Gina Brooke on makeup, Madonna and embracing our age
“Madonna is inspirational – and not just to me”. The singer, who was recently inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, has an enviable energy level and drive, says Gina Brooke, Madonna’s makeup artist and artistic director for Japanese beauty line Shu Uemura.
“She surrounds herself with people who are just as driven and hardworking,” Brooke said last week before jetting off to London to join Madonna on a video shoot. “It keeps you on your toes.”
Since teaming up with Madonna in 2005, Brooke says she has to be prepared. “(From) shadow to lashes, to diamonds, you never know what kind of request you’ll get.
“When she requests something that I disagree with, what can I say? She’s the queen of reinvention.”
In 2006, Brooke created a pair of mink and diamond eyelashes for Madonna’s “Confessions on a Dancefloor” tour, setting off a lash trend that saw Shu Uemura selling a similar model for $10,000.
Wearing an outdated style of makeup will make you look older than you really are, she says. “If you embrace your age, people will be more happy with themselves.”
Bad lighting is a woman’s worst enemy, Brooke says. Applying makeup in front of the bathroom mirror is akin to doing it in the dark. Women tend to over-apply cosmetics in bathroom light, and when they see themselves in natural light, they’re shocked by how overdone they look.
While she doesn’t buy into cosmetic trends, Brooke says strong eyes and warm lips are popular right now.
She and Madonna went that route for the cover of Madonna’s new CD “Hard Candy,” set for an April 29 release.
“She told me, `I want it to look really clean and bare and make it about the eyeliner,’ ” Brooke says.
Source: www.charlotte.com
Thanks to Vincy