�Style Network
WAVING HER WAND: With more than a decades experience, Alexa Prisco gives her clients the bare-faced facts on applying make-up correctly in Style Networks The Glam Fairy
Make-up is Alexa Prisco’s forte – she knows what works and what doesn’t. Her talent, harnessed over a decade, was first spotted on Style Network’s Jerseylicious. With her business going at the same time, the network decided she would make for an interesting subject in her own reality series and The Glam Fairy was born. Debashine Thangevelo found out how life in the spotlight has transformed the new mom and savvy businesswoman…
IF there is one thing reality shows have confirmed it is that any subject can be turned into a series.
Style Network’s The Glam Fairy, a spin-off series from Jerseylicious, is a manifestation of this fact.
Now I’m not going to slam this show or its airy-fairy title – after all, it is Alexa Prisco’s branding – as it is a show that caters for women and their desire to put their best face forward, so to speak.
Besides, it isn’t about over-the-top drama and vain personalities fighting for screen time, which is a huge plus.
Tonight chatted to Prisco about season two of The Glam Fairy, now airing on our screens.
On how it started, she says: “We were shooting Jerseylicious and they (the network) kept giving me scenes, telling me there were interested as there weren’t many people who had stories in their personal lives that would be big enough to carry a show. I wasn’t your stereotypical Jersey girl.”
I didn’t know what a “stereo-typical Jersey girl” was, but decided to push on with the chat; I didn’t want to stir up a hornets’ nest.
One thing is clear with the soft-spoken but assured Prisco: she is all business.
Of the second season, she laughs: “When we were shooting, I was very pregnant. It was exhausting. I think with the production company and, in a situation like that, you are not going to bite off more than you can chew. Beyond the fact that it was exhausting, it is my brand and (whatever happened) I wanted to protect the integrity of it. You want to make sure that everything is an extension of your brand.”
With a reality show giving her business great mileage, Prisco continues: “It is a double-edged sword. It is so much exposure for my business, but it is also about putting that exposure in other people’s hands.”
What is she busy with now?
“We finished filming Jerseylicious, season five. And it is nice to just be able to enjoy motherhood. I am still running a business, but had to change things a bit. Right now, I do regular business at my house and take my appointments there (The Glam Factory). And the Glam Academy is bigger than ever,” shares Prisco.
Prisco is glad she gets to share “all the important moments in my daughter’s life”. She says her objective has always been to deliver.
“I want to transform people. But I don’t like abusive people. And brides in the Jersey and New York area are, ironically enough, very cruel and can be monsters when it comes to the day of their wedding. I have now perfected things and make sure all my basis are covered. I want people to be beautiful, but I’m not going to be a wimp.”
Prisco says a common mistake among women is that they never change their make-up over time.
She explains: “People start doing a certain look at a certain age. There is a certain order to their look even though their wardrobe changes. When you redefine that, in a way, they are incapable of seeing that you are changing the filter in their eyes in the way they see beautiful. My mother, for example, always wears coral lipstick. I told her, based on her skin colour, that a rose lip would be best. But she does not listen. Although it works for her!
“Some people do the thick black eyeliner look. They keep doing it – like 10 years later. I would then say: ‘I’m going to cause you a bit of pain, we are going to fix the eyeliner.’”
Although a third season hasn’t been announced, Prisco says: “I sort of want to go into a different area of my life right now. If I continue to be on TV, I will make sure it is a balanced thing.”
•The Glam Fairy airs on Style Network (DStv channel 173) on Tuesdays at 10.05pm.
OTHER NOTABLE SPIN-OFFS:
• The Real Housewives franchise was inspired by the hit TV show Desperate Housewives. It started with The Real Housewives of Orange County and mushroomed to now include spin-offs for Atlanta, New Jersey, New York City, Beverly Hills, Miami and, believe it or not, Vancouver.
• Miami Ink put tattooing on the reality map. That snowballed into several other series – LA Ink, London Ink, NY Ink and Madrid Ink.
