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Jan 24, 2014

Stylist Alejandra Hernandez

Interview #3

Name: Alejandra Hernandez Age: 30 Occupation: Co-Owner of Boutique (Virgo) and Stylist Sign: Pisces

What is beautiful to you in a woman? Alejandra: Confidence, I think that's the most beautiful thing. I think if you're super confident, no one cares anymore. If you walk in and you own your look and your beauty everyone stares at you.

Who inspires you? Alejandra: I love, obviously Patricia Fields. I love Betty Boop- I think she's my spirit animal. I love Cleopatra, Donatella Versace, the Nanny, JLO, Lil' Kim "obvi." MOB: I love that you said the Nanny. Alejandra: I mean the Nanny is everything. I think everything I do with Iggy (Azalea) is so Nanny-inspired. That was the first time that anyone in my life had a common interest in the Nanny. I mean no one thinks of the Nanny. I love Mary J. Blige too.

Have you ever been obsessed with morphing your body? How so? Alejandra: Maybe at one point I got really depressed and I lost 30 pounds and I was obsessed with being skinny. I realized that it just didn't fit my body being that skinny. I have curves and when you're too skinny and you lose a ton of weight you can become saggy and sloppy. That's the only time body-wise I've been obsessed. But, I did want to get my nose done probably since I was like five years old and up until I was 22, but I remember I had chickened out on consultation and a full-on set-date for surgery and I just didn't do it...actually twice. Then I was like, "you know what, I fucking love my face and my nose." MOB: Having lost a ton of weight and now being a weight you're comfortable in, do you feel more sexy one way versus the other? Alejandra: Well I have never been super skinny. I had gained a lot of weight when I was 25 or 26 and then I went to Japan and ate differently and when I came back home everything made me really sick and I lost ten pounds really fast. Everyone started noticing and saying, "wow you lost ten pounds you look so good." I should have stopped there but I became obsessed and I lost 30 pounds and I am not a heavy person. I'm 5'3" and at the most I have ever weighed is like maybe 145 and I had gone down to 116. But I really didn't feel sexier or more attractive. I became obsessed and I didn't even know what I looked like and everyone kept telling me I looked so good, but I didn't feel good. One day I looked in the mirror and I looked mushy, I had dark circles under my eyes, I looked like I was on drugs and depressed and that's not a good look. I wasn't healthy and I wanted to be healthy and I wanted my skin to look good. When you lose a ton of weight in an unhealthy way your skin doesn't look good and I am obsessed with healthy skin now that I am in my 30s. So I just stopped being obsessed and I was like, "I am going to eat."

How do you personally manage society's expectations of how you should look/behave as a woman? Alejandra: I don't know how to answer that, but the way that society thinks I should look has never been an issue for me. I like to look the way I want to look. With fashion and style, there's all these rules and I never pay attention to them. I have always been inspired and when I was a little kid I would watch "In Living Color" and I would literally sit there and design. I don't just listen to what I want, I see something and I like it and I am inspired by it. I was obsessed with these girls on TV in the late 80s and I would stay up all night and draw their outfits. I have always been inspired and I always pay attention to whatever I like. Whatever is yelling at me or that I am interested in I live it. In terms of weight and hair and my image I just try to be healthy and not obsessed. I think everyone is different. I have one friend and I feel bad for her because she kills herself at the gym and she does it to be healthy but I also know she is obsessed with being skinny and I don't think she's ever going to be skinny. She's so beautiful and pretty and I'm just like, "can't you just own it?" But can I say this? As much as I curse or am an open-minded woman of 2014, I think I'm old-fashioned in certain things. I really pay attention to table etiquette and the way a woman should conduct herself at the dinner table and at a party. I feel like being classy is something that's lost with women and society and I think that's important above all.

How do you eat and exercise to feel and look your best? Alejandra: I wish I exercised more. I have a gym membership and I go here and there, but I should go more. One of my New Year's resolutions is time management because I want to make working out a priority. Once I turned 29 everything was different with my body. Eating wise I jus't don't indulge; I don't eat Flaming Hot Cheetos when I want to- I don't eat that stuff anymore. It makes me sick thinking about all the chemicals that are in there. I love meat, so I mostly eat protein and I love vegetables. I don't really crave carbs and I manage my weight watching my carb intake. I don't like fried food except for French fries. I never really want to eat anything fried, actually maaaybe sometimes I want to eat fried chicken, but those two are it.

Favorite easy go-to recipe or thing you make all the time? Alejandra: I love soup. I could eat soup all the time and I love making soup. But there is this one soup and it's from Barefoot Contessa that I make all the time. I already know it by heart, it's so easy but it's this chicken tortilla soup but I just don't put the tortillas in it- obviously. I add different vegetables like squash and make it more vegetable based but definitely no tortillas and no rice.

