Lashes
Amy Chien Bailey at the Beauty Mark

Stuff Magazine
by Cheryl Fenton | July 27, 2012

The phrase “DIY project” usually makes us think of beautifying our homes — maybe refinishing a bookcase or repainting a wall. (Ah, the glamour.) But the DIY philosophy is also transforming beauty routines. Whether we’re layering on the perfect gel polish or giving ourselves a gorgeous blowout, we’re taking matters into our own self-manicured hands and tackling treatments once reserved for the pros.

Boston Shopping Trip
Beacon Hill

The Beauty Mark
There's an impressive selection of top makeup and beauty brands (Chantecaille, Molton Brown, Japonesque, Mason Pearson) served up by a super-helpful staff to ensure you make the best choices for your skin type and coloring.
33 Charles St., 617-720-1555

Products: Beauty
Type of Store:
Boutique, Single Store

Since she was a child Amy Chien Bailey has been interested in makeovers. She now owns The Beauty Mark on Beacon Hill . (Pat Greenhouse/ Globe Staff)

Hitting the mark with boutique
By Erica Corsano, Globe Correspondent
August 7, 2008

Amy Chien Bailey always wanted to own a beauty boutique. But after graduating from Tufts in 1995, the Los Angeles transplant (and part-time model) had to pay her dues. She worked as a photographer's assistant, pulled two stints as a salon receptionist, and managed a mom-and-pop outfit.

Although the less-than-thrilling jobs taught her some useful tricks of the trade, Bailey was born with a knack for fabulous makeovers: "I was the girl that all of my friends asked to do their makeup before they went out," she says. "As a child, I was a serious tomboy . . . all of my friends were boys, but I loved makeup and giving makeovers. I would even pay my sister a dollar to let me gel up and style her hair and do her makeup." Bailey's passion for beauty and industry know-how is finally paying off. She recently purchased her longtime favorite beauty boutique, The Beauty Mark on Beacon Hill. And though she spends day after day in a store filled to the brim with beauty goods, she resists the urge to buy things she doesn't need. When it comes to beauty and fashion, the mother of two is all about sensible style and intelligent investments.

What are your favorite shops and fashion lines? My favorite places to shop are Wish, Holiday, and Intermix. Holiday has unique pieces that you won't find everywhere, Wish is great for wardrobe staples, and Intermix best matches my personal style. Fashion lines that I love include Theory and Susana Monaco. Theory, because the fit of their pants is perfect. Susana tops fit my body well and they are comfortable, easy to clean, and flattering to your waist. As a model, you really have to sort of learn what works with your body type. I also love Stella McCartney. I own a couple of pieces - they're pricey! But I'm a mix-and-match person. I'll buy a $400 something and pair it with something I bought at Target. Oh, and Reiss is another one. I love the cut of their blazers.

What are your go-to restaurants? My go-to restaurant is No. 9 Park. I've also been really impressed with the Liberty Hotel - Scampo, Clink, and Alibi. I like the architecture and how they made all of the spaces so different within the same hotel. It's also right down the street from my house, which is great. The pasta at Scampo is so good! And my favorite drink at Alibi, I have to say, is Jail Bait.

Favorite summer getaways? My summer getaways include LA, because my family lives there. We also like to go up to Gloucester. This summer, we're going to LA and Florida. It's going to be hot in Florida but we are going to Orlando for the kids. My girlfriend has a home on Holly's Island in South Carolina and we go visit her a lot as well.

She can't leave the house without: Sunscreen. Beauty starts with great skin. My store is right down the street from my house so if I forget anything I can just go back.

Beauty obsessions: I am obsessed with SkinCeutical. I have been using [the skincare line] since college. They use pharmaceutical grade ingredients and actually deliver what they promise. You can actually see results within four weeks. Also, Model Co. "Lip Lights." It's a lip gloss with good color and good coverage. The convenience factor is the best part about it. It has a mirror and a light so you can apply it anywhere, at night, in a cab. I just love products that do what they say they are going to do. Like "Locked Up" hairspray from Scott Fontana's line, Bad Ass Hair. It has the most incredible hold and it lasts all day. I'm also working on a more eco-friendly nail polish line called "Polished."

