A Date at the Bobbi Brown Counter

On Friday I had an appointment to get a little makeover at the Bobbi Brown Counter in Saks Fifth Avenue. A bunch of professional makeup artists from the Bobbi Brown School were in to do makeovers and help people discover ways to "deal" with what they found to be their imperfections the "Bobbi Brown Way" (which means accepting my freckles, a feat that I still struggle with). I mostly went in to speak with the makeup artists and pick their brains a little bit. I actually got to meet Ricki Gurtman, who worked with Bobbi doing makeup for her newest book "Beauty Rules" and also on her book for older women, "Living Beauty" (she's actually pictured in it, too!).

If you don't know much about Bobbi Brown, you should really check out one of her books, go visit a Bobbi Brown Cosmetics counter, or even just check out her website online. My very first beauty book I ever purchased when I was just coming out of Jr. High was Bobbi Brown's "Teenage Beauty." She's definitely in my Top 3 favorite make-up artists of all time. Not just because of her work, but because she's so down-to-earth and believes in embracing your natural beauty.

Now don't get me wrong, I love experimenting with colors and ideas, but a lot of us girls get this idea in our heads that people won't like us as much if we go without eyeliner, or mascara, or look at all like our natural selves. About a year or two ago I couldn't go out of my dorm room without makeup if I knew another human being would see me. I just couldn't. I had to AT LEAST be wearing eyeliner and full-coverage foundation or the world would simply not accept me. Or so I thought. Then I realized how incredibly silly I was being and tried an experiment..I started wearing my makeup naturally. I got rid of the eyeliner and used only one or two [natural] colors on my eyes. Guess what? I survived. No one treated me differently. I felt different, but I kept doing it for about a year or so until I really felt more comfortable in my skin.

After I finally felt like I accepted my natural appearance, I started pulling out the more exciting looks again. I learned something by doing this. I am my worst critic. I didn't think my natural appearance was bearable to look at, but it was simply me being critical of myself and using makeup to try and create a whole new being.

I believe this is the message that Bobbi Brown tries to convey to her audience. It's not a crime to have fun with your makeup, but we shouldn't use it as an escape from who we really are.

I got a lot of cool stuff while I was there, I'm REALLY excited about the gel eyeliner. That's my new fetish, gel eyeliner because you don't have to pull on your eyes to apply it, and it's long-lasting! Here are some of the things I got while I was there, I did get a lot of free stuff, but that was simply because they were giving it away for the event they were having that day:

"Beauty Rules" Book $24.95

Black Ink Long-Wear Gel Liner $21

Denim Ink Long-Wear Gel Liner $21

Golden Peach Metallic Eye Shadow $20

Sand Dollar Long-Wear Cream Shadow $22

Pink Sugar Shimmer Blush $22

EXTRA Eye Repair Cream $64

Black Extreme Party Mascara (Not pictured because I forgot, oops!) $22