeover. Customers may purchase their videotape cassettes to take home and study. Quad-ravalent products (developed by Napolitan, a biochemist and a doctor) are used in the salon’s hair and skin-care services. “Beauty Expression,” which includes a makeup lesson and hair-styling, starts at $65. The salon’s “Day of Beauty” includes any four services (manicure, pedicure, hair-styling, facial, makeup lesson or consultation) with a 15 percent discount.

The Gilded Lily, 5421 Belt Line, 458-0707; 4119 Lomo Alto, 528-4191. Medically trained aestheticians (facialists) perform total make-overs, makeup counseling and instruction in brush artistry (the correct use of makeup brushes). Nine facials are offered, including a paraffin masque, natural-extract ampul treatment and a vegetable exfoliating peel, which removes surface-cell buildup and aids in the penetration of treatments. “Le Jour De Luxe” (“a day of luxury”) begins with a European facial and Swedish massage followed by a manicure, pedicure, hair-styling session and cosmetic application. Lunch and champagne are also offered; the total package costs $150. “L’air Nouveau” (“the new look”) consists of a four-hour session of hair-styling, manicure, pedicure and makeup application; it costs $90. For the same price, “Vis-à-Vis” (“face to face”) is available. The Gilded Lily calls this its supreme European aesthetic experience. A four-hour session begins with a skin analysis and Payot facial followed by a body massage and makeup application. A Pavlova perfume gift and complimentary wine with hors d’oeuvres are included. “Voila L’Image” (“behold the image”) begins with a new hair design with perm, color or frost, skin analysis, makeup application and nail design. The price is $150.

Offbeat services such as lash tinting and tabbing, eyebrow arching and European waxing for the face, arms, legs and back are also offered. Aromatherapy (reflexology massage using oil) begins at $40 for a half-hour, $60 for a full hour and $80 for an hour and a half.

Ric Bishop, 8041 Walnut Hill, Suite 820, 692-5895. Ric Bishop specializes in hair care, but also offers makeup and skin-care services. Bishop provides contemporary hair styles for those who want to experiment with their image.

First, Bishop says, they observe what a client wears into the salon. Then they perform a consultation covering the details of a client’s lifestyle. Most women-those with full-time jobs or small children or both-want a versatile, low-maintenance hair style, Bishop says. Bishop offers a full-service menu, including “cello-lites,” a fingerpainting of sorts that lets the hairstylists place highlights exactly where they want them.

The salon also offers facials: A minifacial is $25, and a European facial (a more time-consuming and in-depth facial) is $35. Bishop uses Edith Serei products. Manicures start at $10 (sculptured nails cost $45); pedicures start at $25.

L’lmage, 3128 Harvard, 522-6230; 47 1/2 Highland Park Village, 526-6410; 5100 Belt Line, Sakowitz Village, 934-8080. The same seven product brands for hair and skin care are offered at each L’Image location: Christian Dior, Mary Cohr, Renee Guinot, Evelyn Marshall, Payot, Clarins and L’Image. Each salon also offers total beauty-care services, including makeup applications and lessons (beginning at $45), facials ($40). manicures ($12.50), pedicures ($25) and total hair care using all new techniques (beginning at $35).

The Harvard and Belt Line locations also offer massage ($40 per hour) and a “Day ofBeauty” that includes a manicure, pedicure,hair-styling, a minifacial and makeup application ($140). Lunch is included.

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