After working as a registered nurse in Alberta for nearly 50 years, Mary Hicks is enjoying retirement in Victoria, which is calls her “ideal place to retire.”
“I love Victoria for so many things, but primarily for its beauty and the abundant opportunities to get out into nature year-round,” she says. “I love to go for long nature rambles, ocean walks or garden viewings. I also love listening to music, and dancing, and I find Victoria offers so much live music from free concerts in the parks and live pub music, to the wonderful Victoria Symphony.”
In 2021, Mary was diagnosed with cancer and underwent treatment that she says left her feeling exhausted for close to a year. Now in her 75th year, Mary decided to apply for the INSPIRED Makeover to give herself a little boost following her recovery.
“I have never worn much makeup and I am always envious of contemporaries who can put on some glamour for special occasions,” she says. “A new look would definitely give me a lift.”
“It has been such an interesting and positive experience. The makeover team were very gentle and didn’t ask me to go too far out of my comfort zone. They were so supportive and encouraging.”
Mary says her favourite aspects of the process were the pampering of the facial, and the excitement of trying out a radically new hairstyle.
“I have had very positive feedback from family and friends,” she says, “and it does make me feel younger and more carefree.”
HAIR: When I met Mary, we had a chat about what would work for her lifestyle and what kind of upkeep she was able to maintain with her hair.
Mary’s hair is fine and straight. We decided to switch things up and put some curls in her hair. Instead of changing the colour, we decided to change the texture and we brought back the perm.
A perm is still a great option for creating a different texture and some movement in the hair. Nowadays, we have all sorts of options available for adding curls into the hair. There are different solutions and rollers than those available in the ’70s and ’80s. I decided to introduce a softer wave rather than a tight curl. And the result was beautiful!
For the cut, I brought it up a little to Mary’s chin and left the bangs because they were already quite short. I added some soft layers to create a little more roundness to the haircut.
With the new texture of her hair, we used the 100% organic Belma Kosmetik curl cream to a create soft hold on her curls. Then I used a diffuser on the hair dryer and gently scrunched her hair to create a quick, beautiful style that Mary can recreate at home.
COSMETICS: Mary wanted a little glam to go with her outfit, so I started out with ELF primer, which creates the perfect base as it hydrates the skin and blurs fine lines and minimizes pores. Then I applied the ELF CC cream as it is a foundation that also has a colour corrector to help even out the skin tone and any imperfections.
Mary has beautiful blue eyes, so I applied an off black smudge-resistant eyeliner close to her lash line and then a coat of water-resistant black mascara to the top lashes only. To add some bling, I applied a sparkly cream eye shadow in a champagne colour to give her eyes some glam.
I applied some rosy pink blush on her cheeks from Burt’s Bees and then a nude lip liner and a pop of pink on the lips with a hydrating lip crayon in Hawaiian punch. Note: I also applied a little of the rosy pink blush to the outside corner of her eyelids to add a little more pizzaz.
CLOTHING: Jolin Jumpsuit Hydrangea made from 95% Bamboo, 5% Lycra with a locally designed hydrangea print and Diana Jacket White, a bamboo linen jacket, made from 50% Bamboo, 50% Linen.
SPECIAL THANKS:
Hair Stylist: Hana Akai of Akai Hair Salon, visit online https://akaihairdesign.com
Makeup Stylist: Gina Lavertu of Gina Lavertu Esthetics, part of Wild Oak Hair Collective 778-533-2486 Gina not only did the makeup application, she provided a facial and a manicure to all the models.
Fashion Stylist: Marilyn Cobban of Blue Sky Clothing Co. Victoria store manager Christine Blainey worked with all the models and assisted them with fittings and clothing selection.
Blue Sky gifted the models all the clothing that was chosen for them free of charge.
Photographer: Jan van der Hooft of J. Abram Photography.
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