Last year when I started this blog I wrote two posts regarding the free classes for Beauty Insiders at Sephora. Part I of the two remains relevant and provides a good overview of the Sephora curriculum and my summer of beauty learning. For a list of the standard 13 classes offered, click here. The two noteworthy additions to the standard class list this year are Age-Defying Skincare and Classes for Confidence: Brave Beauty in the Face of Cancer. I give kudos to Sephora for adding a class for the special needs of cancer patients. I’ve seen first hand the devastating impact cancer treatment can have on a woman’s confidence, as my mother fought a long battle with the disease and I remember several specific conversations with her on the topic. If you know a woman who is fighting this fight, please share the information on this class with her. I went back to school this summer to repeat a class from last year, and to take two new classes that were offered at the new location in Century City. More on those in just a moment.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Sephora store lineup here in the Los Angeles area, the Westfield Century City shopping center has been undergoing a major renovation project for over a year and a half now. While the work isn’t fully complete, the early results are quite nice. One of the first stores to close as a result of the renovation was my favorite Sephora location in Century City. As one of the first to close, they were also one of the first to reopen in their new mall location this past May. As a VIB Rouge member, I was invited to the grand opening. My wallet is thankful, however, that I was out of town that week.
ICYMI, Sephora is actively experimenting with technology as a way to draw you into the store and to enhance your in-store experience. They have an active innovation lab in their North America (San Franciso) headquarters that has been busy testing and playing with new retail technologies. One result of their innovation efforts is the introduction of the “TIP” table. TIP is short for Teach, Inspire and Play, and the first of these tables was installed in San Francisco in late 2015. Century City is now the second U.S. location to have one of these, and I had the chance to experience all of the TIP elements during my recent classes. If you’re interested in learning more about Sephora’s innovation lab, click here.
These classes are truly beneficial as they will give you plenty of tips and techniques, as well as assistance finding the right tools and products for your needs. According to Australian makeup artist Rae Morris:
Makeup is my world, and I know that little things . . . the right technique, colour or brush . . . can make all the difference.
The first class I took at the newly reopened store was the new Age-Defying Skincare class. I am genetically blessed with “good” skin, but I do have to work at keeping it in good condition. Like every other woman, I do have skin care concerns. Mine include patchy dry spots, enlarged pores, under-eye circles and puffiness, and the start of fine expression lines around my mouth. This skin care class focuses on the basic steps which should be part of your daily routine: makeup removal, cleansing, serum application and moisturizing (including an eye cream). There is also discussion about the key ingredients to look for in your products such as exfoliants (i.e. AHA, BHA) and brighteners like vitamin C. Cleansing tools like the Foreo Luna and Clarisonic brushes were also discussed. In addition, we had the opportunity to apply a treatment mask just as we would at home a few times a week, although we weren’t able to leave it on for very long.
Key takeaways from the class for me were a good discussion of the double cleansing method with a “makeup melter” followed by a cleanser. My current makeup melters of choice are either Bioderma’s Sensibio H2O or Tatcha’s Pure One-Step Camellia oil for the really stubborn stuff. Also important were the proper techniques and sequences for applying serums, facial oils, moisturizers and eye cream. I learned that I was using my facial oil at the wrong point in my routine.
My skin care buys connected with the class were a re-purchase of Sunday Riley Good Genes and a new purchase of the Peter Thomas Roth Hydra-Gel eye patches. I have been using the Good Genes treatment along with the Luna Sleeping Night Oil a couple of nights each week and that combo has been working well for me for about a year and a half. I originally purchased these as a set (a great way to try this), but I ran out of the treatment product. Although the bottle of oil is old, it seems to still be potent and effective. A little bit goes a long way and I still have half the bottle left. [Note after I started writing this post, Sephora had a sale for VIB Rouge clients so I bought another bottle of Luna as sales on Sunday Riley products don’t happen.] After cleansing my skin, I apply a few drops of the oil followed by a pump or two of Good Genes and wake up to really nice looking skin without any flakey stuff going on.
I decided to try the Hydra-Gel eye patches as a quick and mess free way to work on under eye puffiness. I have been sporadically using the Patchology Energizing Eye Patches, and while I like them, I found I wasn’t great about using them as there is a bit of mess involved. Honestly, I think this is just an aspect of skin care I need to focus more on as I haven’t been using the Hydra-Gel patches as frequently as I should either, although they’re effective and easy to use. I’ve had much better success using my eye serum on a regular basis but I’ll save that for a future post.
The second class that I attended was a special Sephora PRO team class. If you’re not familiar with the PRO team, fear not, I’ll explain as I wasn’t either. There is actually a separate Instagram account for the PRO team which you can find here. According to our class handout:
The Sephora PRO team is an inspirational and approachable team of leading makeup artists who are committed to elevating the artistry expertise of our cast, clients, and the entire Sephora organization, and who represent Sephora’s voice in the beauty industry.
This is an elite group of beauty industry leaders as there are only ten in the United States. In fact, two of them are now based here in Los Angeles. The PRO team is offering these exclusive classes in only two other cities — New York and San Francisco. As a result, you won’t typically find these classes on the regular schedule and they are fully booked affairs. The two PROs who led the class were Myiesha and Jeffrey, and our topic was Trending Looks: Monochromatic. If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you know that I’ve really had to work at expanding my makeup comfort zone so you can imagine that a class in trending looks was a bit scary for me. The fear was totally unwarranted!
The class format was a bit different from the usual approach. Our two PROs each had a class participant as their model and each did one side of the model’s face. Each PRO had a different creative vision based on discussion with their model and their individual creativity. It was great to see the two work side by side creating different looks based on the same monochromatic theme. They would, for example, do the eyes, and then the class participants had the chance to play and do their own eyes using both the virtual try-on at the TIP table and actual makeup. We would then move on to another part of the face, see the PRO demonstrate and then do that portion of our face. One thing that was really helpful was that the PROs came by regularly to offer advice and encouragement as well as to answer our questions. In addition, there were a number of store employees available to fetch products and assist with technique. One of the employees who assisted really helped me improve upon my eye shadow blending technique.
The keys I think for the monochromatic look were color selection, incorporating neutrals, and using a variety of finishes. Myiesha’s advice on color was to start with one that looks good on your cheeks and work from there. For example using multiple eye shadows where some are matte and others have a shimmery finish. Incorporating neutrals is also important to balance the overall look. This class reinforced some of the ideas and looks that I’ve been experimenting with using the new limited edition Natasha Denona Sunset Palette. I tried to capture some of these for you but my selfie photo taking needs work. I’ll plan to share some examples at a future date.
Finally, I decided to retake the Winged Eyeliner class as this is an area where I still struggle. I was the only person who signed up that day so I had a private one-on-one session. The cast member who helped me had the patience of Job, but this is an area that I still struggle with. I need to bring back the 30-day challenge approach that I used for false lashes to become competent here.
If you’re looking to up your game as the fall season approaches, I highly recommend working some of the classes at Sephora into your schedule. Let me know which classes you plan to take and how they work for you!
Livin' the Life in LA 
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