Anna Brown began her glam makeup career at 17 years-old. Her career began at Estee Lauder for a little
over a year, and then it was off to Los Angeles. While in LA, she attended Cinema Makeup school’s special effects master’s program. She is currently freelancing mostly on the west coast, with projects including VH1 reality show, LA Fashion Week, music videos, weddings, commercials, print and fashion spreads. Here are Anna Brown’s top 5 professional makeup tips for all girls to look glam.
1. Starting point: Prep.Prime.Perfect
“A good friend of mine, Shannon Pirie, who practically helped mold Benefit Cosmetics, while her 9-year career there, told me this piece of advice, prep. prime. perfect.”
The most important starting point in your makeup routine is these three steps. Prep, means prepping the skin for the day with moisturizer. When we keep the skin hydrated it helps that natural glow that we spend so much money trying to create.
Prime, means prime the face for makeup to be applied. Most primers have a “veil” affect over the skin meaning makeup sits on the veil and not that actual skin making the appearance of makeup look more porcelain.
Perfect, means finding the perfect foundation for your skin. Explore and understand what type of skin you have so it will better help determine what type of foundation you need. Do you have a yellow or pink undertone? Is it dry or oily? Do you sweat a lot? Share this information with your beauty consultants and find something that makes you the best you. And make sure it matches your neck, not your face because often times those two can be different colors and a makeup line is never a good thing.
2. Eye popping shadows: You need to find eye shadows that compliment your eye color.
A common misconception for bringing forth eye color is using that same color as an eye shadow. Stop walking around looking like Cyndi Lauper simply because you do not know any better. To make your eyes pop, you are going to want to find a color that is the opposite your eye color. So, for instance, blue eyes look best with warm tones such as, bronze, gold and copper tones. To get an idea of what colors work for your eyes, look at a color wheel.
3. False lashes: How to do it right.
“We have a love, annoyed relationship with these wispy beauties,” Brown says.
Most frustration comes with applying them. So, here are a few tricks from the professional.
Size the lashes
Before putting the glue onto the lashes line them up to your eye from the inside out, cutting the longer end of the lash off to perfectly fit your eye. Only extend the false lash as far as your natural lash goes.
Apply the glue
Brown says she personally likes Duo glue eyelash adhesive, you can find it at your local drugstores. “Squeeze out only a little bit of glue until it bubbles and run the base of the lashes along the bubble to help apply the glue,” Brown says.
Allow the glue to sit for about 30 to 45 seconds or until it gets tacky.
Tweezers
Anna uses Tweezers as her weapon of choice when applying these tricky little beauties “I find this most handy when needing to see the placement of the lashes. I get tweezers and grab the lashes in the middle towards the base so the glue is facing outward. I then place the lash at the center of my eye and then take the tweezers and start moving the lashes to where I want them, which is going to be at the very base of our lashes to create a sexy, yet natural lash. Meeeeeow.”
4. Exfoliation. “Ok, I might come off as a snob right now, but I must say it. Ladies, the importance of exfoliation is a investment to your future and well, you get the choice if your future is bright and radiant, or dull and full of dead skin.” Exfoliation allows for the removal of dead skin so newly, fresh skin is what is seen. When dead skin sits on top for too long, skin gets heavy and dry, causing the breakdown of collagen. “Yes, we naturally have collagen sitting underneath our skin just begging us to LIGHTEN UP. The repairing of collapsed collagen is much more expensive than our said exfoliator. Now, here is where I will sound like a snob. Do not go cheap on your exfoliator; the reason being is a lot of the drugstore exfoliators are going to be too rough for the skin. You must find something that gently exfoliates the skin and not irritate it with harsh scrubbing,” Anna says. Only exfoliate 2-3 times per week to keep the skin fresh and clean.
5. Red Lips. Not every red is going to work for everyone. Some skin types look better with a blue-based red, some a pink-based red, some a yellow-based red, but according to Anna “the point is you can’t be afraid to try.” Go to a place with testers (that have been sanitized) “Maybe go at a time when you know you only have to go home afterwards, so, if you leave looking like a clown the only person to judge you, will be your cat,” Anna says.
6. BONUS TIP. Anna kindly leaves us with these inspiring words, not only can she creates beauty, but she radiates it from the inside and out.
“If there was anything that I want you to walk away with and add to your makeup routine is, find what you love most about yourself and wear that. There is nothing more stunning than a woman who knows her worth.” Cosmetics are fun, but I remind myself every few days that its just lipstick. Beauty shines from the inside out and when you sit down to do your makeup, when you are talking with your beauty consultant, or when you are reading the beauty magazine…. don’t ever allow the feeling that you need something you don’t already have, and that’s beauty. You are beautiful. Find your beauty and flaunt it.”
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