The Inspiration Post #9

I spent most of September this year travelling around 3 cities in America (more of which will be documented in the next few weeks!), and towards the end of the month I have been obsessed with London Fashion Week.  London has to be my favourite, I love to see what the amazingly talented designers and design houses can produce while maintaining a British fashion edge.  

Everything from the looks, to the show production and the front rows have been inspiring me recently, wouldn't it be great to go to a show one day?! The dream.  

Classically British brand Burberry presented a stunning show (with a Snapchat story to show it off!), Holly Fulton and Mary Katrantzou ensured shine and shimmer were included in their show with silver panels and hand beaded dresses respectively.  

Anya Hindmarch made tribute to our British high street which is very appropriate considering that is where her designs could filter to, and Christopher Kane brightened up the city with his colourful collection of inspiration from artists across the UK.  

Finally, I was also inspired by the craziness and fun injected into London fashion week from Sophia Webster - the most amazing shoes and presentation! A mermaid laundrette - what's not to love?!

You'll find my inspiration in the images below, it's quite a mixture..!

Burberry / Classic jacket with gold detailing (Vogue.co.uk)

Holly Fulton / Classic shape with the addition of sparkle and shine (Vogue.co.uk)

Anya Hindmarch / An ode to John Lewis (Vogue.co.uk)

Mary Katrantzou / Detail, detail, detail! (Indigital)

Christopher Kane / Plastic fantastic! (Vogue.co.uk)

Sophia Webster / Mermaid laundrette & bright coloured shoes (Vogue.co.uk)

Topshop Unique / Front Row (Topshop Blog)

Alison Moyet & Orchestra at Burberry SS16 (Telegraph.co.uk)

Sophia Webster / Mermaids at show (Vogue.co.uk)

What were your favourite shows from LFW?

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Lip Loves: MAC Creme Cup

Lipstick is a great way to enhance or dress up your make up look, it's the perfect make up product to transform you from day to night super quickly.
As every other beauty blogger will know, MAC has one of the greatest ranges of lipsticks to choose from - various textures and so many gorgeous shades to choose from.

My go-to lipstick for any occasion - and new obsession - has to be MAC Creme Cup.  It's such a gorgeous pastel pink shade with pink blue tones that go great with my skin tone (NW15-20).  My sister had bought this and raved about it, as soon as I tried it I was hooked!  It's a subtle and very buildable lipstick with a great texture.  I love the MAC Cremesheen lipsticks as they are very moisturising and creamy, but because they are so creamy they need topped up every few hours.

This is a MAC shade I will definitely repurchase when this one is used up (which could be pretty soon!).  

Have you tried MAC's Creme Cup?  

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My Favourite Granola Recipe

Breakfast is my favourite meal of the day, there are so many options to set you up for the day ahead.
One recipe I came across in the Honestly Healthy cookbook is Nutty Granola.
Porridge is a firm favourite of mine but I was looking for another healthy alternative to mix things up a bit and I'm obsessed with this granola recipe!  It's full of oats, nuts and seeds so it's not filled with any nasty sugars that are bad for you first thing in the morning.

This recipe tends to last me all week or longer, I love to have it as breakfast with greek yogurt, sprinkled on top of my porridge or as a snack throughout the day to keep me going - so it will make about 4 servings.

To make this Nutty Granola you'll need the following ingredients:

• 50g dates (remember to remove the stones!)
• 100g jumbo rolled oats
• 85g mixed raw cashews and pecans
• 15g pumpkin seeds
• 2 tbsp honey (I currently use agave nectar)
• 3 tbsp olive oil

Preheat your oven to 160ºC/325ºF/gas mark 3.
Prepare the measurements of your ingredients above so you're good to go.

Simmer the dates in 1cm of water (no more or the mixture will become too wet) until they are soft, I then turn off the heat and blend with a hand mixer until the mixture becomes a smooth consistency.

Add your remaining ingredients to the dates and mix well, gradually add in half of each ingredient and mix, then add the other half.  This will make it easier to combine the ingredients without too much mess!

Spread out your granola mixture onto a baking tray and bake for 15 minutes in the oven.  Once the 15 minutes are up, shake the tray slightly so the mixture spreads out a little, then reduce your temperature to 100ºC/225ºF/gas mark 1/4 and bake for another 30 minutes or until your mixture becomes golden and crisp.

