INSIDE DINAIR (well, sort of...)
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| The Dinair Building under an unusually rainy LA sky |
When something changes an important aspect of your life it is only natural to want get to know as much as you can about it, and if you have a chance, to go right up to the source of that thing. To see where "everything started", so to speak. Dinair was the first brand of airbrush makeup I ever tried. It forever changed the way I do makeup, and in many ways it's the reason why I am collaborating to this very blog, so when I came to Los Angeles on a personal trip in May of this year, I made sure our tight schedule would include a visit to North Hollywood and to the Dinair Studio, which is the retail outlet attached to the factory itself at Laurel Canyon Blvd.
The address was very easy to find, although we had to look twice as there aren't any big signs outside the building, but once we looked up and saw the beloved pink logo at the top we knew we had arrived at the home of the originators of the airbrush makeup craze. The entrance to the studio is just around the back of the building, where you can also park the car. We were greeted inside by the lovely Sandra, a very young and very kind employee who made us feel at home right from the start. In the studio, as you can see from the pictures, there are several makeup stations stocked full of the complete Dinair line, and to the right a counter with a glass display full of kits in every colour. To be able to see all these in person, instead of on a computer screen, was already a major delight. As efficient as the internet is these days, seeing all the colours right in front of our eyes is an experience that can't be beaten!
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| The lovely Sandra at Dinair |
The Studio isn't just a retail outlet. Here you can test products, try colors and discuss any aspect of airbrushing makeup so the the first thing I did was to put Sandra to the "test" by asking her to colour match me for foundation. Of course I already knew what colour is right for me, but I wanted a second opinion as I am a stickler for perfectly matching tones. Sandra aced it of course, and then we proceeded to test the same colour in the paramedical version, which I had long wanted to try on and buy. After that I bought the few colours that were missing from my collection, and then I gave Sandra a couple of gifts I had brought for Dina Ousley, the very founder of Dinair, and the lovely Julie Tobias, who is their spokesperson and the star of all the first official Dinair video tutorials.
Every now and then while I was there, the inside door leading to the factory would open and you could glimpse the call centre inside with the operators taking phone calls. It was fun to think that this is what's on the other end of the line when you call the customer service, and that for once we could actually see them in person.
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| Inside the Dinair Studio. |
All too soon it was time to leave, as another customer had come in and was waiting for service. It was a very elegant, great looking elderly lady that had come in "to get a few more shades" (her words). I thought about how incredibly cool that was: while people on this side of the pond are still barely grasping the concept of airbrushing makeup, here an elderly lady is not only using it, but having fun trying out new colours. It was the perfect closing for our visit, proving what Dina herself has been saying for years: Airbrush Makeup is for everybody!
PRO TIP: be sure to have the professional Dinair lights (the ones with the little White umbrella on top) turned on, instead of the bulbs on the mirrors which have a warm hue to them. The pro lights recreate natural lights to perfection, showing all your blemishes but also allowing a perfect colour match.
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| The brand new packaging of the Dinair Makeup Kit |
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| A makeup station full of Dinair delights! |
