Contouring Like Kim K at Benefit Bristol

Going to more blogging events is something that I've definitely been trying to do in the last month or so since my first one. In all honesty, I'm a bit too busy to be going to as many as I'd like. HOWEVER, on Thursday I was lucky enough to go to a contouring masterclass event at the Benefit Boutique in Debenhams Bristol!

Personally, I LOVE Benefit makeup, and its one of those brands that I seem to have quite a lot of each year. Particularly as Pappa Phillips takes a trip there every christmas to stock me up for the next few months. So as you can tell I was pretty excited after getting invited post-twitter chat. (Top tip here, really get involved in the twitter chats. You make so many connections with like-minded bloggerss, and loads of opportunities pop up for you!)

Luckily for me, Bristol isn't too far from Cardiff. So it was really easy to pop back to my home city for a few hours.

As it was held in the middle of Debs whilst the store was still open, I wasn't really sure what to expect if I'm honest. This Benefit counter is quite a lot bigger than the others I'm used to, with a brow bar and waxing facilities along with all of the usual candy pink desks and pretty products!

As we arrived we were greeted by the lovely Kirsty who's the manager of the counter, and she was super friendly and chatting away with everyone whilst we were arriving. It makes you feel so much more at ease when you can have a chinwag - makes you realise that you're there to actually have fun!

With drinks and nibbles dotted around, Kirsty started off her contouring masterclass using one of the other Benefit gals Brooke (who believe it or not is only 16?!) who was also really lovely and chatty. She was incredibly tanned too as they'd had a spray tan training day before we got there - perks of the job eh?!

Using the Boing concealers, Kirsty showed us how to highlight and contour the face, painting Brooke in war paint to show us the bits that needed lightening, and also the bits that needed shadow. Both of them also flew a lot of top tips our way too as they were going along (if you didn't already know, don't use bronzer with shimmer or warm tones, because both can end catastrophically!).

To actually blend the contour, Kirsty used some soft little white sponges, continuing on with her movements until it was all worked in properly with no sharp edges. Apparently, it's one of the best ways to get a blend as you can keep dabbing it and working it without taking all of the product off - I think I may have to invest in some beauty sponges now!

The actual 'theme' almost of the night was a focus on their Hoola bronzer, which I've been an addict to for a few years now and love, love, love! So to set this strong contour look, they used a powder for the highlight, and hoola to go over the darker areas to set everything. They finished off with one of their highlighters (I can't remember which - don't shoot me!), and the finished look was amazing. I think it worked even better with her spray tan as she could really go for the strong contour look!

After this (with a lot of pictures from everyone), the two lovely ladies swapped round so that Brooke could do a softer contour look using just the Hoola bronzer. They talked us through every aspect, telling us how to pop it on in the shape of the number three on the side of your face, starting at the edge of the forehead, coming in just under the cheekbones, and then finishing under the jawline. It's literally so easy when you know the tips of the trade!

Excuse the awful picture, it looked decent quality on the small screen of my phone, but apparently I need glasses because it's really blurry! My bad...

The finished look was so soft and easy for everyday. In contrast to the cream contour look with concealer which is really just for nights out, this one looked so natural and was really quick to achieve!

Each of us had our own little station complete with everything we needed to recreate what they'd just shown us, with cotton buds, makeup sponges, cute Benefit mirrors, and also ALL of the other Benefit products at our fingertips incase we wanted to have a play!

Kirsty and Brooke also came round to help us and give us advice for our own face shapes and skin tones, which was super helpful!

I went to the event with Abi Street, who's blog you can find here, and you can see from the pictures that she opted for a soft Hoola contour on her face, particularly as she doesn't tend to wear bags and bags of makeup. It really bought out her cheekbones, and Brooke finished it all off with highlight (possibly High Beam?) and the Havana blush, which is so nice I actually bought one...whoops!

I asked Brooke for some help with a cream contour though - particularly finding one that isn't too drastic for my really pale skin. I've made the rookie before of using contour for people with not-so pale skin, and it's ended up with me looking a bit like I'm in drag in pictures of my night out. Not a great look for me!

She went on top of the makeup I already had on, using Boing in the shade 01 to highlight, and 03 to contour so that it was really subtle. It really didn't feel like I was wearing a lot of makeup either. She set it with Hoola, finishing the look off with High Beam highlighter (for definite this time, I can 100% remember this bit!) and Dandelion blush, which is a really soft pink perfect for spring!

All in all it was a really nice event, and ended in somewhat of a massive group chat with the two girls and all of the other bloggers. Really chilled out with a really nice atmosphere! I picked up some amazing tips from the two lovely ladies that took it, and also managed to pick up a few bits and bobs as well (naughty!) which you can look out for soon. It's killing me not being able to use them yet because I haven't taken pictures - the joys of being a blogger!

Kirsty also mentioned at the end of it that within the next few months there should hopefully be a few more blogging events at their counter as new products are released - think They're Real push up liner in different colours, along with a liquid version of the Hoola bronzer! Definitely deserves another contouring masterclass! So if you're interested get in touch, because she'd love for there to be a few more lovely bloggers there to have a good time!

The Hoola bronze is 100% a makeup staple for me, what kind of products do you guys use for these looks? I wonder if Hoola's a must for any of you as well!

Alice x

p.s. follow me on bloglovin' here!