A British Beauty workout - my top 5 British beautiful exports

This post is a chat really on 5 British actresses currently in Hollywood who I think are just beautiful and whose beauty, style, elegance and talent I admire. It's spurned on by this month's UK Instyle cover girl - Thandie Newton. She's one of the top 5 for me. And I emphasise the 'current' bit (cos lord knows I could go back to the 40s with Vivienne Leigh, Liz Taylor etc).

Thandie Newton


Rachel Weisz


Catherine Zeta-Jones

PS. CZJ has come a long way in the makeup department IMO!

Kate Winslet


Emily Blunt

I loved the Harper's Bazaar UK cover of Emily, and the spread in the magazine was also really cool. I still have the issue.


They're all brunette-ish (bar one). Go brunettes!

Shu Uemura workout - a treat

I took advantage of tonight's 20% discount at the Shu boutique in Covent Garden and took home a few things. I had a tough day at work today and amidst a few weeks of feeling a little low lately (work reasons - nothing insurmountable but y'know we have our off weeks) I wanted a treat : D I've also wanted to try some Shu blushes. I haven't bought anything from Shu in ages but I have one blush from them that I absolutely adore (M Peach 44) which just lights up my face. Seriously, if I feel sick or am looking pale this blush does wonders.

So I went in without much research and really just needed to enjoy a pleasant makeup experience. Which I did. The MUAs were so nice and not at all pressurising - just completely letting me play around for as long as I wanted and being available when I needed. And the shop was busy with customers in and out but the MUAs managed it really well IMO.

So I came away with this:


Below, a swatch of the blush - M Orange 55. It is gorgeous. A real instant pick me up. Looks bright in the pan - but layered on gradually and then blended out it looks stunning IMO! I really wanted to try a stronger, more intense blush - something that I'm not used to.


Then 2 unexpected buys - eyebrow gel in Forest Black and cream eyeshadow in M Sand Brown. I was looking for a coloured eyebrow gel in wand form (like MACs but they never had testers out!) and the MUA showed me this gel e/l (reminds me of Bobbi Brown's gel e/l) and it seemed so easy when she applied it (I watched in a hand mirror). Time will tell if I can recreate it! She also suggested the brown cream e/s not only as a base but said that it will bring out any e/s colour, and she proceeded to show me applying a bright lilac and then a dark bronze e/s over it. They both were intensified - I was quite surprised that the brown colour didn't dull the e/s colours as I expected.

So here are some swatches:



And of course, I've always wanted to try the cleasing oils which are so famed - and I was given samples of the tea tree oil version.

All in all, the experience was a definite pick me up. And what I needed. Something new that I wasn't expecting - but not overboard IMO. Definitely I'll be looking out for the next 20% discount Shu event at the Covent Garden store which they're organising before Xmas (though I don't know the date yet).

I'll let you know how I get on with these products : D

Le Metier de Beaute vs Laura Mercier - Foundation workout

I have found my HG foundation. Prescriptives All Skins Mineral Powder foundation. End of.

The makeup fiend in me is always drawn to foundations. I think I've only just realised that. I think maybe because I think base is an important, perhaps THE most important, part of a good makeup look. I have quite a lot of foundations, and have tested quite a lot too. Yesterday was no exception : D I met up with some lovely UK makeupalley members - we meet up every so often - in London (hello ladies if you are reading this)to trawl around the counters and have a spot of lunch.

So, we were at Liberty and I wanted to stop by the Korres counter, just to play. Opposite Korres was a newish brand to Liberty - Le Metier. Now I had read about the brand from various bloggers but nothing really caught my eye as it seemed to me to be in the same box as Chantecaille and By Terry - both brands that don't quite do it for me. (Ok, maybe Chantecaille does sometimes)

If I'm honest the beautiful SA caught my eye - she had a great smoky bronze eyeshadow thing going on (I am a sucker for bronze shadows) and so I moseyed on over. With a quick scan of the products in front of me, the row of foundation bottles caught my eye too. They reminded me very much of Laura Mercier's packaging and when I swatched their Classic Flawless Finish Liquid Foundation on my hand - it seemed very similar to my LM Moisturising Foundation, except it had a bit more 'shine'/'moisture' in its finish.

I then asked the MUA to apply it on me (she used their synthetic foundation brush) and the resulting finish was very nice and polished. It gave very good coverage and had a bit of 'shine' to it. A bit of powder over it reduced the shine. The MUA proceeded to tell me that the foundation was developed to be long lasting and so there was no need for a primer. It also contains hyaluronic acid (something that always pricks my ears) which binds moisture to the skin - and a property you find in anti-ageing creams to keep skin supple and moisturised when the skin ages. For the next few hours the foundation stayed on well but on my T zone (especially on my nose)
I became shiny - in that not good way - and touching up with powder took that away although maintained the foundation's 'moisturised' overall look.