Best thing about Boston in the summer? I love the museums. We have so many great museums here. The Children's Museum, the science museum is incredible. They make it easy to raise kids in the city. I also love the MFA.

Beauty inspiration for summer: Summer is about looking like you didn't try hard, even if you did. It's all about taking it back to high school . . . Mascara, blush, and a light lip gloss, bronzer for the youthful glow.

SHOPPING WITH A TWIST
By Tina Cassidy, Globe Staff
August 8, 2002

String music played soothingly as golden light from the setting sun streamed into the Beauty Mark, a month-old perfume and cosmetics boutique overlooking Charles Street. In one corner of the tiny space painted a pale shade of Tiffany blue, half-empty chilled bottles of chardonnay and Moet & Chandon champagne began to sweat in the warmth. Candles flickered. Customers clung to drinks served in crystal glasses and ate grapes, chevre, and chocolate-covered cherries between lip gloss applications.

This was "Powder Hour," where shopping and sipping merge gleefully on Thursday evenings and make the cash register ring. "We may do it on Fridays, too," says Rebecca Pimentel, owner of the Beauty Mark. "For a little more effort" - read: lugging a few bottles from the liquor store - "I think it's worth it."

Her customers milling around last Thursday night seemed to agree. Patti Dillon of South Boston had a drink by her side as the house makeup artist brushed a touch of pink onto her cheeks. "It's so relaxing," Dillon said. "It's like getting a massage." Dillon's friend Erika Nelson of Charlestown held out a sample of L'Artisan Parfumeur for her to ponder and said she enjoys shopping this way, whether it's at a store on Beacon Hill or in New York, where she often finds herself attending similar cocktail functions in places such as Henri Bendel.

In fact, so many retailers are serving cocktails to promote business that those that want to be on the cutting edge - from Louis Boston to Louis Vuitton - are pulling back from the trend, saying it has gone too far. Still, it seems that on any given night toward the end of the week you can get a free drink and a nibble of something yummy within spitting distance of a chichi shop's checkout counter. Next Thursday, just a few doors down from the Beauty Mark, the clothing boutique Wish will have a designer trunk show with hors d'oeuvres and champagne served from 5 to 8 p.m.

All of this is perfectly legal, as long as the drinks are free, according to state law.

Given the stiff competition for attracting and keeping shoppers, stores have gone into party overdrive. The result appears to be mutually beneficial. The combination of a party atmosphere - where all of your friends are lusting over the goods - and the smooth buzz of a Grey Goose martini can make buying come easy. Too easy for some. But it can also make shoppers feel as though they are appreciated, and getting a little something for nothing: a night out on the town and no outside pressure to purchase. Still, there are those who say they often regret shopping under the influence, while others swear by the process, embracing their gut impulses toward a new cashmere sweater.

Cristina Baltatzidis, a 29-year-old marketing director at the Back Bay Restaurant Group, finds herself in this predicament often, whether at Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Giorgio Armani, or Louis.

"At a lot of these parties you feel more relaxed. You're with your best friend; you have a glass of wine; the salespeople aren't as ambitious," Baltatzidis said. In fact, she explained, despite being a serious, well-informed shopper when stone-cold sober, she always seems to find just the right thing with cocktail in hand.

"When you're talking to people and having a glass of wine you have more luck," she said. "At Louis, I think I bought a pair of Helmut Lang leather pants after a few glasses of chardonnay."

No regrets, either. They're now a staple in her impressive closet. She said some of her friends have also been impulsive, but end up returning the merchandise.

Some, however, say it's not the free alcohol that gets them in the mood to shop: From the moment the invitation arrives, they're gearing themselves up to spend money.

"It was like being at a party, but instead of coming up with things to talk about, the shopping gave it a context," said Ad Frank, a local musician who attended H&M's opening party last fall at Downtown Crossing and bought a jacket. "Instead of talking about the work week or your favorite rock band, my friends and I tried stuff on and compared notes. The shopping was more of an influence on the party than the party an influence on the shopping. I think I really wanted to [shop]. I would have liked to have bought more . . . and would have if I found more things I liked. Since it's less spur of the moment because it's a party, you psych yourself up. Somewhere in the back of your mind is that you're going on a shopping spree. That's bound to induce you to be a little more rash."

