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15 Minutes With Bobbi: An Interview With Bobbi Brown, Chief Creative Officer of Bobbi Brown Cosmetics

March 9th, 2012 by Karen 31 Comments

Interview with Bobbi Brown

What a way to start the day. 🙂 Fifteen minutes with Ms. Bobbi Brown, a legend in the beauty world (and a serious contender for the title of Queen of the Natural Makeup Look). Whenever I wear Bobbi Brown cosmetics, I feel put-together, ya know? But never over the top.

This morning I spoke with Bobbi over the phone about the hottest new spring and summer makeup trends, some of her favorite makeup tips, tricks and products (among them, her secret to glowing skin, which — here’s a hint — involves vegetables) and her new book, Pretty Powerful Beauty Stories, available this fall.

The following is an interview with Bobbi Brown, Chief Creative Officer of Bobbi Brown Cosmetics.

What are some of the hottest makeup trends this spring and summer, and your favorite ways to wear them?

For the spring, we’ve seen a lot of neon and nude looks, which are basically nude shades that we saw on the runways, but to make them kind of trendy, more trendy than modern, we paired them with a very bright neon lip.

We had, and I have to say “had,” [a neon lipstick] called Atomic Orange [it’s sold out now], which I’ve heard you can only get online at eBay for over $100 because it was such a big hit. I’m sure we’ll eventually bring it into the line because people loved it so much. But we also have [Neon Pink], and that, I believe, is still on counter. So that’s definitely one really big look.

bobbi brown ultra nude palette
Bobbi’s Ultra Nude palette, from the Neons & Nudes collection

Bronzy nudes and pinks are going to be really big in the summer. You start with bronzer first to give a nice warm glow, and then add a little bit of shimmering pink on top of it. Maybe add a little bit of sparkle on the eyelids, but keep it to two parts of the face for the sparkle. So if [the sparkle] is on the eyes and cheeks, don’t put it on your lips and your nails, or it will just be overkill.

With warm weather around the corner, do you have any tips or tricks to get the look of flawless skin?

Corrector Concealer is a great way to get rid of dark circles, and our Corrector Concealer is actually long wear. We didn’t design it that way, but our testing shows that it’s an 8-hour long wear, which is incredible. Particularly when you put powder on top of it. That’s the secret. It locks it in place and stays on all day. That’s number one.

Number two, if you do have a blemish, make sure you cover it up, not with a concealer, because that would be too light, but with a touch-up stick or a foundation stick in the color of your skin. So you touch that up, put powder on top of it, and that will last most of the day.

I usually just take it out of the stick, put it right on top, and then use my finger when I’m on the go. Certainly, if you use it with a brush, it’s much more precise, but you could do it either way.

But long-wear makeup is going to make the biggest difference. We’re really big now on long-wear products. We have Long-Wear Cream Shadows, Long-Wear Eyeliners and a No-Smudge Mascara.


A few of Bobbi’s limited edition Long-Wear Cream Eyeshadows from 2010’s Beach Club collection

On days when I have to get up at 5 a.m. for the Today Show and do a black tie at night, I absolutely go to my Long-Wears, and I barely have to touch-up in the evenings.

What’s the best way to prevent concealer from creasing and settling in fine lines?

I recommend using a hydrating eye cream, and the reason, because it’s really hydrating, so it’s wet, so it will absorb and leave a very smooth finish on your skin, but it won’t be too greasy wher the concealer kind of wears off.

Often, on days when I haven’t had enough water the night before, or had an extra cocktail at dinner, and I’m drier the next day, I’ll put on my concealer, and I’ll look in the mirror and say, “Uh oh.” I’ll take a touch of eye cream and put it on top, and it works just as well.

What’s the secret to your beautiful skin?

I was complimented on that same thing this morning after a spinning class by two girls who were literally five years younger than me, and they looked at me and said, “Okay, what cream are you using?” And I said, “I gotta be honest, as much as I think I make the best cream, it’s not the answer.”

I swear, the answer is that I’ve really cleaned up my diet, and the majority of my foods are fruits and vegetables, and it helps my skin.

