22 Sides
22 Sides is a podcast that will let you get to know some fascinating people and keep up with many things that are happening in and around the Houston area.
22 Sides
The Artist Behind the Look: A Conversation with Amore Monet
Amore Monet isn't just a makeup artist—she's a creator of transformative experiences who's built her career on making people feel their absolute best. From her beginnings as a self-described "weird kid" to becoming a sought-after beauty professional whose client list includes Beyoncé, Amore shares the remarkable journey that led her to develop a multifaceted career spanning bridal makeup, film production, mortuary services, and her own vegan makeup line.
What stands out most in our conversation is Amore's commitment to creating affirming spaces where clients can explore their authentic selves. "When you start losing sight of yourself, it completely diminishes everything of who you are as a person," she tells us, explaining how this philosophy shapes her approach to beauty work. This dedication extends beyond typical salon services—she offers free hair care for children experiencing depression or whose parents are struggling, recognizing how these small acts of kindness can have profound impacts.
The Houston native takes us behind the scenes of her work on productions like Netflix's "Mo" and her unexpected opportunity to work with Beyoncé (which she initially turned down to honor family commitments!). Her stories reveal not just the glamour of celebrity clients but the dedication, versatility, and professionalism required to succeed in diverse beauty environments. From horror film special effects to officiating weddings while dressed as Beetlejuice, Amore demonstrates how embracing creative opportunities can lead to a uniquely fulfilling career path.
Whether you're a beauty professional looking for inspiration or someone interested in the transformative power of self-expression, Amore's experiences offer valuable insights into creating spaces where everyone can feel confident, affirmed, and beautiful on their own terms. Discover more about her services and upcoming salon opening at AmoreMonet.com, and join us in celebrating a beauty professional who truly understands that looking good means feeling good.
We hope you will listen often.
For more information, visit our website 22sides.com
If you want, then probably pick it up. You can do that. That's cool, you can do that. Yes, so far. Fair warning we're recording, oh, okay.
Robin:You don't have to keep them on though, Just to kind of give you an idea. Perfect.
Alexis:And I listen for setup.
Robin:Yeah, how's it going on the vibes?
Alexis:I'm good to go.
Robin:Okay, good.
Alexis:I mean right now that side's quiet, but that's because somebody's quiet, because I am quiet. I mean we could pretend. I'm sure we could tell AI to say you know, make something up that they said Well, welcome to 22 Sides.
Robin:This is Robin Mack and I'm with Alexis Melvin and we just appreciate you listening, and today we're going to have some fun dancing in the conversation with a new guest. Hi, my name is Amore. Amore Yay.
Alexis:And what is Amore? Never mind, we aren't going to get there yet.
Robin:Don't I like a deep dive yeah.
Alexis:No, it's casual. I was about to say you know. So what does amore do?
Robin:and I'm like no, no, no, we probably have other things to talk about before that no, no, like this first time in the podcast space, we hope that you come back and maybe we'll do a different type of segments along the way, because it's 22 sides. We can talk about anything and we love that. Like we're surrounded. Like we're surrounded by art, we're surrounded by bats.
Amore:You know, we're just checking our nails.
Alexis:The bats are critical.
Amore:Yeah.
Robin:I love the bats they're fun. They're like a little audience.
Alexis:I was going to say they weren't turned that way this morning. Oh, it's even better. I guess they turned around to watch.
Amore:That's awesome.
Robin:We're recording this past 4th of July, so we're already in Halloween countdown, and Alexis told me Halloween countdown starts right after Christmas.
Alexis:Absolutely.
Robin:I was like oh, okay, I thought it was after 4th of July but then active.
Alexis:We start 4th of July. Correct, no July 5th, because July 4th is July 4th, but then July 5th for my community anyway, yep it's called Halloween, Early Halloween. Halloween, late Halloween, yes, and then New Year's.
Robin:Exactly, there you go, there you go. Well, what are you doing for your self-care these days, like, how are you chilling out while the world's on fire?
Amore:I've actually been going to the gym a lot lately, yeah, which is probably the opposite of chilling out, but it helps me get out of like a funky headspace. Sure, sure, what do you like to? Do to to get you out of that at the gym yeah, um well, I have a personal trainer, so I pretty much just do whatever they tell me to do. Good, because I don't have the capacity to keep up with anything.
Robin:yeah, you check into the zone that they're planning for you and they get to have the plans and they're the taskmaster and then hopefully you walk out with your legs not being all too Gumby, or maybe you like the Gumby mode. I like the Gumby mode.
Amore:Okay good, Makes me feel like I actually accomplished something yeah.
Robin:Do you feel like that helps you? Like chill out, but also stay hustling, Like you know, a new level of endurance of yourself after that yeah, because I've noticed that I'm getting stronger.
Amore:I used to not have any upper body strength whatsoever, and the whole point of me getting a personal trainer is because I want to crush a watermelon with my thighs. Hey gotta have goals, yeah that was literally the only goal. And then my trainer is like all right, well, we're gonna work on legs, but also want you to work on upper body too. Nice, nice.
Robin:It's good to have balance Absolutely.
Amore:That's a sound trainer.
Alexis:Why do you want to crush a watermelon with your thighs?
Robin:Because I've never done it before. Why not? There you go, why not?
Alexis:I never thought it was a big deal.
Robin:Oh, because you've been doing. Yeah, that's amazing. She like throws out the latex so she doesn't have to wash it up, but then the next thing you know, she's like inviting all the local farmers to test her thighs. Like what's going on, alexis? What's going on?
Alexis:This is peach truck season. She's like watermelons. I've been there.
Amore:Right.
Alexis:Been there, done that. I had a scuba diving business and so for a long time I was in the water with Finn swimming 60, 70, sometimes 80 hours a week. Wow, you get leg and thigh strength.
Amore:Yeah, I can't swim, so I don't have that. Yeah, that's totally different.
Alexis:Well then you'd really be kicking fast.
Amore:Right, seriously Just flailing.
Alexis:There's something I noticed that I have to mention what First time this has happened with our podcast. What Amore has better nails than I do. Hers are all stiletto, hey. Hey, mine aren't quite stiletto, I just had them made pointy this time. I love them, you know. But stiletto nails, they're coming.
Robin:Absolutely. And do you like points or do you like smooth? Oh no.
Amore:I like them super white. You've got, like you've got yeah, yeah, this is two weeks out.
Robin:I didn't even have to ask that, if I saw it.
Amore:Yeah, okay, wow. I have to make sure that when I pick up my smallest child, I have to pick her up like this when I first do them.
Robin:Very wide, very wide, no risk.
Alexis:Every time I get my nails done, it's like okay, so what can I do and not do? And how do I get this done? Because they change.
Robin:Well, I'm a massage therapist so we actually can't have nails or polish or anything like this because it'll rub off on the client with some oils, you know, and things. So next thing, you know, if people do that, you'll see a little like color trails on the client. That's not good. So thankfully I've never gotten into that. But I love the color and the design and I mean, during the pandemic, nails had this whole new platform of fun for people and I loved it. Like boys, girls in between, like tiktok had these, like big athens dudes with beards. It was like look, I heard uh, tj was being bullied at school and I just got to tell you like man, these are my color shades and you know I keep styling and like ain't nobody saying nothing to me.