Janette Ayala, assistant manager at the Puma store on Newbury Street, said when the store had its opening party last month - complete with a disc jockey, break dancers, sushi trays, and an open bar - the party, packed with about 200 guests, carried on for hours after its scheduled end time at 10 p.m. "No one wanted to go home," she said. And the cash registers remained open.

"It wasn't really the alcohol talking," she said. "There was just the colors and the styles that they didn't see anywhere else." The whole event was so successful that store managers hope to have a DJ there regularly beginning in January.

Spinning records is an idea that Louis began employing more than a year ago to lure a younger crowd into the Back Bay high-fashion store. The parties, sometimes tied to an art installation, were a hit. But the store, always trying to be on the cutting edge, has begun to look for more creative ways to stage events, for fear cocktails and a turntable are just too yesterday.

"I think they're actually pulling away from what they did a while ago that might now be perceived as a hot trend," said Louis spokeswoman Alicia Barry Gordon. "They always pull away from what's being overdone. At this point, this is being a little overdone. The time and place where it's highly appropriate is at the venue where the wine or the cheese or the food is germane to the business." Like at a restaurant.

"People are now becoming so overwhelmed by the number of invitations they get to store events that store events don't mean as much as perhaps they had a few years ago," Gordon said. "Within the last year, they've made a lot of effort to hold unique, interesting events that have a resonance beyond merely being a cocktail party. . . . So many businesses are trying to think of creative ways to draw new and more clients into their businesses that it's a very easy template to put into play. But you have to think of what you're actually achieving in doing so."

That's precisely the thinking at the recently expanded Louis Vuitton boutique in Copley Place. The store partnered in May with The New Yorker magazine to have author Anita Diamant read from her book "The Good Harbor." The event drew 151 people - greeted with flutes of Moet & Chandon - to the store on a Wednesday evening, cash registers open.

"We tend to do smaller but smarter events, really just not what everyone else is doing," said Sandra Mariniello, spokeswoman for Louis Vuitton. "They're trying to come up with different ideas, even taking things outside of the stores to host dinners, to sponsor a play, or film screenings, because people are accustomed to being invited to stores and having these champagne toasts, cocktails, and hors d'oeuvres. . . . We don't do it for the selling purposes; we do it to have something exciting going on in stores. It's good for awareness for new customers."

There can be obvious pitfalls, however.

Gordon, who used to work for the auction house Skinner and often held preview parties where alcohol was served, made sure to serve coffee after cocktail hour so the customers would have "the energy and staying power to remain at your event," she said. "And in the case of Skinner, we were always very conscious of how much we were pouring and what we were serving to people. . . . It's also important to have food."

For her part, Gordon says she sticks to socializing at such events.

"I can't say I shop after I've had drinks," she added. "It's not the time I shop. I consciously avoid it. I need my wits about me."

Off The Chain
by: Heather Bouzan
November 3, 2008

A guide to local independent beauty stores

Don’t get us wrong: we love browsing the seemingly infinite array of products at our local Sephora emporium (and, during tedious afternoons at the office, its virtual counterpart. It counts as research, no?). But as we filled our bathroom shelves with this essential beauty thingy and that must-have cosmetic doodad, we began to wonder if the love affair wasn’t blossoming at the expense of the little guy: the locally-owned, anti-big-business beauty shop. So we set off on a field trip of sorts, an exploration of the city’s retailers of pretty, from Hanover Street to Harvard Square.

The Beauty Mark (33 Charles Street, Boston, 617.720.1555). Just preppy enough for its Beacon Hill address, the Beauty Mark reminds us of that buttoned-up friend who’s always ready to let loose, drink cheap beer, and kiss cute boys after-hours. Thoughtful, consistent, and spirited, the boutique caters to serious beauty aficionados with a willingness to experiment.

Established: 2002; under current ownership since ’07.

Neighborhood: Beacon Hill.

