Back in action!

As you all know, I've been out of action for a while due to the launch of my brand new publication, COLLABORATION magazine. Now that the issues have arrived on my doorstep, which is all very exciting, I've actually had a lot of spare time so am pleased that I can transfer that time into my blog again! It actually features an interview I did with the wonderful Kim from sweet monday!

I popped into Harrods a couple of weeks ago and fell victim under the hands of the (very nice) lady on the Benefit counter. Earlier on that day I accidentally dropped my Benefit Brow Zing palette down the toilet! Typical me. So I proceeded to Harrods and ended up leaving minus £82. Wow. The wonderful saleswoman suggested me a few products and sat me down in that oh so glamorous chair, and once she'd applied them I really couldn't refuse. I've never been a massive Benefit fan, sure, the packaging is amazing but most products I'd tried weren't too stand out for me. This has all changed.

Starting with 'they're Real!' mascara, I've always had trouble with the length of my eyelashes. They're stubby and straight and never point in the direction that I want them to. As soon as I tried this mascara, I ACTUALLY fell in love. Check my before and after pictures below:

 Although my lashes still look a bit messy, going in all sorts of directions, as you can see in the before picture they're pretty much non existent. I do actually have eyelashes, but I have naturally light hair! Look at the lengthening on those bad boys! So overall, very impressed with this gem.

they're Real! mascara by Benefit

Harrods £18.50

Another product I was recommended and have completely fallen head over heels for is the Benefit 'high brow' pencil. OH MY GOD. I have a massive addiction to highlighter, it's SO important in any woman's daily make up routine as it can completely transform the shape of your face when used alongside a darker, contour colour. I don't know why I hadn't tried this earlier, but now I have it, I can't imagine not using it.

'high brow' pencil by Benefit

Harrods £14.00

Find below a picture of me on my 21st birthday (the blonde on the right), using the pencil underneath my eyebrow on the brow bone, and along my nose to help with contouring. It's really subtle but actually works wonders! Highly recommended:

So, what does little Vi think? She's been snoozing these summer days away indoors (I'm not mean, she's staying indoors as pugs + heat = bad news!) on her favourite sheepskin rug...

She agrees that my lashes look super beautiful with 'they're Real!' and urges you to go and buy it before it sells out (again!) She's pretty sad that she can't use it on her own lashes and whiskers, but if she could, she believes that she would look incred.

What do you all think?

Much love,

M & V -x

Lusting over Tom Ford Beauty

A late night venture to Harrods on Thursday evening ended in huge disappointment. Nothing to do with the store of course, more to do with price tags of products in said store! My fellow journalist friend Rebecca came along to meet me after work, as she was in search of the perfect 'pretty' pink lipstick. She also left in a bout of defeat after no luck. But while scouring every beauty counter Harrods had to offer for Rebecca, I managed to come across these two lip products at Tom Ford which sent me into a slight state of delirium. I've always admired the Tom Ford beauty ad campaigns, in particular this one above and the campaign below for fragrance Violet Blonde. I'm not sure if it's the beauty of Lara Stone, the cheerful colour way or the ever so handsome male model, but all of Tom Ford's ad campaigns shriek opulence.

This weekend's lust worthy products just happen to be featured in the ad campaign at the top, I'm not sure if this is the reason why I seem to be lusting over them so much, but I've been in search of a more 'grown up' lip colour that isn't a luminous pink or candy lilac. These two products are the perfect mix of scarlet and magenta. Using the 'Cherry Lush' lipstick as a base would be perfect as a day to day lip coat, and to jazz it up in the evening or for an extreme day time look you could add the lip gloss 'Lost Cherry' for an extra shine.

Cherry Lush £36 at Harrods

Lost Cherry £32 at Harrods

The online picture's do the colour no justice, so I suggest you go and take a look at your nearest Tom Ford Beauty counter, all of their lip, face and eye colours are really unique which makes the price tag a bit more bearable. And the packaging is really luxurious. As I'm saving for my Paris trip next week I sadly declined these two products (it was HARD), but if I find a Tom Ford Beauty counter in Paris I may just make the plunge, as I'm sure being in Paris will make every purchase feel guilt free!

Much love,

M-x

Dark Romance at Gucci for AW12

As Milan Fashion Week came to a close this week, we're now all waiting in anticipation for the last of the fashion month's events, Paris Fashion Week. Paris has always been my favourite host of fashion week, but Milan always comes a close second in terms of which brands are showing each season.

Autumn/Winter has always been my preferred season, especially in terms of what I prefer to wear, as in the past I have struggled to strike up the confidence to prance around in playful colours and loud prints. Although, I am learning, and have recently copped a pair of leggings from the Topshop x Mary Katrantzou collection. I figured if I struggle with prints and colour, there's no better designer to start with than good old Mary K, right?

