How right is white?

I'm always been drawn to white lips. I don't know why. Its completely un practical, doesn't suit my skin colour and it the world of fashion it's not even a thing yet I'm constantly drawn to them!

Instead of looking completely crazy with a plain white lip I decided to play around with an o'mbre vibe and blend in a few shades.

This isn't a look I would personally wear out as its to much maintenance through out the day but it is definitely a style I would do again for a shoot. This style of applying colour to the lip is so versatile the experimentation options are endless!

 Fill, Line then Blend...

 A 90's Lip to Make You Feel Hip?

Since discovering the Chanel purple (thank you cosmos) I've decided to embraced purple lips back into my life again, and since its pretty much just a brighter and neater version of the make up look I used to rock in High school then I'm not going to say this look is "O'mbre", I'm going to just call it 90's!

MMMsexy...

Now lets just for a second give a shout out to Rimmel's Heather Shimmer and Coffee Shimmer (Holla!), who wouldn't be where there they are today without the help of their best friend & partner in crime- the black kohl eyeliner... in place of a lip liner.

The 90's wouldn't have been the same to look back on if make up had'nt been so... for lack of a better word - distinctive! Nancy from 'The Craft', Dion from 'Cluelass', Suellen from Dont Tell Mom...' Neive Campbell in almost every film, Gwen Stefani, Geri Halliwell... These women loved a strong eyebrow/eye shadow combo and even stronger lip line!

So in homage to my chosen look of yesteryear I decided to recreate a more up to date version that simultaneously embraces my new love of 'the purple' and the ,blend and fade, fashion of the 90's.

I went through all my lipstick pallets and decided that the two purples that excited me when together the most were MAC 'Cyber' and one of my new fav's, MAC 'Up the Amp'!

.

.

Creating the look...

Before anything, I applied Illamasquas' Rich Liquid' foundation which is now the best foundation I have ever used on myself. You only need the teeny tinyest amount to buff into the skin to create a airbrushed flawless look (it has the most amazing vanilla scent too)

To start, I prepped my lips by moisturising with Vaseline before applying BeniFits 'Lip Plump'. This is such a must have product for lipstick lovers like me. The product smooths out and fills any lines on your lips making them look fuller and also acting as a great primed base for lipstick!

The next stage was to use a lipliner (I used MAC Plum) to create a lip shape that you are happy with. Either follow your natural line or create you're own shape to suit you're mood!
Then load you're brush with the lighter shade of the two and work the product from the middle outwards stopping just before you reach the lip line.

Next take you're darker colour and apply just around the lip line area - not blending just yet. Then take your brush with the lighter colour on again & go over the areas where the two colours meet. Make sure you don't move the colours around to much or they will just blend . The two shades should be blended slightly enough so that there is still a obvious contrast between the lightest and the dark.

After the look is complete you can choose weather to off matt which would just mean powdering lightly with some translucent pressed or setting powder.

Alternatively you can add some drama by applying gloss to the centre of your lips.I used Laura Mercier 'Bronzed berry'. This will give the look a more evening vibe and also make you're lips appear even fuller!

The brushes I used for this application were:

GEMMA KID stippling brush,

Laura Mercier lip brush,

Two lip brushes I purchased from IMATS

Happy blending!

Never really passionate about purple...

UNTIL!

Sooo it's always nice to have friends that give you things, and when a friend of mine moved in with a girl that works for Chanel I knew only good things could come from this!

When she moved she actually called me at the hight of excitement to tell me her new pad is "absolutely riddled with free Chanel!"and it is!

My friend gave me a mini Chanel make-up  haul  (Including sea foam green & turquoise mascara) that I cant wait to add to my kit and use on some upcoming shoots that I have coming up...

But there was one thing I was keeping for myself...

THIS

(CHANEL ROUGE ALLURE VELVET 307 L'impatiente)

I ABSOLUTELY love the bones of this colour! I've always tried and failed at wearing purple. I don't get along with warm purples and pinks so this cool tone really worked with my skin tone. I also love how it goes on like a gloss then settles into a matt Finnish - it's my ideal! 

I love everything about this colour, it lasted through lunch and many afternoon drinks before it needed a reapplication. Another thing that makes me excited to be in this lipsticks presence is the packaging. 

Now, I'm not usually one for an unconventional make-up package - I'm all about the product and a fancy opening gimmick just annoys me (sometimes to the point where I'm stuck trying to open a compact for hours screaming at it "I own you! Who do you think you are!!!) but this is just genius.

 You push the bottom of the lipstick up and it pops back out to say hello like an old friend. No more lost lids, lipstick covered bag insides...

Left: Me living the lipstick dream.

Right: A friend showing how amazing it looks on blonde's to.

WHAT - AN - ABSOLUTE - TREAT.