In charge: owner Amy Chien Bailey, beauty-biz veteran and sometimes-model.

Claim to fame: the shop’s positioning as a “neighborhood beauty retreat” where locals can get honest opinions on what products will best serve their needs. Says Bailey: “I want [my clients] to leave the store feeling prettier.”

Key brands carried: SkinCeuticals, ModelCo, DuWop, Lipstick Queen, Kai Fragrance, Jimmy Jane Candles, Badass Hair.

Atmosphere: a sweet-smelling space that lures us in with new finds every time we pop by for a browse.

Key demographic: both ends of the spectrum, from those craving an updated new look but in need of some professional guidance to beauty-holics searching out cutting-edge, tough-to-acquire products that their friends won’t show up wearing, too.

Employee obsessions: Antioxidant Serum by SkinCeuticals, Julie Hewett’s Mineral Powder, DuWop’s Revolution Face tinted moisturizer.

Hidden gems: L’annine hand lotions, whose devotees include a group of male construction workers who’ve been known to stock up here; locally-based stylist Scott Fontana’s Badass Hair line.

Boyfriend-friendly: True Gentleman shaving products, all-over Ultimate Cleansing Cream by Badass Hair, Bumble + bumble’s Grooming Crème.

Hands-on: manis and pedis, spray tanning, lash extensions, makeup application, and eyebrow-shaping, plus Wednesday-night “Tips and Sips” makeup bag consultations and private “Powder Hour” parties.

Makeup must-have: ModelCo’s Lip Lights glosses with built-in mirror and light for easy application anywhere.

Hair necessity: Up all Night by Badass Hair for serious volume.

Skincare essential: SkinCeuticals’ Phloretin CF serum, which re-texturizes and renews skin while zapping age spots and hyper-pigmentation.

Key tool: any of Bailey’s selection of kabuki and bronzer brushes.

Coming up: Bailey has her eye on an organic bath-and-body line, and she’s considering adding facials to her repertoire.

Overall: personalized attention and a well-edited selection of product that’s not overwhelming.

Keeping Mum
A fresh look for spring
April 13, 2008

Inspired on a trip to Thailand by women who made jewelry, Molly Kahn and Penny Sowles – friends who met in a Brookline dental practice where they both worked, though Kahn has since moved away – came home and conjured up designs of their own. Their necklaces for 2 Bella Blue ($242 at Beauty Mark) use semiprecious stones, including Amazonite, black onyx, and peridot, and are punctuated with an unexpected centerpiece: a shellacked chrysanthemum. Way to collar spring.

Bridal Bouquet: On the Mark

Beautify yourself pre-wedding at
The Beauty Mark.
By Christie Matheson

You’ve probably shopped at The Beauty Mark for your favorite lip gloss since it first opened five years ago. But, luckily for you and every other bride-to-be in Boston, they’ve now added a short-but-sweet roster of spa services to the offerings of beauty products and makeup lessons. One that we love: the well-priced pedis ($30 and up), which start with a warm soak and involve thorough foot buffing followed by sugar exfoliation and massage (plus, you get a gratis shoulder massage while you dry).

And pedicures aren’t The Beauty Mark’s only draw. Befitting its location—Charles Street in Beacon Hill—the shop is charming and inviting. Treatments, including waxing ($10 and up), facials ($80), chemical peels ($95), manicures ($20 and up) and the aforementioned pedicures, are delivered deftly and sweetly to customers who sink into the comfort of the light, warm space. It’s the perfect place to get smoothed and polished pre-wedding, learn how to apply makeup like a pro (a bridal makeup consultation is $75), or pick up hard-to-find product lines such as Bumble and Bumble, Fast Lash, Chantecaille and SkinCeuticals.

To enjoy The Beauty Mark in private with your fabulous bridesmaids, call a few weeks in advance and reserve a “powder hour” on a Wednesday or Thursday evening. Groups of six or more can take up to two hours and sample any of the services—the session is priced according to what you book—for a night of pampering and prettifying.

33 Charles St., Boston 617-720-1555, thebeautymark.com.
Originally published in Boston Weddings, Spring/Summer 2007