Smokey Eye with YSL Marrakesh Sunset Palette!

 YSL Marrakesh Sunset Palette from Summer 2013 Collection

bareMinerals Marvelous Moxie Lipstick in Be Free and Lipliner in Liberated

Hey Beauties! I have recently featured the stunning YSL Marrakesh Sunset Palette, if you haven't seen the review yet click here! So as promised here is the look I have created wearing some of the eyeshadows from this palette. Firstly I applied MAC Paint Pot in Groundwork as a base, then I took the brown shade in the palette and applied it all over the lid blending it through into the socket and also taking it under the lower lash line for the smokey effect. Next I applied the middle highlight shade on the brow bone to highlight the area, this helps to visually lift and arch the brow. 

Then I took a black kohl, my favourite still is the Soap & Glory Smoulder Kohl [I think it only comes in black], applying it as a liner with a light flick to elongate the eye, on the waterline, as well as under the lower lash line. I like to take a pencil brush and smudge the kohl before it sets to create extra smokiness, which I then went over with a touch of the brown eyeshadow. The final eyeshadow step was to take the golden shade and apply it just in the middle of the lid, this is something I saw Charlotte Tilbury do in her 10 Iconic Looks to transform a day look to a night look. It just adds extra bit of glamour and sparkle. 

And finally with this look I love a nude lip, my favourite nude lip combo of the moment is the new bareMinerals Marvelous Moxie Lipliner in Liberated as a base [filling in the entire lip] + Marvelous Moxie Lipstick in Be Free over the top, and then blotting it, always makes a better lip!
 

LOVE

Soap&Glory SkinGenius Skincare Event!

This is the range for oily/combo skin-type and it consists of six products:

Face, Soap and Clarity, 3-in-1 Daily-Detox Vitamin C Facial Wash

The Fab Pore, 2-in-1 Facial Pore Purifying Mask & Peel

The Fab Pore, Daily Micro Smoothing Moisture Lotion

No Clogs Allowed, Super Self-Heating Deep Pore Detox Mask

Scrub Your Nose In It, Special Pore Refining Formula AHA Facial Scrub

DR Spot, Super Strength Breakout Clearing Gel

That Peaches And Clean Cleanser smelled soooo good!

Hey beauties! Yesterday I went to the Soap&Glory event and got introduced to their skincare. It was great to talk to Victoria the global brand representative, who was super lovely and told me so much about the reformulated products and the ingredients that go into Soap&Glory skincare. Although I'm a huge fan of Soap&Glory shower gels, the eyeliners and the newly discovered Archery Brow Tint & Precision Shaping Pencil, I haven't however tried that many of their skincare products. Getting introduced to some of their pretty great products was really enlightening!

Firstly, I wasn't even aware of their line specifically developed for oily/combo skin-type and clog-prone complexion. Three products really stood out to me:

The Fab Pore, 2-in-1 Facial Pore Purifying Mask & Peel - It's new Swiss formula 15 minutes facial with Superfruit Yuzu and Poreshrink-R Complex that decloggs the pores and balances the oiliness.  No Clogs Allowed, Super Self-Heating Deep Pore Detox Mask - A clay based mask that changes colour from yellowish to blue as it heats up while you massage it into the skin. It's meant to be great even for combating blackheads. The Fab Pore, Daily Micro Smoothing Moisture Lotion - A moisturiser that helps to mattify oily skin while shrinking large pores. It has salicylic acid, which is fantastic for brightening complexion.

A lot of girls at the event seemed to like the Glow Job, Sunkissed Tinted Morning Moisture Flash. It's meant to give you a temporary self-tanning and glow-enchancing effect, as you apply it the Micro Bronzeburst Beads burst and give you a super glowy and bronzed complexion. Not sure it would be suitable for oily skin. I haven't tried it, but apparently it's their best-seller. Also the Puffy Eye Attack, Turbo-Boost Hydragel is meant to be great for dark circles and puffy eyes as it firms, tones, rehydrates, and boosts collagen production. I also want to try this one and will do a separate review. 

And finally the other product that caught my attention is Beauty Sleep Accelerator, Night & Flight Moisture Miracle. It's formulated for all skin types, and it's meant to be a powerful rejuvenating booster, working it's magic while you sleep. It helps to lock in the moisture and prevent TWL, which is Transepidermal Water Lost that often happens when you are on a flight. So many of us travel, especially during summer, so it would be a fantastic moisturiser to use while on the flight to avoid dehydrated skin.

