Beauty Tips

Celebrity makeup artist Bobbi Brown and her fantastic range of beauty products have been helping you look gorgeous for more than a decade. Now she's sharing her behind-the-scenes beauty tips in a new book, Bobbi Brown Makeup Manual. Browse the gallery for Bobbi's personal style secrets, then leave a comment below to win a free copy of the new book.

People might be surprised to know that my secret beauty weapon is: Concealer, its the secret of the universe.

Getty Images/Bobbi Brown

The drugstore product that I've been using forever is: Dr. Bronner's Peppermint soap.

Dr Bronner's

My favorite skincare product/trick is: In cold dry weather, use olive oil on skin and hair to keep it moisturized and healthy looking.

Getty Images/SXC

The best hair care is: Leonor Greyl or Bumble and Bumble's Crème de Coco products.

Bumble and Bumble/Leonor Greyl

I never travel without: My iPhone.

Getty Images

My fashion staple is: Hudson jeans.

Getty Images

My latest shoe obsession is: Prada loafers.

Prada

The biggest beauty risk I have ever taken is: Cutting off all my hair when I was 21.

Bobbi Brown

What makes you feel your best? I feel my best right after I get off my spinning bike.

Kettler

Mezhgan's philosophy is that the goal of wearing makeup is to get compliments on how pretty you look, not how good your makeup looks. This week she has some tips to help you look stunning without looking like you're wearing a lot of makeup, like our beautiful model India De Beaufort.

Model: India De Beaufort
Photographer: zaazphotography
Makeup artist: Mezhgan
Products: me by (me)zhgan

Start With A Great Canvas
Most importantly you want to have a great canvas to start from. This is where your foundation comes in. Mezhgan recommends using a liquid foundation over a primer because it makes it go on smoother and last a bit longer.

Model: India De Beaufort
Photographer: zaazphotography
Makeup artist: Mezhgan
Products: me by (me)zhgan
Get the look with luminous (me) primer and foundation.

Apply Foundation for an Even Tone
You want to use your liquid foundation to even out your skin tone, not necessarily cover any flaws. This is where so many people go wrong!

Model: India De Beaufort
Photographer: zaazphotography
Makeup artist: Mezhgan
Products: me by (me)zhgan
Get the look with luminous (me) primer and foundation.

Concealer for Extra Coverage
Use a concealer to take care of anything that needs a little extra covering up, like blemishes or dark circles.

Model: India De Beaufort
Photographer: zaazphotography
Makeup artist: Mezhgan
Products: me by (me)zhgan
Get the look with flawless (me) concealer and perfecting powder.

Powder Sets the Canvas
Set your make up by gently brushing on translucent powder, which won't alter the color of your foundation. This method leaves you looking flawless and gives you coverage where you need it when you need it instead of all over.

Model: India De Beaufort
Photographer: zaazphotography
Makeup artist: Mezhgan
Products: me by (me)zhgan
Get the look with flawless (me) concealer and perfecting powder.

A Bit of Blush
Next dust a bit of a subtle blush color starting at the apples of your cheeks and sweeping through the hairline. Be careful not to go too far in on the face close to the nose. It will look unnatural. You can also mix a highlighter along the top of your cheek to give a subtle glow.

Model: India De Beaufort
Photographer: zaazphotography
Makeup artist: Mezhgan
Products: me by (me)zhgan
Get the look with cheeky (me) multi-color blush.

Brighten Your Eyes
Take a light shadow color and dust across the lid to brighten the eyes and open them up a little.

Model: India De Beaufort
Photographer: zaazphotography
Makeup artist: Mezhgan
Products: me by (me)zhgan
Get the look with naturally (me) eye shadow palette.

Subtly Define Your Eyes
Smudge a taupe or brown shadow/pencil in your natural lash line. This will define your eye but still not look like you are wearing liner.

Model: India De Beaufort
Photographer: zaazphotography
Makeup artist: Mezhgan
Products: me by (me)zhgan
Get the look with naturally (me) eye shadow palette.

Embrace the Eyelash Curler
Use an eyelash curler to curl your lashes. This instantly opens up your eyes!

Model: India De Beaufort
Photographer: zaazphotography
Makeup artist: Mezhgan
Products: me by (me)zhgan
Get the look with reveal (me) eyelash curler.

Enhance With Mascara
Follow up with a few coats of mascara to further define your eyes. Make sure to replace your mascara often to avoid clumping, not to mention bacteria!

Model: India De Beaufort
Photographer: zaazphotography
Makeup artist: Mezhgan
Products: me by (me)zhgan
Get the look with look at (me) volumizing mascara.

We caught up with the adorable Carson Kressley (Queer Eye for the Straight Guy) at NYC's The Cutting Room on the set of his series with Nikon: Look Good in Pictures. Our interview includes great tips for looking good in this year's holiday photos, including how to look sober and how to stand in front of the camera -- then read on to watch the most recent episode!

Annie Scott

Annie Scott: What mistakes do even gorgeous people make when taking a photo?
Carson Kressley: It doesn't matter what you look like if you're not having fun. You have to enjoy the process of being photographed, that's what models do so well. Or they can also act like the camera's not there and just be real. You also have to be careful not to oversmile or undersmile. Know your photo face.

