(peppy string music)
- [Gabriela] I like the transformative power
of red lipstick.
You kind of have to make the decision to kind of
jump in and put it on.
You know, without red lipstick,
I feel like something is missing.
Like, my whole life is in black and white,
my whole being is in black and white.
(laughs) And I need that color.
It just makes you feel more like the boss.
- I love how I look in this robe.
You guys, good job, lighting is great.
We are in La La Land, in Hollywood.
(pulsing techno music)
Old Hollywood, to me, reminds me of my grandmother.
You know, she always had a red lipstick and red nails.
Any time she could, she would just like, give you a pose.
- My partner makes me feel really glamorous.
He's always like,
"(sighs) Baby, you look absolutely gorgeous."
And I'm like, I just woke up
and I haven't brushed my teeth yet.
- We are meeting Gabriela Hernandez, from Besame Cosmetics.
It is a full makeup line,
basically replicating makeup from past decades.
Trying to bring back that old Hollywood glamour, into today.
- [Rachel] And I would have never thought about
the history of makeup
and a historian making a cosmetic line,
but it seems that she's created her own reality
around the things that she loves.
- So I'm really excited to try on the exact lipstick hue
from the like, 1930's and feel glamorous.
- These cosmetics from a time where men ruled
the makeup industry.
And I like it, 'cause she's kinda like taking it back.
- So this week we are gonna go to a flea market,
and we're gonna go source out some vintage makeup
that she uses as inspiration, and then,
Rach and I are gonna have a full-on vintage transformation.
- Stepping into the past is a little different for me.
I have to do it in my own way.
For me, I'm going all Josephine Baker.
- [Jess] I love the name of her beauty company,
it's one of my mom's favorite boleros.
Besame, besame mucho means kiss me, kiss me generously,
kiss me as much as you possibly can,
because I love you and because I love myself.
- Alright.
I am done.
White, would you like the white dress, honey?
That's how my grandma speaks, spoke.
(cool rap music)
♪ We got that top ment' attitude ♪
♪ What we rockin', costume jewels ♪
♪ Never step out without the GL's ♪
♪ So we step in designer shoes ♪
♪ Service is better than speed rail ♪
♪ When we rolling and talking bout bulk kale ♪
♪ Don't fuck with cares, gotta save the cash ♪
♪ For the mama we're hittin' the snow trail ♪
♪ I got four boys and they all poised ♪
♪ To be wantin' me like ♪
- Whole Crow family's in the car.
(mimics trumpet)
- That one is so cute. - It's so cute!
Isn't it?
Look at the perf, it actually looks like a little fan.
That's adorable.
It has nothing in it, so it's no good for me.
You do that, I'm getting both of these.
- Hi! - Hi.
- I'll take both of these - Gabriella!
- Come in. - Hi!
- How are you? - Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you, hi. - Good to meet you.
- Hi. - How are you?
(speaking foreign language)
- I've found a couple of things that I like.
- You do? - You did?
- Already? - Already?
- Yeah, I bought this really cute,
it has a little powder in here and a little blush in there.
Will lock and it has your lipstick in there.
- [Rachel] Oh my gosh!
- [Jess] So this is where you find your inspiration?
- Yes, I look for things that I haven't seen before
and then, if I happen to find something
that has a color inside,
then I can take it out and actually analyze the color
to see if it's something we already make
or it's a new color that I don't have.
- So is it fun having a mom that's like super into makeup?
- Yes. - And that can give you like,
all the access? (laughing)
So fun, I'm super jelly. (laughing)
You have a very like, kind of like,
old Hollywood glam look to you too.
- Oh, thank you. - So pretty.
- That's my aesthetic. - Yeah? Just how I said it?
Right on, girl. (laughing)
Where were you born, Gabriela?
- I was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina,
in a very, very small town
that consisted of about four square blocks.
I'm an only child,
so I was kind of used to entertaining myself.
