Roncal - Love, lashes, and lipstick : my secrets for a gorgeous, happy life

Copyright 2014 by Mally Roncal
Background illustrations copyright iStock.com/Jeja

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by Ballantine Books, an imprint of Random House, a division of Random House LLC, a Penguin Random House Company, New York.

B ALLANTINE and the H OUSE colophon are registered trademarks of Random House LLC.

The photos on are courtesy of Phil Bickett. All others are courtesy of Mally Roncal.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Roncal, Mally
Love, lashes, and lipstick : my secrets for a gorgeous, happy life /
Mally Roncal.
pages cm
ISBN 978-0-8041-7823-5
eBook ISBN 978-0-8041-7824-2
1. Makeup artistsUnited StatesBiography. 2. Cosmetics. 3. Beauty, Personal. 4. CelebritiesMiscellanea. I. Title.
[DNLM: 1. Roncal, Mally.]
TT955.R66A3 2014
646.72092dc23 [B] 2014025969

www.ballantinebooks.com

Book design by Liz Cosgrove

v3.1

To my incredible husband Philthere are almost no words in the English language to express what you are to me. You are my partner in life, love, parenthood, and business. You are my best friend, my rock, my coach, my teacher, my soul, and the best daddy on the planet. You inspire me more than anyone in the world, and without you I would not be the woman I am today. Theres nothing we cant do together!

To my three beautiful babies, Pilar, Sophie, and Vivienne. Every breath I take is only for your sake. Youre funny, smart, kind, respectful, and sweet. Your light and joy truly show me the face of God. You make me want to be a better person every single day and there is nothing on earth I love more than being your mommy.

I love you all the mostest!

Its March 5, 2005, and I am ready. As a longtime QVC watcher and customer (I remember being lulled to sleep by the channel on the TV in my bedroom as a child), this day is my dream come true.

My makeup line, Mally Beauty, is launching with a one-hour show on a Saturday in a prime-time afternoon spot. The host who had been assigned to our show, Jill Bauer, is pregnant and was put on mandatory bed rest yesterday. Her replacement, Patti Reilly, stayed on the phone with me for two hours on Friday night so I could teach her everything about our line and products. When I finally got off the phone with her, I felt confident that she would do a great job. Im excited!

Last night, my husband, Phil, our team, and I had a little party in the hotel room. We knew we hadnt sold one single product yet, but I felt strongly about celebrating the fact that we were actually there! I looked at Phil and asked him, Can you believe how far weve come?

This morning we got up at the butt crack of dawn. There are no words to describe how I feelsomewhere between a pure adrenaline rush, giddy excitement, and diarrhea. I just want to get there and do it!

We get to Studio Park, Pennsylvania, headquarters for QVC, promptly at 10:00 A.M . Phil, my assistant Teenie, our two makeup artists, and all of our models get to work: The show wont start until one, but we have hours of prep. Models before shots have to be taken; makeup has to be done; my hair and makeup have to be done; we have to meet with our producers; set dressers have to arrange the products; and everything has to be PERFOIS. Everyone who is important to me is there in the green room: Phil, my dad and stepmom, my cousins, and all our buyers. We have brought dozens of yellow roses, my late mothers favorite flowers, to put on the set.

Ill be selling the six products that have defined my signature look as a celebrity makeup artist: Cancellation Concealer, the first truly bulletproof brightening concealer; Visible Skin Foundation, the fastest, easiest way to get a perfect complexion; Shimmer, Shape, and Glow (which I say gives you the look of a face-lift, as if you just lost five pounds and had sex with Channing Tatum); Lightwand Eye Brightener (a.k.a. eight hours of sleep in a pen); as well as my Smokey Eye Kit and Life, Love, and a Really Great Lipgloss, neither of which needs an explanation.

I put on the gorgois pink velvet Marc Jacobs suit I bought specifically for this occasion, slip into my high heels, and walk to the studio operations room, where they give me an earpiece (which doesnt fit very well), wire me for sound, and make sure that I am on the same frequency as my host and everyone else on the show, so well all be hearing the same thing. Then someone says, Are you excited? and I say, Oh, yeah, and, holding hands with Phil and my team, say a little prayer. I hear someone say, Good luck, then I take a deep breath and walk out on set. Ive spent months preparing for this moment, and failure is not an option.

Showtime!

There I stand, behind a table with my products right in front of me, my host to my left and a model between us. My heart is pounding a mile a minute and I have to remember to breathe. At QVC, everything is done remotely; all you see are cameras with numbers on them and red lights on top. I hear a voice in my ear:

Hi, Mally, this is Joe from the control room. How are you feeling? Give me a thumbs-up....Okay, great. We can see everythings fine; you just do your thing. When you see the red light lit up, the cameras on; thats where you look. Got it!

Mally, they love it! The phones are on fire!

There are two screens on the floor in front of me. One shows a live shotthats what the world is seeing right now; the other screen is the next shot up. If screen number one is showing me, the host, and the model talking, and screen number two is a close-up of the models face, then I need to get ready to demo. Its like patting your head and rubbing your belly at the same time: Youve got to stay in the moment, get ready for the next shot, listen to what the voice in your ear is saying, talk to your host, and pretend that none of this is happening. Easy, right?