Their gratitude shows. Shaw's four-year-old line of Lorac cosmetics (the name is Carol spelled backward) boasts 31 lipsticks named for—and endorsed by—clients like Demi (a brick red), Meg (a light taupe) and Goldie (a gold champagne). "We're all just having a good time with it," says Shaw, 38, who sells her products at tony department stores and sends each star a year's supply of her color at Christmas. "I'm honored and they're flattered."
But it's more than mere freebies that keep the stars coming back for her hands-on care, which runs $3,000 for a full day. Set to gussy up Susan Sarandon for the Oscars on March 24, Shaw does makeup that's fashionable without flash. "Carol can take one look at your face and give the best possible effect," says client Anjelica Huston. "She has a really fantastic instinct." Adds fan Farrah Fawcett: "She makes you look and feel as if you aren't wearing anything. That's a rare gift for a makeup artist because often they want their work to be noticed."
Shaw's confidence in her own appearance hasn't always been so sure. Born Carol Schwartz in Los Angeles to Geno, the owner of a local hair salon chain, and his wife, Evelyn (Shaw changed her name in high school after deciding "Schwartz sounded harsh"), she battled severe acne and bouts of anorexia and bulimia as a teen. "I was messed up," says Shaw, who claims she treated her eating disorders through therapy and homeopathic medicine. (Her mother, inspired by Shaw's struggle, later became an eating-disorders counselor.) "I didn't know how to cope with the world." And while her brother Barry, now 37 and Lorac's vice president, was a football star at L.A.'s University High, Shaw cut classes and occasionally did drugs. "She was quiet," says Barry. "We worried about what she would do in the future."
A salon makeover in 1975, a graduation gift from an aunt, helped provide the answer. "I'll never forget how the makeup artist made me feel," recalls Shaw. "I looked great. I walked out, and some guy called to me. I felt like Mar-gaux Hemingway." Inspired, Shaw took a six-month cosmetology course in L.A. and was eventually hired as a makeup artist by Beverly Hills' José Eber salon. "When I first walked in, Ali MacGraw and Victoria Principal were there," says Shaw. "Farrah's picture was on the wall." Shaw began working on Linda Gray and Natalie Wood and developed a rabid following. "At first, I kissed everyone's butt because, if you didn't click, you wouldn't get asked back," says Shaw, who went solo in 1985. "Now I can be who I am."
With her Lorac line, priced from $12 to $35, having turned a profit last year (she won't say how much), Shaw recently moved the company from a small Woodland Hills, Calif., warehouse to a nearby 8,000-square-foot complex. Single, she also just upgraded her personal quarters to a three-bedroom Hollywood Hills cottage. But despite her success, she still gets overwhelmed by the perks of her job. "I just did Tom Cruise for the Golden Globes," she says. "He didn't need any makeup. I looked at him and said, 'You're perfect!' I got paid all this money—just for gazing at him."
JANICE MIN
ANNE-MARIE OTEY in Los Angeles
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