Bobbi Brown puts best face on DNC

By Penny Parker, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Originally published 09:14 p.m., July 24, 2008
Updated 09:14 p.m., July 24, 2008

Makeup mogul Bobbi Brown is bringing her bags of beauty to the Democratic National Convention. Her primary function will be as an at-large delegate for her home state of New Jersey, but her side job will be to lead a master class in makeup from noon to 1 p.m. Aug. 26 at Nordstrom Cherry Creek, and to make her team available for any delegate who wants a fresh face.

Will she stick to a blue hue in honor of her fellow Dems? "I'm not a big blue eye shadow fan, but no one is going to be wearing red lips," Brown told me during a phone interview.

Brown, a self-confessed "obsessed" Obama backer, says of all the celebs expected to come to town, she'd most like to do makeup for rapper Kanye West, who's expected to perform for a private MTV party.

"I love him so much; I really do," she said. "I've seen him in concert three times. He's second only to Obama."

Denver and Brown are old friends, says the mega makeup artist who owns a home in Telluride. "I have really fond memories of Denver," she said. Brown's delegation days likely will be filled with breakfast and lunch meetings then the official Pepsi Center sessions from 4 to 9 p.m. each day.

But no matter how busy her schedule, Brown says she'll make herself available to Michelle Obama if she calls. "I've been lucky enough to do Michelle's makeup," Brown said. "I got the call the night before to do her makeup for a black-tie event where she was the keynote speaker. I am totally at her service. If she needs me, I will be there."

Brown is not the only family member who will claim a space inside the Pepsi Center. Her 18-year-old Stanford-bound son, Dylan, got a job as a page before New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine asked Brown to be a delegate.

"(Dylan) wasn't thrilled I was coming," she said. He'll study political science at Stanford. "He obviously takes after his father, because I majored in makeup."

BTW: Brown told me that Corzine has asked Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi to come to the DNC. No word on whether they've accepted the invite. Also, the first 30 women who call 720-746-7200 and ask for the Bobbi Brown counter can sign up for the free master makeup class.