Hollywood Beauty, 1920s Style

I like to try something new in my make-up every now and again.  But this week I tried something old - Hollywood beauty tips!  I was recently send the book Hollywood Beauty to review, and was challenged to try out some of the how-to guides it features.  With beauty tips covering decades from the 1920s to the 1960s, and featuring stars from Sophia Loren to Elizabeth Taylor, there were plenty of looks to choose from.  In the end I went for something a bit out of comfort zone and followed the steps in creating Clara Bow's iconic 1920s' look.  But how practical was it?  And what are the best modern products to help pull it off?  Read on!

Nuxe Huile Prodigieuse

I love French beauty products, and I love natural beauty products.  Nuxe always have fantastic offers online, from voucher codes to free gifts, and I shop from them every couple of months.  One of my all-time favourite beauty products is the Huile Prodigieuse, by Nuxe.  I know people often talk about a must-have, take-to-a-desert-island product, but this one is really it, I promise you! 
 

Beauty Review: Zuzka Serum

It's been a while since I mentioned beauty products, so today I want to tell you about my experience with a new serum I've been trying out from Zuzka, a natural beauty brand.  I use natural, paraben-free skincare and am always keen to find out about new brands in this category.



Zuzka has expanded to selling online from a Dorset-based salon, and promise that they only use certified organic herbs, plants and flowers free from pesticides and chemicals.  Products are handmade, and are also free from harsh detergents, sodium lauryl sulphate, synthetic ingredients, parabens, animal ingredients and artificial fragrance.


For the past few weeks, I have been using their Argenine Hydroxy Serum from their Botanicals range.  Please read on to hear what I thought!

Review: Vanity Rooms & Spa, Cardiff

I'm keeping it local for this post, and want to mention a fabulous little salon and spa in Rhiwbina, a posh suburb of Cardiff.  Open since the end of 2013, Vanity Rooms & Spa is an Aveda salon that offers a full range of beauty services, from hair and nails, to complementary therapies.

Literary Notes: Anais Biguine's 'Junky' Perfume

A rather unique perfume offering today; from Jardins D'Écrivains comes 'Junky', a scent for both men and women, created by Anais Biguine and inspired by the novel of the same name by Beat Generation writer William Burroughs.  It's described as "unashamedly different" and I have to agree that I haven't sniffed anything remotely like it on the high street.  So much so, that I wasn't sure I liked it on the first inhale.  It was just a bit odd.  (I felt the same way when I first heard some of Burroughs' spoken word recordings.)  I took the plunge and squirted it on my skin, where somehow, after a minute or so, the odd first scent mellows into something heady and addictive.

Beauty Roundup July 2014

I've done another little video just to chat through a few products I've used recently - two SPF moisturisers, a red lipstick (of course!), a liquid blush, and a hair protection spray.  Only 5 minutes long, hope you have time to watch it.


Do let me know if you've tried any of these products?  How did you get on with them?

Linkups:

 Funday Monday

Random Wednesdays

Friday's Fab Favourites 

Superdrug Launches Beauty Studio in Cardiff

Events are like buses - none for ages, and then they all come along at once!  Last week I was fortunate enough to be invited to the opening of the new Beauty Studio in St Davids shopping centre.  Beauty Studio is a new concept store by Superdrug, where as well as picking up your cosmetics, toiletries and fragrance, you can also have your hair, nails, brows and lashes attended to - a one-stop shop as it were, so that you can leave occasion-ready.

Giorgio Armani Makeup Bloggers Event

Last week I had the great pleasure of going to a bloggers event at the Giorgio Armani beauty counter at Debenhams in Cardiff's St Davids centre.



I was excited to try out some more Armani products - I have already tried their 'Eyes to Kill' mascara (excellent - feather-like lashes in a stroke!) and I've previously talked about their wonderful lipstick in a true 1950's red in a video (here).  I've heard nothing but excellent things about their foundations (India Knight in the Sunday Times Style section raved about it, among others), but was keen to see the rest of their range, as they've recently released some 'Eyes to Kill' eyeshadows.

The Scent of a French Spring: Diptyque's Lavender Perfume

I adore Parisienne brand Diptyque, known for their candles and perfumes.  If you're a fan of classic flower fragrances like me, then you'll be pleased to know that Diptyque has added to its Les Eaux Florales range - which already included my all-time favourite, rose - with the release of Eau de Lavande and Geranium Odorata.

