Lisa Eldridge’s Makeup Routine, Unlocked! Pinpoint Concealing, The Patchwork Method and A Sneak Peek at Her Latest Brow Launch

0:00The following podcast is a Dear Media Production.

0:07Welcome to Breaking Beauty, the podcast all about the breakthrough people, products, and moments in beauty. We're your hosts, Jill Dunn and Carleen Higgins.

0:20Welcome back to Breaking Beauty podcast, everyone. I'm your co-host, Jill Dunn, and I'm here alongside with my friend and my co-host, Carleen Higgins. How are you, Carleen. I'm great. Hey, Jill. Hey, pod fam. And if you're new here, welcome. We're two long-time magazine beauty editors turned beauty podcasters who have been producing this very show for eight years now. And this week, we're joined by a dream guest of ours, the one and only makeup artist, Lisa Eldridge. Drum roll. I should have put a drum roll in there, honestly. And we were fortunate enough to catch up with Lisa when she was in New York recently.

0:56She was actually in town scouting her Manhattan pop-up location. Word has it that it is going to be in spring 2026. So we were able to catch her for a couple of hours and just glean every last bit of information from this incredible makeup artist. Yes. And for those of you who may not be familiar, Lisa Eldridge is a British makeup artist sensation. Her career spans three decades, and she's done countless editorials for Vogue, Elle, many others. And she's currently the creative director of makeup for Lancome. She also held that role with Shiseido. So she knows product development. Lisa has worked closely with celebs like Kate Winslet, Dua Lipa.

1:40And fun fact, Lisa was tapped to do the makeup for the recent Road Beauty campaign featuring Claudia Schiffer. Yeah, even with everything she has going on, she's still on set. You know what I mean? Plus she's a bona fide beauty historian for her career. She's been collecting and studying vintage makeup and she's really an expert on the history of makeup throughout different eras. And she's examined the beauty standards and makeup techniques of each period. It is like a dream for makeup nerds or beauty nerds like me. She has this incredible series on the BBC called Makeup, A Glamorous History. and she was literally putting like mouse hair from that, from the 1800s on, like she was recreating the way they would have done it.

2:26Like, yeah. Yes. So giving you brow hair with mouse hair, there were like little two days for your eyebrows. Like I was fascinated and horrified and it was just amazing. Yes. And educated. I mean, she just truly is next level. She's a pro makeup artist. She's a pioneer of expert based YouTube beauty channels. I mean, I remember she's for me, she's one of the OGs that I started following where it was just like, this woman is a born professional to do this. You know, she's super passionate about that education piece. And she just shares so many tips and tricks. She has more than 500 videos, over 2 million followers on YouTube today.

3:08Honestly, feel like we have a makeup artist celebrity on the mic. And, you know, one thing that's very impressive about Lisa is that back in 2017, she turned on her YouTube advertisements with 100 % of the proceeds going to the charity Plan International as part of the Girls Fund. So it's like she's the full picture. She's a good human and a next level artist. Absolutely. And now Lisa is a brand founder in 2018. she, you know, took that passion for education and built it right into her own line of makeup and skincare products. And for you, Carlene, I know you've talked about the seamless skin being a new favorite.

3:50And I am obsessed with her Rouge Experience refillable lipsticks. You know, it's the first aluminum lipstick where the refill tube is 100 % recyclable at the end of its life. Said it couldn't be done. She's done it. And, you know, in today's episode, we are just hanging off of her every word. We get so many incredible tips from Lisa, like her patchwork technique for doing foundation, pinpoint concealing 101, intel on how to get the lifted lips look so you don't look like you're frowning wearing a bright red lipstick. And we find out which makeup products she personally thinks stand the test of time.

4:28Yes. We're in that perfect space where Lisa's got her own line, but she'll talk about other brands too. She doesn't have her full line yet. Lisa's not afraid to share some of those stories that she's had with celebrities as well, like how Keira Knightley helped to prepare her for her royal meeting when Lisa Eldridge received the MB honor from King Charles earlier this year. Plus, stay tuned to hear the details on Lisa's latest launch, her brow pencils, and what makes them different from the rest. Those just dropped. And fittingly, you can subscribe and watch this episode on our YouTube channel, which is at Breaking Beauty Podcast.

