Styling with stila: Hitting up celebrity makeup artist Jeanine Lobell for a few tips

The makeup counter girls — dressed entirely in black with single pink roses in their hair — were in a bit of a tizzy. "She's here! She's here!" they whispered as they tucked stray hairs behind their ears and straightened their hemlines.

That's when I knew Jeanine Lobell had arrived. The first thing I noticed was her bright, crayon-pink lipstick. If I saw it on a woman in a bar — especially in Seattle — I'd probably cringe and then tell my friend to look. But on Lobell, of course, it worked. She's the founder of stila cosmetics — all lowercase because she likes the way it looks — and she created that lipstick (for New York's Fashion Week, no less).

So I said: "I love your lipstick!" Smooch.

In town last week to promote her new fragrance line, bouquet du jour, Lobell spent a day at the downtown Seattle Nordstrom meeting and greeting customers and signing perfume bottles. But I got to her first.

See, when she's not turning the "millions" of product ideas in her head into eye shadows and lip glosses and cheek shimmers, Lobell is a celebrity makeup artist. Now, I'm no celebrity, but why not have Lobell do my makeup? (All my friends have been jealous for weeks.)

So there I was, sitting in a chair at the stila counter with Jeanine Lobell standing before me and a dozen or so pink-flowered attendants huddled around to watch. Lobell, 38, kind of reminds me of a modern-day Snow White, if Snow White lived in New York and had four kids and great shoes. (Her Prince Charming: Anthony Edwards, formerly of "ER.") There's something fresh and doe-eyed and quietly mysterious about her, even dressed in all-black with that bright pink lipstick. She's soft-spoken and tends to punctuate her sentences with "Do you know what I mean?"

I couldn't stop staring at her hands: small, nail-polish-free and no rings. Those hands had touched — and beautified — the faces of Nicole Kidman, Cameron Diaz, Natalie Portman and, most recently, Faith Hill. What was I doing in this chair? (I'll never wash this face again!)

As I closed my eyes and felt Lobell dust my eyelids with something shimmery, she told me that pink — not too dark, but more beige-y and rosy — would be "the big color" this spring.

"A lot of '50s influence this spring, even in fashion, sort of the 'Far From Heaven' vibe," she said, then explained: "the peachy, coral pink lips and then the little cat-eye."

In fact, stila just released a limited-edition eye-and-cheek trio and chocolate-colored lip glaze inspired by next month's "Down With Love," an old-fashioned sex comedy starring Renée Zellweger and Ewan McGregor. (It comes in a little 1960s-style hatbox because Lobell thinks "packaging of the outside should reflect what's inside.")

This from a company started almost 10 years ago with a bare-bones line — "all we could really afford," Lobell says — of six foundations, two concealers, 12 eye shadows, six blushes and some loose powders. No lip liners, not even mascaras.

Since then, the multimillion-dollar company — which was acquired by Estée Lauder in 1999 — has added nail polish, bronzers, makeup brushes and more. Lobell's latest creation is her fragrance "system," which includes two eau de parfums — crème bouquet and jade blossom — that correspond with three scented body lotions designed to highlight certain notes in the perfumes.

"My girlfriends all wear essential oils, and they make their own stuff. They all wear these fragrances that smell like flowers," Lobell said. "I wanted to make a perfume that smelled real, not chemical."

She tests all of her products this way: on her girlfriends.

"Whenever I make a product, I'll test it and then I'll give it to my most makeup-impaired friend," she said. (Wait, you have makeup-impaired friends? "I do. A lot of 'em.")

"If they're struggling and can't get it on, I'm like, 'OK, I gotta work on this some more.' "

Abruptly, she stopped. "Do you want to see your makeup now?"

It had taken all of 20 minutes, and I wasn't ready to leave yet. But Lobell's public awaited. She handed me a mirror and then looked at me.

"Go like this," she said, running her tongue over her front teeth. And then, with a little wink, she was gone.

Pamela Sitt: 206-464-2291 or psitt@seattletimes.com