Alexis:There's some people who go so far as to have different patterns of nails on different fingers or different hands.
Robin:Yes, yep, yes, yes, amore, have fun, have variety Like that's the best. That, amore. Have fun, have variety Like that's the best, that's the best. I met some of the like, most butchest lesbians you would think of and they were like, yeah, I like a little color on my toes in the shower, it's good, it's good, I love that. Just enough, just a little sparkle for fun.
Alexis:Well see, I read that as I do my nails and make them really sexy, except I'm a little bit inhibited that way.
Amore:Yeah, I do mine myself and usually I always want my nails black, like my toenails are always black and I usually want both nails black. But then sometimes I'm like I mean I could have done a fun design and I feel kind of awkward about not having a fun design. So I save one hand for fun design and then the other hand stays black.
Robin:Okay, that makes sense.
Alexis:Well, for a long time I did mine myself. However, there was one point in the various illnesses I've had where I had a trimmer Not a good thing for doing your nails. No, no, absolutely true no and I was like this isn't going to work.
Robin:And I was like this isn't going to work. Yeah, my niece just started nail school and she's been painting her nails since she was four. Wow, literally the age she could grab a bottle and take it to another woman. It was always another woman. That wasn't her mom. Like she knew, like her mom would be like no, but, she goes to another woman and she'd take bottle and she'd point to her fingers, like no questions, just a little pointy, pointy a little get it done.
Robin:And they always got it done for her and my sister was always mad. She was like, dang it You're supposed to Like. She just didn't want her to like. You know she wanted her to wait. You know her have some fun, and to this day she does. She never stops changing her nails.
Robin:And so she, uh, was looking at schools and things and trades and everything and we're like, what about nails? And she was like, well, what if I, you know, fall out of love with it? Right, like I don't want to be in the profession of the one thing I love? And then she was like, nah, it's definitely nails. And so she went and cosmetology as you probably know more than I do, but you know they have all these different things that they make people learn. But she went just specifically recently for nails and she's really still learning, still in class, she's really into the pop-off sets.
Robin:And she said she went to school and she wasn't using the little mannequin nails because she wanted to use her like real nails. And she said, well, the teachers are really like you have to use these dummy nails. And she's like, why? And I said, well, now, wait a minute, you're in some other chemicals now you don't just have like your home, funsies like this is the real thing, so use the mannequin. When they say use the mannequin, you know you don't want to uh trial on yourself and then ruin your like business cards for the rest of your life, that was so accurate.
Robin:She's like so into the pop offsets and she's. She's really like getting even more creative with her passion instead of stalled out.
Amore:So I'm excited for her.
Robin:Have you had a little bit of that Like we could get into what you do, like you're. You're a multi-passionate. From what I can tell, I learned about you through friends and community, which I think is the best way to learn about people who are up to something. So I always saw people tagging you for oh, if you need hair, go here. Oh, if you need nails not nails. If you need, uh, makeup, go here, things like this.
Robin:And I started following you on social media and we had another lady that we interviewed, jennifer Marie, and she said sometimes, like, if you vibe with someone on social media, take the risk and just say like, hey, I think we could be friends, absolutely, you know. And I started pointing towards your business. I went to your salon launch last year Super fun Salon launch last year, super fun and I just have to say that your public facing side has been warming and consistent and welcoming to all people in a time where, like media Houston, a lot of things haven't been that and I appreciate you. Holding space for so many people looking fly as fuck, like everyone finding their pep in their step is like what you stand for and I feel like that's such a vital component of our self-care.
Amore:Absolutely. Thank you so much. I feel like it was very important for me to find. For a long time I was like that weird kid in school to find. For a long time I was like that weird kid in school and then I became a mom and I was like, well, now I'm going to wear button down shirts.
Alexis:How long did that last?
Amore:It did not last. Actually, it probably lasted a little too long. But when you start losing sight of yourself, it completely diminishes everything of who you are as a person, and I want to make sure that, no matter who the person is, that they still feel good about being in their skin, Absolutely Getting hard nods Like how old are you at this point?
Alexis:So wait, wait, wait that brings me back to the question. I started to ask at the first and said wait, I'll wait for that. Oh yes, and that is so what all do you do? I skipped the first and said wait, I'll wait for that. Oh, yes, and that is so. What all do you do? Okay, tell us some of your description.
Amore:I do makeup and hair for literally anything that you can think of Weddings, special events. I cut hair as well, I color hair, I do makeup and hair styling for productions, and then I also do makeup and hair for mortuary.
Robin:And you mentor and I mentor. Yes, yeah, and I don't know everything about you, but I want to take the moment to shine light on some of your expanded offerings. I mean, you do work with TV sets. You do work with some people that people will call celebrities tv sets. You do work with. You know some people that people will call celebrities, you know. Just. I mean, you don't even, you don't, you don't need, you don't need to name drop, but I'm just saying you're not working out of your garage doing like uncle sally, you know everyone's hair, you know, and that's good too. I love that, that's like community love. But you, you get out there like you stay going.
Amore:Yeah, I try, yeah I have adhd and I'm unmedicated, so I gotta switch it up all the time.
Robin:I have a toolbox that's good, I love it yeah, okay.
Alexis:So a question yes, you do like beauty makeup, like for weddings and those things, as well as just regular makeup, and then you do production makeup, correct, what's the difference?
Amore:Well, it also depends on what the production is Like. I'm working for a hospital this week where it's just very light, minimal, and then last year I worked on a horror film. Excellent, yeah, sorry, special effects. Special effects, correct, I thought you'd do some of that.
Robin:Yeah, that's year I worked on a horror film excellent.
Amore:Yeah, like special effects.
Robin:Special effects, I thought you'd do some of that yeah that's fun because, like, we are getting into halloween season, so get your costumes ready, yeah, get your bookings? Yeah, oh, that's great. Well, what do you do for the hospitals? Is it more of? Are they doing commercials, or films or commercials?
Amore:for the hospitals. So it's mainly just polishing, making sure that there's any blemishes that are covered and there's no flyaways or anything like that.
Robin:Yeah, that's nice. That's nice, alexis. Have you gotten your makeup done or anything? Are you going to tell the listeners that you have to be in her seat? I have okay, okay, okay that's fine and I don't.
Alexis:I don't think that I was a big help in saying what I wanted.
Amore:That's okay, we rocked it out, yeah.
Alexis:I was sort of like you do your thing.
Amore:Yeah, I love that. If people don't have direction like, don't have like a specific look that they want, then we could just work with it. Vibes, yeah yeah.
Alexis:I mean, I happen to love to have different people do my makeup, because sometimes I don't even recognize me. Other times you're like did you do anything? And that doesn't mean it's bad makeup, it just means okay.
Amore:And every artist is different.
Robin:Right. Right, it's such a big world of makeup and I like that you said that you don't have to know what you want, because I think sometimes it's good to take pictures and give them to people. But what if the skill set of the artist isn't there? But then maybe it also doesn't work on the person's face, right?
Amore:Yeah, both of those things can be true.
Robin:So it's probably, it's probably always like a work in progress. It is, you know.