I got home and took some pics in order to compare it against my LM moisturising. I know the lighting varies (and I look a bit more yellow in some pics than others - but I tried my best). So here they are:

Close up of coverage and finish of Le Metier Classic Foundation in IV


Close up of coverage and finish of Laura Mercier Moisturising Foundation in Sunny Beige



Full Face Le Metier foundation


Full Face LM foundation




I think they are very similar in packaging, coverage, durability, quality and almost similar in finish. Le Metier's gives a bit more shine and feels a tad bit more tacky. The LM is more of a satin finish and for my combo skin does not look dewy or shiny at all. Le Metier retails at £40 whereas LM retails at £32. Both would last you ages.

For my skin now I would pick the LM because it is practically the same product, a bit cheaper and is not a shiny finish as I find the Le Metier on me. But then Le Metier contains hyaluronic acid which helps moisturise your skin. So I think this foundation would definitely suit drier skins and I would definitely look at it if my skin turns drier as I get older. I cld see this working for my mum for e.g.

This turned out to be a very long post, sorry bout that, but I just typed as I thought! If you've lasted this long thanks for staying with me! Hope it was helpful anyway.

Some more Va Va Voom - this time a Revlon nailpolish workout

I don't celebrate Xmas (my family don't celebrate it so never grew up with it - New Year and Chinese New Year were always more the event) but I do love the new collections that come out at Xmas - makeupwise as well as fashionwise. The UK drugstore Superdrug has particularly been good over the last couple of years with their Xmas gift sets and I stumbled across this little number today - The Revlon Va Va Voom Red Nail Collection (it isn't just fate that made me name my hair blog post yersterday Va Va Voom).

Revlon nail polish was the first nail polish I ever tried (mum's favourite) and a glamorous American brand that was available growing up in HK. I thought this set was a perfect gift (for me!) but also imagined my niece enjoying it - and it's perfect for travelling with great bright colours (which I would wear all year round). It's a really great collection of colours I think - I've always wanted to try 2 colours in this set, One Perfect Coral and Cherries in The Snow.

The set retails at Superdrug for £5.99, each bottle is 5ml and has a very decent sized nail brush. A steal IMO and a perfect gift.

Some quick swatches (bit messy in parts and I tried different lighting) - I did 2 coats:


From Left to Right: One Perfect Coral, REvlon Red, Cherries In The Snow, Frankly Scarlet




My description of the colours:
One Perfect Coral - bright coral with more orange tones (matte)
Revlon Red - a true retro red 1950s style (matte)
Cherries In The Snow - quite similar to Revlon Red just with a touch of fuschia in it
Frankly Scarlet - a pretty metallic shimmer light red (metallic)

The colours are pigmented and go on smoothly with no streaks. A clear top coat would give a great shine. I can report in due course too about its durability.


Have you bagged yourself any new holiday collections?

Some va-va-voom to my hair workout - Samy Salon FAT HAIR styling creme

I love my hair, it's always been good to me. Only recently have grey hairs started to appear but I've always loved its colour, never dyed it, loved that in the early 90s I could make it grungy and stringy or totally hippy thanks to its total inability to keep a curl or waves. Total straightness a la Jennifer Aniston without having to do much to it.

But since I moved to the UK, I think the hard water has contributed to it drying out and becoming more fine. Age too : D So this year I began to make an effort to achieve healthy, voluminous and styled hair. Afterall, getting your makeup right and trying to follow through with a decent outfit - and then no hair effort - seems a bit of a waste : D

I am not good at styling my hair. Period. If ever there was a workout for me, it's definitely The Hair. I just don't have the patience and get tired so easily with styling The Hair. But when I do make the effort - I go the whole hog ie. the volumising mousse, spray, ceramic huge velcro rollers and some backcombing (can I just say that I don't do this often, when I do it takes me ages!). I have had great results with Loreal's Tecni art range. But I need to simplify on a normal day to day basis.

Girls and boys, say hello to Samy Salon FAT HAIR styling creme:


I bought this on a whim in Superdrug - it's bright red and has huge lettering so I thought what do I have to lose? I am going to do a YT vid review on it. It is pretty good and fuss free. You do have to rub it in. You do have to blow dry your hair to activate the creme. No mousse, no gel. Just a cream you blend in. No crunch. It is a bit sticky but doesn't leave a residue in your hair if you blend it in well and most importantly it makes my hair look like it has body and has been styled (no flyaways) and dare I say it - it gives me some almost-Cindy-Crawford-90s-style hair. And is the only product that seems to make the body and movement in my hair last well throughout the day.

The only downside is the packaging, as it's difficult to squeeze out the creme from the bottle - but they've realised this and now it comes in a pump style container. I'm also trying out their shampoo from the same range - and will give a verdict in due course.

Anyone else tried this line?

