London Fashion Week - The Highlights

Ahhhh London Fashion Week. The closest I've ever been to its catwalks was when I was about 14 on a school trip to the Natural History Museum. I should have been more excited that we were about to see prehistoric bones and huge skeletal Dinosaur structures, but I'd just caught glimpse of a huge marquee... And there it was: London Fashion Week in all its shining glory! I gawped out of the school coach in awe and spent more time trying to get a sneaky view of

what was going on in there than concentrating on getting into the museum, haha!

My love affair with fashion has always been apparent since I first leafed through my mum's Vogue magazine and religiously sat down to The Clothes Show every Sunday evening from the tender age of five. My favourite day at playgroup was Friday because we got to dress up with all the pretty things in the amazing Dressing-Up Box : )

Fast-forward a couple of decades and this season London Fashion Week's catwalk extravaganzas were held at Somerset House for the first time. New venue, new season, new pretty things, hehe! Here are a few of my favourites from S/S 2010 courtesy of Britain's fashion capital...

Burberry

Again, like in many other catwalk trends for the up and coming summer, pastel colours seemed to be the pick of the season! My favourite thing about

the Burberry outfits this year is that there's lots of gorgeous floaty material all ruched, ruched, ruched - which seems to hug the body. I'm huge fan of clothes that flatter the curves a lady was given and this collection seems to fit the bill just nicely!

Luella

Coral reds seemed to make a regular appearance, as did bows, belts and polkadots - all very feminine and remind me of the 1940s on a day to a seaside town! In fact these pieces take me back to cute little black and white shots taken of my Nan in the

days when she was my age: she seemed so innocent as did all her friends all laughing and messing around in the seaside town (which was probably Blackpool back then!)...

Topshop Unique

Also my favourite highstreet retailer, Topshop hosted their very own fashion catwalk event this year 'Topshop Unique'. The lovely Kate Moss was there with Sir Phillip Green, both very excited to launch, along with guests - a very preggers Jourdan Dunn, my favourite girl-nextdoor-lady Alexa Chung and many more. Handbag.com got some great exclusive footage of the event, the clothing and some s

neaky backstage chinwagging with those involved.

Check out the video here!

i.d Bare Minerals - Now in the UK!

I've been meaning to post about this for the past month or so! i.d. Bare Minerals - the U.S. mineral makeup brand that's taken over the beauty industry in America by storm is now over in the UK. I was on a visit to House of Fraser when a really glamourous counter in an unused space, with a massive TV screen caught my eye - lo and behold it was Bare Minerals!



I skipped over to their stock - all of their products are seductively laid out - little jars of mineral eyeshadow, blusher and so on are all sprinkled out for you to take a sample for yourself. I didn't notice a beauty consultant or sales assistant nearby which was partly refreshing because it meant I could browse in peace, but partly a little confusing because the range is so new over here that if you haven't heard of them already then you might have a fair few questions. But it maybe because they're recruiting so I'm going to wait and see...


If you haven't heard of Bare Minerals, or Bare Escentuals - their beauty line - then here's a mini rundown of what they're about:

• Started in San Francisco Bay, U.S.A. founded by Leslie Blodgett with a view to seeking out real women with real skin problems across the country to serve as beauty spokesmodels for her inspired makeup line.


• The company specialises in mineral-based cosmetics from foundations to blushers and much more! The products claim to be free of any preservatives, fillers, or binders and Bare Escentuals describe their range as "problem-solving cosmetics that perfect and pamper the complexion".


• For £15 they offer starter kits for fair, medium and dark skin tones with a selection of each of their products: 2 shades of SPF 15 foundation, Mineral Veil, Warmth All-Over face colour and a mini Flawless Application brush.

A friend of mine (author of Anderra) has tried their products and loves them because unlike some cosmetics mineral products don't clog the skin!


I'm still in line to try them though and haven't got round to buying any of their range, but I will definitely be sampling some in the near future - I'll show you all what I get my hands on and let you all know my thoughts soon : )

If you haven't a Bare Minerals counter near you (yet!) then their products are also available online at these sites:


http://www.lovelula.com/

http://www.glowgirl.co.uk/

http://www.magicminerals.co.uk/

Happy Birthday Twiggy!

