Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, July 21, 1990                   TAG: 9007210045
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: E-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: TRACIE FELLERS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Long

GOOD-HUMORED MAKEUP ARTIST HAS A WAY WITH WOMEN

Whited, a striking man with a neatly groomed mustache and a mane of long brown hair artfully twisted into a ponytail, was in his element as he performed makeovers at Roanoke's E.I. Randle on Thursday morning.

He'd already indulged in his two favorite eye-openers - coffee and a long, slim Capri cigarette - so he was ready to get down to business.

Whited looked over his first candidate for a new look, Roanoke Realtor Susan Halliburton. "I'm glad I'm starting with a beauty this morning. I would have hated to have to start with a dog," he deadpanned as he led the blue-eyed, tawny blonde to a chair.

"I think we ought to do the sex goddess makeup, like Bo Derek," he told her. After asking Halliburton about makeup colors she generally uses, Whited applied a tan-colored water-based foundation to match her skin tone.

He used a sponge to apply the makeup. Sponges allow the foundation to go on smoother and not as thick as with your fingers, he said.

Then Whited used a tan concealer under Halliburton's eyes. "I do everything backward. I put the concealer on top of the makeup and the lipstick before the lip pencil."

But there's a method to his makeup madness, he asserted. Applying concealer on top of the makeup means you don't have to add a second layer of concealer once the makeup is on. And the lipstick goes on before the lip pencil simply because "it's easier to apply."

Whited, who has his own line of cosmetics and claims a private section in an exclusive Georgetown salon, charged $30 for each makeover. His cosmetics were attractively displayed on a glass counter nearby for optional purchase.

He used brown and orange tones on Halliburton's cheeks, eyes and lips. He then intensified her makeup for a nighttime look. Whited made her eye colors - a combination of brown, orange and khaki - bolder. He added more color to her cheeks. And for a sexier mouth, he used a hot orange lipstick.

Halliburton, who said she uses coral colors "every now and then," looked a little apprehensive when Whited showed her the lip color he had in mind. But she was pleased with the final result.

She still wasn't crazy about that hot orange lipstick, but she agreed with Whited: It was sexy. And she said she loved her eye makeup and the subtler brown-toned lipstick Whited chose for a day color.

Whited, (rhymes with knighted) a native of Logan, W.Va., has given glamour to some of the entertainment industry's most well-known faces, including actresses Linda Gray and Veronica Hamel and singer Natalie Cole. But women's faces didn't always interest him.

As a student at Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, he was more interested in their fashions. He wanted to be a designer.

But Whited soon switched his major to fashion illustration - because he didn't know how to sew: "When I was in high school I took college prep. I didn't take home ec."

However, Whited discovered illustration wasn't for him either. So he took off for Paris to study art. When he returned to the states, he settled in New York and blustered his way into the makeup business.

"When I went to New York, I told them I was a makeup artist from Europe and they fell for it." His first job was with the cosmetic company Charles of the Ritz, where he was taught "everything I know about makeup," he said. That was 20 years ago.

Since then, he's worked in Beverly Hills salons, hobnobbed with an array of celebrities and had his work featured in magazines including Italian Vogue, Cosmopolitan and GQ. He moved his business to Washington about seven years ago to be closer to his family in West Virginia. "Washington was the closest thing I could find to civilization," he said.

"It's just like Beverly Hills . . . only they have different careers."

Helen Craig of Roanoke, who has brown eyes and dark brown hair, was next. When she expressed doubt about the look she wanted, Whited scanned her face with the look of a consummate professional and said: "I was thinking of Ava Gardner."

He started by working on Craig's eyes - and by giving her a good-humored chiding for not wearing eyeliner. As he finished lining one eye in black, he held up the pencil and said: "This is most important, this is the one you live in . . . you sleep with it under your pillow.

The final look wowed Craig, who's self-employed. "This isn't exactly for working in the yard," she quipped, as Whited was wrapping up her transformation.

"I don't do yard makeup," he quipped back.

"I'm going to get some polyurethane and spray," she added, examining her face in a small mirror. "Maybe it'll stay." But joking aside, Craig seemed delighted. "Well, you've just made my day," she told him.

Whited wanted to give Suzi Branch, a Roanoke Realtor and friend of Halliburton, a natural look. After taking a look at Branch's straight blonde hair and light green eyes, his decision was made: "I'd say one Cheryl Tiegs coming right up."

For her skin - which has a tendency to be oily - he used and recommended a creamy powder makeup for foundation. He chose pale pinks and plums for her eyes and cheeks and brushed an even paler pink on her lips.

Branch wasn't thrilled about the baby pink lipstick, in spite of a flurry of compliments from the small group of onlookers. "Just give me a little bit of time to get used to it," she said.

"I did do my ingenue makeup on her," Whited said, examining his work. "I think she's got one more summer. Then it's Gidget goes to hell," he joked.