Crocs... biting back?

Croc's. The brand that previously left me with thoughts of quirky middle aged women cycling around Holland, old scruffy men sat on a muddy bank fishing and little snotty nosed middle class boys called Archie.

Due to a friend working for the company I have been alerted to a few little stylish numbers that Crocs have launched recently, and to be honest I was very pleasantly surprised!

This surprised me for two reasons:

Firstly: I mean..it's Crocs? I don't think I was always alone in dismissing this brand long before they even began to bring out the 'Jibbitz' (that's Croc language for shoe charm) I always saw it as the company that made forrest green rubber clogs, and that was fine (well, it obviously angered me slightly) - just not for me.


* The shoes on the left & below are 'Woman's Super Moulded Patent Flat'. Perfect with cropped of cigarette style trousers - who knew!?

Secondly: Where was the advertising? The shoes that I am going to mention almost defiantly have a place amongst the child at heart Jellie wearers... amongst the loyal army of Van following teens, even within the older (but still think I'm a trendy mum...) Fitflop wearing community. Where are the images in magazines? Where is the advert with young girls frolicking in the sun wearing a pair?

What I'm saying is that these specific styles of shoe really have a chance to change peoples perception of the outdated and dowdy Croc. The shoe you're dad wears to walk the dog in the rain can now also be seen as the shoe that you would happily wear with a pair of denim shorts and Topshop hat.


The brand that once made you scream "Muuuuum, please don't wear them out of the house!" will now have a proud place in your holiday suitcase amongst you're floaty maxi dresses and oversized sunglasses.

* The shoes on the left are 'Carliana Peep Toe Ombre'. Well on trend teamed with a maxi skirt or pair of skinny jeans.
 I'm definably getting involved!


Its a shame opinions on Crocs are still so dated as a modern fashion concept.  I literally wouldn't have know these styles existed unless I shown... by an employee.
* The Croc's below are the ones my friend showed me, 'Women's Huarache Flat'. She has tanned skin and teamed the Croc with leggings and they just looked effortlessly chic and summer cool.

Honestly I would have never know they were by Crocs. The colour way and the detailed style makes these shoes in particular look like they could be from Bertie or Kurt Geiger which isn't a bad thing as they both have fantastic sandals out this season.

Step up the buzz Croc's, you may be on to a winner here!

Jellies. 
Just... Jellies.

Jellie's. A concept I was toying with a while back whilst riding the 90's nostalgia wave and decided against. My friends and I actually wore Jellies with pride when we were in primary school. (unlike most 'fashionestas' who say they have because they think it makes them seem less bothered about a very well considered and strategic fashion choice which in tern,will make them seem cooler... what's the point?)

We rocked the neon flat version ( JUJU Fergie) with a knee length denim skirt and Fragle Rock T-shirt. We sported the glitter buckle with brick heel (JUJU Babe) with matching sparkle head band and knee high socks and we even pulled out the classic  flat jelly (JUJU Maxi) for days when we would be playing a lot of kiss chase!

Its the a for mentioned 'fashionestas' that kind of put me off buying a pair. I see the same 23 year old east London girl day in and day out with her dark roots and even darker lipstick, rocking the JUJU Babe jelly with a look of attention seeking irony in her eye and I just think - oh for gods sake.

It was actually a friend of mine that reminded me of the JUJU Jellies again with a link to a pair of Crocs - YES CROCS!

http://www.crocs.co.uk/crocs-womens-huarache-flat/14121,en_GB,pd.html?cid=80Z&cgid=women-footwear-flats

(I may look deeper into the current works of 'The Croc' because I feel they may be putting out a few surprise treats this summer!)

So anyway, I've spent the best part of a morning on line disputing colours, styles and prices and have narrowed it down to one stockiest (Taking into account product and postage price I've decided that Amazon with it's free postage is the cheapest at £26.00) , one style (Babe) but three colours :/

I would love them all but for now one pair will do, so shall it be Pink, Silver/glitter or black?

I also love the idea of these shoes with a ruffle ankle sock taking the nostalgia riiiiight back!

The Topshop ones have been seen around for the past few years and are still a winner with their many colour ways...

http://www.topshop.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CatalogNavigationSearchResultCmd?langId=-1&storeId=12556&catalogId=33057&beginIndex=1&viewAllFlag=false&searchTermScope=3&searchTermOperator=LIKE&searchType=ALL&sort_field=Relevance&searchTerm=lace+trim+socks&x=-1136&y=-81

Also last summer I discovered the American apparel frill sock,

http://store.americanapparel.co.uk/product/index.jsp?productId=rsaskrl&c=Teaberry%20/%20White

which instantly makes me think of Lolita girls in Bo Peep dresses sucking on lolly pops and being stared down by Japanese business men..in a good way....

It just works!