Tuesday 30 October 2012

Skyfall: Sévérine Inspired Look...








On Sunday I went to watch Skyfall... Although I love the old classic and timeless James Bond films and haven't enjoyed any of the latest movies I still am a devotee when it comes to 007... This year has been especially exciting since it's the 50th anniversary of the film franchise... To my huge surprise I absolutely love the 23rd James Bond film! It's brilliantly written compared to the previous six movies, pronouncedly ameliorated storyline... I absolutely love the #awesome villain character Silva, played by the Spanish actor Javier Bardem... The humour is fantastic! And it felt quite sexually charged even though there weren't that many sexy-time scenes... 

Without giving away too much and spoiling the storyline of Skyfall I will just say that make-up wise there was one very striking look worn by the beautiful French actress Bérénice Marlohe as Sévérine in the casino scene where she meets James Bond... A very strong and dramatic lip & eye combo, which is hard to pull off and is definitely(!) out of my comfort zone... But it is such a statement make-up look that carries so much of the character's pain and darkness that I got inspired and decided to recreate this rather daring make-up look, which is just perfect for Halloween! 

I haven't taken a picture of the products I have used because most of them were either discontinued or were limited edition and are no longer available... But her look was all about black eyes and ombre deep plum lips... The black eyeshadow was taken over the most part of the eyelid and winged out to create a dramatic feline eye shape, also using a saturated black eye kohl to go over the waterline... Her lips were as intense as her eyes, a deep plum velvet lip colour was applied all over the lips intensifying the corners to create extra shadow and a touch of red colour was applied just in the centre of the lip to add extra dimension... Ombre lips are one of the a/w beauty trends this year, blending one colour into another creates an illusion of a fuller lip...

LOVE

Lee Stafford Volumizing Mousse + Sea Salt Spray...



As promised, here are the Lee Stafford hair care products for creating a voluminous and textured look that I have using for couple of weeks now... I have used them in conjunction and really enjoyed the end result... What I love about this Volumizing Mousse is that it absolutely doesn't weight my hair down and gives me a volume that stays until I need to wash my hair... It's not crispy or sticky even if you apply a little too much, it still leaves your hair soft to the touch... All you need to do is to apply the mousse evenly onto towel dry hair, into the length and the roots... 

Then on top I sprayed the Sea Salt Spray to create that beach babe look... You can also use it on dry hair to bring a tousled texture to your hair... Compared to the other sea salt sprays I have used this one doesn't mattify your hair, which is due to the sunflower extract that helps to moisturise and bring shine to your hair... And it also repairs and protects against free radicals leaving your hair soft and bounce... If you want just a tousled or voluminous hair style you don't have to use both products at the same time obviously, it's just how I styled my hair and absolutely loved it!

LOVE

Monday 29 October 2012

Halloween Inspired Nail Look with Deborah Lippmann!

 Deborah Lippmann Forget You
It's part of the current line and available exclusively at House of Fraser Stores...







This is a super quick and easy way to create a no-time dramatic nail look, which is perfect for the spooky time of year also knows as Halloween! Speaking of, I never dress up as a pumpkin or paint my face to resemble a zombie, never did and never will, but I do like to infuse a little drama into my make-up and nail look yet keeping it chic! Check out my Cara Delevingne look that I have created on Sunday, it's perfect for a chic Halloween look... 

As of nails, I decided to paint them black, what colour could be more spooky than black... This BeYu nail polish in 318 I snapped up when I was in Hamburg last time, so a while ago... It's a German brand, and the only black nail polish I own so far... I love the quality, it's a very opaque black, but any black will do of course... But what really makes this look complete is this gorgeous glitter nail polish by Deborah Lippmann called Forget You, which is what I'd describe as a party in a bottle... It has these beautiful small and large glitter particles in a rainbow colour, but what makes it a little more dramatic is that the base is a sheer black polish, so it's fantastic on black nails! I love wearing glitters just on the accent finger, which makes it a little more modern and interesting...


LOVE

Lush Bewitching Collection: Twilight!





For Halloween 2012 Lush came out with a bewitching collection of pampering treats! Part of this collection, the Limited Edition Twilight shower gel was inspired by the best selling bath ballistic Twilight... The scent of this shower gel is heavenly! Lavender Flower Infusion, Lavender Oil and Ylang Ylang Oil create this beautiful relaxing and soothing scent that is perfect before bed time... It's a purple shower gel with silver shimmers settled at the bottom of the bottle, which is great for both shimmer and non-shimmer lovers... So either shake the bottle for some sparkle or don't... Trick or treat? Definitely a treat!