It’s not an overnight thing. I’ve been slowly changing my eating habits. Where I used to be, like 80% good, now I’m kind of 95% good. The 5% I go off, it’s usually for things like a martini, dark chocolate, pizza — pizza’s probably the worst thing, but I just don’t do it that much because it’s not worth it to me. But it takes time to make changes.

How do you feel about women over 40 wearing brighter colors?

You want the truth? The truth is, I love bright colors, and I wear neon t-shirts and neon scarves, but I will not wear neon makeup. I find that when someone of a certain age wears bright colors, it isn’t modern.

I prefer a bright pink over a fuchsia. I think there are ways to wear bright colors that aren’t extreme. I think that’s the difference.

When my son’s girlfriend, who is 21 or 22 years old, wears [Neon Pink] and nothing else on her face, she just looks absolutely adorable, like she just stepped out of a J. Crew catalog. And that’s trendy and great.

But when someone my age wears it, because you have other makeup on your face, it almost doesn’t work as well.

But say you are older and want to explore bright makeup. What are some ways to wear brights successfully?

There are a few girls in my office who are very fashionable over 40, and they do wear bright colors. And the ones that look best, they’ve got concealer, corrector, maybe a very light foundation or tinted moisturizer, soft blush, and everything is very soft.

bobbi brown neons nudes cosmic pink ultra violet
Bobbi’s Cosmic Pink (bottom) and Ultra Violet (top) lipglosses, from the Neons & Nudes collection
[Continue reading…]

There are 31 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Bobbi Brown, Makeup, Makeup Tips/How To, News Keywords: bobbi brown, popular

Benefit’s Featherweight Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow Liquid Foundation Wows on Several Fronts

January 17th, 2012 by Karen 91 Comments

Bid bon voyage to thick, heavy masks and farewell to suffocating skin. Benefit’s new featherweight oil-free foundation would like to say hi.

Or hello, that is. 🙂

Coming in March to Benefit counters, new Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow ($34), Benefit’s new line of light-to-medium coverage liquid foundation, barely feels like anything at all (cotton candy kisses come to mind).

It’s so lightweight that when I apply it, I can almost feel my pores taking deep yoga breaths in and out, ohm and ahhh…

benefit hello flawless oxygen wow (8)

Of the nine available shades, which isn’t a lot for an entire foundation range, All the Rage Beige comes closest to my skin tone (I’m an NC42 in MAC). Very close, but not perfect, and I find myself yearning for the same shade with a little more yellow. I think it’s only obvious, though, when I really pack it on.

The pump dispenser, on the other hand, is perfect. I’m serious. This thing kicks so much @ss!

I know it sounds silly to obsess over a pump, but a good one like this love means wasting a lot less of a $34 product. It offers so much control that I can easily squeeze out half a drop.

benefit hello flawless oxygen wow (2)

The foundation itself feels very thin and watery, and the first time I used it I was sure it wouldn’t provide enough coverage. But it did. I used half a pump and applied that over my entire face with my fingers, and then used a few more drops for some trouble spots on my chin. It’s mid-level coverage, so it’s not fully opaque, but I think it looks very natural, like tinted moisturizer turned up a notch (with the added benefit of SPF 25 PA+++).


Swatches from the left: I’m Pure 4 Sure Ivory, I’m Plush & Precious Petal, Cheers to Me Champagne, and I’m So Money Honey


From the left: I’m All the Rage Beige, Warm Me Up Toasted Beige, and I’m So Glamber Amber
[Continue reading…]

There are 91 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Benefit, Face, Makeup, Product Reviews Keywords: benefit, popular

An Inside Look at the New Benefit Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow Liquid Foundation With Benefit Global Beauty Authority Annie Ford-Danielson

January 13th, 2012 by Karen 59 Comments

benefit hello flawless oxygen wow (1)

Benefit babes, brace yourself for a bodacious treat. 🙂

Yesterday Benefit Global Beauty Authority Annie Ford-Danielson took a few minutes to chat with me over the phone about their newest product, Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow Liquid Foundation ($34), which arrives on counters this March.

