Anastasia Beverly Hills Haul

Last week, I made a little Cult Beauty order as I needed some new brow stuff and I thought I would try the Anastasia Dipbrow as I really liked the Brow Definer, which I bought in New York, but it ran out too quickly; so hopefully this will last a little longer! I went for the shade Dark Brown as that it's the same shade as the one I bought in New York. I also bought a new brow brush as the brow brush I am using at the moment with my Smashbox eyebrow powder is quite thick and I did not think it would would well with the Dipbrow gel. The brush I bought was the #12 Duo Brow/Eyeliner Angled Cut/ Spooley. 

I then thought I would try the Anastasia Glow Kit. There were two collections out of the three on the Cult Beauty website so I decided on the Sun Dipped collection as I thought I would wear those warmer shades  the most. I absolutely love my BECCA highlighter and I can not wait to try these beautifully pigmented highlighters. 

L-R - Summer, Moonstone, Tourmaline & Bronzed

I am very excited to try these two products! See you on Friday with a new post. 

Soraya x 

Photo Credits: My own 

All links to products mentioned are linked

Kylie Cosmetics - Exposed Review

Recently I decided to jump on the bandwagon and buy a Kylie Cosmetics Lip Kit. I had been thinking about buying one for a while as I absolutely love liquid lipsticks at the moment, I am obsessed with wearing MAC Retro Matte Liquid Lip Colour in the shade  Lady Be Good, which i a lovely pinky nude which I normally pair with MAC Spice Lip Pencil. When picking a shade that I would get a lot of wear out of I was not sure what to for as I don't really wear pinks or bright reds and the metallic shades look beautiful but I'm not sure when I would wear them. I knew Kylie releases new shades all the time so I decided to wait till I found a shade I liked. About 8 weeks ago Kylie announced her new shade that would be added to the collection - Exposed. It looked like the perfect nude! A shade I would wear all the time! So I decided to buy it when it came out but I was too late and it was already sold out. I few weeks later my friend said she was doing an order so she ordered Exposed for me. I could not tell you the shipping process but I thought Lily Pebbles' video on the her experience of buying the Kylie Cosmetics Lip Kits was really useful when I was doing my own research. 'Kylie Lip Kit Review & First Impressions'.

Left- Right - Spice Lip Liner, Exposed Lip Liner, Exposed
Liquid Lip Stick, Lady Be Good Liquid Lip Stick 

Exposed Lip Liner and Lip Stick

I received my Lip Kit on Thursday and I was going to The Ivy Chelsea Garden on Friday for dinner (blog post to follow on Friday) so I thought it was the perfect opportunity to test its staying power whilst out for dinner. I was pleasantly surprised how well it lasted. I thought the liquid lipstick dried quicker than my MAC  liquid lip colour. The lip liner went on smoothly however when I applied the lip stick on top I thought that you could not be so neat when applying the liquid to the outline of your lips. After applying the lip kit, it dried quickly and I noticed slight cracking but noting too major that anyone else would notice. I have read mixed reviews, with people divided on the lip kits being too dry. I didn't find it drying at all. It was very comfortable and lasted the night. It has some serious staying power! For once my lipstick wasn't half gone! I can see this becoming my new favourite. 

Have you bought anything from Kylie Cosmetics? If so, what do you think of it? I know there has been a massive restock the weekend, so go checkout what's in stock if you want any of the lip kits/ glosses or metallics.

Soraya x 

Making our own fragrance

Last week we were lucky enough to have a guest lecturer - Karen Gilbert, a perfumer. She took our 9am lecture, which was rather technical, learning about how fragrances were created with different types of top, middle and base notes. Interestingly we were told that there is a lot of creative license when marketing a fragrance. Usually males fragrances are fresh, spicy, herbal or woody and female fragrances are mainly sweet, floral, powdery and fruity. 

Later that day, we had a fragrance workshop with Karen. I wasn't quite sure what to expect; but I certainly didn't expect to create our own!

The process of our fragrance making was to come up with a story within our groups. My group decided to create a wardrobe fragrance. The woman that would use the fragrance would be an ordered woman who treasures and takes pride in her wardrobe. Possibly someone who orders her clothes in colours. It would be her social area when her friends come over. A Carrie Bradshaw/ Serena Van Der Woodsen/ Blair Waldorf kind of woman. This girl loves luxurious and exclusive products. Competitors to this fragrance would be Jo Malone and The White Company. Both of these brands have simple and clean looking packaging. 

After creating our fragrance story we started using our noses!

