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Wednesday 29 February 2012

Kim Kardashian-style white nails

What I'd give to look like Kim Kardashian! Love her or hate her, there's no denying she's absolutely  gorgeous and although I may not be able to emulate her flawless makeup, all of us can have her signature opaque white nails!

Love you Kimmy K!
One of the very best white polishes I've tried is Jessica On The Rocks.

Jessica On The Rocks Custom Nail Colour

The look above was achieved with two coats of the polish - which I think is as good as it's going to get with a typically very translucent hue. I always use a top coat to keep my colour lasting even longer - but Jessica does have great longevity - typically around a week (with base coat and top coat).

I buy Jessica via lookfantastic.com and polishes are typically £9ish delivered.

Do you have a favourite nail colour?

xoxo

Chanel celebrate Vegas

If only one make-up brand were to be synonymous with the bright lights of Sin City it would have to be Chanel. Their gorgeous cosmetics and effortless glam fit perfectly into the Vegas vibe, and their latest range cements the fact that anyone who's unable to resist the call of the neon lights should proceed with a make-up bag bursting with as much Chanel as possible!

So here it is, the Las Vegas De Chanel Collection!



Bearing a real resemblance to the Dior highlighter I blogged about previously, the 'Lucky Stripes' highlighter and eye colour is sure to be a massive hit - who can resist a bit of shimmer right? I'd be interested to compare the effect vs. the Dior highlighter and compare results!

Lucky Stripes
I'm not too sure how you'd wear the golden lipstick, although I bet there will be some gorgeous beauty shots in magazines with models totally rocking it!

Coco Rouge Shine Lipstick
This exclusive collection will be available in Vegas at the Bellagio Hotel and Wynn Hotel and online at www.chanel.com.

Is anyone heading to Las Vegas anytime soon? This collection has given me another reason to return!

xoxo

Tuesday 28 February 2012

High Street Fashion Prevails!

I've been drooling over these Charlotte Olympia Kitty Flats for quite some time, but unfortunately the £500 price tag has prevented me from getting them - and the fact they always seem to be sold out!

Charlotte Olympia Kitty Flats
I'd pretty much all but forgot about these shoes (at least tried to) when last night I spied a very similar shoe on Missguided.

Missguided shoe - super similar and much cheaper!


I've often had a browse around Missguided but never been tempted to buy anything until last night - the similiarities between the Charlotte Olympia Kitty Flats and the Missguided version are clear - not to mention the fact the Missguided kitty cats are £450 cheaper at just £23.99!

I also picked up the jumper below - so I qualified for next day delivery. I ordered at 8pm last night and my kitty flats & jumper were delivered by 11am the next day; I am seriously impressed and will definitely be shopping with Missguided again!

xoxo

Monday 27 February 2012

Dove - the best of budget haircare

Whether it's poor money-management or simply being unable to resist that dress or those shoes, I think it's safe to say that most of us struggle when the end (or typically for me, middle) of the month rolls around. Although it's lovely to treat your hair to Kerastase or Redken daily, the price tags of these hairdresser staples sometimes make it impossible for us to use on a daily basis.

Full disclosure: I bleach my hair (have done for about 7 years), I put heat on my hair, I back-comb my hair and it is very, very long. Not to mention thick and wavy. As you can imagine, I need a pretty robust product to ensure my hair doesn't look like a nest.

I've relied upon the Dove Intensive Repair range to keep my hair shiny and manageable during those periods of time I can't afford a luxury label and I was extremely pleased to find that this range performs on par with the brands I've listed above.

I love you Dove Intensive Repair!
Typically I use Dove Intensive Repair Conditioner (I'm using this product at the moment), and apply it to damp hair (I use about half a palm full as I need a lot of product to ensure my hair isn't dry) and then comb it through my hair from the roots to the tips using a medium size tooth comb. This helps seal the cuticles and ensures when I come to brush my hair post-shower I can actually get my brush through it without breaking the ends of my hair.

I also recently trialled the Daily Treatment Conditioner (I got a sample in a magazine) and was thrilled at the results! I'd probably use this in place of my conditioner on a daily basis as my hair needs as much nourishment as it can get!

I'll be investing in this product next!
In my opinion this range is way better than Aussie - although Aussie smells absolutely delicious.

Has anyone else tried the range?

xoxo

Saturday 25 February 2012

Peaches & Sparkle: Barry M & NYC Color

Unfortunately today was the day I bid bye-bye to my marble nails. Lasting since Tuesday I think they did pretty well - but they began to chip so I thought I'd change it up with the gorgeous Barry M Peach Melba and the super cute NYC Color Gramery Glitz over the top.



As usual I used Sally Hansen Miracle Thickener (although at the moment my nails are more in need of it after using Nail Rock Nail Wraps: they ruined my nails and the adhesive wouldn't come off!) with my favourite top coat by Filthy Gorgeous on top.




