Hi all, 

On Saturday 16th April I was lucky enough to enjoy one of the many fabulous events organised as part of the ‘spring made stylish’ initiative put together by Armagh city, Banbridge and Craigavon borough council. Spring made stylish ran from 15-17th April and aside from organised activities there were numerous fashion outlets running promotions in conjunction with the glamorous girly weekend in each of the towns. The event I chose to check out was the makeup lesson by S.A.K design in Banbridge town hall. As a lover of makeup and as a person who, like many others watches far too many YouTube tutorials, I thought this would be a good class in order to learn some new tips and tricks and really just to have fun playing with my makeup (of which I have far too much!) Zoella watch out! 

I rang to book onto the class as soon as I heard about it which was maybe only one or two days after the brochures got released. I spoke to a lovely and super helpful organiser Anna who sadly told me the event had already sold out! And, that I could be added to the reserve list but I would be number 6! I figured it was worth a shot and I’m so glad I did because a few days later I got the call to say a few people had dropped out (they had also organised an overflow class which I think some people opted for instead) so I was delighted! Huge thanks to Anna who genuinely seemed to go out of her way to make sure I got booked onto that class! 

The lesson cost a mere £5 as it was part funded by the council, what a bargain! I had recently been looking into makeup classes and some are in excess of £100. Of course I didn’t really know what to expect or what I would be getting for £5 but no matter what I knew I would enjoy it and for that price I really couldn’t complain. 

The only instructions were to bring a free standing mirror and our makeup bags. I had a rummage through my bag that morning and brought my favourite bits and pieces not really knowing what we would be getting up to. 

When I got there we each had a seat set out with a makeup lesson sheet where we could make notes and there was a blank face chart were we could plan out where to place particular products such as highlight and contour.

We were introduced to our instructor which was the very talented makeup artist Stacey from S.A.K designs who specialises in flawless bridal makeup as well as body art, winning UK makeup specialist in 2016. From that point on I knew we were in good hands!

Stacey gave us an overview of her work and experience and got each of us (there was about 12) to introduce ourselves and say a little bit about what we wanted to achieve from the lesson. At this point I should probably mention the class was scheduled from 2.30-5.00pm so we had a good amount of time to to learn as well as having a bit of one on one time with the artist in order to ask any specific questions. 

Stacey did a really stunning day time look on her model and as she did it she explained which products she used and why, some high end and some highstreet. She then made that look into a glamorous evening look which I endeavour to (attempt to) recreate! Stacey taught us important things like where your brows should start and end, how to properly find your cheek bones and therefore the exact places to apply blush, bronzer, highlight and so on. As I mentioned I am an avid YouTube fanatic so some of what Stacey said I had heard before but I definitely felt I left having learnt a lot. 

I found a lot of the people who attended were people who felt clueless or lacked imagination with their makeup and I could see a real improvement in their skills after, it was such a good day and all the ladies were great fun. 

I think the council were really astounded by how popular the class turned out to be, it sold out in record time! In fact all the activities for Spring made stylish turned out to be a roaring success. I think this shows just how popular events like this can be and I hope it inspires the council, who in my opinion put on some of the best initiatives in the provence, to do it again!

I have heard a rumour that there is another class planned for October, fingers crossed! Keep tuned to my blog for further updates. 

*Check out SAK designs on Facebook and Instagram*