5 Wishes

As girls we are programmed to create wishlists in our heads, beauty products, clothes, bags and shoes WILL change our lives. If we buy that new Chanel Black Pearl, then we will be 'the girl with THAT nail polish'. Who the hell am I kidding it's true, even if just for that second walking out of the shop or getting the internet order come through, we ARE 'that girl'.
So in the spirit of products 'de jour' I want to share my wishlist for the lovely month of March.

1. Bobbi Brown Hydrating Face Tonic

I've never tried Bobbi Brown's skincare before, but am DYING to try out this tonic. My skin is feeling horribly dry recently, and I don't really use toners, except for Kiehl's Calendula Toner sometimes, as I think they're kind of a waste of money. However I want something to help prep my skin to absorb my moisturiser better and this has such rave reviews, I now need to try it.

2. Ellis Faas Eye Lights, E301, E303



I love Ellis Faas, especially these Eye Lights, I got one as a stocking filler and can't stop staring at how pretty it is. These two colours are perfect for the 'wet look' eyes and are really nice for putting over shadows to add a bit of dimension. LOVE.

3. Shu Uemura Shine Mystique Eye Colour in Khaki Silver



This is just pretty. End of.


4. Nars Nouveaux Monde Eyeshadow Duo




This lavender and burnished green colour will be great for rocking in Spring.



5. Mac Futureface Studio Careblend pressed power

I'm running out of my MSFN and feel the need for a change. This is meant to have non drying qualities as it contains shea butter and olive oil.
I also like the 3-in-1 aspect, and that it will have a mirror for ONCE!





How will you be updating in time for Spring?

Obligatory Oscar dress swoonage

My Oscar's dress win goes to Mila Kunis in Elie Saab Couture. I LOVE THIS. Firstly the soft lavender goes perfectly against her dark hair, it's soft, feminine, fashion forward and sexy all at the same time.

Bag of the Day?

The Chloe Billie Satchel is lovely... Happy Friday!

Heavy reading?

So over the past year I have been on a personal quest to read more of the 'classics', even if my MA got in the way a tad (once you've read 100000 text books, it's quite hard to unwind to a bit of Proust.
I've managed to make my way through a decent amount, although it really is shocking how many books I haven't read, sometimes I wish writers would stop for a minute just so I could catch my way up! However even thought I'm suppose to concentrate on the classics, it doesn't mean I'm ignoring the contemporaries!
On my list so far is

An Object of Beauty by Steve Martin



Yes, you are thinking of the right Steve Martin. Him of Father of the Bride fame and general classic comedy. Apparently it's absolutely brilliant, and a bit of a modern day Breakfast at TIffanys, will review once I've made my way through.



Just Kids by Patti Smith




All about her relationship with Artist Robert Mapplethorpe in the late sixties, this is right up my street. I saw a Mapplethorpe exhibition in Florence a couple of years ago, and it was amazing. Ever since then I've wanted to learn more and am so excited to read this.

Any other suggestions or recs?

Fist bump?

I very much enjoy this ring set from Maison Martin Margiela, especially in the rose gold, I'm sooo coming for you little guys...

Glass half full..

I shall be sporting these beauties come spring sunshine. Victoria Beckham has really upped her game, and is hitting it again and again. These glasses are seriously rock star chic, with just the right amount of Holly Golightly charm thrown in.






Also the crushed pearl wayfarers are serious. I pine, I need, I want.

Thou shalt not Covet

There's something so voyeuristic about a photo of a small detail of someone's life. The new cult website The Coveteur has drawn on just that. Using intimate and beautiful pictures to give an insight into some of the Fashion world's favourite things. They even teamed up with Vogue US for a Fashion Week essential special.


There are some of my favourite inspirations.










All images taken from the Coveteur.

Les parapluies de Cherbourg

I finished my MA in Fashion & Film in December at the London College of Fashion and so thought it was only appropriate that I share some of my favourite 'fashion moments' in film.

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)
This french new wave musical from Jacques Demy, stars the beautiful Catherine Deneuve as a Umbrella shop girl whom falls inlove with mechanic Guy, however Guy is forced to go to war, leaving Genevieve alone and pregnant.
It's tragic, beautiful and pastel infused. I challenge you not to want to put your hair up, don a trench coat and ribbon in your hair and run around crying singing 'J'taimeeeeee'







The Umbrellas of Cherbourg are coming to London's westend and I couldn't be more excited, I shall be there front and centre weeping softly into my pink hair ribbon.




Also I came across this picture of a brunette Catherine.



How pretty?

I'm Maaadeliiineee

I have been coveting Mulberry's Pre A/W 2011 Polly Push Lock Duffle Coat, since seeing it on Olivia Palermo at Mulberry on London Fashion Week.

'Oh not more shearling' you shout! Firstly look at how freaking warm it looks! *quickly reprogrammes brain **Style over comfort!!** but also it's very cute and I love how Olivia has dressed it up in culottes and a great jacket, she had a 'heritage' type look, but with a polished edge. I do admit I have a slight bias towards a duffle coat and infact any little girl styled coat. I blame all my toddler years watching Madeline, and secretly wishing I was a parisian school girl.
If you have no idea what I'm talking about, enjoy...

Oh Mrs P!

