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Celebrity makeup artist Pati Dubroff has always loved beauty products. "I was that 10-year-old kid who was obsessed with makeup and was at my mother's makeup table all the time, putting makeup on, then on her, then my friends," Dubroff said. After graduating from high school, Dubroff moved to New York City, where she started assisting makeup artists who took her under their wing. "I assisted some really incredible artists who really showed me the ropes in the fashion world and the music world," Dubroff said. Eventually, Dubroff started working with some of the biggest names in Hollywood, including Margot Robbie, Dakota Johnson, and Priyanka Chopra.
In the latest episode of The Who What Wear Podcast, Dubroff shares how she got her start in the industry, what it's like prepping for a press tour, the underhyped product she swears by, and more.
Article continues belowFor excerpts from the conversation, scroll below.
Can you give our listeners a little background on how you first got started in the beauty world and what drew you to it?
I was that 10-year-old kid who was obsessed with makeup and was at my mother's makeup table all the time, putting makeup on, then on her, then my friends. I was the person in high school who was getting everyone ready for every party. As soon as I graduated high school in New Jersey, [I] moved to New York City.
I always loved makeup, but I didn't know it was a career. When I was growing up, it was like '70s, early '80s, and it wasn't a known career, except the ladies who sold makeup at makeup counters. So I went to New York City to do that because I wanted to be around the makeup. Then I started assisting. I assisted some really incredible artists who really showed me the ropes in the fashion world and the music world. Then I segued into Hollywood in the late '90s, early 2000s, and I've been happily painting movie stars ever since.
When you are starting out with a press tour, how do you start putting together the looks overall?
I definitely want to consolidate my kit. Just traveling the world, I don't want 100 pounds of makeup. [For the Barbie press tour], of course, there are so many references to Barbie to be inspired by clothing-wise, but it was also not the Barbie of the '50s, '60s, '70s, where she had the blue eye shadow, per se. It was like, "Who's Barbie now?"
My wheelhouse was really about my color palettes that I kept and traveled with, and it was every shade of pink you can imagine but also some coral. There was lavender in the mix, and there were some reds. My wheelhouse of color is my foundational, important piece. Then it's just looking at, What is the day? What is she wearing? What is the event?
What are some of the key building blocks that everyone should know about their own makeup before they move on to more complicated things?
You're putting on a mask that you want people to react to. That's what doing makeup is. How do you want people to react? So [it's] really thinking about it like that.
Could you tell me one product that you think is overhyped?
For overhyped, I love a lip pencil, right?
I get people maybe want their lips to look bigger, and they don't want to go for fillers and things like that, but just know that it's gonna look like overdrawn pencil, not like your lips are that much bigger.
What about an unsung, underhyped product?
When we're talking about alternatives to procedures, I use these eye drops that open the eye. They're called Upneeq, and it opens the eye in a way that's fantastic.
Is there a skin product where you're like, "Everyone should have this concealer or this moisturizer"? Is there a highlighter that works on everyone's skin or a lip?
There's this skincare product. It's a serum that I discovered—I guess it's a year and a half now, maybe only a year—called (Plated), and they're exosomes. It's completely changed my skin. I used to have these very strong pigmentation spots. They're faded. Even when I was doing my makeup today, I was going to conceal the pigment spots that I know are there. They're not there anymore.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.