Amore:It's ever-changing, because a lot of times someone will show me like a picture of Kim Kardashian and their makeup like that, but they look like me, which I don't look like Kim Kardashian, yeah. So we have to dissect it and like, okay, well, what do you like about this photo? Nice, and sometimes it's just the lipstick. Lipstick, even though it's mainly focused on the picture, is mainly focused on an eye, or we boil down to the fact that they just like how kim kardashian looks, right, so then we have to pivot and figure something else out, and then you become a therapist exactly I was going to say and that's called first thing get rich, then lots of money on surgery.
Alexis:Yeah, make sure you don't have any scars, and then we can start there. There you go.
Robin:Well, and you also have a makeup line. I do, yeah, I do. And what did it take to start all this? Like you said, you were going from your 9 to 5, and you just sort of—did you have a vision or did you just like go with what the opening was?
Amore:vision or did you just like go with what the opening was? Well, it mainly started or stemmed from me working in production with having to touch up lips the most. I spent a lot of money trying to figure out which lip product was the most long lasting, and it turned out like, of course it's matte lipsticks. But with matte lipsticks they end up being very drying on the lips. So I was trying to find a matte lipstick that had emollients in it, and then we're going right back to it being a regular lipstick, with me having to touch up all the time.
Amore:So then I sat down. I was like, okay, what if I just do this myself? What if I just formulate it to how I want it and go from there? How'd that go? It went pretty great, yeah. Of course, I went through a few different manufacturers before I actually got the formula that I was able to totally fine-tune, because it was major for me to have it be vegan and gluten-free and no animal cruelty as well, yeah. So it took a couple different manufacturers and about two years of trial and error before I nailed down the consistency and the ingredients that I actually wanted. Nice.
Robin:Nice. Thank you for being so aware, because you know when did your makeup line come come out? Was that before a lot of the people were gluten-free, or you know? I feel, like vegans have been around, but gluten-free is more of before.
Amore:People were more aware of it, probably around 2017. Yeah, um, I did a lot of testing in 2016, but 2017 is when I released it and at that point, I don't think as many people were aware of gluten sensitivities.
Robin:And we'll link to all of your stuff for sure, because it's just important. My massage therapist has a very, very serious gluten allergy and then also a very serious latex allergy. So I mean I feel like you can stumble into both of those things by accident. Oh, absolutely yeah. There's gluten and latex in literally of those things by accident? Oh, absolutely yeah.
Amore:There's even latex in literally everything. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, which is wild.
Robin:Yeah, yeah, it's tough. I mean, even her kids go to get their medical exams and things, and if the practitioners wear latex gloves and then the kids turn around and touch her, yeah, like it can be an exposure, it's tough.
Alexis:But Alexis, on the other hand, I was going to say then there's some of us that just like latex, all latex, all the time, and gluten.
Amore:I also like gluten, but also gluten intolerant.
Alexis:What can I say? It's like what is that? That doesn't look like latex to me. Can we go the other direction?
Robin:So how long have you been in the makeup and hair industry?
Amore:Makeup and hair industry Working Working since 2012.
Robin:What are your biggest takeaways at this point? For yourself Like you walk, you walk away and say, yeah, damn, I'm pretty proud of that. I didn't know that was going to happen. Elaborate what do you mean?
Alexis:Like anything, Like so let's say you want to brag about.
Robin:Yeah, yeah, and you know cause sometimes we don't have the moment to have the acknowledgements we want. Everyone doesn't know the journey that we put in and it's not promised tomorrow. But you might be doing this for a really long time and I hope whatever your vision is, it gets fulfilled. But at this point you know we're talking 2025. What are some of the things that you feel are something you're proud of?
Amore:I feel like there's a lot of things that I can't really. That's okay. We're kind of sitting on the spot.
Robin:No, don't pick one thing and then upset everyone. Right? I would like to thank everyone on this list, but also in this moment of a Grammy I forgot.
Alexis:It's a short list, I only remember one thing no, no, no, no, no.
Robin:A short list. I only remember one day no, no, no, no, no, it's not that type of microphone, I mean.
Amore:I think I mean highlights. Honestly, I think the biggest thing is showing my kids that they can do whatever they want, um, but that it does take a lot of hard work. That's probably the biggest thing that I think. I mean I guess I'm accomplishing not that I have accomplished, but other things. I mean I got to work with Beyonce a couple months ago.
Robin:I mean Queen being Houston is just like a thing yeah that was.
Amore:That was pretty cool, and I think it was more so cool knowing that it was going to air on Netflix it was for the Beyonce Bowl and knowing that so many people were able to watch my work versus I got to work with Beyonce Right Now. Granted, that was still pretty cool. That was still pretty cool, but just how that even dominoed. It was just a random phone call and they asked me if I could be available on the 24th and 25th of december and at the time I had just told my husband a. You know, I'm going to be here more for the family and I'm going to focus on, of course they would call me.
Alexis:Yeah, that's the bit of. Were they listening to my phone calls?
Robin:and discussions and the universe is like maybe.
Amore:Yeah, I had just stopped taking overnight jobs, overnight production jobs, and I set a limit for myself at the salon. And then I got that phone call and I actually turned the job down initially. Wow, and I was super excited to call my husband and let him know like I just turned down a job, Like give me cookies, give me flour, I'm proud of me. What was the job? It's like oh, it's for Beyonce. He's like no, I'm not proud of you at all. Call them back right now.
Robin:Oh my gosh, Wow, okay, wait a minute. So if I was, I'm just listening to how this went down. So, like, first of all, I think it's, I think it's awesome. Like, as a business owner myself, I mainly work on referrals, but my number is out there once you start referring it, but you don't know every call that's coming in. So, you take the call and they're like this is for Beyonce and you're like you know what.
Robin:that's great, but hit me up during daytime hours when it works for my family yeah, that's pretty much how that happened.
Amore:You were that solid yeah and it was a friend that had moved from houston to la, and I've been watching his work this whole entire time, so you were proud of him.
Robin:Yeah, whenever you need me, let Right, and then that's when I needed you and you were like, not this call. Yeah, I was like I can't do it Wow.
Amore:Yeah, but luckily he hadn't filled the position I was going to say.
Alexis:Then you called back and said I had another thought.
Robin:Yeah, been to be like no, yeah you have to call back.
Amore:Yeah, I mean, that must have been something for him too. Yeah, and he didn't even hesitate. Yeah, he's like what do you know?
Robin:that wasn't he's like we will literally have christmas in july. Yeah, we're gonna. We're gonna bay now and celebrate later.
Amore:Yeah, I was like but it's christmas, he's like you're coming home, right. Well, yeah, it's like. Well, just's like you're coming home, right. I was like well, yeah, he's like well, just celebrate Christmas when you come home, whenever it is Wow, wow, wow, wow.
Robin:Well, I mean, that's the thing, like we want to say, we can have it all. But sometimes it is a tradeoff, like literally during holiday time, right, especially during holiday times especially when these things have to go down.
Alexis:But there's an awful lot of people who holiday is when they work.
Amore:Yeah.
Robin:Right.
Amore:And I mean that is so true.
Alexis:And then you're sort of like oh well, we'll do the holidays earlier, like yeah, holidays is usually the busiest for me, starting in.
