20 Tips & Tricks to learn from Bobbi Brown Makeup Artist

A week ago I had the chance to meet the Head of Artistry and Teaching at Bobbi Brown, world renowned makeup artist Eduardo Ferreira. I was one of three Slovenian media/editors who had the chance to experience an hour long individual makeup class and chat with him. You can imagine my excitement, when I found out I was going to learn from the makeup genius himself. The main Bobbi Brown focus is to empower women’s natural beauty and Eduardo definitely follows this approach religiously. We focused on how to cover up my dark circles, he gave me so many useful advice and shared a lot of interesting tricks with me. He did my makeup (obviously) as well, which was natural, my skin was dewy, the focus was on the eyes with the black eyeliner line, lips were in my favourite nudish shade. I decided to share my experience via photos, as well as sharing top 20 tricks I picked up from my Bobbi Brown lesson. The makeup you see on the photos I wore throughout the whole day, even at the exclusive evening Bobbi Brown event at Ljubljana Castle, where Eduardo Ferreira again showed us some tricks.

Which 20 tricks/commandments may change your makeup routine for good?

1.The so called no-makeup glowy look is »in« this season. So, keep it natural.

2.Your foundations should be a bit more yellow toned for your face to look as natural as possible.

3.You have to have good light when choosing a foundation. Good lighting is a must when applying makeup as well. At Bobbi Brown they will swatch at least 3 shades of foundation that’s similar to your skin tone on the side of your face; they will double check the one that disappears and blends into your skin on you forehead as well.

4.Use powder only where you (oily) shine. The powder shouldn’t change the shade of your foundation.

5.You can apply liquid and cream products with your fingers. The moisture of your fingers will help the foundation blend nicely.

6.A good skincare is extremely important, especially if you’re trying to achieve that healthy, glowy skin. After the moisturizer follow up with the Bobbi Brown Extra Illuminating Moisture Balm and before the foundation add some highlighter (like BB Shimmer Bricks).

7.The first step of covering up the dark under eye circles is to make sure you have no mascara or liner residue around your eyes.

8.When covering up your dark areas, a corrector and concealer (in the right shades) will be your best friends. For dark circles use a pink or peach toned corrector to counteract and neutralize discoloration. Add a layer of yellow toned concealer on top (this one should be one shade lighter than your skin tone). These two are Eduardo’s favourite Bobbi Brown products as well.

9.Use a dramatic mascara on the top lashes (like their Smokey Eyes mascara) and use a different one for the bottom lashes, to make them softer (like BB Intensifying Long-Wear mascara).

10.If you have a lot of redness on your cheeks, use a natural bronzer instead of a pink blush (bronzer can be your blush).

11.The most natural looking blushes are pink, quoting Eduardo: “no one blushes orange or coral”. So, use a pink blush in order to look natural. Apply it starting on the apples of the cheeks, then blend up towards the hairline and down the cheek to soften the transition.

12.To find the most flattering everyday blush shade, match it to the colour your cheeks turn after you’ve lightly pinch them.

13.Forget about heavy contouring, it’s not a trend anymore. Keep it natural.

14.Use a lip pencil whenever you wear darker, bolder colours – apply it after the lipstick, the shades should match nicely. Otherwise you don’t need one, especially if your lips are defined.

15.The most natural looking lipstick shades are the ones that are up to two shades brighter or darker than your lips.

16.When you line your lashline, start on the top of the line and cut it where your crease starts, then close the triangle. Follow up with the inner part of the eye, make small dots right next to each other. Apply it between your lashes as well, no skin should be visible there. Liner should be on the whole lashline, the half-eye eyeliner look is not in trend anymore.

17.Eyeliner line should be thick enough to be visible when your eyes are open. It shouldn’t be too thick either.

18.When you line your lower lashline, make sure this line is softer and thinner compared to the upper lashline. Top and bottom lines should meet at the outer corner of the eye.

19.Nicely (but naturally) defined brows will frame your face. Remember, they are not twins, they are sisters, so there’s no need for them to be identical or symmetrical.

20.For the most natural look, define your brows with shadow using a brush. Apply with feathery strokes, start at the inner corner and follow to the outer corner. If you have gaps, use a brow pencil. Apply some translucent powder with your eyeshadow brush over your brows to make them more defined and natural.

photo: Domen Blenkuš