Miss La Crosse/Oktoberfest Scholarship Pageant Brilliant Bootcamp 2017

Here at Brilliant Bodywork we pride ourselves on being involved wiht our local community here and one of the ways that we are involved with the community is through the local La Crosse Oktoberfest Organization. The husband and wife owners and dynamic duo of Brilliant Bodywork, Adam Stevens and Stephanie Andresen-Stevens, are grenadiers with La Crosse Oktoberfest Organization. One of the main annual events of the La Crosse Oktoberfest celebration is the Miss La Crosse Oktoberfest Scholarship Pageant.

It has become an annual event here at the spa to host the incoming contestants for the 2017 Miss La Crosse Oktoberfest pageant for a night of tips, tricks, and socializing here at the spa. This year we had the girls for the event on Tuesday, August 15, at 7:00 p.m. in the evening. We were very excited to host the girls for another Brilliant Bodywork style pageant "bootcamp". This year we had 5 lovely contestants and 2 dedicated chaperones and directors.

We planned the evening to include appetizers and sparkling juice drinks, mini-makeovers, tips and tricks for the pageant and interview, and plenty of storytelling from myself. We had a blast getting to know more about the contestants, what their platforms were, and what they planned to wear for the different categories. We talked about wearing stage makeup and how when your on stage you need a lot more makeup then you do in person, especially for the light skinned blond ladies who tend to get washed out by the stage lights. Next we moved onto makeovers.

We started the makeover section by asking the girls what kind of make up tips they were interested in learning. The girls had great questions about how to do a glamorous eye look, or how to do contouring and highlighting, and even how to do your eyebrows. I showed the girls first how to do a glamorous eye, I showed them the importance of using a transition shade in the crease and building up a darker shade in the outer V. We talked about how important blending was and adding eyeliner and false lashes. We also talked about finding your highlight shade and contour shade by going 2 shades lighter and 2 shades darker. Then we went over how to fill in eyebrows, I showed the girls how I line the outline of the brows with a pencil and fill in with light strokes using a powder.

We enjoyed sharing stories, and pageant tips and tricks while working on make up. We talked to the girls about wearing nude heels during swimsuit to elongate the legs and how using hairspray on the swimsuit helps keep it from riding up in the back while you walk. We also talked about wearing colors that will make you stand out on stage but also add to your natural beauty without being to over the top. After going over makeup and finishing answering questions the girls all got to leave with a stuffed goody bag and a cupcake from Addie cakes. What a sweet way to end the night.

We had a wonderful time socializing and sharing with these bright young ladies. It was so great to see how each of these young ladies cared so much about getting out in their community and making a difference and what they would do if they won the crown and the chance to further their causes and platforms. I think each of the ladies we encountered that evening are winners regardless of if they win the crown. We also let the girls know that they are always welcome at the spa, if they have any questions or need any help with putting together a certain look or how to do part of their makeup routine that we are here to assist and happy to help.

Thank you to the Miss La Crosse Oktoberfest Organization for giving us the opportunity to work with your amazing young women from the scholarship program, we're looking forward to pageant night to watch as these bright ladies continue on their journey and we celebrate each of their talents and platforms.