Splash Into Summer is one of the hottest soirees Arizona will see this summer! The event will take place at W Scottsdale on May 16. The VIP reception will take place from 8:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m. with the chance to mingle with Rossi and her other celebrity friends. The doors will open to the public at 9 p.m.
Join Arizona Foothills Magazine and J Group Media, and JN Jewels as we see Gretchen Rossi‘s latest must-have collection in collaboration with Dolcessa Swimwear. Rossi is one of the fashion world’s hottest new designers, and this event is simply a must-attend.
Featured above is a picture from the photos shoot of Gretchen Christine Rossi in a suit from her swimsuit line (Gretchen Christine for Luxe).
AZ Foothills got the chance to chat with Gretchen Christine Rossi. Read about her exciting life, new lines, and her Splash Into Summer Fashion Show coming to the Valley below.
AFM- What inspired you to start a cosmetics line?
What inspired me to start the Gretchen Christine cosmetics line was my time as a cast member on RHOC (Real Housewives of Orange County), I had so many of my fans tweeting and emailing me saying, “what kind of makeup are you wearing? You look really pretty in this scene” or “what kind of lipstick do you have on?” so I started responding to some of my fans at that time, I would explain I was wearing this foundation called Clau De Pau and they would go online and look it up only to find out the foundation is $150 a bottle, and the night cream is $550 – $750 dollars a bottle. They would write back and say “Oh my gosh, that’s so much money! I could never afford $150 for foundation.” I started realizing there was this need in the market for high quality makeup at an affordable price. That’s what really inspired me was the fans, they inspired me to start the cosmetics line.
I really wanted people to have access to an amazing product. If you see a person on the red carpet or somebody on TV every day wearing make-up that makes them look great, people will naturally want to go and get that same look, but I feel like there’s a lot of people in the public eye that wear onething and then claim it’s something else, so when people buy those products, it never looks quite the same. I really just wanted to have products where I could say this is my product and this is my color and I am wearing it, that way people can go and buy the exact products I wear everyday and get the same exact look.
AFM- What’s your favorite piece in your cosmetics line?
Oh, gosh that’s a Tough one I have so many that I love. I mean, there are 300+ sku’s in my line just to give you an idea of how many there are. But, I would say my every day go to piece that I love is my golden girl eye color pallet. That’s my every day eye shadow that I absolutely love. My anti aging foundation is an item I use constantly,. I love my pout poppers that give my lips a bit of the pouty look because they plump them up a little. I mean, I wear my foundation primer, my loose powder, my blush, my false lashes.. I love it all! It’s so hard to just pick one thing, you know?
AFM- Do you wear your cosmetics line still?
Yes I do wear my cosmetics! Now, that doesn’t mean I’m not going to wear any other cosmetics. The majority of the time I wear my line, but I don’t have every color in the line and if a competitor or some other company has a really cool color that I want to try I will get that and I will wear that, so I do mix and match sometimes with my cosmetics, everyone does, but overall I do my own makeup on my face every day.
AFM- What sets your cosmetic’s line apart from every other cosmetic’s line?
I would really just say it’s high quality makeup at an affordable price. Our motto is “Always On Every Day.” It’s really just about being glamorous and beautiful, exaggerating your natural beauty. Like I said, we really don’t have any crazy colors, the crazy yellows or oranges, or anything that would be considered more stage makeup. It’s not like we’re doing just the trendy yellow, cool color of the moment, it’s more about every day beautiful makeup. I would say what makes us unique is that we really just have good quality makeup and it’s not going to cost you an arm or leg to get it. We are about a dollar to two dollars below all the products Mac has, and we have a lot of the same or similar pieces that Mac has.
AFM- What is the story behind your Gretchen Christine collection, especially your handbags?
