In short
Gucci Westman discusses her unconventional upbringing (ashram life, then moving to Sweden at age 10), how she transitioned from art to makeup, and how she built a career across film, fashion editorial, and major beauty brands. She also shares behind-the-scenes stories from working with celebrities and her approach to complexion artistry, plus personal health and energy management using lab hormone testing.
Guests
This episode is hosted by Alexis Oakley (celebrity makeup artist). The main guest is Gucci Westman, a makeup artist and beauty entrepreneur known for complexion-focused artistry.
Guest background
Born in 1970; real name Chelsea, nickname “Gucci” from her ashram name. Lived on an ashram for about two years, moved to Sweden at 10, learned Swedish in about a year, and later studied makeup in Paris and Hollywood (after an au pair stint in Switzerland).
Key claims
Makeup became her creative outlet after being forbidden to wear it; she learned “three-dimensional” drawing through faces. She emphasizes working directly with chemists (Lancome) and mixing products to avoid fake-looking bronzing. She credits editorial-era networks and set teamwork with her success.
Notable examples
Spike Jonze projects (including “Being John Malkovich” makeup/teeth and eye/eyebrow adjustments); Vogue and Vanity Fair covers; work with Grace Coddington, Annie Leibovitz, Bruce Weber, Arthur Elgort, Stella Tennant; celebrity stories including Britney Spears, Muhammad Ali (starstruck, drew a picture), Meryl Streep, and Anne Hathaway.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOChildhood Surprises and Growing Up
0:15 to 5:10
Discussion about childhood experiences and family dynamics.
“I was the little fun surprise at the end.”
Moving to Sweden and Language Learning
5:10 to 7:40
Transition from California to Sweden and the challenges faced.
“I mean, I would want my grandchildren around me all the time.”
Artistic Beginnings and Makeup Interest
7:40 to 11:10
Exploration of the early interest in makeup as a creative outlet.
“She did because I thought initially, you know, when you dream of what you want to do when you're older, I thought maybe I wanted to do professional show jumping.”
Makeup School Journey
11:10 to 13:46
Transition to makeup school and experiences in Paris and LA.
“I feel like that was like the height of just, you know, iconic videos and even commercials.”
Segway into Celebrity Encounters
14:00 to 14:28
Discover how the guest transitioned into the celebrity makeup world.
“and probably the things you shouldn't be saying out loud.”
Transforming Cameron Diaz for Film
14:28 to 17:35
Learn about the creative process behind transforming Cameron Diaz's look for her film role.
“And Spike asked me if I wanted to do being John Malkovich.”
From Film to Fashion: A Career Shift
17:35 to 21:33
Understand the guest's journey from working in movies to the fashion industry.
“You know, you do, if you're doing like a period movie or something, you do the same makeup every day for like three months or four months, however long it is.”
The Value of Connections in the Industry
21:33 to 22:36
Explore the importance of networking and connections in the fashion world.
“because you would absolutely hire somebody that was better to work with than somebody who was maybe a little bit better.”
Reflections on Fashion Magazine Covers
22:36 to 24:11
Hear the guest's experiences with landing numerous magazine covers.
“see someone in a different light, you know, where there are often times that celebrities would not like how they looked.”
The Impact of Grace Coddington
24:11 to 28:00
Discover the pivotal moments with Grace Coddington and insights into the fashion world.
“So that was my team for many, many years.”
Show all 26 chapters
Reflections on Editorial Work and Changes in the Industry
28:00 to 32:24
Learn about the evolution of fashion editorial work and its emotional dynamics.
“Advertising is a reward for all the editorial you do.”
Reflections on Editorial Work and Changes in the Industry
32:28 to 32:45
Learn about the evolution of fashion editorial work and its emotional dynamics.
“That is P-A-R-O-L-I-V-E.com slash best code best for 20 % off your first order.”
Celebrity Encounters and Working with Icons
35:00 to 42:01
Hear fascinating stories about working with celebrities like Britney Spears and Meryl Streep.
“And were Were there any people that, I mean, do you have any like stories of people you were surprised like what they shared with you?”
Navigating Parenthood and Career
42:01 to 44:30
Learn about the challenges of balancing motherhood with a demanding career in beauty.
“I almost pulled another dog out of the shelter the other day, but I was like, I'm out of town this weekend and we have big dogs and sometimes they fight.”
Formulation and Makeup Techniques
44:31 to 47:11
Discover the importance of working with chemists and the art of makeup formulation.
“It was just a lot you know for for what I where I was in my life it was it was a bit too much.”
The Transition to Revlon
47:12 to 49:55
Explore Gucci Westman's experiences and challenges at Revlon as an artistic director.
“I mean I used a lot of different things I remember I used like this liquid.”
Launching a Beauty Brand
49:56 to 54:20
Uncover the journey and decisions that led to Gucci Westman's launch of her beauty line.
“And And at a point, I remember the leadership had switched for the third time.”
Launching a Beauty Brand
54:21 to 56:40
Uncover the journey and decisions that led to Gucci Westman's launch of her beauty line.
“I got everything and I sat there like this for two years.”
Overcoming Initial Challenges
58:56 to 1:00:10
Explore the early challenges faced while building a beauty line.
“I had a desk and my husband was calling me and saying, how's it going?”
Formulating the Perfect Foundation
1:00:10 to 1:02:05
Hear about the difficulties in creating a clean foundation formula.
“And then, you know, his, his daughter really was very helpful for me to ideate what it was.”
Innovative Skincare Technologies
1:02:05 to 1:05:24
Learn about the integration of skincare technology into makeup products.
“And anyway, something happened in the scale up and I really tried to fix it.”
Finding Balance in Life and Business
1:05:24 to 1:07:16
Understand the importance of maintaining balance in personal and professional life.
“Well, it's a, it's a very competitive space.”
Future Aspirations and Dreams
1:07:16 to 1:10:03
Discuss future plans in beauty and food brands, and personal aspirations.
“Thank God that foundation thing didn't happen then.”
Discussing Future Partnerships and Investments
1:10:03 to 1:10:50
Learn about strategic partnerships and investment discussions in the food industry.
“I'm showing a deck to my dream partner in two weeks.”
Travel Preferences and Experiences in Italy
1:10:50 to 1:12:09
Explore the group's favorite travel spots in Italy and what makes them special.
“I feel like I want to go to your house and have pasta.”
Wrapping Up the Conversation with Gratitude
1:12:09 to 1:12:42
The hosts express their appreciation and wrap up the episode with final thoughts.
“And that, ladies and gentlemen, concludes this week's episode of Everything is the Best.”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00The following podcast is a Dear Media production.
0:14You have three kids. Yeah. I think I have to go for the third. You do. I had my third at 46. You did? She was a total surprise. The best thing ever. What is your, how old are they? 19, 17, and just turned 10. Oh my God, what a fun little surprise. I was the little fun surprise at the end. You were? Oh, I was the first. Oh, wow. Totally different. Do you have siblings? Three. Okay. Oh, there's four of you total. So I want to start from the beginning because I'm really fascinated by you living your childhood on an ashram. I know. It's not weird. I mean, when people say like, where's your name come from?
