Eco-friendly nail polish, nail wraps and lip tar

 

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NCLA nail polish

 

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Ten over ten nailpolish

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Kure nail polish

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RGB nail polish

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Kure nail polish

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Priti nailpolish

Nail polish is great fun but can ruin your nails and is not recommended if you are pregnant. Why? Because they contain toxic ingredients like formaldehyde, formaldehyde resin, dibutyl phthalate (DBP), toluene and camphor. Luckily there are now brands whose formula don’t contain the above mentioned ingredients. Enter Priti, Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics, Ten over Ten, Kure, RGB and NCLA. NCLA also do really cool nail wraps and Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics has the infamous Lip Tar which is pure pigmented liquid colour fun.

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NCLA nail wraps

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the infamous Lip Tar by Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics

Treat your skin like silk

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One of my favourite blogs intothegloss has put up this great little cleansing video featuring french skin expert & facialist in new york Isabelle Bellis. It features great tips like massaging your face endless and treating your skin just like silk. If only we all had her gorgeous cheekbones..!

Frida!

 

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Frida is one of my style heroes. I visited her house in Mexico many years ago and was mesmerized by her use of colour, style,  originality and her tearing love story with husband and freedom fighter Diego.

My little brother gave me a market bag with Frida on it which I carry around a lot. I love it.

Whilst browsing Pinterest I found many like minded people who have been inspired by her style and are real Frida aficionado’s. I definately belong in their camp and adore Frida. My love for the combination of hot pink (pantone 226C) and turquoise probably comes from her. Viva Frida!

Aurelia

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Last week I met the inspiring founder of Aurelia skincare, Claire Vero. Her passion and enthusiasm for the brand she set up herself was completely infectious. Being a beauty industry insider myself I know how hard it is to set up a new brand, so my respect goes out to her. Also great to see a newcomer in a market which is basically dominated by the big players like Unilever, L’Oreal, P&G and Beiersdorf who own the majority of the skin brands you see in store. In luxury skincare there is more brand diversity but it is still a very competitive market to enter.

Claire saw the effects dermatology can have on improving peoples lives first hand, when she worked at GSK. Her idea was to incorporate science & botanical ingrdients to get the most effective products. Probiotics on one side and botanics (sourced from Africa) on the other side provide the ingredients of the range.

I tried the antioxidant and omega-rich cell repair night oil and was pleasantly surprised. The fragrance relaxed me with essential oils of neroli, lavender, rose and mandarin. The next morning my skin felt hydrated, fresh and not a bit greasy. Happy skin equals good morning vibes so I have been happily applying this every day and night.

Dream away with the little video below Aurelia did to highlight their african ingredients.

Aurelia Cell Repair Night Oil
Shop it at aurelia.com and at net-a-porter.com.

Two tone lips

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high shine lips

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Two tone lips is one of my favourite lip trends of SS13. At Vogue Festival last weekend YSl presented this trend together with matt neon brights and high shine lips. Enjoy!

Best of Mascara

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Twiggy style lashes

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Falsies

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Individual falsies

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The mascara Fan Brush

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Different brushes give different effects

 

I often get asked what the best mascara is out there. Honestly there are so many good ones out there I think there is one that fits any bill. The great thing is that you use mascara so often it means you have to rebuy a lot, which makes for lots of testing… Another trip to the beauty store – YAY! A good mascara is the combination of an excellent formula (ie not too wet or dry and highly pigmented with carbon black) and an excellent brush. Eyeko do a little set called the Macara Wardrobe  which is one formula with three brushes. Clever.

At the AW13 shows make up artists were using mascara fan brushes on which they deposited mascara formula and brushed this through the lashes creating natural looking slightly thickened lashes, without the usual va va voom fake lash effect. I’m personally going to ignore this ‘no mascara look’ that a lot of designers are featuring at the moment – I simply adore mascara, it makes me feel better. Falsies are also an excellent option too, especially individual ones which you can deposit on the outer corners only, just to give teeny bit of cats eye effect.

So here goes:

1 – Topshop Carbon Copy Mascara & Dior Show Mascara – great for lengthening

2 – Maybelline Rocket Mascara & L’Oreal Volume Million Lashes – for FAT lashes

3- Chanel Inimitable Waterproof – best waterproof I have found and it really separates each lash too.

Beauty from the inside out

rainbow colours

LA style

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the edit – net-a-porter

Beauty comes from the inside out. What you eat is what you are. I therefore try to avoid processed food which is not always possible of course.. Luckily I’m addicted to fruit and veg.  I love avocados, nuts, seeds, spinach, coconut juice and bananas all of which have packed goodness in them, especially for skin. There are a couple of other ingredients which can make a real difference, according to a recent article in the Edit Magazine by Net-a-porter about LA wellbeing. LA has reinvented healthy living with a juice bar and yoga school on every street corner. They have a point though as even if you only incorporate a couple of these items in your daily diet you will over time notice the difference in your complexion, nails and hair . I have tried lots of recipes from the website GOOP (aka Gwyneth Paltrow) – they are all super healthy and tasty, highly recommend them. Check the ‘magic’ ingredients out below:

KaleThe green of all greens – add to salads, stir-fries and soups – Spinach is also rich in anti oxidants.

Bee pollenAnother top antioxidant that has the additional benefit of helping to relieve allergy symptoms – Manuka honey has many healing and preventative properties

Acai berriesThis superfruit is packed with antioxidants – try Goji berries too.

Lucuma: A natural sweetener you can use in place of sugar. Honey works a trick too in teas/cakes etc.

Maca powderA Peruvian root that is the new guarana – a potent energy source. Ginger is full of goodness – you can chop it up with honey and drink it as tea or use it in salads/curries etc. All root vegetables are good – try sweet potato.

Chia seedsHigh in Omega 3 and numerous minerals, add to anything, from porridge to dessert. All nuts (uncoated/unsugared/unsalted) contain good fats. Healthy snacking!

Flax seedsFantastic for digestion, mix whole flax seeds into smoothies, porridge and granola.

Greens powderOther than real greens, this is one of the most important things you can add to your diet – mix the powder into your daily smoothie.

Coconut oilInstead of reaching for butter, try using this – it’s a far healthier fat. Make sure it is unrefined.

Green teacontains the anti oxidant EGCG. All of the EGCG comes from green tea grown in fields on the Korean island of Jeju, which has the optimal climate for the most potent tea leaves.

GinsengUsed in traditional Eastern medicine, ginseng has many health and beauty benefits and is only found naturally in a few places in the world. In skin care, this herbal root has rejuvenating effects and can help restore the skin’s moisture balance, fighting signs of aging and hyper pigmentation. (by the way ginger is a different plant than any of the types of ginseng root)

Double Take

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Olafur Eliassons Turbine Hall @ Tate modern vs Louis Vuitton AW13

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Helmut Newton vs Giampaola Sgura Antidote magazine

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Edward Steichen vs Tim Walker

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Gloria Swanson by Edward Steichen vs Tilda Swinton by Paolo Roversi

 

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Schiaparelli vs Jean Paul Gaultier

Lilah Ramzi is a graduate student of fashion history and sees original references in a lot of items being designed today. She created the blog Part Nouveau which shows the references the fashion world uses side by side. Fashion is a mash up of lots of inspiration trails, be it music, art or of course like the images above: previous fashion statements.

Into the move

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Picture by photographer Mathieu Fortin

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Picture by photographer Mathieu Fortin

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Picture by photographer Mathieu Fortin

 

Photographer Mathieu Fortin takes her inspiration from dance and acting. The viewer gets drawn into the picture by the movement and the way she plays with the sense of space. Mathieu is represented by L’Eloi.