• That trashy Jersey Shore series that everyone was addicted to saw more shows involving certain characters like Nicole Polizzi and Jennifer Farley bagging their own show, Snooki and JWoww. And DJ Paul DelVecchio got his own series, The Paul D Project, while Vinny Guadagnino landed The Show With Vinny.
• The drama behind child pageantry made waves in Toddlers & Tiaras, which then lent itself to popular kid star Alana Thompson being signed on for Here Comes Honey Boo Boo.
• The Only Way is Essex created a lot of hype when it was released. Several seasons later, some cast members left. Amy Childs, after a stint on Celebrity Big Brother 8, landed It’s All About Amy and Mark Wright, who took part in I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!, was signed on for Mark Wright’s Hollywood Nights.
• The list of spin-off shows – I won’t even get into the insipidness of Keeping Up With the Kardashians and the shows attached to it – is long, but you get the picture of this trend in TV land.
Category Archives: Blog
Tonight Exclusive
Tonight Exclusive: Glam Fairy’s Alexa
May 27 2013 at 03:26pm
By Debashine Thangevelo
Comment on this story
�Style Network
WAVING HER WAND: With more than a decades experience, Alexa Prisco gives her clients the bare-faced facts on applying make-up correctly in Style Networks The Glam Fairy
Make-up is Alexa Prisco’s forte – she knows what works and what doesn’t. Her talent, harnessed over a decade, was first spotted on Style Network’s Jerseylicious. With her business going at the same time, the network decided she would make for an interesting subject in her own reality series and The Glam Fairy was born. Debashine Thangevelo found out how life in the spotlight has transformed the new mom and savvy businesswoman…
IF there is one thing reality shows have confirmed it is that any subject can be turned into a series.
Style Network’s The Glam Fairy, a spin-off series from Jerseylicious, is a manifestation of this fact.
Now I’m not going to slam this show or its airy-fairy title – after all, it is Alexa Prisco’s branding – as it is a show that caters for women and their desire to put their best face forward, so to speak.
Besides, it isn’t about over-the-top drama and vain personalities fighting for screen time, which is a huge plus.
Tonight chatted to Prisco about season two of The Glam Fairy, now airing on our screens.
On how it started, she says: “We were shooting Jerseylicious and they (the network) kept giving me scenes, telling me there were interested as there weren’t many people who had stories in their personal lives that would be big enough to carry a show. I wasn’t your stereotypical Jersey girl.”
I didn’t know what a “stereo-typical Jersey girl” was, but decided to push on with the chat; I didn’t want to stir up a hornets’ nest.
One thing is clear with the soft-spoken but assured Prisco: she is all business.
Of the second season, she laughs: “When we were shooting, I was very pregnant. It was exhausting. I think with the production company and, in a situation like that, you are not going to bite off more than you can chew. Beyond the fact that it was exhausting, it is my brand and (whatever happened) I wanted to protect the integrity of it. You want to make sure that everything is an extension of your brand.”
With a reality show giving her business great mileage, Prisco continues: “It is a double-edged sword. It is so much exposure for my business, but it is also about putting that exposure in other people’s hands.”
What is she busy with now?
“We finished filming Jerseylicious, season five. And it is nice to just be able to enjoy motherhood. I am still running a business, but had to change things a bit. Right now, I do regular business at my house and take my appointments there (The Glam Factory). And the Glam Academy is bigger than ever,” shares Prisco.
Prisco is glad she gets to share “all the important moments in my daughter’s life”. She says her objective has always been to deliver.
“I want to transform people. But I don’t like abusive people. And brides in the Jersey and New York area are, ironically enough, very cruel and can be monsters when it comes to the day of their wedding. I have now perfected things and make sure all my basis are covered. I want people to be beautiful, but I’m not going to be a wimp.”
Prisco says a common mistake among women is that they never change their make-up over time.
She explains: “People start doing a certain look at a certain age. There is a certain order to their look even though their wardrobe changes. When you redefine that, in a way, they are incapable of seeing that you are changing the filter in their eyes in the way they see beautiful. My mother, for example, always wears coral lipstick. I told her, based on her skin colour, that a rose lip would be best. But she does not listen. Although it works for her!