0:55Like you don't want to know. Because what's Gucci is your nickname. What's your real? It is actually my real name. My given name was, it's so strange. I guess having hippie parents, everything is kind of like acceptable. But my given name was Chelsea. But I thought it was some, I thought it was like a law. That was my given birth name on my birth certificate was Chelsea. Then we moved into the ashram and I got given a name called Guru Charan. It was Guru Charan, which means he who sits at the lotus feet of the guru. Not even she, but he. And Gucci was a nickname of Guru Charan. But your parents were academics, right?
1:35Yeah. I mean, my mom was an English teacher and my dad taught like computer graphics and things like that. Because I've heard you say in interviews that they were, you know, when you, and we'll get there, but when you decided to go to makeup school that they were alarmed, you know, especially it's alarming to hear that your child doesn't want to go to college, not so much anymore. But I found that odd considering that you lived on an ashram growing up. Those things like two opposing ideals. I know, but I guess, you know, the 70s, I was born in 1970, living in LA. It was very much the height of, you know, Buddhism, STM, Hinduism, all of that.
2:17And they tried everything. How long did you live there? In the ashram, I think about two years. Oh, not long. Was there proper school? Probably not. Yeah. And then you went from there to Sweden? At 10. When I was 10, we moved to Sweden. And what brought them to Sweden? My dad is, he's Swedish and I'm half. He's Swedish and he wanted to go to art school in Sweden. Incredible. Yeah. That must've been eyeopening as a 10 year old. Yeah, I was really upset for at least a year with my parents. I was mad. I was, yeah, definitely rebelling. I'd never eaten meat and I ordered a steak on the boat over. I didn't eat it, but they let me order it.
3:02They just looked at me and they're like, sure. They were like, oh, this is starting already. Yeah. On the boat, right? Yeah. And we moved to the Northern part of Sweden and I didn't have any like warm clothes because we lived in California before. How long did it take you to learn Swedish? A year. Yeah. That was also tough. But I feel like there was probably a foundation for you. I mean, you also know French. You mentioned that language comes rather easy to you. It does. And I'm not sure if it's because I was forced to learn. It was such a survival mechanism that I had to learn to kind of make friends.
3:37Mm hmm. So it felt a little bit of a unique way to learn a language because I really pushed myself to learn quickly because I felt like I'm never going to make friends. It's such a like your your mouth. My mom's Danish. So I'm like, it's your mouth. And who dance? Yes. It's like you're like. I know. Danish is so hard to understand. Oh, my God. My husband's Italian and we all live together and she'll say something in Danish and he'll be like beautiful language mama like you all live together yeah my dad died we just like moved in together really how sweet it's great we're having a great time oh I know it's been really nice she's Italian so it's a little more natural right Danish but yeah he's Italian so it's like natural for him to live with your yeah we had when I was growing up so many of our friends grand like the grandparents lived in like a guest house.
4:33So my dad would always say one day, like you can live in this house with your husband and mom and I will live in a guest house. And then, so I just need like$2 million to fall out of the sky to build a guest house right now, but we're all really happy. It's, it's the best. That's so sweet. That's my mom's dream. Where does your mom live now? In Sweden, but she misses. Yeah. Yeah, you and all your kids. That's a lot. I have one brother in Sweden with three kids, but she misses all of the other kids and us. Your kids go there? Yeah, like twice a year, maybe we go. That's great. Yeah. Not enough for her.
5:12Yeah, I get it. I mean, I would want my grandchildren around me all the time. Yeah. So talk to us about your transition into makeup. Like, I know that you said that you were doing makeup on the bus to school and it just became sort of this creative outlet that you didn't necessarily think was specifically makeup focused but more artistic when it started. How did that transition into you being like okay I prefer the palette of like a face rather than like a canvas? Honestly I think that I used to paint a lot when I was younger and then when we moved to Sweden I sort of stopped painting for some reason.
5:51I just didn't want to paint anything anymore. I did it for, you know, to calm myself down all the time. I just would do it all the time just for pleasure. And then I guess I still felt creative, you know, and I was really intrigued by makeup because my mom wouldn't let me wear makeup. So I was really kind of always thinking about makeup. It's a good kind of rule of thumb if you want your kids to do something forbid them to do it it's really it's it's like a little mind yeah oh my gosh it's so powerful so you know on the bus to school because i wasn't allowed to wear makeup i was just so so into it i somehow became the person who everyone asked to do their makeup so cute and then i would do my makeup last but what i really loved was their reaction when they would look in the mirror you know and it just made me feel so good and I found it much easier to kind of draw three-dimensionally as opposed to on paper.
6:51It felt like I couldn't, I couldn't just, I couldn't do it anymore the way I used to. And then at what point did you decide you wanted to go to like makeup school? You went to makeup school in your early twenties, right? Yeah, I did. I was an au pair in Switzerland and the mother in the family was a fashion journalist. And so she would give me boxes and boxes of all the makeup that was sent to her. Oh, wow. Yeah, it was crazy. So she gave me. What a serendipitous. I mean, insane. Wow. Yeah. And I thought first, you know, maybe. Do you ever have con? Do you know them still? I mean, we've been in touch over the years.
7:29I'm doing now. I'm like, like, I know. Well, Well, yes, she has reached out, actually. If you were my au pair and then fast forward to see what you're doing now. She helped me a lot. It's incredible. She did because I thought initially, you know, when you dream of what you want to do when you're older, I thought maybe I wanted to do professional show jumping. This is a long time ago, of course, when I used to jump ponies. And I thought, oh, I want to do that when I grew up. But then that wasn't in the cards. And then it kind of came down to either a translator or maybe I could learn how to do makeup, you know?
8:07That's really incredible. Yeah, she brought me to fashion shows. And then when it came down to sort of making that decision, we found this makeup school in Paris. And I thought, well, if I'm not good at makeup, it's in French. I couldn't learn French. I wouldn't have wasted my time. And how long after you completed makeup school did you move to Los Angeles? I didn't even stay there for a year. I think I did like four months in Paris. And then there was one of the girls who didn't speak any French. And she was so annoying because she always wanted me to translate. And I was like, I'm trying to listen.
8:42Like her name was Marie. I actually remember it now. But she told me about this makeup school in Hollywood called Joe Blasco. I remember seeing that. The worst, actual worst. Is that like real stage makeup with the. No, not even. It's I can't imagine it still exists because it was such a scam. I remember that being like a scam. Total scam. OK, so I end up going to this thing. It was like, was it eight weeks or something like that? And after two weeks, they asked me to teach. And I was like, OK, this is definitely not. And it was just like it looked sort of like Technicolor video teaching. so all of the coloration was off it looks like you know it was filmed in like the 70s you couldn't tell everything was like orange that's so funny and everything we learned in Paris was just so valuable and that was just so stupid I mean nobody knew how to do anything and when I learned about you and I thought I pictured your childhood and your upbringing and then moving to LA, I thought, oh, that must have been a real interesting shift because Hollywood for as glamorous as it is, is so dark.