I was either playing with my dolls or I was, you know,
mixing stuff, or collect like little bottles and things,
like when my mom went to the salon I would like,
keep all the little vials and things
that they would put on her hair. (laughs)
- So not much has changed, good to know.
- So, you're 12 years old, you're in Argentina,
and now you and your parents are moved to New York.
- Compared to where I was coming from,
New York was really, really gritty and a lotta creaking
and noises and all kinds of things that I wasn't used to.
We left 'cause we just didn't want to live there and my,
my mom was terrified.
So at that point, we moved to California.
That's so funny, these cameras,
see they sell them as antiques
and I used to actually shoot a camera like this.
- Really? - Yes!
It's just funny that, you know, they display it as like a,
"Oh, this is so old!"
I didn't actually have an interest in beauty as much
as I had an interest in design and photography.
So I went into art direction.
After a few years,
I got some accounts that had to do with beauty,
that involved creating products for other lines.
So it kind of got me interested into
what I personally would like, so I started kinda doodling
and doing things that I remember like,
maybe my grandma had things like this.
- So what was the eureka moment when you decided,
"I'm gonna try making this lipstick"?
- Well, I had so much work already into it that I thought,
"Well, I'm just gonna try one."
And if it works then I can keep going,
and if it doesn't, it was just a nice experiment,
and, you know, I got to make something
that I thought was really pretty.
All these things started to, to happen with it.
People started finding? (laughs)
I really didn't market it at all.
- It was like a little side project.
- A side project.
- I love how you said that so nonchalantly like,
"I got this thing, I made a lipstick, I made a website,
"I just put it up." (laughing)
But there's so much detail, you know,
there's so much detail that went into that.
This one. - Oh yeah, that one!
- This one's pretty cute, yeah?
- Ah, you found something, Rach! (laughs)
- I'm so good at this!
I think this is the original lipstick?
- Yes it is. - Really?
- [Gabriela] Yeah, they made that shade, yes.
- [Rachel] Oh my gosh!
- [Jess] And this is what, 70's as well?
- [Rachel] What do you think this is?
- [Gabriela] Yeah, this is like late 60's.
- Made in England, like you said,
there was a lot in England then, right?
- Yeah, a lot, because of their brass.
- You look at anything like this?
- Oh yeah, look at these guys!
- Wow! - Yeah, it's cute.
- Oh, those are good, look at this one.
- Isn't it cute? - This is cute.
(chill drum n bass music)
- The era that inspires me the most is the 40's and 50's.
- I love, love, love the 50's so much.
- Well I grew up, you know, watching like I Love Lucy,
and like Dick Van Dyke, Bewitched, and all that stuff.
- The 50's was definitely an elegant with the wasp waist
and the full skirts, I love that.
- A lot of stuff was going on,
but women always found the time
to make themselves feel beautiful in their own ways.
- I really love history,
there's something I love about each and every decade.
I'm gonna probably stop at the 70's.
- One of my favorite style icons is Carmen Miranda.
- Any film that is black and white
that I've ever seen will inspire me.
- I feel most glamorous when my shoulders are back,
I have that pan and that great dress and that red lip on.
- Makes me happy inside.
'Cause I'm wearin' the colors that I like,
the shapes that I like.
I like the feeling of the rayon.
- [Rachel] Ow, oh, oh, oh, okay.
Work it mami, work it mami, work it mami,
in the heels, oh my goodness, that's a may.
(chill jazz music)
- So cute! - Oh my god.
- You look fabulous! - Oh, thank you, thank you.
You guys do too, look at you.
So I have a lot of goodies here.
- [Rachel] Yeah, interesting stuff.
Here, Jess, ready? - Yeah.
(moaning)
- [Gabriela] So you see, I kind of put it out
and I can see the, the shade, I can see
like the undertone of the shade.
And then see if it kinda fits in
or if it's too close to something we already have.
So I do this with all of the colors.
- [Rachel] I love that you're so dedicated to authenticity.
