We bring you the best beauty secrets from one of the most highly regarded industry experts. Kai Vinson, Director of Artistry at Bobbi Brown, has some hot tips to make your eyes pop and lips pout.
Beauty Rules for Ageing Gracefully
There are so many options for fighting ageing and maintaining youthfulness, but everything starts with moisture.
A lot of our ageing is caused by lack of moisture in the skin. When compounded by pollution, sun, smoking, drinking and other environmental elements, this can lead to premature ageing and fine lines and wrinkles.
While keeping hydrated and eating healthy goes a long way in helping us look and feel better, moisturiser is invaluable when it comes boosting skin health. Eye cream is one of my favourite products and is sometimes the most neglected.
What I use
I use Bobbi Brown’s Extra Eye Repair cream in the daytime, which really works to balance the skin’s moisture barrier while reducing dark circles and boosting collagen. I partner that with La Mer Eye Concentrate, which I use at nighttime. I like how the two work together.
An insider’s secret
A great trick, used by lots of beauty insiders, is to apply eye cream to the lips as well. Don’t apply it to just the lip surface, but the area around your lips as well. A great collagen-boosting eye cream will help reduce the fine lines that occur around the lips, while also keeping them plump and youthful.
As far as makeup goes, less sometimes really is more. To enhance your eyes and make them look more youthful, concealer is extremely effective.
By reducing any darkness or redness under the eye, concealer enhances anything you apply over the top. The brightness of concealer instantly takes years off the complexion, and makes the face look less tired.
For eye makeup, I really love a fresh eye. I think this looks really modern. Using softer and brighter shades, compared to smoky hues, creates a youthful look and is also very on-trend. While a smoky eye can always be sexy, a fresh eye brings youth and vitality to the face.
Eye makeup as we age
It is important to use an eyeliner rich in intensity, even as we age. Many women will opt for softer eyeliner shades as they get older, but the opposite is actually better. As you lose definition – and usually lashes as well – it is important to rebuild that definition in the lash line.
If you want a softer lid line, choose a product like Bobbi Brown’s Long Wear Eye liner pencil, then use a soft smudging brush like the Smokey Eye Brush to diffuse the definition. For a crisp defined look, it’s best to use gel eye liner. The density of colour, and it’s application right into the lashes, will really awaken and open up the eyes – particularly with several coats of mascara.
Perfect your pout
For lips, you have so many options, from nude and natural to bold and red. Bobbi always says finding your perfect nude is the most flattering. To do this, you want to find a colour that closely matches your natural lip tone, but brightens it just a little bit. This always looks fresh and youthful.
Lip colour as we age
I think the key to perfecting lip colour during ageing, is not wearing colours that are too dark or dull, even if they are on trend.
Colours that are a bit brighter usually look best and add youthfulness to the appearance. Colours like soft pinks, corals, roses, and pinkish nudes are always really striking.
While bold colours are very on trend at the moment, if you are not comfortable wearing a bright fuchsia or orange, try it in a stain. Take the bold colour and just dab it on the centre of your lip, then blend it in with your finger after it has softly stained your lip. Following this, just apply your lip-balm over the top. This look is seen on some of the most beautiful celebrities today, such as Jennifer Lopez, Julia Roberts and Nicole Kidman. It is very modern, powerful and youthful look.