Robin:October I was in hospitality I still am for years, but mainly when I worked at the Houstonian for 12 years. All of us would basically have to say goodbye to our families. Like you said, from October to January was kind of a blackout season for a while, until gift certificates became a big deal, and then you just worked through February and some of us really did prefer that, to tell you the truth, like it was like oh, I'm working, I can't make this umpteenth family thing or this, this, oh, darn I can't go to this other thing that I, you know, didn't want to go to or whatever.
Robin:But like, after a while it it is like whoa, okay, I've missed five Christmases, or I guess you know something, you know. And uh, the Houstonian closed for a remodel before the pandemic and some of my co coworkers got to go home for the first time. It was like amazing to just have that holiday after never having that holiday. You know, I mean, some of them have been on for like 17 years and never seen their great grandmother, you know. So the fact that she's still alive and there is like making memories, you know, but it's interesting.
Alexis:When I had my scuba diving stories, one of the things we ran trips all over the world and and it was funny because there were certain people saying, okay, I need to run one of the trips in christmas. Yeah, I need to not be around my family for christmas if you ever want to see me again your employees yeah, yeah.
Robin:If you ever want to see me again, If you want me to work here. I need you to work this.
Alexis:And you know, and so there were a group of people that they basically ran trips over the holidays and it was funny because I'd hear them on their phone. I'm sorry, you know, it's work, yeah.
Robin:What can I do? Well, when you were in school, did they ever train you or give tips on how to deal with celebrities? Or did you just fall into some of those things? I just fell into it? Do you have any tips for those growing in the industry if they spontaneously get that anonymous or that friend referral call? Yeah, be quiet, don't say no.
Amore:Also don't say no. That's the first thing. Don't say no Then, from my mistake, but also when they're on set just to be quiet and listen.
Amore:Yeah, there, I've noticed that there are, or there have been, some people that get very excited, which is totally understandable, sure, yeah, and then they talk, talk, talk and then they're in usually a small space or just a space where it's, even if it's a large space, if it's a large space, there's still going to be a ton of people around. Yeah, and each person is doing their own job and if they hear you yapping, they can't concentrate on what they're doing. And usually in production everybody is very diligent on what they should be doing and what needs to be done next to follow suit. And if you're yapping, then nine times out of 10, you probably won't get a call back.
Robin:Yeah, solid advice, solid advice. You also worked on Mo, the TV series on Netflix. I worked on season one and season two and I think you know that I mean it gives me goosebumps that people get to see that series, but I love that you were a part of it as well. If you haven't seen Mo on Netflix, there's season one, season two. It highlights Houston in a way that doesn't usually get highlighted on some very serious topics, but they don't re-traumatize the viewer Like I love how they talked about very timely topics. So check it out. What was it like to work on like an ongoing cast for that? What kind of hours are you putting in for something like that?
Amore:Well, this was a union set, so usually we have to. At hour 12, they start cutting people, okay, so you have to. If at hour 12, they start cutting people, okay, they would like to cut everyone at hour 12 because after 12 hours they start going into overtime. Sure, so it was. It was interesting. I still I learned a lot. I mean, I learned a lot about Mo, which was he has such a phenomenal story. If y'all haven't seen season one and season two, it's about Moza, palestinian refugee that ends up seeking asylum in houston, and it's just his whole process throughout his life, from childhood. Um, but yeah, working on that was it was interesting. There were a lot of moving parts. A lot of moving parts. Um, yeah, it was fun to work on. Are you originally from Houston?
Robin:Born and raised. Okay, do you feel proud about that? Oh, absolutely, I keep throwing in the word proud, but I mean I don't know any other. I'm not from here, Okay, but I appreciate I'm from California. But I appreciated how it was highlighted of Houston. It wasn't this glossed over highbrow situation where you're like that's not where we live. It was a real Houston, diverse vibe and you could see some of the murals, some of the streets that you would know, Some of the like that's where I got my cell phone.
Amore:I actually grew up right outside of a leaf and mission bend, which is like it's literally highway six is the divider and in season one mo is in funflex a certain amount of time. So to be able to work in funflex but knowing like I grew up at funflex was the most bizarre and fantastic thing I ever got to experience and I would just giggle like I'm not a bankroll in this, but I am doing this exactly, exactly that's cool, that's cool.
Robin:Well, do have you heard? I don't know one way or the other if you could say is there another season? Is it going to keep going? I don't know one way or the other. If you could say is there another season, Is it going to keep going? I don't remember how it left off. Okay, I can't remember in this moment.
Alexis:Unless there's a lot of demand Right, as we know, with Star Trek and a few others, it's never really closed off.
Robin:That's true. That's true. Do you have a specific bridal season that you work on? Are we done with that in July, or do you just sort of support brides, because I also know that you facilitate weddings?
Amore:Correct. Okay, not as much as I used to. Okay, usually the summertime is much slower for bridal season in Houston Because it's hot.
Robin:Because it's real hot.
Amore:Yes, it is quite spicy outside. Usually August is when it even though August is also very hot, but end of August is when bridal season usually starts picking up around there. Very busy in October.
Alexis:And then slows down. It's the Halloween bridal series.
Amore:I wish I had more Halloween brides, but I have had a couple of goth brides, which has been like on the verge of halloween, which is that has been pretty cool. I'm still waiting for, like a costume party, uh-huh bridal situation in october.
Robin:I mean yeah, yeah, and I mean probably I don't know you completely, I don't know you that well, but like if they wanted to do that in march or February, you'd be down with it. Oh, absolutely.
Amore:I have had one costume wedding party that was not in October and him and his husband dressed up as superheroes, but they designed their own costumes. Nice, and it was like superhero fairy themed Okay.
Alexis:Excellent, yeah, it was so cool Glitter everywhere.
Robin:There was glitter everywhere. Well, I think I saw one picture where you were sort of in a beetlejuice situation or. Oh yeah, I don't want to. I'm not great with outfits or things, but I mean you looked really awesome and and I appreciate how much time and effort goes into making those big moments happen. So what's what's it been like to officiate weddings for you? Are you open to doing that more for people?
Amore:Oh, absolutely. I love officiating weddings. So when I dress up as Beetlejuice, my friend, who also is in the hair industry and she does nails she asked me out for lunch. I was like, all right, she's's gonna ask me to do her makeup I'm ready yes, and I love it when I get a meal and an act right.
Amore:And then she started the conversation with I know you probably think that I'm going to ask you do my makeup in here, but I don't want you to. I was like wow I wasn't expecting that and I'm not going to cry at all. You're like you broke up before the meal got here.
Amore:Okay. And then she told me that she wanted me to officiate the wedding and I was like, why? I'm like I do not like public speaking and she's very aware of that. And her response was that she really liked my voice. Aw, yeah, that was my response. She was just like, well, I can't say no now. Yeah, and now I have to do it. Such a great compliment. Yeah, it makes complete sense. Yeah, thank you, it was pretty cool. And then she was telling me what her ideas were for her wedding and she's like, yeah, I'm gonna have the bartender dress up as Beetlejuice. I was like wait time out. Is this bartender requesting to dress up as beetlejuice? And she said, no, I just think it would be fun. I was like, all right, have you talked to said bartender? Right, she was like, no, not yet, but I know you'd be down. I was like what if I dress up as beetlejuice?