Have a lovely weekend everyone xoxo

Friday 24 February 2012

London Fashion Weekend

Marking the end of the glamour that is London Fashion Week, London Fashion Weekend has taken over Somerset House giving all the fashionistas out there one final farewell to the runway.

I headed over to check out the catwalk and the plethora of shops - and really enjoyed it! The catwalk was a great overview of trends that'll be emerging this spring summer - with Holly Folton showcasing studio 54-style dresses, short hem lines, and embellishment giving the line a real 70's luxe feel.

London Fashion Weekend Catwalk
Holly Folton Catwalk London Fashion Weekend
The Prim Rose show was all about lace and collared dresses with fitted silhouettes and pastels giving the runway a 50's feel. I love the fact pastels are taking the place of block colour this summer - I find them a lot more wearable and pretty.


Antipodium showcased floral prints with waists accentuated by belts while Game On (as the name suggests) rocked the runway in wearable sports luxe - a trend I'm still a little unsure about.

The finale was a collection by Jasper Conran whose garments had a much freer feel whilst the lower hemlines cemented the range as a more mature twist on the trends we've seen for the coming season.

Toni & Guy did the hair for each of the catwalk shows, and it was one of my favourite aspects! They noted the three key hair trends of the season; tousled braids, sweeping locks and the top knot - each of which I love!

Here are a few snaps I took whilst looking around the designer's stalls. Is anyone else heading down this weekend?




Benefit had a gorgeous brow bar!

Love a bit of Cowshed! 

xoxo

Thursday 23 February 2012

Marilyn Monroe for MAC

Two MAC posts in one day? You must think I'm mad - nope, just obssessed by the brand like many others and this news was far too exciting to pass up! It's just been announced that MAC are honouring the most celebrated screen siren of all time with her very own MAC collection.


The collection is said to be limited edition (nooo!) and will launch in the US in October. According to reports it'll feature 30 products (!) including lipsticks, eyeshadow, nail polish and eyeliners. I'm pretty convinced it'll contain the pillar box red lip stick Marilyn was rarely seen without and imagine the feel will be centred around old Hollywood and glam which will be absolutely gorgeous.



Stand by for further information - who's excited?!

xoxo

Viva Glam with Nicki (Minaj!) & Ricky

The MAC launch I've been waiting for pretttty much since the original Nicki Minaj lipstick was launched back in the tail end of 2010 is just around the corner! The Nicki Minaj Viva Glam Lipstick has been hyped since her original, limited edition shade Pink Friday sold out everywhere with all us Nicki fans desperate to get hold of it. I was not one of the lucky ones, so I thought I'd give you all the heads-up that MAC gave me today - offering us the chance to get hold of the lipstick before it goes on general sale.


To get your hands on your personal code that allows you access to buy the Viva Glam Nicki Minaj lippy pre-launch simply head over to the MAC website and register your e-mail address for their newsletter. Fingers crossed they'll fire out another of these invites to late subscribers - and those of you who already subscribe to MAC check your inbox as it'll already be there!

xoxo

Wednesday 22 February 2012

Dior vs. Sunshimmer

It's no secret that Dior Diorskin Shimmer Amber Diamond is on the wish lists of most make-up lovers out there. After being introduced to it I was totally addicted (I have 02 Amber Diamond) and wear it almost daily as I really can't get over just how beautiful it makes my skin look. Most girls know that when you have that make-up staple that completes your routine, losing it/running out of it on any day would be bad enough - but I actually lost my Dior Highlighter on the morning of the first day of fashion week. Yep - as first world pains go, that one was pretty bad.

I searched around to find something I could use to highlight my features - almost settling for Benefit High Beam (which I much prefer for adding depth under my brows), and came across the suspciously similiar Sunshimmer 3 in 1 Shimmering Bronzer.

Dior vs. Sunshimmer
At just £5.99 the Sunshimmer dupe served me well in my hour of need. It is a lot less shimmery than the Dior palette, but in terms of highlighting it really did look almost identical. I bought the Dior palette for £36ish, which is pretty much at the top end of how much I'd like to spend on my make-up. In short, I think the Sunshimmer palette does a fantastic job at the price it's sold at... but if you really want an indulgent make-up spend I'd 150% recommend trying the Dior palette as it's absolultely my favourite piece of make-up I own (well, probably!)

The palette spectrum is really similiar - just less shimmer!
Dior - it's just lovely!
A great pre-payday alternative
Will you be breaking the bank for Dior or looking after those pennies with Sunshimmer?

xoxo

Tuesday 21 February 2012

Marble Nails

I'm always up for trying something new on my nails, and after seeing all the marble nail videos floating around on the Internet I was desperate to try it and see whether it really was as easy as all the nail maestros out there made out.

