The make-up face-lift
Bobbi Brown
Posted Wed, 20 Feb 2008
I was thirty years old when I discovered that make-up could have the same (or better) effect on a woman's face as a face-lift. Gail, a close friend of mine, was about to turn forty. She was fretting about her upcoming birthday and depressed by what she considered the beginning of her "physical demise".
Even though we were 10 years apart in age, I had never thought of Gail as an older woman — I only thought of her as totally beautiful. Gail told me she was considering plastic surgery and was making appointments and consultations with the best surgeons.
A fresher look
I felt strongly that Gail just needed the right make-up to freshen up her look. So I insisted that she visit me at the Frederic Fekkai Salon, where I was the resident make-up artist.
Gail agreed to stop by. Before picking up any of my brushes or make-up, I sat Gail down and asked her to tell me what was bothering her about her face. She complained about her falling eyelids (yes, she did have bedroom eyes, but I thought they were beautiful in an Elvis or Charlotte Rampling kind of way). Next, Gail pointed out sagging skin (honestly, I didn't see what she was talking about) and sallow complexion (ok, her tan was fading).
How it's done
When Gail was done with her rant, I stepped back to take in her face and then started my work. First, I focused on Gail's skin. To lessen the look of her fine lines and give her skin a smoother, plumped-up look, I gently applied a quick-absorbing eye cream, a hydrating moisturiser, and a touch of rich face balm.
I lightened the dark circles under her eyes with just the right combination of concealers, making sure to apply concealer as close to her lashes as possible and into the inner corner of her eye socket. Next I smoothed on tinted moisturiser, followed by a stick foundation only on the parts of her face that were uneven (around her nose and the sides of her face).
I countered her sallow colouring with a medium bronzer on her cheeks. Forehead, nose and neck.
The fun part
Now that her skin looked flawless, I moved on to the fun part of the process — make-up to lift her features. I softly filled in her eyelids with soft blonde shadow to lift them, and used a combination of bone eye shadow (dusted all over the lid) and soft contour shadow (applied to the sides of the eyelid crease) to lift the eyes and give them more definition.
Next, I lined her bright blue eyes with a navy shadow to bring them out. I finished off her eyes by curling her lashes, and brushing on two coats of very rich black mascara.
I applied a pop of bright pink blush on the apples of Gail's cheeks, then patted a bit of balm on top to give her a glow — and take her attention away from the lines that bugged her.
The last step was a pinky-nude lipstick, lip pencil, and soft pink gloss on her lips.
I handed her the mirror. After a few seconds she said exactly what I hoped she would: "Oh my it's like an instant face-lift."
Bobbi's five instant look lifters
Plump
Layer skincare formulas (a wet hydrating cream under a rich, dense balm) to give skin a plumped-up, cushy look. Use the warmth of your fingers to help blend the creams.
Brighten
Lighten the under-eye area and draw your attention up with a pink- or peach- corrective concealer, paired with a yellow-toned concealer. Be sure to apply concealer close to the lashes and to the inner corner of the eye as well.
Pop
Dust blush high on the apples of your cheeks.
Define
When lining eyes, extend the liner ever so slightly at the outer corner of the eye. Make sure the liner is thick enough and visible when your eyes are open.
Finish
After applying lipstick and
pencil, layer a shade of light-reflecting, high-shine lip gloss on top.