Robin:you're like, if I'm officiating, I'm gonna say, yeah, it's like beetleju, don't understand.
Amore:I want to be the ghost with the most to initiate your goth-themed wedding. Yeah.
Robin:I'm glad you talked to me first, because this is how this is going. This is how this is going.
Amore:She was totally down. I was like do you want to see the outfit or what I'm going to do? She was like nope, don't care, I have that faith in you, I bet.
Robin:Full faith. Full faith delivered. So that was your first time that you did that. That was my first time, so she kicked you off into creating people's memories from a different perspective, Correct?
Amore:Wow. And then my second time was kind of on accident, you know, I mean accidental weddings I can see that, yeah.
Robin:Yeah, you know, if you start putting the word out, you could get you know, I need to be married by tonight. Yeah, I got you. That's what happens.
Alexis:Yeah, and the big thing is do you have a license or a waiver?
Amore:Yeah, there you go yeah.
Robin:Good, good, good. Well, any fun highlights from that one yeah.
Amore:Well, I was originally just doing her hair, uh-oh, yeah, and then yeah, then she had a situation pop up to where she no longer had her officiant as the lineup and she was freaking out about it. I was like, actually, I got you, I'm licensed. And she was like great, can you do it?
Robin:I was like okay, wow, yeah, wow. And you know, as a provider, that's pretty cool in your like level of services, like when this falls out, or your, you know, preacher, step behind a train.
Alexis:I got you exactly because it used to make can happen, can't stand in, got it.
Robin:Yeah, that's really great, it's pretty cool.
Amore:I don't know what other officiants do I never like really researched it. I'm well, I researched, like not the order, but basically the meat and potatoes of how things are supposed to go. But it was pretty much just like I'm reading this out of a bible or whatever religious book that they're reading it out of. Yeah, and saying the same thing that we always say all the time. I was like I don't want to do that, so I took both of the couples out to lunch. Like I need you to tell me, right, certain things about each other. Yeah, like, what's your favorite thing that he does?
Robin:yeah, yeah so I was able to incorporate that into good speech thing as well sometimes not having a cookie cutter experience is the best experience, but if you're having conversations with them, I could just see you at the table going okay, I hear you, but we're going to upgrade here. Or I hear you, but this is also what I'm going to wear.
Alexis:Did you find that you felt nervous because you didn't want to blow it?
Amore:Yes Because again I have yeah, find that you felt um nervous because you didn't want to blow it um. Yes because again I have speaking for sure I do not like public speaking at all. I always feel like I'm going to choke up, so it was. Luckily I can read it.
Robin:So as long as I can read it, I'm golden it's always good to have something to fall back on it, because even if you have a lot of external energy and you practice or you're really good at winging it, even the best people choke a little bit, and that's not the time to do it when you're on camera.
Amore:For the most important day of their life.
Robin:Yeah, so it's actually okay to have something to fall back on. Yeah, do you have any burning questions? Misquestion here today.
Alexis:No, I was just going to say that a few years back, when same-sex marriage became legal, there was a group that put together a bunch of marriages because people were having trouble finding someone to marry them. Yeah, it's called Pop Vows, and it turned out to be a rather wonderful event. Just about everyone involved went and did one of the okay, let me get whatever the minimum is. I need to be able to officiate and feel reasonable and they made cakes for everybody that was going to get married. They had all the flowers in the world and I mean that literally they had four different string quartets that kept swapping out at the marriages and essentially they had the sambuca, gave them the um, uh, the entire restaurant and they had like four or five different wedding themes. It's like pick your theme. We have 13 photographers. Wow, wow.
Robin:And you were one of them, right.
Alexis:I was one of the photographers. I also married several people.
Robin:Oh, you did Awesome, uh-huh, okay. Well, obviously I don't think any planning for that went into it, right? Did you just meet the couples that day? Yeah, what did you do to put a little special touch on it?
Alexis:well, interestingly enough all but one of the couples I knew okay well, that makes sense.
Robin:That's helpful. It wasn't planned where your community blitzes in.
Alexis:Yeah, I mean, I mean I don't find that to be a shock. One of the couples really doesn't didn't like me before, but we're friends now that's awesome. And then when it was sort of a random draw because they were in a hurry and they needed someone to marry them, okay, so I'm available I'm like do you remember that? We really aren't friends, whatever Water under the bridge. And I'm like, but it'll still work.
Amore:Do you still marry people now? No, okay, that was a quick, but I could.
Robin:That's awesome. So you didn't give it up. You wouldn't marry people.
Alexis:Yeah, but I could, but I don't. There you go. Yeah, there you go, there you go. In case someone had license problems, he could waive all the license problems.
Amore:Like I said, I just want to make sure that I do my best with making people feel comfortable, absolutely, and feel comfortable absolutely, and I can only do so much but makeup and hair.
Amore:I'm 100 on board with okay so when you say affirming, what do you mean? So a lot of people, um, like, if they have long hair and they feel like that's not for them, like they feel more masculine and are female presenting and they want a haircut without feeling like they're going to be prejudged or shunned or laughed at, ridiculed for said haircut, they would come to me so I can make them feel comfortable. Wow, safe space.
Robin:Yeah, I didn't know exactly that about you, but when I was running a drive-thru for about 10 years, I always have had a short haircut during that time and people would ask me where to go, and most of their hairstylists were taught to never go shorter than the mid-ear, like basically giving them a bob like an old. It's an old style, and they just were told no by a lot of female practitioners for females and that kind of puts them in a sticky situation. Are you doing it yourself or are you going to a barber that you don't know and some barber spaces are not for women, you know, and so it's hard to know. But I'm glad that you're offering that and whether it's a chosen moment, like you feel like this is the look you've always wanted, or it's a moment where, let's say, somebody is going into chemo treatments and they're going to lose it anyway, but they want like one fun cut.
Robin:Yeah, you know, like I feel like having a hair whisper there to cheer you on is like just this moment that people maybe don't even know how to ask for, but they really want. So I really appreciate that you do that for people. Oh gosh, do you work with people that go through, because we're also in the medical center. Do you work with people that go through any chemo treatments where they might have Maybe one last hair color or hair coloring as they grow their hair back?
Amore:Yes, so I've done the last coloring before they decide to shave their head. But I've also done multiple cuts in a day, so on one person, wow. So that's just always haircuts that they wanted to try and just progressively get shorter and shorter, oh gosh. And then we'll have like a little selfie moment. Yes, like I got it all in like a little selfie moment.
Robin:Yes, yes, like I got it all in because it's going tomorrow. Exactly, that's important. It's a very quick time and then hopefully they'll take pictures.
Amore:Yes, we take pictures that way. When their hair starts growing back out, they have different looks that they can go for as their hair is growing.
Robin:I love that, because then it's not someone else's look, it's their look, as their new expression grows back.
Alexis:Yeah, I think that's cool.
Robin:That's way cool. I'm not sure I heard that people do that, but is that a thing people do?
Alexis:I have no idea, You're not sure if people do it, but you all do it yeah.
