May 15, 2023INTERVIEWS

Wo(man)'s Best Friend with Carrie Barber

 

Carrie
Barber

 

The Pagerie Pet is not only your son or daughter, but closest confidant. Introducing Wo(man)’s Best Friend, a series that reveals our favourite Pagerie companions and the personality traits that make them one of a kind.

Owner of Make Beauty, Carrie Barber, is the queen of makeup tutorials. She not only creates beautiful skincare and makeup essentials with her brand, Make, but she crafts beauty looks you can catch on Instagram and TikTok that are 100% save-worthy. “Creatively, I’m trying to find new ways to shake up the type of creative that we’re doing at Make,” she said. “I’m really into stop motion for makeup transformations. It’s still technically a video, but it lends itself so well to beauty.”

WO(MAN)'S BEST FRIEND

Carrie Barber

The Pagerie Pet is not only your son or daughter, but closest confidant. Introducing Wo(man) ’s Best Friend, a series that reveals our favorite Pagerie companions and the personality traits that make them one of a kind.

Owner of Make Beauty, Carrie Barber, is the queen of makeup tutorials. She not only creates beautiful skincare and makeup essentials with her brand, Make, but she crafts beauty looks you can catch on Instagram and TikTok that are 100% save-worthy. “Creatively, I’m trying to find new ways to shake up the type of creative that we’re doing at Make,” she said. “I’m really into stop motion for makeup transformations. It’s still technically a video, but it lends itself so well to beauty.”

Carrie is always dispelling her makeup tips and recently learned two that she has on repeat. “One thing I learned recently was lining your lips with brown lip liner under a red lip,” she said. “I learned this from makeup artist Nikki La Rose. It pops the pigment of the red and it gives a little bit of depth and definition. Another thing I’ve been really into in terms of blending is pressing. I’ll press a blush brush or eyeshadow to place the pigment and blend it instead of swirling or swiping. It gives a more diffused look, especially for eyeshadow. It doesn’t move it around or dilute it, but really helps soften and blend out in a way that feels almost airbrushed.”

“When I first met Gio, it was that moment that everyone kind of describes when they find their dog–this dog is choosing me”

To that end, Carrie is incredibly passionate about building her brand, but her other passion, who always comes first, is her dog, Gio. Her love for him is unconditional and also unexpected, as she never knew she could love an animal as much as she loves him. “When I first met Gio, it was that moment that everyone kind of describes when they find their dog—this dog is choosing me,” she said. “It felt like he was my dog. I had been looking to adopt a dog for a long time before I met Gio. I was connected to Gio by the guy who rescued him. It was the first week of COVID lockdown and the stars aligned.

Carrie is always dispelling her makeup tips and recently learned two that she has on repeat. “One thing I learned recently was lining your lips with brown lip liner under a red lip,” she said. “I learned this from makeup artist Nikki La Rose. It pops the pigment of the red and it gives a little bit of depth and definition. Another thing I’ve been really into in terms of blending is pressing. I’ll press a blush brush or eyeshadow to place the pigment and blend it instead of swirling or swiping. It gives a more diffused look, especially for eyeshadow. It doesn’t move it around or dilute it, but really helps soften and blend out in a way that feels almost airbrushed.”

“When I first met Gio, it was that moment that everyone kind of describes when they find their dog–this dog is choosing me”

To that end, Carrie is incredibly passionate about building her brand, but her other passion, who always comes first, is her dog, Gio. Her love for him is unconditional and also unexpected, as she never knew she could love an animal as much as she loves him. “When I first met Gio, it was that moment that everyone kind of describes when they find their dog—this dog is choosing me,” she said. “It felt like he was my dog. I had been looking to adopt a dog for a long time before I met Gio. I was connected to Gio by the guy who rescued him. It was the first week of COVID lockdown and the stars aligned.

When we met, he had such a sweet light energy and was an angel even from day one. ”When it comes to spending time together, Gio and Carrie have a nightly ritual. Together they soak their feet in Epsom salt. “Gio has split paw disease (a disease that makes the skin dry, thus paws become cracked), so I have to soak his paws in Epsom salt every night,” she noted.

 

“At first, I thought, this is so much work, but then it started to become this really nice relaxing thing for both of us. I decided I’ll just soak my feet while you’re standing here. Then I give him a little head massage with a scalp massager. It relaxes him. And it also relaxes me.”

 

When we met, he had such a sweet light energy and was an angel even from day one.”

When it comes to spending time together, Gio and Carrie have a nightly ritual. Together they soak their feet in Epsom salt. “Gio has split paw disease (a disease that makes the skin dry, thus paws become cracked), so I have to soak his paws in Epsom salt every night,” she noted.

 

“At first, I thought, this is so much work, but then it started to become this really nice relaxing thing for both of us. I decided I'll just soak my feet while you're standing here. Then I give him a little head massage with a scalp massager. It relaxes him. And it also relaxes me.”

Breed: I haven’t done his DNA, but I really want to because he’s definitely a pitbull, but has such a unique chunky face. There’s got to be something else in there.

Cutest quirk: His tail. That’s what he’s known for. Also, he sighs in a really dramatic way. When he’s kind of moody or over it, especially late at night, if we haven’t gone to bed yet, he’ll look at me with this side eye and make the most dramatic sigh, and I’m like, I’m sorry. Put yourself to bed.

Best trick: He’s really good at sitting super still. If I tell him to sit and wait, he will be statuesque, especially if there’s food involved.

Go-to cuddle spot: He thinks he’s a small dog. So he loves to find the smallest little nook. If I’m sitting towards one end of the couch, and there’s clearly seven feet available for him to lay on comfortably, he’ll find that one little nook because he wants to be as close as possible.

Pagerie must-have: Gio is 80 pounds and still has puppy energy, so a harness is safer for both of us when he gets excited and pulls. The Simone harness is the chicest dog harness there is, and trust me, I have looked. The other thing I love about this harness is that the chain has the 'Martingale Collar' effect, which is what we used when we trained him as a puppy, so with the Simone harness and The Ox leash, he's a better walker and more responsive to me.

Favorite human food: I try not to feed him human food, but whenever I have cheese and crackers as a snack at night, I always give him a little bit of cheddar cheese.

Daily uniform: When he’s inside, I don’t keep his collar on him. But he has a play collar that I put on him when he gets picked up during the day to go play with his dog friends. It’s one of those more utility collars because one of his dog friends chews his collar off all the time. Apparently, he’s got a best friend named River, who’s a husky. He always comes home with husky hair on him and a few times; his dog walker will be like sorry, River chewed his collar. He’s a minimal dresser.

Go-to outdoor activity: Gio is extremely lazy and sometimes doesn’t even want to go out and walk to go to the bathroom. But he gets picked up every day by his dog walker, who I call his stepdad because we basically co-parent him. They go to a dog park or sometimes they go on hikes. When he’s around other dogs, he gets really excited and he has a lot of energy, which is great, because when he comes home, he’s exhausted and usually just sleeps the whole time.

Preferred luxury item: Luckily, he’s never been interested in any of my shoes or clothes. And I don’t think he’s ever chewed through anything that wasn’t a dog toy or a bone. But he does have this faux fur Restoration Hardware blanket that’s his blankie. He’s obsessed with it. So that’s definitely a luxury.

GIO'S PAGERIE OBJECTS

THE SIMONE

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THE OX

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TAG D’IDENTITÉ

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Written by Jayme Cyk