Annie Scott

AS: How do you find your "photo face?" Practice?
CK: Practice practice practice, I can snap into my photo face at any time.

Annie Scott

AS: What was your biggest photo disaster?
CK: Oh, I've had plenty. I've had tanning salon goggle eyes, and there's one photo of me where I'm sideways, and I look pregnant. Just, absolutely pregnant.

Annie Scott

AS: What is the best angle to stand in front of the camera?
CK: You know what always works? The twist. Feet 90 degrees from the camera, then twist your torso toward the camera. It makes everyone look great.
AS: Like hieroglyphs!
CK: Yeah, it's like "Walk Like an Egyptian!"
AS: Pose like an Egyptian!
CK: That's right!

Annie Scott

AS: How do you make sure your hair is camera-ready?
CK: Hair Caviar by Alterna. Really, though, just keep an anti-frizz serum in your bag. They're small, like the John Frieda bottle, and you don't want flyaways.

Annie Scott

AS: Okay, especially for the holidays, how do you look sober when you're been drinking?
CK: I recommend Make Up For Ever, which is a high definition powder you can get at Sephora. It keeps your skin bright, matte, and not red, and it can go over anything you're already wearing. The secret to high def. powder is that it's really fine, it feels like silk. ...Or, if you get shiny, blot yourself with anything available. Even a cocktail napkin. And really, just take your photos early in the night.

Annie Scott

CK: Another thing I recommend is using the party setting on your camera. I lot of cameras have this nighttime setting, and what it does is it dulls the flash on your face, and amps up the ambient light, so it creates the illusion of soft lighting, which is what makes everyone look good. So no one would know you'd been drinking, except for the 14 empty highball glasses next to you.

(Photo of StyleList's Annie Scott with Caron Kressley)

Annie Scott

AS: Do you have a tip for men and women as they get older? Should anything change about how you pose for a picture?
CK: It's all about lighting. I know older actresses who show up to TV sets with their own lights. Shadows show wrinkles. Know your flash settings, and you're golden.

Annie Scott

AS: Besides making sure the camera is on the right settings, what can you do to help out when you're taking the picture?
CK: Talk to your subjects. Even have a friend stand next to you and talk to them, make them laugh. It doesn't matter if they don't look into the camera, they'll look natural and not forced.

Annie Scott

Bad news for stylists, hair dressers, and any woman who's a fan of big 'ol Texas hair. A new study has found a disturbing link between your hairspray habit and an alarming birth defect. Researchers claim that boys whose mothers were around large amounts of hairspray may run the risk of being born with a genital disorder.

SXC

Scientists at the Imperial College London surveyed women who had boys born with a condition called hypospadias -- essentially, a deformity that causes the baby's urinary tract to grow where it shouldn't. According to those scientists, hairspray more than doubled the chance that the women's children would be born with this defect.

SXC

That said, it's not all bad news. The professor who led the study told the BBC that this new research didn't not prove conclusively that hairspray was to blame.

He went so far as to say: "Pregnant women will need to make their own choices about whether or not to avoid these kind of exposures."

But that doesn't mean dousing your head in hairspray is a good idea.

SXC

The number of hypospadias cases has gone up dramatically over the past twenty years, and many have been blaming a chemical called phthalates. As you might suspect, this chmeical is found in plastics -- namely the plasitcs used in hairspray.

Evidence is mounting, and certain types of phthalates have already been banned from hairsprays and other cosmetics.

SXC

You might recognize phthalates -- they've been in the news quite a bit recently, but mostly due to their ability to disrupt hormones. These revelations have led the European Union to ban the substance for toys (for quite some time).

SXC

However, before you completely freak out, while research has shown phthalates could mess with the production of testosterone in some animals (and could therefore effect the development of the urinary tract), studies in humans remain unclear.

So, while avoiding chemicals in hairspray and other cosmetics is a good idea -- particularly when you're pregnant -- you probably won't see any official word on this for a some time.

SXC

We've all been there. You pluck one eyebrow, and then you do the other, but they're not quite even. So, you pluck a few strays off the fuller one, and then clean up the other ... and suddenly, you look permanently surprised for the next month or two while they grow back in. Unless you're super handy with the eyebrow pencil, but even then, you'd better hope you don't get invited to a pool party. So what's the obvious solution? Eyebrow transplants!

Okay, in all honesty, if the overplucking is a one-time event, this probably isn't for you. However, if you've been plucking and waxing for years, or are lacking brows for any other reason, this could be an option.

Bosley offers eyebrow transplants as a simple procedure, and their before and after photos are pretty convincing (read on to see some of them). However, since we have no trouble growing full, Brooke Shields-esque brows, we'll have to pass. As a matter of fact, we're off to ward off a unibrow right now.

Bosley.com

Patient Kelly Becker was born with almost no brow hair, so she underwent the "Restore" treatment.

Bosley.com

Here's the after photo - looks pretty good to us!

Bosley.com

Patient Tara Bilbao was looking for a fuller brow line.

Bosley.com

Here's her after photo -- it certainly looks better to us. What do you think?

Bosley.com

Patient Leone Izumi was trying the "restore" treatment to undo some of the damage she'd done through plucking over the years.

Bosley.com

Her brows are certainly more shapely. The question is: Are better brows worth surgery?

Bosley.com