Dex New York Makeup Lesson

A few months ago, my friend Tracy talked me into buying a Groupon with her to get a makeup lesson. I had a while back made a promise to myself to stop buying Groupons because I never use them. I had a change of heart for this specific one for a few reasons.

1. I’m an idiot when it comes to makeup. Seriously, the lesson would help.
2. After looking at the company offering the Groupon’s website, Dex New York, I learned not only are their products not tested on animals (they have the bunny logo!), but all their products were vegan as well.

We made our appointment for a few weeks later and went together.

Dex is located in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, and isn’t so much a makeup store, but a makeup studio. They train makeup artists in their craft and they specialize in event and red carpet makeup. Though they are a studio, they sell all their products, which are mineral based, via their website.

Upon arriving, we were offered some refreshments and then asked to remove our makeup to get ready for the lesson.

Throughout the lesson we were given a face chart to complete so we would have all the information we learned to bring home with us and recreate. Step by step, as we went through the process our instructor would do one side of our face, with us replicating it on the other side. We’d then fill out the chart with the step, product used and brush used prior to moving onto the next step.

Our makeup artist, Rebecca, did a fantastic job not only explaining why she was choosing the products she was for us, but also why she was applying them the way she was. She did an analysis of our bone structure and our eye shape, and from there explained the best ways to apply makeup to bring those features out.

For my lesson, I had asked to learn how to best pull off a bright lip, which is something I’m pretty horrible at. I also wanted to learn a good day to night smokey eye look. Rebecca reviewed both with me.

Tracy asked for a lesson on camera ready makeup.  She does a bit of television work for her personal training business and wanted to learn how to apply makeup that showed up well on camera.  It was interesting to sit in and listen to her lesson being a lot of the tips Rebecca offered for camera ready were not necessarily things I would have thought of myself.  I picked up several tips which have since resulted in better photos for myself as well.

Here’s my finished result.

I wound up treating myself to an early birthday present and buying most of the products Rebecca recommended for me. I loved they were all vegan, and featured color names specific to New York (like Montauk and Wall Street Onyx). Their packaging is also very eco-friendly. All colors come in steel tins which snap in and out of a pallet. I love the pallet because you have all your makeup for your entire look in one slim pallet which easily fits in a purse or clutch. Plus, when you run out of something you don’t have to replace the entire pallet, just snap out the tin you’re out of and replace it.

Another reason I love it, the products do what they advertise.  My makeup has looked amazing in photographs lately, even when I do my makeup all by myself.  Can’t hate that.

Have you ever taken a makeup lesson? I’d love to hear your experience.