Last Wednesday, I attended Priceline's Beauty School. It was a blast and we got to preview the new concept store layout for Priceline stores. It was also very exciting as I got to meet celebrity Makeup Artist Rae Morris and Celebrity Hair Stylist Kenneth Stoddart. They each gave us a tutorial and we learnt heaps of cool tips and tricks from them.
亲爱的朋友们，我仍然在做这个博客文章的翻译，这应该很快就会完成。请回来，因为我总是用普通话写一点点额外的为您服务！
The new concept stores have a luxe aesthetic to them. Everything is fairly brightly lit and the brand signs now are in light boxes, making it very easy to spot where you want to head to. The layout is also intuitive and so you won't be wandering the aisles anymore searching for what you want. There will be beauty and health experts on hand to give you advice, but it's becoming more "Sephora" where you can just wander about and try out the testers as you like. This particular store is located at the Bondi Westfield on Level 5. I liked it very much. It didn't feel "drugstorish" at all. For those of you who are familiar with Duane Reade in the USA, where they have a section for more up market drugstore products, this is pretty much the same feel.
Kenneth Stoddart and Rae Morris.
Look at their smiles! For celebrity artists, they were really nice. They also were very funny and highly energetic which made the night a really fun one!
Their individual kits are below.
Ken's on the left and Rae on the right. Being a voracious makeup brush collector, I really had to check out the amazing display of Rae's own makeup brushes which have a purpose built magnetic stand. She's pretty cool!
Ken's kit included the new Dyson Hairdryer that everyone is pretty much lusting after. He said he bought one and then was sent two. How lucky!
Wewere split up into three groups and the first stop for my group was a tutorial with the legendary Kenneth Stoddart (google him if you don't know him).
"Now girls, the way to use hairspray is... to use A LOT!" No just kidding. Here, KS is demonstrating how to do a quick messy top knot bun in literally minutes. Three ingredients, a hooked-end hair tie (which you can get at Priceline now), hair spray and U pins.
The next look was spectacular. First a pony tail, then split the pony tail into 2, tie a knot, pressed said knot firmly against the head and pin in with U pins, then twist the ends under and wah lah! C'est Bien. A really classy and elegant hair bun worthy of any bridezilla.
Next stop, was a tour of the new store. It's so fancied up now. It has digital screens showing videos, tables with mirrors where you can try things out and get a beauty consultation. Apparently, we, in Sydney, will also be getting a NYX studio area just like they have in one of the Melbourne City stores.
Now for my favourite part...
RAE MORRIS in the flesh, YO! *Hands Pumping in the air*
Very short, unedited clip of Rae Morris, just so you can hear her voice.
In the first photo, she was showing us how she ALWAYS starts eye makeup with the bottom of the eye. Which makes sense now that she's said it. You start in the middle, get that straight and neat and then wing up for a cat eye and connect the top line to the edge. This then transitions pretty easily into a nice smokey eye you see on the left.
Above, she was showing us how to make eyes look bigger. She was explaining the "phi eye" concept too. Here's a link to a video tutorial on this for Cosmopolitan she did (video).
[Geek Alert: This "Phi" or "Golden Ratio" as I know it from art/photography school, is a basic ratio in a kind of "9" shape. So if you turn the "9" 90 degrees horizontally, you get the perfect eye. If you have seen the Golden Ratio and get familiar with it, you start to see it in everything that is beautiful. A classic example is a rose. Look at a rose by starting from the smallest bit in the middle and draw a '9" in your mind and it will fit.]
Ok. Back to how to make an eye look bigger. Here she chose an asian model (Thi of BiscuitsandMakeup) and used a Korean makeup trick. She extended the eyeliner into the inner corners to create a V (think very egyptian style). Then connected the top and lower part of that V to 1/3 of the top lower lash line, added highlighter to the middle of the top and lower lash line and then used the same dark eyeliner to wing out the eye. So from left to right of the eye it's like this < ** > . Get it? Uhmm. I'll try it out on myself but I have a fairly narrow nose bridge for an asian (because I'm not a pure blood chinese and my eyes are more close set) so I don't have as much space to work with.
BUT, you can see from the photo on the right, how much bigger the left eye with the makeup is, compared to the right eye with no makeup.
After that, we were treated to a shopping spree. Priceline was generous enough to give us a $50 voucher ON TOP of the goodie bag of products and I kinda went a bit nutso and spent WAY over that. I'm sorry, but I'm not. I'm contributing to the economy!!! I'm probably one of the biggest purchasers. One time, when I used my points voucher at Priceline, the gentleman at the check out said: "WAH you must shop here A LOT for this amount of voucher!!". Yes. I plead guilty. Send me something, and chances are, I'll go out and buy at least 10 more.
SO... Beauty School was a blast. I got to meet my makeup artist hero Rae Morris, she autographed my copy of her book and gave me a kiss and I did a bunch of shopping. What could have been a better way to spend a night??
Yours Truly with Lots of Love, TeacupOfMakeup. 待会见! 可爱的小茶杯