9:57Yeah. So when I went to Joe Blasco, I actually stayed with family friends in Claremont, which is where I grew up from, you know, till I was 10. And I stayed there and I would take the bus in the Metro North to LA. It was like, Like it took me like three hours to get to makeup school. Because all the changes I remember, I saw someone getting shot on the bus. I was like, we're not in Paris anymore. It's just so different to Paris and little Sweden. Yeah. And then I met these two girls who asked me if I wanted to share their apartment. They had rent control from the earthquake. So I moved in with them.
10:38It was like 300 bucks a month. and and then I was I've kind of lived with them for a year and a half and then I got my own place and then I met Spike Jonze and then I started working with him a lot I'm such a Spike Jonze fan yeah me too I'm such a fan of his music videos and his skateboard video I know like I wish people made music videos I know the way he did it was so cool when he started I was like in my early 20s when all those videos I was like living in New York we're going to parks and so So that for me, I was like, oh, this is just like cool. Yeah, I was the greatest. I feel like that was like the height of just, you know, iconic videos and even commercials.
11:18We did some cool commercials and videos.
11:30So this time of year really hits you. It's like fall comes. my kids go to school and every weekend is a birthday party or dinners out or all of those things. And then all of a sudden I just feel like I was so content and happy and feeling so good. And then it's all of a sudden like I'm running on stress and iced coffee and like just eating whatever's on their plates. And then I noticed that I wasn't really checking in on myself the way that I was previously. And so I started to feel tired and odd. So I purchased a hormonal test from LabCorp on demand. You do not need a doctor's appointment to purchase the test.
12:09You just go online literally in minutes to get the test. It comes in a couple of days. You go to a LabCorp in your neighborhood to get a sample collected. And then a few days later, I was notified by email that my results were ready. And honestly, it felt absolutely incredible and so empowering to just know how to make myself feel my best without guessing and without guesstimating and without writing it off. I also brought these test results to my doctor, which made the conversation so much more useful. I am now supplemented and feeling so much more energized and a lot more empowered and just like my best self.
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13:36That's ondemand.labcore.com slash best and use code best. Know yourself.
13:46Welcome to Who's in My Glam Chair, where the glam is good and the conversations are even better. I'm Alexis Oakley, a celebrity makeup artist. And after 10 years in the glam chair, I've learned that getting ready is when you talk about everything. Beauty, business, dating, confidence, careers, and probably the things you shouldn't be saying out loud. Nothing is off limits. New episodes drop every Wednesday. So grab your makeup bag, your coffee, and get ready with us. This is Who's in My Glam Chair.
14:23This was also your segue into meeting celebrities. Yeah. Well, I had met Cameron Diaz. I had worked with her a bit. And Spike asked me if I wanted to do being John Malkovich. I love how you talk about the research you did for the makeup for her for that. Yeah. And the teeth. Yeah, the teeth. The teeth. You changed her teeth because they were like too perfect. Everything about her too perfect. So the wig was incredible. It looked like there was like a bird's nest in it at the end. She was like, oh my God, we have to like save this. It was so like ratty and gross. But yeah, we were kind of like, you know, Spike's idea was like a New Jersey Turnpike Mall kind of thing that the sort of people you'd see there on a Saturday or Sunday go do some research.
15:16and I thought the eye color would be. You changed the eye color, right? She had brown contacts. I added eyebrow hair to make her eyebrows really bushy. Like not really bushy, but you know, like. Not so perfect. Not nice. Because hers are really nice and thin naturally. Or not that, you know, but they're just much more shapely. And the tooth was really important. So I always liked Patricia Arquette's. I love her saddle. Kate Moss has the snuggle. It's so cute. Kate Moss was in the lobby of the Bowery last week. Really? Being so Kate Moss. And it was the cool, I was like, this is. What did she do?
15:57It was just first day we were at Bar Pity. We were all there at the same time. And she walked in with Rita Ora. And my friends were like, is that Kate Moss? And I was like, she was talking so loud. Kate was. So loud. Her voice changed so much. It's so deep. It's like such a, her voice. and so we could hear from outside and then they should get in the outside smoking and then like Ricky Akiva remember that guy yeah he picked them up in a Bronco and then like drove them to the Bowery's I was walking in and he parked like 10 feet away from the sidewalk and they were having the time of their lives in the lobby and I was like oh it's like 2006 again like this feels seriously oh my god that's epic I know it's really epic I mean Kate Kate loves a party How many times you've done her makeup, I'm sure a million times.
16:44Oh, yeah. I remember when I mean, I could tell you stories about her. Oh, funny. You are hair stylist, makeup artist, like people, especially from your I mean, you really got the last. I just want to cry. Like you were in the peak magazine era. Yeah. You know, it's so great. When you talk about how you become such like a family on set and working with the same hair people and the same photographers and the same producers and editors and all of that. And what an incredible, I mean, how did you go from movies to getting into editorial in that way? Well, I kind of knew that I didn't want to do movies very quickly because I loved my being John Malkovich experience, but it is very much, you know, it's repetitive.
17:35You know, you do, if you're doing like a period movie or something, you do the same makeup every day for like three months or four months, however long it is. And to me, that just didn't seem very, you know, I like to get my rocks off creatively. So I thought I want to try to see if I can work in fashion and it sounded like incredibly far-fetched even when I said it out loud I was like you know that's that's a far cry but let's try it so I moved to New York when I was gonna turn 30 I was like maybe it was like September and I turned 30 in October and I got an apartment actually with Tatiana Petits oh yeah we shared an apartment it was a four-floor walk-up and she always made me I carry her 12th and 1st East Village, but it was on the fourth floor.
18:29And she was like, oh, good. My back hurts. I would, she always had me, you know, carry her laundry. I don't know how she got me to do it, but I was like, sure. I was like too young then to be like, no, I can't. To have a boundary. Exactly. And so how did you meet the, how did you, who, like, what was your first job so i had worked a bit with annie leibovitz and bruce weber oh uh well they would i mean i think that annie leibovitz came from a laurie goldstein i was assisting on a vanity fair shoot and i had also done special effects at this lab called todd masters i worked at this special effects lab for a few months and i got such headaches from all of the fumes and everything So that wasn't for me either, but it was a cool experience.
19:19But I met Lori Goldstein a couple of times on Vanity Fair shoots. And the second time I met her, I was doing a puddle of blood for this like detective shoot for Vanity Fair. And she's like, what's your deal? And I was like, well, you know, I am moving to New York. And anyway, so she introduced me to Annie and Annie had me do a cover of Vanity Fair. I was supposed to do just one person. I was supposed to do a mountain biker, supposed to do the Olympic cover, the mountain biker only. I was supposed to splash mud all over him. And the day before I brought in all these like various mud samples with different ratios of mineral, different dry downs, different redness.
