A Vintage Vamp x

Very recently, Selfridges in Manchester unveiled their whopping, new Charlotte Tilbury stand. And it is UNREAL. Charlotte Tilbury (the brand) came to Manchester last Autumn but the make up is proving to be so popular, that they clearly needed to expand. To celebrate the launch, I was invited down to see the stand first hand and book in for a makeover with lead Make Up Artist Jules! What a TREAT!

So first up. Choosing your signature look! Charlotte Tilbury has come up with this fab concept where you can choose the look that most suits you / your style; and then to make it super easy, you can literally buy the whole look. I really like this, as I do tend to do have literally one look for day and one for night...

There were two looks that immediately caught my eye - The Rock Chick (think tousled hair, smokey eyes and lots of liner) and The Bombshell (All glam with a red lip) but as these two are literally my day-to-night looks, I wanted to try something different. So I went for the Vintage Vamp look! Featuring an antique smokey eye and a deep lip, here's how I got on:

Hmm, I'm not really enjoying this rather close-up pic of my half naked face... But this does show how flawless the base of this look was. When I went for my make over, I was sadly full of a cold and a bit run down. I had a few breakouts here and there, but the amazing Jules managed to make me look almost human again!

She started by removing all traces of my existing make up with the multi-miracle glow (which smelt divine) and then applying a layer of Charlotte's Magic Cream. Now at £70, this is pretty pricey but it comes highly recommended. An anti-aging, moisturising, luminating cream, this is billed as everything in one and the only cream you'll ever need!

After this, my base look was created using the Wonderglow Primer, Light Wonder foundation (I had no. 6) concealer and a light dusting of powder. What amazed me about the Charlotte Tilbury range is that everything had both a skin care element and a beauty element. Everything has been made with the end-user in mind and it really shows.

My skin is combination - mainly normal with an oily Tzone and large pores (aka, bit crap really). So the words "dewy" and "natural" normally strike the fear of god into my heart. However!! Jules assured me that there is a way for me to get this look without looking greasy! The CT way is all about going lightly, lightly and building up your look...

(Also, I have apparently been doing my eyebrows wrong for the last 3 years of my life. Woops!)

Interesting Fact! There are only 8 brushes in the Charlotte Tilbury range and you can do your entire face with these. I like this a lot as I'm pretty sure I only use about 6?! However, I'm not sure how I would feel about using the same brush for my blusher, highlighter and powder...

On to the eyes! Already you can see here how Jules has started to build up my look with a bit of contouring and by shaping my brows. The eyeshadow palettes by CT are brill as on the back they show you how to use each colour - quite handy for beauty novices! Again, Jules recommends building up your look until you get the effect you want.

How glam does the stand look? I love how inviting the make up chairs for you to sit down and get dolled up on!

Lips! If you read any beauty blogs at all, you will have seen the hype about these Lip Cheat liners - they are infamous! I ended up buying this colour and the lipstick as they were so different to any other red lippy that I own. The lipstick and liner together have serious staying power and I would highly recommend these!! I will be saving up to get more - probably in every colour.

The finished look!

I am really pleased that I went for this look as it's probably a bit more sophisticated than what I would normally do!

The brown toned smokey eye is really flattering and I love this when paired with this unusual lip colour (Night Crimson, FYI!)

Massive thanks to Jules for my makeover!

If you're interested in trying anything by Charlotte Tilbury, you can always head onto the stand and request a complimentary lip or eye make over. (I'd suggest lips!!)

Which look do you think you would go for out of Charlotte's 10 signature looks?

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Introducing: Jack

Have you ever met a famous person before? Like, someone off of the telly or that was in a band or something? How was that for you!?

I ask, as I was recently invited to Selfridges for the launch of a new fragrance - Jack: Covent Garden. And the man behind this gorgeously, citrussy perfume, is none other than RICHARD E GRANT. Everyone that I told about this knew he he was, and my mum was convinced he would be lovely because, you know, she'd seen him in "that hotel programme" and he was "dead nice".

And he actually was. But this isn't your normal celeb-endorsed fragrance. From talking to Richard, you can really tell that this is something that Richard has been fully involved in from day one. Not only has he self-funded the entire project, but everything from the top notes of the perfume to the text on back of the perfume box has been passed by him. Nothing about this scent has been done without Richard's approval. And doesn't he look proud?!

So what are they like?

The original fragrance, Jack, launched with the rather controversial cannibis as one of its Top Notes. (no joke!) This gives the fragrance a peppery, musky scent which is absolutely gorgeous.


This new, second fragrance is a reminder of Richard's time spent working in Covent Garden and has a much more citrussy scent. The aim of this fragrance was to conjure up the fruit and veg markets of the vibrant 'My Fair Lady' era. Mixing theatre and history to tell a story with the fragrance.

Both fragrances are unisex and come sleeved in calico, Union Jack bags which can be personalised (another aspect Richard was keen to have). At £95 you may thing that this is pricier than some fragrances, however, I do think that they are value for money. Both fragrances (especially Jack) have amazing staying power. The scent really lasts throughout the day and you only need a small amount.
The packaging and personalisation aspect are so classic and would make an amazing gift.

FYI, I do reeeeeally recommend checking these out, I took a sample into work and literally, everyone loved it!