You may remember Annie and her sister Maggie from last year’s B.Right Skin Care launch. Together, they travel the world, working as global ambassadors for the brand.

This marks Benefit’s latest leap into liquid foundations, and Annie, who also works in product development, gave me an inside look at the development process and what we can expect from Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow when it arrives.

The following is an interview with Benefit Global Beauty Authority Annie Ford-Danielson about the brand’s new Benefit Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow Liquid Foundation.

So why did Benefit decide to do a liquid foundation?

Well, I think that at Benefit, as you know, we have kind of a small number of products. We’re not like the MACs or Make Up For Evers, where we have 1500 SKUs, so we have to choose our launches super carefully.

We kind of realized that we’ve done concealers, we’ve done highlighters, Fake-Its, brows, skin care, so the next step to really becoming a one-stop shop for beauty was to create a new liquid foundation.

benefit hello flawless oxygen wow (8)

Our girls, our customers, were coming to us for all of these beauty dilemmas and needs, and the fact that we didn’t have a full assortment of foundations was sending them off to other brands, and of course we want our girls to stay with us.


Annie Ford-Danielson, Benefit Global Beauty Authority

I think that really sparked our interest in making a new line. In true Benefit fashion, I’m sure as you know, we’re all about just quick, easy, instant beauty solutions, and I think that foundation can be hard for a lot of women. It can be super intimidating; it can be laborious, so we wanted to create a formula that was really easy, hydrating and brightening.

When you say brightening, does that mean shimmer?

There’s no shimmer in the foundation itself. It’s called Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow, and the really kind of “Fake It” quality that we’ve given this foundation is that it has an oxygen hydrating complex.

What does this mean? It means it’s going to help boost your cellular respiration, giving your skin a really nice plumping effect, so it’s going to make those fine lines, those little crevices, kind of plump up, giving you that healthy-looking skin. And it also helps protect against environmental stresses. It has vitamin C and E derivatives, which are known to prevent the signs of aging.

benefit hello flawless oxygen wow (7)

My favorite part about this is that it’s oil free but has an SPF 25 PA+++. So what does that all mean? It’s very technical. First of all, the Oxygen Wow complex is completely exclusive to our brand. We created it for our liquid foundation, and basically, what it means is that this is not your traditional liquid foundation. It goes on and has the consistency of a really nice, kind of lightweight tinted moisturizer, but it has the coverage of a foundation.

Can you describe the coverage a little bit?

It’s interesting that you asked. It really depends on the method in which you apply. For example, I apply — I wear it, and I’ve been wearing this foundation because I have connections here and I get it early (laughs). I’ve been traveling so much this year, and everyone’s like, “What’s your favorite product?” and I’m like, “Well, I can’t tell you…because it’s our liquid foundation and we don’t have it [yet].”

So, honestly, it really depends on what you want the foundation to do. On the weekends, I apply it with my fingers, and I just apply half a pump. It kind of gives me a really nice, evening-out effect, but it’s incredibly build-able.

benefit hello flawless oxygen wow (4)

That was one of the main aspects of the foundation that we as a brand felt was important for our customers, because our customers are always telling us, “We want to be able to customize our look. On Sunday, we don’t want to look as decked out as we do on Friday night.” So we figured that to have a formula that was incredibly build-able was the key, so you can go all the way from light, to medium, to medium-full coverage foundation.
[Continue reading…]

There are 59 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Benefit, Face, Makeup, News Keywords: benefit, popular

NARS Notable Neutrals Club Meeting Minutes, Jan. 12, 2012: Should Lhasa Eyeshadow Be Granted Membership in the Club?

January 12th, 2012 by Karen 22 Comments

nars lhasa (2)

The following is an un-redacted transcript of the NARS Notable Neutrals Club meeting held on Jan. 12, 2012, in Novato, Calif., as transcribed by Tabs the Cat.

Order, people! Order! Is this thing on…?

