The Bobbi Brown Makeup Lesson @ Bobbi Brown Exeter

Good morning lovely people...be warned, I think this may be a long and very picture heavy blog post, I've just got so much to tell you.

Okay, so to begin at the beginning, I've always been aware of Bobbi Brown but I'd not really dabbled as there wasn't anywhere locally to purchase and I don't mind buying somethings based on online swatches but usually products where I've had experience of the brand. Then a few months ago Exeter got a John Lewis, bringing with it a Bobbi Brown counter (amongst other fab brands I must add). But this is where my Bobbi Brown addiction began.

A few weeks ago I popped in for some foundation advice and had such incredible service and was so wowed by the whole process I ended up buying several things. I loved how they not only colour matched me for foundation but redid all my make up that day. What can I say? I'm easily sold!

So fast forward a few months and a larger make up collection I went along for the Pretty Powerful Makeup Lesson (previously known as the 10 Step Lesson). A thorough walk through Bobbi's tricks of the trade and a complete beauty routine.

So I had an appointment with the lovely Sheena who was really fantastic. I think these things can seem a little daunting, glamorous, groomed beauty counter staff who look down their nose at you, being a common misconception, and whilst Sheena was indeed glamorous and groomed, she certainly didn't look down her nose and me and I was relaxed from the start.

So of course, before cosmetics you need to prepare the skin. Sheena asked questions about my skin, how it behaves and what products I currently use before going ahead and prepping my skin. She explained every step and every product and why she was using it and what the active ingredients were. I was super impressed with the Instant Long-Wear Make Up Remover which made very light work of my mascara. I was also quite taken with the Intensive Skin Supplement.

There was a lot of prep!

Then onto the make up! So we talked quite a bit about foundation and what I want in a foundation. Finally deciding upon the Long-wear Foundation as being the best suited to my needs. A bit of colour matching, where I was encouraged to look and see which I felt was the right colour and that was that. I'd already been matched up for my concealer and corrector so Sheena didn't go into much detail when using those as I'd only recently had a mini lesson in them (and you can see my blog post on them here).

Next was powder, again colour matched and then applied. It just goes to show that just because you're a blogger and have a passion for cosmetics, you can still always learn, I was really interested in how little powder was actually used. I normally only apply powder where I get shine, but I use much more than I was shown in this lesson. Since my lesson I've been using much less! Oh and then, because the foundation was quite matte, we added a bit of glow back to my skin with the new (ish) Brightening Nudes Powder which I LOVE and is on my wish list for sure. Such a lovely product for a healthy glow. Applied very sparingly to the high points of my face.

Then my secret passion, the cheek products. Sheena used two products on my cheeks, the new Pretty Powerful Pink Pot Rouge and the new Lilac Rose Shimmerbrick over the top. The Pretty Powerful Pink Pot Rouge is absolutely stunning.

This is just the most gorgeous colour for me. My picture isn't quite colour accurate, it's not quite as bright and a little more pink and the thing I really learned here was a tip of applying cream blusher with a foundation brush and then blending out. It just did a great job of putting the blush where you want it to go. I always use fingers for cream blushers and find I can spread them a bit too far, covering far more cheek than ideal. The best thing about this product is that 100% of the £18 cost goes to the Dress for Success London Charity (less VAT). No namby pamby 10% here, the full 100% which is incredible. It's a fantastic cause, helping women back to work by giving them complete outfits for interviews and one to one interview training.

If I thought the Pot Rouge was stunning, I wasn't at all prepared for the absolutely beautiful Lilac Rose Shimmer Brick which was lightly dusted on top. Seriously, the colours are amazing. This is a must have for me.

So here are the two cheek products. So so pretty together.

On my lips we have the new Pink Lily Lip Gloss. A little pinker than it shows in my photograph, I'm a fan of Bobbi's glosses. This isn't my first and generally I'm not a gloss fan but I find these stay on me for a long time, unlike other glosses which often disappear within the hour.... sorry about the nostrils....

My brows were filled in with a brown shadow after a discussion about how I like to have them and then we went onto the Eyeshadow.

Meet the Lilac Rose Eye Palette.

A gorgeous and very versatile palette. Four colours were used, Ivory, Stormy Grey, Barely There and Pink Lily. As each colour was applied I was shown exactly where to place it which I found really helpful and I absolutely loved the dab of lilac shimmer applied to the centre of the lid. It just added something special to the look, whilst remaining subtle.

Then liner. My nemesis!! I've heard much about the Long-Wear Gel Eyeliners so it was great to be able to try one out. Watching in the mirror I was able to see exactly how she applied it (with the Ultra Fine Eyeliner Brush). When I bemoaned my lack of skills when I attempt to create a wing, Sheena added a little wing, showing me exactly how she did it. The shade used was Sepia Brown, a rich shade I really liked.

Finally some lashings of the very nice Lash Glamour Extreme Lengthening Mascara.

So I suppose you might like to see the end result? I must admit, I felt absolutely amazing afterwards.

And in different lights.

And in case you're interested. Here's EVERYTHING that went on my face. Phew!

The whole thing was amazing. I learned a lot! I loved the fact that I was watching the whole thing in a hand mirror so I could actually learn and things went into as little or as much detail as I needed, with plenty of time for my questions. Sheena was brilliant, really made me feel at ease, especially as I was feeling really self conscious about my skin when she removed my make up at the beginning. Also, there was no pressure at all to purchase anything, but on this occasion I wasn't able to purchase and I must admit I felt terrible about it given the amount of time Sheena spent with me (it went quite a bit over 45 minutes).

I would highly recommend the Bobbi Brown lessons, this one in particular, they are absolutely fantastic. It was really great to try out products and a great learning experience as well as making me feel and look great!

From this particular lesson I've got quite a wishlist... the Lilac Rose Shimmer Brick and Eye Palette are must haves for me and I will go back and get them when I can (hopefully before they sell out!) and also the Eyeliner, Brightening Nudes Finishing Powder and the Pot Rouge, and I was also incredibly impressed with the mascara but I'm drowning in mascara at the moment so that'll go on my list for the future.

Thanks Sheena and the entire team on the counter, it was really great and I hope to be back soon.

http://www.bobbibrown.co.uk

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