Refinery29 on Interview Makeup

This is a legacy post commenting on Refinery29’s Interview Makeup article. My content has been given a facelift; it has been edited for clarity and ease-of-reading, but is ultimately the same. I winced as I re-read it and the article that inspired it. WTF.


The other day I was reading various beauty-related articles when I came across this one from Refinery29 discussing Skype or other video-call interviews. Seeing the title, I was intrigued – this could be pretty useful to a lot of people these days.

The Players

The Refinery29 article is filled with advice solicited from Michelle Phan, Nic from Pixiwoo/Real Techniques, and Deepica Mutyala; a blogger/vlogger I was unfamiliar with until I read. I’m not a regular Refinery29 reader, but was looking forward to the content.

Knowing Your Interview Audience

It starts off with sound advice from Mutyala – that you should understand who you’ll be interviewing with. Obviously, if you are interviewing in a traditionally very conservative field, like law, you need to keep your makeup understated and very safe. Advancing to the topic of lighting, she makes a point to share that thoughtful lighting is key to a web conference-style interview. It’s no secret that cameras tend to pick things up a little differently than our eyes tend to on our own – webcams, especially ones built-in to your laptop’s lid, are certainly no exception. Throw in a less-than-ideal lighting arrangement, and people could use some help presenting themselves professionally – so this is good stuff, so far.

Keep the Focus on You, Not Your Surroundings

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Going Silver, pt 2 – Silver Hair Q&A

Silver HairSilver hair found @ modernsalon.com

In my last post about silver hair, I shared that I am living vicariously through a close friend who is now living her love of silver hair. She had two appointments the most recent of which was last month, and she graciously agreed to allow me to interrogate her ask her a slew of questions to share with you. Some responses were minimally edited for clarity.

It’s important to note that neither my friend nor I are salon professionals. We haven’t been to beauty school, are not licensed cosmetologists, hair wizards, etc. We are, however, very curious and research obsessed. We tend to exhaust topics like these before jumping into them. Our word is not law and you should always do your own research – including consulting experienced professionals.


Q: Did you like silver hair when you first saw it out there, or did it take seeing it a few times?

A: I guess it would be a bit of both, some people pulled it off really, really well and it looked fantastic – usually those with the darker and more metallic grey-silver. For others it just looked like regular grey or greying hair. Which was flattering on some and not on others, as anything could be. So I guess it took seeing it a few times and establishing a pattern of how and on whom it looks good for me to like it for myself.

Q: How long did it take for the, “You know… maybe I could do that?” thoughts to strike?

A: I guess I answered the second question a bit with the first response! It took a while, between in person and online it was easily a few dozen exposures

Q: You’re naturally blonde, you were masquerading as a brunette for a while. When was the last time you colored your hair prior to your decision?

A: The last time I coloured my hair prior to going silver would be… I want to say March or April of 2015. A combination of my regular stylist going on maternity leave and my fantastically lazy personality I carried with that for much longer than I should have and had significant root growth, which is certainly relevant in this process.

Q: What criteria did you look for in the salon you’re trusting with such an epic task? I’ve seen some people try to go to a Regis with that quest and it didn’t turn out well.

A: What I looked for in the salon was something of a younger, modern, edgier ‘persona’ of the salon itself and how it was marketed, the staff and their personal style, and the pictures posted by the salon of past clients. I figured [a salon with] a more modern and different style would be best. Of course I looked through some examples of silver hair in the gallery to know they were capable of pulling it off.

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