Oh my, when makeup meets purse, the sparks that fly.
Unfortunately for us ladies, it’s a most trying affair.
Ideally, we’d like to access our lipstick — or lip-liner, eye shadow and blush — when it’s needed most. But the effort often requires digging through a mishmash of free-floating cosmetics buried among our necessities, rarely to resurface in times of need.
Noticing a call for organization, Gail Sagel, owner of Westport-based Faces Beautiful, created Faces with a Case, a makeup fashion accessory offering beauty for the busy.
“I listen to women all day long and women are always rushing, going here, going there, and they always need a little help with getting themselves organized,” Sagel says. “I thought that if I could find a way to organize a makeup case, maybe with a wallet at the same time and make our lives easier, it would be greatly appreciated.”
Faces with a Case, described as “the perfect solution for our disorganized makeup bags,” is a clutch-sized accessory that functions as a cosmetics case and wallet. Available in sleek black, champagne gold and wild leopard, the case offers a selection of two palette options — nude neutrals and plum neutrals — that are vegan, paraben-free and cruelty-free. Each palette contains a blush, bronzer, six eye shadows, a lip-gloss, two applicator brushes, a mascara and a cosmetics mirror, neatly housed in a portable magnetic case that is secured shut by a clasp. The wallet portion contains slots to hold credit cards and cash.
Each palette offers colors designed for day-to-evening glam. The lighter eye shadows with a pearl finish can double as a highlighter, and Sagel includes a set of instructions for three eye shadow techniques for those interested in trying new looks.
“When I really listened to my clients, I heard that they need someone to help them choose what colors go together right,” Sagel says. “I balanced the colors to enhance a woman’s skin tone and to make her eye color pop.”
Who better to design a remedy for disorganized cosmetics than a beauty biz aficionado — and busy mom of twins. Sagel, a former Wall Street trader, is a makeup artist, cosmetics developer, author of “Making Faces Beautiful” and CEO of a cosmetics company, now in its 17th year of business. Throughout the years, her passion remains fueled by a desire to help others feel good, both inside and out.
“It puts a smile on my face remembering college friends lined up outside my dorm room getting glamorous nightclub makeup before we would go out dancing every Saturday night,” she says of her days at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. “I wanted to bring that feeling back into my life, the feeling where helping another woman to realize her beauty made her feel more beautiful and, in turn, made me feel happy. Women helping women has always been a concept that I cherish and value above all else.”
It wasn’t, however, until she skirted tragedy that the path to this crystallized for her.
“What happened was that I was working with a hedge fund in Connecticut and I would drive back and forth to work every day, and one day I had a near-fatal accident and I woke up and said it was time for a new career.”
Sagel’s key suggestion for feeling good is as simple as devoting five extra minutes in the morning — to ourselves.
“I think that whenever you put makeup on, take a few extra minutes to put on your makeup, to brush your hair and to put on your outfit,” Sagel says. “When you have extra confidence about how you look, you exude extra power.”
In addition to Face with a Case, Faces Beautiful offers an array of cosmetics and services, including makeup application, eyebrow and eyelash services and anti-aging skincare treatments. Faces Beautiful is at 208 Post Road West in Westport.
For more, visit facesbeautiful.com or follow Faces Beautiful on Instagram @facesbeautiful.
