Boots No7 Instant Radiance Foundation

I am having a bit of a No7 love-in at the moment! Like the eye creams, I was given this foundation by Boots to use in a show. The night before, I tried it at home on myself and completely fell in love.

It has a pump!! It has a PUMP!!!!

So, details. It's branded as 'Instant Radiance'. Usually when 'radiance' is banded about in relation to foundation, it usually means it's full of shimmer, but this is so different. The texture is extremely light, very similar to Chanel Vita Aqua Lumiere or MAC Face & Body. Once applied to the face, it 'dries' within a few seconds and literally the skin is dry to touch, not tacky or sticky. But once dry, it's not matte, instead it stays kind of glowy, but dry! It really is quite incredible.

The coverage is medium, but because it sets so quickly, you can very easily pop a 2nd 'coat' on. I've also found it doesn't streak AT ALL and looks just as beautiful applied with either a brush or fingers.

The only negative I think is the fact that the lightest shade is porcelain, which isn't very porcelain at all. It's very similar to Chanel Pro shade 10 Limpede, which is quite yellow. It's about 1/2 a shade too dark (for me, it's fine & I just add a splash of white MAC F&B, but for girls lighter than me, you're going to struggle to get a colour match.

Ok, so I can't rave this much about a foundation without giving you some before/after pics! Be kind!

So this little beaut costs £12.50 and you can buy it online or instore. I'm not sure about the shades on the Boots website though - they don't match the shades available in both Boots stores I checked out.

*this was provided to me at no cost, but that was for use in a show, not for 'review purposes'. I truly love this product!

Vivienne Westwood Red "Let It Rock" Medal Ring

Accessory could be my middle name (although it'd probably need to be hyphened with makeup). I absolutely adore jewellery but as I've gotten a little more mature I tend to try & buy longer-lasting pieces that are more style/interesting than just frivolous/fashionable. I find accessories that are more unusual tend to go with everything as they actually don't go with anything - does that make sense? (probably not!)

Anyhoo! One of my all-time favourite brands is Vivienne Westwood. I can't get enough of her edgy clothes and have a very modest (and growing!) collection of earrings, a scarf & now this ring! I think what I like is the hard rock/punk edge to the brand, but usually done in a relatively pretty, wearable & often subtle way. For example, the scarf I bought earlier this year is plastered with profanities, but it mostly appears as art/graffiti when I'm wearing it.

When I spotted this ring on ASOS earlier in the week, I knew it was going to be mine before I even could properly look at the price. It's so simple, but I love the message "Let It Rock". It's the perfect example of why I love the brand.

The 'medal' is attached to the band of the ring securely, but it moves about a bit, which is why it looks a funny angle in these pics. Once it's on your finger, it sits flat. All VW jewellery is handmade, which I think just makes it a little bit more special.

I went for large, which fits very comfortably on my middle finger. As a size guide, my middle finger is about an 'O' and the large fits perfectly. The large was far too big for my ring finger which is an 'M' - a medium would have been fine for that finger.

Next on my list is this one...

What about you? Is there a brand you buy from over & over?

A x

No7 Stay Perfect Eye Mousse

I only discovered these last weekend, when I was given 'Pewter' to use at a fashion show. I adored the colour, but never having been a big No7 fan, I wasn't really expecting great shakes. But I have been blown away! They are so highly pigmented, blend out forever and dry to a lovely satin finish, with no creasing sight. Amazing.

I went back to Boots & picked up Fudge & Plum to chuck in my bridal kit. Really good long-lasting, non-creasing, pigmented cream bases are like gold dust and at £9 each, are significantly more affordable than their luxe Laura Mercier counterpart.

There are 6 shades in total. I don't think I'll get the other 3 - there's a vivid olive green, a sky blue & a peachy cream which all look nice, but I don't think they have a place in my kit. But I am considering buying back-ups of these ones in case they suddenly discontinue!

I have another post coming up on N07 Instant Radiance Foundation shortly. Believe me, you'll want to put your £13.50 aside for that one!!

Union Square Fashion Weekend - The Pics!

So, as you probably know by now, my weekend was quite busy working at the Union Square Fashion Weekend, in Aberdeen. I spent the mornings making over the models, my lunchtimes on stage doing makeup demos (no photos of that though) and all my time in between was spent enjoying the atmosphere & taking some snaps! Needless to say I am a tired little birdy & very much looking forward to bed tonight! Here are a few pics from the weekend...

I hate to use that awful term, but the models were all 'real girls' and we had such a fabulous variety of faces, skin tones, heights, shapes and sizes! Brilliant! Caireen was a tiny little fire cracker who loves makeup & embraced both the dark black red lips on the Saturday and the dark smokey grey eyes on Sunday. She also loved lashes so we piled them high!

Faye had some of the best eyebrows I've ever worked on! She also had amazing dark green eyes, so on both days we kept a very soft smokey look to enhance them, keeping lips nude & glossy.

Hazel is the winner of the Union Square Top Model competition and she is seriously a model in the making! At 5'10" with gorgeous skin, teeth and legs up to *here*, she would give Jade a serious run for her money!

On Hazel's eyes on Sunday, I used a gold cream base and packed on MAC's Antique Gold pigment.

and these were the shows!

Thank you so much to Union Square & Penny for giving me this fab opportunity and I can't wait to do it all again next year!

My Week in Hipstamatic...2

another Saturday, another wedding, another bride...

one of my gorgeous models for this weekend's fashion show

and I know this isn't Hipstamatic, but I adore this pic of Belle playing X Box!