My Time at QVC

in front of the entrance to the studios at QVC

I just spent one of my more fun weekends at QVC with Mally Roncal and her Mally Beauty team - and let me tell you, they work hard!  Here's how it went down:

We got picked up at 6:30am on Saturday in Manhattan by a van who took us to the Sheraton hotel outside of Philly where everyone who is ever on QVC stays - there are signed headshots all over the lobby from people like Kathie Lee Gifford and Laura Geller who all have been on QVC.  We went up to our rooms and were still for an hour and then headed over to QVC at 10am.

Our first show was from 2-4pm, but they give you four hours of prep time to make up the models.  This first show entailed doing "before" shots and, contrary to what you may think, they are totally legit.  We even moisturized the girls faces so they wouldn't look all cracked and dry.  Those pictures are later run next to their beautifully made up faces during the show so you can see the "before and after" effects of the makeup.

Albee & Mally at the second show

Teenie at another show but looking lovely all the same :)

There was a team of five makeup artists - Mally's right and left hands, Teenie and Albee, as well as Masako, Jorge and myself.  I was the total newbie!  And everyone was super nice and patient with me and explained everything and showed me how to set everything up - I was really grateful!  There is a hallway full of lockers for different vendors - everything from clothing to steak companies and, of course, makeup.  Mally gets a double locker :).  So we unpacked six suitcases FULL of makeup to use on our models.

The thing that's interesting about doing QVC is that it is totally live - which of course you know, but there is NO room for error timing wise.  Those girls have got to be ready to hit it when the next "sell" (or item up for sale) comes up.  And sometimes you have to totally change their makeup because in their first sell they're showing you one look and in their next sell it's a super smoky eye - it's kind of nuts.  The closest thing pressure-wise I've ever done is Fashion Week and that stuff can roll in late, QVC cannot. 

view from the makeup chairs - sorry for the thumb in the lower left!

The other thing that I found fascinating was watching Mally do her thing.  If you're watching her on your TV I feel like you're giving her energy as you watch her be fun and silly but it's crazy because, unless there's a phone call from a customer on-air, she's not getting any of that.  She's having to be full of energy to a camera in a huge room with no feedback whatsoever.  AND, about 20 feet behind the cameras, right in her sightline, is the zoo that is where all the makeup artists are making up the models - so she can't get distracted by that either.  Again, nuts.

Here are a few pictures of some of the girls I got to do makeup on:

Brooke in the Fantasy Look Color Collection - and yes, those lashes are hers

(benefited by Mally's Volumzing Mascara)

Miss Amy who was the "Fair" model - such beautiful skin!

Brooke in a softer shadow

And some more lovely ladies ~

Casey, Booke, Sayra (Mally's amazing assistant) and Alli

So, back to work - we finished up the show and headed back to the hotel, ate some dinner, slept a couple of hours and then went back at 9pm for a 1-3am show.  During that show Mally did her own before-and-after pic for the first time in her time with QVC which made the models really happy ~

We headed back to the hotel around 3:30am and conked out til it was time to get up, grab some breakfast (in bed no less!) and rode over at noon to do a 4-6pm show.  We finished that up, hopped in the van and drove back to NYC. 

Albee and I ready to get in the van after the last show

All in all, every single person on Mally's team (from the top down) works really hard to give you a great show, do amazing makeup and truly values their customers - it was super special and I hope I get to go back!