I was kindly sent a sample of Eau de Lavande (my nearest John Lewis is woefully understocked where Diptyque is concerned and nowhere else local stocks it!) and I can tell you now, without being swayed by the pretty packaging of a full-size bottle, that this is the best lavender fragrance I have ever tried.

Beauty Roundup, April 2014

I have been wanting to do a beauty product roundup for a while, from the point of a vintage-loving girl, and  have finally summed up the courage to do a little video!  I'm doing a text summary below the video for those of you who can't watch them due to the restrictions of technology or location, so you can still see which products I liked and which ones to avoid.

The products that feature in the video are shown in the pic below.

Featured brands: Giorgio Armani, Korres, Berdoues, Dr Hauschka, Lavera and Mac

Give Away! 3 x John Frieda Frizz-Ease Nourishing Oil Elixirs Up For Grabs!

I've trialed a few John Frieda products recently, including their excellent volume shampoo, and I've always been a fan of their frizz-ease products.

I'm very pleased therefore to be able to offer 3 of John Frieda's Nourishing Oil Elixirs, which retail at about £9.99 each!

I find that creating vintage hairstyles, such as soft waves using hot sticks or similar, that I invariably get a little 'frizz'.  The pic below demonstrates the fluffiness that generally occurs before applying products!  I've used a few oil products recently from John Frieda (not exactly the same as the one I'm giving away, I've been using the Repairing Oil Elixir and the Perfect Ends Sheet Mist) and they've really helped tame those flyaways and give lovely defined, luscious curls without the fluff!

 
To be one of the 3 winners, all you have to do is follow this blog, and then use the Rafflecopter widget below to gain entries to the prizedraw!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Terms and conditions: This prize draw is open to UK residents only.  Open from Sunday 30th March 12AM to Sunday 6th April 12 AM

Good luck everyone!

Save Bees and Look Pretty With Chantecaille's SS14 Palette

Have you heard of upmarket make-up brand Chantecaille?  Based in New York, the brand has a reputation for using natural botanical ingredients and supporting environmental causes.  The Bumblebee Conservation Trust is the latest recipient of the brand's support, and you can do your bit by purchasing this gorgeous Spring palette with a lovely set of wearable colours and absolutely divine little bees imprinted into the powders.

Here are the details:

- A refreshing eye and cheek palette that artfully fuses the natural beauty of the Bees’ habitat with the Spring 2014 runway trends - 5% of proceeds from the Save the Bees Palette will be donated to The Xerces Society to help protect bees and our environment - Palette features Honey, a glistening golden highlighter for both eyes and cheek, and Nectar Blush, a flattering warm coral-pink - Includes two new eye shades: Sky, an eye-opening sheer blue, and Beehive, a versatile grey beige - Paraben-free; Refillable

"The Bumblebee Conservation Trust was established because of serious concerns about the 'plight of the bumblebee'. In the last 80 years our bumblebee populations have crashed. Two species have become nationally extinct and several others have declined dramatically."

I like the look of the palette for a lot of reasons - I switched to using mainly organic skincare products without petrochemicals a year or two ago, and haven't always been able to do this for the make-up I purchase.  While this isn't certified organic, they do promise that all Chantecaille products 'are free of synthetic colors and fragrances, and do not contain any sulfate detergents, phthalates, nor petrochemicals'.  Also, I can get a guilty feeling about buying such decadent things, and the environmental link here sits a bit better with my conscience.  Finally, it's a family business headed by French matriach Sylvie Chantecaille.  I feel more assured by French products in general (they tend to really know what they're doing!) and it's good to have a woman at the helm.

Now the downside - I'm really sorry, it's £74!!!  I could never justify that.  I think I'm not the intended market!  Ah well, if you are poorer of pocket like me, you could always head over to the Bumblebee Conservation Trust website and make a small donation, or help out by joining their bee-watch programme!

Here in the UK, the palette is available at Harrods, Space NK, Liberty and Fenwick.

Do you try and help environmental issues when you buy products?  What do you think of palettes in general, do you buy them?

Q Fine Fragrance Body Sprays

Chances are, when I say 'body spray', you might think of Impulse or Charlie - those are certainly the brands from my teenage years that come to my mind.

A few brands, such as Ted Baker, have tried to come up with a more glamorous version, but they've not quite hit the mark - at £5.50 for 100ml, perhaps it's more money than people are willing to part with for a body spray, perhaps they'd rather just spend a bit more and get a proper perfume, or just get a bit of Impulse for 99p.