Robin:I'm not sure. Well, I've known plenty of people who have been given that, hey, it's going to happen. You know, you have a diagnosis, you have to go through this walk. If that's the walk you're choosing to go through, and then that's not the time to find a new stylist, true, but then they're there with their family going like I mean I don't want to lose it, but it's going to fall out, but maybe we should buzz it, but maybe we should have fun at home and you know that's a certain vibe. But if you can get all the like stages and the pictures of everything that you love that you took so much time to grow out like, that's so empowering, yeah oh wow, and make life easier as it grows out.
Amore:But I'm always I'm a huge fan of having fun with things, so I just I mean I, if I know that that's what's going on like they're getting their hair cut because they're about to start treatment or they're already in treatment and hair's falling out, we'll block off enough space so we could play with the hair. Good, sometimes that doesn't always happen. Sometimes they're not in that headspace and they're like no, just shave it, just gotta be over it. Yeah, all right, fair, yeah, pressure or anything like that that's what I do.
Alexis:It's not the day to play salon because there are good days and bad days. I notice from people that I know that are going through that Exactly.
Robin:Well, you've grown some hair back after being on some cancer med yourself, right?
Alexis:Yeah, the methotrexate.
Robin:And you didn't really have much hair before the cancer meds.
Alexis:Oh no, I was sort of weird because until I went on hormones I was bald slick ball from front to back yeah she's just a little bit on the side and all of a sudden this hair stuff starts showing up and I'm like, wait a minute. I didn't think I could ever, ever, ever grow hair and now it's growing. I mean, it's it's slow, but I have hair now I don't yeah, but you did that on purpose you prefer it that way, right?
Robin:yeah, absolutely. I think you try to grow it out. We're on each other's algorithm sometimes and you're like why do I do this every time?
Amore:Every single time.
Robin:Yeah, I have short hair, but I have short hair because I look better this way. I either look better with short hair or long hair, but the 20 stages of ugliness in between I'm like a frizzy foof ball in Houston. It's just, it's not good and, honestly, it's a completely different persona because you mean like mine is right now.
Robin:What? The foof ball? Yeah, oh well, no, actually, no, I mean, yours is cute and soft. Mine starts to get out away from my head into more of like someone said it perfect. They said, god, you always nail that.
Robin:Look where it looks like you just didn't comb your hair and like, wow, yeah, is that what you were going for? No, no, no, but it was a jerk. It was a jerk, this back backside, and you know, you know he was being a jerk, but he nailed it like I didn't like it's just, that was rude. That's also correct. It's like so I give credit where credit's due, but no, it was not the look I was going for. But that's, that's the amount of wave that I had, you know.
Robin:And then, when you said affirming, I thought you were talking more about um for black hair, because that's another request I get like they're like, clearly you're not black, but you like where would I go for my biracial daughter? Where would I go for um, somebody that really understands expression, and I'm just not getting that from my home. Uh, house hair buddies, right, like I need somebody that's licensed. That's not getting that from my home. House hair buddies, right, like I need somebody that's licensed. That's not going to break my hair. I know you take time in your hair and not that. I know a lot of hairstylists as a massage therapist, but they just feel like they can ask me this and I do send them to you because I think that is also important. People may not have access to the right oils or the right tender moments to discuss their hair care after a lot of breakage.
Amore:Absolutely, yeah, absolutely, and a lot of times, especially with social media, we get looped into trying the most popular products Like this works great for curly hair, but not understanding that it doesn't work for all porosities of hair. So if someone has low porosity using a product that's made for high porosity, hair isn't going to work as well, or it'll be too heavy on the hair or actually cause breakage if it has too much protein. It's a whole bunch of stuff, sure?
Robin:unfortunately, everything is trial and error, though that's why I said it's okay to invest in working with a professional, absolutely, especially if you need like a long-term plan and if you need sort of that refresh. Like during the pandemic, I watched all the queer eye series that I had never taken time to watch, yeah, and I have to say that let me do like some depression, because I was like, damn, I just need like these five people to show up. Yeah, rock my life and then I'll be fine. Yeah, that's it. That makes a lot of sense, like in 30 minutes.
Alexis:After one day when you have absolutely no idea what to do on day three 100% Right I mean that's what I always look at. I'm like that's cool. Yep, they did that really well. Yeah, let's give it three days and see how it's going.
Robin:I definitely want some follow-ups with these people, but they made even Texas look good, which I thought was great and I was thankful for that. And then you know, but where does one start is important, and so I'm glad you have a diverse menu of services and again, that trained profession where you can just hold space for people who don't know Absolutely. And we get a lot of requests because Alexis and I are on the board of the Transgender Foundation of America and a lot of times I don't think I don't know if it was during the pandemic, but maybe before where people were marking themselves as a safe space salon. Yes, Pros and cons on that. I'm sure, Like you don't want to, like, show haters where you are, yeah, but you know, some people are just affirming because they're affirming Right.
Alexis:And you know these quote safe space places, whatever they are. You know, everybody has their own definition of what that means.
Amore:You're right.
Alexis:And I think you know, the biggest thing for me is just treat everybody the same.
Amore:Okay. So I had someone. When I first opened this lawn or my studio. Actually, I was telling everyone that this is a space for everyone. I want everyone to feel accepted here. How'd that go? One of my friends messaged me and was like hey, no, you don't. I was like what? How dare you? Yes, I do.
Robin:I didn't know this was a read, but the lunch is always open.
Amore:I was like no, I genuinely care about everyone. She said would you care if someone wanted to get their head shaved because they're going to a meeting for white supremacists?
Amore:and I was like oh no, I don't want them in my chair oh, suddenly we're yeah, I was like I don't, I don't want that, that's not a safe space, like I have to think about my poc clients, my lgbtq clients, and she was like those are the clients that you want your chair, so you can't say that you're a safe space for everyone. I was like dang yeah that everyone part gets you sometimes.
Robin:Yeah, yeah, what happened?
Amore:from there I started directing more of a this is a no-Nazis zone. Yeah, this is a no-Nazis zone. It's a safe space for everyone except. Nazis.
Robin:I would do all buzzings, except swastikas.
Amore:Yeah, exactly, exactly, if you know you know, yeah, oh man, yeah, I didn't. I opened my eyes to a lot and I was like I have to think about how I'm going to market myself from here on out, because there's a lot of people that feel like everyone wants to feel oppressed when they're not. Yeah, yes, yeah. So I don't want to say that I'm a safe space, and then they come in and start I mean, we get a lot of people who complain young transgender people.
Alexis:Frequently it's horrible, fill in the blank. There's you know so many horrible things and it's like, okay, so let me get this straight you're young, you're eating yeah you don't have a job, you don't have any money and you're upset that you can't get medical care, hair done and all these other things without waiting a while yeah uh, welcome to the world yeah, these are all things that are considered luxuries, yeah.
Alexis:And it's like you know you have your basics done and you're complaining. It's like no, no, no, no. You need to think about this. The reason you do work is so that you can have some of those.
Amore:Yeah, that is true, that is very true.
Alexis:As opposed to sitting around and playing on your phone and TV. Oh wait, you've got a phone and a TV.
