The phrase evokes the lilting tones and expertise of Maria Callas or Franz Liszt, but makeup? When the conductor in question is entrepreneur and beauty authority Bobbi Brown, the answer is decidedly “Yes.”

Bobbi Brown heads an empire built on simplicity. She’s easily bored and endlessly practical, and both characteristics continue to drive her creation of new products and beauty solutions that really work for women. From her first 10 brown-based lipstick shades to a line that, today, extends to skin care and fragrance, Brown’s makeup is never complicated or obtrusive. You’ll never see her name on electric blue eyeshadow or screaming fuchsia lipstick; in fact, the whole point of the “Bobbi Look” is that you see the woman — fresh, glowing and natural — not the makeup.

“You have to know what works for you,” says Brown of the philosophy that underlies every aspect of the company. “I never mind it when I’m doing someone’s makeup and they reach up and make an adjustment.” Yet as casual and collaborative as the look may be, there’s a great deal of craft behind it all. We attended a master class at Nordstrom in Cherry Creek, in which Brown demonstrated her technique, answering questions and engaging her audience. Later, we sat down with her over a cup of green tea to talk about the business of beauty.

Brown, in town for the Democratic National Convention this past August — she was a delegate, and son Dylan served as a convention page before beginning his freshman year at Stanford — doesn’t do a lot of these classes. She’s a mom as well as a mogul, with two younger sons still at home (Dakota, 16, and Duke, 10) and typically attaches a store visit such as this one to another necessary trip, which means she has to make the most of each event. In addition to her meeting and talking with customers and seeing what’s in the stores, her artists get the chance to see her do makeup and learn from her performance.

It’s a two-way street. “I learn from them as much as they learn from me,” she says. Artists, the upper echelon of which attends twice-yearly boot camps in New York, are free to bring techniques of their own to their work although, she says, “sometimes I agree with them; sometimes I don’t.” Another element of the store visits and artist training is the chance for Brown to gather information about customer response, which assists in product development.

But ideas come from a variety of places. For example, Brown’s family has a home in Telluride, and an afternoon hike resulted in her stonewashed palette of colors. Others, some of her bestsellers, are born out of necessity, like the time Brown found herself about to be photographed but without her full complement of makeup. She used the tip of her mascara wand to line her lids, and it worked so well she developed her long-wear gel eyeliner. We know a number of women who wouldn’t leave home without Brown’s pot rouge, a clever cream-based color that works on both lips and cheeks. The idea, however, came from the pragmatism of earlier generations. “I used to watch my grandmother put on lipstick and then take some of the color and rub it on her cheeks,” says Brown.

Whatever your product preferences, Brown believes makeup should be easy and should make you feel better about yourself. “Instead of telling you what’s wrong,” she says, “we tell you what’s right.” Much has been made of a comment Brown once made about taking flaws and making them work. She says the quote is frequently taken out of context and she bristles at the “flaw” label. “Any woman can make herself look and feel better with the right tools and products,” she says. “If a woman has a small mouth, I don’t try to draw it bigger, or if she has deep-set eyes, I don’t try to make something else out of it.” During class, in fact, she politely corrects a woman who asks what to do with her “droopy” eyes. “Don’t say ‘droopy,’” says Brown. “Lots of people have those eyes. I have those eyes. They’re ‘bedroom eyes.’”

“It’s so easy to feel bad about yourself,” says Brown. “People think if they don’t look like Barbie or Christie Brinkley they aren’t beautiful.” We wonder if this lack of confidence in our appearance is a uniquely American affliction, but Brown has boutiques all over they world, and she sees self-doubt everywhere. She offers Asian women as a good example: “I think Asian women are beautiful, but nobody ever tells them they are beautiful.”

This generosity of spirit is echoed in Brown’s philanthropic work. She’s a big supporter of Dress for Success, which offers women clothing and — with Brown’s help — makeup, so they can have confidence in their appearance when they attend job interviews. “They do amazing work,” says Brown of DFS, adding that the organization offers help with resumes and job training as well. She’s especially proud to say that for her 50th birthday, she raised more than a million dollars for the charity.

It would be easy to get carried away with the glamour of the international business world, the TV appearances, the fashion magazines. But overall, Brown is grounded and happy, something she attributes to her kids and her husband, whom she calls her role model. “He’s great,” she says. “He really doesn’t care about the way I look. He’ll tell me to calm down when I’m freaking out or tell me to wear this not that.” From this to that, we’ll wear anything Bobbi Brown tells us to wear.

Artistry on the Page
We loved Bobbi Brown Beauty. We eagerly anticipated her books on teenage beauty and the evolution of beauty, and we snapped up Living Beauty as soon as it hit the shelves. But this is the one we’ve been waiting for. This December’s Bobbi Brown Makeup Manual is a must-have for any woman who wears makeup, regardless of her skill level with a blush brush. This is more than 25 years of industry expertise neatly bound in 256 pages. The manual covers how to pick the colors that are right for you, how to take care of your skin and how to apply everything from lipliner to eyeliner with dos and don’ts and step-by-step instructions. She covers everything from the basics to what the professionals know about breaking into the business and creating looks for photography, film and television, and the catwalk. We promise you’ll learn things you never knew before about blush, bronzer and lipstick.

Bobbi says...
On lips: “Lipstick should look like your lips. When you find that perfect color, it’s like your favorite pair of jeans. You can throw it on and look put together.”

On perfection: “Perfect lips are so five years ago. I mean, come on, this is Denver.”

On eyes: “I rarely line inside the lower lid except for a few high fashion shoots … and the times I did Keith Richards’ makeup.”