Today Twiggy (nee Lesley Hornby), aka Britain's first supermodel turns 60. If you don't know who she is you will most likely have seen her pictured somewhere (if you search for her I'm very sure you'll recognise her). I've always loved Twiggy, from her super massive false lashes and elvin looks to her awesome style - she epitomises the days of the swinging 60s in London!

To mark her milestone birthday Twiggy has released a book called (funnily enough) 'Twiggy: A Life in Photographs' - documenting 140 pages of the beautiful photographs spanning her amazing modelling career. She has had the fortune to work with some of the best photographers in the business such as Solve Sundsbo, Steven Meisel and Mary McCartney.

In addition to celebrate the supermodel's birthday and fantastic career, The National Portrait Gallery is opening an exhibition of the same name showcasing some of the best shots ever taken of the model (come actress!) It debuts today and runs till 21st March next year! I'm going along to see it next week, I can't wait and if I can I'm going to try to take some piccies (I still can't find out on the website if flash photography is prohibited!), but failing that I'll let you guys know what it's like.

If you're in the area, you should swing by as the exhibition is not to be missed! Go to National Portrait Gallery's website for more details!

Then & Now: Twiggy with Kate Moss, Britain's latest icon!

Under Review: Too Faced Primer

Last week I was asked if I could review a face primer - the new Urban Decay Complexion Primer Potion that minimises the look of pores in an instant... Well I did some research and I thought it would be a hit considering the success of their Primer Potion for eyes! Slowly but surely I realised that maybe that wouldn't be the case...

As it's not so easy on the wallet as well I didn't want to burst in and buy this stuff without a few decent reviews... I haven't tried this stuff on my face so I can't vouch as to whether it minimises the look of pores, but instead I did try it on the back of my hand and I can tell you this:

I wasn't a fan of its texture - this stuff is very greasy and it takes a while to soak in. In my opinion a good primer should be easily absorbed into the skin and needs to be light - you don't want it to create a super greasy sheen or your foundation will slip-slide all over the place. That's the whole point of foundation primer - to act as a barrier between your skin's natural oils and your foundation so it lasts longer - not to create oil! Funnily enough, this is unfortunately one of the bad things I'd heard about this product before I even tried it for myself.

Plus anyone with large pores usually has the skin characteristic of combination to oily skin. You don't want oily, greasy products going on your face if you suffer from this skin trait. It might be okay for those of you with dry skin of course, as it may provide a barrier for your skin to stay nice and moisturised especially during the colder months. But I can't see this withstanding the heat in summer and I can't see it agreeing with my skin - which leans toward the oily side.

Second of all, it's not colourless - it's white. Because it doesn't absorb very easily it ends up leaving a white cast on your skin when you've spread it over your face. This isn't a good look. Primers need to be discreet - they either ought to be transparent so that they don't affect the colour of your skin at all, or they can have a peachy/creamy hue to enhance the job of your foundation without making it look darker. My skin is pretty fair so I don't need to have a white wash over it haha!

All in all I found it to be too thick and greasy - the white sheen it created on my skin wasn't flattering so I wouldn't dare put it on my face. Sadly I think Urban Decay have unfortunately missed the mark with this one, which is a shame because I think a lot of us had high hopes for this product considering its predecessor! There is also a brightening version available but from the product description I can tell that this would be better suited to anyone with drier complexions...

But I never like to disappoint - my work here is not done! My aim was to find a winning product, so instead I'll be reviewing a close contender to Urban Decay's face primer - Too Faced's Primed & Poreless Face Primer.

So watch this space as I'm going to buy some of this and give it a go - I'll get back to you with the results very, very soon!...

Emma Watson - Fashion Designer To Be??

A couple of days ago after seeing Emma Watson in a Burberry print advert (looking gorgeous and very sultry may I add) I thought to myself I wouldn't be surprised to see her become a fashion designer once her Harry Potter days are done and dusted after the final film eventually hits the Box Office.


I guess if you've got a bit of spare cash, some fashion savvy and a few useful contacts, why not?! I would, haha!

But apparently her PR people say it's just not gonna happen and have quashed any suspicions among us that she will ever do such a thing. But you know what they say... No smoke without fire. And besides if it buys her more time to educate herself before going for it too soon then so be it. I still reckon we'll see her with her own line one day - even if it's in 10, 20 or even 30 years time!

