Important Chanel Update!!!

For any-one who loves Chanel there's some very exciting news for you! They are bringing out a new foundation on January 13th called Perfect Lumiere!

The liquid foundation is set to give the same full and professional coverage as Pro Lumiere but is longer lasting. So basically perfection in a bottle. This does come at a cost though, prepare yourself...Pro Lumiere is being discontinued *sad face*

Go and buy as much you can ladies because when it's gone, it's gone.

Can't wait to test the new foundation! Penny xx

NEW The Beauty List

Welcome to the latest 'feature' on my blog. As my blog continues to grow (thanks for reading!) I've been trying to think of different ways I can keep you guys knowledgable about the latest and greatest beauty products on the market. I know I can be quite slack with my blog sometimes so I've decided to have a weekend review of products that I'm loving for the weekend. Every Saturday I will aim to give you a list of the best beauty treatments, techniques, products and tips - what a great excuse to buy more products!

This Saturday its mostly about the lips, I'm loving Colour Surge Butter Shine Lipstick from Clinique, £16. The revolutionary gel formula gives the shine of a gloss, and the comfort of a lipstick. Butter Shine Lipstick is perfect for me because it gives great stand-out colour of a lipstick, but the gloss it gives makes the lips beautifully subtle. The colour I'm sporting at the moment is Pink-a-boo, a very girly baby pink that goes great with bronzed, glowing skin. It's a very 'Barbados' look I think, chilled and tanned! The coverage is sheer to moderate. For lips tips from Clinique themselves follow this link http://www.clinique.co.uk/cms/expert_tips_trends/library/articles_lip_tips.tmpl

What else I'm loving for the weekend is Catwalk by Tigi Salon Series Salt Spray, £9.99 from feelunique.com. With naturally wavy, thick, unruly hair it can take a while to control my locks in the morning! But then the miracle that is Salt Spray was delivered to me. I really really love it and would recommend it for all hair types. Even the finest of hair will see results from this product with the right amount of scrunching.

Spray the product into wet or dry hair and scrunch the hair. If you apply it to wet hair, then rough dry your hair while scrunching for the best effect. As a beach bunny I love this spray because it's such a natural and effortless look that does just make you look like you've spent a day at the beach. The spray gives volume and definition to your tresses - all round great product.

Next on The Beauty List are some brightening eye drops from Vital Eyes, £2.49 from Boots. Working in an office with computers and aircon every day, and being really prone to gross Conjuntivitus, my eyes always seem to be quite red at the end of the day. This is not a good look for me! Getting really fed up of looking tired and ill all the time I decided to try out some drops. What a difference they've made! My eyes almost instantly seemed brighter and whiter, taking away the bloodshot, tired look.

A definite winner for those who work with computers all day, and suffer from tired, dull eyes. The drops contain natural plant extracts and soothes away redness leaving brighter and more sparkly eyes!

That is all from The Beauty List this week, ciao for now I'm going to go and *research* for the next Beauty List.

Penny xx

P.S Just one more thing before I go, how amazing are these lips??!

ConGRADulations

Woop woop! I graduate next Friday - Check this 11/11/11! Cool eh? As cool as the date may be, I'm having a few wardrobe issues. Do I play it safe and opt for a smart black workwear dress...or do I try to jazz it up a bit and go for brights. I think the latter is my preferred option,  have you seen that ugly gown we have to wear?!

I've seen the most amazing shoes though from Dune - leopard print courts. However at £80 I might have to put that dream on hold. It's OK though I've seen a second pair in Topshop for a fraction of the price...£65. Clothing aside I'm also having a mare with my make-up look I want to go for on the day.

I need a foundation that will stay put for the whole day but I don't want it to look like I'm wearing a lot of make-up. Think I'll stick to my trusty Barry M coral lipstick to brighten the place up though. In the days up to graduation I'll be testing a number of different foundations for the big day and will give a round up in the next week or so. I'll be getting my hair dyed darker and a spray tan for the event and I'll be sure to post a pic so you can see the finished look!

Stay tuned for lots of pre-graduation rambles...
Penny xx

Lips to die for

So in my attempt to be a bit scary this Halloween I decided to opt for a cheap and easy option - Wear nice clothes but vamp up the makeup.

Although it's lazy you still get to look a bit nice on halloween! So I was on the look out for a dark purple, almost black lipstick and was expecting to have to turn over a few stones to find one. I was surprised when purple seemed to be the no.1 colour this month with offerings from Mac, Revlon and many more. Sticking with the earlier criteria of cheap I chose to go with Kate Moss' Lipstick from Rimmel, and got sucked in at the counter and also bought a dark berry - for blogging purposes of course.