The handbag line is kind of the same story. I was inspired by the fans. I was wearing a gorgeous Versace bag on the show 4 years ago, and I got a lot of people asking where I got the bag. As soon as I told them it was Versace and $3000.00 dollars, everyone wrote back and was like, “I could never afford that!” You could just feel the sadness, and I could tell woman really just wanted access to high end beautiful fashion, but they wanted it at an affordable price. So, I took that as the initiative to create just that for the customers and for the fans. So, what we did is we designed a high-end collection of bags. We used all leather, beautifully designed handbags with all the bells and whistles, everything that would be on a more expensive handbag, we created a proprietary hidden make-up wall for storing your cosmetics and then we launched our line on SHOPNBC in 2010 to great Success. The following season we created a collection of leather bags, but then We decided to design a less expensive version as well that was made out of PU to lower the price point for a different customer base , but we still kept all the bells and whistles. That line sold out in two just weeks.
AFM- How has your life and Slade’s changed since you became part of the Real Housewives of OC?
Our life has definitely changed a lot. As somebody who could walk outside in my previous life and nobody really knows who you were, to overnight literally being known around the globe, it’s a crazy experience. The show was in over 144 countries and seen by more that 500 million people we are told. You’re now in Target shopping and you’re two aisles a way from people, you laugh and someone comes running over and goes “Gretchen?” “I recognized your laugh”, or “I heard your voice and I just had to see if it was you!”, “Can I get a picture”..LOL just simple things you never even realized that people paid that much attention to and it was definitely a big change for us, but it’s so much fun at the same time, because I just love and adore my fans more than they know. They’re so much fun to meet, and they’re so gracious and they’re so sweet. They’re the ones who inspire me every day. People say or tweet me “you inspire me”, but the truth is, they’re the ones who inspired me, because they’re the ones keeping me going , the ones who motivate me to continuing with my businesses and continuing pursuing my dreams. They’re the ones who really have encouraged me because they remind me daily that what I do matters and it has some impact on their lives, whether it just that I helped them feel pretty that day or because of what our company is doing, people say they are motivated to follow their dreams just because of what we are doing. I’m so grateful for them, and I’m grateful for the opportunities that have presented themselves from RHOC. It’s been overall a pretty good experience but its far more rewarding to give back to the people. I really want to start a Gretchen Christine entrepreneurial program for people who want to be in business. I would love that.
AFM- What’s the biggest opportunity you’ve had since the OC?
It’s hard to really quantify what the biggest opportunity is because they’re just all so different and unique. I’ve gotten to meet Oprah and go on her show, so that was a pretty amazing and a wonderful experience. I have met tons of celebrities and really created some life long friends, I’ve been brought to many different exotic locations where they’ve put us up and take amazing care of us. So, we’ve had some really great, great experiences. I would probably say the best experience has been pursuing my dreams and creating something within the fashion and beauty space. It’s really something I’ve always wanted to do.
AFM- Your website shows that you sing, will you tell us about some of your songs?
I have about three or four songs now I think, and all of my music has been inspired by something in my life. I don’t just go out and sing because I want to be a pop star. Slade & I own a music publishing catalog so we have always had ties to the music business, it’s just not something we ever really talk about. Some of our songs even air on the tonight show with Jimmy Fallen. We own the publishing rights to songs from Ashley Tisdale, Josh Kelly and several other artists that I am sure you would recognize. I sing because it’s truly something that’s sentimental in my life. My first song was written because my fiancé Jeff past away from cancer, and the song was called “Nothing Without You,” and it was a truly heartfelt song about my life. It was very difficult for me when he passed and I felt like I was nothing without him in my life at that time. My next song, “Revelation,” was really a song I directed towards my cast members because they were always talking about me and asking what I was doing in a nosey and derogatory way. The song was about my “Revelation” that it doesn’t matter what you guys say. I’m still moving forward and doing my thing. My third song “Un-Breakable,” was a song dedicated and inspired by Slade’s son who is sick. It gave me the opportunity to talk about people who I believe are “Unbreakable” despite what life throws at them. This little boy is such an inspiration. He has terminal brain cancer, and he is the most angelic, sweetest, happy, spirited little boy despite the fact he’s had 16 brain surgeries. He truly has this “Unbreakable” spirit and it’s such a testament to what life is really about. My fourth song, which is “The Time Is Now”, was my song for Slade when I was proposing to him. It was a very emotional song about what we’ve been through and that “The time is now” to take the next step in our relationship. So, every song has a very specific reason for writing and singing it.