“Some people do the thick black eyeliner look. They keep doing it – like 10 years later. I would then say: ‘I’m going to cause you a bit of pain, we are going to fix the eyeliner.’”
Although a third season hasn’t been announced, Prisco says: “I sort of want to go into a different area of my life right now. If I continue to be on TV, I will make sure it is a balanced thing.”
•The Glam Fairy airs on Style Network (DStv channel 173) on Tuesdays at 10.05pm.
OTHER NOTABLE SPIN-OFFS:
• The Real Housewives franchise was inspired by the hit TV show Desperate Housewives. It started with The Real Housewives of Orange County and mushroomed to now include spin-offs for Atlanta, New Jersey, New York City, Beverly Hills, Miami and, believe it or not, Vancouver.
• Miami Ink put tattooing on the reality map. That snowballed into several other series – LA Ink, London Ink, NY Ink and Madrid Ink.
• That trashy Jersey Shore series that everyone was addicted to saw more shows involving certain characters like Nicole Polizzi and Jennifer Farley bagging their own show, Snooki and JWoww. And DJ Paul DelVecchio got his own series, The Paul D Project, while Vinny Guadagnino landed The Show With Vinny.
• The drama behind child pageantry made waves in Toddlers & Tiaras, which then lent itself to popular kid star Alana Thompson being signed on for Here Comes Honey Boo Boo.
• The Only Way is Essex created a lot of hype when it was released. Several seasons later, some cast members left. Amy Childs, after a stint on Celebrity Big Brother 8, landed It’s All About Amy and Mark Wright, who took part in I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!, was signed on for Mark Wright’s Hollywood Nights.
• The list of spin-off shows – I won’t even get into the insipidness of Keeping Up With the Kardashians and the shows attached to it – is long, but you get the picture of this trend in TV land.
(2884)
Calling All Lipstick & Liner Lovers!
(2026)
A preview of GA8 Student Portfolio Images
New Intensive Semester!
Status
So much to see and do! New Intensive 2015 Semester has just been released! New Page and Application for our Glam Academy Models! And in one day we officially start our Glam Academy Intensive Semester! (25)
May Promotion
We are less than a week away from the May Semester of The Glam Academy! We are running an promotion exclusive to our May Semester where you are able to save 10% on your seat! We are closing the semester this Tuesday. For the dates of the May Semester jump over to our Course Overview area! (1690)
"IS a bella" by Morgan Heisler
Hello everyone! My name is Morgan Heisler. I’m 19 years old and from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I’m here to share with you my journey through makeup artistry. I’ll tell you about before, during, and my amazing transformation after.
Before the Glam Academy:
As a recent high school graduate, I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I decided the absolute last day I could on which college I was going to attend for the Fall 2013 Semester. I selected La Salle University, which was a more local choice. I enrolled as a Communications major hoping to excel in the Journalism field. On my first day during orientation, I couldn’t help but research schools that applied just for makeup. I’ve always had a big makeup collection and interest in learning more about it. I found myself trying new styles and practicing on my friends. Then, when I started to get a little better at it, my friends started asking me to their makeup for everyday and for special nights out. Makeup had always been a passion of mine, but I never thought that I’d be so hooked on the idea of becoming a makeup artist. I found the Glam Academy as one of the schools and it quickly grabbed my attention. I found myself so interested in the courses and learning from Alexi herself. I ended up withdrawing from La Salle University immediately after my orientation. The next thing I did was emailed the Glam Academy and reserved my spot as a student in the Semester 5 Class.
During the Glam Academy:
My first day of the Glam Academy really assured me that I made the right decision with following my dream as a makeup artist. Although I was nervous about my first day for being one of the youngest students, I felt comfortable within minutes. Since I graduated from both the basic and senior program, I learned things that I didn’t even know were common knowledge for makeup. Did you know that foundation has an oxidation pattern and that’s what determines how the color appears on the skin? I sure didn’t until I attended the Glam Academy! I was so fascinated by all of the information I was gaining just within my first hours. After you learn literally all there is to know about makeup, you jump right into hands on work. The whole environment of the Glam Academy really makes you feel like your exceling in your makeup skills and business. You learn different looks, how lighting affects the picture, how to fix makeup after you already applied it—literally everything. Then, you also learn how to run your own business. You skip over the counter girl at a makeup stand or working at a salon step, and branch off as your own individual. Alexa not only gave me knowledge and wonderful skills, but she gave me the confidence and motivation that I needed in order to realize that I could do this by myself. She made me see that I don’t need to work for someone else to become successful in this industry. Everything that I want to accomplish is now at my fingertips because of the help and guidance of Alexa.
