KEY POINTS:
Stacey Beatson examines the palm of my hand and predicts my future. It's soft-edged and harmonious, with little blackness on the horizon, but no razzle-dazzle either. At least this is my future if I take her advice, and after a couple of hours with her I'm more than inclined to do so.
I'm at Biba, a boutique salon in Auckland's Birkenhead Point where personal stylist Beatson and her business partner Belinda Watson, a hairstylist, have teamed up to provide a one-stop makeover and advice shop. Why separate styling for the hair and body, they reasoned, so in October, Biba was launched.
And the palm reading? As part of my makeover, Beatson's deciding the right colours for me and one of the best places to gauge someone's complexion is to look at their palms, which are neither sun-tanned nor disguised by makeup.
"Once upon a time," Beatson says, and I think back to the days when my body was a firm friend and tummy and tits were not next-door neighbours, "you may have been a winter colouring, cool and dark."
But these days my 40-something skin tones are "cool to neutral" and by process of elimation - draping colours close to my face - she's decided I'm a "warm summer" person who's best in soft, muted colours and those with velvety undertones and hints of grey.
Think retro print navy, coffee brown and charcoal with accents of teal and amethyst.
"Stay away from black and shiny, that's a no-no for you."
I believe her and instantly regret buying a dress in black when my 10-year-old had insisted the grey version was soooo much better.
"When you're wearing the wrong colours, people are more likely to critique what you are wearing," Beatson says.
"Colour is the first thing people notice about you - before they notice whether you are wearing Gucci, Prada or Glassons."
The same colour rules apply to my makeup. "Muted, harmonious, nothing harsh, nothing too blingy," says Beatson who, within minutes, transforms the face in the mirror into someone who looks much more interested in kicking up her heels than the bucket.
Waiting to have her makeup done is Dianne, a client who's been out clothes shopping with Beatson.
"I wanted to be a little more edgy ... with Stacey guiding me I think I went outside my boundaries." she says.
"When I met Stacey, I thought, 'I like the way she looks, I think she'll do it for me'."
Beatson, it has to be said, has her own particular edge. She's all in black with her dark brown, teased hair framing her face. But she's careful not to impose her own sense of style.
"A lot of clients get to a certain age and they're a bit undecided about what they should and shouldn't be wearing."
"The mutton factor?" I venture and Beatson reacts instantly.
"We don't have a term like that for men; it really irks me. Ninety-nine per cent of New Zealand women would not dress too young because of their fear of it. They end up going the other way.
"There's not a lot of difference between what a 35-year-old could wear and a 55-year-old could wear. It's about whether the style suits them; whether the colour suits them."
Now Beatson brandishes her tape measure and ascertains my shape - hourglass. She'll prepare some style guidelines for me.
Then it's time for Watson to work her magic with my commonplace Kiwi hair - "fine and lots of it".
Because she works closely with Beatson she knows what colours and textures work best for clients and runs style "workshops" with them.
"Here, the hair is not done in isolation," she says.
"I would start with personal details and that would cross over from Stacey. I get to see the person dressed and made up, although we also have an a la carte menu - you can just dip your toes in."
Today there's just time for a blowdry and style and Watson has in mind something I'd have never chosen for myself: a low, side ponytail with loose curls.
A bit young, surely?
"Absolutely not - and I would tell you" says Watson, who thrusts a magazine in front of me with Michelle Pfeiffer with such a pony tail on the cover.
And there I was, all made up with a fun, Saturday night hairdo.
Just a shame I had no do for my do. It was all going to be wasted in a dark movie theatre. I'll be back ...
Biba: www.biba.net.nz
Phone: (09) 480 0099
