ShopNBC has been rolling out all sorts of new products for their big Beauty Discovery Week. And all I can say is that it’s about time! Their beauty offerings have long lagged behind their competitors and it’s good to see them bringing unique, undiscovered products to the marketplace.
I spoke with one of the latest vendors, Lisa Bass, who is bringing a new Model Results to ShopNBC. The line focuses on an oft overlooked area—the hands. Lisa is an artist and a real estate agent, but she’s also a hand model (see the above gorgeous picture ... wow!) She worked to develop a product that would protect her hands without having to keep them in white cotton gloves all day--always convenient when you need to change diapers and wash dishes!
QB: Kathy Levine, a favorite former QVC host with gorgeous hands, wrote in her book that she tried to get into hand modeling, but didn't have any luck. How did you break into the industry and what led you into hand modeling?
LB: It was a catch 22 - can't get work until you have an agent/can't get an agent until you've done work! It was perseverance and I believed I could do it. I was going art school at the time and working as a graphic designer for Michael Friedman Publishing Group in NYC. The book I was working on was called, "Creative Gift Wrapping". They needed "how to" shots for the gift wrapping shots and they used my hands. I worked with a photographer named, Tony Cenicola, for this book. Whenever he needed a 'hand', pardon the pun, he would call me. After about a year, he recommended me to an agency. I went to see them and after I left, they called me back that afternoon to ask if I could do 5 commercials the following week? My immediate response was, "hold on, let me go quit my job!" Ever since then, I've been extremely lucky and fortunate to have worked with the most important and fabulous photographers, directors, actors, art directors, fashion editors special effects people in the industry. It's offered me the chance to travel to different places in the world to work, while remaining in my quiet anonymous fame.
QB: Did you work with any celebrities or do you have any interesting tales from any of the jobs you were sent out on?
LB: Yes I have worked with many different celebrities - all of whom have beautiful hands, but for either scheduling on their part or if it was a complicated hand position, I was asked to step in and help. I've worked a few times with Brooke Shields. She has gorgeous hands and was great to work with. We worked together while she was starring in “GREASE”. And because of her busy schedule there, I was asked to help for her commercials and print work.
Claudia Schiffer, who also has beautiful hands, thanked me for making her look so good! Can you imagine? This woman is so incredibly gorgeous and thanked me for making her look beautiful. I was blown away by her graciousness!
Madonna - I was her hands for a Japanese Sake commercial.
Julia Roberts - I was hired to be her hands for the movie, “The Pelican Brief”. My hands were that of 'Darby Shaw'. Julia Roberts hands are also so beautiful. But I think because of her honeymoon with Lyle Lovett, it was easier to get me in to do the hand parts rather than getting Julia back from her honeymoon! That was an interesting job in that the director asked me to get into Julia’s wardrobe and I looked at him puzzled? Did he not remember I was just the hands and not the full thing? Julia was a size, what, 2? And there’s a real big reason why I wasn’t a full model! I had to wear her clothes for the shot because that’s what she was wearing in the scene. After I squeezed into here skirt and shirt, I then had to tuck in my shirt! Only a woman can understand where I’m coming from with that - and spanx was not yet invented! I was fine as long as I didn’t breathe!
QB: Your grandparents owned a French restaurant named Chez Labbat in the Hamptons. Did you ever get to meet the artists--Pollack, Steinbeck, Capote, etc.--that hung out there in the 50’s and 60’s?
LB: No, I didn’t. Jackson Pollack died about 10 years before I was born. However, so the story goes, he frequented my grandparent’s restaurant for many years – usually at the bar. He never had money to pay his bill and finally my grandfather demanded that he pay. Jackson Pollack offered him paintings to repay him, but my grandfather refused. Needless to say, it’s been a great lesson to all of us grandchildren to always regard art as a special gift! And oddly enough, about Truman Capote, after he died, the artist Ross Bleckner bought the house from the estate and asked my husband (prior to me knowing him) to do the renovation in which he basically kept the integrity of what Truman Capote had there already. . . It’s a great compound!
QB: Ladies tend to overlook their hands. There are many lotions, potions, injections, and procedures for the face, but not as much available for the hands, which can quickly give away your age. What will Model Results do to help address the problem?
LB: The Ageless Hand Perfecter INSTANTLY takes 10 years off the age of your hands! Simply think of this product as getting two great benefits in one product.
First, the cosmetic benefit which when applied, evens out your skin tone, covers the imperfections
one may have, and offers a shimmering glow that reflects the light creating the illusion of having perfect skin tones on your hands!
Secondly, and so fabulous, I want you to think of this product as wearing an invisible glove. I wore white cotton gloves daily when I was modeling and now having a full life with children, dogs, a house - oh yeah, a husband - I don't have the luxury of wearing gloves all day long. So this product is like wearing a moisturizing glove. It's a moisturizing film which traps the active ingredients, goji berry extract and peptides, that when combined, helps create more collagen and elasticity for your skin of your hand for up to 8 hours, even through many hand washings throughout the day.
QB: How did you find your way to ShopNBC?
LB: [My business partner] and I found Shop NBC through a trade journal article that said they were specifically looking to expand their beauty presence, and wanted products that had a credible spokesperson like myself, that were clinically tested, and had unique and patent pending ingredients. We are looking forward to a successful launch and plan on extending the rest of the line in 2010.
QB: I just have to ask ... living and sellig real estate in the Hamptons, do you ever run into Ina Garten or Martha Stewart when you’re out and about?
LB: Yes. Ina Garten use to have a great store in East Hampton called, The Barefoot Contesa. She was always there, with a smile, making sure the food was perfectly presented. I loved that store and miss it dearly!
Martha Stewart ‘s daughter had a gym that was the cleanest, best gym I have ever belonged to. I would sometimes see them there, working out! They both have the most beautiful houses here in East Hampton – just gorgeous!
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I'm new to HSN (prob because my husband of 33 years prefers rabbit ears on the rooftop to cable tv-he IS and accountant...)
ReplyDeleteBut....I am not new to loving the idea of empowering people to heal themselves with products and tools that work.
And so....I have started working with a Dr of Chiropractic and Chinese Medicine to promote her newly developed product that helps women to be beautiful and "heal" themselves at the same time.
Where would you suggest we start looking for investors or people who network to a large arena so that we could market this wonderful new product on HSNs??? Thank-you in advance for your advice & time!