Burberry’s Makeup Wizard Wendy Rowe: Beware of Contouring and Overplucking

As Burberry’s beauty consultant, makeup artist Wendy Rowe regularly creates dramatic runway looks for likes of Cara Delevingne and Suki Waterhouse. Most recently, she paid tribute to David Bowie at the label’s Fall 2016 show by sending several of the models down the catwalk with smoky lids and cheeks Ziggy speckled with glitter. But Rowe also knows a thing or two about natural beauty. In June, she’ll release Eat Beautiful, a book filled with skin-friendly recipes and a foreword by Sienna Miller. Here, Rowe shares her easy five-minute face, what’s in her makeup kit, and her obsession with (what else?) Marie Kondo.

Who was your first beauty icon? Debbie Harry.

What’s always in your kit? Shu Uemura eyelash curlers, Shu Uemura false lashes, Burberry sheer and cashmere concealers, Crème de la Mer The Moisturizing Lotion, Estee Lauder Take It Away Makeup remover, Burberry Contour Pen, Bobbi Brown Mascara, various brands of black eyeliners – Burberry, MAC, Elizabeth Arden, Kevyn Aucoin.

What’s your five-minute face? I start by applying Fresh Glow Golden Radiance by Burberry and then use their BB Cream. Then I’ll curl the lashes and apply some mascara. Cover dark circles and any blemishes with concealer and finish by using the Burberry Contour Pen to sculpt the face.

What’s your first beauty memory? Making perfume in the back garden with rose petals. I must have been about seven.

What was your worst beauty blunder? Not being able to do a lip line when I first started and just making the lips bigger and bigger and bigger, hoping the model wouldn’t notice her lips were a millimeter away from her nostrils. Now of course I know that you just stop and correct it!

What beauty products are currently in your purse? Burberry Contour Pen, Burberry Concealers, Burberry BB Cream, Shu Uemura Eyelash curler, Burberry Eye Colour Silk in Gold Trench and Midnight Brown, Burberry Blendable Kohl in Antique Gold, Midnight Brown Effortless Eyeliner by Burberry.

What’s your morning beauty routine? I wash my face with water, tone with Joelle Ciocco Aromatic Lotion. I use a couple of different Joelle Ciocco moisturizers depending on what my skin’s like at the time. I only cleanse at night so that my skin can rebalance while I’m asleep.

If you had an extra 10-15 minutes in your routine, how would you spend it? Listening to the radio and drinking tea.

What trend do you look back on with regret? The massive eyebrows in the Eighties! Mine are already big, so in the ’80s they looked like Groucho Marx’s!

What’s your first go-to product or one you can’t live without? Joelle Ciocco Sensitive Cleansing Milk for beauty, for makeup the Burberry Contour Pen.

Which beauty trend do you just not get? Contouring within an inch of your life when it looks so obviously unnatural! I just don’t understand it. I think in real life it looks quite scary!

Which discontinued product or shade do you mourn? Stephane Marais cream eye shadows.

Is there a beauty professional you can’t live without? Where do you want me to start?! If I had to pick one, it would be the facialist Joelle Ciocco in Paris.

What’s your beauty peeve? People thinking they fall under any of the three categories of skin type (oily, combination, dry). Our skin changes all the time and no one fits in a box. I also hate seeing women with too much foundation on, and I’ve never understood over-plucking eyebrows!

What are you currently obsessed with? I’m totally obsessed with this beautiful book called Spark Joy – An Illustrated Guide to the Art of Japanese Tidying by Marie Kondo. I actually thought it was bulls— when I was first given it, but actually it’s given me so much space and enabled me to keep things really tidy!