Fox and Doll, a.k.a. Elizabeth Fox and Shana Astrachan, say they can’t do what they do anywhere other than San Francisco – and not just because the makeup artist duo lives here in the Bay Area. Rather, as we learned when we met up with them just before a recent photo shoot for Bay Area label She-Bible, it’s because the people of San Francisco keep their aesthetic alive.
“San Francisco isn’t a slave to trends and looks. There’s everything, and I love that. Elsewhere in the country, people have a lot of preconceived notions of what a bride should look like…and I think that San Francisco brides, based on our experience, do not want that–at all. And they want anything but,” says Fox, who started doing make up in the theater department at San Francisco State and since has worked on over 20 films.
Fox’s partner, Astrachan, agrees: “The bride I was working with yesterday said to me, ‘I’m thinking sexy,’ and I was like, ‘Whoa! Let’s do it! Why not?’”
The pair may have met on the set of the locally-filmed horror flick, All About Evil, but their cosmetic style is far from scary.
“We focus on classic and vintage hair and makeup, individualizing everybody’s look, but based on kind of classic styles and look,” says Astrachan, who draws inspiration from the drag scene in San Francisco.
“I love the drag, the campy, the made-up glamour, and I find it really interesting….It’s not usually the type of work that we’re doing. I just find it very inspiring that you can completely change a face in so many ways,” she says.
The duo also takes steps to be as green as possible.
“We use very little disposable items.We rarely use disposable brushes or wands. We try to do as little as reusing a tissue, use part of it, flip it over. I mean we’re very, very sanitary, but we are also very conscious of that,” stresses Astrachan.
Fox and Doll have experience doing makeup for films, commercials and local fashion labels. But lately they’ve been prepping for a new type of client.
“Now that Prop 8 is overturned, we expect to get a lot of phone calls…even if you’re marrying someone of the same sex, you still need a little touch of make up,” Fox says.
Want the look from She-Bible’s recent photo shoot, shown here? Check out the tips in the video below.
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Photography courtesy of Joe Budd for She-Bible and Fox & Doll