5:05And we've actually published an extended cut of our interview with Lisa on YouTube. So if you want to hear even more from Lisa, please do subscribe. And every single thing that Lisa mentions, we'll link to over on our website at breakingbeautypodcast.com. Welcome to the show, Lisa Eldridge.

5:35pausing to shout out Tia Health. They are one of our show partners this week. So when I heard about Tia, I just thought this concept, it makes a lot of sense. And Tia is the modern healthcare company for women. Tia is available to our friends in the U.S. and Tia has clinics in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York City, Scottsdale, Arizona. And Tia is available virtually all across Arizona, California, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. And TIA takes a whole body approach to women's health, offering comprehensive, high quality care that brings everything you need under one roof.

6:10It's really like a one-stop shop. So think primary care, gynecology, sexual health, mental health, all in one place. And TIA providers are trained specifically in women's health and are here to listen to your needs, crafting a personalized plan to give you the long-term solutions you deserve. And I have a friend based in LA who uses Tia. And so far, she's so happy with the service that they provide. And I really appreciate that, Tia, they're not about quick fixes. They're providing support for your overall health and well-being. And get this, you can get an appointment in days and not months. And the best part, there's no membership fee required.

6:49And Tia takes most PPO insurance plans, And so you can use your insurance to pay for your care. So if you're ready to experience a truly supportive and holistic approach to your health, you can book an appointment today at our exclusive URL, which is bit.ly slash a s k t i a dash beauty. That's bit.ly slash ask Tia dash beauty. We'll link to this URL in our show notes and on our website. Now, back to the show. Are you recording me? We're about to go deep. This is my first time. I'm kind of nervous. Wait, did you say come together? You've been spending too much time with me. Hey, I'm Erin Danalichi and this is my husband, Abe.

7:44Hey. We've been married for over 10 years. We have almost four kids and we've started and survived more businesses than we can count. Some were great, some let's just say we learned a lot. Reality TV, that's just part of our story, but TV has limits and this show doesn't. Our new podcast, Come Together, dives into everything. Love, sex, parenting, business, and what it's really like to mix marriage with work. It's raw, it's funny, it's honest, and yes, sometimes it's a little awkward. Nothing is off the table because let's be real, if you're not coming together, you're probably falling apart. Join us every week on Come Together, wherever you listen to podcasts.

8:31Welcome to Breaking Beauty Podcast, Lisa. We're so happy you're here. I'm so happy to be here. So lovely to meet you both. You've been on our vision board for years, so we're beyond excited. And so you started as like an original YouTuber. You're somewhat of a beauty historian and in addition to an incredible makeup artist. But where did all of this get started, this obsession with color and painting and even beauty history? It started when I was really young. So when I was about six, we moved from New Zealand to England. Okay. And we stayed with my grandmother in the beginning. And in my mum's bedroom, so it would have been her sort of teenage, early 20s bedroom, there was a box in there that I can remember it so well.

9:18And it was, you know, those sort of cardboard little drawers. I guess it was like an old-fashioned jewelry sort of thing. It was just full of her old makeup. so it was really interesting kind of Mary Quant stuff and all the coat-y lip glosses and all the stuff that she'd worn and the 60s is really famous for being the makeup trend was very childlike everything was crayons or gloopy glosses or you know it was that kind of rebellion against the 50s and girls not wanting to be anything like their mothers so there was no gold in there it It was all plastic. It was all shiny. And I was really obsessed with sort of painting and drawing anyway.

9:57So I was like, wow, this is the best paint box I've ever seen. And I just used to use that all the time. I never put it on my own face. I never did makeup with it. But I used to use it to kind of draw faces and add color. And it was so much more interesting. I didn't know they were face shots. And I used it for all of that. And I used to go back to it all. I absolutely loved it. And I loved, I think, the connection as well with like, it smelled different. You know, it was my mom's kind of, it felt like history and memories and everything about it just really appealed to me. And that started, I guess, the love affair with makeup, with the textures, with the objects themselves, and also with just this idea of the possibilities with makeup.

