MAC Russian Red...

I went to a MAC counter to check out their famous red lipstick the Ruby Woo... But for some reason I preferred the Russian Red, it's darker... I like dark red lips for A/W... MAC Russian Red is definitely in my top red lipsticks... I like the fact that it's a matte finish... Compared to my other matte red lipstick this one doesn't feel matte i.e drying on the lips, which is usually the problem with matte lipsticks, they tend to be not the most pleasant to wear... Russian Red feels creamy but without the sheen of a creamy lipstick... Perfection!

LOVE

Home Décor - Textures...

Home décor is one of my other passions... And the other day after making an appoint at Aveda salon in Hampstead I dropped by Zara Home... I love how often they rotate things... Every time you go in they have something new, something chic, something decadent, something baroque... I actually wanted to get a big candle holder, one of those glass vase with a metal stand type... I love them... They had a few but I couldn't find one that I fell for, instead I got a few other things I did fall for... 

When it comes to home décor playing with textures and colours creates an interesting atmosphere... I always had a thing for tassels, I hang them on wardrobe knobs, or any knobs in fact, as long as they don't match... Those leopard print slippers are so glam, they kind of screamed my name before I even entered the store... Another thing I love are Zara frames, there is another one I'm eyeing and hope not to miss before they take it off the shelf... But this one is just stunning, I stood there mesmerised staring at it for a minute or two... It's got grey and dark blue crystals layered looking like petals, very unique and beautiful...

LOVE

Nail Tattoos!

Nail Art Nail Tattoos available at www.skinartuk.com RRP £5.99

Nail Polish: Essie Ballet Slippers... 

These are so cool! Previously I have featured the Skin Art Temporary Tattoos, which I absolutely adored this summer, now the same company brought out the Nail Art Nail Tattoos... I have worn them first time during LFW SS13 [hence the crosses are missing] and they looked pretty cool over my matte Essie Fill The Gap! basecoat... Unfortunately, I was in a big rush before leaving to Somerset House on Day 2 and forgot to apply a topcoat, which you have to in order to keep the tattoos in place... They look really neat, I love to have something different on my nails which is not high maintenance... These are very easy to apply and last very well, I've been wearing mine now 4th day and they are in perfect shape! I usually change my manicure every couple of days, so that's long lasting for me... And if you are careful they'll last a lot longer... 

There are 60 individual stickers in the package... You can be creative and place them wherever you want on the nail plate and you can either do accent fingers or stick them on all fingers... You can try them with any nail polish colours, I like the contrast of black on light neutral nail polish like Essie Ballet Slippers, which btw is award-winning and best-selling classic pale pink with a sheer finish but can be built up to full coverage with three coats - love it!  Check out my Essie Collection to see which are my other beloved Essie colours... Next time I want to try the flying bird nail tattoos, they looks very pretty...

LOVE

Chanel Fall 2012 Smoky Eye Look...

necklace: Claire's

Chanel Les 4 Ombres Quadra Eye Shadow palette in 38 Premier Regard

Chanel Levres Scintillantes Glossimer lipgloss in 297 Sweet Beige

Chanel Stylo Yeux Waterproof in 88 Noir Intense

- all from the Chanel Fall 2012 Collection

As promised, I have created a smoky eye look with the Chanel Les 4 Ombre eyeshadow palette in 38 Premier Regard, which is from the current Fall 2012 Collection - including the Stylo Yeux eyeliner  in 88 Noir Intense and Glossimer lipgloss in 297 Sweet Beige... The eyeshadow shades of this palette instantly attracted me, the taupy brown with the shimmery cream, and matte black are the colours I gravitate toward most when creating a smoky eye... The matte pale pink is a pretty shade as a highlighter... The colours look incredibly chic and flattering... I think it's one of my favourite Chanel eyeshadow palettes, so far! I also used the Long-Lasting Eyeliner above the upper lash line and along waterline to intensify the smoky eye, which is also a great intense black eyeliner that really lasts... I love a nude lip with the smoky eye, Chanel Glossimer in Sweet Beige was perfect for this look, a very elegant nude...

LOVE

My Essie Collection...

from Left to Right: 

Bahama Mama, Skirting The Issue, Over The Top, Aruba Blue

L to R:

Size Matters, Head Mistress, Lolipop, Too Too Hot

L to R:

Tour de Finance, Watermelon, Cute As a Button

L to R - all from Summer 2012 Bikini So Teeny Collection:

Fear Or Desire, Mojito Madness, Bikini So Teeny

L to R:

Mink Muffs, Merino Cool, Demure Vixen, Lady Like

L to R:

Angora Cardi, Good As Gold, Lilacism

L to R:

Mademoiselle, Ballet Slippers, Fill The Gap

Here, it finally is, my Essie collection... I got into Essie nail polishes probably about three or four years ago... I love their formulation and colour range... Essie came out with the diffusion line, which is available at Boots and Superdrug in UK - it's got 70 of their best selling shades in a new formulation, which is more opaque [depending on the shade] and it dries much faster... They have also changed the brush... The new wide brush compared to the previous thin one makes the application fast and non-streaky... It took me a while to get used to the new brush that suddenly became much wider but now I love it... 

