Surrey Homes | SH43 | May 2018 | Restoration & New Build supplement inside

Rouge Coco Lip
Blushes £28 each
Chanel
chanel.com
Beauty
Makeup
makeover
Les Beiges Healthy
Glow Sheer Powder
£40 Chanel
chanel.com
Refresh your face – and your makeup bag – with a trip to the experts on these beauty counters says Josephine Fairley
When women sometimes tell me that they’re thinking
about a facelift, I have one, very simple piece of
advice: get a makeup makeover, instead. Done
well, makeup can take off ten years, but it’s all too easy to get
stuck in a rut, not knowing where to turn for advice on new,
potentially life-changing (or at least looks-changing) makeup
innovations, tips and tricks that address the fact that just as
the sun rises and sets every day, our faces change, over time.
I love a makeover. If I have even ten minutes while
traversing a department store, I’m like a heat-seeking missile,
making for one of a handful of beauty counters where I find
the consultants particularly adept at giving my techniques a
refresh. Before I launch into my favourite counters, though,
there are a few things to bear in mind.
“Done well,
makeup can take
off ten years, but
it’s all too easy to
get stuck in a rut”
It pays to figure out first what is missing
from your makeup regime. Are you looking
for a new brow look, or a primer, or a tinted
moisturiser? Do some inventory, first –
see what in your make up bag is looking
really tired, or you’re just bored of. And
as with everything in life, communicate,
communicate, communicate. Tell the
consultant about the kind of makeup you like to wear –
barely-there, or full-on? Is it for a special occasion, a wedding,
evening wear, work, or just chilling at home? Interact. Make
it a dialogue. She (or he) is a makeup pro, not Mystic Meg.
With all that in mind, here’s where I head for a face refresh.
Bobbi Brown. A longstanding go-to. Even though my
friend Bobbi (who I’ve known right from when she first
launched) is no longer at the helm of her brand, her original
philosophy – making you look like you, only prettier – is
still its guiding light. Bobbi Brown offer various different
makeup lessons, with the (reasonable) fee redeemable against
purchase. One of these sessions can be brilliant for finding
your personal ‘match’ and what defines a great makeup
range, for me, is that it offers a wealth of colours that look
natural on the skin, rather than as if they’re wearing you.
Personally, I think the full-session Bobbi Brown makeup
lessons are absolutely worth it. I’ve taken several of the
teen girls in my life, over the years, as well as given them
as gifts for more mature friends, and they never fail to be
wowed. Go to bobbibrown.co.uk to book an appointment.
Laura Mercier. Another of the pioneering ‘makeup artist
brands’, with lovely Laura still giving great creative input.
I never knowingly pass a Laura Mercier counter without
asking to be ‘Tightline-d’. This is a technique
with cake Tightliner eyeshadow which lines
super-close to the lash-line, creating an
amazing illusion of lash length. (Don’t let
on, but if you’re not over-diligent about eye
makeup removal at night, the effect can last
a couple of days!) Again, Laura’s colours are
very wearable, the textures melt into skin
and the Laura Mercier makeup pros are just
brilliant for sharing tricks. Just ask them. Find stockists at
lauramercier.com (you have to scroll all the way down to the
bottom of the home page, to find ‘store locator’ on the left).
By Terry Gosh, writing this, I realise how incredibly
privileged I’ve been with the makeup artists I’ve known over
the years – as with Laura and Bobbi, I’ve known Terry de
Gunzburg for aeons (actually since she was at YSL, where
she came up with the iconic Touche Éclat). As that suggests,
nobody quite does light-reflective pigments like Terry –
which means her collection is great news for mature skins,
129 surrey-homes.co.uk