By Samantha Critchell
The Associated Press

In her new book, Bobbi Brown says a woman looks best when she looks like herself. The Associated Press

Makeup guru Bobbi Brown wears hardly any makeup.

And despite the fact that her company makes and sells cosmetics - she has the same advice for most women: Use as little makeup as possible to enhance a beauty that's already there.

Ms. Brown says feeling good, eating well and staying healthy go a lot further toward looking good than foundation or a lipstick.

The women featured in her new book Bobbi Brown Beauty Evolution (HarperResource) range in age from early 20s to 101 and they're shown with and without makeup. The photos are not retouched except for Ms. Brown's own "glam shot" on the introduction page, and there are plenty of snapshots of her to show the reader the sometimes imperfect Bobbi Brown.

"I believe in reality. All the women in the magazines, they don't look good like that all the time," says Ms. Brown, who would know since she is the makeup artist of choice for many fashion shows and magazine cover shoots.

Yes, she says, celebrities do get pimples. They also get dark circles under their eyes; they just have an entire staff working to make them go away quicker.

"There is no perfection. It just doesn't exist," she says.

Ms. Brown's mantra is to make the most of what you have. She uses this philosophy in her own nine-minute beauty routine, five minutes for hair and four for cosmetics.

But, she admits, she wasn't always so fatalistic about her appearance.

"If you obsess about something as a kid, it stays with you forever, whether it's real or not. But you have to learn to let it go and focus on other priorities. I obsessed about my tan lines, now I worry about my kids crossing the street," she says.

Older women seem to better understand that there is more to life than a bad-hair day, Ms. Brown observes. For example, Lucia Servadio Bedarida, the 101-year-old in Beauty Evolution, says she thinks she looks better now than she ever did - and the only cosmetics she uses are lipstick, powder, a little blush and almond oil as moisturizer.

But new high-tech procedures are encouraging baby boomers to artificially slow the aging clock. "I'm worried about my generation," says Ms. Brown. "It's so easy to get collagen, botox and dermabrasion. I'm afraid we'll start to look like a science project."

Ms. Brown writes in the book that her own beauty epiphany came when she was 32, pregnant and working on a bikini photo shoot with Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington and Cindy Crawford. "I made a decision that I couldn't for a second feel bad about myself because of the way they looked."

After all, you look your best when you look like yourself, she says.

"I'm not saying love your flaws but I want you to focus on the positive. I'm not at peace with my lines, but it's the natural process of aging."

Make the best of the natural process Bobbi Brown says there is no way to stop the aging process, so the best thing to do is accept it - it'll keep you from getting worry lines.

The beauty essentials for your 20s include sunscreen, a good cleanser, eye cream, concealer, tinted moisturizer and stick foundation to cover blemishes.

In your 30s: a moisturizer with a sun protection factor of 15 or higher, eye cream, foundation, two blushes - one that blends effortlessly and another that's a shade brighter to "wake up" your face, a neutral lip color and face-cleaning wipes.

In your 40s: SPF lotion, a slightly heavier moisturizer, eyeliner and mascara to add definition to your eyes and hair color.

In your 50s: extra-rich moisturizer, creamy foundation, lip pencil to define lips, eyebrow-defining shadow in a soft shade.

In your 60s: a no-curler haircut, cream blush, concealer with concealer brush and a lipstick that has enough, but not too much, color.

In your 70s and beyond: a moisturizer or even an oil or balm, sheer foundation, creamy matte lipsticks and eye shadow to fill in eyebrows.