Leave the granola to cool and then store in a container - as simple as that!

Do you have a healthy alternative to granola which you love?  The great thing about this recipe is you can add different nuts or seeds if you have other preferences.

Let me know how you get on with the recipe!

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Marc Jacobs Daisy Dream Forever

Recently I was lucky enough to receive the lovely Marc Jacobs Daisy Dream Forever as a gift, and I was so excited to try out Marc's newest scent.  It's similar to Daisy Dream - from the scent to the bottle and packaging.
The bottle is in the similar Daisy Dream shape however has silver and blue daisies rather than gold and white across the bottle.

Marc Jacobs Daisy Dream Forever is a gorgeous fresh scent and an extension or, a 'deeper interpretation', of the already well loved Marc Jacobs Daisy Dream scent.  It has similar key notes of blackberry, grapefruit and pear; heart notes of jasmine, lychee and blue wisteria and base notes of white woods, musks and coconut water.

This fragrance is a deeper scent to the original, it's still fresh and invigorating due to the slightly stronger, fruiter scents pulling through, yet leaves a lingering of the base notes a few minutes after you've sprayed the fragrance; because of this you wouldn't need to use much for it to give off a strong, lasting finish.

I love to wear this as a day and evening scent, fresh for during the day yet deep enough to pull off for evening occasions.

Have you got Daisy Dream Forever?  Let me know what you think of the scent.

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The Inspiration Post #8

August has been yet another month to go in so quickly, I always find myself double checking the date when I start to think about my inspiration posts at the end of the month!  This month I've found myself searching the internet a little too often for gorgeous art prints.  Yes, it's probably strange, but I'm obsessed.  I love the foil lettering, the watercolour art and the cutest quotes to fill my walls with.  I'm about to start putting together a room to store my fashion and beauty purchases with space to sit at a lovely dressing table and get myself ready everyday - and so far the search for art prints is what's taking up all my time!

I've shared below a few of my favourites that I've come across so far, however I'm still on the hunt - if you know of any other websites or designers with gorgeous prints please let me know..!

Namast'ay in Bed / Chloe Vaux

This is a print I desperately want to purchase and have next to my bed..! 

Watermelon / The Lovely Drawer

Such a simple yet bright print - would look great in a statement frame (I'm going to hunt Homesense for one soon!).  

Shades / Rifle Paper Co.

Love. Love. Love. It's all about the sunglasses.  

Flamingo / Cat Coquillette

Such a cute print, there's just something about flamingo paintings!

But First, Champagne / Chloe Vaux

I mean, life motto right?

Always New York / Miss Poppy Design

Always!

Hope you enjoyed seeing the inspiration I'm loving to decorate my rooms, I'd love all of these in a gorgeous collage of pictures on one wall - I might start to build up my collection..!

What are you favourite wall art prints?

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Face Highlight Guide: MAC, Benefit, Urban Decay & More

Last week I blogged about my Face Contour Guide which you can catch up on here and this week I'm going to share with you products I use to highlight my face after I've contoured (or you could skip the contouring step if you'd like).

Highlighting can create a lovely illuminating aspect to your make up look and really enhance your bone structure when teamed up with some contour.  I use a few different products when highlighting for different effects.

MAC Strobe Cream

A gorgeous cream highlighter is MAC's Strobe Cream, a creamy white shade with a silver sheen which I apply under or mixed in with my foundation.  This creates a dewy texture to your base make up and really brightens up your complexion, I tend to use around a pea sized amount of this cream product across my face and acts as a great skin pick-me-up!  

Benefit Sun Beam & Watt's Up!

I have mini Benefit Sun Beam and Watt's Up! (from my gorgeous Benefit advent calendar on the run up to Christmas!) and they work as great additions to my highlighting routine.  Both products are golden and champagne shades which I tend to prefer over pinker highlighting shades, and use either of these across the top of my cheekbone where the light hits and up towards the top outer edge of my brows (in a sort of sideways v shape) and they add a rich luminous look to my skin. 

Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer & Real Techniques Pointed Foundation Brush

This drugstore concealer is easily one of my favourite concealers ever.  I use the shade fair to highlight areas of my face which the light hits - a V shape under my eyes, over the middle of my forehead, the middle and each side of my chin, down the centre of my nose and above my top lip.  

