Chanel has always been 'that' brand for me. The iconic symbol of pure grace, style, class and elegance. It's the brand that, when I was little, looking up at my mums perfume collection and not knowing the magnitude of any of them, it was the one bottle that stood out as something special. The one always shown in black and white pictures, with pearls and silk and ladies in hats and suit-dresses, strong women with impeccable style. So, needless to stay, I was pretty excited for the day of my 'Chanel face'. (embarrassing confession: I'd actually planned my outfit the night before to get a balance of laid-back cool and Parisienne chic - not convinced it worked, but someone did approach me at the counter thinking I worked for Chanel - which I totally just took as a compliment.. maybe? hmm)
Now, this was an experience that couldn't be done alone, I needed to bring someone with me, someone to get excited with and talk about it for hours afterwards with. That person, was my amazing house mate Farah - who, coincidently, is also the face of this post. (My camera packed up on me before my face was finished - but never fear! Farah's Chanel face was first, and there's plenty of pictures :) ) So we arrived together, Farah went first so I could fan girl a million pictures of absolutely everything (no wonder my poor camera gave up on me).
*****
We were both cleansed, toned, moisturised and eye-creamed and then prepped with some primer - looking fresh, glowing and about 2 shades paler (which initially looked rather strange on Farahs skin and very, very odd on my already alabaster face.) But of course, in Chanel we trust. Next up was concealer - which looked very natural and blended exceptionally well, it was also really buildable and didn't feel too heavy. It was decided that neither Farah, nor myself, were in need of foundation, but our skin concerns are very different. While I suffer from dryness and dehydration and love a good dollop of moisturiser, Farah has good, even skin and doesn't like the feeling of having make-up on. I was given the CC cream treatment, and Farah the powder treatment. Contouring was omitted as apparently we didn't need that either (although the truth of the matter may have been more a lack of time than a lack of need), blush was next (I love the difference a little blush gives, but a little really was all I was given, which was a shame because the colour was gorgeous). Eye brows were done by brushing the brows down (towards the eye), lining the top and then brushing back into place - something I've never tried before but looked absolutely amazing! For Farah's eye make-up, was a very, very bold bright blue and green semi-smokey eye look, some heavy eye-liner and lashings of mascara, topped off with some dark lipstick in Rouge Noir 109. And for me was a quick dash of mystic eyes eye shadow palette and some mascara (I'd realised by now that the woman was behind schedule and just needed to finish up pronto - wasn't too thrilled by that) she then finished my look with some (mis-matched) lipstick. Et voila!
Luckily, another woman came and saved the day, saw to the poor girl waiting (it was her 18th birthday and she was very excited, and very sweet). She then took over our 'after-care', helping us to try a lot of products out, deciding what to buy, giving great suggestions and so on. Overall, the look Farah was given was just too extreme and she felt quite uncomfortable wearing it (it was masterfully created and absolutely amazing, just not for lunch time on a person who doesn't like to wear a lot of make-up) and for my finished look (excluding the lipstick that just did not suit my skin tone), I actually did really like it, it was very natural, suited me very well, colours were good, even the powder didn't look too too much, but the rushed experience did ruin it for me slightly. She was very apologetic and didn't cut my time short or anything at all like that, it was more that as soon as the next customer arrived, I was more or less forgotten. But massive kudos to the other woman who jumped in at all the right moments to make everyone feel cared for.
We did get a little excitable and have a bit of an extensive haul altogether (will be doing a separate haul post later in the week.) Overall it was a great experience, watching Farah in the chair and learning little hints and tips along the way and getting some great information was really lovely. My experience - not so excellent, but the lady was very nice and I do understand that it's hard when you're running late on a schedule. The products were great and it was definitely a fun day out. However, I was told that the experience would be with one of Chanel's international make-up artists, and as it transpired, she was in fact still in training at the academy. So I perhaps wouldn't do it again, it had very high expectations to live up to and for me, unfortunately, it just didn't deliver. But none the less it was still an amazing experience, I learned a lot of good tips and loved my glowing complexion and eye make-up, so a huge thank you to both the ladies at Chanel, and also to Harvey Nichols in Liverpool for hosting!
Let me know if you've ever had your make-up done at Chanel (and if it was any better than mine!)
Until next time!
Amber xx
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