After the Glam Academy:
Since I’ve graduated from the Glam Academy about 6 months ago, I am on a whole new level of success. I am now 19 years old and booking more clients than I imagined. I have booked over 20 girls from all different high schools in my area for the 2014 Prom Season, I’ve been planning a summer shoot for this upcoming August, and I’ve had requests about weddings and other special occasions as well. At such a young age, I never thought I’d be doing so well financially as a makeup artist and starting my own business. My brand name is IS a bella translating to “is a beauty,” and so far I couldn’t be happier with the outcome. When working with a client, my main goal is to have her feel beautiful and confident after leaving my chair. That’s why I’ve selected that specific brand name. I’ve gained so many clients and many others with much interest in having me do their makeup or even working with me. Since I earlier mentioned that school was a big part of my life, I made the decision to go back for my degree. I enrolled in a Community College as a Communication major again to try and tie my love for writing in, with my love for makeup. I also plan to go back to the Glam Academy this summer to take the Master’s course that is now offered to senior graduates. As I finish up writing my journey for you, I am currently preparing for a trial I have for a prom this upcoming weekend. I couldn’t be happier with where I am in my life and how much success I’ve had in the last 6 months. Alexa really has helped me transform my whole future into something with so much more than potential. If it weren’t for the Glam Academy, my makeup career would be non-existent. I can’t wait to see where the rest of my years as a makeup artist will take me! I hope that you all enjoyed my story and that you will continue to follow up with me, and the rest of the alumni from the Glam Academy.
To learn more about IS a bella, and myself visit:
www.morgheisler.wordpress.com
https://www.facebook.com/isabellamakeupm
http://instagram.com/isabellamakeupm
Erin Hendley of f.a.c.e. Makeup Artistry, LLC
Hello! My name is Erin Hendley, and I was a student in the very first Glam Academy course. If there is one thing I am addicted to, it is Makeup Education. Having previously attended Cosmetology School in Kentucky, Makeup school in Chicago, and another weeklong course in New York, I can confidently say there is one aspect about the Glam Academy that stood out from the rest of my institutes: Business Inspiration & Aspiration. I was already a working artist in NYC before attending Alexa’s Classes. Throughout the duration of enrollment at the Glam Academy, I focused on business branding, my signature style, how to be my own PR team, protecting myself legally, and how to handle difficult clients. These are the fundamentals that have taken me from an occasionally booked artist, to a fully booked artist at professional rates.Three years out from graduating the Glam Academy, I now own my own business, custom compacts, & brick and mortar studio in Kentucky. I owe Alexa’s motivational speeches for igniting a fire in me to nurse my business and constantly push my boundaries. She reminded me that I have to possess a certain amount of humility and establish a tough skin not only to be a successful business woman, but an ENTREPRENEUR! Feel free to keep up with me at f.a.c.e. Makeup Artistry, LLC! I’m constantly up to something new! -Erin (1993)
An Absolutely Dazzling Dream Brought to Life
An Absolutely Dazzling Dream Brought to Life
My name is Angelica Alberti & this is my story on how I became a Makeup Artist.
Starting out in cosmetology school in 2012 I learned that my true passion was makeup. Problem was that in the state of New Jersey, they only touch on about 3 days of makeup and you are pretty much just reading out of a book! Educating yourself by reading is great but I knew that if I really wanted to find out if I had what it took to be in the Industry of Beauty as a Makeup Artist I had to grab a brush and do some hands on work with a pro! That is when I signed up to be a student at the Glam Academy with Alexa Prisco. Making that first big step was super intimidating and I was so nervous because I had NO IDEA how to do makeup or what to expect. I am here to tell you that the Glam Academy and Alexa Prisco have given me the best experience of my life!