10:46Yeah, I love that. And you've been a career makeup artist for three decades. Is that right? Yes, that's correct. Amazing. And you've just celebrated 15 years on YouTube as well as a content creator. And for what it's worth, everyone, YouTube is, I think, 20 years old. So safe to say you are an early adopter. And something that struck me that you've said when I was like kind of researching for this chat is the first time you saw a video on YouTube, you said, this is punk. and I don't think a lot of your contemporaries would have said that because a lot of people at the time were very and I was coming from the magazine world too even when blogs started people like ew blogs like who are these people they're not editors they're not sort of like part of the club as it were so what seemed punk to you about YouTube so I remember I was in a studio on a really high fashion shoot and the hairdresser I think it was and the editor were kind of laughing in the core and they went oh my god have you seen these girls on youtube so this would have been probably three years even before i launched or maybe a couple of years before i did my video and um i was like no what is it so they do makeup and they were kind of laughing at them and yeah taking the piss out of them yeah so i went over and i'm watching it was lauren luke so she's got a dog snoring in the side you know there it's his bedroom it's very real and she's just talking through products what she thinks of them and I was instantly blown away and I was like wow this is the future guys and they were like are you crazy yeah I was like no no no this is the future you don't realize how punk this is yeah this is you know to the beauty industry in terms of this is the height of retouching so I was doing loads and loads of campaigns makeup campaigns you know and I was using two sets of fake lashes because that's what the clients wanted and I'd say to them like you know there are these girls on YouTube that are going to review this and you should like maybe like oh no no that's nothing to do with us we're a luxury brand right YouTube doesn't is not going to ever affect us at all that's what all the brands were saying so I'd constantly try and say to them look you know you shouldn't really over retouch and you why are we putting three sets of fake eyelashes on when it's going to be reviewed?

13:03So I just thought, I want to do this. I want to do my own version of this. And I literally thought it was the first video I did. I'd been out the night before. I was quite hungover. And I said, I'm going to shoot my first video today. And my husband was like, are you sure? Because you look really, really rough. And I'm like, yes, because I, as a makeup artist, know I can make myself look good for today. We were going out somewhere. and I'd love to pass that on so I need to look rough this is the perfect day to do it and I did it and I didn't tell anyone in the fashion industry I just kept it really quiet and it literally took two years for any and I had a lot of followers by then and again I went on a really high fashion shoot and I think it was the stylist assistant went oh my god I love your videos on YouTube and everyone swung around it was like a slow motion yeah and they went you're on YouTube and I said don't worry guys it's not for you it's for real people

14:07exactly but yeah it was I just don't know I just saw it so clearly as being the biggest sea change in the beauty industry and to me it felt akin to like after the first world war yeah much of a sea change yeah and in fact it ended up being bigger than that so So I was like, I'm lucky to be alive because this is like a massive, massive change in our industry. Yeah. I always love the fact that you use your own face to show what it is that you're doing, because especially in that era, you think of like the Linda Cantellos, even like Pat McGrath. You know, it was very much. And I remember in the magazine days when we were doing tutorials on YouTube, there was a model.

14:47There was always a model. And so the idea of a professional. of your standing using your own face. That was very, very new. And I always appreciate to this day, those are the people who I follow on social media because it just feels like it doesn't apply to me when it's a 16 year old girl who's getting her makeup done. So yeah, what, you know, you could have opted for that. What made you think, no, it has to be me? The thing that I felt really strongly about is that whenever people watch someone do a model or when you read in a magazine like how to do your makeup you're not seeing how to hold the mirror where is your elbow what angle is your hand which way are you looking because obviously the model you're coming in from a side and it's not doesn't relate to how you do your own makeup so when you do it yourself you're able to say see that when I do this or when I and that is so that was the thing to me that was this is changing everything now.

15:46Because you could write, you know, shade a socket line in a magazine. What does that mean? You've got to be doing it on your own face to show where is the mirror? What's the angle of your chin? What are you looking at? How are you holding that brush? So it was for that reason, really. It's brilliant. And your channel has over 2 million subscribers and 253 plus million views. And you've published nearly 600 videos. So is there any one of them that you're particularly proud of? I think all of the ones that were really about sort of understanding your own face, lots of the complexion ones, you know, that were really introducing this idea of pinpoint concealing, you know, that one I did quite early on about covering acne, which came from, because I'd had the worst acne.

