Makeup artist Nikki DeRoest is as famous for her work on celebrity clients like Rosie Huntington-Whiteley as she is for creating fresh, glowing and understated makeup looks on her own social media.
Makeup artist Nikki DeRoest was well known before the pandemic, regularly attending the faces of celebrities like Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and Bella Hadid. But over the past year the laid-back Californian, known for her fresh, glowing and understated makeup looks, has captured an increasingly passionate following on Instagram by sharing her beauty expertise, demonstrated on her own face. She is also an Artist In Residence for Bobbi Brown, a role that sees her educate the brand’s artists, undertake in-store appearances when restrictions allow, and contribute to product development.
How did you get your start in makeup?
When I was 18, I started a hair apprenticeship but I still needed to have another part time job so I started working at makeup counters across Bobbi Brown, Chanel and Stila. So I have a long history with Bobbi Brown as that was nearly 20 years ago, but even prior to that, I started buying her books when I was 11. They spoke to me because it was all about celebrating your unique beauty. All different ages and skin types and skin colors, and also not trying to mask things, but really enhance your unique features.
What are you most proud of in your career?
There are definitely moments where I’ll take a step back and be like, wow, all the things that I’m doing right now are things that I always told myself that I could do, or dreamed of doing! In my early twenties living in small-town Utah, looking at covers of magazines and being like, ‘I want to do that’. Then two weeks ago I was working on my first Vogue cover! When I do a big red carpet or when I’m teaching in an auditorium with a microphone on in front of all my peers and I think, I used to do what you are doing, and now I’m up here. It makes me really grateful.
Why is it so important to you to share your expertise?
I feel like my calling in life is to teach and to educate and to help people feel empowered and confident. I do think that even if you all have the same tools and the same lesson, your art is always going to turn out a little bit differently. So just because you’re giving away your tips, that means that someone’s going to take over your job or do something better than you.
Nikki’s essentials: Bobbi Brown Pot Rouge for Lip & Cheeks; Bobbi Brown Skin Long-Wear Weightless Foundation SPF15; Bobbi Brown Vitamin Enriched Face Base and Bobbi Brown Bobbi Brown Extra Lip Tint in Bare Pink.
You’re known for creating an effortless ‘LA glow’. What’s key to achieving the look?
People are sometimes surprised to find a lot of the foundation formulas I use are matte or long-wear, but it’s because of the prep that I do beforehand, with really nourishing skincare [that gives skin that glow]. I like to mix three or four drops of a face oil with a moisturiser, because that gives a nice luminosity to the skin before I even put color products on. I also like to use cream makeup formulas as much as I can. I only use powders if I want that extra insurance of making it long-wear for a red carpet.
In general I always think less is more. For example an under eye concealer, if you use too much, it’s just going to end up sitting on your face and getting in the cracks and crevices.
What are some of your most reached- for products right now?
It doesn’t matter the season, I will always reach for Bobbi Brown’s Vitamin Enriched Face Base. It’s also a product that I use for red carpets because I want the skin to be nourished and moisturized and there’s also a primer built in. It gives the skin this really beautiful kind of pillow-like texture.
I’m also into tinted moisturiser and Bobbi Bown Pot Rouge blush. I feel like it gives me radiance through my cheeks and it makes it, so I have to do less.
I always have tinted lip balms in my purse, pocket or on the counter. It’s such an easy product to throw on and look pulled-together.
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How can you quickly elevate a minimal makeup look?
It’s easy to just add a really simple winged liner, but I like to do it with a pencil so I can smudge it out and make it a little more lived in, but with some depth.
You can always pop a brighter shade of lip color on your lips even if you really are minimal with everything else and a brighter blush, makes you look really healthy and awake.
What should we be doing with our brows?
Brushing them up, back-combing them a little to give yourself a little more texture. I’m going for finer tipped pencils instead of using a powder and trying to create defined hair strokes. Always with a slightly lighter colour than our natural brow.
People tend to put a lot more product through the front parts of their brow, and I always encourage people to start from the center to the outer part of the brow first instead. because this is usually where your brow needs more shape. Most of the time, once you do that, you don’t even need to really worry about the front so much.