At the Soap&Glory dispensary we got to choose two product to try, I went for The Fab Pore 2-in-1 Pore Purifying Mask & Peel and the Beauty Sleep Accelerator. I will try them out and report back! This event actually made me curious in trying more of Soap&Glory skincare products as they do seem to be pretty great! Most of the products are made in Switzerland, which for me is a massive plus point!

 

LOVE

Vogue UK JUN13 Kate Moss Beauty Look!

Hey beauties! As I was returning from the Soap&Glory SkinGenius event today I was driving through Hampstead High Street and there she was, Kate Mass walking with her cute daughter down the street. I realised today is day I should share the Kate Moss look I created last week! In last month's Vogue UK Kate finally was on the cover again. I loved the super summery issue, great images, fabulous fashion, and beautiful make-up. In some pictures she was wearing a more natural smokey eye look, but I particularly liked the glammed up version with the silver eyeshadow.

Silver eyeshadows can be very challenging to pull off. When I think of silver eyeshadow I instantly get reminded of that woman at my aunt's bday dinner, she was almost sitting across me, and I couldn't stop wondering what possessed that woman to paint her eyelids in silver... So yeh silver eyeshadows can look pretty dated... I like the Chanel runway platinum eye make-up look, but in real life it wouldn't work, it's definitely an editorial look. So when I saw this look on Kate I was really excited to recreate it, it's super beautiful and wearable! And I must say I absolutely love it, a great example of how a silvery eyeshadow can look chic! 

The key elements of this look are: 1. silver eyeshadow as an accent rather than statement, 2. making sure the edge of that silver eyeshadow is blended with a warm brown shade, 3. a lot of black kohl eyeliner smoked out, except for chocolate brown on the waterline! So here is how I did it - Face: there is strong sculpting and bronzing going on so I used Aerin Illuminating Powder in Pretty Bronze just in the hollows of my cheeks and a touch over the bridge of the nose, top of the cheeks and also over the temples, this warms up your complexion making you look sun-kissed! On the apples of the cheeks I applied Giorgio Armani Sheer Blush in 4.

Eyes: MAC Paint Pot in Groundwork as a base. The silver shade from the Shiseido Luminizing Satin Eye Color Trio palette in OR 302 applied just over the lid looking straight ahead taking the silver slightly higher up in the middle so that you can just about see it. Definitely avoid putting it into the socket! Then blending the edges of the silver eyeshadow with MAC Eyeshadow in Texture. Winging out the eyeliner in a straight line for a sultry look, blending it with a pencil brush. For this type of look the kohl eyeliner should be really creamy, I find Soap&Glory Kohl in Black perfect for that. On the waterline Kate seems to be wearing a dark warm brown shade, it's definitely not black, but still quite dark, I used Pixi Endless Silky Eye Pen in No.4 BlackCocoa. 

Lips: Kate is wearing a toffee-like lipstick shade, although quite natural it still has more colour than just a nude. I chose Topshop Lipstick in Rumour Has It. I have to say this looks is beautiful to wear for a special occasion. I never thought I'd be able to pull off a silver eyeshadow, and I'm so glad Kate wore this look. The silver shade from that Shiseido palette is stunning, it almost has a pearlescence to it, looks gorgeous on. I love this palette, fantastic for summer! I have also created a fiery copper and black smokey eye look with the other two shades from this palette, if you want to see it click here!

LOVE

Inspired by Lisa Eldridge's Classic Smokey Eye!

 This is my Instagram pic so the colours are a bit different...

You can see the swatches from top left to right:  

Giorgio Armani Sheer Blush in 4, Avon SuperShock Gel Eyeliner in Black,  

MAC Paints in Sublime Nature,and bottom two from L to R  

Bobbi Brown Eye Shadow in Taupe and Hot Stone

I'm a huge fan of Lisa Eldridge's work and so happy to see her doing beauty looks again. Her latest creation is the Classic Smokey Eye, to see her vid click here! I decided to recreate this look especially because I already had Bobbi Brown Eyeshadow in Taupe, which I haven't touched in ages. This Classic Smokey Eye is all about greyish brown shades, shades that naturally don't suit me, I prefer warm browns on me so I was really intrigues how this look would work on me. And I ended up loving it! This is why beauty is all about experimenting and being brave, I highly recommend to try this look, it has honestly become one of my staple looks!! 

I followed the exact techniques that Lisa Eldridge shows in her video, but used all the products I already have in my make-up collection. So do watch the vid of how to do this look, and I will just list the products I used otherwise this blogpost would be insanely long... 