LOVE

Sunday 28 October 2012

Cara Delevingne Burberry Lip Velvet Look...

















This Autumn Burberry came out with the new Lip Velvet lipsticks in 12 beautiful velvet shades, going from the perfect nudes to deep burgundy colours... I particularly love the brick red lip look Cara Delevingne [current girl crush!] is wearing in the Burberry Lip Velvet ad images, which I decided to recreate with Burberry Lip Velvet in Military Red No.310... This shade comes out as a beautiful classic red, and therefore I needed to tone it down and create a deeper shade... You can make any red lipstick pull the colour you want by filling in your lips with a lip liner in the desired colour first, I used Chanel Precision Lip Definer in Amarante 54, which is a violet plum shade... Although it's a velvet lipstick, it does not feel drying on my lips... It feels very smooth and luxurious... Not to mention the magnetic lid that slaps into place...


For eyes I went with the classic Burberry eye look, which has a wash of colour and is also taken quite far down under the lower lashes and inner-corner creating this smoked out exhausted but chic look to reflect the cool tones of London's rainy and grey weather, which we all Londoners love to moan about... This look is also perfect for a chic way of approaching Halloween! To get the Burberry eye look: I applied MAC Paint Pot in Groundwork all over the lid, and then to add a little more depth I used Burberry Sheer Eye Shadow in Taupe Brown No.07, a very simple and quick look... The Burberry packaging is incredibly stylish... It feels heavy and luxurious... You almost feel bad for ruining the pristine Burberry print... Simply classic!

LOVE

Saturday 27 October 2012

BCA: Essie We're In It Together...







This month Essie launched Breast Cancer Awareness Collection 2012, which has four different shades of pink... Good Morning Hope; Check-Up; I'm Strong; and the signature shade We're In It Together were created to inspire empowering me-time... A portion of the proceeds will be going to the UK based breast cancer charity Future Dreams... We're In It Together can be best describes as a pretty blue-toned pink, as it has blue and purple fine glitter particles running through, which were hard to capture on camera... 

Although I don't tend to wear pink nail lacquers during a/w, I can see myself wearing We're In It Together during the spring and summer months a lot... There is nothing wrong with wearing pink through out the year, it's just my personal taste, but if you love pink nail lacquers you should check out this colour and snap it up before it goes after the end of [October] month... And it's a great cause, so even if not for yourself you can always get it as a gift for a friend, and Christmas is coming!

LOVE

BCA: bareMinerals Ready The French Kiss...













The French Kiss is a super pretty pink blush... It gives you that perfect natural flush, which you get from being outside on a crispy autumn's day... You can keep it quite sheer or build up for a little more colour... It is the perfect autumnal blush shade! If you are a blush girl and like to keep the rest of your face pretty nude this blush is great for that, or to bring out a brighter lip... Either way I love this shade, unfortunately it doesn't look as beautiful on pics as it does in real life, so I urge you to go and swatch it at the counter, or better yet try it on... This shade was designed to be flattering on all complexions... 

But the main wonderful thing about this particular blush is that it has a good cause! bareMinerals chose The French Kiss to support the Look Good Feel Better www.lgfb.co.uk charity... In the month of October £5 from every blush sold will  be donated to this wonderful charity that helps women to combat the visible side effects of cancer treatment... bareMinerals products are without parabens, binders, fillers and harsh chemicals! I thought to share this BCA good cause with you so that you could go and check it out this weekend, the donations will last until the end of month... The French Kiss is part of the permanent line so the blush will still be available afterwards...

LOVE

Thursday 25 October 2012

Chanel Nail Colour in Pirate...







I have recently done a blog post featuring Chanel lipstick and nail colour in the iconic shade Pirate... And of course in the true Infashionlove nail-polish-addicted fashion I couldn't resist doing a separate feature of this beautiful Nail Colour shade... Chanel 08 Pirate is a classic red... It's a sophisticated not too bright red, which is perfect for this time of the year... I love it! If you also want to see the Chanel Rouge Allure lipstick in 99 Pirate, click here...



