Since she was a child Amy Chien Bailey has been interested in makeovers. She now owns The Beauty Mark on Beacon Hill . (Pat Greenhouse/ Globe Staff)

Hitting the mark with boutique
By Erica Corsano, Globe Correspondent
August 7, 2008

Amy Chien Bailey always wanted to own a beauty boutique. But after graduating from Tufts in 1995, the Los Angeles transplant (and part-time model) had to pay her dues. She worked as a photographer's assistant, pulled two stints as a salon receptionist, and managed a mom-and-pop outfit.

Although the less-than-thrilling jobs taught her some useful tricks of the trade, Bailey was born with a knack for fabulous makeovers: "I was the girl that all of my friends asked to do their makeup before they went out," she says. "As a child, I was a serious tomboy . . . all of my friends were boys, but I loved makeup and giving makeovers. I would even pay my sister a dollar to let me gel up and style her hair and do her makeup." Bailey's passion for beauty and industry know-how is finally paying off. She recently purchased her longtime favorite beauty boutique, The Beauty Mark on Beacon Hill. And though she spends day after day in a store filled to the brim with beauty goods, she resists the urge to buy things she doesn't need. When it comes to beauty and fashion, the mother of two is all about sensible style and intelligent investments.

What are your favorite shops and fashion lines? My favorite places to shop are Wish, Holiday, and Intermix. Holiday has unique pieces that you won't find everywhere, Wish is great for wardrobe staples, and Intermix best matches my personal style. Fashion lines that I love include Theory and Susana Monaco. Theory, because the fit of their pants is perfect. Susana tops fit my body well and they are comfortable, easy to clean, and flattering to your waist. As a model, you really have to sort of learn what works with your body type. I also love Stella McCartney. I own a couple of pieces - they're pricey! But I'm a mix-and-match person. I'll buy a $400 something and pair it with something I bought at Target. Oh, and Reiss is another one. I love the cut of their blazers.

What are your go-to restaurants? My go-to restaurant is No. 9 Park. I've also been really impressed with the Liberty Hotel - Scampo, Clink, and Alibi. I like the architecture and how they made all of the spaces so different within the same hotel. It's also right down the street from my house, which is great. The pasta at Scampo is so good! And my favorite drink at Alibi, I have to say, is Jail Bait.

Favorite summer getaways? My summer getaways include LA, because my family lives there. We also like to go up to Gloucester. This summer, we're going to LA and Florida. It's going to be hot in Florida but we are going to Orlando for the kids. My girlfriend has a home on Holly's Island in South Carolina and we go visit her a lot as well.

She can't leave the house without: Sunscreen. Beauty starts with great skin. My store is right down the street from my house so if I forget anything I can just go back.

Beauty obsessions: I am obsessed with SkinCeutical. I have been using [the skincare line] since college. They use pharmaceutical grade ingredients and actually deliver what they promise. You can actually see results within four weeks. Also, Model Co. "Lip Lights." It's a lip gloss with good color and good coverage. The convenience factor is the best part about it. It has a mirror and a light so you can apply it anywhere, at night, in a cab. I just love products that do what they say they are going to do. Like "Locked Up" hairspray from Scott Fontana's line, Bad Ass Hair. It has the most incredible hold and it lasts all day. I'm also working on a more eco-friendly nail polish line called "Polished."

Best thing about Boston in the summer? I love the museums. We have so many great museums here. The Children's Museum, the science museum is incredible. They make it easy to raise kids in the city. I also love the MFA.

Beauty inspiration for summer: Summer is about looking like you didn't try hard, even if you did. It's all about taking it back to high school . . . Mascara, blush, and a light lip gloss, bronzer for the youthful glow.

SHOPPING WITH A TWIST
By Tina Cassidy, Globe Staff
August 8, 2002

String music played soothingly as golden light from the setting sun streamed into the Beauty Mark, a month-old perfume and cosmetics boutique overlooking Charles Street. In one corner of the tiny space painted a pale shade of Tiffany blue, half-empty chilled bottles of chardonnay and Moet & Chandon champagne began to sweat in the warmth. Candles flickered. Customers clung to drinks served in crystal glasses and ate grapes, chevre, and chocolate-covered cherries between lip gloss applications.

This was "Powder Hour," where shopping and sipping merge gleefully on Thursday evenings and make the cash register ring. "We may do it on Fridays, too," says Rebecca Pimentel, owner of the Beauty Mark. "For a little more effort" - read: lugging a few bottles from the liquor store - "I think it's worth it."

Her customers milling around last Thursday night seemed to agree. Patti Dillon of South Boston had a drink by her side as the house makeup artist brushed a touch of pink onto her cheeks. "It's so relaxing," Dillon said. "It's like getting a massage." Dillon's friend Erika Nelson of Charlestown held out a sample of L'Artisan Parfumeur for her to ponder and said she enjoys shopping this way, whether it's at a store on Beacon Hill or in New York, where she often finds herself attending similar cocktail functions in places such as Henri Bendel.

