Bobbi’s lipstick diary

Get a glimpse at how your favorite Bobbi Brown products came to be—as told by Bobbi, herself.

Lip Color

Q) Lipstick has been around forever. How did you first distinguish your colors and formulas from everything else that was on the market?

A) When I was a freelance makeup artist in the Nineties, everyone was wearing bright, garish lip colors. I had an idea to create a super-flattering nude shade that enhanced the lips natural color. I worked with a chemist I met at a magazine shoot to create the perfect barely-there, neutral shade, which I called Brown Lip Color.

Q) How was Brown Lip Color received? Where did you go from there?

A) It made a great impression on everyone who tried it. After trying it on both friends and models, I realized neutrals weren’t for everyone, so I created a collection of wearable “colors” from coral to red—all mixed with a bit of beigy-brown (a trick that can save any fuchsia mistake you have in your drawer). The line debuted at Bergdorf Goodman in 1991 and are still some of my top-selling products today.