While visiting the Sunshine Coast recently, my original plans of diving the HMAS Brisbane were spoiled by some pretty dismal weather. Rather than sitting bored in my hotel room, I got in touch with the lovely Renae from the Sunshine Coast Pinup School and booked in for a Private Hair and Makeup Lesson!
Now you may have noticed in all my insta posts that I tend to keep my hair and makeup pretty simple! Most days I either curl or straighten my hair and I'm a big fan of ponytails! My makeup routine consists of foundation, a bit of brow pencil, and maybe some mascara. So as you can imagine, I was a bit nervous and really excited about trying something new :)
I contacted the school via their insta page (here) and with a few messages back and forward decided that I was most interested in how to curl my hair and then do the elusive 'brush out' that I'd heard so much about, but was too scared to try, and also to get some tips on eye makeup.
Renae suggested that I wash may hair the night before and put on my basic foundation in preparation for our lesson.
My 'Before' photo... clean skin, no makeup, looking a bit nervous!!
Lately I've been using a combination of my favourite Style by Divine foundation in 'New York' with a light dusting of L'Oreal Infalible powder over the top.
Tools for a great base - Style by Divine foundation with L'Oreal Infalible powder.
Foundation on and ready for my lesson!
Renae turned up right on time (did I mention that she came to me!!) and we got underway.
The first step was learning how to pincurl my hair. She recommended using a 19mm curling iron and we decided to test out two different setting sprays so that I could see the difference between them in the sort of curl and hold they provide. On my left I tried her own branded spray, and on my right I used Suavecita (both are available in her online store). The pink spray smelt lovely, but was a bit stickier than the Suavecita.
The two setting sprays I tested.
It took me almost an hour to curl all of my hair (I have quite a lot). I've always been a bit uncertain when it comes to curling wands as I've head horror stories of people getting their hair caught in them and having to cut big chunks of hair out and things like that :o Luckily it went fairly smoothly, though I did manage to drop a few curls here and there and had some trouble getting the clips to hold, but Renae was there to help and show me some useful techniques, how to hold my arms, and which way to wrap the curls for different effects.
All curled! Looking good so far...
While my hair was cooling, we moved on to eye makeup. I learnt so many things in such a short amount of time. Like, did you know that those beautiful, subtle eye looks that you see are actually created using five, yes five!, different eye shadow shades? I had no idea! Before, if I had been bothered to put on eye shadow I would have shoved on two colours, three tops going from light at the top of my lid to dark across my lashes. Renae showed me how to blend all five colours and use different shades on different parts of my eyelids to enhance my eyes.
Blending eye shadow.
Next we moved on to eyeliner. I was lucky enough to have been given some beautiful tarte sex kitten liquid eyeliner so Renae showed me how to apply it. We also went over the best shaped cat eye flick for my lid shape. Luckily Renae had brought along some Garnier micellar water so I could remove some of my crazy mistakes!! Once I decided they were 'close enough' to even, we added two coats of mascara, I touched up my brows and my eyes were done!
Next we unpinned my curls.
Now I know I'm probably not meant to admit this, but I just LOVE the resulting Shirley Temple style ringlets. You can tell by the giant smile on my face!!
Shirley Temple ringlets are my fav!
Now it was time for the highly anticipated 'brush out'. It's always freaked me out because the second you take a brush to curls you end up with a giant frizzy mess and I really didn't know how to turn that into the beautiful waves that you see on all the pretty pinups. Turns out, it's actually not that hard (but I will still need LOTS of practice!!). It's all about sections and brushing them into a single curl by wrapping and brushing them around your hand and arm.
All brushed out with a bit of 'teasing' in the front to get some nice height.
All I needed then was a bit of Vixen by Micheline Pitt lippy and my 'new look' was complete!
Pretty happy with the results in case you can't tell!
And for those of you who are interested, here are all the tools I used to create my new look.
My beautiful dress is by Pigtails & Pirates
Brooch by Deer Arrow
All in all I had a fantastic time, learnt HEAPS and would highly recommend booking in for a lesson or workshop if you are visiting the Sunshine Coast.
I give the Sunshine Coast Pinup School 5/5 Hearts
Have you ever been to pinup school or thought about going? I'd love to hear all about it in the comments!
Emily x