Illamasqua Beauty School Drop In Session at Chadstone.

Hello lovelies,

I hope you are all enjoying the Easter break! I must say it's delightful to have four days off from work!

After work yesterday, I dropped by the Benefit Brow Bar at Myer Chadstone to get my brows done. If you've never been but have always been tempted to, click here to check out my post on my first experience there. I'm pleased to say that I'm still going there regularly and my brows have never been better! I usually see Alani or Bec, but found out yesterday that Alani is leaving Benefit to move on to a new job. You can still stalk follow her via her Facebook page though, which is what I'll be doing!

After I got my brows done, I moved on to the Illamasqua Beauty School Drop In session, which I first blogged about here. The gorgeous and talented Rebecca was leading the lesson, which was quite an intimate little gathering with plenty of time to ask questions and have a giggle, which I quite appreciated. The theme was Global Beauty, and I had unfortunately missed out on the first hour where Rebecca demonstrated the best way to apply foundation, fill in brows and contour cheekbones, but I caught up just as she was demonstrating the best way to carry out a natural makeup look, on her lovely model Kim.

The Illamasqua Beauty School Drop In Session at Myer Chadstone.

Bec used a peachy shade from one of the duo blush palettes as an eyeshadow on Kim (a great way to use a blush shade that you aren't fond of using on your cheeks), and finished the eye makeup off using a pencil liner, that she then set by using a complementary shadow shade over, to soften the liner out a little. The eyes were finished off using the Illamasqua water-resistant mascara, Masquara, which Bec explained is the best way to get lashes to hold their curl. Last but not least, Kim's lips were dressed in a nude shade, where Bec applied a liner, lipstick and then gloss to give Kim the perfect pout (layering shades provides more depth of colour and also gives the lip colour more longevity).

Kim demonstrating the neutral look.

After the neutral look, we moved on to a more dramatic look. Bec demonstrated how to use the Skin Sketching technique to add impact to the eyes. If you're unfamiliar with this technique, click here to watch the YouTube demonstration. Inspired in equal parts by Kim's gorgeous green hair and the Global Beauty theme, Bec built on the neutral eyes by blending some teal shadow around Kim's outer eye socket, and along the crease line to form a cut crease. She switched to black liquid liner in Abyss as she explained that liquid liner often gives a more dramatic look than pencil.

Bec working on Kim using the skin sketching method.

She then added some sealing gel (it's an amazing clear gel that turns any eyeshadow into a coloured, waterproof eyeliner, and can also be used on brows for perfect grooming) to the same shadow and used it to line Kim's eyes on top of the black liquid liner.

Bec lining Kim's eyes with the sealing gel mixed with eyeshadow.

For the last look, Bec demonstrated how to really change the look into a truly dramatic one but using liquid metals and loose pigments. She began by darkening her cut crease from the previous look by adding some black shadow, and extending the wing of the cut crease and liners. She explained that liquid metals are gorgeous, metallic pastes that need to be 'set' with a powder to prevent creasing. Aiming for a Cleopatra-esque look, she dabbed a gold liquid metal in the inner eye corners (this did not have to be set as it was a relatively small area that wasn't prone to much movement).She blended some of the gold on Kim's brow bone, just above the cut crease, and in the the outer corner of Kim's eye (refer to photo below), before setting it with a loose pigment in a complementary shade. She also added some gorgeous upper and lower false lashes to create added drama. The lash glue provided with all Illamasqua's false lashes is truly a work of art, as it starts off as a white/clear gel that changes colour to a deep blue when the lash is ready to be applied to your eye.

The lashes used on Kim.
Top row was used on her lower lashes,
bottom row was used on her upper lashes.

Kim's Cleopatra-esque eye makeup.

For a little bit of fun, we experimented with different lip colours to finish off Kim's look. First, Bec used a teal pencil (the same used for skin sketching above) to line Kim's lips, then filled it in with the Apocalips lipstick.

The Apocalips lips.

She finally dabbed some of the same gold liquid metal onto Kim's cupid's bow to accentuate her upper lip, and onto her lips for a more dramatic look.

The blue look finished off with gold loose pigments layered over Apocalips.

Close up.

At our request, she then removed it and tried a pink lip for added contrast, using Eurydice, topped with Boost, for added impact and moisture.

Kim wearing Eurydice/Boost on her lips for added impact.

Overall, I picked up a great many tips on some of the products I've been longing to learn about (like the sealing gel and liquid metals in particular), and we really enjoyed watching Bec transform a neutral look into something far more dramatic in a few simple steps.

Bec with her model, Kim.

My gorgeous friend D also joined the session and generously bought me a little gift of a set of blue false lashes. Bec redid my makeup using a set of orange and blue shadows, before finishing off with the blue false lashes. At my request, she also used some sealing gel on my brows to teach me how to groom them using the gel. As a matter of interest, the sealing gel automatically darkens shades, so if you're going to use it on your brows, pick a shadow that's several shades lighter than your brows to have them blend in. Also only apply the gel to your arches, as applying it to the start of your brows can give them a harsh and unnatural look.

It was a really lovely night and I picked up a great many tips, D and I really enjoyed learning more about the Illamasqua products and I even convinced her to try the much talked about Skinbase foundation, which looked gorgeous on her!

The eye makeup that Bec put on me, together with
lashes that D bought me.

Blue lashes!

I hope you enjoyed my review of the BSDI session, if you'd like to attend, there will be one last session running at the Illamasqua counter in Myer Melbourne tomorrow, beginning at 12 pm.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to compile a wishlist of more Illamasqua products, beginning with the sealing gel and eyebrow brush! Did any of these products appeal to you, lovelies?

Much love,
MM.
x