A Make Up Store makeover with Maria Gabriel

A while back I had the opportunity to get a makeover at the Make Up Store with the inspiring Maria Gabriel, who holds the position of Creative Director and General Manager of the Australia arm of Make Up Store. I was delighted to get a chance to learn more about a brand I wasn't entirely familiar with, and even more elated when I met friendly Maria and my makeover began.

Maria sat me down and we chatted about options for the look she was going to create. I told her that she had free range, but that I'd love to have gel liner applied as it's something I have trouble with.

A sneaky mirror shot, and you can see Maria rushing around behind me snatching up Make Up Store goodies to complement my mug. I mentioned that I did bright eye looks quite a bit so would love her to show me how to do a subdued look, so that is what we went with.

A subdued palette with a splash of purple, a colour that I find hard to use.

Maria began (after removing what I had on already) with the Skin Serum as primer, which glided over my skin and was very comfortable on.

Let me tell you, Maria had her work cut out for her because my skin has been really acting up lately, and she had a ton of bad skin to cover up! She said that my skin wasn't in as dire a shape as I believed it to be, and told me that porcelain skin naturally shows redness and imperfections more prominently than other skin tones so that it seemed much worse than it really was. Morale, boosted!

Maria used Cover All Mix which is a trio of concealer colours with high pigmentation, and can be mixed to the correct colour to hide blemishes, undereye areas and general pigmentation. Maria mixed a little of the Skin Serum in with the concealers on her metal palette in order to get a more fluid consistency for certain areas, which is a tip that I think is golden. She used this under the foundation, and said applying concealer either over or under foundation is fine by her.

She finished my face with Liquid Foundation in Cream and some Wonder Powder in Sahara. Getting to work on my eyes, Maria used a mixture of neutral shades over my lids, with a touch of purple in the outer corners. The chosen shades were Glam Peach, Sibiria, Boeme, Venus and the purple Flamenco.

Maria lined my eyes with black gel liner with brush #103 from their extensive brush range, which is an amazing teensy little brush that I would never think to use for gel liner! Stored that into my wishlist, along with some tips for application that Maria shared with me. I lamented my lack of gel liner prowess, and she said that feathering liner in from the outside inwards is the best way to go about it, as doing it the other way in one go will never work due to the natural squint of the eye! It makes sense when you think about it.

My completed look was subtle, with Maria using Old Rose lip pencil under Plumb lipstick and filling in my brows. I normally lean towards more dramatic looks with my eyes, so was happy to dip my toe into this sort of style.

Forgive the shiny forehead due to flash. This is the look complete with lipstick and brows.

It was a pleasure to have Maria share her wisdom with me whilst making me over, and she was also kind enough to gift with me a few Make Up Store products to play around with at home (I will have reviews of these up once I've used them a little more)

Thank you to Keryn who arranged this makeover, and to Maria for being so lovely. For more information on Make Up Store and to find your nearest counter (worldwide!) click here. They have great classes available as well, you should definitely check them out!

Have you tried any Make Up Store products?

I would love some recommendations! I have my eye on some of their shadows, they look amazing and I adore the sturdy and stylish packaging they are housed in.