Make Up For Ever, Fancy Hotel, Artists, and a Celebrity, OH MY!

Hey dolls! Sorry it's taken me this long to post about my awesome experience at the Make Up For Ever Pro Roadshow in Austin, TX. I almost didn't go simply because I'm not a morning person, and it required getting up at 8 am after going to bed at 5am then driving an hour and half away- not to mention being there the ENTIRE DAY, and also discovering that after months of drought, it was pouring rain outside! However, I told myself "You don't get this kind of opportunity very often and you'll regret not going!" So I drove through the pouring rain and met up with the other Ashley (another MUA from here that I recently met). The first class was set to start at 10:30am and we made it just in the nick of time! The hotel was the fabulous W Hotel. So swanky and situated right in the heart of downtown Austin. As we got upstairs to the event, we were greeted by some sweet MUFE employees who helped get us signed in and apply for the Backstage Pass (MUFE's Pro Discount Program- my fingers are crossed that I'll get this!). At about 10:35 we were waiting for the class to start, and thankfully we had pretty great seats! Then in walks this flamboyant guy with gauged ears, hair standing tall with a bit of a curve to it, wearing black tuxedo style shorts, a black tux jacket, and a purple checkered bowtie! His name: David Hernandez. He's one of MUFE's TOP MUAs and has been with the company for over 15 years! This class was basically talking about being creative and thinking outside the box. Just because something is labeled as a blush, doesn't mean that's all you can use it for (I agree!). The next 1.5 hours was spent watching him transform a beautiful girl into something amazing inspired by horses. (I'm seriously kicking myself again right now for not taking my camera- I didn't think anyone else would have big cameras there so relied on my crappy cell phone camera- boo hoo). After it was over, we had an hour and a half to kill before the next one so we browsed the products set up in another room like a little MUFE boutique. Everything was 40% off and some things were even 50% off. Unfortunately, this event fell on the weekend between pay periods for me so I was strapped for cash. I suppose that was a good thing though because if I DID have about $300 on me I would have spent every penny lol! I limited myself to one bottle of the HD Foundation which I'll review later. The next class was led by celebrity MUA James Vincent. He's worked on tons of celebs such as, Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus, Fifi Dobson, Jillian Michaels, and soooo many more. He was sooo funny! He let a few celeb secrets slip but I'll show him respect and not repeat them, although they seriously had us cracking up! His class was about creating textures and colors. We learned lots of great stuff in this one which I'll be sharing tips from these classes here and there. He really emphasized being resourceful and working with what you have. Sharing his story of starting out thinking he needed a HUGE kit and 1 of every product, then realizing with all the traveling he does, it's just not efficient and it's unnecessary. After this class, me and the other Ashley walked downtown across the street to Which Wich. A fun little sandwich shop where you get to write on a brown bag with a Sharpie marker, what all you want on your sandwhich. I'm not even kidding when I say it was the BEST sub I've ever had! The last class was headed by William Edge. A very successful salon chain owner (William Edge Salons) who spoke to us about making a business plan for ourselves. He really made us think about a lot of things that many of us in the class hadn't really put much thought into. He was also somewhat of a motivational speaker, and just a really nice guy! So the last class had ended and we figured we'd head back home since we had a little bit of a drive. We walked around downtown for a bit, and Austin is so cute! It's like a baby New York except cleaner, and less people lol. We checked out Urban Outfitters for a while then decided we wanted to go back to the hotel to partake in the cocktail/networking even after the classes. We are seriously so glad we decided to go back. It was an amazing experience. All the MUA's that led the classes were there and so nice, and just hung out with us like we've known each other for years. They just kept handing us drink tickets so as the night went on, we all became more and more free of any inhibitions that we might have had lol. The lounge in the hotel was so nice! ...and those drinks, wow, I'm glad they were free because they ranged from $12-$16 each! That's expensive to me, especially something served in martini glass! Just when I thought things couldn't get any more fun, Ashley walks closer to me, and says, "Um, do you know that's Jesse James standing right in front of you?" "What??!!" Sure enough, there he was standing in front of me (close enough to put my hand in his back pocket lol) at the bar ordering a drink. He was too close for me to get a pic with my phone without being totally obvious so I waited til he sat at the bar a little farther down. I managed to finally sneak a pic although, I was still only using my iPhone and it was super dark in the lounge with red lights. After about 15-20 minutes me and the other Ashley approach him tell him hi, and what we're doing there, blah blah blah...to which he replies "Oh that's cool, I know Bobbi Brown! Is she still popular?" lol Ashley says, "Yeah, I was just on her website last week." Jesse says, "I was just wondering because I know how you girls are fickle." lol we just laughed and told him to have fun and he told us the same. He was a nice guy even though he may have done some not so nice things to certain celebrities. We were so psyched that he was there and that we talked to him. I've never talked to a celeb before that I can remember lol. We had such a LONG, awesome day and we hope so much that they'll return next year, or that we'll be living in Cali, or NY by then. If you have the chance to attend something like this, I highly recommend it!
Hugs and stuff!
Ash
To see video of the event check out my friend Dee, who got some footage!
MUFE Pro Roadshow even Part 1
and here's Part 2