I apply my fountain first of all and then blend these areas afterwards to ensure there are no harsh lines between foundation and highlight.  I apply this concealer with the Real Techniques Pointed Foundation Brush, it's like a large concealer brush so it helps to blend in larger areas of your face.  Light concealer or foundation is a great way to brighten areas of your face easily, just make sure you're blending it all in!

Urban Decay Bootycall Eyeshadow & Zoeva 227 Luxe Soft Definer Brush

The Urban Decay Naked 2 palette has easily been my favourite for a long time, and one of my favourite shades is Bootycall (3rd from the left).  This eyeshadow is a champagne to cream toned shimmer which really adds illumination when applied to your eyes.  I use this on the inner corners of my eyes and on my brow bone, on my cupids bow, below the indent on my chin and dust lightly down the centre of my nose.  The Zoeva 227 Luxe Soft Definer Brush is great to blend the eyeshadow into these areas and helps to highlight and define the light areas of your face.  

Charlotte Tilbury Filmstar Bronze and Glow & MAC 168 Large Angled Contour Brush

The Charlotte Tilbury Filmstar Bronze and Glow Highlight is such a gorgeous, luminous golden shade and really radiates light from your face.  I use this product on my cheekbones and above the edge of my brows, lightly down the centre of my nose and on my cupids bow and below the indent on my chin.  I would use either this highlight, the Urban Decay Bootycall or the Benefit highlights on these areas - I wouldn't use them all for the one look on the same areas of the face.  

The Charlotte Tilbury Highlight leaves a natural looking, luminous tint to your face and helps to shape your face while adding a natural glow and dewy look to the skin.  I love to use the MAC 168 brush to sweep the product across areas of my face - it's so soft!  

What are your favourite products to highlight with?  

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Face Contour Guide: Charlotte Tilbury, MAC & Chanel

Contouring has fast become a go-to technique for make up lovers everywhere, it helps to add depth and definition by focusing on the angles of your face.  I've started to work on my contouring skills with a few different products which I find work for me, I'm by no means a contouring expert, however I'd like to think I've mastered the basic contouring skills.

When contouring I focus on various areas of my face - the hollows of my cheeks below the cheek bone, my temples, below the jaw line, sides of my chin and sides of my nose.  

I focus on using 3 products in my make up collection when contouring depending on how intense I'd like my angles to look.  

Chanel Soleil de Tan Chanel & Zoeva 110 Face Shape Brush 

Chanel's Soleil de Tan Chanel is a great product, it's a cream bronzer which is extremely buildable.  With my Zoeva 110 Face Shape Brush I start to blend the product in sweeping motions into the hollows of my cheeks, my temples and below my jaw line (I prefer to use a powder contour around my chin and nose).  In circular motions I gradually build up the bronzer to the level I would like, which I do try to keep natural and not too dark as I am pretty pale.  

Charlotte Tilbury Filmstar Bronze and Glow & Real Techniques Contour Brush

I've posted another blog post all about my love for Charlotte Tilbury's Filmstar Bronze & Glow here, for contouring I love to use the Sculpt side of the palette.  The powder is a soft brown pigment with a slight sheen and I follow the same circular technique as above but with my Real Techniques Contour Brush, gradually building the colour into the hollows of my cheeks, my temples, below my jaw line and use what is left on the brush on the sides of my chin and sides of my nose to create a slimmer look down the centre of my face.
I'll also use this on top of the Chanel cream bronzer to set the product and build on the contour further if I need it.

MAC Bronzing Powder & Zoeva 106 Powder Brush
I use my MAC Bronzing Powder to bronze my neck and below my jaw line, it's easy to do with my fluffy Zoeva 106 Powder Brush, it's a great bronzer which has lasted me a pretty long time (despite clearly hitting pan on this one!); I have the Golden shade which has a slight shimmer and the powder itself isn't too dark when applied with a fluffy powder brush.  I sweep this bronzer across my face to warm up my complexion slightly, it's a great all rounder to either darken tanned areas or warm up lighter areas of your face.

Do you have a favourite contouring product?
Let me know if you're a pro at contouring and can give me some hints and tips!

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