And for anyone who's been wondering, it's read with two hard j's. Ugh, don't be nasty!
Last April 13, my bf gave me a sneaky birthday present. With inside scoop from Mara, he got me a three-hour personal makeup workshop with Majolica Majorca on April 27! I do practice applying makeup on myself and I watch YouTube videos all the time so there's not really that many new techniques to learn. I did however, appreciate the product highlights. Actually, I find that product highlights is what I look forward to the most in these things! I love them so much that I'm going to put all the product features in a separate post, harhar!
A Little Background
Majolica Majorca is a baby brand of Shiseido's. I was a little surprised by this as Majolica feels like a totally different brand! Well kudos to the brand manager. Majolica Majorca was born ten years ago in Japan and it has just celebrated its third year here in the Philippines so the brand is definitely growing.
All the products have this very princess-boudoir aesthetic, which I find a bit more detailed than Etude House's. There are more engravings, filigrees and classical script to admire. I think each piece in its packaging is a carefully crafted work of art! Every item is a whimsical manifestation of the brand's story: Majolica Majorca is a bland, lonely bird who wishes to transform herself with the use of all these colorful tools!
To give you an idea of just how princess-y Majolica Majorca gets, here's a display showcasing the last collection, Secret Blink:
To give you an idea of just how princess-y Majolica Majorca gets, here's a display showcasing the last collection, Secret Blink:
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| Secret Blink display at the workshop |
Here's a more detailed pic from Liz's Capsule Review of the same collection:
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| Secret Blink Collection |
Look at all those details! It looks like something you would find from Marie Antoinette's dresser :P
I loved the practical approach to this workshop. It's very intimate with only seven participants in a small studio. There were two tables set up and we each had our own side of the table decked with a personal mirror. In the center was makeup to share between the table mates, and it was not lacking anything! I was a little disappointed though, that the makeup and tools provided were used samples from the branch, especially since there was a hefty fee for this workshop. It didn't get me down that much, I was still very happy with the workshop and it's not like the cosmetics were crusted over nor molding.
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| Me and my tablemates' workstation |
Aimee Unson, Majolica Majorca-Philippines' chief makeup artist, took us step-by-step through a day to night makeup routine. It was a very typical cleanse-prime-apply kind of deal. What I loved was how we took our time through the base, eyebrow, lips, eye shadow, eye liner, blush and mascara. Aimee showed us what to do and we, in turn, were given time to do it ourselves on our own faces! Step by step! I wish we spent more time on eye shadow as that is my personal weakness, but I still think the workshop was paced very well.
The Intermission
I love makeup but even I can get a little antsy! Thankfully, we were given a very cute break by Felicity Patisserie. Check out this awesome snack stand:
They hooked us up with red velvet cupcakes, blueberry cheesecake minis, green lemonade, cookies, choco balls and marshmallows! There's enough for everyone and then some! I'm glad they made too much and encouraged us to take stuff home because how can you sit there and keep all this cuteness to yourself? Of course you'd wanna take it home!
The cookies are made to look like Majolica's best selling makeup. I got my beloved bf a complete set of all the different kinds of biscuits! He couldn't enjoy the workshop with me, so I let him play with makeup in a way he can enjoy, teehee!
What I Learned
Cutesy tootsy packaging does not always mean crap product! Remember how I raged at SkinFood in my Gold Caviar review? Well, economy brands of signature products are the exception to that rule. Brands such as Majolica Majorca for Shiseido and Maybelline for L'Oreal (not L'Oreal Paris) oftentimes push affordable dupes from their signature counterparts. You can read this blog post from Faking Good Breeding to learn about who owns what.
Your choice of settling with an economy brand depends on how big of a difference you're willing to put up with. Sometimes a piece of makeup is simply repackaged, but other times there may be ingredient substitutions which doesn't deliver a specific effect you desire. I do believe in economy brands and once you get over the disillusionment that chemistry is magic, you'll get to that point of understanding how much smoke and mirrors are used to pad up the luxury element in cosmetics.
