She's America's top "model". Michelle Obama is the nation's first first lady to add a full-time make-up artist to her travelling entourage, according to stylists who have worked with presidential wives over the past 16 years.
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Full-time make-up artist for Michelle Obama
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She's America's top "model". Michelle Obama is the nation's first first lady to add a full-time make-up artist to her travelling entourage, according to stylists who have worked with presidential wives over the past 16 years.
Make-up artist Ingrid Grimes-Miles (49) helped create Obama's signature look on her inaugural trip to Europe last week.
"No other first ladies have consistently travelled with a make-up artist," said hairdresser Bernard Portelli, who styled Hillary Rodham Clinton's blond mane in 1993 and tracks trends in first-lady style.
"It took Laura Bush four years to finally look good. It's taken Michelle Obama two months. She wears fake eyelashes that are beautiful. She can't do those herself."
Eyebrows
Style watchers suspect that Grimes-Miles is behind Obama's most prominent beauty reinvention her eyebrows. After the first lady drew criticism for looking angry, her high-arched eyebrows were reshaped with a softer arc that gave her a friendlier appearance.
Grimes-Miles has described Obama's make-up as "not an avant-garde look... We want her to [look] very natural and polished".
Last week, Grimes-Miles joined First Hairstylist Johnny Wright (31) aboard Air Force One as official guests of the president, during their six-day trip across Europe.
Privately paid
The Obamas privately paid for the travel expenses of the styling team, according to a spokeswoman for the first lady. But the high-profile jobs don't pay much, say former White House stylists.
"You do it because you know you will have some prestige and you will be able to make money later," Portelli said.
Wright relocated to from LA for his position in January.
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