Studio Charme

I’ve been going to see Karla since she was still in Maricopa (what’s that, like six or seven years now?) and I have honestly never been to another stylist (well, ok, twice, but I learned my lesson).
I am not your average salon goer. I see Karla maybe once a year, if we’re lucky, although there was one point where it was nearly 3 years between salon appointments. And yet! Despite not being the most repetitive customer, Karla remembers everything I’ve been doing to my hair, everything I’ve been doing in my life, and everything I’ve ever told her about me. Her service IS personalized, down to a T. Every time I call her up it’s like no time has passed between our last appointment.
She always takes my hair’s needs into account, letting me know styling tips and tricks for my wildly curly hair, and doing services she knows will last the 52 weeks until I see her again. Even if she double books clients (which she’s done only once with me) she makes sure to make the switching work between clients, and keeps us both involved in the conversation. She is never rude or forgetful, and always has a smile on her face and a story to tell.

I met the owner of Studio Charme, Karla Lambart, when she was my first ever makeup artist for my first ever photo shoot. I did not go to her studio, I met her at my photographer’s studio.
I showed up that day tired and nervous being that it was my first ever photo shoot. You know the feeling, blah and unsure.
That day she was, I think, at least an hour late (I’ve since forgotten the reason) which was okay with me since I had blocked out the whole day not knowing what to expect and the photographer and I spent the time shooting the breeze.
When she showed up, my eyes registered completed shock because she was absolutely gorgeous! She was dressed very casually but that couldn’t hide the fact that she had the perfect body and facial bone structure. I looked at her then I looked at myself in the mirror and I blurted out, «why are you a makeup artist and not a model?»
Yup. No lie. I did. She simply told me makeup and hair was her passion.
With that, she started working on my hair and doing my makeup. And I watched myself getting transformed. I have had my hair and makeup done before. Mostly for weddings and big events out and most of the time, I would say the results were satisfying, not stellar.
With her quick hands, I watched my tiredness go away and my face transformed with her applying just the right amount of this and that here and there. Nothing overdone and just the right amount. As she styled my hair and I saw my limp hair taking on new life and styled, I became excited cause I know I was going to look fabulous and it was going to be a good photo shoot.
As we chatted away, she would explain what she was doing and there were so many subtleties that she was applying to my face to make it look good for the camera. She made everything look easy.
By the time we were done and I walked out, the photographer was ready to shoot! She stayed with me through the whole shoot, changing my hair style to fit the outfit, changing the color of the lip stick.
My most memorable moment was as she knew the photographer well, toward the end of the shoot, she jumped in too and we started to shoot together. As it turns out, and as she should, she does do some promo work and modeling work on the side!
We ended up getting some great photos that morning!
I lament that her studio in way down in Chandler~ if her studio was anywhere close to where I lived, she would definitely be my stylist of choice and for surrrreeee I would take how to apply makeup lessons from her!!!