Sunday Sesh: The Birthday Festival

It is not my actual birthday until Wednesday but I never let these minor details get in the way of a celebration.

Details, Stylers. Details.

If you’ve been following Styling You for more than a few of my birthdays you will be well aware of the festival status that I bring to this annual event.

One day is never enough. Bring on the Birthday Month of Festivities (BMOF).

So, in the lead up to every June I set out planning for as much fun stuff to happen as possible. I also try, somewhat in vain, to convince my entire household that because it is my BMOF that they need to be nice to me, not irritate and niggle each other and bring me my iPad should I be too lazy to get out of bed to get it myself.

My BMOF officially kicked off on Friday but the first “fun” part happened yesterday afternoon. If you play along with me on Instagram you’d be up to speed on this. I filled the Instagram feed with the things that make for a perfect girly afternoon:

The scene is set.

• Girlfriends
• A girlfriends’ house with five-star space and views
• Champagne
• Macarons (and other yum treats cooked by someone else!)
• Makeup

Champagne. Check

Now, to be honest, this group of girls just needs a gathering that involves champagne and a chat to have a good time but I had been contacted by the gorgeous girls – Marni and Aisling – at The Foundation about hosting a makeup lesson workshop and thought that we might add some substance to our champagne-fuelled celebration.

Marni and Ainsling from The Foundation

Because if I’ve learned one thing over my 14-plus years about writing about all things beauty, there is ALWAYS something new to learn. I’ll be sharing some of those learnings with you in another post – I was going to try and squeeze them all in here but honestly, this was THE best makeup lesson I’d ever had. Because we got to do it all ourselves.

Everything from the initial colour matching of our foundation to the creation of three different makeup looks was so easy and fun to follow along as we all sat around a table with our own mirrors and makeup kits to play with. Marnie and Ash incorporated their amazing products (The Foundation produces its own range and some of these will very much become regulars in my makeup kit) as well as some others that they’ve used on thousands of people for many years with great success.

By the end of the two-hour lesson, the seven of us were smokey-eyed up with no place to go.

Well, except to stay right there and devour the treats created for us by Elliotts Fine Foods. There’s a lovely story behind the husband and wife team – Rachelle and Patrick Elliott – of this catering company. When acclaimed chef Tony Kelly (now executive chef at The Stokehouse, Brisbane) had his two fabulous Sunshine Coast restaurants (The Wine Bar and Il Secondo), Rachelle was chef at The Wine Bar and Patrick was chef at Il Secondo. They weren’t married initially but when they did make it official, it was a match made in foodie heaven. They now have a gorgeous little boy and are creating the most divine food for all events, big and small. You can also buy their treats weekly at the famous Eumundi Markets.

I contacted Rachelle a couple of weeks ago about creating some tasty, gluten-free treats for the afternoon and she came back to me with just that.

A fine afternoon tea by Elliotts Fine Foods

Just quietly … the macarons? The best I’ve ever tasted. Seriously.

Macarons ... umm yum.

My smokey-eyed girls

Here are some more photos from the afternoon.

[Show as slideshow]

How do you treat your birthday? Do you run away and hide or do you make it a festival?

* The Foundation gifted the makeup lesson session in accordance with my disclosure policy.