Base [in the order I used the products]: 

Nars Sheer Glow Foundation in Light 4 Deauville, Liz Earle Light Reflecting Concealer in Medium 02 [just under the eyes], Collection 2000 Concealer in Light 2 [everything is rubbed off of mine, I still got the original one, best cheapest concealer ever - to conceal spots etc, not for under eyes], bareMinerals Matte SPF15 Foundation in Light W15 [all over to set the foundation],  Rimmel Wake Me Up Concealer [doesn't seem to have a shade number, might have rubbed off - I always finish off my make-up with this concealer under the eyes], Aerin Illuminating Powder in Pretty Bronze [I love to contour under my cheek-bones with it, I even prefer it to Nars Laguna!], and finally Giorgio Armani Sheer Blush in 4 [I bust this baby out during summer, the prettiest bronzy natural blush I can think off]

Eyes:

Soap&Glory Archery Brow Tint & Precision Shaping Pencil in Love Is Blonde [I love the name as much as the pencil it self, I find the tint end a bit too hard but omg(!) is the precision shaping end amazing!! I will have to do blogpost about it separately it's that good, basically gives you the sexiest blode brow], MAC Paints in Sublime Nature [all over as a base], Bobbi Brown Eye Shadow in Taupe 4 [as the main eyeshadow], Bobbi Brown Eye Shadow in Hot Stone 56 [as the darker shade, very similar to what Lisa Eldridge used, a greyish dark brown], Avon SuperShock Gel Eyeliner in Black [one of my favourite black eyeliners, very intense and creamy so it's great for smudging, once it sets it stays put forever], before I apply mascara I always curl my lashes, it has become a religion - I use Shu Uemura Eyelash Curlers, Avon SuperExtend Extreme Mascara in Black has proved to be a great companion [doesn't seem to ever end or dry out, love it!]

Lips:

And lastly for the lips I decided to keep it nice and simple as this looks requires lots and lots of blending, so I went for Clarins Instant Light Natural Lip Perfector in 03, I was obsessed with it couple of summers ago, and might go back to it this summer, these lipglosses are super simple to use, not sticky which is a major plus point and they just somehow make your lips look very pretty and natural! 

Hope you like this look, I certainly loved wearing it! The cool browns I usually try to avoid wearing changed my mind, thank you Lisa xox

LOVE

Soap&Glory Make Yourself Youthful Eye Cream!

I had this Eye Cream in my got-to-try box, sitting there for a while waiting for me to pick it out... Today I have finally run out of my day-time eye cream and was excited to give this one a go... I will be honest, I didn't think it would wow me, even the most expensive eye creams don't make the eye area look instantly better [in most cases], they tend to be more of a preventative nature, or just moisturising, which means you'd need to layer a product after product to create a fresh looking under eye-area... So I was incredibly surprised that a high-street skincare product so affordable would deliver such a beautiful result! Although the packaging doesn't look fantastic, I do love the fact that it's a pump tube and you can control how much comes out, as often a lot of eye cream gets waisted as the excess amount shoots out... Plus points there! 

The product itself is actually pretty incredible! It promises is to take care of wrinkles with the Superpeptide Complex and Oxygen Boosters creating fresher, tighter and brighter eyes, also disguising dark circles - and that's exactly what it does! This Soap&Glory Make Yourself Youthful Eye Cream had a visible beautifying effect on my eye-area... The eye cream brightened the area without highlighting it too much [which is also usually a big problem], keeping it still looking very natural! The eye cream even made the concealer I use [Rimmel Wake Me Up Concealer] look prettier than usual! And just like it promises it gives you an instant tightening effect, it's visible straight away... It's a perfectly balanced eye cream!

In fact I have caught myself  in the mirror few times today admiring my under eye-area looking really fresh and pretty, which of course instantly gives you that glowing radiance... Cucumber Juice and Ginseng Root Extract are the ingredients that provide that tightening lift... The other very important thing which I was hesitating about, is weather it would make my under eye make-up and concealer slide, it did not!! Stayed perfectly on even at the end of the day, didn't make my mascara run, and still looked fresh! It's incredible that something worth just twelve quid is so great! What a discovery, love it!

LOVE

Gift Guide 2012: Soap & Glory Small Wonders Gift Set!

