Makeup Ed: shu uemura Yume Class

For someone unamazingly maarte and geeky like me, a makeup class is a surefire way to get me awake at 9 AM on a Saturday morning to pack makeup school essentials.

It was a good thing that {obviously} one of my favorite cosmetic brands, shu uemura, opened its doors to mangmang in makeup person that was me, and makeup students like them and the students of the shu uemura Yume class, especially through the site Dealgrocer.

Class-ready. That's me, pretty sisters Bianca and Aina and my partner in crime Shen behind the lens. Photo credit: Shen Gee

As a makeup enthusiast, I felt like I was back in kindergarten --- everything I knew about makeup and skincare were from reading books, blogs and watching Youtube clips of friends and gurus. All I had in mind were my personal makeup experiments and theories and I was in an advanced class now.

WOW.

Despite it being an advanced class, our teacher, Sharon Soledad, accredited shu uemura makeup artist, touched base on skincare routine {oh the importance!} and makeup theories such as determining your look based on the color of your skin, clothes, the texture of your surroundings, lighting and so much more. Now, who says make up is easy?

Cleanse {shu uemura cleansing oils to the rescue} + Tone + Hydrate + Moisturize!

I'm ready for makeup battle with my Charm Travel Set Pro!

As a diligent student, I took some notes for all of you, and I hope they help you like they helped me in my succeeding makeup sessions:

Start the foundation application where the skin is the thickest: The cheeks. Avoid too much foundation on the nose where it gets oilier than the rest of the face --- iwas fake look.

Sharon applied shu uemura smooth fit foundation on me and it was during this class that I learned to minimize the use of concealer!

Our first of three looks is The Healthy Glowing Look. We were to come up with dewy, parang-high-school-lang, just-saw-my-crush look. Challenge accepted!

Kilig with our Charm brushes.

In this look, I incorporated the use of gradient blush {used very very light pink to contour} and topped with bright pink on the apples of the cheeks. In this look, I used only a swipe of shu uemura's Blooming Pink from the Celestial Garden collection.

With flash {and a little weird facial expression}.

If you notice, the makeup I used has a lot of glow and shimmer into it, perfect for daylight -- to make papansin to the crush in question.

The secondpart of the class dealt with transitioning day makeup to night makeup --- a skill that's very applicable to me, corporate slave in the morning, party girl at night. At this point, I was already a lost cause because I just stared at the mirror because I did not know what color to use. Here's a little confession: I am scared of colors. Especially with blue. Already, as it is, I am overdressed, I was scared I'd be over made up, too!

My seatmate, Bianca, suggested I conquer my fear and use shades of blue to create a look perfect those nights spent partying and walking rushing through hotel lobbies in long gowns.

So I did:

Shen and I went out to get coffee in this makeup --- I'd be very rich if I got a peso for every look I got that afternoon at Rockwell :D

Sharon does my other eye and enhances the crease of my lids with black eyeshadow.

Left: Tara. Right: Sharon. I have a long way to go.

I've always dreamt of posting this kind of picture --of an eye with eyeshadow overdose.

Notes:

Blend, blend, blend! I have a problem blending, so the class opened my eyes {quite literally} and made me think that eye shadow application is just a lot like Adobe Photoshop! :D
Don't forget to apply eyeshadow on the lower lids to complete your look. I always forget this!
Glitter, baby! Sharon made us go the distance and applied glitter on top of our crazy eyes.

Lastly, and probably the 'advanced' part of the advanced class, we were tasked to create an Avant Garde Look for runway. I was like #$%#^#^?. I'm just a newbie -- what do I do?

This is where I hopped over Shen's work table and swiped colors from her Crazy Colour Palette from BeautyPro. I took a look at the palette and chose which color no one would ever dare wear on any given day.

According to Shen, this look is called the Barbie Superwoman look.

I've been receiving inquiries regarding my earrings -- they're from PinkBox! :)

Barbie Superwoman by Shen Gee

Excuse the non-blended-well eyebrows, both eyeshadows from Beauty Pro, and the falsies are by Aya Takano for shu uemura.
Trivia: The eyelashes were so long and pamaypay-levels, that I got a bit teary-eyed, hence the smudgy yellow lower lid color.

Sooooo beautiful! I sometimes forget I'm in my late twenties and I am like a little girl all over again. Sigh <3

Mainit ba? Papaypayan kita with my eyes. LOL. Of course, just like any other class, I and my classmates graduated {with honors, chos!}:

Happy Graduation to Meeeeeeee! xx

Yume {Dream in Japanese} Class Batch 3: Aina {who has award-levels blushing and contouring skills}, Bianca, Shenny, Me, our teacher Sharon and John of shu uemura. Does that merit us the term 'Dream Girls?'

The Good:

The class was originally priced at Php 6,000 -- thanks to Deal Grocer, it became Php 3,000.
Is it worth it? Definitely.
Did I learn a lot of things? This is where it becomes different for every student. Like I've said, I'm very beginner -- I've had no formal schooling on makeup nor have I ever taken any class. To me, everything I heard was new which brings me to the point..
Can a beginner join this class? Yes. I am Exhibit A.

The Bad:

If you'd rather sleep on a Saturday {like I always do, hehe}, this is not for you. But I gathered up the energy to do so and was rewarded! So I guess it isn't so bad :)

Sigh --- so fun doing all these exercises and learning so much more about makeup! Now, I'm off to work more so I can afford all these classes.

Happy Monday!
xx

*Some photos by Lee Shen Gee.