Elea Blake

In a window of the Elea Blake studio at 133 Frazier Avenue are three arm sculptures, fingers elegantly splayed upward. Darin Wright's aesthetics practice is one of many small gestures, nuances that blend art, and science to complement one's natural complexion. After cleansing her client's face, Wright searches for a foundation match. "Skin tones are different in different places," she explains, and complements her client's well coordinated outfit of soft pinks, and beiges. Empathy matters because these ladies will be spending most of an afternoon together. "If eyes are the window to your soul, brows are the drapes," Wright continues. Like an energetic painter of canvas, her face is a fierce mask of concentration as the brush stokes are applied. Then, with hands apart, she steps away to gauge their effect. Smiling, bantering, mixing, and applying color, her dance continues. "We are mixologists creating on skin," she says. The powders are mineral-based, and not tested on animals. Blending may follow one of three schemes. The monochromatic results in shading. Analogous colors harmonize in their proximity on a color wheel while complements reach across the wheel to balance each other. As time passes, her working surface comes to resemble a painter's palette, and like that portrait artist's, the colors are unique, be they applied with a stipple brush, or molded into a lipstick. Wright's clientele will leave the studio refreshed, and empowered, knowing that they look their best.