“ROBYN & ARMANDO”
……………….There are no words to express how much I love these two people……Robyn recently sent these photos to me, and I was so grateful to get them…..The joyful memories started to come streaming back!!!!….I always thought of Robyn as a true NEW YORK CITY GIRL!!!! Accent and everything! I don’t remember when exactly Robyn came into my life, but it was many many decades ago……She was a brilliant makeup artist then and still is. I had hired Robyn to do the makeup for my shows. It was a huge undertaking to make up 30 and sometimes more models. At one point, don’t remember when or the circumstances, but Robyn brought Armando in to help. I’m sure Robyn would know EXACTLY when and how and where and every detail of our meeting! Armando was an LA makeup and hair designer, and worked in TV and movies. He solely did Linda Evans hair and makeup for years. He was fantastic and was in high demand. I only met Armando when Robyn asked him to come to NY to help with the show. It didn’t take me long to realize he was a GENIUS….and he worked quickly, which was necessary in the movie and TV business. He LOVED working with all of the super models with their perfect faces and bodies. Dealing with actresses and celebrities could be a huge challenge with their personalities and insecurities. The models were very picky about who did the makeup and they didn’t know Armando from a hole in the wall…….but…..all they had to see was the finished makeup on the first models he worked on, and they started to line up for ARMANDO!!!!……He was great with hair too, but I mostly used Christiaan for the hair. He too was a genius, and worked for many magazines, photographers, and did the shows in the US and Europe. The models had great trust in him! That’s where it starts….TRUST….and that they will make them beautiful!……Robyn and Armando eventually married and Robyn moved to LA, but they would always fly in a few days before the show so we could work on “The Face”……..Jac, Robyn, Armando and myself became as close as friends could be. When it was possible we would visit them on the west coast, but my schedule was unrelenting….so there were times when Jac would get on a plane and spend a long weekend with them. The photos on the right are of Jac and Armando taking a walk on a Malibu beach…..The center top photo is of Robyn and myself working on a model trying out different makeups for the show…..Sometimes these models would have to wash their faces 6 or 7 times and we would start all over from scratch until we got the “LOOK” right…….For years Armando and Robyn would make the trip to NY to do my shows…….and then it happened…..One year Robyn called and said they weren’t going to be able to come!….Armando was sick! Of course I was upset that Armando was so sick that they would have to cancel my show, but NY was filled with terrific makeup artists and I hired a well know makeup artist to fill in……I had worked with her on photo shoots and ad campaigns…….We then found out Armando had cancer………He didn’t live long…..We felt so badly for Robyn….Armando was in his late 30s….Robyn was devastated…….Jac and I thought she might move back to NY, but now she was a California girl, and had so many friends of hers and Armando’s that her roots were there…….What I found out was Robyn was actually a California girl to start, and her mother and sister lived there…….Robyn continued to make the trip to NY to do our shows twice a year. She had many private clients, and during award shows went form celeb to celebrities houses doing their make up starting at 8am. She had an agent and was very busy…..but her heart moved on, and her passions changed…..Makeup became a job, but she found other outlets for it that were more fulfilling…..I don’t remember when it happened but she LOVED the ballet and became friends with some of the principle dances. She thought their makeup was horrible, and started teaching them how to do their makeup….even for the stage where it all had to be exaggerated! She loved it and she loved the dancers. She started to travel with them, and to this day is best friends with many of them……Robyn decided that doing celebrity makeup had run its’ course for her and cut back her client list. She eventually got a position at the Sally Hershberger Salon in LA…..a very cutting edge place to get a hair makeover. Sally cuts the hair of many actresses….giving Meg Ryan a new look with the chopped irregular cut look, and Jane Fonda…..a modified version…. Robyn became the “BROW” expert, and that’s all she did….One customer after another, she would shape their brows. Robyn even wrote a book called “THE BROW” which is a history of the eyebrow and the different ways women wore their brows through the ages. It’s an interesting read….think the thin pencil line of the 20s and the heavy Joan Crawford brow of the 50s….Robyn works with customers on both coasts just doing their brows and she is always booked!……Robyn also rekindled another passion……..HORSES…….she is best friend with owners, trainers and JOCKIES alike. You can always find Robyn in the paddocks of every major race track. She used to ride, but after a fall and a bad brake to her wrist, which required an operation and pins, she had to give riding up……but it didn’t diminish her love of horse at all……It’s stronger than ever. Robyn keeps me abreast of what’s happening in the horse world, and what young fillies I should be watching….You may have seen her posts of horses on my FACEBOOK pages. She’s always nuzzling a horse!….Robyn is a hoot!!!…..Now we are both without the loves of our lives, and when we get together we always reminisce about the good times the four of us had……Thank God Robyn has a good memory!……..I love her to pieces!
