So I am guessing from the title of the piece you can tell just how much I enjoyed my time with the girls yesterday. I didn't know what to expect from a full day workshop but whatever I had been thinking I got much much more.

Jen and Ciara have been friends since childhood and they both entered the makeup world and taught in the same places. It was just over a year ago (a year and two weeks according to Ciara yesterday) when they launched From Matte to Metallic https://www.facebook.com/FromMatteToMetallic they are a tag team of expertise and so helpful and friendly. I think it's fair to say over the course of the day, the entire room of 10 participants couldn't have been more relaxed and eager to learn from this dynamic duo.

I arrived a few mins early to the Ardmore Hotel in Finglas and was greeted with a hug and kiss from Jen (Ciara was out getting coffe) and I just felt so welcome. I sat myself down with a good angle to watch the looks loaded with my big camera, notepad and pen. The girls had booked a lovely room and left us all a notepage, pencil, facecharts, information sheets, business card and an amazing cupcake from Jens Couture Cakes https://www.facebook.com/jenscouture.cakes.5 (which I happily ate on the way home in the car)

• A dark to light look. (suited to blue eyes)
• A smoked look with purples (suited to green eyes)
• A very dark smokey look (all eyes)
• The Kim K contour

Ciara was creating the first look using all push products on Roz and this was the light to dark eye.

Next colour to be used was Push 'Perfection' which is a matte colour. Pat product onto both sides of  your flat brush which in this case was a crownbrush, tap it off and use both sides of the brush to pat the shadow onto the lid. This colour was used mostly in the centre of the lid.

*A tip for fall off... Take a clean cotton tip and wipe away your excess*

Taking a MAC 217 blending brush Ciara then added the colour 'brownie' working from the outer corner and up into the crease. Again for this you take a little product onto the tip of your brush and using small circular motions work one quarter of the way into the crease. Taking the Inglot 6SS brush blend out the crease and lid colours where they meet. Keep the centre of the lid nice and light continuously darkening the outer corner with the brownie colour and 217 brush , and now begin to move the brownie colour along the crease and towards the inner corner, remembering to keep the centre light and evening out with the 6SS brush.

Now taking a pencil or bullet brush place brownie along the bottom lash line and again soften this out with the 217 blending brush.

Line the waterline with brown liner, this is lovely on blue eyes.

It's important to have a transition colour on the eye so you don't go from a dark colour on the crease to your skin colour so for Ciara's look she used the push colour 'worked'. Using a cleaned 6SS brush with a very small amount blend this just where the crease colour meets the skin colour, extremely soft and light.  Orange will always compliment blue eyes. You also have the option of adding a small amount of this orange colour to the bottom lash line using the 217 brush.

To highlight the brow bone you will need a flat brush and Ciara used the Push colour 'pink panther'. We did not highlight the inner corner as this was not the desired look, the lightest part of this look was in the centre of the lid.

Roz had a beautiful brow shape already so Ciara lightly filled in the shape using an angled brush and the brownie eye shadow as this matched her hair colour. Start with the bottom line, inner corner and then flick the brush upwards as to make it look like you are creating more hair.

When applying mascara be sure to apply your bottom lashes first and let them dry and then go back  in and coat your top lashes. This stops those annoying little black dots appearing on your eye shadow you've just been working ages on!

So this was look number 1:

Look number 2 created by Jennifer on Ciara. A purple eye look for green eyes!

For this look Jen used mostly MAC products.

For this look Jen went in with her transition colour first. Taking the Inglot 6ss brush she applied MAC 'red brick' into the crease using the same motions as before. As always with colours it's little by little and work from the tip of your brush.

Next she used a mac paint pot in 'constructivist' (dark brown) using a mac 213 flat brush pat the colour onto the lid and onto the lash line. You will blend out the colour so don't worry if it's looks a little heavy now. Taking the 217 blend the paint pot colour into the crease colour.


Next taking the mac colour 'shale' and the same flat brush, press this colour onto the lid over the paint pot colour. Go back in with the 217 brush and blend blend blend.

Taking a new mac colour 'fig one' (this is a matte shadow) and the 217 blending brush place this colour into the outer edge and blend into the socket.

*Tip: if you are worried about cleaning oh the colour don't panic u can use a little concealer and define the side of your shadow, this will also show u where u will apply your gel liner.*

The highlight for this look was mac 'floof' and applied to the brow bone.

