Monthly Archives: September 2011

NY Fashion Week – my picks

Posted in Beauty, Dresses, Fashion by
Zac Posen evening gown

Zac Posen evening gown

Fashion Week season is on, and New York offers us the first glimpse of the Spring/Summer 12 collections on its catwalks.

For me,  so far, sharing the  “absolutely stunning” category is Zac Posen‘s collection, with some edgy yet feminine pieces, a great colour palette and fabulous evening gowns and Marchesa displaying fairytale dresses that sparkled and flowed across the Plaza Hotel. Absolutely beautiful.

Also amongst my favourites are Vera Wang‘s colourful Wonderland inspired pieces, Cushnie Et Ochs‘ white and black dresses and Monique Lhuillier‘ curve gripping ensembles. In common, these three have dramatic, geometric neck lines, sharp edges,  and structured pieces oozing with femininity  – all presented in a way I could actually see myself wearing. L’Wren Scott‘s line also had some fabulous dresses.

Some of Victoria Beckham‘s pieces also caught my eyes – the shades of blue in the collection were amazing, and I love the fact the models were styled wearing Louboutins.

Cushnie Et Ochs dress

Cushnie Et Ochs

Some of her pieces for this collection were less body skimming – apparently inspired by her recent pregnancy: loser pieces, to go with a fuller figure. I really like seeing designs on the catwalk that embrace  more realistic body shapes. I also heard she was looking fabulous back stage, wearing towering Louboutins and one of her handbags in tow.

I also enjoying looking at some tribal printed Donna Karan and some of Betsey Johnson exquisite pieces – I love the flowery prints and that goth vibe.

Zooming on the nails, I noticed a light beige shade, quite recurrent across different designers. It is for Spring/Summer 12, after all, so I have some time to tackle my lighter- shades-on- nails phobia!

Nails of the week

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JAde green nails

I am very proud of myself for finally dabbling into the colder colours for my nails – I am wearing green this week.

I am truly loving this colour, and it made me realise my problem might not be with cold, but light colours  on my nails – I failed to keep the pastel green, and never got close to the pastel blue, even though I quite like it. I only just managed to keep the lilac for a week.  As long as they are cold and dark, I think I will be ok. I cannot wait to buy some cobalt and midnight blues!

Keeping up with the A/W 11-12 jewel colours trend, I really feel as if my nails have been jewelled – it is like having 10 little gems on my fingertips!

Bongo Beats, from Collection 2000’s Hot Looks Fast Dry range, is a lovely metallic jade green nail polish which has very subtle gold underlying pigments and  has quickly became a favourite of mine.

I have only recently branched out into really inexpensive nail varnish, as I am petrified of chips, so this one might still disappoint me – poor duration has caused me to fall out of love with many – so far, so good, though. And at £1,79 (and an amazing £2 for two bottles!), there isn’t, so far, a bad thing I can say about it!

Smashbox freebies

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Smashbox productsAfter much procrastination to commit, I decided to subscribed to some magazines.  One of them, Elle, has sent me a Smashbox make up set as a welcoming gift.

I am very sceptical about things that come free – I have been terribly disappointed in the past – so I opened the envelope with an anticipated dissatisfaction.

I would love to say that I was proven wrong and started vehemently believing in free stuff – this is not the case, but I  can say I was pleasantly surprised with the goods I received: O-Gloss Gold, Photo Op brightener and Soft Effects Powder Eyeliner, in aubergine.

Smashbox eyeliner

My favourite one is probably the eyeliner. When I saw the “aubergine” colour, I was a bit annoyed and thought: “typical, they never give you a great staple, like black, for free!”, but it turns out that it is quite dark, and close enough to be worn as an option to black.

For me, the best use was to recycle my eyeliner, I tried it on top of my reliable albeit very tired after a long day at the office,  MAC smolder eye kohl and it looked fantastic. In the morning though, when applied on fresh eyes, it was a bit messy, as it is very loose and fine powder, and the line was a bit rough – but maybe I need to get used to the applicator. Once you get it right (it took me a few minutes,  a cotton bud and a foundation retouch below the eyes!), it looked ok.

Smashbox lipgloss

The lipgloss did what it said on the tin – it changed from a guilded gold to a peachy tone and apparently, the peach colour of this intuitive lipgloss adjusts to your skin, giving you the best match for your complexion. Lips looked nice, the colour was good for me, I really like the golden sheen and the consistency and taste of the lipgloss were alright.

As for the highlighter, it was satisfactory, but not better than my usual Benefit High Beam or my YSL Touché Eclat.

All in all, I can say that I probably wouldn’t buy them. Maybe I could give the eyeliner a go but the £17 price tag for the duo (the black is paired with the aubergine), makes me think if it is really worth it. Good to try new brands and products though, and what I will probably do is use its applicator with other eyeshadows, as quite like the idea behind it, and see how it goes!

Nails of the week

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berry nails of the weekThis week I am wearing another oldie: Framboesa (raspberry), from Colorama.

I really enjoy the berry shade, which keeps me on the reds, but the burgundy shade makes it a bit  more autumnal.

Having used the Miss Sporty nail polishes in the past weeks, I found this one quite thin to apply, so had to do three coats!

Still, looks good – very shiny and goes perfectly with my Diva MAC lipstick!

McQueen’s Savage Beauty in London

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McQueen red feathered dressThe news that the Alexander McQueen’s Savage Beauty might be coming to London excites me hugely – and fulfils a void created when I first found out that the  late British designer’s exhibition was going to take place in New York.

I wasn’t at all surprised by its success at the Met and was quite disappointed I couldn’t see it  – I wrote about it before it opened, and had to content myself by looking at their stunning pictures on a Vogue gallery.

At the moment, the design house is investigating venues in London –  I do hope they find one soon. I am certainly willing to queue,  and quite likely to do  so, seeing that it attracted 661, 509 people during its duration in the Met.

I simply cannot wait!