Allow me to introduce 'Q', a range of fine fragrance (read 'grown up') body sprays at an affordable price (£2.29 in Boots and Sainsbury's).  There are three fragrances to choose from - Awe, Radiance and Balance - and they use scents such as rose, bergamot and peony, which appeal to the vintage loving side of my nature.  The packaging is simpler than other body sprays, which adds to the grown up feel of them.

Make Up Review: Mac Pro Longwear Paint Pots

I have been a bit slow on the uptake, but I've finally discovered Mac's Pro Longwear Paint Pots, and I'm a huge fan!

I suffer from greasy eyelids, which means that eyeshadow eternally slides off, so I went to Mac in search of some sort of primer to stop this happening.  Paint pots were one of a number of products recommended to me, among concealers and suchlike, but this product immediately jumped out at me as something really useful, if it worked..

French Perfume Pick Me Ups - Olfactive Studio

What are you using to help banish the winter blues?  I use fragrance as a pick-me-up sometimes, whether it's through a lovely rose scented face cream, a fruity perfume, or even a couple of drops of essential oil in a burner.  I also find photos can be a visual pick-me-up, and try and keep interesting postcards and images pinned around my desk.

But what about perfume, and photography, together?  That is indeed the latest concept brought to us by The Olfactive Studio, a collaboration between perfumers and photographers, or as it's more suggestively described on the website, an 'encounter'...

My New Favourite Perfume: Fleur de Figuier

Absolutely ages ago I picked up a sample of one of Roger & Gallet's perfumes, 'Fleur de Figuier'.

The other day I used it for the first time, and I was absolutely intoxicated by this elegant fragrance!  I found myself drifting away to somewhere warm and heavy with scent.  It's described as follows:

Make-Up Review: Japonesque

Have you heard of Japonesque yet?  I hadn’t, until I was invited to go along to the launch of the Japonesque make-up counter at Cardiff’s John Lewis.  If a Japonesque counter hasn't opened at your local John Lewis yet, you can shop for the products online at the main John Lewis website.

The brand has been around for about 25 years, founded by an American model who visited Japan and always came home with a stash of kabuki brushes after visiting backstage at the Kabuki Theatres.  Since the foundation of creating professional tools, they’ve branched out into doing a colour range, and I was more than happy to put it to the test.

I got to meet lovely celebrity make-up artist Paul Herrington, who was providing the make-overs.  I gave him a vintage-with-a-twist briefing and couldn’t wait to see what he came up with – I don’t have a close-up, but I really loved the finished look, what do you all think?

So, a bit more about the products, because that’s what you’ll really be interested in.

Price 4/5

This is one of the big plus points of this brand – affordable quality.  I’m a bit of a beauty snob sometimes, but I don’t always have the budget to fund these predilections.  Japonesque seems to be fitting into that little gap where you can have the best of both worlds.  Prices on the brushes are between £11 and £30, and the make-up is priced between £12 and £24.  So, it’s still a ‘grown-up’ price-range, but I do feel there’s big value for money there.

Packaging 4/5

It’s very pretty, and each one is completely unique!  Apparently artists drop coloured gel ink into the packaging as it comes off the production line, creating one-off patterns on each one before it’s sealed.  It’s not quite as glamorous as some of the gold packaging you see on brands like Besame and Estee Lauder, but I quite liked the arty feel of it.

The Range 3/5

It’s starting off with a more limited range – only two foundations, only 3 quad colour palettes for eyes, one type of lipstick – but hopefully that will expand once it gets going.  The colours that they have are a good basic start, that should appeal quite widely.  Not every skin tone is going to get a perfect match with the foundation colours – darker skintones in particular look a bit under-represented at the moment.

The Products 4/5

First of all, the brushes are good quality, as you would expect them to be given the history of providing them to the trade.  Paul said they were comparable to Mac and Bobbi Brown brushes, but are much more reasonably priced.  I haven’t purchased any of the brushes so I can’t comment on their use over an extended period of time, but on the day the brushes used were very good.

Paul put the 'Luminous' foundation on me, giving a light and very natural coverage.  It reminded me very much of Diorskin Nude but is a much more reasonable £24 compared to £32.  Those after a bit more coverage would be better off with Japonesque’s ‘Velvet’ foundation.

