The Secret to Michelle's Style

Obama is the first First Lady to employ a full-time travelling make-up artist.

There’s no denying that Michelle Obama looks good.

Since moving into the White House, the First Lady has graced countless magazines, wowed Europe with her style and has been compared to Jackie O more times than we can remember.

But those looks don’t come easy.

Obama is the first First Lady to employ a full-time travelling make-up artist. According to a report in the New York Post, Obama relies on the services of Ingrid Grimes-Miles, 49, who has been working with Obama off and on for nearly six years, to make sure she dazzles while on tour. 

"No other first ladies have consistently travelled with a make-up artist," hairdresser Bernard Portelli, who styled Hillary Rodham Clinton in 1993 told the Post.

Grimes-Miles glizted up the First Lady for her recent trip to Europe, where Obama had to go toe-to-toe with former model Carla Bruni, France’s First Lady, during a meeting in Paris.

Many credit Grimes-Miles with helping to soften Obama’s look after she was deemed as “angry looking” and a potential liability for her husband during the campaign by reshaping the First Lady’s eyebrows into softer arcs.  The First Lady’s most recent addition to her make up regimen is a pair of false eyelashes that make her look completely glamorous.

In the past Grimes-Miles, who works as a make-up artist for WGN-TV in Chicago, has described Obama's make-up as "not an avant-garde look... We want her to [look] very natural and polished.”

Grimes-Miles and hairstylist Johnny Wright tagged along with the Obamas during their 8-day jaunt overseas last week, and even hitched a ride on Air Force One.

The Obamas paid privately for the services of the salon team, says a spokeswoman for Michelle. And according to industry insiders it’s a price worth paying.

"It took Laura Bush four years to finally look good,” Portelli, who tracks trends in first-lady style, told the Post. “It's taken Michelle Obama two months. She wears fake eyelashes that are beautiful. She can't do those herself."
 

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