The Kate Collection from Rimmel

If you're looking for an affordable but amazing lipstick then I recommend Kate's collection. The limited edition lipsticks are the iconic lasting finish lips, but with a slight glossy finish. It has long lasting power and gives really great colour and is a great price at £5.49.  With seven colours to choose from you're guaranteed to find one to match your complexion, and outfit! I opted for no.4 which is a grape colour, and amazingly smells like Grape too. The purple is gorgeous and I will definitely be wearing it long after Halloween! Available from the usual Boots or Superdrug, picks yours up at lunch tomorrow!

Mwah! xx

Catwalk by Tigi - I'm in Love

When I'm usually wandering around town on the weekend the two things I look at when I see a girl, is how has she done her make-up and what is her hair like - And then I usually take inspiration from them and try to recreate the look on myself. This might seem weird to some but I think it's a little thing that most girls do and it's how trends start.

I have been dying to recreate Blake Lively's hair for quite some time but have never quite got there! I'm very lucky to have thick hair, and lots of it. It has potential to be quite versatile but I only ever seem to have one style (I call it messy chic but I actually just don't brush my hair).

I love Blake's hair because it looks like there's no effort been spared to look that amazing, but you are fully aware she has some amazing stylists behind her. So I thought I'd put a bit of effort in to try and find the products to use to recreate her style. I've never been one to like a lot of products in my hair because I felt my hair looked weighed down and greasy, but now I think it's just a case of getting the right products for your hair.

The products that changed my mind were the gorgeous products from Catwalk by Tigi. The exact products that were used in Chris Benz's show at NYFW to create a glamourous look with a slightly trashy and imperfect twist - a style dream for me.

Chris Benz asked the Tigi Creative team to bring to life mugshots, and almost wig-like hair. Nick Irwin, Creative Stylist, did just this using Catwalk by Tigi Session Series Dry Shampoo and Work It Hairspray. After using the products myself to recreate the look I am extremely impressed with the quality of the product. To be honest though I didn't expect much less from Tigi.

The Dry Shampoo has a very light texture so your hair doesn't feel heavy at the roots, and it doesn't leave that tell-tale grey/white mark around your roots that most dry shampoos do. The hairspray has amazing holding power that stays put for the day, and doesn't leave your hair feeling dry and crunchy. Although I wouldn't walk round town with hair like off the catwalks, as above, the products allow you to create the same texture and style but more subtlety - Hello Blake Lively. The products are available from selected salons, and prices start at £11.50.

  

Saturday Round-Up!

As I've been a bit lapse with my blogging lately I thought I'd do a quick round-up of my latest and greatest beauty products that I'm loving.

First up, Benefit POWda WOWza (£19.50). This limited edition is the ultimate Benefit product for me, it has Hoola, Coralista and Bella Bamba all in one convenient box with a little brush for ease. I'm a die-hard fan of Hoola and have been wanting to try CORALista and Bella Bamba for ages. The CORALista gives a really subtle glow making you look like you've just returned from a Hawaiian retreat.

Bella Bamba gives you gorgeous girly pink flushed checks with a bit of sparkle for added glamour. The pack is small enough to take everywhere so there's really no excuse for non-stop glamour. I love it!

I've also recently suffered with the disgusting Conjunctivitus so I ran to Boots to buy the cheapest Mascara so I could use it on my Friday night and bin it after guilt free. I picked up Boots own brand 17 Photo Flawless Mascara (5.99) thinking 'it will do' and I was really surprised with the amazing eye lashes it gave me!

It has specks of gold in it so it makes your eyes sparkle, and the spooned brush gives your lashes incredible length. It has good lasting power, although the only negative is that you do get the dark patched under your eyes at the end of a long day, something which you wouldn't get with a high-end product. But for £5.99 this mascara is excellent. I bought another after my spout of Conjunctivitus and it takes pride of place in my make-up bag at the moment.

Barry M - Crackle Effect

Now I know I'm slightly behind the times with this one as the crackle effect nails has been around for ages, but I only felt it necessary to try it on an impulse buy on my lunch hour the other day.

It's all about the metallics this season so when I saw a gold sparkle crackle effect from Barry M I thought I would try the popular nail polishes. I have to say though I'm really not impressed with it. It's clever how it crackles as you watch it dry but I just think the effect looks tacky and really quite rubbish!

I'm sorry Barry M because I am a huge fan of your stuff normally,your  lipsticks are amazing. But the crackle nail effect doesn't get my seal of approval.