16:31So I'm like, I know how to do this. That one, I got so many people saying you changed my total philosophy on makeup because I was putting on loads and loads of foundation to try and cover my acne and actually you know I just listening to how you spoke about it really changed what where I felt about myself I'm so much more confident yeah my makeup looks so much better so that one probably is one of my favorites now you you have a pinpoint concealer yes and I think out of context a lot of people might not realize how to use it or what it's for So tell us about the connection between that product and that video, that technique that listeners might be able to take away a tip from.

17:17Yeah, absolutely. I mean, the whole philosophy is really about just honing in on the areas that you see as being problematic because everyone has a different bugbear about their makeup anyway. yeah and I remember way back from when I was crazy director of Shiseido and going to Japan a lot and working a lot with with women and I they'd sort of come in and they'd have really heavy makeup on and I think oh dear what's maybe they've got issues and they take their makeup off and then I'd say oh you've got beautiful skin and they'd say oh no I have this terrible pigmentation and I'd be like what this bit here and I'd say do you know that's like five percent of your face and the 95 % is perfect.

17:57So that kind of made me realize that it was something that everyone hones in on, like the worst thing that they don't like about their face or they don't like about their skin. So really with the pinpoint, it's something that makeup artists love doing as well. You know, you're about to go on set and it's just one little thing that you want to cover. So you're not thinking about your foundation as giving you a blanket cover. Of course, it's evening out your skin tone you are using concealer where you want maybe some correction of color or whatever but then there's just using a small amount of concealer on those main little floors as you see them you know red capillaries or and this kind of frees up the rest of your skin to look really natural and beautiful and the thing is when you meet someone and I say this to people all the time they're not looking at your skin all the details they're looking in your eyes they're looking at your energy and you know how excited and passionate you are about something and you know if you you don't need to kind of be that critical you really don't because nobody is noticing that tiny little thing here yeah do you use the pinpoint concealer ever to fill in lines or is that a no-no not really fill in lines I don't really think that's a great idea but I definitely would use it where there's areas like around the mouth you know very often on the lip line when you've got a little bit of pigmentation or freckles or something underneath that kind of drags your lip down.

19:25I use it for that. I use it to lift the corners of the eyes around the sort of sides of the nose. Definitely use it to lift here. Marionette lines. The marionette lines. If you use a slightly lighter color and it's almost like, well, it is like photoshopping. You're kind of scribbling in and bringing the light to that area. And I use my pencils. I've got two really well. You can kind of like give yourself like a face a little face but it's very minimal what you're doing but it's effective yeah it's so effective yeah yeah if anyone's listening and they haven't tried lisa's pinpoints concealer the difference is it's in a really slender pencil almost like an eye pencil yeah but it's it's meant to do that pinpoint ceiling

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24:01Are there any videos that you thought, maybe you thought about Control-Alt deleting them? because you're like, it doesn't really speak to me anymore. There was only one video that I put up. How to describe this? Okay, so years ago, I'd started my YouTube channel, but I'd also written a documentary series, a history documentary series, because I had this phenomenal vintage collection even 20 years, 30 years ago. And I'd gone to see a producer and he was this guy that was, I don't know, You know, the type, he was just like an old guy with like chinos on and he was like, a history doc, he was like really high up in the, I think he was in the BBC, I forget where I went now.

24:45And he said to me, oh, you know, a history document about makeup. He said, what, mascara? And I was like, well, there's more to it than that. And I was trying to like really sell this thing in. I left so deflated. He was so horrible to me. Like, get a life, you know. There's no, never in a million years is anyone going to be interested in the history of makeup. so move on yeah so to go to that meeting I had made a really short kind of teaser to show him so I'd I'd kind of taken some free studios where I could one of them was I'd got an hour at a studio and I wanted to do a Marilyn Monroe makeup to discuss her relationship with her makeup artist and how that's key so I had this thing and we got a model at the very last minute because they said you can shoot now so I was like quickly let's get a model I had to use what I had there I kind of tagged it onto the end of a shoot so I shot this video which was only ever meant to be the teaser yeah anyway I was so annoyed with this guy when I left I thought I'm gonna put part of that teaser onto my YouTube channel and then I bet you it's gonna get views I'm gonna go back in a month and say there look at that take that take that yeah so I thought it's fine I thought it's not completely it was so rushed the video it's good but it wasn't like maybe you know what I wanted so I kind of put it up it got a million views in the first month in the first like couple of weeks actually wow anyway by then I'd kind of simmered down about the whole thing and I thought he doesn't deserve me yeah I'm not going back and I'm going to do one day I'll do a documentary it'll be on my own terms yeah and in the meantime I'll write a book and it'll be a bestseller and he can come crawling back to me once that's a bestseller.

