I know I’m not alone in scouring the net for images of beauty to inspire me.
I love nothing more than coming across a visual that makes me stop dead in my tracks and just… absorb. A recent one that spoke to my makeup-loving heart was one of Givenchy‘s Spring campaign images.
The eyes, the lips… the pink, the orange… even the wispy hair… just perfect!
Another of my favourites and instantly recognisable. Sonya Kukainis embodies the natural, polished beauty that BECCA Cosmetics sums up for me.
My personal favourite from the Illamasqua campaigns (and there are a lot of beautiful images to choose from!) is this one from the most recent Spring/Summer Toxic Nature collection. It’s frivolous, powerful and total eye-candy in one crazy package.
And finally, a classic from 2008 and Shu Uemura‘s Tokyo Lash Bar… I remember being quite awestruck at practically all the lash images released around that time from the brand. Amazing!
Do you have some favourites? Would any of the above make your list?
In celebration of International Women’s Day last Tuesday, Bare Escentuals held events around the country inviting women to “Try. Believe. Love.” the BareMinerals foundation.
I went along to the event in Covent Garden to have a peek behind the scenes and to talk to some of the women who had stopped by to join the Bare Escentuals Friendship Bracelet Club. Even the sun came out in support!
Read on to find out what happened at the event and for a chance to win a little prize!
I’m up horribly late/early (scheduling this post) as I’m waiting for the Travelodge sale to go live and bag a few bargain breaks across the UK if I can!
I thought I’d upload a couple of photos from my day in London yesterday today yesterday – whenever it was. I’m all confused now.
Talking of holidays… I’m still trying to snag mine and it’s proving difficult.
Last weekend saw VexintheCity and myself wandering the streets of Paris, city of lights and painfully stylish women. What is it with Parisienne ladies anyway? Do they teach eyeliner in schools? I didn’t see a single pair of eyes that hadn’t been expertly rimmed with smudgy black kohl. It was both refreshing and slightly intimidating.
Here’s some shots from the (very long) day out, starting with the Paris essentials:
A map, we looked at it blankly all day long.
Jaffa Cakes – Don’t attempt the Eurostar at 6.22am without copious amounts of sugar close at hand.
Papped – I swear to God I did not pose for this! Red lipstick made me feel almost cultured enough to tread the cobbled streets though.
Undeniably Paris! Napoleon’s rebuild of the great city renders it thoroughly iconic with it’s long, wide Boulevards and grand Avenues!
Ahhh Sephora! My first ever visit! This is the one on Champs Élysées, we arrived v. early and as you can see, it wasn’t too busy at all!
Makeup, makeup as far as the eye can see!
Can you believe we sat our bums down on the posh chairs in Ladurée only to be told that we were too early for cake? Too early… for cake? So we boycotted all things French and went to McDonalds instead. No really… we were famished!
As night fell, we indulged in a little of Paris’ notorious cafe culture… I recommend the house Merlot at Café Kléber, though I was a bit squiffy after only two glasses!
As you can probably tell by this photo.
But not this one! Oooh La la! Je t’aime La Tour Eiffel!
So what did I buy in the capital of fashion, beauty and all things ladylike? Not a lot actually. I’m saving my pennies for this weekend at IMATS but I did pick up a couple of bits…
See? How restrained was I?
Despite all your fabulous advice and words of temptation, (for which I was immensely grateful and will be relying on when I return later in the year!) I held back and only picked up a Bioderma cleanser (for Mr. L!), a MAC CCB (I know, sacrilege to go to Paris and buy MAC right?) and a Rouge Baiser Lipstick (described as the world’s first ‘kiss-proof’ lipstick!)
Did I do well? I also played with some MUFE in Sephora and expanded my IMATS wishlist tenfold. Oops.
I promise after this, I’ll shut up about the snow. Infact, it’s gone 10pm as I’m writing this and I’m a bit bored of it now. I’m going to London tomorrow and I’ve just had to dig the car’s back tyres out of a 15″ drift. Over the course of the day only a little has melted… the rest has compacted and is now really slippy.
I live on top of a hill… I’m not sure the car will make it down it. I may have to slide down on my bum.
Still…. regardless of tomorrows potential problems, today… was a very good one. Leila’s first taste of a Winter Wonderland and that little flump DID NOT want to come back inside!
We couldn’t stay out too long ‘cos L wouldn’t keep her gloves on! I think we’ve lost one… it’s white, so we’ll have to wait for the snow to thaw before we’ve got a hope in hell of finding it again!
I also wore my blusher in a different way today… does it look ok?
Don’t laugh at that rather vain statement… I’ve struggled for years with blush placement. I have what I like to refer to as ‘hamster cheeks’… the fleshy bit is rather… fleshy… and quite high. This placement was recommended by a very special makeup artist that I had the pleasure of meeting on Tuesday.
I’m hoping to post tomorrow about that little encounter!
If it’s cold where you are, I hope you’re staying warm and wish me luck that I can get to where I need to be today! xx
Hmmm… that makes this post sound far more dramatic and exciting than it actually is.