The more I see of her the more I realise she just looks the part. People everywhere have noticed the stir she's causing in the fashion scene and I (plus pretty much the rest of the world!) finally realised she's become the true lady when she rocked up to the latest Harry Potter premiere this summer in a GORGEOUS frock... Only to find out it was an Ossie Clark number. Me - jealous? Pfft, no!

Also check her out in this snap from her latest Teen Vogue shoot - she's truly stunning!

500 Days of Summer & One Film of Wintour

Today's post was originally just going to be about the up and coming Vogue docu-film - The September Issue, but I'm also going to be touching on a completely different film later on...

Firstly however for those of you who don't already know, The September Issue follows US Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour on what she does at Vogue HQ and how she does it. In this instance it's preparing for one of the magazine's most important issue in the fashion industry's calendar!

This film was shot during the lead up to Vogue's 2007 September issue that weighed in at just under five pounds, making it the single largest magazine ever to be published! Before it was documented, Anna, whose career with Vogue spans 20 years, had never once allowed a film crew through her doors to see how she operates, making this film even more of a must-see for fashion addicts the world over.

In a nutshell, the documentary shows us her daily responsibilities as one of the fashion industry's most influential figures, such as accepting and even dismissing the latest labours of love from the biggest names in fashion; as well as her working with models, photographers and the writers who help her discover and eventually showcase what the world will be wearing for the next 12 months...

It also takes a close look at Anna's 'delicate' working relationship with Creative Director Grace Coddington, how they can sometimes come to blows, but also how they learn to accommodate each other's respective opinions and input.

As you can imagine, Anna Wintour inspired the character Miranda Priestly, from the film The Devil Wears Prada, however the first difference you'll notice between Anna and Miranda is that Anna doesn't need to flap her arms in the air, shout, scream or storm around to make her presence/annoyance/disappointment felt! Nevertheless I'm looking forward to getting the opportunity to see what goes on behind closed doors in the fashion world...

The film will be coming out in a limited number of cinemas tomorrow, I've yet to find out which ones in particular in the UK, but failing that I'll wait until it comes out on DVD to see it. I'll post more details as soon as I hear!

500 Days of Summer

I saw this film today and it's so sweet I just had to blog about it : ) Zooey Deschanel who plays the lead character, Summer has such a gorgeous wardrobe in this film, it's very pretty and feminine, quite like her outfits in another of her latest films Yes Man with Jim Carrey. Zooey often plays quirky characters with a lot of personality and I think that her dress sense both in real life and onscreen goes really well with that!

The soundtrack's also so beautiful and I found the film to be really inspiring - like all great films, I'll be thinking about it for days to come...

It's not your average rom-com, a lot of people are celebrating that because the film doesn't end in quite the same fashion that usual romantic comedies do. But I don't think that's really the reason as to why it's so alternative. It reminds us all of the kind of loves and relationships each and everyone of us have encountered.

It's also because I found the lead characters more relatable - they're not your typical Sandra Bullock or Matthew McConaughey with high-flying jobs and lifestyles. Summer and the male lead character Tom, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, both work at a greetings card company. Instead of the usual rom-com wining and dining stories at fancy shows and dinner parties, they do the things that everyday people do - see bands, go to the pub, take walks - so it feels a little more real to believe their story and feel the way they feel!

Also for more outfit-goodness, check out the Official 500 Days of Summer film website to take a look at a very cute retro dance video (also starring Zooey and Joseph) to the song "Why Do You Always Let Me Stay Here?" by She & Him (in which Zooey Deschanel is the vocalist!)... *swoon*

www.foxsearchlight.com/500daysofsummer/

My First Video Shoot! : )

Oooh I'm so excited!! I recently did makeup for the casting sessions that were held for a promotional video. The video shoot's due to be held this weekend and I can't wait for my first opportunity to do makeup for video : )

Right now that's all I'm saying about it, but stay tuned as I'll reveal all in due course...! Once it's finished and all ready for release, I'll show you guys the final results to A. Help do my bit for the promotion (of course!) and B. To show you what I did, hehe! It's also a really great concept, so the video will look really funky when it's done : )