An Interview with "The Queen of Glow" Terry de Gunzburg.

I recently had the opportunity (truly the honor) to meet Terry De Gunzburg the creator of the ulta-luxe By Terry Cosmetics line. Terry was at Barneys New York on Oak Street making her first public appearance in Chicago. I approached the sea of black-clad cosmeticians to try to find Terry, and she was the first one to greet me. She spoke English beautifully with a little French accent. She told me Barneys is the exclusive department store to carry By Terry, and you can also get it online at eluxury, Space NK and Sephora. 

I had heard that celebrities like Katherine Heigel, Julianne Moore and Mary Kate Olsen were fans and I was about to find out why. 

SCS: Please tell me more about your amazing background at YSL.   

Terry: For 15 years I was the makeup director and and director of color collections for YSL. We were like a family, a family of creatives, not clones to copy from Yves. He would not want it any other way. We would develop the makeup for each clothing line, each season, and do makeup for photo shoots. We would even match a fabric for a season, perhaps matching a certain colored velvet. We were pioneers in developing makeup and working with the pigments and ingredients. I was behind the development of Touch Eclat. 

SCS: How did you start your own line By Terry?

Terry: The line started in 2001, but I started with a store in Paris. I offered couture colors, refined colors. It was by appointment, one-on-one with the customer. A couture house of makeup! So after 2 years, the custom couture makeup was developed into the RTW, so to speak. It was a line that could be manufactured and offered for sale. The line offers the best ingredients andpigments, 100% botanicals, real rose petals, orchids and real pearls, tourmalines… luxury botanicals and mineral. 

SCS: So how did you become "The Queen of Glow?" Do tell me about "the glow"…

She began applying Rose de Rose Eclat de Tient to the top side of my hand. This demonstration almost spoke for itself as my ashen skin became moist and bright. There was a light fragrance of fresh roses. 

Terry: Rose de Rose uses real rose petals. The thing about the glow is that I find the glow to be more important than perfection. When I did photo shoots for Helmut Lang, it was better to show extra bright skin, to see a reality under the skin. 

SCS: What’s new? What are the makeup trends for this season?   

Terry:

• Still a smoky eye, but purple is the new black for fall.   

• There is a new beige – the beige is not real matte, but more of a silver or bronze.

• The mouth is sophisticated with peony and geraniums reds. These reds work well on all skin tones, where with blue-red it is not always the case. 

• I have a natural gel mascara. This mascara actually conditions the lashes. The more you use it, we have tested and measured it, after 3 weeks the volume is multiplied by two. All of our products have a treatment and skin care approach. 

• And a new jet black eyeliner. She did her own hand demonstration with the liner, drawing a perfect rich black unfeathered line.) Anyone can do it. The makeup artist line is idiot-proof.

I think at that point she could not stand to look at my under-eye issues and asked if she could try a few things. Gladly, I hopped up on a chair. One of the make-up artists asked if they could watch. I was thrilled to be in hands of a make-up legend. She used Touch Valette Concealer under my eyes, a beautiful violet eyeshadow (Black Grape) with a brush as a shadow above and below my lashes, and Rose de Rose (the glow) to my cheeks, and Baume de Rose Lip Balm. One of the cosmeticians said "I didn’t even know what color your eyes were before!" Now my eyes were definitely green, under eye circles diminished and I looked refreshed and revived.

In came the flurry of appointments and Terry de Gunsburg energetically greeted and gave advice to one after the next. When I left Barneys and stepped onto Oak Street the autumn wind blew, with the fragrance of spring roses. I decided was never going to wash my face again! 

Find By Terry at Barneys New York or at Eluxury

— Carol Calacci