Ekaterina Buzhinskaya: “I love changing images!”

The article was first published in the magazine “Makeup&YOU Professional”.

Your career has lasted for more than twenty years, you are constantly experimenting with your style and appearance. Which of these experiments were the most striking and unexpected? Yes, I have been on the professional stage for more than 22 years. One of the most striking and memorable images of this time was the image in the “White Panther” video: ultra-short haircut, bright blond. Then I often experimented with hair color - I was black, bright red, and brown-haired. I often changed the length of my hair - short bob, long bob, cascade. She loved to curl her curls and straighten her hair the next day. I love experiments, change doesn’t scare me! What color do you feel most comfortable in? Blonde, of course! Until I was seventeen, I was light brown with a slight red tint. Then a friend suggested that I try on a bright, cool blonde, and even dyed it for me herself. I felt that this was my condition and my color. Since then I have almost always remained blonde. Why did you cut your hair for the video? Was it just an experiment with appearance or something also related to internal spiritual changes? When a woman radically changes her appearance, but she is not an artist, it means that something is happening in her soul and personal life. In my case, it was the idea of the video director Alan Badoev. When I first heard the song “White Panther,” I felt eccentric, mischievous, and young. And I also wanted to change. So I agreed. When Alan saw me with a crew cut and a bunch of metal pins, he said: “How beautiful you are!” How did you work together with Alan Badoev? He is a very interesting and extraordinary person. I felt very comfortable with him. I felt like a fish out of water. He not only treated me well, but also saw me in a completely new way. He saw something in me that perhaps others had not seen before. That I can be different. I can sing classics, patriotic songs, youth songs, gypsy songs, and even rap. I can sing in any languages. For a real artist, it is not a problem to work in any style. About seven years ago I won the TV show “People’s Star” on the TV and radio channel “Ukraine”. If you haven’t heard about this show, the gist is this: an artist and an ordinary person “from the people” perform live in a duet. Each broadcast is a new genre. I loved changing images - I was an Indian, a vampire, a wartime woman. Each broadcast has different hairstyles, different makeup, different costumes. It was a lot of fun! What are the most difficult transformations you have experienced during the creative process? We created one of my first videos, “Ice,” back in 1999, when there were no computer technologies and graphics. So I had to film in a freezer with eyelashes glued on, which actually froze at minus twenty. I then became very ill. The clip will be remembered for the rest of my life. Although it brought me popularity - this song is still sung in karaoke, when applying to music universities, and at competitions. There were also difficult shootings, when Alexander Filatovich and I were filming a video for the song “I Promise,” where the plot required me to fly. I was taught by stuntmen. In addition, I was on a strict diet - I had to lose three kilograms very quickly. I didn’t eat anything, I was very dizzy. When she had to fly on the set, she was already in a semi-conscious state. Filming the video for the song “Genghis Khan” in the mountains in Tashkent was also difficult. It's very cold, and I need to wallow in the mud. They were preparing a whole feature film, where I had the role of a girl who was captured by Genghis Khan. You said that you had to lose extreme weight for the video. How do you watch your figure in everyday life? Fortunately, I have a slim father, and I inherited his genetics. I don’t limit anything, and I can even eat cake at night! Do you like to cook? I love cooking myself, and I love it when people cook well. I feel the energy with which the food is prepared. What's your favorite cuisine? In addition to Ukrainian, there is also Bulgarian. I love deliciously cooked lamb, shkembe chorba soup, baked bell peppers stuffed with cheese, mish-mash, moussaka. Very tasty, although high in calories. Surely you do choreography or go to the gym in your free time? No. I often tour and burn off all the extra calories at every concert. When I leave the stage, my costumes are completely wet. At what point did you start collaborating with makeup artists? Surely at the very beginning of your career you did your own makeup? Do you mostly trust professionals now? I have my own makeup artist: no longer just a makeup artist, but a friend. Her name is Olga Slyusar. The person I love, whom I trust, with whom we have traveled half the world and have been together for about ten years. But even at the age of 16, when I arrived in Kyiv and was an aspiring artist, I invited a makeup artist to professional shoots. I apply makeup myself in everyday life. If this is a professional shooting - film, television, video - then you need professionals to work. And I can do good makeup in twenty minutes. But the hairstyle is not. But now naturalness and naturalness are in fashion. You can simply wrap your beautiful ponytail up, wear tresses or some kind of headdress. There are also good professional wigs. Nowadays most artists use them. I have about six of them: made especially for me, to fit my head size, with a styling that I like. They are very helpful if the concert is, for example, in some outback and there is no way to invite a hairdresser.

