I went to the most recent one at Chermside (That's Brisbane Tarnii!!). I had a BLAST!
I went with my sister and there were 10 people total. The nights are 8-10 people. I had to pay the $120 a week before the night to secure my spot (which makes sense, they don't want you to not turn up and have someone else miss out).
It ran from 5:00pm-7:00pm on a Wednesday. (I think the one in the city is 6:00pm-8:00pm). So MYER is closed around you, which is a cool feeling, just the group and the MAs and all that MAC. There were nibbles and drinks (non-alcoholic but they had sparkling apple cider, yum!) and 5 MAs. We were also given goodie bags, if you want a bit more detail on them, feel free to ask, but I don’t want to spoil all the surprises for you.
For the first hour the MAs demonstrated a look on a volunteer model (one of the 10). Mine was Bridal Makeup, SO not what I was looking for but it is all about the techniques and making your makeup last longer, I still learnt from it. Then for the next hour we broke into pairs and had 1 MA per pair. We could ask questions about brushes, products, looks... If we wanted them to demonstrate a specific look/product they would. They would even show you how to copy a look if you brought a picture with you. I was interested in setting up the basics, I wanted to try a new foundation, she showed me the Prep+Prime, and Mineralise Skinfinish Naturals to go over the foundation and I asked for a demonstration of the Prep+Prime finishing power and she helped us (my sister and I) pick a lipstick and some other things.
From this, and just popping by the counter when I'm in the store, the MAs have invited me to the VIP night where they introduce the Graphic Garden collection. I think my interest in upcoming collections helped, I asked them if they knew the Colour Craft and Graphic Garden release dates. I don't know much about the night yet, but am REALLY looking forward to it.
I suggest that everyone goes to the workshop night if they can. Have a list of products in mind, it isn't hard to spend $120 at MAC, you may as well get some concentrated individual attention without other shoppers, phonecalls etc, and have the products tried on you, demonstrated etc.
To get the most out of it, it is good to go with a friend and talk about what you want to learn/see beforehand so that you know exactly what you want the MA to do. This also gives them an idea of how long they can spend talking and demonstrating, and how long you have to choose colours etc.
I LOVED it and can't wait to book in for another one. I figure, why buy the basics I'm missing now (Prep+Prime Liner Filler and Refined Zone, Fix+ etc) when I can save up a list of $120 worth in my head and then get a great night to go with it?
Try it! At the end of the night you'll still come out with great MAC stuff - so it can't be all that bad!
Feel free to PM me if you have any other questions, but I'll keep checking this thread too.
Also Tarni, let me know if you want to try and book for the same night. I hope that isn’t weird, you don’t have to let me know if you don’t want to, just thought that I would offer.
EDIT: Also, the MAs seem to feed off each other. They talked about how some of them liked the traditional foundation brushes, and others likes ones typically for powder, to use for liquid. They were saying that they are always experimenting and finding new techniques. So I doubt that they would tell you you've been doing something wrong, just suggest a different way. And even if they do, they would do it nicely and show you a better way. If you have been doing something EPICALLY wrong (something that looks bad/ruins your face/ruins your makeup), isn't it better that you find out?