20:08Redness, different, like. Yeah, just making four of your life. I was really prepared, overly prepared. So I showed her all this stuff. And next thing I knew, the other makeup artist was canceled and I was seeing everyone. And how many people was it? I mean, it was. Because Vanity Fair always has those covers where it's like 45 people. It was like a lot of. Wow. Yeah, it was in 1998, maybe. Wow. Carl, no, was it Carl Lewis? Yes, yeah. Michael Johnson, like all of those athletes. And we got to go to all of their training facilities and document them in action for her book. The Olympic, you know, book she did.
20:51So that was, I did that for a month or so. And then I had met Bruce Weber through Paul Jasmine. And, you know, he told, they were good friends and he told Bruce that he should work with me. And so I worked with him when he came to LA. And then social circles were so much smaller at this point, too, by the way that you were. I feel so it makes me so sad for it's good and bad thing. There's so many people. There's so much stuff and there's not a lot of. And I think what you probably got to experience so much of and I one of my first jobs in New York was producing photo shoots is the value of those connections and the value of how to act on set.
21:33because you would absolutely hire somebody that was better to work with than somebody who was maybe a little bit better. Right. And I do really miss the days where there was photographers kind of ran everything. Right. Cause it'd be a photographer and studio manager and that studio manager would be like, we have our makeup artists. Like we're using Gucci and we're using this person to do hair and we're using, and you guys all became, you know, such a family. And it It was such this legacy kind of scenario with true art being made. And now it just doesn't, it's like, it's just so wildly different.
22:06I know it's very different. I mean, which works currently in my favor a little bit more. But then, you know, when it was the height of magazines, as you mentioned, it would be kind of like the photographer's team and the celebrity didn't really have a say. Mm hmm. Also, I understand it because you want to have the photographer feel as confident as possible, you know, and he knows or she knows the team and what they can do. And you want to see someone in a different light, you know, where there are often times that celebrities would not like how they looked. Not when I've not makeup wise, but just like, you know, because it used to be so wildly editorial that it would be like a scenario where they're like, oh, this is not how I'm used to dressing or something like that.
22:53I can't say that I've really experienced that as much because ultimately everybody's goal is - To look the best. They want people to feel good and feel confident and look good. It's no one's going to get a good image if that's not the case. How many covers do you think you've had? Oh. And less. Like a lot. I mean, there was a period where I had every Vogue cover, every story inside of Vogue, every I mean there was one month I'll never forget this where I was arriving in I was going with my best friend on vacation we were going we were first in Tuscany then it was too hot so we went to Ramatuel close to San Tropez but we for some reason took a boat we went via Corsica okay and I just remember at the dock side whatever there was a magazine shop and I remember seeing the magazines like Italian Vogue, French Vogue, British Vogue, American Vogue, Japanese Vogue, Korean Vogue.
23:57And I had all of the Vogue. Oh my God. Plus the W, plus the Vanity Fair. Wow. Plus pop, plus ID. Cool. Plus like it was insane. And I was just like, wow. And I didn't say anything because I thought, oh, you know, I didn't say anything to my friend, but I was just like, that's cool I wish I took see there's no I know there are no phones like that then so it wasn't like I'm gonna take a photo and very cool of you to not tell your friend I would have been like hi I would have told the magazine so I was like I did the makeup of all of these people yeah I mean it it's so different now I don't know that it was a very fun experience I my my team you know that that you were mentioning everybody has like this team mine was I would say really Grace Coddington and Julianne Deese.
24:48So that was my team for many, many years. And that was, we did such great work together, like so memorable, you know, and the first time when I felt that one that was established was I had been sent to Condé Nast to meet with all the editors. And I went into Grace's office and I remember that I probably spent too much time on my makeup and my look, you know, in fashion, like you said, it's very much, you know, you learn how to be. And I didn't quite know how to be yet. So I pop into her office and I feel like I was wearing so much makeup and my hair was looked too fussy. I don't know. And the first thing I said to her when I walked into her office was like, I love your husband.
25:40And I sounded like such an idiot. Like anything, like who would ever say that to Grace Coddington? And she looked at me, you know, she does not give up. No. You know, so she looked at me like, do you know? She's like, first off, he's not my husband. And I was like, okay, sorry. And anyways, I had, you know, two options prior to the meeting. And then as I was leaving the building, they both disappeared. And my agent was like, what happened? What did you do? I know. I was like, well, I guess that was that and then a few months later I got another couple of options and that time they did confirm and the last one being a shoot with Arthur Elgort and Stella Tennant the beautiful Stella Tennant and Arthur's two sons and it was Warren was my tennis coach I used to babysit Warren and moved to Pasadena because he fell in love with a girl he went to USC film school and she's from Pasadena.
26:41I live in Pasadena. And so I can't remember how I found him, but I remember he's like, oh, he's a really good tennis player. Yeah. So he taught me tennis. And then I didn't realize until like our third lesson in who he was and who his dad was. And he also was, I was like, this is, I was like, you are, I was like, you're like, your family's like legendary New York. Remember when they modeled in that like J.Crew Christmas ad? Like I was just like, and he's just like the sweetest, nicest kid. He was just here to go to film school. But his father's photos are just like, my God. So we did a really beautiful, memorable shoot.
27:17And I did not know if Grace liked me or not. I really had no idea. I felt like she didn't like me. And I remember talking to Stella about it. And Stella's like, don't worry, she's just like that. And I was like, really? She hasn't really said a word to me. And anyways, after the shoot, we were all going to the airport. and I was going out of some like really dodgy terminal on a dodgy airline. Everyone else was like going American. And I get out of the van and then Grace gets out of the van and I thought, oh no. And she said, you know, I haven't seen talent like that since I discovered Pat McGrath and I want you to be on my team and you must never say no when I ask for you.
27:58And I didn't even know what to say. I was speechless and I had no one to share with because it was too late, you know in LA and too late in New York so there I was by myself and I'm in this crappy terminal oh my god yeah and then I the next day I got back to New York and my life changed and how many years were you doing magazines I mean with her really I would say probably 10 12 years something like that yeah I mean you've seen all of the best yeah we did good foundational editorials in like fashion history really I feel really lucky I got to to be a part of that budgets for that anymore you know the budget started really kind of going downhill and then now when when they ask you to do a you know an editorial shoot they they want you to fly yourself and it's no well sometimes yeah and it's sort of like if you have already done a certain amount of things you know the editorial is usually a reward.