Step 1 was to choose the heart notes, the character of the fragrance.

e.g. iris, rose, jasmine, orchid, spicy, narcotic, muguet, citrus and herbal

These were our base notes. We chose , which were orchid, muguet and jasmine. 

Step 2 was dressing the heart notes up with the accessory notes. These were to enhance your fragrance. We chose Vanilla as it was lovely and sweet. 

Step 3 was making the fragrance last with fixatives. The fixatives shouldn't overpower the character. We could choose 1 to 2 fixatives. We had musk and mossy as our options . We decided to go for mossy as it was fresh. 

Step 4 was blending the rough edges together. These were the harmonisers. These add the magic sparkles and smoothness. These were 1 to 2 materials. My group decided to go to Iso E Super. It was quite strong but it was also fresh. 

This was such an amazing experience and a great insight into the perfume industry. 

Soraya x 

£300 Alexander McQueen Perfume!

On Tuesday, Alexander McQueen's new luxurious fragrance was put on the market . McQueen, Parfum for Her is exclusively sold at Harrods for £285 for 50ml. McQueen is one of the few European luxury brands currently without an existing perfume business. The luxurious fragrance was developed and distributed by P&G which makes you question why is 50ml's so expensive! The packaging of the bottle is absolutely beautiful with the glossy black bottle with gold feathers crowning the bottle which reflects the bespoke craftsmanship that is pure McQueen. 

Harrods describes this luxurious fragrance for the woman who blooms at dark, shown by the bottle. It is inspired by classic perfumes with strong floral signatures, the fragrance takes a rich, vintage spirit and gives it  stunningly modern architecture. I can't wait to go to Harrods to smell this luxurious fragrance!

Soraya x

Photo Credits: Harrods, Alexander McQueen

Finding a Fragrance Story: Prada Candy

In our recent seminar's we've been trying to create our own fragrance story. In order to do this we have been evaluating perfume adverts - print and digital. 

I looked at the Prada Candy short films directed by Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola and stars Léa Seydoux. The three part short film tells a love triangle romance story. Candy (Léa Seydoux) is a flirty,  playful, mysterious modern girl. 

Episode 1 - starts with Candy and Boy 1 (Julius) on a date and Boy 2 (Gene) who is Julius' best friend walks past and wants to meet Candy. Julius is reluctant but Candy introduces herself. At the end all three go to the cinema. 

Episode 2 - Candy and Gene go to Gene's apartment where Julius is waiting for them both with a birthday cake  for Candy. By the end of this episode, they have a party for three in Gene's apartment. 

Episode 3 - Candy is in the salon, complaining about the two men and explains that she likes both men and is annoyed that she met them both just a few hours apart. The camera then switches to the guys who are waiting for her in the salon. All three walk out together linking arms. 

It is annoying how there is no proper ending to this love triangle story and during the three episodes of the short film advertisements there is no mention of the fragrance till the end of each video. 

What's interesting is that the print advertisement of this perfume does not convey the same story. In fact the print advert does not convey a story at all! The print advert shows the three characters dancing. 

The behind the scenes video interviews the cast and directors. Léa tells the audience why she loves the Prada Candy perfume. She describes it as happy, lively, it creates an atmosphere and very 'Paris'. Whenever I smell Prada Candy, it reminds me of my grandma who loves perfume and this is one of her favourites. 

Soraya x 

Photo Credits: Youtube & Google

Charlotte Tilbury Haul

Whilst I was in London yesterday doing some research for my summative brief, I popped into Selfridges and went straight towards the Charlotte Tilbury counter. I was on a mission and none of the other amazing makeup brands could divert me from that. I wanted to re-purchase the Lip Cheat in Pillow Talk which is now my favourite lip pencil after I tried to resist the temptation from Amelia Liana's blog and youtube channel I finally caved and bought it in September. It is such a good everyday shade and I am close to running out; so I had to stock up before I ran out! 

You see, when you're at the Charlotte Tilbury counter you can't just walk away with one thing! I needed a new lipstick too, as I didn't have an everyday nude to go with my pillow talk lip cheat. I have numerous dark autumnal colours but no perfect nude and I spotted the perfect one at the counter, Hepburn Honey! 

As you can see from the paragraph above, that was how I explained it to my mother, because I obviously didn't need another lipstick. So, to soften the blow I bought her the Pink Venus Lip Cheat, that she wanted, to go under her Coachella Coral Lip Stick. 

Charlotte Tilbury Lip Products are my weakness... I think it's because the packaging is so beautiful and the lip stick bullet is rose gold! 

Even though I'm in New York next week, Sephora will not break me! 

Well... lets hope not!

Soraya x