Model: Ekaterina Buzhinskaya; idea, style: Vika Pisarenko; hairstyle: Irina Zaitseva; makeup: Lesya Dyakonova; accessories: Potlova&Kulbovska; clothing: AnGe Style Marina Filipenko; photo: Vadim Sery

You have toured a lot in other countries. Where is the nicest audience, who was remembered for the most brilliant reception? I did a European charity tour. The first concert was in Sofia, then Budapest, Vienna, Prague, Munich, Milan, Rome, Barcelona, Brussels, Warsaw. And the last one was already in Lviv. The most reserved public is the German one. The most liberated, energetically positive and those for whom you want to work even more are the Italians and Spaniards. Hot blood. When you hit a high note, they immediately applaud and don’t hold back their feelings. If they like the artist, they immediately express their delight. It happens that artists with a ten- or twenty-year-old image decide to radically change their image - they dye their hair pink or start rapping. Have you thought about this? And it is necessary? For twenty years my audience has been with me. And she wants to see me as a long-haired blonde, bright, kind, pure. A mother, a decent, family woman who loves her land. They don't want to see me in underwear. I can change as much as I like, but my viewers want me to continue to carry the image of a pure, bright singer with a strong voice, as before. As an experienced blonde, can you share your secrets of caring for blonde hair? It's expensive to be blonde. In order to keep your hair healthy, you need a lot of time and money. Not everyone can afford a blonde like mine. Not everyone likes it. Sometimes they persuade me: make the color more natural. But I don’t want to on principle. I have my own style! I'm not going to adapt to other people, to what they like. I brought almond oil from the Dominican Republic and use it to treat my hair. As for coloring, I realized a long time ago: it’s better to have your hair done by one trusted artist, not to take risks. In my youth I experimented with painting. It happened that my hair fell off in parts and I cried. Before the wedding - it was in my husband’s homeland, Bulgaria - my then fiance found me the coolest salon in Sofia. But they made me... gray. I was gray! It's good that it was ten days before the wedding. God, how I cried! But we found another hairdresser, he did a special blonde wash. We then treated our hair for a very long time. But I turned out to be a beautiful bride. Creativity takes a lot of your time and energy. If you had a day of absolutely free time that you could spend the way you wanted, what would you do? I would spend it at the SPA. Just so that I could have massages and treatments there from morning to evening. When I’m at home, although I don’t work, there are three children and a husband there. First you need to pay attention to Alenka, then Dimochka, then Katyusha, then your husband. And all this in a circle. It turns out that I’m more tired than at a concert. Therefore, I would like to make this a day of relaxation. There are a lot of thermal springs in Bulgaria. In Sofia, literally a five-minute walk from our house, there are mineral geysers. They are hot, they come straight from the ground. There is snow all around, and you are swimming in a mineral pool. Moreover, anyone can afford this. A ticket costs 7 levs, which is three and a half euros. You can take a jacuzzi with mineral water in the same complex. We take the children with us and relax like this. Cover photo: idea, style: Vika Pisarenko; hairstyle: Irina Zaitseva; makeup: Lesya Dyakonova; accessories: Potlova&Kulbovska; clothing: AnGe Style Marina Filipenko; photo: Vadim Sery