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29:05Advertising is a reward for all the editorial you do. Okay. So your photographer typically will reward you with advertising. So that's, you know, that's the team's work in that way a lot. But now that it's changed so much, like you said, there's just different. Everything is so much more immediate. You don't have the budgets. You don't have the time. You There's just, it's not the special spark is not there anymore. Everyone's also just a little jaded because there is so much content. And you're just like, I can't see anymore. Celebrities weren't on a phone. So having a cover or an editorial, like that's really all you saw of them, right?
29:47It wasn't like they were putting out content on the internet every day. No. It was a big deal to have those images come out. And waiting three months. and just was the anticipation and just all of the effort and work that goes into preparing something like that. You know, and everyone does their research and everyone shows up with ideas. And sometimes you don't get to kind of do the, execute those ideas. But when you do, it's so fun. Was it nerve wracking for you? Because, you know, being on the hair and makeup team, it's so personal. Yeah, yeah. A centimeter away from someone's face. And ultimately, there's something about sitting in a chair where there's so much vulnerability and so much honesty.
30:32Like you're almost like become some sort of therapist in a way. Like it was so funny. It feels like you can share these like personal moments.
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34:59So was there anyone, celebrities in particular, that you were like nervous to work on? And were Were there any people that, I mean, do you have any like stories of people you were surprised like what they shared with you? You've said some stuff about Britney Spears that I thought was really funny. Yeah, I know. Yeah. Well, the first time I worked with her was for a cover of Vogue. She was lying on the flag. So it got a lot of attention on top of the American flag. That was post-September 11th, right? Do you? No, I think it was pre. Oh, was it? Yeah. Yeah. Pretty sure it was pre 2000. I can't remember.
35:39Yeah. She, she opened up about not being sure about her boyfriend and I was like, okay, I didn't even say anything. It's just, it's true. You stand there and you're, you become this kind of like, just tell me. Yeah. I mean, you have like, you probably have like. I have some stories, but you know, I, I guess I wouldn't have done this this long if I wasn't discreet. Of course. And who were you most nervous to meet? Muhammad Ali. Is that weird? No, not weird. He made me the most kind of starstruck and he drew me a picture. No. Yeah. You still have it, I'm sure. Yeah. Wow. I was kind of like, what are you doing?
36:25But he was at that point, he was a little bit, you know, with his disease. I mean, a lot. And he still, his brain was completely razor sharp, but he couldn't speak, you know, as quickly. So it was, it must have been so challenging for him, but it was incredible to meet. And just, you know, his legacy, his, you know, that was really incredible. Who else? I mean, Meryl Streep, I was nervous to meet. Yeah, that would make me lose my mind. I did her for a W cover and she was just delightful. She just sat down in the chair and closed her eyes the entire time. I didn't even not know what I was doing at all.
37:07So at the end, I just had to kind of like hope that it was good. And then I saw her most recently doing press for the Devil Wears product too. I was working with Anne Hathaway and I reminded her of the cover we did. And she's like, I like those images. She's an icon, legend, just my favorite actress. She came in, I worked at a store once and she came in with her daughter and like sat on the couch and like watched them shop. And I was, and she was just lovely and sweet. She's so close with her. I see her drive around Pasadena. She drives down La Loma in her G-Wagon. And it's the coolest. She has a G-Wagon.
37:48I sort of wanted one, but then my son shut it down. I think it's very cool. You said it's too douchey. No, you know what? You know who drives one? Remember how chic Laura Vassar's mother is? Is she? I can imagine. Before she would be at the shows. She's beautiful. She reminds me a lot of you. She's like a beautiful American classic beauty. And a lot of her, I think a lot of Brock was like really inspired from the mom. Really? Yeah, you'll walk into her house and it's like, she's in like a skirt made of tapestry. And it's just, but it's like, there's nothing fussy about it. And she always has a cool G-Wagon.
38:24And the juxtaposition of her being this like really beautiful, grounded, earthy, chic, elevated woman in this like cool, rich car. I think it's like fucking awesome. No way. What color? It's all about the color. I think right now we bought one of our old, I have one of their old cars because one of their old G-Wagons that my mom drives around in and my mom is beautiful. And I can imagine. She looks like, but she looks like a Nancy Meyers character. She has like gray hair and she's 75. and I think it looks, it's like a, it's like the color of the small, it's like a dusty gray blue. That's the one I, I love.
38:57There's a, there's a greenish gray. The green one is so cool. Like the putty one. No, you would look so chic in that thing. That's the one I wanted. And my son was like, no. I was like, why not? No, we can't let the douchebags own G-wagons. Cool people can drive them too. Oh, see. I, yeah. Okay, maybe the next one. No, I think it's cool. I think it's cool too. Okay. Now I feel. I think like an elegant little, like a small woman in like a big truck is also really cool. How about a Hummer? Just like a giant. I know. Okay. Getting back on track. I want to know at what point you started working for Lancome and how that started, because it's really, I mean, that was, was that in your plan at the time?
39:41No, I had no idea. I feel like that was one of the first times that a major brand like that had like brought on someone who was actively in the industry. Yeah, that, so I actually didn't quite understand how lucky I was to get a contract like that. And for me, my, all I wanted to do was the work with Grace, with Vogue, with, you know, I didn't want to take myself away from any of that. And the idea of missing out on those covers and those shoots, just brutal because they, you know, the industry, it's, it's sort of, you know, you get replaced. I was going to say you probably felt like you were going to get replaced.
40:22And so I, it took me some convincing, but then I understood that it was a good thing to do. My agent was kind of like, what is wrong with you? And so I, I'm, you know, what year was this? 2002, maybe I want to say. And you were their artistic director? Global Artistic Director. And I actually super enjoyed my time there. It was delightful and really informative for, you know, what I, what I then carried over. I traveled a lot. My contract was actually out of, it was sort of strange the way it was set up, but it was to be, I had to be more in Europe than in America. Oh, wow. So that was crazy. So I was in Paris or London every two weeks.
41:17It's astonishing. The first year I was supposed to have 30 days. I had 60 days. I went to Japan many times. Do you have kids at this time? Not yet. Not yet. I had my son, I think Like you're four. Wow. Or you're three or something like that. Oh, that looks comfy. Yeah. Oh, my jeans are too tight. Mine are like riding up. I'm like, let's get comfy here. Pia, I bet your house is really cozy. It is. Thank you. That's a nice assumption. I definitely can imagine. There's a lot of, there's kids and dogs everywhere. Just like us. We have so many dogs and animals. How many dogs do you have? Three. We have three dogs.
41:59Yeah. We have another one all the time. There's something wrong with me. I almost pulled another dog out of the shelter the other day, but I was like, I'm out of town this weekend and we have big dogs and sometimes they fight. And I was like, this is dangerous. I can't like bring another bulldog into this. Yeah. We have two big dogs and a small dog. I need a small dog. So you can travel with them. I want to bring it around. Yeah. Do you feel bad leaving the big ones at home and they get to see the small one leave? I thought about that. I thought it's kind of mean. It is mean. It's super mean. It's okay.
