We chatted to one of Hollywood’s most respected makeup artists, and a distinguished leader in the beauty industry, Pati Dubroff, as well as Perfumer and founder of Arquiste, Carlos Huber to find out their approach to wellness, what their working day looks like and their inspiration sources.
“Wellness is sleeping well at night with a grateful heart and waking up with enthusiasm and openness.”
What does wellness mean to you?
Wellness is being truly happy, content, light hearted and grounded. It is feeling comfortable in the body, and if there are discomforts it’s working with them instead of having a battle with them. Wellness is sleeping well at night with a grateful heart, and waking up with enthusiasm and openness.
What are the biggest questions you get from clients? Your responses?
My clients want to know how to best take care of their skin. The answer is always its not only what you put on your skin but what goes into your body…exercising, focusing on the breath and of course clean eating all really show on the face and the skin.
What motivates you?
I love what I do for a living, so it doesn't feel like work. I get to help people feel like their most confident & radiant selves. My family life fills me with love and happiness and my spiritual path gives my whole life true substance and deep meaning. I feel very very blessed and that is the greatest motivator.
Hollywood celebrities including Miley Cyrus, Natalie Portman and Kirsten Dunst all turn to make-up artist Pati Dubroff.
What does a typical day look like to you?
In my life there is nothing typical, every day is radically different with my work. The constants for me no matter where I am is how i start and end day. Oil pulling (ayurvedic method of detoxification) first thing in morning. Dry brushing my whole body (to stimulate lymph and keep skin and circulation healthy) before shower or dressing. I try to sweat every day. Ideally a blend of cardio and weights. I like to mix up traditonal strength training, kickboxing, pilates and yoga. At the end of day i take a bath (ideally with magnesium salts) and then meditate before falling asleep.
What keeps you inspired in your work?
Watching someone look in the mirror and feel like they look their best is the greatest inspiration. I also like to look to nature to "see" color and texture, and bring that vivid aliveness into my work.
What are 3 foods you can't live without?
Avocados, berries and a deep leafy green.
What do you do to unwind?
Baths, meditation, reading. Sitting outside and looking at nature mostly.
What are you listening to?
I'm currently at a meditation ashram so I'm listening to lots of chants and bhajans, which are Indian devotional songs.
What's your favourite place and why?
Its so hard to pick…I'm such a gypsy! Southern Italy, the Catskill Mountains in New York, Greece, Kauai, Kyoto, and really ANYWHERE I am with my husband and daughter.
What's your secret to glowing skin?
Happiness!! Really! Vital skin comes from within (drinking a lot of water also helps a lot so does meditation and a lot of sleep!)
Why SUPER ELIXIR? It’s delicious, super charged nutrition that feels alive!!
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“Wellness means fullness, calmness and clarity. When your body feels full of energy, but at the same time it's calm and your mind and spirit is clear.”
What does wellness mean to you?
Wellness means fullness, calmness and clarity. When your body feels full of energy, but at the same time it's calm and your mind and spirit is clear.
What are the biggest questions you get from clients? Your responses?
All of the ARQUISTE scents evoke a specific story. They are essentially the olfactive ‘restoration’ of a time and place. Clients love to find out more details about them, and I love sharing all the little anecdotes. This is a fragrance collection for the curious, the people that want to feel inspired and taken somewhere amazing by a beautiful product. It’s an intelligent luxury.
What motivates you?
To improve: to be a better, more creative, organized and professional person. To continue to grow ARQUISTE and establish it worldwide as a sophisticated and intelligent fragrance collection, to be a better business owner, but also be a better friend, better family man and all around more calm, empathetic person.
What does a typical day look like to you?
It really varies, whether I’m in development for new scents, production or traveling to promote them. A typical day at the office in New York is some product development and design, accounting and management. When we’re working on a new scent, we meet up with our perfumers and we have a ‘smelling session’ in order to try out modifications on the scent, to keep refining and perfecting it. When I’m in production, I’m out in the filing plant overlooking quality control, making sure everything is going well. And a huge part of having a perfume brand is selling and promoting it, so I travel around the world to retailers and customers. I really enjoy it! It also almost always inspires me in some new way. I never miss out on visiting museums, architectural highlights and places of interest- even if it’s during my morning run!
What keeps you inspired in your work?
Travel, history. I love discovering new places and learning about their past.
What are 3 foods you can't live without?
Cheese (all kinds), steak, and green limes.
What do you do to unwind?
In New York, gym time is my zoning out time. When I travel, my morning or afternoon runs are when I clear my head.
What are you listening to?
A mix of Tame Impala, Rufus du Sol and Broods. As you can see I’m a fan of the Aussie/Kiwi music scene.
What's your favourite place and why?
The beach… I love everything about it. The sound of the ocean, the sand, being outside…I’m a sucker for a beautiful beach. My favorites are the Pacific Coast of Mexico, Australia (especially Perth and Sydney), Thailand and the Balearic Islands. I lived in Ibiza for 6 months when I was 23 and every day after work (I was still doing architecture) I would go for a dip in the sea. That’s my ideal life.
What's your secret to staying in shape?
Discipline. I try to eat more proteins and greens and a limited amount of carbs. At the gym I do weights every day but switch between body parts to get blood flowing up and down my body and work up some cardio.
Tell us the story behind your latest fragrance El and Ella.
ÉL and Ella were inspired by the disco era of the late 1970s in Acapulco, Mexico. My parents would tell me all these fun stories of the decadence of the jet set. It was an era of glamour and sensuality, highlighted by the heat, the magnificence of the bay and the magical sunsets. With these fragrances, my intention was to evoke the scent of a fragrance that has been macerating on skin after a day in the sun, and the dancing at night. The idea was to recreate the scent of HIM and HER just as they leave the disco, they come together and embrace…what would each smell like? ÉL (him) with his unbuttoned shirt and his burly scent, ELLA (her) with the plunging neckline and her voluptuousness. In ÉL and ELLA skin, sweat, cigarettes, champagne, sand and heat all come together in a sophisticated way.
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