The end of the year is a gala season and Beijing has no shortage of fabulous black-tie charity events for you to choose from. This month for Indulge, I’m excited to feature my good friend, and mom to three handsome boys, Elisabeth Kang, who essentially attends every gala in the city.

Already a Laurent Falcon regular, Kang met the beijingkids team at Laurent Falcon in Sanlitun for a makeover that’s worthy of any red carpet.

One of the things we love about Laurent Falcon is that their stylists will never try to push any current trend on their guests. It’s just a fact that the same hairstyle isn’t going to work for every person, and having a hair dresser who doesn’t try to convince you to get the most recent hair trend saves you a lot of stress and frustration.

What Kang asked for was unconventional, but Laurent Falcon was able to deliver exactly what she pictured. She asked for a blonde balayage color fade with no additional treatment to her roots so that her natural grey hairs could still visibly grow out. Not every woman is trying to hide their age. Some wear their grey hairs proudly.

Spending the day at Laurent Falcon watching her get her hair done was surprisingly fun! The hair salon has a brand new cocktail menu with delicious options for their guests (and guests’ guests) to enjoy, they also added some of the best salon furniture, so it was very comfortable for me to wait. Which brings me back to charity galas. It’s always more fun to attend these events with your closest friends, and getting ready together is one of the best parts. With a salon that will make you over from head to toe all while providing you with endless cocktails, more of us should make pre-party group pampering a part of our holiday gala tradition.

Following hair and makeup at Laurent Falcon, Kang showed off one of her favorite formal wear looks – a custom-made embroidered skirt paired with a simple gold top and handmade fascinator to bring the whole look together. Looking like a golden trophy, this beautiful mom is ready for any party this city throws her way.

Hair: Laurent Falcon, French Style Salon F/2, Sanlitun North Street South www.laurent-falcon.com (6409 4243) Wardrobe: Hat by Elisabeth Koch Millinery Location: Hulu by TRB

This article appeared in the beijingkids December 2019 Giving Back issue

Amber Meyer comes from Canada and has been living in Beijing for three years. Before becoming a parent, she worked as a stem cell technologist, collecting, processing, and treating patients with hematopoietic stem cells. Meyer now homeschools her two sons who are four and five. In the night time she teaches some religious classes and works for Days for Girls. It is a non-profit organization that provides access to products making it possible for underprivileged girls to still attend school during times of menstruation. Meyer admits to not having a daily routine for her hair and makeup, but likes wearing makeup for church and events.

To give this hardworking mother a break, we treated her to a pamper day at the Catherine de France hair and beauty salon. Meyer was truly up for anything and put all her trust in Wendy Wang, a master stylist at the salon. Wang is great with curls and has lots of clients who come to her to tame their curly locks. Wang felt very creative and she wanted to do two looks, one with Meyer’s natural curly hair and one with her hair straightened.

Before we started the makeover Meyer had a nice relaxing hair wash. “This was so relaxing I almost fell asleep,” Meyer confessed. Wang started by cutting her hair in a hip inverted bob, shorter in the back and longer in the front. Wang has a special way of cutting curly hair that we never saw before; she rolls the hair in the curls and gives it some cuts with her scissors, so layers are cut into the curls.

Wang put some highlights in Meyer’s hair in a crisscross pattern, and then put in a bright red “rock star” streak on the right side of Meyers hair. The colors on the rest of the hair became a nice warm red. Wang then blow dried as naturally as possible to emphasize Meyer’s curls.

After the curly look, Wang styled Meyer’s hair and straightened it for a sleeker look.

Wang gave Meyer a bold lip and smoky eyes. When Meyer got home after a long pampering day, her two boys were so happy to see her but were honest enough to ask her, “Why do you have that on your face?” They also commented “Your hair is red!” Husband Peter (a pilot) was away on a flight, but thought Meyer looked amazing in the pictures. Meyer felt truly pampered and so pretty and wished every mother could have a day at Catherine De France Hair and Beauty Salon.

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

Photos by Uni You