Home & People Sun-screen cosmetics for the 1980s

Press, 16 April 1980, Page 15

Home & People Sun-screen cosmetics for the 1980s

By

BABARA STEWART

•'Sun is necessary for our health, but too much sun is dangerous,” says Hana Omar. “We must all understand its power and use it. wisely, especially relating to our skins.” Egyptian-born, ’■ Miss Omar, is a sales training manager for Estee Lauder, the American cosmetic company 100 per cent privately owned, inspired, and run by Estee Lauder and her family. All of its products relating to skin protection have sun screen, known as “Sun Protective Factor,” SPF, incorporated into them. American law now requires that the SPF of every product of skin care be listed on the container. The minimum is between 2 and 4 and the maximum is between 6 and 8. Above 8 is a complete sun block. “Tire most damaging

time of the day to be in the sun is between 12 and 2 p.m.,” said Miss Omar. At this time the ultra violet rays of the sun penetrate three feet beneath the surface of the water. Therefore as far as your skin is concerned this is the most destructive time. The collagen (protein) fibres which give it elasticity and flexibility are broken down and cannot be repaired once this damage has occured,” Miss Omar explains. Her advice is always to wear a sunscreen and to check a sunscreen is incorporated in your moisturiser, foundation and lipstick. Ten years in the fiercely competitive market of the cosmetic industry has i given Hana Omar much knowledge of its products and acquaintence with a vast cross-section of the female world of beauty. After, leaving school in •• Cairo she worked for an ; English cosmetic company, »■ travelling throughout the 'Middle East for four years. Then she joined a French cosmetic company • I and was based in Paris. For them she travelled

throughout Europe and the Middle East, working with the duty-free shops in many countries. Four years and a half ago she joined Estee Lauder. As an ambassadress for Estee Lauder this is her first trip to New Zealand. She is travelling through the South Pacific, SouthEast Asia, and the Middle East, before returning to her home, her husband, and her dog in Los Angeles, California. In Christchurch, Miss Omar has beeen holding a training seminar for 15 w.omen from throughout New Zealand on all aspects of the company’s cosmetics. The points include knowledge of the latest product range, merchandising, how to organise and conduct beauty seminars and clinics for

groups of women, and the acquiring of the latest techniques in selling. Hana Omar is a stunning picture of what it is to be a thoroughly capable, dedicated, and attractive woman in today’s demanding world. When we met at the end of one long day of her seminar, she looked totally fresh and charming. She is petite, with waist-length, jet black hair. This was held by a yellow comb and flower matching her bright yellow towelling jacket and framing her satin smooth dark olive skin and beautiful black eyes. Miss Omar explained the company’s latest cosmetic range. Every six months the company introduced a new range to complement the seasons’ colours and fashion styling. For autumn and winter of 1980 Estee Lavider introduces “Le Grand Cafe.” Today’s fashion is “retrochic,” a look of confidence and sophistication of earlier decades. Clothes are more body hugging, with defined waist lines, short tops, padded shoulders.

slim skirts, hats, gloves, and the elegant pump. The new make-up mirrors this image df elegance. The entire cosmetic . range of fashion colours for the lips, nails, cheeks and eyes tone with each other. Miss Omar says: “Makeup has a more studied, artful approach, applied with a sure yet discreet hand. But no hard-edged lines. Faces are carefully defined.” Beginning with the eyes. If you want the retro-chic look wear more eyeshadow. Eye lining is important, even in the daytime. This sets off the mood of the new hats. Miss Omar assures us that in New York, a city of immense sophistication, the women are looking really gorgeous in this season’s hats, with eye-accentuat-ing veiling. Even in California, where life is more casual because of the marvellcfus climate, women are wearing a hat when they dress up. Estee Lauder’s tip for the cheeks is to use two shades — the lighter one across the cheekbone to the hairline — then to layer the deeper shade over the lighter on just the back portion near the hairline. For the lips, she says use a pencil to outline,

and fill in the centre of the top arid bottom lip. This gives contouring, and the hint of a pout. Then fill in the entire area with lipstick colour and highlight with a gloss. For a really finished look nails should be painted, either to match the lips, or as an independent colour statement. - For this 14-week trip Miss Omar is travelling with four large suitcases. One is her minimum personal luggage. The rest are packed with displays, slides, films and material on the launching of Le Grand Cafe. There must be times when she is grateful being petite and pretty so that masculine chivalry comes to the fore in helping her transport this load when there are no trollies about. She has two major trips overseas a year, taking up to seven or eight months, Her time in each city is heavily committed to her training programmes and consulting the duty free shops, leaving little time for private moments. “Every place I visit in the world has its own special charm, and in 10 years of travelling I have great friends throughout the world,” she says. “But of all the places I know, Paris gives me a special thrill.”