Gucci, being one of the many iconic Italian brands that showed at Milan this season definitely didn't disappoint. They're not usually one of my ultimate favourites but something was definitely striking with this collection. Following on from the Spring trends this year, we've seen a LOT of colour being carried through to the Fall trends. But not here at Gucci. I secretly breathed a sigh of relief and the inner baby goth in me was absolutely thrilled. Deep, black, detailed fabrics combined with emerald greens and amethyst purples, for me, this is what epitomises the Autumn/Winter months in terms of clothing.

Not only did the collection give me great delight, I also fell absolutely head over heels with the beauty look at Gucci for this season (after all, this is a beauty blog!) Dubbed 'dark romance' by legendary and personal favourite fashion make up artist Pat McGrath, the beauty look consisted of bleached, blocked out brows complimented by a black cherry lip and nude eyes with a delicate lick of mascara. And did I mention that lengthy tousled hair? WOW. If that's all real, I'm eternally jealous. Although relatively simple, the collaboration between this and the new collection was absolutely enchanting.

Much love,

M-x

Les Violets Hypnotiques

As an avid Christian Dior beauty fan I can't help but crave the new season lines as soon as they're announced. And these new nail polishes are no exception, I'm instantly hooked!

When I received this press release on Friday, I was more than over joyed. Dior have lived up to all my expectations, and as my nails are looking pretty dire at the moment this news probably couldn't have come at a better time.

As of March 5th Dior release this new seductive nail trio named 'Les Violets Hypnotiques'. All three hues are glossy and ideally colourful, but I can't help thinking that these would be suited more towards the Autumn/Winter season? Perhaps it's the aesthetic of the ad campaign.

Either way, I have absolutely fallen for these shades already, in particular 'Shadow 783' which captures the perfect balance of metallic and glitter.

Obviously Violet the pug gave a huge paws up to this collection, whilst the line's title 'Les Violets Hypnotiques' incorporates her name, she can't wait to get a splash of mum's Shadow 783 on her puppy claws!

Time for a nail re vamp for dog and owner, I can feel another blog post coming on...

Les Violets Hypnotiques will be available from Harrods on March 5th at £17.50 each.

Much love,

M-x

An apology in the form of a beauty review! Do you forgive me?

First of all, I can't apologise enough for the hiatus! I've been 3 months without posting, and in those 3 months I have been inundated with university work. I feel like my head may explode. Aaah, third year. I know, as a blogger, this is not a good enough excuse! So my sincerest apologies for any of you out there who feel a little disappointed in me. I'm disappointed in myself! I've been meaning to post this review for a long while now, but keep finding my self distracted by the many things life has been throwing at me recently. So anyway, enough about me. Since last posting, Violet the pug had a minor operation over the festive period, so most of my time has been spent running around after her, fulfilling her every need. Just the way she likes it. There were a few complications (she started rejecting her stitches) so recovery took a little longer than expected. She is completely back on top form now, which is another reason I now have time to do a little bit of extra blogging!

A wonderful PR company that I had the pleasure of interning for in the past sent me over a gorgeous package full of beauty goodies from their clients Boux Avenue and Burt's Bees to review for my blog once they heard that I had started my own. What lovely ladies! So first of all, thank you Fluorescent!

As the winter weather finally set in a few weeks ago, I've found my self using double the amount of moisturiser that I normally do. Those bitter winds have taken their toll on my face, resulting in dry and un happy skin, not good. The first place that always seems to take most of the battering is my lips. I'm definitely a lipstick kind of girl, and after the minus degree wind chills had their way with my lips, it's safe to say that lipstick is no longer an option until I can sort this crisis out! Vaseline is always a safe bet, but I'm not really a fan of the super glossy effect it can give to my lips. So in comes product number one that I've absolutely fallen in love with over recent months, it's Burt's Bees tinted lip balm. Not only does it give a smooth, velvet like texture to tired lips, they also come in great shimmery shades and don't have the wet look effect. They're somewhere in between lip tint and lipstick which, if you ask me, is the perfect combination. These balms are also made from 100% natural ingredients, and also have that amazing fragrance from the beeswax that's used to create them.

I have two shades of Burt's Bees tinted lip balm, one in 'Rose' and the other 'Hibiscus'. Another thing I absolutely love about these little lip balms is the packaging. Bundled up in cute little cardboard tubes, these are absolute treasures. I slightly prefer the 'Hibiscus' shade, only as it's a little more subtle than 'Rose' and I'm desperate not to draw attention to the peeling skin and scaly surface of my damaged lips! Not only are these balms in lovely neutral shades, they have a really nice golden shimmery finish to them, seen in the swatch below ('Hibiscus' above and 'Rose' below.)