For those of you who haven't seen a tutorial, you begin by choosing at least four nail colours and paint your nails in the lightest shade. For this nail look I used OPI Pink Friday (light pink), Jessica On The Rocks (an opaque white), OPI Strawberry Margarita (bright pink) and OPI Lincoln Park After Dark (a dark purple).

Left to right: Jessica On The Rocks, OPI Pink Friday, OPI Pink Margarita, OPI Lincoln Park After Dark.
OPI Pink Friday Nail Polish
You then take a plastic up and fill it with water then add a drop of each polish into the cup until it makes a pattern like below (you can see I used newspaper on my table, as it does get quite messy!)


You then dip your nail into the cup (I'd recommend wrapping the area around your nail in cellotape to prevent it getting even messier!) and create different patterns using various combinations of colours and dipping your fingers into the polish.

Here's the different designs I came up with.


I tried lots of different techniques including making patterns in the polish with a toothpick.

What do you think? Have you ever tried marbelling? I really like the end result but it took me absolutely ages... I don't think I'll be doing it again unless I have plenty of time to kill!

xoxo

Sunday 19 February 2012

Day 3 at LFW with Rimmel

Hello lovelies! Today I popped back into the Rimmel Glam Suite and was lucky enough to have a makeover by the very talented Rimmel make-up artists. They gave me a golden-brown smokey eye paired with a bright pinky red lip.




After being very much pampered I headed to Westfield where I picked up an amazing haul in Primark. I'll be posting on that tomorrow, but today I'll leave you with a few snaps of the Rimmel Glam Suite - I really do not want fashion week to ever end!



Goody bag heaven
Snaps from Jena Theo



xoxo

London Fashion Week Makeup

I'm sitting on the train on my way to day 3 of London Fashion Week so I thought I would do a quick post on the makeup I'm wearing today.

A selection of a few of my faves


I'm wearing my usual combination of Garnier BB Cream underneath Estée Lauder Double Wear. I'm loving my recently purchased Maybelline Kohl liner - its really on par with MAC liners - with my tried and true Bourjois Extreme Clubbing Mascara for a full lash look. On my cheeks i am wearing a Dior bronzer and I've accentuated my brows with a MAC eyebrow pencil and Benefit High Beam to add a bit of shimmer.

As today is a special occasion - LFW none the less - I also thought I'd pop on some Jemma Kidd 3/4 length lashes to make my look that bit more glam. I'll be sure to blog on today's events later!

Xoxo

Lana Del Rey - Mulberry's latest muse

I've just heard that Mulberry are launching a new bag inspired by the gorgeous Lana Del Rey. Her sultry, old-Hollywood style has kept her in the pages of countless high-end magazines of late, so it comes as no surprise that Mulberry have sought inspiration in her unique look to design a bag based on her individual style.

A sketch of the Del Rey - Mulberry's latest must-have bag!


Mulberry will be unveiling the bag during their A/W catwalk this morning - you can watch it online here at 10am (unless you're one of the few with a golden ticket - I'm certainly not!)



I'll be posting pictures of the bag once they emerge!

UPDATE: As promised here's a pic of the much talked-about bag. What do you think about it?



xoxo

Friday 17 February 2012

London Fashion Week - Day 1

Somerset House during LFW


Oh wow where do I begin? As we all know, today marked the beginning of London Fashion Week. I was attending the Rimmel Glam Blogger's suite with work, but before it opened I took a walk around Somerset House to soak up the atmosphere. The buzz around LFW really is like nothing else; everyone looked insanely cool with most of the attendees attempting to walk in their super high heels on the cobbled streets. Within the space of 5 minutes I celeb-spotted Lisa Snowdon in a very tight dress, Louise Redknapp who is very, very pretty (and VERY skinny in real life) and X-Factor z-list Kitty dressed very much like her hero Gaga. I managed to drag myself away from Somerset House to meet up with the lovely Glam Girls to check out the Rimmel/Glam suite!

The gorgeous Rimmel Glam Suite

Held in the gorgeous One Aldwych hotel just across the street from Somerset House I met lots of lovely bloggers and got to drink a lot of champagne! The suite was decked out beautifully and is the perfect place to grab a quiet 15 minutes in the chaos that is LFW.

Loving life right about now!

As I thought things really couldn't get much better, I got invited to the Jena Theo show in the Embankment Show Space. The looks from the show were really accessible centring around skinny grey, black and stone washed jeans, black and white loose-fitting tops and wet look peep toe wedges.

Jena Theo Heavy Metal A/W 2012 Collection

I paid special attention to the hair and makeup so I could report back, and if the look showcased at Jena Theo is anything to go by wet-look high pony tails and highly metallic nails are going to be massive this A/W.

Jena Theo invite - I'll always treasure it!

I'm heading back to the suite on Sunday so hopefully I'll see some of you there - and possibly even attend some more shows! I don't think I'd be exaggerating to say today was one of the best days of my life - here's to more fantastic experiences at London Fashion Week!

xoxo