- [Gabriela] It's important to me to know
kinda what people did and what people liked before because,
there must've been a reason why these colors were popular
and people haven't changed that much, so if they actually
worked for a lot of people before, they probably will again.
- I actually feel like I've been transported back into time
when I talk or just listen to Gabriela.
- I see. - Mhm,
I almost feel like she floats instead of walks.
But then you talk to her and you're like, "Whoa."
- Powerhouse! - Yes.
Were people telling you like,
"You're crazy, you're making a mistake?"
- (laughs) Yeah, just like, "Do something else,
"this doesn't, this isn't gonna sell.
"It's too niche, you know, it's just not marketable."
It's definitely more of a passion thing
and more of a personal project
than something that I thought had mass appeal, so.
And that's one of the reasons it was hard
to get somebody to make it for me
because they didn't see a mass appeal either.
- [Jess] At what point during the century did you see
an influx of women running cosmetic or beauty businesses?
- I think it started like in the 80's,
when Sephora first came here
and there were a lot of indie brands in Sephora,
and a lot of these brands were
brands that were started by women.
- So from the 1900, from the turn of the century
to the nine, to 1980,
mainly men? - There were a few women,
but unfortunately most of the women
ended up losing their businesses to men.
- Wow. - In really sad ways, too.
Because when something started to make money,
the men would want it back.
And so they would get rid of the women,
and a lot of times it was very popular
to declare somebody insane and take over their biz.
- Yeah, so, what-- - In my castle today,
I have some red lipstick here.
This is Cherry.
Medium to dark skin tones really do really well with this.
Lighter skin tones, it's a little bit more gothic.
- How can I just drench and dip my whole body
and then come out as a beautiful cherry red?
- [Gabriela] So basically, you just take the mold
and you would pour it in like this.
See, it starts to already get solid.
Open the mold. - Oh, wow!
- Play around with it. - So cool.
- I really wanna try some on. - Okay.
- Yeah? - Sure.
Do you like dark, dark colors or you like more brights?
- It's a little chilly outside, so maybe like a darker tone?
- Lemme try, this one is Merlot, so try that one.
Merlot is kind of a middle-of-the-road color,
something more subdued that people would use for work.
Tango's kind of interesting,
it's kind of one of those oranges that I told you
that was kind of in in the 30's
because the orange blossoms and things like that.
Victory Red is a color that was made in 1941
to go with the uniform women in service were wearing.
- So when did makeup become more acceptable to wear?
- As women went more and more into the workforce
and became more independent and, and had jobs,
they started to wear a little bit of makeup,
like a lipstick or, you know, some powder.
They kind of used it to get ahead in their job,
because the nicer you looked,
of course you would get promotions.
It was part of the way of moving up.
- Also what I find really fascinating about her lipsticks
is that each color is associated to a year that it was
kind of like, popular in. - Yeah, so cool.
- When you're in that space of putting on your lipstick
in the morning and having that ritual with yourself,
other women like you have worn this red in the past,
women who have like, wanted to take the time to just like,
put on lipstick and feel good.
- You haven't done me yet.
- Okay, so. - I'm closing my eyes,
you just have to pick. (laughing)
I'll leave my lips exposed.
- I would go with Red Velvet.
It's a really nice kinda serious red.
- That's perfect for me, I'm very serious.
- Very serious. - About life.
Who were some of your first customers, then?
- [Gabriela] I think people that like that lifestyle,
vintage enthusiasts or even history enthusiasts.
Now we have a variety of customers, police detectives,
one is a rocket scientist, and another one is a mechanic
for the Air Force and a lot of really interesting women.
They're very receptive to knowing exactly what I'm doing
and these ladies really want detail, they want the meat.
(cool techno music)
- I don't think that I was born in the wrong era,
I was born just the right time.
- Okay, first of all, just because I'm wearing an outfit
from the 1930's, 40's, 50's, or 60's,
doesn't mean I reflect those values.
