The Body Shop Valentines Workshop

Ciao ladies!

It's the start of the month of the hearts, and what better way to start this month than to open it with an event from The Body Shop. Their pre-Valentines workshop is actually an event for their loyal LYB members to help them prepare for the coming dating filled days/weeks (for those who're in a relationship or planning to be in one) or  days of enjoying the single life in fab style (for the single ladies like us).

Event started with a little Pinoy Henyo ice breaker with Valentines as the topic. We were even called to participate, unfortunately however, Liz was not able to beat the time that the previous contestants set. The winners were able to guess the word in 8 seconds, kind of hard to beat don't you think?

Then on to the very inspiring talk from Ms. Ana Santos, editorial director and founder of sexandsensibilities.com. Quite a shocking website title right? But as she pointed out, and as what our snooping around the site made apparent, the blog site does not only talk about sex as it is, it delves much much deeper. It talks about women's rights on sexual health, on HIV/AIDS, on topics that we often wonder about in our daily girl-talks but do not take time to research on, and of course some issues in and out of the bedroom tackled with us in mind. One of the ideals that the site upholds and promotes to women, is to love yourself first, which was also the topic of her talk.

We know some of you might find the statement shocking or a little conceited and may not agree but we have to agree. It is by first loving yourself that you are able to love others. We wouldn't want to try and recapture the essence of her very honest and uplifting talk, and end up going the wrong way so we shall steer you into the direction of their site. We hope after reading some of their articles, you'll be able to become more informed, more aware, and ready to F.L.Y. (first, love yourself).

Here are a few photos of Ms. Ana gamely answering our questions about love, life, and self-confidence.

On to the main event, the make-up work shop with The Body Shop's two award winning make-up artists, Ms. Roma (right) and Ms. Carissa (left). And what did they have for us this day? Make-up looks and tips to make sure that your Valentines date would be as picture and movie scene perfect as how you've imagined and planned it to be.

The trick to making sure that your date stayed charmed are making sure that you prepare well enough to fit the part and the details of the date. So for this purpose they gave us three scenarios for the date proper and changed up the make-up and the outfit suggestions accordingly. They did three looks: sporty, mall casual, and evening date.

Here are a few tips we picked up:

Sporty - make sure that you apply your make-up lightly. Don't overdo your foundations and powders and don't attempt very elaborate and very colorful eye make-ups. Remember you are going outdoors and the Philippine weather can be cruelly warm/hot. This will cause you to sweat and ruin your make-up look altogether. Go for barely-there looks and minimal make-up looks. Invest on light powdering and minimal concealing. Always make sure to shape your brows and line them properly; be wary of the brow shape that best compliments the shape of your face.

Mall Casual - This leaves a little leeway for you to dress up your eyes. Focus more on contouring rather than doing really elaborate eye make-ups, remember that you are going out on a very casual date. Everything else is pretty much the same if not adding a little more intensity to the sporty look.

Evening look - Now is the time that you can go and impress him with your amazing make-up skills and amp up your eye shadow. You want to make it seem like he's a important enough that you'd make an effort to pretty yourself up. You can go for more coverage if you want.

General tips.

1. Do not spread your under-eye concealer, JUST DAB IT ON and START FROM THE INNER PART then work outward. You want to start where your eye is the darkest and go outward rather than outward going in.

2. When using the stick foundation, melt it first, meaning use your fingers first to get the product and naturally heat it THEN apply to your trouble area rather than applying it first then dabbing it out.

3. When putting back your mascara into the cap, do it with a swirling motion inward; this helps take out the air that gets trapped inside (or at least ensure that you keep the air to a minimal) and helps keep your mascara from drying out. You can also heat it by rolling it in between your palms before using.

4. To prevent the clumped up look when retouching, remember two things: 1) blot out all excess oils from your face before applying your retouch powder; 2) if you are using a brush, just use light pressure when applying, and if you're using a sponge JUST DAB, you do not need to put pressure and sweep your face. You already have foundation on, if you swipe it on your face, you're taking off more than you're applying.

5. MORE IMPORTANTLY, SHELF LIVES and CLEANING INSTRUCTIONS:

Foundations are good for at least one year.

Mascaras can only be used for at least 3 to 4 months as they're more prone to getting contaminated

Eye shadows can go for at least 3 years

Blush's shelf life is at least 2 years same goes for lipsticks.

Brushes should be washed regularly (we do it every week) and sponges washed daily then replaced weekly.

AND DO NOT ATTEMPT TO KEEP USING EXPIRED MAKE UP. No matter how expensive the make-up is, when it reaches the best-before date, THROW IT AWAY. It may cause more harm to your skin than to make you pretty, the ultimate goal is to amplify the beauty that is you and not to harm your skin.

Plus they also introduced the new Moisture White Shiso BB Serum Inside which was the base they used for the make-over they did.

Of course we had an early peek at their Valentines products... of Strawberries and Chocolates. :)

The ever beloved cupcakes are there too!

Some chocolate hearts and balls.

Finally, our loot.

That's it for the awesome pre-Valentines event that we attended. Expect a review of the Moisture White Shiso BB Serum Inside in the coming weeks. :)

Cheers,

DAWN and LIZ