Good evening, everyone. Tonight’s meeting of the NARS Notable Neutrals Club is called in session. I know everybody’s excited about the spring collection, but let’s settle down. If we don’t start the meeting soon, you won’t get home in time to watch the Jersey Shore — no judgement! Seriously though, quiet down.

Okay, our first order of business. I’d like to nominate a new member to the club, NARS Lhasa Eyeshadow. She’s a single, $24, and I propose that we waive public comments and vote to make her membership official effective tomorrow, January 13, when she debuts along with the rest of the spring collection.

Now, I can hear some of you grumbling back there… I’ve heard the charges that the club has become too exclusive to newcomers — Cyprus, I’m talking to you — but may I remind you that we are not mean girls. All of us were at one time new neutrals ourselves, waiting to be discovered and loved. Lhasa deserves a chance.

A little bit about our prospective new member. She’s a shimmery lavender gray, a little smoky and sassier than usual for a spring shade, but she comes to us with a long list of references from fans who love wearable taupes. Of course, we performed the requisite background check per club rules. As you know, the guidelines specify that new members must have a soft texture, lots of pigment and a wear time like whoa! She passed on all counts with flying colors.

I suspect that some members may feel that Lhasa is too cool for warmer toned fans. While that may be true, I still think she would make a great addition to the club.

Alright, let’s put it to a vote. All in favor of granting Lhasa membership into the NARS Notable Neutrals Club, raise your hand — er, lids.

One, two, three, four…


[Continue reading…]

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Categories: Eyes, Makeup, NARS, Product Reviews Keywords: nars, popular

The $34 Limited Edition NARS Paramaribo Eyeshadow Duo, and the Time I Was on Jeopardy

January 11th, 2012 by Karen 40 Comments

nars paramaribo (5)

Beauty Jeopardy

Karen: “Hmm… Since I’m on a roll, I’ll take Famous Crazy Cat Ladies for a thousand, Alex.”

Alex Trebek: “This pop star, crazy cat lady and ex-wife of Russell Brand has a perfume line with bottles shaped like cats… Karen?”

Karen: “Who is Katy Perry?”

Alex Trebek: “Correct! Well, you certainly know your cat ladies, Karen, and your Madonna lyrics and Ryan Gosling trivia. Two categories left — Projectile Sports, and the NARS Paramaribo Eyeshadow Duo.”

Karen: “I’ll take NARS Paramaribo for $200, Alex.”

Alex Trebek: “Paramaribo is named after the capital city in this tropical South American country… Oh, and there she goes.”

Karen: “What is Suriname, Alex? NARS Paramaribo for $400.”

Alex Trebek: “These five attributes distinguish NARS Paramaribo from your everyday, run-of-the-mill eyeshadow duo… Karen?”

Karen: “What are soft texture, high shine, punchy pigments, booyah blending, and color that resists creasing and fading? Let’s keep going with NARS Paramaribo for $600, Alex.”

Alex Trebek: “This duo from the NARS permanent collection is sometimes mistaken for Paramaribo due to its bronzy tones… Karen, first on the draw.”

Karen: “What is the NARS Star Sailor Duo?”

Alex Trebek: “Correct!”

Karen: “I’ll stick with NARS Paramaribo for $800, Alex…”

nars paramaribo (1)
NARS Paramaribo on the left and Star Sailor on the right

nars paramaribo (2)
Swatches of NARS Paramaribo on the left and Star Sailor on the right
[Continue reading…]

There are 40 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Eyes, Makeup, NARS, Product Reviews Keywords: nars, popular

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Hi there! I’m Karen, your friendly neighborhood beauty addict, and I’m a Bay Area girl who hoards brown eyeshadow and covets coral lipstick. Every morning, I wake up and say, “I’m going to do something other than a smoky eye today.” Then…I end up doing a smoky eye anyway (most days). When I’m not putting on makeup, taking pictures of makeup or writing about makeup, which I’ve been doing daily since 2007 (!), you’ll find me hanging out with my hubby (“El Hub”), my four-year-old daughter (Connor Claire) and my torbie girl cat (Pretty Girl Rosie, a.k.a. PGR).

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