Perhaps if myself and VexintheCity hadn’t been gently chaperoned to the exit when it was time to go home, I’d have had the opportunity to ‘lose myself’ and run around QVC HQ in a style akin to Mission Impossible… camera flailing… whilst being chased by 3 burly security guards and papping Dale, (the ‘Housewive’s Choice’) secretly devouring all the biscuits in the QVC kitchen.
Not that it wasn’t exciting or interesting… It was! But the one thing that struck me above all else was simply how quiet and relaxed the place was. Now, I know we arrived after ‘home time’ for most, so the offices were understandably peaceful… but the live studios were also incredibly relaxed, almost serene.
Anyway, let’s have a look around…
The offices… where all the model booking, show planning, product organising and general adminy stuff takes place.
The prep room! Like a well-oiled machine… all the trolleys get stacked with products relevant to the show they’re destined to appear in. This is the beauty trolley for that evening’s 10 o’clock airing. I spy Decleor, Nails Inc, Bare Escentuals and other lovely things.
The prep Kitchen! They were showcasing utensils and a range of cookware. Gotta have some food to put in ’em right? It was HOT in there, but the gorgeous foodie aromas that were wafting down the corridor were immense!
Check me out, I done a panoramamama! What a geek! (Click the picture to see it LARGE)
This is one of the studios (I forget which number – there’s 6 in total I think). QVC headquarters and studios will be relocating in the next couple of years to Chiswick. Their current location was never supposed to be permanent, though they’ve been there 17 yrs now!
The building they’re in wasn’t designed to house studios. Natural light floods in from the atrium above and needs to be blacked out and checked before they go live each time, which obviously isn’t ideal.
Oh, oh, oh! We got to stand behind the cameras whilst a show was going out live! Mobile phones OFF and super quiet creeping about was the order of the day. At one point, I had to physically restrain VexintheCity who admitted an overwhelming urge to run infront of the camera waving her arms about like some day-release. I would have TOTALLY pretended not to know her.
As I said earlier, the studios were really quiet…. even the live ones. Imagine it… big room, two presenters, 1 floor manager (have I made that job title up?) and 1 camera man. That’s it. Eerie! It was pure QVC cheese too… I loved it. Jilly Halliday was demonstrating some funky *cough* clothing, whilst Dale Franklin was asserting his charm over the nation’s ladies, encouraging us to part with our cash for some of the latest and greatest jewellery on display. Flippin’ fabulous!
Control Room/Production-y bit…. Like the bridge of the Starship Enterprise! Lots of buttons…. wanted to dive forward and press a couple. Accidentally slip and sit on about 20 at once, you know the score. I behaved myself.
This lady was watching Dale do the jewellery presentation… she was nice. Are you still with me? Hello? Hellooo?
After all that tour excitement, we retired upstairs to where Bare Escentuals had set up a little room to give us a sneak preview of their new (to the UK) matte foundation. I’d had the pleasure of meeting their national makeup artist SJ previously but it was good to see her work her magic again.
Bare Escentuals Matte is due for release on QVC on the 10th July… we were given a sample, but I’ve already got a pot (in a better colour match) that I scored in a blog sale a month ago. I promise to review it before it releases over here (tick tock). It’s a great alternative for those among us who like the idea of mineral makeup but dislike the dewy finish that minerals tend to give. I predict it’s gonna be a big seller throughout the Summer.
SJ getting to work on the beautiful Keren who’s currently guest blogging for Lindsey at Beauty Mecca.
And the finished result. Subtle but flawless.
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It was a fabulously fun evening and a real change from the norm for me. I hope you enjoyed a little sneak peek behind the scenes. Don’t forget, it’s beauty month at QVC… there’s lots of tempting TSVs coming up and check out the Bare Escentuals big Matte launch day on the 10th July.
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For more info on what you can expect from QVC’s Beauty Month, watch this video with Alison Young below:
Far too much cucumber in my Pimms, I tasted more salad than gin. And that’s never a good thing!
“I hope Mummy’s not hungry… Oh look, there’s her lunch!”
Pretty colours!
Oh, something makeup related DID slip in there afterall!
Am I being political? Nahhhh it’s just a car bonnet (hood).
An altogether different kinda bonnet!
Down at the docks.
I wanna take a quick opportunity to emphasise another big THANK YOU for the ‘feel better soon’ messages that you left me earlier in the week on here, twitter and over email. It means such a lot to me.
Anyway,
What have you ladies been getting up to this week and do you have any plans for the weekend? It promises to be another fine one!
Last week, when I was talking about the new Bare Escentuals Boutique on Neal Street I proclaimed: “I wish I had a picture to show you…”
Well this week, I’ve got several!
I couldn’t resist popping back in there on Tuesday!
On the downside…. they still didn’t have Grace in stock…
…But on the upside, I got to swatch to my heart’s content and discovered at least another 4 shades to add to my wishlist!
I was desperate to try one of the make-unders. They’re specialising in the “Roxie look” at the moment due to their makeup partnership with the West End show Chicago. But alas, I was too pressed for time and had to continue on my merry way without a sexy smoky eye/red lip combo.
In my experience… the staff in there are super friendly, and once again… I had them all searching for the non-existent Grace eye shadow that is becoming harder to pin down than an eel swathed in grease. I’ve left my number and they’ve promised me a phone call when it’s back in stock.
