Yelp Cleveland’s New Year, New You

This January, Yelp Elites gathered for an exclusive, hands-on advanced skill workshop at MAC Cosmetics in Beachwood. As one of the world’s leading professional makeup authorities, MAC serves both professional artists and consumers while supporting the credo “all ages, all races, all sexes.” Elites were invited to learn the hot makeup trends of 2018, modeled after the professional skill drills that MAC artists do on themselves.  With five hands-on stations, Elites mingled in small groups and fearlessly visited each MAC artist to learn about foundation, highlighting and contouring, ombré lips, eyebrows, and eyeliner. At each rotation, MAC artists selected a test model to demonstrate live techniques to the group. Elites received personal feedback about selecting colors, addressing beauty concerns and tricks for their face shape. Each station had a range of color palettes and brushes to fit the personal style of every guest.

The MAC artists had plenty of secrets to share with Elites, starting with primer. Before applying foundation, it’s important to prep the face like a canvas. MAC primers have ingredients that address certain skin concerns (and provide a little aromatherapy) in rose, lavender and coconut scents.Next, Elites brushed up on makeup history with MAC artist Cara. As she deftly applied highlight, she shared that highlight and contour have been around since the 1500s! Contouring has been used in one way or another (especially for the screen and stage) throughout makeup history. The technique has only recently gained mainstream popularity due to makeup artists on social media.

At the ombré lips station, MAC artist Kara shared some tips about lipstick color choice: dark colors tend to make lips look smaller and lighter colors have the opposite effect. Elites also learned that MAC’s longtime best selling lip color is Ruby Woo—definitely a staple in anyone’s makeup collection!  At the end of the event, the MAC artists stressed the most important rule of makeup: anything that gives you confidence is beautiful! As Elite Jasmine G. described, “This was exactly what I needed to jump start my 2018. I’ve always watched makeup videos and thought ‘I can’t do that. That is so complicated!’ But I feel so much more confident about doing the simple things that they taught us and trying it for myself.”

Check out the 5-star reviews and photos here. For more information about the Yelp Cleveland Elite Squad, visit yelp.com/elite. For more information about the services at MAC Cosmetics, click here.

Special thanks to our sponsors:
MAC Cosmetics • Elizabeth Sturm Photography