The Bilerico Project | Daily experiments in LGBTQ

Last month I left the Bay Area after 21 years and moved in with my girlfriend in Los Angeles. I never thought I'd live in LA I always saw LA as crowded, smoggy, and plastic. And it is! I can't believe how many plastic surgery places there are here.

The traffic sucks. It's hot and dirty, especially Hollywood. Something that really bugs me is the parking in Los Angeles. In some neighborhoods, you just can't park there unless you have a permit. It's that simple. You're going pay somebody if you want to get out of your car.

Still with all its plastic surgery and strip malls, there's a really big spiritual movement here and there are so many amazing people who want to make a positive difference in the world.

During this transition period I've been going out and connecting with people. Yesterday I met with Lori Hart who is one of those people trying to make a positive difference. Lori is a celebrity make-up artist. She's worked on such notables as Eddy Murphy, Uma Thurman, and Mariel Hemmingway from Personal Best (remember that pioneering girl on girl film from the 1980s?)

Gay men in LA have dubbed Lori the "Fairy Godmother of Beauty." One of her specialties is creating make up for men so it doesn't look like they are wearing make-up. She really values helping people look their best in a natural way and uses minerals in her non-make-up-make-up that also blocks the Los Angeles sun's harsh aging rays, something I have already gotten a dose of since I've lived here.

I knew she couldn't wait to get her brushes all over this butch's virgin face, so, I agreed to meet her at her office and learn more about what she does.

Heck, I live in LA now! Maybe I'm going to be a celebrity someday. Maybe I'm just going to be a therapist for celebrities or a life coach to celebrities. So, since I'd met a celebrity make-up artist who knew how to appeal to my vanity and my masculinity, and most importantly my belief in natural approaches to self-preservation, I had to know more.

So I ended up driving out to Marina Del Rey where Lori lives and works, only blocks from the ocean. I can see why the LA gay men like Lori. (And they really do, she said her first three boyfriends were gay!) She loves show tunes and was playing the soundtrack from the latest musical when I arrived.

In a city of look good at any cost, what I appreciated about Lori was her commitment to helping people look and feel good about themselves without doing things that could cause them physical harm. Like many people on a mission, Lori started hers after she was the victim of a botched liposuction job. She showed me the pictures, and frankly, I could see why she wanted to protect others from her experience.

So, even though this city is full of plastic, you can still find people with big hearts, like Lori Hart.

(Makeup clipart via Bigstock)