Fun loving couple Yiran Liu and Roberto Alvarez are about to celebrate their wedding in September, so this makeover came at the perfect time. They first met in Seoul seven years ago where they were both teaching, and moved here four and a half years ago, then had a civil ceremony soon after. Liu is a Beijingren while Alvarez is a Cuban-American from Miami. He works at the British Council and Liu is a freelance translator.

Liu and Alvarez are the proud parents of 3-year-old Roee and 3-month-old Lucia. When we met up at Catherine de France, the couple was beaming, especially Liu, a stay-at-home-mom who had the day off and left her youngest with her mother. Later on as the day progressed, Lucia and big sister Roee joined us as we waited for mom to get her hair done.

Liu and Alvarez have opposite routines as Liu gets her hair blown and styled once a week, when Alvarez is a wash-and-gel man and hadn’t had his hair cut for a year. Alvarez says, “Work and family commitments sometimes make it difficult to maintain a routine. Running after the kids and dealing with the everyday surprises that come up can be mentally and physically exhausting.”

Catherine de France’s team leader stylist, Aurelien Collard, wanted to get the couple ready for their wedding by giving more body and volume to Liu’s hair through perming (RMB 1,500). Meanwhile, for Alvarez, Collard cut his hair shorter and straightened the hair using the keratin treatment, KeraStraight (RMB 550). David Bai and makeup artist Marie Deng assisted Collard.

Our couple didn’t have any expectations, only to have fun.

They liked the staff and despite the long day due to the perm, they are planning to return to the salon. “Wow! Where’s my husband?” exclaimed Liu. She was excited about her husband’s new look and said he looked different.  Alvarez kept gazing up and down at his wife, saying she looked incredible. As for 3-year-old Roee, she said she doesn’t like the salon or hospital but was happy that her mommy’s hair has become curly like hers. Lucia breastfeeding happily was her sign of approval. Grandmother was all too happy to smile and take photos of the couple every two minutes.

Products
• Mac 6 Snowglobe Eye Shadows/Cool
• Sephora Almost Nude No. 9 Eye Shadow and Liner Palette
• Sephora Wild Safari No. 3 Eye Shadow and Liner Palette
• Christian Dior NudeTan compressed powder
• Mac Studio Fix loose powder
• Max Factor X No. 81 Crème Puff, Truly Fair, pressed powder
• Maybelline Dream Satin Skin Natural Ivory
• Clinique Even Better liquid foundation
• Yves Saint Laurent Rouge Pur Couture Satin Radiance Lipstick, No.1 Le Rouge

Step 1
Collard cuts the couple’s hair. Liu gets a manicure and opts for the gold color.

Step 2
Liu’s hair is permed while Alvarez is straightened using a keratin treatment.

Step 3
Collard, with the help of Bai, colors Liu and Alvarez’s hair with reddish-brown and dark brown respectively.

Step 4
After applying moisturizer, foundation, and powder, Deng creates a smoky eye using dark purple eye shadow along the lashline fading to light brown in the crease, then a gold shadow on the lid and brow bone. Using black liquid eyeliner, Deng applies along the lashes then adds mascara to the bottom and top eyelashes. To finish off, she uses red lipstick. Collard cleans up Alvarez’s chin with a quick trim.

Catherine de France 法式美容美发沙龙
Tue-Sun 9am-9pm. B1 East Avenue Bldg,10 Xin Dong Lu, Chaoyang District (8442 5120, 135 2147 3492, eastavenue@catherinedefrance.com) 朝阳区新东路10号逸盛阁首层

This article originally appeared on page 12-13 of the September 2016 Issue of beijingkids magazine. Click here for your free online copy. To find out how you can obtain a hard copy, contact distribution@truerun.com.

In this special Father’s Day edition of Indulge, we give Beijing dad Sunny Kim a day of pampering that fits his easy and outgoing personality. Sunny is the headmaster at the newly opened Olive International School (OIS) in Wangjing. He and his family, wife Suzy, 12-year-old Miriam, and 11-year-old Noel have been residents of the capital for six years. Suzy is the curriculum director and teacher at the OIS. The family moved to Beijing so their children could experience the world, and especially China. “We felt it would be important for their future to know Chinese,” says Sunny.

Sunny’s grooming is pretty simple: he gets a haircut every two to three months and shaves every other day or when he feels it has overgrown. The initial plan was to color his hair but after talking to Clayton Olsen, creative stylist at Z Hairdressing, they both agreed that color wasn’t necessary after all. Olsen’s laid back and charming nature put Sunny at ease to talk about him having very dry hair. Olsen did an initial assessment and proposed a natural scalp treatment from Korea.

The scalp treatment is customizable depending on the scalp and the salon offers it as part of their male grooming services. “It makes such a difference in maintaining hair here,” says Olsen. The main long-term benefits of the treatment are dandruff removal, a healthy scalp, and shiny hair. Beijing’s dry weather damages both men and women’s hair, and the good news about scalp treatment is that it can be done once every three months as long as you buy the correct shampoo and conditioner that the salon recommends as part of the treatment. The treatment starts at RMB 300, depending on what needs to be done.

Lily Liu, a technician, assisted Olsen in applying the treatment. Liu has been working for the company for several years and understands the treatment very well. Sunny was pleased with the team and definitely will be going back as his new look was short but stylish, and his family and friends love it. He might make it a dad’s day out with his daughters to enjoy a grooming session together.

Step 1
Liu applies an exfoliating cleanser, which causes a tingling sensation, to clean debris from the scalp and open pores. Then Sunny’s head goes into the hydration machine for five minutes, with light heat to let the cleaner process.

Step 2
Liu applies the therapeutic treatment that is going to help with the dry scalp. After applying, it’s another three minutes in the hydration machine on light heat.

Step 3
Liu uses moisture and finishing serum to lock hydration into scalp and hair. Then afterwards she massages the scalp.

Step 4
Olsen cuts the hair with the serum still applied, then the hair is rinsed and styled.

Z by David Hairdressing
Daily 10am-9pm. B1-003, Bldg 5, 8 Xindong Lu Complex, Chaoyang District (8424 4533) 新东路8号院5号楼B1-003

This article originally appeared on page 12 of the 2016 June-July Issue of beijingkids magazine. Click here for your free online copy. To find out how you can obtain a hard copy, contact distribution@truerun.com.
Photo: Uni You