I keep my Essie nail polishes separate from the others as I tend to wear them most of the time so it's easier to pick a colour... There are a few from their permanent line that I still want to pick up, like the Mint Candy Apple, it's also one of the best-selling shades... I wouldn't even be able to tell you which are my favourites as most of them are... I love Essie, always did, always will!

LOVE

How to Make Pretty Lavender Sachets...

Last night, after I decided I had to drown my Saint Laurent and Chanel sorrows after seeing the entire SS13 show images, I begun making these lavender sachets... Yes, I was feeling that sad! I don't know about the end of the world this year, but it's definitely been the end of the fashion world this season for me... Saint Laurent lost Yves somewhere between the cowgirl and a witch... And Chanel has puffed up the shoulders and lost the feminine shape making the classic Chanel suit unrecognisable... Designers have slowly been trying to push us into looking more masculine with the shoe shape and the trouser width, but SS13 has put the end to femininity and glamour amongst most designers... How sad... Now we are supposed to look like men... What's next, lady-tash? 

Anyway, last month as I begun to pull out my sweaters I noticed a few holes here and there I started searching for the pack of some French lavender that I got last spring and was meaning to make these pouches... Doing things with your hands can be really relaxing and therapeutic, and besides I really had to take my mind of the fashion SS13 grief... You can make all sorts of shapes of lavender sachets and decorate them which ever way suits your taste... You can make them as pretty and as simple as you want... I used fine mesh fabric, beads, embroidery threads and thin ribbon, going for a love theme, naturally... 

LOVE

Nude Glow - The Dior Look...

Here is the baby I have featured in my Loving Right Now... blog post couple of days ago... I have really enjoyed wearing the look suggested by Dior for this palette in Nude Glow, which is part of the current Dior Golden Jungle Fall 2012 Collection... It's a very natural look, yet very chic... Dior suggests you apply the nude colour all over the lid and the sparkly highlighter on top to create that wet eyeshadow look... I love applying the highlighter on the brow bone, which visually gives you a lift... The black liner goes above the upper lash line with a light flick, I like applying the liner with the little sponge applicator that comes with it... The black is not intense, it just gives you a light definition... What I like about this palette is that this look you can do in like five minutes, so if you are in a rush and want to look presentable this palette is great - you could literally create this look in the back of a cab...

LOVE

Zoya Katherine - Jelly Nail Polish...

This is something different... Jelly nail polishes can bring a new dimension to any of your existing nail polishes... You can do a variety of things with jelly nail polishes, you can layer them over metallics to create a new colour... You can also wear them on their own if you like that sheer manicure, or you can build up the coverage, with four coats it becomes full coverage... Or you can do a jelly-sandwich, which is what I have done, I applied two coats of Zoya Katherine, then one coat of Deborah Lippmann Boom Boom Pow, a gold glitter polish with small and large particles [exclusively available at House of Fraser]... I really like this combo... Because jelly nail polishes are sheer they give the glitter another colour but you can still see them, that way the glitter particles are not too much in your face...

Zoya Katherine is a sheer aubergine jelly gloss and it's Peter Som custom shade... This nail polish is one of the three New Couture Nail Colour Collections for A/W 2012... Zoya came out with Designer Collection [six shades], Diva Collection [also six shades], and Gloss Collection [three shades] - apart from Katherine there is also Paloma - a sheer berry red, and Frida - a sheer teal blue, all three are jelly glosses...

LOVE

Estee Lauder Pure Color Quick-Thick Eyeliner...

In winter I tend to wear a lot of black, 

I like to layer bright necklaces - that helps to brake down the darkness of the outfit...

For the eyeshadow I chose to wear 

the Estee Lauder Pure Color Gelee eyeshadow in Cyber Copper...

I have done a review on this eyeshadow, click here...

This is the Estee Lauder Pure Color Quick-Thick Eyeliner in the shade Punker Black, awesome name! But not only the name is awesome... This small chubby eyeliner, resembling a marker, is from the new Autumn trends collection Violet Underground, which came out in September... It's great to draw a quick and thick line... By thick I mean relatively thick, as you can see on the pics, it's pretty much the width I'd wear normally, but it's not made for super fine flick line... You can do a thinner line if you take time, but the applicator is designed for that easy quick one stroke kind of eyeliner application... I love the fact that it's an intense black and stays put... Thumbs up!

LOVE