“The media and our celebrity-driven society are convincing women that they need to be nipped and tucked in order to look good, and that’s bad news,” says Brown, who is on a mission to educate women that they don’t need plastic surgery to look their best. Here’s proof: Brown recently consulted with five Prevention readers eager to fix their facial “flaws.” With a wave of her brush and a dab of her sponge, she showed them that makeup can be a beautiful—and empowering—alternative to plastic surgery. Her methods can work for you, too. (Looking for anti-aging advice that works? Prevention has smart answers—get a FREE trial + 12 FREE gifts.) Wanted: Less Blotchy Skin Tanning has been advertising executive Sue Snyder’s summer pastime since she was a teen. “My friends and I would slather on baby oil; then we’d fry in the sun all day,” she admits. “My tanning days ended when my 2½-year-old grandson recently asked, ‘Grandma, what’s that brown stuff on your face?’ " Since then, Snyder says she’s grown increasingly self-conscious about her sun-damaged skin. “When I try to hide the splotches with makeup, it looks like I’m wearing a mask, so I’d have plastic surgery in a minute if only my insurance covered it,” she confesses. Sue Snyder, 47 Brown’s first order of the day is to make a pact with her client: “Sue, promise me you’ll wear an SPF 15 sunblock every time you’re in the sun,” she prods. Snyder agrees. That settled, Brown goes to work: “Here’s how you can even out your complexion yet maintain its natural glow,” Brown says, sponging a sheer cream foundation all over Snyder’s face to subtly even out her complexion. Then, using an eye-shadow brush, she dots matching stick foundation only on her brown, sun-damaged spots and then pats with her fingertip to subtly hide imperfections. The finishing touch—a dusting of translucent yellow-toned powder—helps Snyder’s now flawless-looking skin stay that way for hours. The Fix: Light Camouflage MORE: 9 Haircuts That Take Off Years Wanted: A Smaller Nose After recently losing 50 pounds, Janice Taylor says her problem is that she’s too happy. “I’m smiling all the time, and when I grin my nose takes over my face,” says the artist-turned-weight loss coach. “So I try to divert attention from my nose with strong lip color, plus I hide behind funky eyeglasses.” Janice Taylor, 51 Brown focuses on maximizing Taylor’s best assets: her beautiful lips and expressive eyes. “To be honest, dark lipstick accentuates your nose by drawing attention to the center of your face,” Brown tells Taylor. “Plus, you have such an awesome natural lip color that your mouth doesn’t warrant more coverage than a sheer tinted gloss.” Brown chooses a barely-there grape for Taylor’s mouth, and then, moving on, shows her how to make her eyes the focal point of her face. The Fix: Accentuate the Positive Turns out that the glasses Taylor were hiding behind actually accentuate her nose. “And your eye sockets are darker than the rest of your skin, which also hides your eyes,” Brown notes. To fix this, she lightens Taylor’s undereye shadows with a double layer of concealer: bisque as a brightening base, topped with a slightly more yellow shade that matches her overall complexion. She blends each layer of concealer using a small, flat brush and finishes with glossy black mascara and liner. “The key is to extend concealer right up close to the lash line and around the innermost corner of the eye as well,” Brown says. Minus the dark shadows, Taylor’s beautiful eyes virtually pop—and her nose seems to shrink. MORE: 10 Amazing Beauty Tricks With Coconut Oil Wanted: Eyes That Open Up “I always thought my eyes were my best feature, but now they’re starting to bug me,” says attorney Rosamaria Caballero Stafford. She thinks her eyes are looking a bit droopy. “It’s bound to get worse with age,” she says, “so I really want to learn some makeup tricks to keep my eyes looking young.” Rosamaria Caballero Stafford, 40 Brown shows Stafford how makeup works like an instant eye-lift. Her technique is to layer three tiers of eye shadow and then use a special lining trick. “Brushing a light shadow—in this case, champagne, because it complements Rosamaria’s sallow skin—over the entire lid immediately makes the eyes look less tired,” says Brown. The Fix: Lift with Liner Next comes a neutral taupe, smudged not on but right above the crease. “It’s a common mistake to hide eye shadow in the crease, but when applied just above, it has a contouring effect that makes the lids look bigger and more wide open,” she adds. After that, a dab of white shadow under the brow bone reflects light, lifting the eyes to make them sparkle. For liner, Brown applies black shadow along the lash line using a damp liner brush. “The secret is to gradually thicken the line, extending it to the outside and then sweeping it up once you pass the outer corner of the eye,” Brown explains. She defines Stafford’s lower lash line with the faintest smudge of dry black powder shadow. Then she shows Stafford another eye-opening trick: “After you line your lids, be sure your top and bottom liner meet at the outer corner of the eye before you apply mascara,” she says. A final surprise makeup-artist technique: “Watch what happens when I give Rosamaria’s face some spark with a hit of berry blush,” Brown demonstrates, dusting blush from the very top of Stafford’s cheek, up along her hairline, and to her temples. “The diagonal pop of color lifts her eyes even more.” MORE: 7 Reasons You’re Tired All The Time Wanted: Fuller Lips Sweeney admits that she’d love to have a pleasantly pouty mouth like Jennifer Garner’s. But because she doesn’t, “I never even bother putting on lipstick,” says the stay-at-home mom. Sweeney tells us that every Christmas her two sisters give her a bunch of lipsticks as a stocking stuffer—hint, hint—yet she never uses them. “I shy away from wearing lipstick because I think it focuses attention on the fact that I have really thin lips.” Allyson Sweeney, 31 “For plumper-looking lips, start with lipstick that’s a few shades brighter than your bare lips,” Brown tells Sweeney. “And avoid dark colors because they overpower and minimize thin lips.” She also says that lip pencil that matches the lipstick—rather than your skin—is the key to plumping up a pout. Brown favors tinted gloss (“flattering, and you don’t even need a mirror to apply it”). But the pro advises against an old trick, frosted gloss dabbed on the lower lip (“so outdated”), and against long-wearing colors, because they dry out the lips, which can make them look even thinner. The Fix: Shine On MORE: Drink This, Sleep 90 Minutes More A Night Wanted: A Stronger Chin “I have a small chin to begin with, plus I frequently tuck my head down when talking, which makes me look chinless,” says stay-at-home mom Shannon. “My two teenage daughters love to tease me about it—‘Mom, you’re doing that chin thing again’—which is their signal for me to untuck my chin.” Bess Shannon, 45 Shannon would have no problem with a chin implant if she could just magically wake up with it one morning, but she’s squeamish about surgery. However, she rarely wears makeup. “I used to think makeup called too much attention to my face, especially my chin,” she says. The Fix: A Defined JawlineBrown shows Shannon a simple two-part solution to her tiny chin. Part one: “Brush bronzing powder along and under your jawline,” says Brown. “The dark shading creates definition between your face and your neck, so both your jaw and your chin look stronger.” Part two is a clever use of eye makeup to showcase Shannon’s eyes and divert attention from her chin. Brown eases the makeup-shy Shannon into it by showing her how to maintain a natural look. Bone-colored shadow, brushed from Shannon’s lash line to her brow, serves as a brightening eye-makeup base. The next step is to define her top lid with nearly black gel liner. Finally, Brown curls Shannon’s lashes and brushes on lengthening black mascara to open her eyes even wider. Now, Shannon’s eyes really sparkle and her entire face looks perfectly proportioned. No more disappearing chin here!