Being a huge Soap & Glory fan I couldn't not include their gift set! The box alone looks pretty cool, I am definitely keeping it as storage for bits and bobs... Inside you get 5 products! Four of their classic products in a mini version, the Clean on Me Shower Gel [which is lovely btw, I went through two full size bottles], The Righteous Butter Body Butter [yet to try but smth tells me I'll love it too], The Scrub of your Life Body Scrub [I tried couple of their scrubs and sofar Flake Away is one of my all time favourite body scrubs(!), so I'm really looking forward to try this one as well], and Hand Food Hand Cream [currently I have a full size tube and absolutely adore it(!) this mini will be great when on the go] - all four scented with their Original Pink fragrance, which is absolutely lovely and super addictive + you get the Shower Puff! 

Such a  cute little gift, I don't know a single person that wouldn't say OMG(!) after smelling their Original Pink scented products... There's really something about it that makes you feel good, really good and puts that satisfied smile on your face! The great thing is Soap & Glory doesn't have an age limitation, anyone seems to love it from teens to grown up ladies like myself...

LOVE

Post-LFW Foot Therapy...

Running around all day in heels during LFW SS13 every day, was painful! You can hardly turn up to a fashion show at the end of the day in flip flops... Or at least it's a no-no in my world! So I chose to suffer... I was coming home every night kicking off my shoes and having a quick foot bath to replenish them a little... Soon I realised I needed more than just a foot bath... And so I looked into good quality foot products... This is a bunch I chose and have really enjoyed them...  

It was time for post-LFW foot therapy... This week I was staying in pretty much every night writing and doing other stuff that's keeping me super busy at the moment... Sitting behind your desk [at home] is the perfect time for foot creams, toners, and sprays... Feet is something we usually don't pay that much attention to... But now my feet look so groomed and feel so smooth... You know the feeling when you wake up and your feet feel silky under the sheets... 

I will do separate reviews on the products with more details but I would really recommend all of the products featured here! Caudalie Foot Beauty Cream, Soap & Glory Heel Genius Foot Cream, and Liz Earle Foot Repair Moisturiser helped to hydrate the skin... The essential oils in Dr.Hauschka Rosemary Leg and Arm Toner did a fantastic job to relieve pain and tiredness in the legs... Liz Earle Foot Scrub is the best scrub I've ever tried, it works immediately... Liz Earle Foot Spritzer helped to refresh my feet after a long day...

LOVE

Soap & Glory Flake Away Body Polish...

I got this mini scrub jar at Boots few weeks ago after reading so many good reviews... The grains are fine, which is great if you don't like your scrub to have chunky grains that tend to scratch your skin... It's got shea butter, sweet almond oil, peach seed powder, sea salt and sugar to help exfoliate and nourish your skin... It made my skin super smooth, and I love the scent too! It's scented with their Original Pink fragrance... Once I'm done with this little baby I will definitely purchase a full-size!

LOVE

Brigitte Bardot 60s Inspired Look...

Brigitte Bardot encapsulates femininity... To me she is the beauty icon of the 60s... I absolutely adore her... And of course her makeup was always so strong and sexy... She never wore too many colours, generally things were kept pretty neutral... The black eyeliner in a nice straight thick line and her beautiful nude full lips - that was her signature look... It's timeless... It's classic...

As we are hitting the metallic craze, I decided to use a beautiful antique gold as the only colour on the eyes... I choose bareMinerals High Shine Eye Colour in Bronzed, it's an intense pigment, that feels like velvet and is incredibly pigmented... For the eyeliner I used Maybelline EyeStudio Lasting Drama Gel Liner in Black, and on waterline Soap&Glory Smoulder Kohl in Superblack - both are very long lasting... And on the lips I used my all-time beloved nude lipstick, which is Clarins Rouge Prodige in Nude...

LOVE

Strong Eye & Lip Trend...

 nails: Essie Good As Gold

Chanel Rouge Allure Laque in Dragon

Maybelline Colour Tattoo Gel-Cream Eyeshadow in Eternal Gold

Bourjois Mono Eyeshadown in 16 - they seriously need to start naming their eyeshadows!

Soap & Glory Smoulder Kohl in Superblack

...And we are back to sporadic London summer weather! One minute it's sunny, the next it goes all dark and grey and starts pouring down, raining cats and dogs like there is no tomorrow... But I am still reminiscing about those balmy evenings and goldy sunsets... And so I got inspired by the beautiful warm colour-scheme for this look and went to boots to see what I could find... I picked up Essie Good As Gold [will do a separate blog post on it], which I absolutely love - and also Maybelline Eternal Gold an Bourjois in 16, which is a beautiful burned amber... And for lips I decided to wear the most luscious red lipstick I own - Chanel Dragon! The texture of Chanel Rouge Allure Laque is smooth and liquid but incredibly pigmented... Absolutely adore this fabulous little dragon...

LOVE