Luckily for fans of the fragrances, there will be more to come! Each of Richards perfumes have an autobiographical concept behind them and are deeply personal to him. (FYI, there is a third already in the works...) If I had to guess, I think the next fragrance may have more of an African feel to it as Richard was born in Swaziland.

So there you go, my second "celeb" encounter this year! And if you like this kinda thing, read more about my meeting with ACTUAL Henry Holland. 

Disclaimer: No, I'm not a celeb groupie or anything.

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Body Paint Toldeo Style!

So I was randomly passing through Selfridges the other day and saw the most mind boggling sight... A nude model being painted from head to toe at the Mac Cosmetics stand! It was so random! Like something off X Men!?

Of course I was totally intrigued (and had to take some pics!) The make up artists that were working on the model explained that the exhibition was in honour of the new Toledo range of make up that has just launched with Mac this month. The unique collaboration is between Mac and the renowned fashion designer Isabel Toledo and her illustrator husband, Ruben. As you can see, he must have had a hand in the packaging as it is reeeeally cool.

The Toledo collection includes eye shadow pallets, eyeliners, blush, etc and an amazing array of red lipsticks - Isabel's signature look. I am a sucker for a red lippy, so I will definitely be checking these out!!

So I know that there's been a lot of hype over the new Cinderella range (which I also need in my life...) but this vibrant range is definitely worth keeping an eye out for if you're in store...

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THE Best Blowdry...

I have to admit, that the last time that I had my hair cut and coloured was before my birthday in DECEMBER!!?! This is not like me AT ALL. So I was thrilled to be invited to an event at Eds Hair in Manchester. The salon was celebrating their 4th birthday and threw a little par-tay for clients, staff and a select few Bloggers...

As soon as I walked through the door, I was greeted by one of the owners of the salon, Ines. I could actually see him taking in my dark roots, dead ends and limp locks (oh the humiliation!!) Within 2 minutes he had rushed me to the nearest available basin and had instructed one of the girls to put a treatment on my hair IMMEDIATELY. It was so lush! The team at Eds hair use all Swarzkopf products, and the ones used on mine were specially for blonde hair.

I then got the honour of getting a voluminous blow dry from Ines himself...

 

The AMAZING Birthday cake!

The PR team at Ledigo PR had done a fab job in decorating the salon with their colours...


Getting styled by the main man himself! Pretty chuffed that my lippy matched the theme! ;-) Photo by blogger Anna from Yay or Nay interiors!

Champers and a blow dry - the life of luxury!

 

Joana from 100thingsIlove gets an unusual hair style! (it looked amazing once complete!)

Live music from X Factor boy band member Nikk Mager!

Lauren from Fashion Panic gets curly wurly style!

We were sent home with a fab goody bag full of hair treatments!

I LOVED my blow dry! I was so impressed Ines really managed to get some volume into my hair and make it look sleek (despite my dead ends!!). Even more impressive - he didn't use hair straighteners AT ALL. The style held really well and it still looked great the next day. 

I've had a look on Eds Hair site and their rates are really reasonable, so I'll definitely be heading back for a full revamp! Hello new hair!

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Straight hair without Straightners? Whaaat!

Yes. It can totally happen. 

I've recently been introduced to Lee Staffords Ubunto Hair range* and it is AWESOME. I received these goodies in the gift bags from our Rock On Ruby event and I have to admit I wasn't THAT familiar with Lee Stafford's products... BUT NOW!? I am actually converting family members to these pink bottles of hairy goodness.

So, let's check out the range!

From Left: Schwarzkopf 2 Sexy Big Volume Hairspray, Ubunto Oils Moisturising Blow Dry Smoother, Ubunto Oils Heat Protection Spray, Ubunto Oils Repair Oil, Tangle Teezer

The Ubunto Oils range includes these 3 products (and I just spied on Boots that they also do a Shampoo AND Conditioner. YES!) When creating my super sleek look, I started by using the Blow Dry Smoother on my towel dried hair and combing this through with my tangle teezer.

It is quite a thick lotion and I generally only use 1 pump as my hair is shoulder length. It does leave quite a "producty" feel on your hair at first, and as my hair is only fine I was a bit worried it would be left feeling greasy once it was dry. But this was not the case!! This is by far my fave from the entire range. 

Before I started blow drying my hair, I gave it a few quick sprays of the Heat Protection Spray I think that this is quite good, however... when it comes out of the bottle it does come out in very powerful bursts, rather than a fine mist. So on that point, it is quite hard to spread out evenly over your do!



When my hair is dry I add the Repair Oil to the ends to give it a really smooth finish. This is a fab serum, and a brill product for getting rid of any flyaways / frizz. FYI, if you're worried that serums aren't for you then, they also do this in a mist version!

I finished my look with this hairspray from Schwarzkopf. Now, I do like my hairspray to feel like hairspray (sorry L'Oreal!) so I do like this! The scent is slightly bubblegummy, or watermelon-y or something, so I don't overly love that... But it does give great volume!

Out of all of the products, my fave is the blow dry smoothing lotion. It is quite pricey at £11.99 but I can see this lasting me for a while. Plus, every time I use this I get complimented on my hair, so I think that's worth every penny! :)

Have you tried any of Lee Staffords products before?

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