“Since childhood, I have loved my mother’s lipsticks, perfumes and other charming women’s beauty products. I always had my mom’s make-up bag with me – probably beauty has always been mine. And always liked to paint the fairer sex, to make hair. I studied make-up courses in Riga, then I had a job at L’Oreal, which was also a good school. I also work with these things in the Bohema store,” Elina tells Kas Jauns Avizei.
In the water with all your clothes on
Elina’s second dream was to travel, as a tick that must be tried. This goal led to a flight attendant job with Ryanair in England.
First was at the aviation school in Ireland, near Dublin, there were two months of training, from morning to night and very strict. “The hardest thing for me was swimming, but I overcame myself and jumped into the water. A flight attendant must know how to swim, because there can be all kinds of cases. Even survival. We jumped into the water with all our clothes on, learned rescue operations. It hardened me and I overcame my fears,” reveals Elina.
The work itself was very interesting, new people every day. “Of course, there is not only the beautiful side, there are also difficulties,” admits Elina. Steward’s work is quite hard, and she herself felt that she could no longer do it now.
There is a village near Stansted Airport where flight attendants and pilots live, a very large collective – around 800 people. “Every day I could fly with a different colleague. I had many friends from Lithuania, Poland, Ireland, Italy, the Czech Republic and other European countries, all of whom worked for this airline.”
In the ancient cave city of Matera, which is on the UNESCO heritage list. Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ and The Last Adventures of James Bond with Daniel Craig as Agent 007 in No Time to Die was shot here. (Photo: from private archive)
Through storm and lightning
Various difficult situations often arise. “We were flying to Italy, Palermo, and the plane was struck by lightning, everything was in holes. Even the window fell in when the captain sat down. The Italians did not tell us the exact height, the captain decided himself, we flew through the storm, we realized that something was not right. We couldn’t even land at the airport, lightning struck, people screamed, a round ball flew by. We realized that something was wrong, we heard all the sounds, but the passengers should be told that everything is fine,” Elina remembers the horror she experienced. Fortunately, the pilot was experienced.
Slept with the whole hairstyle
Quite often, passengers have passed out on the plane, maybe they didn’t have breakfast in the morning, there is excitement, it all affects. There are also people who are very afraid of flying, and Elina even sat next to them during the entire flight, because you can’t know how such a person will act. Once a girl suffering from a phobia hugged him warmly after a flight and thanked him.
Elina admits that it was not easy to look perfect at three in the morning. “Not a single hair was allowed to stick out of the hairstyle, it was necessary to make a neat bun. It was necessary to match the lipstick with the nail polish. Tights had to be flesh-colored, no other colors were allowed. The shoes needed a certain height for the heels, there were black boats. You could call at any time and you had to be ready for the flight within an hour. We slept with all hairstyles – so what happens? I was not called at that time.”
Elina liked her work as a flight attendant, but back problems began, it was not easy to spend many hours on the mandatory high heels and get up at three or four in the morning every morning. “You never know what time you’ll be home. Then it is quite difficult to plan a family.”
To the land of dreams
Working as a flight attendant, Elina most often flew to Italy, and this country is especially close to her. While still living in Latvia, she had started learning Italian, not even knowing that one day she would go to this beautiful country.
“I found a professional make-up school, a place to live and went to Milan with a suitcase in hand. I studied at the Art and Stage, Hair Makeup school there for a whole year. The instructors scrupulously paid a lot of attention to each thing, everything had to be studied very carefully. Our make-up instructor had worked for the famous Italian director Federico Fellini. The educational institution was specific, after that you could work with film and theater actors, but you still had to study. I wasn’t interested in this opportunity,” Elina admits that at first it was a disadvantage that she didn’t really speak Italian yet, but she also learned the language at school.
“I wrote everything down in the notebook, translated, I had to study twice. However, it was a dream come true. The Italian teacher laughed at me because I had very good grammar but was too shy to speak. I could not express the long words, all the articles, but I passed the exam well. Italian is not easy and I only really learned to speak it when I was already working. There were times when I wrote words on a piece of paper, but the most important thing there was smiles! When I said something in Latvian, the Italians exclaimed – oh my god, what a difficult language!”
At the famous Milan Cathedral. (Photo: from private archive)
Clients have become friends
At that time, the school cost more than 2,000 euros for a year, and she still had to buy good cosmetics herself. Now the prices have increased even more. After school, Elina started working in a SPA salon in Milan – she applied eyelashes, did makeup, additionally learned massages, a lot of clients appeared, and started working as a self-employed person in salons.
“I also did make-up for fashion shows, but it was quite a stressful job, I worked more with private clients. Italian women are very well-groomed, open to everything new, the wedding makeup was especially interesting – it’s beautiful to be present in the magical moment. Day makeup is simpler, nothing complicated, for weddings – something more glamorous. Many former clients from Italy remain my friends, I go to see them every year. During Kovid, however, these contacts were somewhat interrupted. But they don’t visit Latvia, they are good in their own country.”
Enjoyers of life
Elina lived in Italy for eight years. She likes the small towns of Italy, where you can enjoy the real taste, take a peaceful walk past the small houses, enjoy the unique ice cream.
Milan is a very fast-paced city, there is industry, high fashion, finance, outside it already has a different aura. “I also really like the country itself. Italians are very open, cheerful people, enjoy life. They themselves say – before the introduction of the euro, we were so rich! It seemed to me that they lived very well anyway. Italians are out every evening, having dinner in restaurants, which are always crowded and seats must be reserved in advance. Before dinner, it’s cocktail time – conversations are very important to them,” observed Elina.
“After going there and getting to know Italy, I don’t know a single person who doesn’t like it there. Maybe some people think that the people of Turien are very loud, but I like it and I understand them. It is important for them to set the table beautifully and tastefully with wonderful dishes. When Italians host a dinner party, 15 to 20 people gather. They have a special tradition of enjoying wine, eating pizza. Italians are very emotional by nature. If a woman looks good, she will tell, even to a stranger. On the street, you can also say, for example, a compliment – you have a very beautiful purse.”
A pleasure to please
Elina also went to make-up with Italian women at home. “A lot of books, works of artists on the walls, mainly an ancient style everywhere, which appeals to me a lot. They know how to arrange their residences in a very interesting and tasteful way.”
A smiling woman is central to Elina’s work. “When they put on beautiful makeup, they feel more confident, and I myself am very happy to be able to make them happy. Making up makeup depends on a woman’s personality, I have to feel it very delicately when I create it. It’s not easy: we take it and paint it like that! The first is to find out the woman’s wishes, of course, you can also adjust them a bit. It is very important to listen to your customer. In my opinion, Latvian women are also very beautiful, well-groomed, but we are more reserved than Italian women, quieter, more down-to-earth. An Italian woman can approach a stranger, start talking and tell about her life.”
Now Elīna has returned to Latvia, her most beloved place in the world, but she never rules out that she could return to Italy, the land of her dreams. “I used to jump into everything without even knowing the language. You need to do it, and then everything in life will be arranged and work out!” emphasizes the energetic Liepaja woman.
Photo: from a private archive
Master’s recommendation
Makeup should be applied individually to every woman, it is the creative work of an artist. “In the summer, I would recommend something light for women, nothing heavy from foundation creams. The main thing is that the cream contains SPF (Sun Protection Factor), it is very important against harmful solar radiation. Foundations are now very light, can also be used in summer, and you can’t even follow them, they give a light tint. There is an art to creating makeup that doesn’t look like makeup,” says Elina. She herself likes evening make-up the most, it’s where she can express herself best.
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2023-09-03 04:05:00
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