Yup, My Mom Was Right!

Wow.. I have to say that I really had a fabulous Saturday! We slept in, had a late breakfast, lounged around, took a nap, a bath and went to the mall. We had lunch at Mr. Jones in Greenbelt which I will review in my food blog. Then off we went to Rustan’s for the Estee Lauder event.

My mom has been a loyal Estee Lauder user for as long as I can remember. She uses the skin care products, makeup and perfumes. When I was a kid, I especially liked looking at the colorful makeup palettes and at the same time, keeping a good distance away from the fragile-looking bottles of Lauder in her vanity.

For me, Estee Lauder will always be a brand that exudes elegance, class, maturity and wisdom because that’s how I see my mom. My mom uses other products too but I guess Estee Lauder will always have its own home in her vanity.

Because of my perception of the brand, I shied away from it (except for the perfumes) thinking that I should explore makeup and skin care brands targeted to my age. Even though I don’t use the brand, I still like looking at their products on their website. I’m also a subscriber of their newsletters for the past 1 1/2 years. They have beautiful products and just looking at them relaxes me and brings back wonderful childhood memories.

A few weeks back, I saw an invite for their Rustan’s Makati event. It’s open to the public so I immediately RSVP’d to Ms. Liz. Because of my subscription, I know for a fact that they have new products targeted to the younger generation. Finally, a chance to try Estee Lauder!

The event was at 4 pm, I got there at 5 minutes before 4. I went inside their counter and asked one of the SA’s if I can take pictures of their products for my blog. I also asked if Ms. Liz was already there. She gave me the hand (you know, like talk to the hand) and said, “sandali ha?” So okay, she was busy with a foreign client but there were other SA’s around and she could have asked one of them to accommodate me. And I always find SA’s who give their customers “the hand” rude. Her tone didn’t help either. Seeing that Ms. Liz was not around, MB and I wandered off to the perfumes section. We returned after about 10-15 minutes.

This time around, I didn’t approach any SA’s. I just looked at the new line of Pure Color Lip Glosses and this Beauty Specialist named Minette approached me and asked if I wanted to try the gloss. I told her no, thank you and that I was looking for Ms. Liz. She immediately asked for my name and handed me a gift from Ms. Liz and Estee Lauder. I asked permission to take pictures and she said yes. After that, she asked if I wanted to try their skin care line. I said, why not.

Estee Lauder has personalized service for everyone, not just bloggers. The first is a beauty consultation.

  

She asked for my primary concern about my skin. She also asked what type of skin I have. I told her that now that the ‘-ber’ months are here, my skin is starting to dry up. She then presented me with:

Estee Lauder Hydrationist Line 

She said that with regular, continuous use, my skin’s condition would improve by 85%. I believed her because I’ve seen that result on my mom. Then off we went for my mini makeover. I say mini because we only did the 2-minute Touch Up Program.

 

My ‘before’ face

First, she removed my makeup using the Take It Away Total Makeup Remover. This is a very gentle and very nice smelling makeup remover. It also helped that Minette has very soft, very gentle hands. I was able to relax immediately.

 

Take it away! 

After that, she prepped my skin with:

Getting prepped. (Please don’t hit me! Haha!)

Then she went on to determine my skin tone. At this point, I told her that I was acidic. She used a chart to get my powder foundation match – 3, Warm..

Here are the swatches:

 

 That’s My Shade…I’m too yellow..

She applied the foundation liberally all over my face. In the process, I learned some nifty tricks on foundation application. I guess I really need a big fluffy brush to get the job done and get the job right.

 

She then applied a combination of blush and highlighter on my cheeks. Minette said that blush application should start from the part of your cheek that’s directly to the middle of the ear. Swipe the blush once or twice then blend using quick diagonal strokes then blend the lower part by using quick strokes from left to right (vice versa), side to side. I didn’t get the name of the blush but it was really gorgeous. They have two shades of that.I have a thing for two-toned, mosaic or multicolored blushers that serve as a highlighter, blusher and bronzer all in one.

 

Next, she applied several coats of lipstick and topped it with gloss. This is also a new trick that I’ve learned – applying several coats of lipstick to make it last longer and make the color more vibrant. I always stop at 2 or 3 but now I know better. On the other hand, the Pure Color Lip Gloss is great. I really don’t like gloss because it feels like I have oil on my lips but their lip gloss is different. It feels like regular lipstick.

At this point, the 2-Minute Touch Up Program was done but Minette asked if I wanted some eye color. Because I’m having dry eyes again, I just asked her to teach me some techniques. She actually thought that I didn’t like applying eye shadows/color on my lids. If only she knew the color combinations I wear on weekdays. Teehee.. Oh, she also groomed my brows.

 

So, she taught me this trick of combining eye liner and concealer. Just spread some eyeliner on the back of your hand, then apply some liquid concealer and blend, blend, blend. This will make a very good base for your eyeshadow. The colors will be more vibrant and will definitely pop out. I’ve seen this technique in one of Tom Pecheaux’s tutorials and the result is amazing. He only used one color for the models of the Alexander Wang show but their eyes were full of life, full of drama.

Another trick that she taught was combining eye moisturizer with liquid concealer. I heard in one of the videos  at the Estee site that all their products are quite versatile and can be used in combination with other products in a number of different ways. I sure saw that being demonstrated right before my eyes and now I’m a believer. She applied this mixture to my under eye area to conceal some slight darkening. It was really good although I noticed some creasing when I got home.

That was the end of the makeover and I proceeded to asking some more questions about their products. Stay tuned for Part 2 of my Estee Lauder Experience.

2-Minute Touch Up Done!