42:31No, what are you going to do? Well, what was it like being a Lancome? You're right. Was it just being like pregnant and having because you're also doing editorials? Yeah. And you're in Europe every two weeks. Yeah, that that became a little bit complicated. So when I my son Dash is 19 now when he was. Yeah. When he was two months old, I they wanted me to. I had to book my flight the day he turned two months because then I was allowed to fly with him so we did a press junket in at hotel de cap chic i stay there for a week my mom and i got to stay that was then when they only took cash oh my gosh she was helping me right and and you were two months postpartum yeah oh and i was really struggling breastfeeding was so hard it's so hard i remember i had my breast pump like blew up so they had to get one from a hospital like a whole thing and then they wanted me to stay in Europe so because they don't want me to fly back and forth I didn't want to fly back and forth so then I had to stay there for like a month because then I went to Paris to do more press and it was it was like a lot of uh just a lot of travel and it's it's great up until a certain point but then when you start having children and things like that it's difficult to manage.
43:57And then I became pregnant with our 17 year old. And that's, I remember being in a meeting talking about going to India. And I was just thinking, I can't go though, because I would be seven months, eight months pregnant when they were talking about it. Then I thought that I can't do this much longer. So I decided, you know, it was, it'd be better for me to have something that was more America, you know, based in the U.S. is that when you went to Revlon? Are they the same company? Are they owned by the same company? Oh so you had Revlon was independently owned. Oh wow. Yeah so I loved my time at Lancome.
44:34Loved. It was just a lot you know for for what I where I was in my life it was it was a bit too much. Were you learning at all about like formulations ever while you were there? It was so beneficial. I worked directly with the chemists all the time. No way. Yeah. Because their offices are connected to their labs. Oh, incredible. 45 minutes outside of Paris. Incredible. I would go to the lab every single time I was there. You say, oh, I need something that does enhance the skin in this way. Yeah. I learned that's where the magic happens. That communication, when they see the passion in your face and, you know, when you get to play around in the magic, that's, so that's when I learned, I'm going to always insist on working directly with the chemist.
45:24What makeup were you using before Lancome? Like what was your kit mostly made out of a little bit of everything? Yeah. I mean, I learned how to do makeup using makeup forever. So I learned to work with sticks. So I guess that sticks were very comfortable for me to use and quick. I found, I just used a bit of everything. I use a lot of, you know, the way I would say my sweet spot, you know, people would always, journalists would always say, oh, you're known for the skin and doing the most beautiful natural makeup and blah, blah, blah. And I would always get annoyed thinking that you don't see all those Italian Vogue covers and all the stuff.
46:08Yeah. It was like, as if I hadn't done anything else other than pretty skin. It's like, dude, but I was known for that. So I really focused a lot on, and I think that came kind of from character makeup and movies, you know, and commercials and, and trying to articulate a mood or an experience that happens within a movie where you're conveying if it's time spent somewhere if it's a weathered person you want to help articulate that through you know the makeup the hair the clothing being a certain level of distress you know what I mean so so I I really took a lot from that and and put that into my artistry and in fashion and I think that that was something that was my own style you know and I could create this kind of winded looking skin very well.
47:09Were there any products in particular that helped you achieve that or it was just like a mix and an application or was there? I mean I used a lot of different things I remember I used like this liquid. I did a lot of like bronzing. I love kind of like bronzing the skin, but I would use this one liquid Ben I stuff bronzing. It was liquid and I would mix it with a few other colors to create that really authentic looking bronzy skin. And it's not as simple as just using one product because then it looks fake. You know, if it's too orange, too yellow. I always love when when I see them mixing a bunch of stuff, I'm like, I feel like they know what they're doing.
47:51Yeah. And I would use a couple of different sticks. And Jennifer Aniston would always ask me, what is that stick? What are those sticks? Where can I get those? And, and I kind of made them now. I was going to say, yeah, here, the sticks are currently in front of us now, the new version, the new shaker version. And it's just this idea of, of treating the complexion as something more that's breathable as opposed to complexion being simply about, you know, foundation you know making it more sort of like different elements such as you know shape and and warmth and color and and having that become your kind of expression of of skin complexion so what points after Revlon like at what point or was it during Revlon that you thought okay it's time for me to kind of you're mixing your own stuff you know what you want you've not met with chemists were you like it's time for me to do my own yeah I my time at Revlon was very different because they hadn't worked with an artistic director before so really a lot of the I was there for eight years I mean a lot of the time I spent just trying to teach them what they how they could use me better oh well you know because they they didn't really have the resources or the people in place to sort of leverage me and what I could bring.
49:13And, and there was, you know, there's honestly back then, I mean, there was just a little bit of implication like that I would sort of be a threat to, to some people's jobs. It's like, no, no, I have one, nothing to do with those things. I'm, I'm here to, we're a team. So it was, it was. That happens when you have a corporate company and somebody new kind of like gets brought in. Everybody just gets scared for their job. Yeah. I'm not here to be here every day. I don't want to do that. That's not for me. I want to be here, you know, a couple of days, not even here. But yeah, so I had thought about it for a long time, but honestly, it wasn't super straightforward what it should be.
49:59And And at a point, I remember the leadership had switched for the third time. And I just thought, you know, now's a good moment for me to kind of like think about doing something different. And my husband and I, he's an incredible businessman. He founded, co-founded Rag & Bone with his school friend from England. And he was at Rag & Bone at the time. And we were discussing this idea of a licensing contract. And we were kind of deep along in negotiations with this company. And I remember we were, it was the winter and we were sitting in front of the fire in our old apartment in Chelsea and we were looking at the contract.
50:43And I remember seeing year five optic. And I was like, what does this mean? And he was like, I guess they want you to do glasses the fifth year. And I was like, oh my God, I don't know if that feels right. that doesn't feel like me. And I was just looking at the layout being so sort of prescriptive. And I thought this doesn't really feel like, I don't know. And so he said, well, you get one shot. Do you want this to be it? And I said, no, hard no. And what a great partner. Yeah. But then you'll never believe this. So this was in early December. And then a week later, we went to this place for uh ski for christmas called majev in switzerland and who is next to us at every breakfast and dinner but the the guy who is one of the owners of that company the licensing company and i was like oh my god i was like david we have to go somewhere else and i was like you know because you get like a designated table for every meal.
51:56Not when you're not. I was like, so yeah, that was kind of awkward. Was he nice to you or he was just mad? It was a little nice to you know, he wasn't super chuffed. I want to say. Oh my God. It took a minute. David said, you have to get an office. And when you get an office, it'll come to you. Oh, cool. We had dinner with Bobby Brown and her husband, Stephen. and she was like, so when are you going to launch a line, your makeup line? And I said, oh, I kind of want to launch your skincare. How incredible that another woman that owns a makeup line wants you. What a cool woman. So cool. She was great, like helping us find people and so cool.