Alexa really challenges you and brings out the best artist in you. She shows you that if you really work hard in her academy, you can go beyond a makeup counter. When I was going into Makeup I didn’t really know what I would do going out of it. I wasn’t sure if I was going to end up at a counter or a salon. Alexa and the Academy really shows you that the sky is the limit! You can customize your services and brand to whatever it is that would set you apart from other artists in the industry.
That leads me to, life after Glam Academy and Absolutely Dazzling (My Brand).. Of course its scary when you are officially out there on your own with plenty of competition. For me, I did not waste any time! I was trying to book clients immediately! I had my first Bridal Expo while I was I was finishing up the Academy and I still get calls to this day from brides from that expo. I learned on my own that patience was very important and to not give up if you are not getting calls right away!
Where am I now in my career? I can tell you that right now as I am typing this I am preparing to do Miss New Jersey USA Emily Shahs makeup for her send off tonight as she prepares to take the crown of Miss USA 2014! I have done work with CW’s PIX11 News and also Mercedes Benz Fashion Week at Lincoln Center in Manhattan, which I made it to CNNs home page for! I am also doing special events.. Anything that needs a little glam and I feel that it would benefit my name & resume, I’m there!
See some of my work here at www.absolutelydazzlingmakeup.com
Everyday I am working to get more exposure and a positive name for my brand! I look forward to blogging on here & sharing my journey with all of you! Make sure you check back for more entries from other me and other GA Graduates!
Stay Dazzling! xx
Angelica Alberti (6535)
Beauty By Christina Isabella
Hi Everyone!
My name is Christina and I am recent graduate of Glam Academy. I just wanted to share with you a little bit about how Alexa absolutely changed my life.
I always had a love for make up and being glam but I didn’t know how to make it part of my life in a way that I could gain income. I actually went to college and graduated with a degree in Liberal Arts. When I graduated I started working a full time job. I was making good money but I was miserable. I knew that I couldn’t spend the rest of my life doing work that made me unhappy. I really looked inside myself and looked at what options I had in terms of doing something that made me happy but also gave me financial stability.
When I decided make up artistry was what I wanted to focus on, I researched all of the make up schools in my area and Glam Academy immediately stood out. I loved that it focused specifically on make up artistry and that it didn’t include hours of useless and boring information like a lot of the other schools I saw. What stood out to me the most was that it focused on me as my own brand and that it would give me the tools to create my own business and not work for some one else. When I decided to pursue make up as my career I thought that I would have to work at make up counter at a department store or a salon for years before I could ever branch out on my own. So when I saw that at Glam Academy, Alexa teaches you how to skip those steps and basically rocket launches you into independent success, I was amazed and knew that this was the school for me.
The transformation that I saw in myself throughout Glam Academy was amazing. I went from shaking trying to put winged eyeliner on to being able to put fake lashes on in a flash. Alexa taught me the fundamentals of make up so that I can now dissect and attack any look with confidence and ease. Not only did she teach me fundamentals but she took the time to go above and beyond and teach me how to create flawless make up so that when I work with photographers they see me as an asset because they have to do less editing in the end. This is something that definitely sets me apart from other make up artists in the industry. I also went from just having an idea of what to do for my success to fully having my own brand and business plan. She gave me the tools and steps that I needed to be completely independent and successful as a make up artist.
They say if you love what you do, you never work a day in your life. That couldn’t be more true in my case. I absolutely love what I do and I never feel like I’m working but instead just living my dream. The hardest part about making your dream a reality is the first step and I am so happy and grateful that I took my first step with Alexa and her Glam Academy. (2169)
Pardon me!
Hi everyone!
Because The Glam Academy has grown more successful with each semester I have now dedicated a blog to the program. We are in the middle of some updates so that is why things looks a little plain. If you would like to contact us please go back to www.theglamfairy.com and fill out a contact form OR email us directly at info@theglamfairy.com
Thanks!
Alexa (28985)