LOVE

A Non Scary Red Lip Look...







from Left to Right: e.l.f. Mineral Eyeshadow in Celebrity; Revlon Lip Butter in Tutti Frutti; bareMinerals Ready blush in The Aphrodisiac, Maybelline Gel Liner in Black






Revlon Lip Butter (L) Tutti Frutti; (R) Candy Apple...


Revlon Lip Butter swatches top: 015 Tutti Frutti and bottom: 035 Candy Apple...


First of all, I do apologise for my skin not looking its best, these pictures were taken before I tried out some pretty good exfoliators... If you want to find out what exfoliant helped to get rid of those blemishes and get an all over clear complexion please read yesterday's blog post on Liz Earle Deep Cleansing Mask, which I highly recommend for oily/combo skin... 


Without a further ado let's get to the non scary red lip look... This blog post is for those of you who love a nice red lip on other girls but somehow you feel like it's not looking great on you... I used to be scared of red lips and slowly encouraged myself wearing them and now I do love a full-on red lip... But even with the most beautiful red lip I sometimes find it challenging to leave it on for more than a few hours... Red lipsticks need a lot of attention like touching up and making sure not to smudge the perfect edge... I have blonde hair and grey/blue eyes and red lip can sometimes look a little harsh on me if I don't choose the right shade... Also depending on your complexion some reds can be ageing... There are so many shades to chose from, the raspberry reds, the burgundy reds, the orange reds and the blue reds... Where do you start... Going to counters and trying different shades is your best bet... But there is a shade I found that tends to be flattering on most complexions, and that is an orange red...


I would also recommend going for sheer lipsticks, like Chanel Rouge Coco Shine in 447 En Vogue, which literally has hardly any colour and is incredibly moisturising... But for a touch more colour there is one product that I swear by and never feel like taking it off even after a few hours... It's Revlon Lip Butter in Tutti Frutti, they are really pigmented lip butters but of course still on the sheer side compared to a full coverage lipstick... They are so easy to wear, no need for any lip lining although you could do that to make it last longer... But for a super easy and effortless red lip just glide it over your lips and you are done! I also went out and bought the Lip Butter in a Candy Apple, which is their true red shade... It's again a blue-tone red and doesn't suit me as well as the orange red Tutti Frutti... I'll make sure to have back-ups... Absolutely love it! 

Also make sure the rest of your make up doesn't clash with the red lip... During a/w I find gold shades look very pretty with red... This e.l.f. Mineral Eyeshadow in Celebrity is a beautiful shimmery sandy gold, I'd say it's a warmer and more sparkly version of bareMinerals Nude Beach... To add a little dimension I used MAC Cork in the crease and under lower lash line... A minimal look on the eyes can always be glammed up by a black winged eyeliner, I used Maybelline Lasting Drama Gel Liner in Black... I also find blushes to be pivotal in the red lip look, as they can either kill the look or adhere to it... I love bareMinerals Ready blush in The Aphrodisiac, it gives you that kind of natural peachy red flush that brings out the orangey red lip colour...



LOVE

Wednesday 24 October 2012

The Body Shop: Special Edition Vineyard Peach...





The Vineyard Peach collection came out in the beginning of October... You may think peach is more of a s/s scent, but actually although it's fruity it's a warm scent... I happen to like peach scented products as it is so I was quite looking forward to smell like a little sweet peach... If you are a fan of peaches you will love this too, it smells like a peach dessert... For some odd reason this scent reminds me of the Chanel Coco Mademoiselle... As most of The Body Shop products do what they say on the label it's pretty straight forward... This range has a Body Butter, Body Lotion, Body Scrub and Shower Gel... 

The body lotion is pretty light weight, and if you like a full-on moisturiser I'd recommend the Body Butter, I went through a few and I'm a huge fan, I quite like to use heavy moisturisers on my body before going to bed and waking up with the most soft baby skin... Moringa Body Butter is my staple, I also love the body lotion and the dry oil, which you can use, on body or hair... Some of The Body Shop scrubs are more grainy than others... For instance my favourite The Body Shop scrub is the Sweet Lemon, I am addicted to it any time of the year, and the texture is one of those oily scrubs that melt into your skin when you massage it... 

The more grainy scrubs like the Vineyard Peach, look like cream mixed with grainy bits, so they are a little bit more rough but not too rough...What I also love about body shop is that they are so generous with samples, if you want to try something before purchasing just ask them for a little sample... Even if you think peach is not quite you, why not try it, you might be surprised...