In fact, so many retailers are serving cocktails to promote business that those that want to be on the cutting edge - from Louis Boston to Louis Vuitton - are pulling back from the trend, saying it has gone too far. Still, it seems that on any given night toward the end of the week you can get a free drink and a nibble of something yummy within spitting distance of a chichi shop's checkout counter. Next Thursday, just a few doors down from the Beauty Mark, the clothing boutique Wish will have a designer trunk show with hors d'oeuvres and champagne served from 5 to 8 p.m.

All of this is perfectly legal, as long as the drinks are free, according to state law.

Given the stiff competition for attracting and keeping shoppers, stores have gone into party overdrive. The result appears to be mutually beneficial. The combination of a party atmosphere - where all of your friends are lusting over the goods - and the smooth buzz of a Grey Goose martini can make buying come easy. Too easy for some. But it can also make shoppers feel as though they are appreciated, and getting a little something for nothing: a night out on the town and no outside pressure to purchase. Still, there are those who say they often regret shopping under the influence, while others swear by the process, embracing their gut impulses toward a new cashmere sweater.

Cristina Baltatzidis, a 29-year-old marketing director at the Back Bay Restaurant Group, finds herself in this predicament often, whether at Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Giorgio Armani, or Louis.

"At a lot of these parties you feel more relaxed. You're with your best friend; you have a glass of wine; the salespeople aren't as ambitious," Baltatzidis said. In fact, she explained, despite being a serious, well-informed shopper when stone-cold sober, she always seems to find just the right thing with cocktail in hand.

"When you're talking to people and having a glass of wine you have more luck," she said. "At Louis, I think I bought a pair of Helmut Lang leather pants after a few glasses of chardonnay."

No regrets, either. They're now a staple in her impressive closet. She said some of her friends have also been impulsive, but end up returning the merchandise.

Some, however, say it's not the free alcohol that gets them in the mood to shop: From the moment the invitation arrives, they're gearing themselves up to spend money.

"It was like being at a party, but instead of coming up with things to talk about, the shopping gave it a context," said Ad Frank, a local musician who attended H&M's opening party last fall at Downtown Crossing and bought a jacket. "Instead of talking about the work week or your favorite rock band, my friends and I tried stuff on and compared notes. The shopping was more of an influence on the party than the party an influence on the shopping. I think I really wanted to [shop]. I would have liked to have bought more . . . and would have if I found more things I liked. Since it's less spur of the moment because it's a party, you psych yourself up. Somewhere in the back of your mind is that you're going on a shopping spree. That's bound to induce you to be a little more rash."

Janette Ayala, assistant manager at the Puma store on Newbury Street, said when the store had its opening party last month - complete with a disc jockey, break dancers, sushi trays, and an open bar - the party, packed with about 200 guests, carried on for hours after its scheduled end time at 10 p.m. "No one wanted to go home," she said. And the cash registers remained open.

"It wasn't really the alcohol talking," she said. "There was just the colors and the styles that they didn't see anywhere else." The whole event was so successful that store managers hope to have a DJ there regularly beginning in January.

Spinning records is an idea that Louis began employing more than a year ago to lure a younger crowd into the Back Bay high-fashion store. The parties, sometimes tied to an art installation, were a hit. But the store, always trying to be on the cutting edge, has begun to look for more creative ways to stage events, for fear cocktails and a turntable are just too yesterday.

"I think they're actually pulling away from what they did a while ago that might now be perceived as a hot trend," said Louis spokeswoman Alicia Barry Gordon. "They always pull away from what's being overdone. At this point, this is being a little overdone. The time and place where it's highly appropriate is at the venue where the wine or the cheese or the food is germane to the business." Like at a restaurant.

"People are now becoming so overwhelmed by the number of invitations they get to store events that store events don't mean as much as perhaps they had a few years ago," Gordon said. "Within the last year, they've made a lot of effort to hold unique, interesting events that have a resonance beyond merely being a cocktail party. . . . So many businesses are trying to think of creative ways to draw new and more clients into their businesses that it's a very easy template to put into play. But you have to think of what you're actually achieving in doing so."

That's precisely the thinking at the recently expanded Louis Vuitton boutique in Copley Place. The store partnered in May with The New Yorker magazine to have author Anita Diamant read from her book "The Good Harbor." The event drew 151 people - greeted with flutes of Moet & Chandon - to the store on a Wednesday evening, cash registers open.

"We tend to do smaller but smarter events, really just not what everyone else is doing," said Sandra Mariniello, spokeswoman for Louis Vuitton. "They're trying to come up with different ideas, even taking things outside of the stores to host dinners, to sponsor a play, or film screenings, because people are accustomed to being invited to stores and having these champagne toasts, cocktails, and hors d'oeuvres. . . . We don't do it for the selling purposes; we do it to have something exciting going on in stores. It's good for awareness for new customers."

There can be obvious pitfalls, however.

Gordon, who used to work for the auction house Skinner and often held preview parties where alcohol was served, made sure to serve coffee after cocktail hour so the customers would have "the energy and staying power to remain at your event," she said. "And in the case of Skinner, we were always very conscious of how much we were pouring and what we were serving to people. . . . It's also important to have food."

For her part, Gordon says she sticks to socializing at such events.

"I can't say I shop after I've had drinks," she added. "It's not the time I shop. I consciously avoid it. I need my wits about me."