Prescriptives All Skins Mineral Powder Foundation - a faithful workout

Ok, so I gotta stop waxing lyrical about this foundation - especially seeing as it's only 3 months to go before Prescriptives opens its counters for business for the last time on 31 January 2010.

But I wanted to share how I can wear this foundation both wet and dry to achieve natural finishes both in sheer and heavier coverages. I took them over about a month probably - and tried to get the same lighting in the same room, but it's not possible with the UK weather!

For info, I wear Level 2 - Warm Medium.

Applied dry and a sheer layer - my freckles! : D


Applied dry with a medium coverage


Applied wet with a sheer coverage


Applied wet with a medium coverage


Thanks for reading!

FOTD workout thanks to 2 recent swaps

I did this FOTD a couple of weeks back using 2 recent items I received as swaps from makeupalley - MAC Signed, Sealed e/s and Stila Kajal in Onyx. Both are fast becoming favourites in my collection.

Both wear extremely well on alot of fronts:

- they apply very easily
- they last very well (a good 12 hours IMO)
- they are pigmented and vibrant
- as they are so pigmented, you only need a light touch IMO (esp with Signed, Sealed - really only a touch and blend it out on the crease)

MAC Signed, Sealed is a matte deep dark brown purple with warm brown tones in it (more brown than purple) and is unique in my collection. I'm impressed with the Stila Kajal - as I had thought it would be similar to UD 24/7 Zero which did not work for me - but it totally is not. It applies so well on the waterline and so easy, and smudges equally well without that greasy smudgey effect (not in the good way!).

Likey, likey.




Products used:

Px All Skins Mineral Powder fdn in L2 Warm Medium
MAC Bare Canvas all over lid
MAC Brule e/s all over lid
MAC Signed, Sealed blended well in crease
Stila Kajal Onyx to waterline and on lashline and smudged
Maybelline F&S WP mascara in black


Have you had any recent swap items you are working well?

Working my NYC vintage party dress find (at least I hope)

As I had mentioned in my YT vid about my NYC clothes/accessories finds, a great vintage store I came across on 5th Avenue was Cheap Jack's, check it out at www.cheapjacks.com The staff were very helpful - and were also stylists - so I felt well looked after.

It's a striking teal dress with (in my mind) lovely ruching detail on the shoulders and pairs very well with black! On a dinner out with the boyfriend I wore it with black tights, a black H&M tuxedo jacket from many seasons ago and some black suede peeptoe heels. Fashion is what you feel special in, as well as what makes you feel comfortable. I felt very special in it - hence love it.





What's your recent favourite outfit?

NYC Jewellery workout - Guenevere Rodriguez

As I covered in my YT video, Guenevere Rodriguez has a small stall on Prince Street on Sundays where she sells some of her pieces. I really like the delicateness and lightweight look and feel of her pieces - it is definitely something that I can wear all at one time - or individually. They might seem too fine, almost ethereal like, when worn but the fact that they are makes them all the more eye catching.

Here is her website and hopefully if I am able to go to NYC again, I'll be checking her store out for sure - www.guenevererodriguez.com





Do you have any favourite jewellery designers?

My New York Love Affair......

I'm writing this post whilst SATC is on the telly in the background. I had a blast in NYC. I've been about once every 2 years in the last few years, and this time I spent the longest time there - one week. My girlfriends and I rented a flat in Greenwich Village - and the stay there made me fall more in love with the area! Looking back at my pics - I didn't take many actually (and the ones I post here are just general -without my pals for confidentality really) - but lately I am just loving living life - through just creating and remembering experiences.

We did quite a bit of shopping, a bit of museum and gallery hopping, went to the Marquee Club (which was ok but nothing to write home about). Generally I just love walking round NYC. I also visited Ground Zero for the first time and was very humbled by it.

Though I know NYC much better now than I ever did, I STILL get confused by the directions of which way up I should go up a street or avenue! : D Of if I am going uptown or downtown!

The food was really good. The makeup was good (you will have seen my haul vid!). The company was good. Just catching up with old friends and each other's lives was just endearing and special. : D

So onto the pics

NYC street and cab on Broadway!



Carrie's stoop (check out the No Trespassing sign)and street




Joh's Pizzeria in Greenwich Village for a slice : D


We were lucky to get a balcony with our flat and had breakfast practically
each morning on it!


Pancakes at Pastis in the Meatpacking District


...then followed by a must stop to DVF & to peer in where Whitney Port went to work every day (such a sucker for those Hills and City girls)


We also spent some time in the Woodbury Outlet (way bigger than Bicester here in the UK!) and I managed to score a few things there and elsewhere shopping in NYC. I'll make posts of my purchases slowly with the next few posts. Managed to see some celebs too - Andrew McCarthy, Famke Janssen, Kelsey Grammar - and even Earl Spencer (Princess Di's brother) and his 2 daughters! New York is just so fabulous! : D
I had a total blast.......just trying to schedule my next trip there : D