Hosted by Bethanie Lunn, the Meadowhall Blogger Style School event was a jam packed day of beauty tutorials mixed in with a spot of pampering, lots of chatter and some delicious food too. And yes I know what you’re thinking, I am a lucky so and so ;-)

After a quick coffee (or in my case tea) and some introductions, we began the style school at No.7 in Boots where we met the lovely and knowledgable Caroline.

Nicky kindly volunteered to put herself in the make-up chair while the rest of us listened to Caroline tell us all about the history of the brand and some of it’s most famous products.

Caroline spills some No.7 secrets...

In all honesty, No.7 has never been a cosmetic brand that I’ve thought about trying, however after a proper introduction to it, this British make-up brand has really grown on me!

I loved finding about the history of the brand. For instance, it was fascinating to hear that No.7 was given the go-ahead by the Government during WWII to keep trading, as ministers believed that women should be encouraged to look nice for their husbands when they returned from their battles!

Here’s a couple of beauty tips from No.7:

• If you’re going for full on eye make-up, do your eyes first, before you put on foundation or tinted moisturiser. That way you’ll never get your perfect base ruined by fallen speckles of eye shadow!

• When applying mascara, get right to the root of lashes and zig zag the wand through. Doing it this way means that your lashes pick up more product.

• No.7 believe that when it comes to skincare, you can drop the toner! They say if your cleanser is good enough, it will do the job. Can’t bare the thought of not using toner? Try splashing your face with water instead.

No.7 kindly gave all of us a fantastic goody bag stuffed full of their latest products which I can’t wait to try and review for you. I’ve already fallen in love with one of their products which I’ll share very soon.

Next up on the style school agenda was a visit to the Illamasqua stand in Debenhams. I’ve spotted this brand before as I’ve made my way through the store so was a very eager beaver, keen to learn more about this make-up range.

The lovely Rose was the volunteer for this brand and was soon shown how to do the perfect smokey-eye look by make-up maestro Glen. The result was stunning and we all agreed that Rose rocked the look!

• Don’t be afraid of attempting smokey eyes! With the right tools and a little confidence, anyone can master this make-up classic. The key is to do one eye at a time and pencil in an outline!

As part of the demonstration, we all got to have a little play with some of Illamasqua’s products and I have to say I’m now a huge fan. Their collection is bold and creative, yet also really wearable. I loved both their eye-shadows and blushes  in particular and can’t wait to go back and try some out myself at a later date.

Our last stop of the day was at Bellapierre cosmetics in the revamped House of Fraser – a mineral make-up brand that admittedly I had never heard of before.

This time I was the guinea pig, so as the ladies listened to make-up artist Jane, I sat in the chair ready to be transformed. I have to say I was a little nervous of my makeover as I’ve never really used mineral make-up before, but just a few minutes late I was really impressed.

Being of pale skin, I always find that it’s a nightmare to find a foundation that matches my skin tone, but Bellapierre’s Ultra was perfect for me.

It felt lovely and light on and my skin looked flawless. What’s more it’s a concealer, foundation and powder in one! Perfect for women who like to use few products or for those who haven’t got 30 mins to spend on their look every day.

Some beauty pearls of wisdom from Bellapierre:

Finally after a spot of lunch and more chatter at The Handmade Burger Co., it was time to finish the style school with a little challenge!

We returned to Bellapierre and were given 10 mins, yep just 10 mins, to perfect a popular Bellapierre look (light golden eyeshadow with eyeliner). Here we are, up against the clock…

Personally I think we all did an amazing job re-creating the look but congratulations to Charlotte who came out trumps and was voted as the well-deserved winner :-)

Big thank you to Bethanie, the team at Meadowhall and all of the make-up staff for treating us all to such a wonderful day. And to the lovely bloggers I met – Rose, Claire, Hayley, Nicky and Charlotte – it was a pleasure! Hope to see you all soon.

*If you’d like to get your hands on a bag full of fabulous goodies kindly donated by the beauty teams at Debenhams and Bellapeirre, watch this space! I’ll be giving away some amazing prizes very soon.

Till the next time,

Katie

x

All photos kindly shared by Meadowhall’s Facebook Page.