Make-up has long been a part of a woman’s daily routine but sometimes we fall into a bit of a rut when it comes to colours, products and techniques. It’s not uncommon to own numerous lipsticks, eyeliners and blush only to use the same ones day in, day out.

If you do wear make-up, regularly or not, it’s important to know how to apply it correctly to avoid common mistakes – such as the colour of your face not matching the colour of your neck, and blusher looking more ‘circus clown’ than ‘lightly flushed’. With this in mind, we head to Bobbi Brown who offer free classes to the public.

We meet Ade, our make-up artist, who first assesses our skin and asks us what we want to achieve. Bobbi Brown’s philosophy is all about simple, natural looking make-up – which suits everybody and is great for when you don’t have time for much else. Ade explains that she will show us a basic look and then some other tricks like a smokey eye for when we want a more dressed up look for going out in the evening.

Ade explains that before applying make-up, skin must be thoroughly clean. Bobbi Brown sell their own range of skincare and Ade chooses the Hydrating Creamy Cleanser for us because our skin is very dry. She explains that her mission isn’t to transform us, but to inspire us with our own make-up routine by showing us ‘what’s possible’ while making it achievable for everyday use.

We follow the cleansing with primer, the base for all make-up application, which comes in different varieties depending on what your skin type is. Primer is important because it acts to hold the make-up on your face, and helps to achieve a fresh and even look. Ade also applies some serum under the primer to ensure that the skin is very well hydrated.

Once the skin is moisturised and primed, Ade begins with concealer, which is applied under foundation to cover blemishes. A creamy concealer is blended under our eyes and Ade suggests not rubbing but patting it in with a brush to prevent any cakey lines appearing. She then does the same thing with any blemishes on our face. Even though she has already applied the concealer under our eyes she then uses a concealing pen in the same area to brighten, and we are taken by surprise at how awake it makes us look.

Next up is foundation, and Ade shows how to apply it to our face, starting with the forehead, using a soft foundation brush and then dotting our face with a make-up sponge to blend away any brush strokes. To find the correct shade, always test foundation on your face, not your hand, and allow a few minutes for it to soak in. Powder is not recommended by Bobbi Brown for dry skin types like ours (the grains make crease lines and wrinkles more pronounced) but Ade pops a little bit of powder over our T-zone to avoid shine. It’s at this point that Ade describes our face as a blank canvas and ‘the base’ for all make-up looks.

The next step is contouring the face using highlighter to emphasise cheekbones and bronzer for even more impressive tricks – such as making your nose look smaller and giving your face angles. Ade uses a light bronzer over ours since we are quite fair, and shows us how to best apply it by sweeping it over our cheeks, nose, forehead and the tip of our chin. As a result we look healthy and our eyes seem brighter.

Ade then asks us to smile while she applies a creamy, light pink blush over the apples of our cheeks. She then uses the same blush on our lips as well, applied with a lip brush. The look is very subtle and looks really professional.

Eyes are the final step. For a smokey look, Ade applies a thick layer of black eyeliner across the lashline of our upper eyelid before brushing black eyeshadow onto the outside corner of each lid. The look is a little startling at first, but after some blending, the colour is toned down and less intense and the result is a dramatic but very wearable eye. And the best thing? Everything Ade does, she demonstrates in the mirror, so that we can re-create the look ourselves at home.
Make-up lessons at Bobbi Brown are complimentary and you can choose from anything from a five-minute lesson to a 45-minute lesson. Bobbi Brown, Al Wahda Mall (02 443 7178).