- I feel like I'm a representation of
a lot of women from that era who didn't get
some of the opportunities that I get just in everyday life.
- Even today we're still struggling with it,
but it doesn't mean that you don't celebrate
everything that women are, we've always been mothers,
we've always been pioneers.
- Within the vintage scene,
women of all races are definitely on there,
but I feel like there is such a struggle,
still, for us to have a window,
so I'm so happy to be here today. (laughs)
- I wear these clothing
and I carry myself in this way to say,
"Hey, you know, you may have been able to hold back
"other people, but you can't hold me back
"from wearing what I wanna wear and being who I wanna be
"and being strong in that."
- Oh, hello.
Today, on Beauty Mark,
Rach and I are getting a full vintage makeover.
- We're working on our glow, darling, our 30's glow.
Pool boy, pool boy! - Where's the pool boy?
- [Artist] Couple of makeup artists back in the 30's
would separate actresses' eyelashes with a pen
to get them like, very long and individual
and kind of spiky lookin'. - That's so cool.
- But think about how long that must've taken.
- [Rachel] Yeah, I was gonna say that,
it's like, such tedious work.
- Today, Rach and I are getting a makeover
by you and your fabulous team.
You're gonna be photographing us?
- Yes. - How exciting!
- So I'm gonna use my old fashion cameras.
(screaming)
- It's so vintage. - We'll bring, yeah,
we'll bring the big guns!
- [Jess] How do you honor the past without romanticizing it?
Or over-romanticizing it?
- [Gabriela] I try to be very realistic about
what the issues were in the past,
I mean it wasn't all rosy, we had a lot of problems.
We had a lot of products that were toxic to the skin,
toxic to women, and we didn't know about it.
And a lot of them suffered a lot because of this.
These men that created the Hollywood iconic looks
and the way that makeups should be applied,
were very mathematical.
Because they were going by kind of standard proportion
that had to do with Renaissance art.
You can't really do this,
because then you're not allowing somebody to be themselves.
Every time I think of making a new item,
I have to really kind of vet it in my head
that people are really going to be able to use this
and that it fits into a routine
in a way that is not convoluted and it's not difficult,
and there's a lot of products we don't make
because I just can't get behind them.
- You look lovely. (laughing)
- It is very subversive, what we're doing, yes. (laughs)
- [Jess] I know, and it's so great, you know?
Because we're gonna be recreating a photo shoot
with everything very authentic,
except that now you will have two--
- Luscious, curvy, women of color!
- Yes. - Bam.
- [Jess] Being photographed by a female photographer.
- [Rachel] Oh, do you think you're ready?
- Oh my goodness.
Wow.
(haunting piano music)
- Oh, hello, Gabriela darling!
Haven't seen you in so long.
- Wow.
- I feel very romantic. - So glamorous.
Oh my goodness. (laughing)
(shutter clicking)
Poster-worthy, there you go. - Right up here?
- [Gabriela] In kind of like the past we can see
things seem to repeat themselves in patterns.
The more that you look into it,
the more that you get insight.
It's a way that you can kind of predict
what's going to happen next in the future.
Let's see if I can see being up here.
- [Jess] It's been really interesting
getting to know Gabriela.
She gave a lot of context to makeup.
(shutter clicking)
- Oh, I love it. (laughing)
It's so cute.
- Women who have come and gone and used makeup
as a tool for survival, for ascension.
(laughing)
(shutter clicking)
- [Rachel] I'm so grateful for the small things in life.
And for the lipsticks, and for the mascaras,
and knowing that these things that may seem frivolous
connect me so deeply to so many other women
from this era and eras past.
(shutter clicks)
- [Gabriela] All right, and I'm done.
- Thanks for watching Beauty Mark.
- If you like what you saw, subscribe for more.
- (laughs) I said it! - You did it!
Okay, you're leaving me. - Oh, sorry!
Sorry, I got really excited.