52:37Yeah, generous. But she's so comfortable and confident in what she does. So she doesn't, you know, need to be insecure, which is so nice. There's enough for everyone. I see that happen amongst my friends, like in similar categories where some of them will be like, get mad because somebody launched something, a totally different aesthetic, but in a similar category. And then other women are like, I need you to like, please. Like one of my girlfriends is like. Yeah, you have to celebrate each other. Totally. It's only good for us. It benefits us. Good. And I have a girlfriend that she owns all of Atelier.
53:09If you haven't seen it, you should. It's beautiful. And they do interiors and talking to her about this thing that I'm doing. And she's like, she's like, I will help you. I will lead you. And they're adjacent. Like they're different aesthetics. She was like, you have to do it. Like it just feels just feels so nice. Good for everybody. That is good for everybody. You're right. And it makes you feel good about yourself. Yes. You know, I find that we have to champion each other. I have to say, like looking at Charlotte Tilbury and what she's achieved and created. It's extraordinary. Good on her. You know, it's kind of like, yeah, this can be done.
53:42I also, here's what I say. If it's so genuinely, this is so genuinely you. Yeah. Like your brain, this is you want to try. I'm looking at you. I see the reflection of the products reflecting off your cheek. Aesthetically, it's so you. Charlotte Tilbury, her makeup is so fucking Charlotte. Yeah. It couldn't be more Charlotte. like it's so yeah mac is so campy you know it's always even though there's no person behind it yeah it is so there is room for everybody if it's so authentically yeah you have to just stay in your lane and stick with your passion and you know and david said get this office and it'll come to you and i swear to you i had this office in london terrace i had mood boards i got my cute little China.
54:26I got everything and I sat there like this for two years. And then Grace Coddington took over my office lease. I was like, I hope you are more productive than I was in there because nothing came to me. My kids did homework in there. That's it. Oh my God. you know what I did this week that was so satisfying I texted my girl from the rear girl we were like literally chatty on text she came over I had recently cleaned out my closet transitioned out some older things I was holding on to my feet grow of course with pregnancy so there are some shoes that I just had to come to terms with, won't fit me anymore, can't stretch them out and really transition my closet into fall.
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58:55I swear I looked around, I had a cute phone, I had a desk and my husband was calling me and saying, how's it going? I'm like, nothing's going. and it did take a minute but then ultimately you know starting from who should we work with you know it's it's difficult to assemble a team yeah you know you have no idea where to begin and I had some experience with IntraCost because I had worked with them with both Lancome and Revlon and I really loved and appreciated what they did and I knew they were you know the biggest CM for color cosmetics. And I wanted to work. I thought we should work with them.
59:39I know them. And so my husband and I went to Italy and we were having dinner with the founder, Dario Ferrari. And he was like, natural makeup doesn't work. Because I had this idea I wanted to do organic makeup. So stupid. So stupid. And I dropped that after nine months of failed missions, but we had just like oil dripping down your face, just like garbage. And having dinner with him, he's like, you know, natural makeup doesn't work. Don't do that. And I was like, it's going to be different. You'll see. And then, you know, his, his daughter really was very helpful for me to ideate what it was. It just came to me in a second.
1:00:18It's like, she said, what are you known for? I was like the skin. And she's like, there you have it. I was like, I have it. So then it was like obvious that I should just do, you know, an edit, a curated edit of products where I can share this really simplified philosophy around the skin and how to create elevated, you know, skin without it feeling like you're a show pony for cosmetics, you know, just really enhance yourself. And so that's, that's where it began. But then of course, there was this really deep desire to create products without a lot of ingredients, like silicones and pegs and phthalates and all of these ingredients, which is very challenging.
1:01:09Still to this day, the biggest challenge, but now everyone knows. you have you had to didn't something happen with the foundation where you like missed the date of the launch because you just didn't think the formula was yeah by a year oh my god it was so we so we oh but it's actually great because a year ago we were supposed to launch our liquid foundation and I was getting production samples sent to me and I was you know wearing them and And I was like, what? This is not this. What is this? This is not the right formula. This is not our foundation. And something happened in the scale up, which it can happen sometimes.
1:01:53Oh, wow. You know, foundation is the most difficult category. And especially formulating with no silicones, without all of these. Would those act as like a stabilizer almost to? Well, it's just the combination of all of these ingredients that the formulators are accustomed to, not using those and using alternative ingredients for, you know, many of these things. They're just not as familiar with them. And anyway, something happened in the scale up and I really tried to fix it. I went to Italy for 10 days. we worked on, you know, doing some tweaks and it didn't work. But it's more. You taking a huge financial hit to make sure that the formula is right.
1:02:43It's it was better than from a moral perspective. You could have absolutely no one was going to notice it the same way that you would. No, but it's you wouldn't sit. Now it's incredible, honestly. I mean, good on you. Everyone said, I'm sure you can fix it. And I was like, no, you can't fix it. It's not, it's not, we have to start from scratch. And so we made that decision and we did everything so, so well, so meticulously. And it was just, I mean, I've never been happier with a formula. I was more impressed with the formula. My intention was to, I wanted to kind of create more of a modern version of luminous silk, in my opinion, for me, what I view as modern.
1:03:32And that ultimately has been one of the best forever, but it is a very heavy. Yeah, it's been consistently well, very well respected. And such a heavy formula for every day. Is, you know, more my take on it, but that ease, you know? And I also wanted to include serious skincare component. So we worked at the biotech lab. Wow. Which, you know, that also brings in a whole other level of, you know, we were, I was like, God willing, this works, you know, because you have to combine two different formulas. But, you know, they do harmonize. Everything, you know, harmonizes beautifully. But it's just, we have the best of the best of both the skincare complex and the foundation complex.
1:04:21So it's like you're getting so much for your money, you know, so the exosome technology actually wasn't really aware of. I thought it was an ingredient, to be honest, when I when I was reading about it. I get those micro needles into my face. Yeah, I was like, oh, that's a cool ingredient. I had no idea when I first read about it a few years ago. And then I just thought I want to do that in our makeup. I have never seen that in makeup. So I want to do it in our makeup. It would have come out a year ago if, you know, But still, I was just praying that no one else would do it before us. And I don't think anyone did.
1:04:56Touch wood. And basically, exosome technology is a delivery system. And we added our proprietary complex into this delivery system. And it's a smaller molecule than the size of your pore so that the molecule can enter your dermis and find damaged skin cells and it releases these peptides and these vitamins and these antioxidants into your skin and it renews your skin cells. Unbelievable. Yeah. So that's, that's legit. Are you so proud of yourself? Yeah. Well, it's a, it's a very competitive space. And a lot of people to this day, you know, and a lot of people, and every day you open your phone and there's like another makeup brand.
1:05:43I'm like, God, I know it's like you can't keep up. But you know, I, I have to say to this day, a lot of people don't care about what's in their foundation as long as it makes their skin look good, which is mind blowing to me, given the information we have around ingredients now. I mean, it's just a matter of time. I always tell myself it's sort of like the food we eat in America, you know, just like everything has too many chemicals that are not necessary. And I think I'm trying to just kind of translate how I like to live into the products. Gwyneth Paltrow said something once, and I use a little bit of everything.
