Makeup artist Ross Burton's favorite things have a way of becoming Oprah's favorite things as well. He'll be presenting master classes at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. May 28 at Nordstrom.
A woman I just met asked me for some cosmetic advice because she feels she needs a total makeover. Well, her timing is perfect, because there's no shortage of makeup and skin experts in town for the Nordstrom Cosmetic Trend Event taking place in-store May 28.
I was able to catch up with some of them early, including Hylton Lea of ReVive Skincare, George Smart of Osmotics, and Ross Burton, whose favorite things often become Oprah Winfrey's favorite things because she relies on her makeup artist's advice.
Prior to working with Oprah, he was the artistic director for Lancome Paris, accustomed to working for a single brand. His work has intensified as he's now inundated with product from every brand imaginable and says it's his duty to "vet, test and try" products before he can recommend them to Winfrey.
One of his favorite things that has also become hers is the Clarisonic brush, which helps to cleanse and exfoliate.
His favorite things tend to be multi-use products, like YSL's Touche Eclat pens, which can be used as an eyeshadow base, mask skin imperfections, cover dark circles under the eyes and highlight the eyes.
Other favorite products:
NARS Illuminators: Can be applied directly to the skin or added to any moisturizer to add a sheer, natural glow to skin.
Chanel Rouge Coco Shine: Lip color that combines the best attributes of a lipstick and gloss, adding sheer color to lips, with a transparency that allows one's own skin color to show through, for an individualized color effect. It's really beautiful.
Bobbi Brown bronzers: in multicolors to suit any skin tone, to highlight and contour.
Going back to the woman in need of a makeover. A lot of times, it's a matter of keeping up with trends, whether in hairstyle or use of color cosmetics. Burton said many women get stuck in a rut. "They keep using products that don't work for them anymore because they felt most beautiful when they were using it." It's pretty obvious when you see 40-year-old women with hair and styles and makeup styles that were last "in" when they were in high school.
The three tips he dispenses all the time are:
1. Organize: Clean out your drawers and shoe boxes; discard cosmetics that don't work and keep what does work.
2. Take your cues from fashion: Just as you update your wardrobe with a new belt, shoe or handbag, update your cosmetic wardrobe with a new lipstick, blush and eyeshadow in the latest colors and formulations, and learn to use them in contemporary ways. For instance, as skincare has improved, foundation has become light and sheer, often no more than an SPF-tinted moisturizer that allows you to see skin, not makeup.
3. Do your research: Keep up with the latest beauty blogs and magazines, which seasonally offer their own hot lists of products that work.
As to whether proximity to Oprah is putting Burton on a path to having his own OWN television show, he plays it coy, only saying only time will tell, but adding, "Makeover shows are always popular."
