Giorgio Armani Beauty Event at Saks with Fran Zacarias

Fran started his Armani career (although not his beauty industry career) with Armani fans at Saks in Chevy Chase, Maryland. This week, he returned home for a special event. While I was there, I think he spent more time greeting old friends, who were thrilled to see him, than actually doing consultations! Everyone has missed Fran (actually it's Francisco, but to his friends, it's Fran).

Fran is now a member of Giorgio Armani's national face designer team. He travels nationally, often with Tim Quinn, hosting special events for Giorgio Armani Beauty, working on Armani fashion-related events, training, and promoting the line as well as experimenting and evaluating new products.

Fran was "off doing a face" as Loyd Cassler and I played with colors. Fran and I had already caught up on his latest travels and Armani products - the new ones and those to come. It was so nice to see our hometown guy! Here's what the two selected for me: the Armani lover with fair skin, blue eyes with a touch of green, and fairly light blond hair. I was glowing when I left the store. Looking good makes me feel good!

I was already wearing foundation, specifically Armani's Hydra Glow foundation, so we didn't bother with a "base coat." However, Loyd did take some Face Fabric ($45) to touch up my nose area, the first place my makeup melts away. Could be the Kleenex that's always with me? One really nice thing about Face Fabric is that it can be applied over existing makeup seamlessly. Although it's a fabulous foundation, it's also a great touch-up product. (Just in case you are wondering, Hydra Glow has been discontinued, but I ordered 10 when I heard the product was about to disappear. If you love something, you don't want to let go, right? You can still get one shade of Hydra Glow at Nordstrom.)

Loyd decided to apply the new holiday Beauty Crystal Palette (or Black Lace Palette) ($98), which I had bought the moment it arrived at the store (see Best Things in Beauty story). Of course, his application took a twist I hadn't tried. He wrapped the teal shade around my eyes, using a light touch directly under my lashes. Instead of looking teal green, it looked lightly smokey and played to my eye color. He finished with a very thin line of Liquid Silk Eyeliner ($30) in matte charcoal at the base of my lashes - to match my grey leather jacket.

Then, he applied the highlighting powder from the palette on the high points of my skin. Nice!

He put the new mascara top coat over my Eyes to Kill Mascara ($28). Instead of looking bronze, which you expect from mascaras with color, the top coat gave my lashes some punch. It was just the right finishing touch. But...we weren't finished. The next stage was an all-over application of the new light pink highlighting or finishing powder, also part of the holiday collection. By then, I was glowing. I love it when everyone starts to gather and comment on how great the makeup looks. Some women might think, "Harrumph, I'm supposed to look good, not the makeup." But really, friends, we were at a makeup event!

Being the director that I am, I surveyed the finished product and decided that I had an end-of-day need for some concealer under my eyes. After a funny exchange between Loyd and Fran ("Concealer...no, Corrector...Concealer...no Corrector"), Loyd used High Precision Retouch ($35) concealer, and I was "done" except for my own lipstick and gloss, which I applied because I'm a germ phobe and won't use lip testers.

I said my goodbyes to the guys and the rest of the Armani team and headed off into the rush-hour traffic, wishing I had a party to attend. I didn't want to simply go home and wash off my new look. Now that's a good makeup session!

Photos courtesy of Giorgio Armani Beauty and Nordstrom