I recently had the opportunity to collaborate with a Resident Assistant in my residence hall on a program that focused on beauty and skincare. The event proved to be a success having a massive attendance of 64 residents. The event featured a live skincare and makeup demonstration by myself and a professional makeup artist.

I have three loves in life which are my cat, pizza and makeup. I got to showcase my love and passion for makeup at the recent Barrows Hall program, “B.Y.O.B,” which stands for “Bring Your Own Brush.” The program featured a presentation which described the steps used to put on a full face of makeup, in addition to a live skincare and makeup demonstration on two models.

When one of the RAs in my building approached me about collaborating on a program about skincare and makeup, I couldn’t say no. I had always wanted a makeup and skincare program to happen in Barrows, and when they finally approached me about it, and I knew I had to be a part of it. I was extremely excited and happy that I was chosen to do the program. We planned everything out a month in advance down to the exact dollar amounts of the supplies that we needed for the program.

The idea needed to be presented to a Budget Committee in order to get the funds for all of the products we needed. Once we got approved, we planned to go shopping to get all of the amazing products.

We spent a good chunk of time shopping and making sure that everything that we got would accommodate our models, as well as a variety of different skin tones for our residents that were attending. Our demo featured one model with fair skin and one model with deeper skin. Our Resident Director thought it would be a good idea to feature two models with different skin tones in order to demonstrate the shades and colors that work well for each. We bought everything from setting powders, eye shadow palettes, to moisturizers and cleansers. Giving products away to the residents was something that was important to the program because they can learn how to use their new products and grow their collections.

When we finished shopping for all of the products, I started to get a bit emotional. I was so happy that I got to display my makeup skills and teach other people about something that I am passionate about. It felt like I was a professional makeup artist preparing to teach a class on makeup and skincare application.

When the day of the event arrived, I quickly put the finishing touches on my own face of makeup and ran downstairs to the lobby to help with setup. We put pink tablecloths on each table, bowls of candy and refreshments in the back of the lobby, and set up the working stations for the professional makeup artist and I. As we laid out the brushes, powders and other products my heart began to race. I was nervous, but it wasn’t fear-based. The type of nervousness that I experienced at that moment was the nervousness someone feels when something great is about to happen.

With music blasting, the residents began to pile into the lobby. Some residents even brought their own makeup products to ask questions about. My heart was beating and my hands began to shake, but I was ready. The calmness of the other makeup artist made me calm. The RA started with welcoming everyone to the program and introducing the makeup artist and me.

The presentation started with a brief demo on skincare and the importance of taking care of your face. We talked about different types of cleansers and moisturizers while applying the products to the models. We then continued the presentation going through each step, explaining and then applying. We talked about how to apply eye shadow, concealer, blush and everything else that is needed to complete a full face of makeup.

I also touched on the fact that the makeup community can be problematic due to the lack of shade ranges that certain products have. Products like foundation, concealer, and bronzer often do not go deep enough for people with deeper skin. It is extremely unfair because everyone deserves to have products that they can use and that will work for them.

We finished the program by having a trivia session at the end and the residents had to answer questions based on the demo. There were questions like “What is bronzer used for?” and “What are the five types of cleansers?” We gave out prizes to the residents that got questions right. We also ended up raffling off products to residents. By the end of the program everyone got to leave with something because we made goodie bags that contained a beauty product, lip balm, facemasks and other items that we thought the residents would enjoy. We also gave out samples of moisturizers and cleansers.

Everyone was extremely happy and satisfied with the program. I was very happy that I got to be part of this experience and hopefully, someone walked away learning something new about beauty. As I always say, “the key to great makeup is great skincare.”