The eyeshadow palette used, Velvet Touch in Shade 3 (£24), was a really lovely set of pinky, browny colours – perhaps still a little bit sparkly for my vintage inclinations, but it did look very pretty.


I liked the Velvet Touch Finishing Powder (£20) in its universal shade.  It has a touch of yellow to it which is perfect for fair, pink-skinned faces like mine as it balances out the pink a little.

The Eye Defining Pencil (£12) available in black or brown is one of the better eye pencils I’ve tried recently – very smooth, no dragging.  Once dried, it’s water-resistant and shouldn’t budge.

For the lips, Paul chose a violent looking pink Pro Performance Lip Lacquer in S5 (£15), but my fears were ill-placed as instead of putting it on like a lacquer, to get that thick, highly pigmented look, he just dabbed on a little with his fingers, so that the finished look was much more subtle and matt – like a lip stain rather than a lacquer.

I had the makeover done at lunchtime, and checked my face a few hours later to see how the makeup was doing.  On the longevity side, the eyeshadow didn’t fare too well, as the colour had slipped off my eyelids and onto my cheeks.  I can’t say whether this is a reflection on the specific product, as whatever eyeshadow I wear, whether it’s 99p or £20, it will still be all over my cheeks in an hour or two if I haven’t used a primer on my lids first.  (See my Mac paintpot review here for a good primer option)  The foundation was good, it stood up to the rest of the day, including an evening of late-night Christmas shopping at St David’s, where the shops were hot.  I think where the powder was concerned, I just didn’t have enough on – Paul did a very light application, but I do tend to get an oily t-zone throughout the day and generally have to do touch-ups anyway.

Overall 4/5

Overall I was incredibly pleased with the makeover, and the quality of the products impressed me, which is saying something because I am getting harder to please as the years go by!  Thank you Paul!

Finally, a huge thank you to Dowal Walker PR and Japonesque for asking little old me along to try out their lovely products, and for the very generous goody bag that I will certainly be making good use of – it included the finishing powder and the lip lacquer in a coral shade, that I will be sure to post a pic of when I get around to using it.

Have any of you tried out Japonesque yet?  I’d love to hear what you think!

Vintage Event: Gatsby Styling Workshop in South Wales

 

Look what popped into my inbox!  The people behind Vintage Vision, a social enterprise based in Abergavenny in South Wales, are putting on a 1920's styling workshop on Thursday 5th September.  It looks great fun, and I'm disappointed that I can't go.

Here's what's in store for you:

The beautiful surroundings of the Ballroom at the Angel Hotel is the venue for our Styling evening on Thursday September 5th, from 7 - 9pm. Here you will have a chance to see and hear exactly what 20s style involves, for men and women ( and no, it's not all flapper dresses!) . There will be a hairdresser to show how short and long hair can be dressed, a seamstress to show you how an ordinary dress can be adapted, and the opportunity to see a 20s headdress being made. As well as that, there will be a chance to browse through racks of Gatsby style outfits - original and copies - and to see them modelled by our own Daisy Buchanan and Mia Farrow look alikes! Some very special accessories will also be on sale to help complete your outfit! Tickets are £10 and include a glass of wine. It promises to be a great evening , so get your tickets early, from the Vintage Vision shop in Abergavenny or Chepstow, or via e-mail on info@vintagevision.org.uk

 

 

Summer Make-Up

What's your summer make-up like?  I find I change lip colours and moisturisers, but don't really change dramatically what else I use between seasons.  This is a little overview of what I have been using recently.

 
I rarely bother with foundation, partly because I've never found one that's particularly good, but in summer heat my skin needs to breathe as much as possible, so I skip it altogether.  This does necessitate using a moisturiser that doesn't give too much shine - I use Kimberley Sayer's Ultra Light Facial Moisturiser.

Over the top, I always use a sweep of powder, and am currently using Chanel 'Les Beiges' Healthy Glow Powder (£38), which although pricey, is great for summer.  It's very subtle, but gives a bit of warmth to the skin and looks better than my standard pale translucent powder with the inevitable tan that I get (despite walking around under umbrellas, hats and factor 30 - that's what happens when you are an outdoor runner!).