Knowing who owns what helps when I find a luxury-branded Trusted by Tellie item too expensive for regular use. Shiseido's foundation was once a Trusted by Tellie foundation but I can rest easy knowing that Majolica Majorca Skin Remaker Pore Cover retails for Php 895 instead of the Php 2500-ish Shiseido foundations! It doesn't hurt that both brands' refills come in the same size, letting me recycle my powder case. Yay, save the earth!
Now, if only Majolica Majorca would release a skincare line... My life would be complete!
You can check out Majolica Majorca's Philippine-website here.
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| Let the workshop begin! |
The Intermission
I love makeup but even I can get a little antsy! Thankfully, we were given a very cute break by Felicity Patisserie. Check out this awesome snack stand:
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| Snacks care of Felicity Patisserie. |
They hooked us up with red velvet cupcakes, blueberry cheesecake minis, green lemonade, cookies, choco balls and marshmallows! There's enough for everyone and then some! I'm glad they made too much and encouraged us to take stuff home because how can you sit there and keep all this cuteness to yourself? Of course you'd wanna take it home!
The cookies are made to look like Majolica's best selling makeup. I got my beloved bf a complete set of all the different kinds of biscuits! He couldn't enjoy the workshop with me, so I let him play with makeup in a way he can enjoy, teehee!
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| Photo from Majolica Majorca's FB Page |
Testing the Makeup
I unfortunately went trigger-happy with the post-workshop sale and forgot to take a pic of my look. I do have pics of myself after 9 hours, attending an insufficiently airconditioned event.
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| The product of my Majolica Majorca Workshop |
The products handled the heat and oil pretty well! I did no touchups the whole day and I still had foundation and eyeshadow on. I'd say oil control is excellent but I couldn't really tell if it dried me up too harshly because it was a little humid at the event. The eyeshadow didn't even crease!
I'm pretty surprised that the Jeweling Pencil (white liner on the waterline) was still very much visible. There'sa thick layer remaining on both eyes but check out my left eye, where it caught the most light. Even my MAC Eye Kohl in Fascinating (solid white) doesn't stay on for more than 4 hours. Cream de Cheek blush did fantastically. I was taken aback by how well the product stayed as I wasn't exactly careful in wiping the sweat off my face. The gloss was pretty average, lasting around 4 hours and rubbing off when I ate.
I'm a gracious blogger so I'm letting everyone see how nooby I am with eyeshadow. Janelle, one of the two girls who helped Aimee and the participants, did my right eye and I did my left.
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| My Asian lids hid my badly blended eyeshadow |
You can see her magical and subtle work on my right eye. I did the really bruisy, patchy mess on my left eye and I could keep blaming the brushes I used but who am I kidding? Even with my own trusted brushes, I don't know if I can show you guys anything much different from this.
What I Learned
Cutesy tootsy packaging does not always mean crap product! Remember how I raged at SkinFood in my Gold Caviar review? Well, economy brands of signature products are the exception to that rule. Brands such as Majolica Majorca for Shiseido and Maybelline for L'Oreal (not L'Oreal Paris) oftentimes push affordable dupes from their signature counterparts. You can read this blog post from Faking Good Breeding to learn about who owns what.
Your choice of settling with an economy brand depends on how big of a difference you're willing to put up with. Sometimes a piece of makeup is simply repackaged, but other times there may be ingredient substitutions which doesn't deliver a specific effect you desire. I do believe in economy brands and once you get over the disillusionment that chemistry is magic, you'll get to that point of understanding how much smoke and mirrors are used to pad up the luxury element in cosmetics.
Knowing who owns what helps when I find a luxury-branded Trusted by Tellie item too expensive for regular use. Shiseido's foundation was once a Trusted by Tellie foundation but I can rest easy knowing that Majolica Majorca Skin Remaker Pore Cover retails for Php 895 instead of the Php 2500-ish Shiseido foundations! It doesn't hurt that both brands' refills come in the same size, letting me recycle my powder case. Yay, save the earth!
Now, if only Majolica Majorca would release a skincare line... My life would be complete!
You can check out Majolica Majorca's Philippine-website here.
Watch out for my next post. I'll be talking about the loot bag I got and the product highlights that distracted me from taking a picture of my Workshop Look!