Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Luxelab Hosts Balayage Legend Nancy Braun


Last night, the Luxelab Group gathered at our flagship location on Montana Ave, and was treated to a rare evening with one of our hair heroes, the legendary Nancy Braun. As L'Oreal's premier color expert, Nancy showed advanced highlighting and balayage hand painting color techniques to a crowd of eager luxe and artlabbers, who showered her with questions and praise as she produced her patented runway worthy color techniques. The result... Stylish, sexy and ultra wearable color with multi-dimensional reflection, perfect for a day at the beach or a night out on the red carpet. Thanks Nancy and thank you L'Oreal!






Full house at luxelab Montana Ave.



















Owners Jason Lara and David Abrams with Nancy and beautiful hair
model Dani

Saturday, March 22, 2014

Get the look: Runway Braided Buns at NYFW 2014


For designer Bibhu Mohapatra Tibet-inspired fall collection, L’Oreal Professionnel hair stylist Amit Abraham crafted this gorgeous, sleek and sculptured look. “The upswept style we created is a modern interpretation of a traditional Tibetan braiding — where hair is an expression of beauty, wealth and prosperity,” he explained. Abraham breaks down how to get the look at home in his step-by-step tutorial. 
We promise it's not as hard as it looks. But if you need a one on one session with our talented stylists to perfect the look, just call on luxelab at the Glen's Tonya Le or luxelab Montana Ave's Jen Beckerman. Both were backstage during New York Fashion Week and created this gorgeous style that graced the runway.


-Prep hair with L’Oréal Professionnel Volumetry Root Spray to add density before blow drying smooth
-Divide hair into 3 sections. Secure each section into a ponytail. Spray L’Oréal Professionnel Infinium 3 Hairspray along the parts for hold
-Apply L’Oréal Professionnel True Grip, a texturizing powder, to anchor the style before dividing the center ponytail into two sections, and box-braiding with two side ponytails. (Box-braiding is a technique used to create a three-dimensional braid by weaving four sections of hair together. Leave 2 ½ inches of the tail unbraided and secure with an elastic.)
-Wrap the braids in a circular shape at the back of the head, leaving the ends untucked; secure with pins. -Finish with L’Oréal Professionnel Freezing Mist for a long-lasting hold, and L’Oréal Professionnel Perfect Shimmer for shine.

(Tutorial excerpt from Daily News)
(Photos by Rocky Luten)

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Sombré Style




Looking for a little update? Why not try this hot new trend that’s here to stay! The Sombré (subtle + Ombré), is a not only more modern and wearable take on the Ombré, but the single most low-maintenance way to achieve fashion forward color. 

Luxelab Lead Color Educator, Amanda Gonsoulin demonstrates this beautiful and specialized color technique on Stephanie (pictured) by hand painting seamless, warm golden highlights to give a natural sun-kissed look. Then, by adding some light bits around her face, Amanda softens Stephanie’s dark brown hair, but maintains her overall rich brown color. She recommends this look for anyone looking for natural grow out with easy maintenance. The goal is to give the hair tons of depth and dimension without disturbing its natural base color. For the color squeamish, Amanda recommends starting off by "balayaging a few key pieces on the ends of the hair to ease your way in. Then if you like it, add in a few more when you go back to have your color touched up". Simple, right?

To get this look customized for you, simply call Luxelab and have Amanda or any of our color experts who will use L’Oreal’s revolutionary ammonia-free INOA line to transform your hair color, while keeping it healthier than you ever thought possible!

Subtle never felt so exciting!

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Red Carpet Ready

Our in-house L’Oréal Professionnel styling team, luxelab Montana’s Beth Montgomery and luxelab at the Glen's Eric Garza, joined David Abrams on set at Universal Studios to film the Red Carpet Special on the Home and Family Show last week. They created hairstyles inspired by New York Fashion Week combined with the glamour that only Oscar can bring, giving audiences a glimpse into looks they could expect to see gracing Hollywood’s most fashionable night out during this year’s Academy Awards.
Click here to download and watch the segment.



Luxelab at the Glen's Eric Garza with his models









Luxelab Stylist Beth Montgomery working on a model





Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Purple Pixie Passion: Lauren Sill’s Beauty Launchpad Web Exclusive


Leading industry magazine Beauty Launchpad features luxelab Montana’s very own Lauren Sill. Read the web exclusive here:

Luxelab’s Master Stylist, resident Kerastase Tech Artist, Shu Uemura Educator and all around Hair Hero Lauren Sill Created these striking evolutions of Melody's classic pixie cut and eye-popping color.

Beginning with the color, Lauren began by isolating and pre-lightening the vibrant areas with L’Oreal Platinium Blue with 20 volume developer to a pale yellow. She then applied a mixture of 1/4 violet and 3/4 pastel lavender from Pravana to the pre-lightened area to achieve the beautiful bright pop of purple. To make it really stand out she also applied a formula consisting of 1/2 4.26, 1/2 3N and a 1 inch ribbon of violet mixer from L’Oreal Professionel’s Richesse line with a 9 volume developer to the other side.

She then cut Melody’s hair by leaving a disconnected a-line bob shape on one side of the top, which sits over a shorter, more classic pixie cut underneath and connected them in the nape with an asymmetric hairline shape. She then added a texturized micro-fringe for the finishing touch.

The style was achieved by applying Kerastas’s Chroma Thermique and wrapping her hair with a 7 row Denman brush in both directions to create soft, natural root movement and shine. She then used a large round brush on the long side to insure a smooth, consistent look. For the finishing touch she applied Touch of Gloss from Shu Uemura throughout the top and fringe for a mirror finish.

Since the original cut, Lauren has had a lot of fun changing up Melody's color and cut. Check out the evolution of Melody's pixie in the images below!