Under the eye: Jen used a contrasting colour of mac passionate (hot pink) using a bullet brush under the eye three quarters of the way in from the outer edge.

Flood is now used again to highlight the inner corner of the eye.

Jen used a mac brow wax pencil on Ciara in the shade Linerging. I personally use Spiked as I am darker.

To line the top lash line Jen used the mac 263 small angled brush and her fuschia gel liner. She starts with the flick first and then fills in the top lash line. Holding the angle brush point down to the corner of the eye you gently draw the flick, fill back in the lash line getting thinner as you come into the inner corner of the eye and then fill in the gap u created from the flick. This sounds and looks easy when a professional is doing it but don't worry ladies it takes lots of time and effort but you can get there too.

Jen used a pencil liner to line Ciara's bottom lashes and she has quite watery eyes so always take your time, small movements and give yourself or your client a chance to blink a few times and go back in then.

Catrice all round mascara was then applied to the lashes and be sure ladies if you are working on clients to always use disposable wands this is very important for hygienic purposes.

Onto one of my face parts of a make oh look... Lashes!!!

Always use duo glue it's the best there is so easy to work with and great for long lasting hold, apply some glue onto your hand and then take your lashes out.  Be sure   V. Bbto measure and cut the lashes if necessary to ensure your eyes will be comfortable and stay on. This gives the glue time to get tacky and then it will stick better.

Dip the lash line into the glue and apply to the middle of the lash line first and then press down the two corners. Give them a minute or two to set and then add more mascara if needed to blend in your own natural lashes.

Fill back in the gel liner if needed along the top lash line and you're done!

Here's Jens look on Ciara:

3^rd Look: Intense Smokey Eye (This was again done on Roz who has blue eyes)

For this look due to timing it was a tag team effort on Roz which I found very entertaining, I was trying to imagine how I would manager working side by side someone doing one eye each but it just goes to show the real team Jen and Ciara are, a fantastic pair who really seem to know each other inside and out which is so lovely to see.

So they placed sellotape from the outer corner of the eye and slanted up and outwards. This is going to act as a barrier for shadow and liner and create a really sharp look. Putting sellotape on your eyes is not something I have tried but have seen many times and I really think it helps create a flawless edge.

To start then they drew black kohl liner MAC Smoulder all along the lash line making sure it was really thick and dark along the lashes with no gaps. Then taking a 286 duo fibre MAC brush blended it out all over the lid. 

Don’t be afraid how dark it looks it’s all part of the look and go back in again with liner along the lash line. 

When you are blending keep the line soft by the crease, you do not want to go any higher than that.

Using the Sleek I Devine Matte Palette, taking ‘paper back’ and the Inglot 6ss brush, apply lightly to the crease. This is a dark brown colour.

Using a light brown ‘fresh’ and the MAC 217 brush, blend this onto the top of the crease where the darker colour meets the skin (this is your transition colour)

Now taking a white matte from the palette ‘pillow talk’ with a flat brush (crown brush) place this under the brow bone and into the inner corner.

Ciara has a no.7 small bullet brush she picked up in Boots which she loves, she added a matte black shadow into the outer corner V shape into the crease.

To really smoke out the eye, use the 32T Inglot brush to ‘blow out ‘ the bottom lash line. Put some of the kohl liner onto the bottom lash line and into the waterline. You are smudging out what it on the lash line, be careful to take excess off your brush as you do this you do not want to end up with ‘panda eyes’. It is also important to ‘set’ the bottom lash line with a matte black shadow as after time this can fade and it will take away from your look.

To brighten the inner corner the girls added the MAC Phloof into the inner corner and brow bone just to brighten the eye.

Now when you remove the sellotape, you will have a beautiful winged shadow look. If you feel that the look is too dark you can also add a touch of the Phloof colour to the lid to brighten the look.

Here are some pics of the Intense smokey eye:

4^th Look: The Kim K Contour

Roz already had a foundation base and I think from my experience on the day it would be useful to use a lighter foundation base and you are going to be adding more cream product to your face, you don’t want to look to ‘caked’.

For this look we used two Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection Concealer in shade 1 & 4.

Cream contouring is brilliant for nights out but it may not be your thing for a day look. You can also use powders and these can create a similar effect without feeling too much on the skin.

