Oriflame & Gary Cockerill - Beauty Event

Most people are very aware that my love of make up only really got going after I began blogging.

I was constantly seeing beautiful ladies with their beautiful make-up collections applying it oh-so amazingly and I knew I had to up my very lazy game.

I had never owned a properly colour-matched foundation, had never visited MAC and I certainly had never worn lipstick during the day.

Shock horror eh.

But now things have changed, and I was so excited to be invited along to a very swanky venue - The Living Room in Leeds - last Saturday to have my poor make up knowledge brushed up on by "Make Up Artist To The Celebs" Gary Cockerill.

I love Gary and have seen him many a time on the TV working his magic on Katie Price's show, so I was uber giddy to meet him in the flesh.

And Gary's main reason for visiting us in Leeds was to talk us through and then showcase some of Oriflame's brand new The One collection.

Until the event, I must admit, I had never come across Oriflame before - and now I think I been massively missing out.

Oriflame are a Swedish brand who were founded in 1967 and have success in more than sixty countries worldwide with around 3.6 million consultants generating 1.5 billion Euros in annual sales.

Quite a large success then!

I was more than eager to delve deeper into the brand.

And once all of our blogger mingling had subsided and we all had a glass of yummy bubbly in hand, we were settled and treated to a little bit of an introduction into Gary's life and his beginnings into the make up world.

I was amazed to find out that Gary has totally self taught himself his art and he started his career painting mannequins for shop windows.

What a brilliant "follow your dream" story.

Gary allowed us to peek into his amazing make up case and oh how I'd love a little rummage through this beauty.

Then it was straight onto some hints, tips and tricks from Gary to help aid us all in our search for make up perfection.

Gary chose three models and illustrated a different look on each of them.

Yuna was first up and she was treated to a long-lasting, fuller, 3D lip effect.

As a lady who usually avoids lip colour, this tutorial was definitely suited to her.

The orangey colour really suited Yuna, and she looked totally pout-a-licious.

For his next tutorial, Gary used a set of fab lashes from his very own collection (which come on a brilliant invisible strip) and created a very fluttery eye on the lovely Ellie.

He finished the look using The One Volume Blast Mascara and The One Eyeliner and this will certainly be something I'll try to recreate very soon that's for sure.

My favourite "Gary Tip" came from this demonstration too.

The "How Best To Use Eyelash Curlers".

I've never been able to use them properly before so this was a fab bit of information for me:

~ Use ten tiny squeezes at the root of the lash

~ Use ten tiny squeezes in the middle of the lash

~ Use ten tiny squeezes towards the tip of the lash

~ Result: Lash Perfection

Gary's very last tutorial was created using Oriflame's The One Colour Impact Cream Eye Shadow on the very beautiful Steph.

We were told the best way to avoid that dreaded eye shadow creasing and how to prolong cream shadow colour for as long as possible.

More brilliant usefulness.

And that wasn't all we were treated to either.

The Living Room fed us an array of delicious warm snacks - from fish and chips to mini burgers, and our drinks were constantly re-filled, cool and fizzy.

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Dessert consisted of some absolutely delicious "The One" cupcakes from The Box Bakery, and I must admit that I stole an extra two of them - one for my son and one the Hubby...which were wolfed down without a crumb left.

Throughout the day, Gary was really friendly, helpful and just lovely.

He answered questions, posed for pictures and even sent us home with signed Oriflame pictures.

To accompany our pictures, we were also given the most brilliant make up goody bag crammed with lots of Oriflame goodies to enjoy.

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So far, I've only managed to trial the brilliant The One Long Wear Nail Polish in "Night Orchid" and it is really fantastic - easy to apply, fast drying, vibrant colour...and apparently will last a fair while with no chipping...

...which we shall be testing out...