Written By Cari Pierce
“I have…between 5:45 a.m. and 5:50 a.m. to put on makeup and do my hair during the week,” said Christine Murphy. “I have to be absolutely realistic.”
Indeed. Christine, 35, who commutes from her home in Glenville, Pennsylvania, to her job at CCC Fence in Westminster, finds little time for herself: time not devoted to her husband and three young children, their home life, or her full-time job as an estimator. Making dinner, packing school lunches, running errands, doing laundry – it’s enough to distract any woman from focusing on herself. Sound familiar?
“It’s easy to get in a rut,” she said. So Carroll Magazine invited her to participate in an “out-of-rut” solution: four hours of pampering – a makeover – at Bladerunner salon in Westminster.
Serving the county for 16 years, Bladerunner’s new location on Main Street is a bright, airy, 2000-square-foot space with expansive plate-glass windows and a clean, modern design that plays against the building’s 65-year-old structure. Christine was greeted enthusiastically at the reception desk by Tanya McDonald, who introduced Murphy to the esthetician, stylist and makeup artist working with her that morning.
The first step in Christine’s day of beauty was a full-hour European Bioelements facial with Tammy Alban, a professional esthetician with 17 years of experience. In a quiet, darkened treatment room soothed with soft music and the sounds of nature, the facial began. Tammy thoroughly evaluated Murphy’s skin, asking questions about her daily skin care routine and educating Murphy about the importance of drinking enough water each day.
Christine learned that she should treat her neck and dcolletage with the same products she uses on her face because those areas are among the first parts of the body to show signs of age – or “maturity” as Tammy pointed out. “We mature. I hate using the word getting older.”
Tammy works exclusively with Bioelements products for facials because they can be custom blended to target a client’s unique complexion characteristics. For Christine’s facial, Tammy used a moisturizing cleanser, rinsing it off with gentle upward strokes. “Gravity pulls down, so wipe up,” Tammy said.
Christine was impressed with the skin care information she received: “The attention to detail during the facial was great. They know exactly what you need for your skin type and the ambiance was nice.”
Nice, too, was the facial exfoliation Tammy performed under a warm steamer. As her hands danced across Christine’s face, ensuring that every move served a function, she explained that she was stimulating pressure points: “It’s more than slapping on creams and lotions, there’s so much more to a facial – it relieves sinus pressure and headaches and improves circulation.”
Tammy continued the facial with a soothing geranium oil aromatherapy massage to tone the skin. After another examination of Christine’s cleansed face, she removed any stubborn dirt and debris in the pores. Then Tammy used a gel therapy mask to hydrate Christine’s skin and soothe the broken blood vessels around her nose, followed by a relaxing, invigorating massage of her neck, shoulders and arms.
With a quick waxing of Christine’s eyebrows and a reminder to wear sunscreen – even in the winter – Tammy sent a very relaxed and glowing client to the chair of hair stylist, Sarah Stambaugh.
Sarah, who has “grown up” at Bladerunner, starting with the salon as a shampoo technician, studied Christine’s hair, its wave and texture. Confidently, she cut it quickly and precisely.
Sarah told Christine that the natural cowlick in her hair at her forehead would be minimized by a heavier bang and that, although she has a lot of hair, it is rather fine and tends to be dry. The scissors flashed in the salon’s track lighting as Sarah finished cutting and moved on to color.
“Keeping a darker color will keep a busy mom from needing too much maintenance with re-coloring roots,” said Sarah. So she played up the red tones in Christine’s hair by giving her an all-over dark red, auburn, Redken color with caramel-colored highlights.
“I like it,” said Christine, “I can’t wait to see it finished.” With a round brush to help smooth out Christine’s waves, Sarah styled the new cut and used a couple of finishing products to provide hold and enhance the hair’s shine.
The final stage of Christine’s transformation was a professional makeup application by Shelly Bandy, someone whose attention to detail approaches perfection. After examining Christine’s facial features and learning that Christine works outside all day, Shelly echoed Tammy in recommending the use of sunscreen , adding that her client should consider using vitamin C – an antioxidant – to further heal and protect her skin.
Using skin care makeup formulated with beneficial ingredients, Shelly approached her canvas. She evened out the skin tone under Christine’s eyes, applied concealer to cover a few imperfections, smoothed a sheer foundation all over the face, achieved a soft, flawless look with a light-diffusing face powder and added a shimmer of blush on Christine’s cheeks.
Shelly used a brown-black eyeliner, teaching Christine that on her lower lid she should only apply eyeliner from the center of the eye out – to make her eyes appear larger. She applied a dark gray metallic shadow – “a nice neutral,” she said – over the eyeliner in upward sweeping motions. “Don’t pull the makeup down,” said Shelly. “It will make you look older.”
After she applied an oil-absorbing, non-creasing gold shadow on the lid, she used a vanilla shadow to highlight the brow bone and lighten the inner corner of the eye. Then she swept shimmer dust all over Christine’s face to reflect light and added a swipe of black mascara to the top and bottom lashes. Christine’s eyes were bright and sparkling.
After Shelly applied a lip liner – for a “kiss-proof” finish – and glossed her lips with a sheer, glimmering pink lipstick, Christine sat a little taller in her chair and had a new twinkle in her eye. “I clean up okay,” she said, smiling at her reflection in the mirror.
Christine has had a rare treat – a day of pampering, a day of focusing on herself. The result? Dramatic change, both in her appearance and her demeanor. As she prepared to leave the salon, she was visibly more relaxed and decidedly more confident. Throughout the process, she said, “I learned so many helpful tips that I used to know, but just forgot.”
Education is one of the key elements of the Bladerunner experience, said salon owner Lisa Nightingale. “Our tagline is Ôyou make us look good.’ If you heard that and you’re a client, what does that mean to you? We can do great things here, but we need you to [know how to] do great things at home to make you – and the salon – look good.”
“You think you need to go out of the area to get something great,” said Christine, “but you don’t.” Lisa concurred:“We provide a small town atmosphere with big city services. I think we’re most known for being friendly. Our number one thing is not simple customer service. It’s about making people feel right at home. Being told I have a friendly staff is the greatest compliment I can have. I know we do good hair, but you can get that about anywhere nowadays. It’s more about how clients feel when they leave.”
“Instead of looking like a haggard mother in her 30s,” said Christine, “it makes me feel fresh and up to date. Overall, it was just a great experience.”
The costs of a facial ($75), brow wax ($15), haircut and color ($100) and makeup application ($20) are not out of line, but Bladerunner makes treatments even more appealing by offering Day of Beauty packages that start at $125 and include a facial, deluxe manicure with a paraffin wax treatment, hairstyling, and a complete makeover, lunch included
Regular clients can sign up for the salon’s Preferred Guest Card, an accumulating point system based on the products and services purchased. Points can be used toward future salon services.
Bladerunner is hosting an open house on Sunday, February 12 from 1 to 4 p.m. In addition to having Redken and Bioelements representatives on hand to answer questions about their products, visitors can meet Bladerunner staff and enjoy promotional gift-with-purchase specials.
Bladerunner Hair, Nails & Skin, Inc.
104 East Main Street
Westminster, MD 21157
410-848-5353
Monday – Friday 9 a.m. – 8 p.m.
Saturday 8 a.m. – 4 p.m.
