Beauty rules for the iGeneration

Whatever you call the teens and twentysomethings who have never known life without the Internet — iGen, Generation Z or the millennials — they form a significant part of the beauty market and Bobbi Brown is ready for them.

The celebrity makeup artist recently released her sixth beauty book targeting that very market, Bobbi Brown Beauty Rules, with a new twist — an accompanying Beauty Rules face palette and holiday collection that are now available at Rustan’s.

Brown’s Singapore training manager, Cecilia Tay, came to Manila last week to launch both book and makeup at Rustan’s Makati, bringing along her favorite Bobbi Brown makeup artist from Singapore, a Filipino by the name of Noel Subade. On model Gwyneth de la Cruz, Tay and Subade demonstrated many of the rules in the book, which Brown describes as the “go-to guide for all girls” who want Bobbi Brown’s special brand of radiantly pretty.

Using the Beauty Rules palette, which looks like an extremely cute school binder with a pencil that you can use to line eyes, Tay and Subade showed us how to create oh-so-easy looks for day and night.

Recipe for Perfect-Looking Skin

• Before putting on any makeup, prep your skin with hydrating skincare. “Toner, serum, moisturizer, eye cream and sunblock are very important,” says Tay.

Demonstrating the Bobbi way: Bobbi Brown Singapore training manager Cecilia Tay (right), makeup artist Noel Subade and model Gwyneth de la Cruz at Rustan’s Makati. Pho-tos by JUN MENDOZA

• Use a corrector to neutralize dark circles under your eyes. “Concealer might not cover all the dark circles,” observes Tay, “so you need corrector first. Fair skin needs pinky tones, while most Filipinas need peach.”

Subade applied the corrector with a concealer brush, using downward strokes and pressing in with his fingers. “Don’t rub to blend as this will rub the product off,” Tay noted.

• Add a second layer of concealer. Apply with very light strokes so you don’t mix the two layers into each other but the concealer floats on top of the corrector. Blend in with finger.

• To find your perfect foundation shade, swatch your skin with three foundation sticks. Bobbi Brown has so many shades for every skin tone that each shade only has a 0.5 difference from each other, and can come as close as 0.25.

Once they had identified Gwyneth’s shade, Noel applied Photogenic Foundation starting from the center of her face. “The T-zone is oilier so keep it matte and bright,” Tay says. “Melt it in with fingers so it blends away brush lines and doesn’t look like a mask.”

• The Bobbi Brown trend is to keep it glowing, not matte. To conceal blemishes, use the Face Touch Up stick after foundation and set with a brightening shade of pale yellow loose powder. Use very little and sweep outwards.

Day Look for School or Office

The Beauty Rules face palette contains four eye shadows, two pot rouges (creamy stains that can be used on lips and cheeks), a creamy eye pencil in Jet and three lip glosses. The best part is you don’t need makeup brushes — you can use your fingers to apply all the products in this palette, which makes it perfect to pop into a schoolbag or tote.

• Makeup should start from the easiest to the most time-consuming, which means cheeks first, lips next, and eyeshadow last. This is so that if you don’t have time to complete all the steps before leaving the house, you’ll still look presentable with a healthy flush. Smile to bring out the apples of your cheeks and pat in the pot rouge in Baby Pink. You can also apply this two-in-one product on your lips. Moisten with Air Kiss lip gloss.

• When doing eyeshadow, always think “three shades.” Use the lightest as a base from eyelid to brow bone (e.g. Ivory from the palette), a medium shade from lid to crease (Orchid Sparkle), and the darkest for a smoky eye or to use as liner (Eclipse). For ease, however, Noel used the Jet eye pencil to line top but not lower lashes to avoid smudging.

• When curling lashes, click and slowly tilt curler 45 degrees upwards to raise lashes high. Try Perfectly Defined mascara, which is smudge-proof and doesn’t require makeup remover to take off. The latest technology is mascara that forms tubes around your lashes, which you remove by rubbing with warm water and gently pulling the tubes off. Brown’s mascara technique is to put the wand at the lash base and zigzag all the way to the tips so mascara is gradually distributed. “If there’s too much mascara on the tips they will droop,” Tay says. 

Apply mascara on lower lashes, too. Brown has a really cool trick: hold a Q-Tip horizontally under lower lashes so your mascara wand can rest on the Q-Tip stem and there’s no mess.

• When defining brows, start from the arch. Brown prefers powder shadow to fill in, so the brows are the only part of the face that needs a brush. Start from the highest point and work outwards, making sure the brow tail is well defined so you don’t look sleepy. Never start from the inner corner, which may give you a hard look. For best results, follow the direction of hair growth, and keep your expression neutral.

Evening Look for Proms & Parties

Bobbi Brown also offers a Christmas Festive limited-edition collection that showcases the new look and direction of the brand. The Rustan’s counters and sleek black packaging now bear a gold crest, which hints that Brown is taking her brand heritage and legacy even more seriously.

• Gleam your cheekbones. One of the latest products is the Highlighter Pen, available in bronze, opal or rose. “In Singapore the customers love it,” says Tay. Click pen to apply on cheekbones, forehead, bridge of nose and chin for a 3D, glamorous evening look.

• Use a deeper shade of lipstick. On Gwyneth, Noel used the Beauty Rules palette’s pot rouge in Homecoming Pink.

• Try eye glitter for a party look. Holiday eye palettes like Smoky, Sultry, and Smoldering offer a variety of looks. With a smudge brush, apply the deep shade from lashes to near the socket with glitter, press in and smudge out. The intensity is up to you.

• When lining eyes, make sure there are no white gaps in between. Using the ultra-fine eyeliner brush, line upper and lower lash lines with gel liner. The story behind this signature product goes that Bobbi forgot her eye pencil at a shoot so she used her mascara as eyeliner. Everyone liked it so much she reformulated it as a gel, which is easier to apply than liquid and more forgiving, giving you the option of adjusting or smudging your line before the gel sets. For a soft, smoky effect, set with eyeshadow.

• For a fake-lash look, use three coats of mascara. Curl lashes first and top your day mascara with Extreme Party mascara, followed by Define and Curl mascara to volumize and thicken. “These don’t smudge. You can party and sweat the whole night and you won’t get the panda look,” assures Tay.

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The Bobbi Brown Beauty Rules book and all products are available at Bobbi Brown in Rustan’s Makati and Rustan’s Tower Shangri-La Plaza Mall.