LOVE

Liz Earle Deep Cleansing Mask...





Lately my skin looked like it needed a little more help with the exfoliation... I have an oily/combo skin type, which means I need to exfoliate regularly, and sometimes if my skin is being particularly lazy I need a deeper exfoliation... I like to use gentle exfoliants, some of my day or night creams have glycolic, lactic, salicylic acids that mildly eat away the dead skin cells therefore unblocking pores, which also helps to build new fresh skin cells... And that's exactly what you need to get your skin looking radiant and clear... But make sure the exfoliants you use are gentle so that you don't harm your skin...

For a more thorough exfoliation I found this Liz Earle Deep Cleansing Mask really helpful... I haven't used a clay mask in a very long time as they tend to draw out all the oils and your skin can  feel quite tight and dehydrated, which means next day you'll wake up looking like a grease ball... But I decided to try this clay mask as I really love the Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser with the Instant Boost Skin Tonic... This mask was designed for spots, oily, combination or problem-prone skin, it also contains lactic and benzoic acid... 

Benzoic acid helps to  treat irritation and infection caused by bacteria, which is great for acne prone sufferers... I really liked it, the ingredients are great and I like the way it smells as with all Liz Earle skin care products!  It was a lot gentler than a regular clay mask yet I felt it drew most of the impurities out and helped my skin to kick start working again... After the clay mask to balance and hydrate my skin I also used my Liz Earle Skin Repair Light Moisturiser, which is also suitable for combination/oily skin type...

The green kaolin clay helps to eliminate impurities and the manuka honey, which is also a great antibacterial ingredient helps to calm and sooth your skin... After cleansing your skin apply a thin layer of this clay mask and leave it on for 5-10 minutes and then just wash it off with the sponge that comes in the kit... Sponges are also fantastic mild exfoliants, I have been using a sponge washing my face for the past couple of years, it's a nice way to massage your face... I use these sponges religiously morning and evening... Make sure to replace them ever so often to make sure no bacteria collects in them... You can buy them separately anywhere really... Great gentle deep exfoliating kit this one, love it!


LOVE

Tuesday 23 October 2012

Kurt Geiger Vero Boots...







Initially I wasn't going to blog about these booties as they are not the most beautiful pair of shoes I have ever encountered but ever since getting them, which must have been about a month ago, I have been wearing these non stop... I refuse wearing any other shoes, for the moment being at least, as these are so comfortable and go with anything, apart from denim jeans I find... They are super easy to put on, no buckles, no lacing process to go through, zip up, zip down, and done... These are proper walking boots, I can walk in them for hours, no problem at all... I guess it's the platform and the stable shape of the heel is what makes them so comfortable and easy to walk in... 

They are quite chunky and wide at the ankle... The masculine shoe shape is on trend this a/w in fact, none of that pointy toe or stiletto heel business, thank god... Being pretty masculine they are not ridiculously ugly... They bring an edge to an outfit and that's what I like about them... I love wearing them with black skinny jeans, or black tights and a floaty  skirt... When you look at them from the front they just look like a continuation of your black outfit, but when you see them from the side their clogginess gives the look a bit of a character without wanting to be in the limelight... And also the black leather is quite thick and I don't need to worry about being rained on... Shoelicious!


LOVE

Fighting the Fall Blues with Chanel Pirate...


 wearing Chanel Rouge Allure in 99 Pirate on lips 
and Nail Colour in 08 Pirate... A classic Red...
















I find the best way to chase away any sort of fall weather melancholy is to slap on a red lip and red manicure... Red lips warm up your complexion and bring some glam to any fall outfit... I also love wearing chunky knits, it's a super cosy way to dress down a red lip so that it doesn't look too dramatic for daytime... A nice thick fluffy scarf wrapped around your neck, hair down and you can face whatever weather... 

Chanel relaunched Rouge Allure in September this year, this lipstick range has some iconic colours like the blue-toned red Pirate as well as some new additions... The chic one-click Rouge Allure comes in sixteen beautifully intense shades ranging from natural beige to dramatic dark red... The new luminous and intense formulation is filled with antioxidants and  nourishing agents such as green tea and sappan wood for hydrating purpose... Some of the Rouge Allure lipsticks have matching nail lacquer shades, which is a chic way to emphasise your lip colour...

LOVE