Elizabeth Arden Flawless Finish Foundation

After being a dedicated devotee of Estee Lauder Double Wear Foundation for a couple of years now, I decided it was time for a change. I don't know about you, but no matter how good I find a type of make up, after using it for a long period of time I just don't see the same results any more. I know I'll go back to Double Wear one day though, and I'll probably fall in love with it all over again.

Anyway, I took a wee wander in Debenhams to see what I could find. The Flawless Finish compact on the Elizabeth Arden counter caught my eye. I remember my mum used it years ago and really liked it. And I quite fancied the idea of a compact foundation for a change - so much easier for quick fixes when you're out and about!

The girl on the counter tried the make up on me and I really liked it. She explained that by using the included sponge dry or wet you can vary the coverage of the foundation depending on the look you're going for. Personally I quite like a lot of coverage from my foundation, not that I have particularly bad skin or much uneven skin tone...I just like to feel like I'm wearing make up. I know that sounds bizarre!

I've been really pleased with this foundation. I've not used the sponge that comes in the compact very often, only when I'm out and about, as I've found that I get the best coverage when I apply the foundation using a foundation brush. Mine is a MAC 190 brush. I have used sponges a couple of times when we had warmer weather and I was just looking for a light covering, but I'm yet to try it with a wet sponge so I can't report on how that goes. My colour is Porcelain Beige, to be honest the colour names are the only negative I have about the product, each colour is named a different type of beige...I just know that when I go to replace this I'm going to get confused about which beige I am. Oh well, good job I've written it here so I can remember!

What foundation are you using now? Have you tried this Elizabeth Arden one?

Get ahead get a hat

It's Royal Ascot week, which can mean only one thing, the best hats in the world come out to play. Personally I can't carry off a hat, they just don't look right on me. Although in my mum's mind the bigger the hat the better...I think had it rained on my wedding day, everyone in attendance could have taken shelter under the brim of her headgear.

Not being able to wear a hat doesn't mean I can't have a right good perv at the beauties on display at Ascot though...

The Queen of accessorising pulls it off again

 

A patriotic Minnie Mouse

 

Captain Hook meets a parrot

 

A record and peacock feathers, an obvious combination

 

And the award for the most subtle hat goes to....

 

source

What I wore to the Scottish Fashion Awards

I was lucky enough to be invited along to the Scottish Fashion Awards on Monday night with the beautiful Lisa from Juicy Satsuma. We had an amazing night of celeb spotting and, more to the point, fabulous outfit spotting!

The problem with being invited to an event like this - with the cream of the crop of the Scottish fashion world in attendance - is picking just what to wear! Getting the right balance between staying true to your own style, being a bit fashion forward, but not looking too try-hard is no easy feat! So I decided to follow my favourite mantra WWKD (what would Kate do) and recycled an old favourite. I last wore this Mint Velvet dress when we had a housewarming after our big move earlier this year and I decided it had the right amount of sparkle and high-end-high-street for the fashion awards. I teamed it with my new favourite Moda in Pelle shoes (they're so amazing they may even deserve their own post at a later date) and my ever faithful New Look blazer toned down the sequins a touch. I kept the jewellery minimal with just a long beaded necklace from Oasis.

Outfit picked, the next challenge was the hair and make up transformation, as us girls know, we don't wake up looking this gorgeous. Here's a wee selection of the products I used on the night, and a wee mid-makeover shot - including one remaining trusty Velcro roller!

When we arrived at the awards our first stop was the VIP red carpet to do some papping (next time we'll remember the step ladders like the pros). Unfortunately we missed Alexa in her Christopher Kane dress and the gorgeous David Gandy. But we did manage some shots of some legends while we were there. Brix Smith-Start was her usual eccentric self sporting a statement Louise Gray dress with a graduated hem. The designer herself then made an appearance in some rather fabulous clashing prints and a dash of neon hairspray!

Designer of the year Christopher Kane was rather dashing in his studded shirt. I later discovered I was sitting beside his partner Declan during the awards show, something I was rather chuffed about until I told my husband and he replied with "who's Christopher Kane?" don't worry I'll be giving him an education pronto!! Scottish model of the year Tali Lennox was stunning in the flesh, and her dress was gorgeous. But the tiny catch we noticed in the skirt of her dress certainly helped bring her back down to being just a mere mortal!