Amore:You're watching on the computer. We never had growing up right. Yeah, but that's another thing. We also have to take that into consideration. These are things that we grew up not having right, so we're used to. We already went through not having right. These are things that are readily available to them at all times.
Robin:Yeah, they're they're very plugged in, yeah, and their world tells them, oftentimes a world that is not in existence. You know I mean consumerism and these threads can be harming it's. You know it's a cognitive dissonance to be online all the time and then turn around and go, oh, the world is not that great.
Alexis:Yeah, and I mean they haven't learned to filter real well a lot of them.
Robin:In or out, which you know pros and cons. We do need to remind people in general, but definitely younger people, because they do not have a frontal lobe.
Robin:It's not their fault yeah emotions get really big, yeah, and they need to know that they can have help. They need to know that it can change for the better and that they're not alone. Because I think when social media became something that we had in our pocket, a lot of younger people were far more connected than older people who were at work. Right, and that one distance of a post, when someone sees something that is violent, hurtful, upsetting, and then someone might take hours to come home to talk to them about it, if at all they're in two different worlds. You know, I mean even our nonprofits that are very well connected. They're working. They're not on the phone all the time, you know. So it's good to check in and just ask open questions about what people are actually processing and seeing.
Robin:And I liked your idea about when someone brings a picture to you, like what part of this picture is sticking out to you, because it can be completely different per person. And you know, I look forward to how you mold your mission into who's supported and how they are supported. Who supported and how? How they are supported and how do you feel as a provider, that you may want support from your clients? Have you thought of that like as a business owner. What do you mean? How I once like like what, who is your? Or maybe you're still molding it, but like who is your ideal client. Are you just very open still?
Amore:I'm kind of open. Okay, kind of open um. I don't think I have an ideal client um, but, like I said, I don't. I don't want nazis in my chair yeah, and you don't want one person.
Robin:You know, yeah, you don't, you don't want one thing. I hear you like a lot of diversity, like a lot, of, a lot of lot of different assignments and opportunities. That's really great. And I'm just thinking about do you do different ages? Do you also style for young ones?
Amore:Sometimes Sometimes.
Robin:Because I hear that's kind of tough. It is very tough.
Amore:Because, again, I have ADHD and I'm unmedicated, but I'm also unmedicated for all of the things. So I find it very hard for myself to be patient with children that wiggle a lot okay, but I'm very honest with about that, sure, from the get-go, um, children like haircuts for children of younger ages is difficult for me, so I will direct them to someone else that I know is great with taking kids, although I also provide a service for adults and children going through depression.
Amore:Or if the adult is going through depression and can't manage the child's hair and it starts to get matted or tangled, then I will take those children. Sure, I'll just take the time to gratify that.
Robin:Oh my gosh, what a service, because that's not the time to be untangling someone's head if you're not in a good mood. Yeah, like you're just changing generational harm right there.
Amore:But it's easy for me to zone out on it Sure, and I provide that service for free because whatever is happening, it's already a lot going on, so I don't want to add to that. Or like they're not getting their hair done because they can't afford it, but they're just constantly having to deal with feeling like crap because they have the mats in their hair.
Robin:I'm taking it out, I would like to take it out, without trying to cut anything out Sure, but it's important because there are certain levels of care that when it goes out the window, it could get a lot worse for them. Absolutely.
Alexis:And with kids especially. I mean, the other kids are brutal, especially if you have something personal like hair that they can pick on. They will pick on everything and they will. So I have a totally different set of questions. Yes, Number one, you're opening a new location.
Amore:I am that's exciting.
Alexis:Are you going to have a grand opening?
Amore:I think so, I would like to.
Alexis:Because I'd love you to tell people on the podcast how they get on the list for the grand opening.
Amore:Oh yeah, I would love that I don't have a date yet though.
Robin:Well, could they reach you through your website?
Amore:They can, yes, they can reach you through our website and sign up for newsletters, because I will be perfect.
Alexis:That's what I wanted to know.
Amore:Yeah, okay, okay, great, okay great.
Alexis:What's your website?
Amore:AmoreMoneycom Nice.
Alexis:You might have to spell the first part.
Amore:A-M-O-R-E-M-O-N-E-T.
Alexis:Any spaces or periods? Nope, okay, perfect.
Robin:That's wonderful, that's wonderful, yeah, okay.
Amore:Well, we look forward to that. I've got another question. No.
Robin:I'm just saying no, I'm not done yet. I'm living in the future.
Alexis:I love it. You may be done. I'm just starting. No, no.
Robin:No, go for it.
Alexis:I mean, I don't know what time it is, but we have, you know, lots of time.
Robin:I didn't promise a hot seat, but apparently this is rapid. Okay, go ahead.
Alexis:So what would your ideal client be? Robin sort of asked that earlier, but I'm like, when you haven't had what, would you like someone to walk in and say, okay, hi, I'm so-and-so, here's what I need you to do for me.
Amore:I'm not going to lie, I've been really into like funky pixie cuts. Lately I've been taking pixie cut classes more, just so I can learn how to do them more with razors. But yeah, total transformations, like if they have long hair and want a pixie cut, or just like a short shag cut, I'm all for it. Something like fun and funky, nice.
Alexis:So if anybody hears you, that's where you get it.
Robin:Yeah, okay, no, it's good. I love it when people can throw out what they actually want. That's really great. I love it when people can throw out what they actually want, that's really great. And you know, sometimes it is those calls coming from friend referrals that you wouldn't have thought of, like I mean, I guess I could work with Beyonce, but you know, if she calls during the right season, during good days. If I'm not already booked, I promise yeah if I'm not booked?
Alexis:And to the other question, I had it just dawned on me as the conversation was going on. So what's a pixie cut?
Amore:I'm not sure everyone knows. A pixie cut is going to be a shorter haircut that's shorter than chin length a little bit longer than ears.
Alexis:So if you could think of like Halle Berry's hair when she was Catwoman.
Amore:Oh yeah, now we're getting there. Yeah, that's a fun little pixie cut yeah.
Alexis:But you got to have the outfit too. I mean, that would also be cool.
Amore:If you came in with a Catwoman outfit, we're ready to roll. Oh, absolutely, having a whole photo shoot too.
Robin:You didn't tell me that we had Amore for a little bit of a starter get-to-know-you makeup session. This is also true, a little like what would we do for headshots photo session. Yeah, so the next one.
Alexis:Oh okay.
Robin:But I do remember Alexis bringing in a few wigs, where Amore immediately went for the expensive ones.
Amore:I had no idea. I was like this is fantastic.
Alexis:I brought three a really lousy one, an okay one and a really good one. It took like four seconds. This is the one we're using. I'm like, there we go.
Robin:Yeah, and I think I remember, when you were in the chair, Amore said something to Alexis about like, oh you know, would you like a little bit of red in your lips? And you said I love red. She goes, oh, game on, yeah.
Amore:She was all about it, I was all about it.
Alexis:The only problem is with you know everyone else. My lips change the color of red you use, so you have to be a little careful. Do you prefer more of a blue-based red or an orange-based? Well, never orange. The orange will turn to pure orange. The blue will turn to red-red.
Amore:You don't see the blue. I love that. I'm a blue-based red girl.
Robin:So, as we're coming on Halloween season, what are some fun beginner tips or some nerd dives that people can get into to create their costume?