Ok favorite snack? Healthy and unhealthy- you can only pick one for each. Alejandra: My favorite healthy snack is dipping string cheese into hummus. Not healthy...I'm not a sweets person so I never crave anything sweet but I do really really love pizza. Is pizza considered a snack? That's the one most unhealthy thing that I crave.

Do you have a favorite beauty product or ritual? Alejandra: My favorite beauty product is this Kiehl's anti-aging serum. I swear it's heat-activated or something. I also love this Clinique pore-refining serum- that stuff really works!

Do you practice any spiritual methods? Alejandra: No, I don't. My family is kind of all over the place spiritually and religiously- it was never something that was forced on me. I am interested in self-realization just because my dad did it after his divorce to my mom and it really helped him. When my siblings and I were little he would teach us chants and make us do chants with him to get through stressful situations or anxiety. My sisters and I would take Tae Kwon Do and participate in these tournaments and my dad would make us chant before. We were really little and he made us do it so we would focus, not be nervous, really believe in ourselves and win- and it helped! And if my dad ever missed a tournament we would not do as well and would wish "daddy was there so he could have chanted with us." MOB: Did that teach you something ultimately? Alejandra: It taught me to believe in myself more than anything and the power of my mind. I really believe in the power of your mind. I work so hard and try so hard in everything I do. With my career I put so much energy into my craft that I feel that the craft pays me back. I think those little chants were what formed me.

What's the best advice you've ever received regarding inner/outer beauty? Alejandra: This is so ironic because my grandma smoked so much- my whole life she smoked and smoked and smoked. And she had face lift, face lift, face lift and everything done. And she decided to quit smoking, she's so cute because she's already aged but she swears that her not smoking stopped her aging and I believe it. But I have this friend Camille and she looks so great. I never knew that she was sober, and she's 13 years sober. And I thought about it, and if you put shit inside your body it's going to look like shit- that's why she looks so amazing. The idea of sobriety has been the best advice and I haven't taken that step yet but I am learning to balance it out. And tanning is so bad for your skin and I grew up in South America tanning and my mom still tans, but it's so bad for your skin and catches up with you. And one more thing, I am very proud of not having cellulite. My dad used to let us drink soda when we were really little. Then he dated this fashion designer named Colleen and she was like, "you better get those girls off of soda or they will have cellulite when they're young ladies" and he never let us drink soda again. I swear that's why I don't have cellulite because of not having processed things. MOB: What about sparkling water, do you think that counts? Alejandra: Yes but it's more about the sugar that cause fat deposits and lumps to happen in your skin. Men can have cellulite too if you think about it. I drink sparkling water a lot, I don't necessarily think it's that healthy and try to have it more as a treat. It's better to treat yourself to a sparkling water than a Coke zero.

What would be some advice you would like to offer our readers who are maybe struggling with their image or self-confidence? Alejandra: I would just say...fuck everybody! Fuck everyone. You just have to love yourself. I had really cool parents and they were strict but they always encouraged me to be an individual and let me be myself always- but in a tasteful manner. I really respected them and listened to them and I am grateful for that. They never told me I couldn't wear this or couldn't wear that. I was also raised around a lot of gay men, and being around a lot of gay men you just think you're fabulous and beautiful even when you're like three. Follow your individuality and express it as much as possible. I grew up with two sisters and the three of us are so different and we look so different and we were never competitive. I think a lot of women are competitive. I didn't grow up knowing what competition was and everyone is an individual. No one is the same so why are you going to try to follow this and that. If women just stopped trying to be competitive and comparing themselves to say Jessica Alba or whoever, that alone is making you and your self-esteem go down. That makes you less confident, you're not that person. You look at someone and you're like I want breasts like that woman and a nose like this person it's like "WHY?" You're not going to be that person and if you really accept being an individual and you embrace being an individual that is the most important thing and that'a when you love yourself. Put yourself first, whatever is important to you for you and put that first as a priority.

Last question, do you have a guaranteed trick for snapping out of those, "I'm feeling ugly days?" Alejandra: It's really funny. Every girl knows their "hot body angles." Take hot photos of yourself. I do them on photobooth on my computer. You know how to fake it so your body looks bomb and take a million of those and send them to whoever the fuck, someone you are dating or someone you used to date that you want to make mad. And it's the best thing you can do and it always makes me feel good. MOB: What if there is no romantic interest to send them to? Alejandra: Then take them for yourself! Keep them in a file and keep them for those days. Everyone likes looking at themselves.

Alejandra's picks:

Kiehl's anti-aging serum Clinique pore-refining serum Chicken Tortilla Soup The Nanny In Living Color