26:30But then I ended up, people love that video. So I left it up. But of course, I see flaws with it because I know we shot it in an hour. I know that we were on the edge of our seats, that we got a model that had never heard of Marilyn Monroe. And it was all kind of like, quickly, let's shoot this teaser. So yes. And of course, the book you're talking about is... Face paint. Face paint. Oh my gosh. Yes. And it is a bestseller, everyone. If you haven't seen it, you need to see it. The cover alone is amazing. Now, before you started your own line, you consulted for some really major cosmetics brands like Boots, Chanel, Shiseido.

27:06You're currently the global makeup creative director for Lancome. Of all of the products that you've helped to create, tell us which one you think has had the most long lasting impact and why, if you can. Gosh, there's so many other products that I've worked on that I never am allowed to say as well. So it's quite fun when I go into a department store and I'm a bit like, oh, I did that. I did that one. That's mine. So officially, yeah, I guess probably some of the mascaras that I've done for Lancome because they became so huge. Like I did Mr. Big and I did Lashy Doll. That's a great one. And people always say to me, I love those mascaras.

27:44They're so nice. And, you know, they're really beautiful mascaras. So to be able to step into a house like Lancome, which was infamous for its mascaras and to be able to create something new and different like that's just so cool yeah you know it is I love product create creating product it's so yeah it's one of the most creative things and did did you always have that passion for product creation or were you able to just like step in the lab and just discover and figure it out as you went so my first creative director role was at Shiseido yeah and at the time I did a brand for them from scratch so it was a brand just for the Asian market so firstly it was just fascinating because the history of the area to be able to really get under the bonnet and understand culturally what the Korean market would want as opposed to the Japanese market as opposed to the Chinese market as opposed to all of the different and to really understand that firstly was super interesting plus you know history of color is so different yeah you know I might say oh it's a shocking pink it's a really fun color it that would be perceived totally differently in in other countries they'd say oh no that's a very traditional color or that's a very so our perceptions of color firstly I find so fascinating yeah historically and then yeah being able to go to the Shiseido labs and learn from them from the beginning and to ask so many questions because I'm that annoying person and they used to say Lisa you're really challenging us and I'm like yes but why can't we do that and what what's the difference with this and and I think at the time I didn't understand that really makeup cosmetic science had been through such a huge upheaval in the 90s which was when I mean everything just moved on and it started in Japan so the water in silicon and And the silicone and water emulsions that became modern day makeup was started off in lipstick and then rolled out to base products.

29:44So to be there at that time or just at the end of that period and be working with them. And they didn't use on my particular brand that I did for them. We didn't use any third party lab. So everything we did was in-house. And I worked on the packaging, the copywriting, all the formulas, everything. and it was a real steep learning curve, but I learned so much, so, so much about it. Training ground and playground, I'm sure, are all rolled into one. Absolutely, absolutely. We've heard you talk about in the past getting your skincare and your makeup synced up. What's the secret to doing that? I think that formulation is key because, you know, obviously some things can peel really bad underneath your foundation.

30:30So sometimes it's trial and error, really. because you may not be able to kind of know immediately. But if you find that you're putting on some kind of a primer or a moisturizer, which just doesn't work under your makeup, it makes it oxidize or makes a foundation not last as long, then you're probably using something that's too oily because you are breaking down probably the silicon in your foundation or whatever is in there. But I think that formulation is key. Absolutely. And also I'm not somebody that puts on tons and tons and tons of skincare before makeup. I don't think that's the time to put 17 layers of skincare on personally.

31:11Because I like thin layers of everything. I think it lasts longer. It looks better. Obviously at nighttime, go crazy or on days when you're not, you know. But when I'm kind of doing somebody's makeup, I'm not going to put sort of a serum, a thing and three creams and an eye cream. Because I don't want the makeup to be affected. And I need it to be in synergy with the skin. So I need to put on a nice base that works with their skin type, but that is going to really feel like it melds with the makeup, which melds with the skin and everything is in synergy together. I'm one of these people that I've heard you talk about on your channel where my face eats makeup.