Featured below is Gretchen performing her single “Nothing Without You.”
[youtube id=”gbZaY0zHvxQ” width=”600″ height=”350″]
AFM- Has it been challenging for you and Slade to be a couple in Hollywood’s eye?
Yes and no. Bottom line is it’s never easy to have the world have an opinion about your relationship or about your partner. What’s been difficult mainly is that certain women on Real Housewives tried to portray Slade as something he’s not. They tried to portray him as a douche bag or as a deadbeat dad, things he really just is not. It’s really difficult once nasty people like that put that out there. Its almost impossible to put the toothpaste back in the tube if that makes sense. The women clearly were out to try and hurt him and hurt me, and it was kind of disgusting they way they went about it. He is not the man they tried to portray him as on House Wives, and that’s why I’m excited about this new show, “Marriage Boot Camp,” because the world’s going to see a different side to Slade that they were never allowed to see on Housewives.
AFM- It seems like you do a bit of everything. What’s your favorite thing you’re a part of?
It really is just the designing process of what I’m doing in that moment. I love the creative side of things, solving a problem. Gretchen Christine has evolved into a Fashion and Beauty Solutions Company. If you think about all the different areas that I’m, in whether it’s singing or writing lyrics for the songs or creating the next piece in my line, it’s all a creative space. It’s all the areas in life that I love! Beauty, Fashion, Fitness and Entertainment. I get to create, find a solution and express myself all at the same time. I swear I have to start directing and producing next.
AFM- What are you most excited for about your event in Arizona?
I’m really excited about the opportunity to showcase the new 2015 line of cover-ups that I’m going to be doing. I have a swim collection from last year that debuted to huge success that we did with our partners at Swim Spot Retail Stores. A few of the silhouettes sold out nationally within 48 hours, so it was obviously a homerun for us. The fans continue to ask for more stuff.
Last year when I designed the swimsuits everybody asked for cover-ups, and so this show is going to be us showcasing the cover-ups that I’ve been working on. I’m also presenting with Dolcessa Swimwear. Katya Leoncio has a beautiful line of swimsuits that I’m excited to have in the Fashion Show. Katya and I are becoming fast friends and I love working with her, I am a big fan and she is a very talented designer. We are really looking forward to our next collection of Swimwear for 2015. We just have a lot of things in store for the fans and our customers. The Gretchen Christine brand has been expanding every single year into different categories, and we’re continuing to expand. We have Food, Fitness and even Furniture on the horizon. We’re just excited about becoming a lifestyle brand that people know and can trust. I can’t go into too much more detail about what we have planned just yet, but there is a new chapter of Gretchen Christine that’s going to be launching here very soon, and I think that it’s going to give a lot of women the opportunity to be entrepreneurs themselves.
AFM- Are you going to be attending your event?
Oh, yes! I’m definitely going to be there, and they’re even trying to convince me to walk in the fashion show, I don’t know about standing up next to twenty-year-old models, so we’ll see! I’ve been doing my fair share of wine tastings and searching out wedding locations, so they’ve been feeding us lots of food lately and its all landed in one location….
AFM- What would you like to say to your Arizona fan base before the event?
Gretchen: I would like to say that I love my Arizona fans. I’ve been out there quite a few times for appearances and things and everyone is so unbelievably gracious and supportive and really fun, and I’m really looking forward to this event and getting to meet all the amazing people from your great state.
Slade: And They’ve got some of the hottest bodies in the country!
Gretchen: Yeah, they really do! They’ve got some hot, good-looking people out there too.
For more information on attending this fabulous event, click HERE.
Must RSVP to attend the VIP reception at RSVP@JGROUPMEDIA.COM
For VIP table reservations, contact VIP@TRIYAR.COM or 602-405-0099
Featured above is Rossi showing off her handbag.