Amore:because we're we have plenty of time still um, I would absolutely suggest scrolling through instagram or youtube videos and just searching, like the hashtag, for what they're into. Okay, so if it's zombie makeup or anything like that, just pull inspo from those places and then visit costume works okay to um, to get a better idea for what they would want to wear, because costume works is, I think it's maybe in the heights of montrose I don't really know what the area is in houston.
Amore:It's in houston. It's called costume works. Costume works yes, it's not part of tech land, okay, but they divided and now they're two separate businesses in the same building. Because fun, yeah, because it started off like just like face makeup and now it's face makeup, prosthetics, wigs, oh good, they took a lot of the costumes from arnie's and not arnie's um party boy and various other like stages, and brought them there. And brought them there and they have like a whole costume shop where they do repairs and everything. Okay, yeah, that's good.
Robin:So if you have a costume and maybe you don't fit in it or it has a blowout or something, you can also get it retailered.
Alexis:Yeah I guess it's. It sounds like that they sort of picked up a lot of frankkel's stuff.
Amore:Yes, yeah.
Alexis:Which is good, because the people at Frankel's were really good costumers.
Amore:Yeah, yeah, I miss Frankel's.
Alexis:I do too.
Amore:So yeah, Costume Works is like a smaller version of Frankel's.
Robin:Okay, okay, that's really good and maybe we can have them on too, because people are going to build into it. I think the more fun the better, and absolutely, I think during the pandemic, like, my whole neighborhood started having, uh, designer wars on outside scenes and then they did it for christmas and then immediately when people went back to work, it was like, oh, no, we don't do that anymore. It's like what, yeah, yeah, what, no, no, I was getting there were some fun things that humanity could do. It could be like, you know, yes, yeah, and and it created this whole environment for people to refine their kid. You know, I mean not just kids, but but adults, adults, yeah, I remember the trick-or-treaters that would come like all the way up to their grandmother in the same costume, pj design or something like.
Robin:It was like all the minions and uh, grandma, you know. And for a minute there I was like all the minions and uh, grandma, yeah. And for a minute there I was like, do we give grandma candy? And I was like, yeah, she has the first candy that, like, everyone is taking from.
Robin:So this, yeah, exactly twice about a candy, yeah, you know, um, and then, like you said, houston's having august bright season. So if somebody was taking on being abroad for the first or the ninth time, I mean mean no judgment, but they haven't nailed that bride experience that they wanted to. Where would you start with that for people?
Amore:Also looking for, like for the actual bride yeah, for the actual bride looking for inspo's of what they're wanting to do, if it's a natural look or if they're wanting to do a no makeup look, which still requires makeup, surprisingly oh, I was about to say that.
Alexis:Yeah for a bride.
Amore:Sorry, there's no such thing yeah, you'd be surprised I've had so many brides recently that are like I just want mascara, wow, okay. Well, we're gonna do a little bit more than that, because these photos are forever. But that would be a no makeup look like just evening out skin tone and maybe doing a lip conditioner, because the cameras pick up everything.
Alexis:Yep, absolutely the other side of it is, their photographer will be very happy right you know, the photographer is going to have to clear all that, exactly, exactly that's where my job comes in you and the photographer, and you don't just style femininity or cis women or trans women, you also style cis men and trans men and gender fluid people like do you have anything for the masculine side if they're, if they're um looking for wedding?
Amore:occasions. I mean, if they're wanting to present more masculine for the wedding as well, is what you're saying. Right then just look for men's, because that's the algorithms is set up for men. Okay, unfortunately. Okay, but it's either men or women, easier, yeah, yeah, okay, but if they're if you're looking for something more fluid, you can look for that in social media aspects, but nine times out of ten it's going to be not as traditional, which I'm all for, but if you're wanting to be traditional and fluid, it's going to be kind of a niche.
Robin:Okay. So, don't be afraid to put it together.
Alexis:The other thing is pick a genre. I mean, are you looking for like gothic male?
Amore:Are you looking for fairy? Yeah, fairy superhero. Exactly and actually. Costume Works designed the outfits for the gay guys.
Robin:For the yeah, Let me not label them the men that threw the costume party. They told me that they were gay.
Alexis:Yeah, but they may not know, they may just think or hope, right?
Robin:No, that's wonderful. Well, do you get many masculine makeup clients? Um, sometimes there's a little bit more of that genre happening.
Alexis:Yes, but you probably do a lot of that in the film stuff, exactly Because, I mean, everybody has makeup in the film or else.
Amore:I think a lot of masculine clients believe that like, oh, I'm masculine, I don't need makeup.
Alexis:But I mean, if you have skin, Not to be tacky, but you have oily skin, like it or not.
Amore:Exactly, Exactly so if you have skin at all. I mean, of course, no one needs makeup, but it shouldn't be a stigma that just because you are more masculine that you shouldn't wear makeup.
Robin:Yeah, I'm just thinking about it like a little bit in the conversation. But men spend whatever they spend for look just as good on camera and sometimes they might have follicle issues or they might have razor burn or they might be a little differently pigmented for their camera shots. They might want some support in that Exactly. I think it'd be a great space to sort of talk that through or just keep it minimal but also keep it very crisp.
Alexis:Yes.
Robin:I just wanted to highlight that too, because I don't want to leave them out of the conversation, I think. I think sometimes that I did see in queer eye where people are like no, it's, it's okay to do like a little, uh, foundation you know or a little concealer, concealer, absolutely and bronzer is really nice.
Alexis:Giving them good cheekbones makes them look really tough there you go, just thought I'd throw that, yeah, just yeah, just chisel that out there.
Robin:It's their pictures too, it's their day too, you know. So we want everyone to feel their strut, their style and, you know, sexy as fuck. So that's really cool, exactly, yeah. Well, thank you for coming in. Today. We will have an open mic for when your grand opening is happening and we'll keep touching in with you, maybe through the seasons. Like, what can we think of now? Because I want to bust up some of that stagnant nature that happened during the pandemic. It's like people don't know where to go, they don't know who to see and they don't know where to start, and so we just want to keep pointing to like hey, these are people who have been in motion, they're really good at supporting you, finding your new strut. Like let's, let's point here, yes, yeah, thank you, thank you.
Amore:Thank you very much, both of you.
Robin:Thanks, Yay. Well, keep taking care if you're out there and if you're listening. If you want to subscribe, go for it. I don't want to be told that I look like I have just the right curl, that I never brushed my hair, but I wish I knew where I was going to go. Like you can send them this podcast and point to you know this cool new stylist that they haven't heard of, and the cool thing is that you know fresh makeup gives you a different outlook on the world.
Robin:It really does, and if it's done.
Alexis:Well, you look in the mirror and you're like huh, I didn't know I could feel that good.
Robin:Yeah, yeah. And from head shots to fun shots, to sexy shots, like it's wonderful to know yourself in this new expression, like I'm all about the world as a stage, so let's do it. But if you can have photography that reminds you of that moment especially in the moments where you're not that or you can't keep that going like it's a beautiful thing. Absolutely agree, yeah, well, take care.
Alexis:Thanks, thanks. No, I haven't turned it off yet, but I will no-transcript.
