SEMLOHE 28

Of all Lauren Conrad's California girl assets—glowy skin, effortless style, beachy waves—her sunny hair color might be the most envied. And for that, LC owes celebrity colorist Kristin Ess, who has been creating her perfect blonde shades for the past five years. Recently, Ess teamed up with Lauren on a beauty tutorial website called thebeautydepartment.com, where you can find hairstyling how-to videos, beauty trends, and skin-care tips (as well as pics of Lauren makeup-free—of course, still looking totally gorg). And now Ess tells us she's leaving her post at the Chris McMillan salon to open her own place in West Hollywood—and that she's enlisted Lauren's help. "I just got off the phone with Lauren—she's helping me brainstorm names for the salon.... It never made sense to me when salons closed at 6 PM. My clients are working women and need their hair done after work, so I'm opening a space that caters to those women, with hours from noon to 9 PM," she says.
The salon—which Ess describes as very intimate, with just three chairs and a vintage look with a modern flair—will open in late June , and you can look forward to seeing plenty of beautiful people there (Ess also works with Whitney Port and Nikki Reed). I of course couldn't let her off the phone without prodding for some of the secrets she uses on LC's amazing hair: "She's busy—she's writing three more books; she has two clothing lines—she doesn't have time to be in the salon a lot," Ess says. "So no matter how light or dark we go, I never stray too far from her natural color along two to three inches of her hairline, so she never has roots. So whether it's six days or six weeks after I color her, it looks good." Her technique of choice: "I never limit myself to one. I use balayage, foils, painting, and a bunch of other things that I customize." And her summer color advice: "Brighten up. Everyone wants to be a little lighter in the summer, but instead of the ombré look, which was fun in 2010, try using a surfer girl look as your inspiration—it's a little softer."

Photo and text by Kristin Ess at The Beauty Department
Last week was really long, and really fun. We always have the best time on our Kohl’s shoots. This time I took some photos of Lauren so you all can get an idea of the shenanigans that go on behind the scenes:
1. The benefit to having cake and cookie props is we’re told we can eat them after. And we do.
2. Believe me, she’s an animal. Lauren was freezing and standing in the middle of a Malibu wind storm. Her stylist Britt put a blanket around her and this just happened. Meow.
3. Prim, proper + polished. Right here Lauren, Amy Nadine and I were having a water drinking contest. She who could drink the most water through out the day would get to tweet what ever they wanted from the other two’s twitter accounts. Right about here we called it a truce. All around bad idea.
4. Kohl’s brought in an incredible vintage Mercedes for Lauren to drive off in at the end of the collection video. This thing was amazing, but it had a very tricky, very sticky clutch, so Lady Lauren steered as all the manly men on set pushed this gorgeous hunk of metal down the driveway.
5. RIVER! Lauren asked for a puppy. On the last day they surprised her with this little gem. He stole the show. Obviously.
xx Kristin

The Beauty Department is now live! The online beauty destination, which Lauren Conrad created with her makeup artist Amy Nadine and her hairstylist Kristen Ess, already features loads of beauty tips, including instructions on how to D.I.Y. an ombré manicure and create the perfect red lip. Conrad even poses for one tutorial, demonstrating how to style your hair into vintage waves, one of her favorite looks, in seven easy steps (photo on left). What are you waiting for? Go and check out: TheBeautyDepartment.com. And don't forget to follow them on twitter!

Here is a sneak peek at a few photos from Lauren's new website 'The Beauty Department'
Lauren will be launching the site with her make-up artist Amy Nadine and her her hair stylist Kristin Ess.
This is how Lauren described the site to Allure.com: "the site will offer beauty tips: how to do the hottest runway tricks. How to wear purple eyeliner. How to do beach curls. The idea is to eventually roll out a cosmetics and hair line. And best of all Lauren will be starring in some video tutorials.