To highlight and contour, you first decide where on your face you need product. Not everyone’s face is the same so you don’t need to follow the exact places other MUA’s use. The ‘perfect’ face shape you are trying to create is an oval shape, therefore take a look at your own/clients face first and see where would the light hit naturally (this is where you highlight) and is there any areas you would like to hide or shade (this is where you contour)

At the workshop; Jen and Ciara applied highlight to Roz in a V shape under her eyes with a line drawn outward onto her cheekbone, in a fan shape between her brows running down the bridge of her nose, on her chin and on her cupids bow.

I found when practicing with these products, they dry very quickly so I would apply it section by section and blend it because it became very difficult to move the concealer after it began to ‘set’.

For the contour the girls applied the darker shade concealer to the bottom of the cheekbone, feel your cheek, this is just at the bottom of the bone and not below it (this is where I was going wrong) it is quite precise work as you don’t need big ugly brown streaks on your cheeks. Along the jaw bone and onto the temples then if needed.

Again be careful when you are blending out the darker shade, you want it to look as flawless as possible! The trick with highlight and contour is to go 2 shades up and down so… two shades lighter than your foundation to highlight and two shades darker to contour. You can use one shade, it all depends on the effect you are going for and how strong a look you want.

The girls used the same blending brush firstly for the highlight and then the contour and this was the 6SS or the 4SS from Inglot. I have seen the 4SS used a lot by MUA’s for this.

If you have oily skin be sure to have used a matte foundation and then cream concealers. After you have applied your highlight colour you can set it with a translucent powder, Jen used the Inglot 216 translucent powder.

After the cream concealers are used you can then go back in with the powders highlight and contour to set your look. For this the girls used the Sleek Contour Palette in Medium. Lightly dust where you have contoured with the 4SS Inglot brush (now cleaned) and also top up your highlight on your cheekbones with the lighter colour.  Be light handed when adding the powder products as you now have a lot of product on your face and this is just to ‘set’ it.

Here are pics of the highlight and contour:

So that was our lesson…….. an amazing amount of work and time spent showing us four wonderful looks, my hand was tired from all the note taking but I really felt I had gained a greater knowledge on how to create four amazing looks. I feel like I'm using the words brilliant and amazing but it was just such a brilliant showcase of real talent. Both the girls, Ciara and Jennifer were such good fun, they were so interactive, people were throwing questions at them left right and centre and they always took the time to answer them and to be sure that you were satisfied with the answer. We had a short break for lunch and then it was our turn!

I was paired up with the lovely Karen, she was heading out for the night after our workshop so I had a mission on my hands to be sure I had her looking well. Karen had green eyes and she wanted a look similar to the purple look Jennifer had created on Ciara. I had brought along some of my makeup as had many of the people attending the workshop.

We went for a burgundy look with purples and red and I have to say I was really pleased with the end eye result. I had brought along some lashes so put them on Karen to enhance her eyes and she just looked stunning!!

I wasn't overly impressed with my contouring abilities to be honest, I don't know was it the brush I used, the products or just my lack of knowledge doing it for the first time but I felt Karen looked caked and she felt she was too. The concealer just set too quickly for me that no matter how hard I worked, they wouldn't budge and at one stage I felt I was pulling Karen's face way too much. I am heading to the beauty show on Sunday so I am going to pick up the Crownbrush 10 concealer palette so hopefully in time with practice I'll get better. I used both Sleek and Inglot shadows on Karen with my Inglot and Fuschia brushes, I used her own Estee Lauder Double Wear light foundation and the Collection 2000 concealers for this look.

Karen:

Karen then got to work on me, I already had on my Collection 2000 foundation, a small bit of mascara and MAC Stereo Love Blush. Karen created a beautiful natural cream and brown eye look and she really wanted to practice gel liner so she used the Fuschia black gel liner and Jen's MAC brush. The salon services liner brush we had was too thick. Karen did a great job and I was really happy with my eyes. Here is my look by Karen:

To finish I just want to add a number of pics I took on the day with looks myself and the other students created.

Thank you so  much to Ciara and Jennifer from, From Matte to Metallic for inviting me to the workshop, I had an awesome day, learned heaps and went away with a serious shopping list!!

Ladies you can check the dynamic duo out on...

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