Weekend Update: Mother's Day

The girls after the class wearing the looks they applied on themselves

Saturday I taught a makeup class. It was not the first time I gave a makeup class, but it had been a while since I had taught a group of people. There were 5 girls, 3 of which were very much beginners, my Greti which I'm always passing on my knowledge to so she's not exactly a beginner, and another girl called Bianca who has a makeup collection that rivals mine.

The idea was to start with the basics: foundation, concealer, bronzer, blush, etc. Once you know the basic things that make you look more beautiful, and you learn to identify and correct your flaws and work with your strong points, the rest is extra. From there we went to a night look, and you've guessed it, it was the smokey eye.

The look most women request from me is the dark grey, brown or black smokey eye. It's the looks that most radically changes the way you look, and the one the camera loves most. Once you learn to master the smokey eye, the world is your oyster. The black smokey eye is of course the ultimate goal, the one all woman aspire to perfect. Once you perfect the black smokey eye, you can do pretty much anything.

It's all about having the right tools and blend away. And that was the most important lesson of the day. As a follow up, I'll be going out with one of the girls to help her find the right brushes at the best prices.

Sunday was Mother's Day so we went over to my sister's house - for a change - where we had a massive Italian feast for 17 people, and that wasn't even with everyone present. We had a cheese and cold meats platter with the most delicious grapes. Then there were bruschettas for starters (the bread was cut too thick - by me - so it was a bit like one of those prank shows as everyone that tried to bite into it would get tomato all over themselves and the floor - hilarious). For the main course my sister made sundried tomato and arougula orzo pasta, and I make penne al pesto with parma ham and parmesan cheese. We also had medium rare filet mignon cut paper thin (by me - to redeem myself for the bruschetta fiasco) with a garlic olive oil and parsley sauce (made by my sister Mary). For dessert my sister made blondies and I made cream cheese marble brownies. Two other people brought a mandioc cake (traditional here) and flan.

It really was a feast and we had a really good time eating and drinking wine, laughing and enjoying a lazy Sunday afternoon.

What about you? How was your Mother's Day celebration?