For lips, again keeping it as light as possible, I would choose a sheer lip colour for everyday such as Poppy King's 'History' for Boots No.7 (£10.95), or why not try Poppy King's offering of 'Medieval' (£20) at her range available at Space NK?  It gives lips a "just bitten" look according to India Knight's review in the Sunday Times.  For evening, summer is a chance for me to break out the really bold colours - 573, a lovely coral pink from years ago by Barry M (£4.49), or Besame's Carmine (£22), or a strong pink such as 'Classic Rose' by Boots No.7 (£9.50) all look chic with a summer wardrobe's tropical colour palette.

Mascara-wise, I try and go for something waterproof that isn't going to start running either with sweat, trips to the beach, or pure heat.  I find that against my ever so slightly darker skin in summertime, the Besame mascara doesn't stand out enough, so I've been using Boots No.7 mascaras (£11-£13), of which there's a huge choice.

I am not very good at applying black eyeliner with the required precision, and eyeshadow just slides off my eyes in any kind of heat (must find a good primer to stop this happening!), and so I tend to use bright liquid eyeliners to give a little slash of colour - a good one is again from Boots No.7, I have it in green.  Unlike black, you don't need as much precision as it will never look as stark.

Hair-wise, I can't bear the heat of curling my hair and so often leave it to air dry, pinning up sections from my face.  Naturally my hair has a wave, so I'm lucky to be able to do this.  I haven't yet found a quick and easy updo that my hair can be tamed into (it's very heavy and would take an army of pins for it to stay put).  For summer nights, I find all you need is a flower hair accessory, and you're good to go!

Here's a typical result from all of the above (excuse the expressions, but you're meant to be looking at the make-up, not me!)

After I wrote the above, I then decided I would like to revamp my summer evening look a bit and headed to the Dior counter.

I asked for a natural looking foundation (always hesitantly when you're asking someone who wears a LOT of foundation!!) and tried out Diorskin 'Nude' (£32).  I really liked the product, it didn't feel heavy at all despite it being a humid day, and I have a sample to try out again before I take the plunge and make a purchase. 

In pursuit of another 'everyday' red I tried out Dior Addict in 'New Look' (£24).   I loved the lip colour, which you could build up from sheer to wow, but the staying power was about the same as the 'History' sheer red I use, at less than half the price, and I also encoutered the problem of feathering for the first time ever with a lipstick, despite having used a lipliner.  I think you can see this a bit in the second picture below.

Eye make-up wise, I tried out Dior Skinflash Pen (£26), which is kind of like YSL's touche eclat, but comes in different hues (pink, apricot) rather than just skin tones.  The make-up artist used it also as a primer for my eyelids, and now sat here at the end of the day with the eyeshadow still in place, I can say that it worked!  The eye-shadow was just a couple of shades from the Dior 5 couleurs palette (£40) - they have them in lots of different colour combinations to suit your skintone.  It's heavier than I would normally wear, but for an evening I think it might be OK.

So, I shall think about purchasing the foundation, but the hunt is still on for another everyday red lippy.


That's it really, sorry it's not more exciting.  Has anyone got any tips for summer make-up looks?  They've got to be better than mine!!

Giveaway: The Eyebrows Have It

As part of the 3 year anniversary celebration of my blog (woo hoo!) I have an eyebrow palette to give away.  There will be THREE giveaways this week because I've been blogging THREE years!

Photo: St David's Official Photographer

As part of the recent BAFTA talk I attended, the make-up artist Jo Evans (above) did a spotlight on brows to illustrate just how important they are in creating an overall vintage appropriate look.  Her model was given a 'natural' brow look on one side (fuller brow, following the natural shape) whilst the other brow was given the 1950's look - the results were really quite striking, even from 6 feet away in the audience.  I don't have a photo of the resulting look, sorry!

To further illustrate the point, I would like to bring to your attention actress Joanna Vanderham, star of 'The Paradise' and also 'Dancing on the Edge'.  In the first photo, the Edwardian look needed for her part in 'The Paradise' called for the natural brow.  Compare this with the photo below of that, of her 1930's look in 'Dancing on the Edge', and below that of her in 'real life'.  It's really quite dramatic what a change the brows help achieve, isn't it?

We got to keep a handy brow reference chart.

I think my brows are a concoction all my own from looking at it!

I'm giving away a Kelly Brook eyebrow palette so that you can have a go at sculpting the perfect brows yourself at home.  I'm also throwing in a red nail polish.  To be in with a chance of winning, follow this blog and please leave a comment below.  ** Winner will be drawn Monday**