MAKING UP IS EASY TO DO:
Bobbi Brown in her Montclair studio.
It’s late morning, and quiet, until Bobbi BROWN breezes—yes, she actually breezes—into her Montclair studio. “Look at you!” she exclaims to her twentysomething publicist. ”You’re so skinny!”
“Look at you!“ returns the publicist, commenting
on Brown’s low-cut blouse. But Brown is not embarrassed, not really, despite the room full of people—the assistant, the hairstylist, the makeup artist, the art director, the photographer. This is real life for Bobbi Brown, and she does not change it just because someone is looking. Besides, the publicist is a family friend, the granddaughter of Yogi Berra, and Brown has known her since the publicist was a child.
Indeed, Bobbi Brown, 51, makeup guru, beauty editor
for NBC’s The Today Show, outrageously successful business executive, political advocate (she was an early supporter and fund-raiser for Senator Barack Obama), author of several hot-selling beauty books, mother of three boys (Dylan, 18; Dakota, 15; and Duke, 9), wife of New Jersey real-estate developer Steven Plofker, is all about being true to yourself. Even—and especially—when it comes to beauty.
“I don’t mind lines on a woman’s face,” says Brown.
Helen Mirren, Meryl Streep, Susan Sarandon—they’re all beautiful in Brown’s
view.
It’s an attitude that perhaps also explains why Brown so loves living in Montclair,
when she could easily afford Manhattan, Malibu, or any other enclave of the rich
and famous. It’s easy for her to be herself here, to run to the supermarket,
take a spinning class, drop off her kids at school. (Brown makes a point of noting
that her boys all attend public school. It’s important that they live in
the real world, she says. And when people debate the point, saying the boys could
get lost in the system, that Montclair schools are so big, she has an answer
for that too: “You know what? The world’s bigger.”)
 And
so, in Montclair, on Mother’s Day, you could have seen Brown at Whole
Foods buying groceries for dinner
(the in-laws were coming). Which is not to say her family forgot
about her—she
had already celebrated with a week
at the luxurious Canyon Ranch spa and retreat, and, on Mother's
Day, one son made breakfast (an egg-white omelet, grapefruit),
another son took her to lunch, and the third cleaned the garage.
But it was Brown who made dinner—flank
steak, pan-seared scallops, vegetables (okra, fiddlehead ferns, and English peas),
and garlic bread. After dinner, in a nod to the significance of the day, “I
didn’t clean up.”
But this is Bobbi Brown, and the reality is, she never has to
do dishes. This day, for instance, she is figuring out what to
wear the next night to accept a trendsetter award at a Modern
Bride ceremony and to attend a Kanye West concert (she’s a huge fan, and is going with her oldest son and his girlfriend).
For the record, she’s thinking black pants, high heels,
and sparkly top for the ceremony; then she will add a blazer
and switch to flats for the concert.
For Brown, reality is being hostess to golf pro Natalie Gulbis,
who was an overnight guest of the family while she played in
the Sybase Classic at the Upper Montclair Country Club. While
visiting, Gilbus gave golf tips to the boys—tips she
got directly from Tiger Woods. (And the boys, who are usually
nonplussed by the perks of mom’s success, were impressed
with this one.)he reality also is that Brown oversees a continuously
growing makeup empire, with products sold in 400 stores and 20
countries. She’s working on her
fifth book, and has recently opened a second freestanding makeup
studio (in South Carolina). Hers is an all-American success story.
Yankee great Yogi Berra is a frequent guest at Brown's Montclair home.
A Chicago native, she started—with
a lot of guts and a degree in theatrical makeup from Emerson
College—as
a freelance makeup artist in New York in the 1980s. At Kiehl’s
pharmacy one day, she complained about the quality of lipsticks
to a chemist, who agreed to mix something according to her instructions.
(“Brown” is the name, and it’s
still a top seller.) She started her business with $10,000 in
the late 1980s, and then sold it to Estée Lauder in
1995 for what some reports say was close to $74.5 million.
(Brown still owns the intellectual property rights.)
Yet this tiny woman—she’s only five feet tall—will
insist that she does not know why she is so successful, that
it’s kind of a freak accident. But anyone who knows anything
about Brown and her makeup knows better. The stories are legendary:
women mobbing Brown at Bloomingdale’s in Short Hills whenever
she makes a personal appearance; women who never wear lipstick,
but suddenly can’t live without the Bobbi Brown lip gloss
they once received in a goodie bag; women who go to Lord & Taylor
for a free consultation and end up spending hundreds of dollars
on her entire line of makeup.
 “In New York in the excessive 1980s, Bobbi Brown made it
big by pushing moderation,” writes Inc. magazine. “She
became makeup artist to the stars by introducing a palette of
natural hues—and along the way became a star herself,
with her name on a global brand.” Meet Bobbi Brown and you
realize immediately that it is not just the quality of the
makeup
that makes her brand so successful. Here is a woman of passion
and drive, with intelligence, business savvy, and a strong
work ethic. Her employees love her and she treats them well—an
on-site manicurist is one benefit—but they clearly scurry
to meet her exacting standards. (Her driver calls her Miss Daisy.)
Brown’s industrial chic studio is warm but pristine. Her
office itself is a carefully composed collection of her books,
black and white photos (Marilyn, JFK, Isabella Rossellini), her
white Estée Lauder lab coat from back in the day, a Bobbi
Brown surfboard. The studio space, with its heavy, warm antique
tables, is the location for the company’s
annual
BOBBI'S
TIPS
•Tell the truth
• Always be nice
• Follow your dreams and passions
• Don’t take no for an
answer
• Have long-term and mini goals
• Strike a balance between the big picture
and the details
• When you feel good, you look good
two-week boot camp for makeup artists. That’s
when individuals come from all over the country for intense
training sessions with Brown herself.
One of those artists is John Hernandez, who has been with the
company for twelve years and is in town from Atlanta. Today,
he’s doing Brown’s makeup, a task that could certainly
make an employee’s blood run cold. But if he is nervous,
he is not showing it. When he is finished, he asks the boss
if she would like a mirror.
“No,” she says. “I trust you.”Diane Sawyer
and Isabella Rossellini did not look when Brown did their makeup.
That was impressive. (On the other hand, when she did makeup
for the wives of Donald Trump and Julian Schnabel, the husbands
stood by to critique every move. “I’ll
take advice from Julian Schnabel,” says Brown, “but
not Donald Trump.”) With that, Brown turns to her staff. “How
do I look?
“Great,” everyone responds. She does look great.
But several minutes later, as she returns from a break, Brown
is wearing noticeably less makeup. ”
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