The awards were amazing as you can imagine, with musical performances, fashion shows and Alexa was a charming and funny host. For more info on the actual awards, including the performances and who won what, check out the gust post Lisa and I did on Mabel's Log. It has all the important details you need! After the show we had a bit of fun with in the photo booth in the foyer of the Armadillo. Looks like we still need some practice before they'll nominate us for model of the year. All in all we had a brilliant night, we left the boys at home watching the football while we indulged in all things beautiful and fashionable, bliss!! And who says you need to be a VIP to get a freebie? Every seat had a bottle of Highland Spring water waiting for us, yip, my life is just a blur of glitz and glamour!

Queen Victoria

So it seems that in this Olympic and jubilee year everyone's getting a bit patriotic. It's even affecting our superstar expats! The ever fabulous Mrs Beckham has been living in the states with her gorgeous family for over 5 years, but still very much classes herself British. And her Victoria Beckham fashion line is based in London, something she is fiercely proud of.

She's also been shouting about how wonderful Britain is as an ambassador for the GREAT Campaign, a project which aims to promote the UK around the world. I love this video she made as part of the campaign. She looks so natural and happy in front of the camera. While also looking gorgeous as always, in one of her own designs.

 

 

A different Brazilian..

As well as having red hair, (a blessing and a curse I'll tell you!) I was lucky enough to be gifted with the driest, thickest, coarsest (is that a word?) hair you could ever imagine. AND it's a not quite straight, not quite curly, mess of kinks...oh boy am I sounding gorgeous right now or what?! One of the only treatments I've found to tame my hair is the Brazilian blow dry. It really does make a massive difference to my hair.

Not quite a straightening treatment, as many think it is. The blow dry actually smooths the hair and makes it a lot more manageable and easier to work with for up to 3 months. Unfortunately it's not the cheapest treatment out there with most salons charging anywhere between £150 and £300! Now as much as I love it, and I really do swear by it, I just can't justify spending that kind of money on my hair. Therefore any time I've had a brazilian blow dry I've bought it on an offer from one of the daily deals sites, Groupon, Itison, Living Social, etc. They don't appear on the deal sites all that often, not like fish pedicures or spa packages, but if you keep your eyes peeled you can get a real bargain. I tend to pay about £60 for mine, and as I don't colour my hair, or really do much more to it other than a cut and style every couple of months, I feel like I can really justify the cost.

So I went for my latest Brazilian Blow Dry treatment last Thursday in the Illusion salon in the east end of Glasgow. It was my first time in the salon and the staff were all really friendly. They used the La Brasiliana treatment. I've had this particular brand used before and it's definitely one of my favourites...I'm becoming a bit of an expert now!! They also recommended after care products to use as after the treatment you shouldn't use shampoos and other products containing sulphates as it won't work as well. Luckily with this particular one you can wash your hair the next day, although before you wash it you really need to keep it perfectly straight; no ponytails, kirbies or tucking your hair behind your ears. One treatment I had in the past I still had to do all these things, but I was told not to wash my hair for four days...that really wasn't fun!

Unfortunately I don't have any before and after pictures as even before my hair was always straightened, and there's no way I'm posting a picture of my pre-straightened barnet on t'interweb! But the images on La Brasiliana's website shows just how much of a difference the treatment can have on your hair.

My own hair is now so much lighter, shinier, softer and less frizzy than it was before. I still need to blow dry and style it, but it takes a fraction of the time that it used to.

Have you had a Brazilian blow dry? What did you think of the results?

Glasgow bloggers meet up

I seem to have taken my time posting this little update as the event happened a week ago, but in my defence it's been a hectic long weekend! I just wanted to share a couple of snaps from a great wee Glasgow bloggers get together that was arranged by the lovely girls at Mabel's Log. The event was held in the fabulous Where The Monkey Sleeps on Bath Street, and I've been wondering ever since why I've never been there before! I'd highly recommend it, yummy tea, sandwiches and the most amazing cakes ever were provided for us all, and we made sure we made the most of them!! And we were all given a gorgeous goody bag from the girls as we left, with natural soap from Caurnie and a bottle of Seville orange gin provided by the folks at Demijohn, I am so looking forward to trying it!!

We all had a brilliant night and it was great putting faces to names of all these girls I feel like I already know! There's a lot more pictures over on the Mabel's Log site, apparently I was too busy chatting and eating to take any more than these three! 

A MASSIVE thanks to the girls for organising it all, and to the WTMS guys for having us. Can't wait for the next one now :)