Xee Lo had never worn much makeup until her little sister dragged her to a M.A.C Cosmetics counter for some pointers several years ago.
“Ever since then, I started buying lots of M.A.C products and wearing more makeup. It makes me feel so confident,” said Lo, 27, a student in the medical assisting program at Gwinnett Technical College.
Lo heard about the M.A.C. Me Over! contest via Facebook, entered on a whim and encouraged her sisters to do the same. The company, which often features celebrities in its marketing, was seeking six fresh faces for its fall collection, and received thousands of entries.
Each contestant was asked to send in a photo or a video and complete the phrase, “M.A.C. Me Over! because...”
“So many thoughts were going through my mind that I didn’t know what to write,” said Lo, who finally came up with, “M.A.C. gives me the confidence to feel beautiful in my skin.”
When Lo was notified by email that she had won, she thought someone was playing a joke, so she deleted the message. Fortunately, the company contacted her again.
“Winning was like a dream come true,” Lo said. “I couldn’t stop talking about it to my husband.”
MAC flew Lo and the other five winners to New York City for a three-day makeover.
“I really wanted whoever won our contest to be involved in a total transformative process, which meant the makeup and the hair, the clothes, the attitude, the experience of being in New York and working with an A-list team [of stylists and photographer, Michael Thompson]... Who wouldn’t want to win that experience,” said James Gager, senior vice president and creative director at M.A.C. Cosmetics.
“I wasn’t scared, but I was a little nervous,” Lo said. “They had asked me about how I felt about going blonde again. I had just dyed my hair brown and didn’t think it could take another treatment, but fortunately, they designed a wig for the shoot.”
Lo had never modeled before, but she felt comfortable when the photographer told her how to stand and move.
“It was fun and I felt like a star,” she said.
Lo’s image can be seen at M.A.C. counters around the world for the launch of the fall collection until Sept. 29.
“The whole look they came up with for me was very dramatic. My brows are really dark and there’s a lot of dark eyeshadow around my eyes,” she said. “Normally, I wear nude and neutral colors.”
While Lo will retain her natural look for every day, the makeover taught her to define her eyebrows to frame her face and to be more experimental with color.
Back in Georgia, Lo said her life hasn’t changed much. “People do occasionally recognize me now, and that’s fun.”
A former nursing student, Lo is enrolled in prerequisite classes at Gwinnett Tech and will start the medical assisting program in the spring. Exploring the career at a pediatrician’s office convinced her to enter the program.
“I come from a large family with four brothers and three sisters, and I was always taking care of the younger ones,” she said. “I tried working in sales and marketing, but it wasn’t right. Taking care of younger kids is something I want to do.”
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