1:06:21I like to keep it mostly clean, obviously. But I remember Gwyneth Paltrow saying once, I saw her talk, it was like a long time ago. And it was like, it was some sort of promotional thing for when her show came out on Netflix and she had all these different doctors on and somebody asked her about clean makeup. and she just thought like, my, she's like, I watched my dad die and your skin is your biggest organ. And so like, why do I want to put endocrine disrupting ingredients on my organ? Yeah. She said it so bluntly and I was like, oh my God, that makes sense. Like, and so, you know, then I went really off the rails, not using anything healthy and now I've found a nice little balance of, of a life.
1:07:00Yeah. I mean, it's 80, 20. Well, I love my 80, 20 life. It's 80, 20. I do too. I love to indulge sometimes and but for the most part i'm consistent and i think if you you just have that sort of like balance it's all about a balance how many products do you have now in your whole range how many years has it been too eight years wow we launched eight years did you guys would you mind if i do you mind if i did you bootstrap this yourself or did you fundraise No, we did it ourselves until about five years in. But you started it on your own. Incredible. Yeah. Congratulations. Thank God that foundation thing didn't happen then.
1:07:38I know. But the reason it took so long to make that foundation. You'd be slinging Revlon back on your Instagram. I'd be like, maybe I can work at SK2 again or something. We couldn't do that liquid foundation earlier because there were no alternative ingredients. like now that formula is insane. There's some ingredients that are magic. Look at these beautiful lipsticks too. I mean, I'm wearing all of it right now. The lipstick is so hydrating. So I watch you apply lipstick a lot. I don't. So hydrating. I'm nervous to wear color on my lip. I always do a gloss and a lip liner. Look how you're, I know it's so hydrating.
1:08:15This one is. Yeah, that looks great. So I love when you do that. I love when watching you do people's makeup because it just like all seems so beautiful. But Pia, have you tried this on your lips? I have. Yes, I have. Yeah, it feels incredible. But I look at myself and I'm like, I need to figure out what color. But this is not really, this is just kind of like tones down your red. Yes. That looks amazing on you. It does not look like. I mean, yeah. Your colors are gorgeous. I mean, it's all really beautiful and perfect. Oh, thank you. I want it to feel joyful. You know, I think we. The packaging is to die for.
1:08:49Thank you. I love using it. Yeah. I love seeing it in my bag. I love seeing it on my counter. And we were talking about this before you came in or before we started recording that my son watches me do makeup so much. So he will sit on my lap and do it. And he loves to eat all of the sticks. And so there's teeth marks in all of them. That is so cute. But I always, I'm like, oh, I don't have to fret because they are not going to hurt him. That's so cute. Because there's no chemicals in there. How many kids do you have? Two. And you're going to have a third. I think I should. Yeah. I think that it's in my brain.
1:09:26What do you have? A girl and a boy. Where do you live? Outside of New York. That's my dream. I want to move to Bedford or Greenwich. We live in Bedford. Do you want to buy our house? Yes, I do. Great. Yes, I do. Tell me when you're ready. Thank you so much. No, wait, you want to move to Bedford or Greenwich? Why? I don't like it here. I'm a New York girlie. I lived there for 10 years. It's my happy place. My husband's from Italy. All of our brands are in Italy. Tell me about your brands. You live my dream life with food and Italy. It's about to get better when our Barantini brand launches. It's going to be.
1:10:03When is that going to be? I'm showing a deck to my dream partner in two weeks. I'm going to one partner instead of fundraising from a bunch of people. Like the biggest one. I just want to be like, do it with this. In food? Like a food partner. Wow. I do CPG and restaurants. okay I know a really great investor if you're ever I do I want to ask Mario Carbone oh sick and then have his wife be like help make me like that's cool you know what I mean like the one-two punch of her being like we're gonna do this and you're gonna do this is what I'm manifesting if not it's not very cool but also maybe one day you should meet Alicia Sontag from Prelude is brilliant.
1:10:44She's in a lot of food brands. Fly by Yang. She would love what we're doing. It's really cool. Or is it Fly by Yang? I'm a Jing. Jing. Oh, Jing. All right. We have to get out of this studio. I'm a huge fan and I'm so grateful. I feel like I want to go to your house and have pasta. I want to go to your house. No, you don't. Well, yeah, you can come to our house. You can have our house. Once I get my house in Ireland, you can have our house in Bedford. Oh, see, we're all just slowly moving more and more east. I want to move to Europe. Yeah, great. I want to move to, but this is my like way to get to there.
1:11:15Where do you go in Italy? Sicily is where he's from. But we go to lots of places. What's your favorite? In all of Italy, it was just not comparable. It's just, but Sicily, like if you really explore the whole island, it's just because Mount Etna in the winter is like the coziest. There's like little gnome houses. And like there's one restaurant where they put coal under the table to keep your feet warm. Shut up. Nicolosi and all these places looks like you're in like Italian Disneyland. they're so cute but then I also you know I mean like roll it's all amazing have you been to Iskia yeah we went this summer it's the best it's interesting it's cool it's really I think you need to know your spots yeah this is the same which is why I don't tell anybody to go unless I know it's really disappointing when you go somewhere and you end up in like a shit hotel I will have a meltdown because I'm like I do because I'm like I spent so much time and money to be here and like we got it wrong and the vibes are wrong and I just want to die no I am not easy to deal with hotels right not even it's not even about the niceness like you just feel like the vibe is off like I'll stay in a shithole if there's a great vibe yeah I just need like a vibe do you want to feel like do you like mezzatura there or what do you like I'm dying thank you by the way thank you so much for coming on thank you thank you for having me thank you I love you Everything is the best.
1:12:34Thank you.
1:12:40And that, ladies and gentlemen, concludes this week's episode of Everything is the Best. I hope you enjoyed it. Please rate, review, subscribe, all that stuff. Maybe leave a comment. Go ahead and follow me on Instagram at Pia Barancini. And I hope you have a fabulous, fabulous rest of your day. Love you. Ciao. Thank you.
From the publisher
This week I sit down with Gucci Westman, the legendary makeup artist behind some of the most recognizable faces in Hollywood and on the runway, and the founder of Westman Atelier. Gucci spent decades shaping how we think about beauty, from red carpets to her years leading artistry at Revlon and Lancôme, before creating a luxury clean makeup line that lives in every chic woman's bag. We talk about how she got her start, what she's learned from working on faces for thirty years, why skin always comes first, and what it really takes to build a brand on your own terms. Plus, her quick tricks for looking rested when you are anything but, the products she never travels without, and how she balances creativity, business, and family. Gucci is warm, funny, and generous with her secrets, and I promise you'll walk away looking at your makeup bag differently.
Produced by Dear Media
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