I've also been religiously applying the Burt's Bees naturally nourishing Milk & Honey body lotion after showering. Not only is the fragrance a mixture between coconut (even though it only contains a tiny amount of coconut oil it really shines through!) and a milky, creamy aroma, it also does exactly what it says on the tin. A 24 hour moisturisation product indeed! I mainly use it after showering, just before bed. Instead of the whole 'lavender before bed' remedy, I strongly suggest you try this, as it has me sleeping like a baby with uber soft skin all over!

Want to know what Violet's verdict is on her favourite product?

It's Burt's Bees tinted lip balm in 'Rose'! Not only is this product named after her Chihuahua best friend, Violet also suffered from dry skin on her little nose when the cold weather was thrust upon us, so a quick swipe of Burt's Bees lip balm kept her little snout shiny and moisturised! She liked the taste, too...

Much love,

M-x

Unleash the beast....

I thought it was about time that I introduced my pug, Violet to my blog, after all it's named after her! As it says at the top, this is not just a beauty blog, I also feel really passionately about my beautiful little pooch. She has kind of taken over my life this past year.

I received Violet last Christmas as a not-so-surprise gift from my mum, for me and my sister who live together in London. I hadn't stopped going on about how much I longed for a dog for months. As a girl who has never lived without a dog before, moving to London and not having a cute little hound to cuddle up to was starting to get to me. Boyfriends just don't cut it. My mum finally got sick of my whining and thought she'd scare me out of it by saying "Go on then, I'll get you one for Christmas if you want one so much!" which OBVIOUSLY had the opposite effect...and here we are, one year later.

On most weekends we tend to go on mini adventures. Although we don't venture too far, I like to think that Vi really enjoys getting out and about. We mostly go to Hyde Park or Clapham Common, and meet loads of other pups along the way who she likes to play with. If you're a dog lover like me, I'm sure you'll enjoy the occasional pug posts! I like to take A LOT of pictures of dogs that I spot, so fingers crossed you enjoy as much as I do.

Much love,

M (and Violet)-x

Crazy-good Nail Art Special

My best friend Gina treated me to so some new nails & nail art and I am SO happy with them. These gems are courtesy of a friend of a friend, Henna, who previously worked for one the UK's most popular nail art bars. I'm a bit of a newbie when it comes to elaborate nail art. I've always experimented with acrylics and stick ons, but as far as I ever went with design was different coloured tips!

So tonight, experiment is exactly what I did! First off, I feel the need to stress that this was a home visit from Henna, which was also something I've never experienced before. How good does it feel to be pampered in the comfort of your own home? Reminds me of being little and getting my hair cut in the kitchen.

She applied acrylic nails, sorted out my gross cuticles (which was long overdue) and then got down to the art. I had SO many palettes to choose from, such a daunting task, I desperately wanted to pick the right things. It didn't take me long to pick out designs that I had instantly fallen for. I wanted to keep it themed so that it matched and didn't look too all over the place.

I opted for golden metallic leopard print, Cath Kidston-esque floral pattern, and a super detailed aztec print, just to name a few!

So, here they are in all their amazing, shiny, glory...

I love, love, love them. Next up, CHRISTMAS NAILZ!

Much love,

M -x

Handpicked Media Gets Social!

Today I attended the Handpicked Media social event at The Royal Institute of British Arts in London. I had a really fantastic day, consumed ridiculous amounts of information, definitely an experience I won't be forgetting any time soon. I went along with my two good friends from uni, Daisy (Bible Blog) and Rebecca (Huffington Post). After listening to so many inspirational talks from businesswoman Shaa Wusmand, PR guru Mark Borkowski and ELLE's acting editor Jenny Dickinson to name a few. They reminded me that I'd always spoken about starting a blog, but had neve

r actually got around to doing so, and I should really start being more passionate about writing in my own time.

So here I am, writing my first post to absolutely nobody! As so many people have told me today, I am sticking to what I love and what interests me most - beauty products and my lovely little pooch. A rather unheard of duo, yes, but this is what makes me extremely happy.

My first review will be on Shu Uemura cleansing beauty oil (please excuse the low-light rubbish MacBook picture!) I'm going to give it around 5 days for a fair test. We were given this product in our goody bags at today's conference and thought this would be a good opportunity to start reviewing. As a product I wouldn't particularly pick up in the shops, I can't wait to see the results on my skin.

So here goes...I hope you enjoy, feedback would be greatly appreciated!

Much love,

M -x