Yesterday I sat with baited breath waiting for the live streaming of the Prada A/W 2011 show to begin. I swapped screens between the feed and my twitter page and read the hilarious coverage of why the show was over an hour late from all the Fashion Eds.
Anyways the show finally began, and with the venue being on two levels, with a rather complicated, but genius catwalk, Sparks ' Greta Sings', softly played as the girls came out.
The show was simple and girly, and had a sixtie's mod feel, crossed with a almost twenties style, with low waisted, swinging dresses, and huge plastic sequins embellishing some dresses to give an almost 'jelly like' feel when it was moving. This was what I noticed the most, the way the clothes moved and wobbled (beautifully) when the girls were walking down the catwalk.

My favourite items of the show came in the shape of these beautiful fur collared coats, so perfect for injecting some autumn mystique.

All images taken from Style.com

Caaaaake Thursday.

As much as I can't cook for shiz, I LOVE baking. Anything sweet and full of carbs, you're speaking my language. So I was obsessed with BBC programme 'Baking Made Easy' with Model turned Baker Lorraine Pascale.
I bought her book and made her amazing Big Fat Carrot Cake.

You can get the recipe here
Although the icing wouldn't stiffen enough, so it looks very 'rustic' to put it nicely.

Here's her book

This week's likes and loves...

This week I have been loving.

1. Laura Mercier Illuminating Tinted Moisturiser SPF 15

I love Laura Mercier products, specifically her tinted moiturisers. They're some of the best in business, especially as the formula provides much more coverage than the average TM.
This illuminating one is gorgeous. It works for winter especially as it brightens and enhances your skin.
I mix it with my regular TM and it gives a lovely sheen and dewy finish, even through my Mac MSFN on top.
Word of warning though, be light handed as a little goes a LONG way.

2. Yves Saint Laurent Gloss Volupte 01 in Iced Lychee.

I had never really seen much coverage of the Gloss Volupte's and only found out when I saw an article about Kate Moss' makeup in the YSL Parisenne Ads.
As soon as I heard that this little beauty was the reason behind Mossy's pout I HAD to have it.
Firstly the packaging in GORGEOUS, a small slim gold tube with application like a lipstick, but has the consistency of a moisturising lip balm.It reminds me slightly of the Dior Addict Lip Glow as it has a soft peachy (your lips but better) kind of vibe. It's perfect for everyday and looks luxurious in your bag.

3. Yves Saint Laurent Creme De Blush in 5 Fuschia Temptation

THIS IS SO ON TREND ITS RIDICULOUS.
The new YSL cream blushes are perfection. Again the packaging needs no hyping, but the texture is lovely. It's a soft creamy light consistency and isn't at all greasy or oily on the skin.
The Fuschia Temptation is amazing. A high voltage, but sheer builable pink, that looks amazing on olive skin especially. J'taime.

4. Bumble & Bumble Brilliantine Cream.

I'm a big fan of sexy, disheveled hair and this does what I need it to. I just put a small pea sized amount, warm it up in my palms and rub lightly over the ends of my hair. My hair EATS product like noones business and so this is perfect for keeping in my bag and re doing throughout the day.

5. Neutrogena Multi-Defence Gentle Purifying Wipes

If it's good enough for Mrs Affleck, it's good enough for me.

6. Nuxe Contour des Yeux Prodigieux

As I swim alot, I've noticed recently that due to my goggles (DONT LAUGH), my under eye area was getting dry. I freaked out and hot footed it to my nearest Space NK, and came across this Nuxe eye cream. It's light weight, but very moisturising and has green tea extract in order to brighten your dark circles, since using this my eyes are now back to their normal state and dare I say less tired looking??

7. Dermalogica Daily Microfoliant

This stuff is total HOLY GRAIL MATERIAL.
You can actually see the difference after you use, and it leave your skin so much smoother, and isn't horribly abrasive.

Sorry for the crappy iPhone pictures, I promise a better quality soon!

xx

Lesson Number 1, Spring Polish!

As somewhat of a nail polish hoarder,there are only so many different colours of 'greige' I can now handle. With spring just around the corner (it's actually SUNNY in London Town!) I wanted a new spring like colour to cheer up my wilted winter soul.
Cue China Glaze. China Glaze nail polishes in my experience are BRILLIANT. The colour variety is vast and the different seasonal collections are usually right on the money trend wise, not to mention their usually easy to apply formula.
Unfortunately there are limited places in the UK to get it, but I've found Amazon and Ebay to be fairly reliable in up to date polishes.
One of CG's newest collection, the Anchor Away Spring 2011 had one colour that interested me most.

The beautiful Sea Spray.

For those of you that missed out on the Chanel Riva baby blue last year, this is a extremely good dupe.
It's a soft powder blue with a hint of grey (see we can never get away from greige!!) and just a subtle hint of shimmer.
I found application a bit hairy, and took two coats to get it reasonably even, with the help of Seche Vite top coat. However the colour pay off and lasting power is worth it.

All in all a perfect pick for spring!

Introducing....

Hello and welcome to my shiny new blog! Here I shall be posting beauty news and reviews, and anything else from the world of Fashion and life (mainly food) that interest me.

Hopefully you will enjoy my random musings and it will add a little sparkle to our increasingly mad world.

xx