The Beauty Road Trip made a stop at GW on Tuesday.
This is an initiative of College Fashionista and Sephora Collection. College Fashionista is an online platform for college beauty and fashion minds that connects them to industry experts. Their mission is, “To introduce college-aged students to the inner workings of the fashion and beauty industries by giving them behind-the-scenes access and teaching them the real-life skills they will need to succeed.” College Fashionista teamed up with up Sephora to put on this 'road trip' to bring products and expertise to students around the country.
The day kicked off with a breakfast event with Sephora’s National Makeup Artist Helen Phillips. A group of women met in Lisner Auditorium to meet College Fashionista staff, hear beauty and life tips from Philips and try out some Sephora products. Also present were Amy Levin, College Fashionista founder and creative partnerships director as well as Kali Concepcion, College Fashionista marketing coordinator.
Table setting at the breakfast in Lisner Auditorium
Philips explained how she came into the makeup industry. After studying studio art and psychology in college she got a retail job with Sephora at the Prudential Center in New Jersey. In that position she learned many valuable skills such as how to handle to difficult people and be a good listner. She attributed her time in retail to how she was able to get over her shyness.
In terms of school to career connection she said, “I use my degree everyday” because “weirdly makeup has to do with both of those things” that she studied. After learning more about makeup and studying at the Makeup Forever academy in France she rose to national makeup artist.
Philips reflected on the variety of hats she wears in this role. They include: makeup artistry for Sephora Collection, product development, media management, event presentation, photo shoots for SC Instagram and the gondola in Sephora, and animation design for Sephora’s window design. For the young women sitting around the tables, she recommended finding a career path where you can stretch yourself and have many different tasks.
Philips speaking to the crowd at the breakfast.
She offered many beauty tips, but the two main ones were to remember to remove your makeup at the end of the day (specifically eye makeup) and to focus on one area of the face to enhance with products. Often times it can look overdone if you try to work on every aspect of your face.
Philips went around the room and asked the audience members for their favorite makeup products and answered any questions.
Notably, Philips was asked about the controversy surrounding limited tone options for some products. The lack of options was attributed to the process Sephora has to test products in the market as well as the financial constraint. Philips continued to speak on how Sephora is doing more targeted product placement now to ensure that stores in communities have the products people desire.
During the afternoon, a Sephora truck was parked in University Yard. Students were able to design their own makeup cases and pick out samples inside the truck. The free merchandise was much appreciated by the college crowd.
The line outside the makeup truck.
In addition to this being a marketing event for Sephora and College Fashionista, this was a great study break from the stress of midterms.
This is a feature article and does not endorse the products/companies mentioned.