There have been numerous futile attempts to be cool and blog monthly favorites effortlessly. In the blogging realm, nothing is painless and if you like to shoot out in the sun as I do, I’m at the mercy of weather that is pre-menopausal. I usually buy a considerable number of books and I’m not too sure a compilation of diverse reading would be exciting or snooze worthy for a monthly favorite blog. Plus, I was away last month and gave myself a free pass even though I wrote quite a bit more than I do during a vacation.
This month I have tons of cool stuff that tickled my fancy! So lets get started…
I fall in love with bags a little too easily; I’m smutty when it comes to professing lust for leather. This Mansur Gavriel mini-backpack just flew into my shopping cart, uh-huh, it did! It’s so beautiful and well made that I’m possibly going to write a letter to dictionary.com to add it to their word roster so that when you type in Mansur Gavriel, the definition should read: OMG, this leather is to die for and now I know why these are as hard to find as a packet of thongs in Marks and Spencer.
Still swooning…
I decided to go light on the reading this month because at my bedside are a range of fall reads from gender diversity, essays by Wayne Koestenbaum to short stories from Margaret Atwood. In Always Pack a Party Dress, Amanda Brooks, the former fashion director of Barney’s talks about her style evolution with charming personal anecdotes. The layout is fantastic with great photos and her personal experiences. I read some reviews on this book before I bought it and wound up irritated when people were expecting strife and struggle from a New York socialite. Why do some folks just have to pick away? It’s fashion and it’s about the personal experience of someone well respected in her field, so lets just stop there and enjoy the book.
If anyone knows me well, they are annoyingly aware of my obsession with everything French. All those books on an education in French je ne sais quoi have me reading through the night. My Paris Dream by Kate Betts is no different. She has so many impressive notches on her fashionable belt, especially being the youngest person to hold the position of editor in chief of Harper’s Bazaar. I was very interested to read her take on this enchanting city and it didn’t disappoint me at all. Yes, I know it’s only the 8th of August, but I can plow through a book in a day if I love it.
Like a loser, I eagerly awaited for Sephora to have their VIB Rouge, four times the points, member appreciation exotica. I stocked up on my favorites and tried a few new products that I had been wanting. For a beauty junkie, it took a lot of restraint to stay away from my local Sephora until the in-store shopping event, which was beyond fabulous. I noticed that they are opening one just five minutes from my house soon. Oh lord give me strength…
The first thing that went into my basket was Aerin Lauder’s: Aerin – Amber Musk. It’s not too overpowering which is great for a musk. I need to digress for a moment…you know when there are words that just annoy you? On occasion, a few that I have come across sound so vile and I refuse to use them, like fecund. For a word that represents fertility, nothing could be more repugnant. I feel the same way about the word musk, it reminds me of musth: sexy-time hormones for male animals. Aerin’s rendition (thankfully) doesn’t contain the creature frenzy scent and is really pleasant for the day or evening.
There’s so much hype about Hourglass cosmetics with their uh-mazing bronzers and blushers that act as a highlighter, which have some sort of ground breaking hybrid photoluminescent technology. It’s basically a blush with a highlighter and it works! It sooooooooo does! I was very skeptical because I’ve had many
men
bronzers make empty promises, however, with the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blush (shown below in Mood Exposure) all commitments were retained. With a good quality brush it’s quite flattering on the skin. I use the Chikuhodo/Beautylish powder brush that’s not only gorgeous to look at, but allows for a flawless application. This product is highly pigmented, it’s advisable to slowly build when applying to give off the most amazing glow!
Of-course my eyes wandered to eye make-up. The Hourglass Modernist Eyeshadow Palette in Obscura is utterly pretty. Think glowing visage- à la Ambient Lighting Blush with dreamy, incandescent eyes. This eyeshadow provides a different look each time depending on the dip of your brush. You can use each individual colour or if you’ve decided on a smokey eye, you can control the intensity of it with this palette. I’ve worn mine for twelve hours straight (I know, a bit gross, but I’ve had the most insane schedule since eight am) but with a good primer, (Chanel) this shadow says put. It’s also fun to swipe the brush over the entire product, it can give off a very sexy result.
Sephora offers some really lovely brushes and as of late, I’ve been experimenting with concealer brushes. The Pro-Airbrush Concealer #57 really helps to blend my concealer well. This is also a great blending brush for those that wear thicker concealers, such as Laura Mercier’s Secret Concealer. Other brushes tend to hold so much product but not this one, although I prefer it for blending. Normally I use a Sigma F75 concealer brush and then blend with either the Sigma soft blend concealer brush F64 or Sephora’s #57. The Pro-bent eyeliner #23 gives a really nice tight line, is super soft and I find that it works really well with gel and powder liners, plus it’s cute right?
The last thing I threw into my basket was a box of Sephora brand hair ties. I don’t know about you, but my hair ties disappear into a mysterious abyss just as much as my socks do in the dryer. It’s an enigma. Exactly where do they go? I’d definitely be gutted if I lost these because they hold my hair up so well and are very gentle. I love them for high-buns because my hair is long again! Yay! I had forgotten what that felt like. *insert obnoxious hair-flip (sans lip gloss)
The little kid in me wanted a fun alarm clock, otherwise I’ll keep getting texts and email alerts all night long from my phone. When I was in London and was at the movies, I strolled into PaperChase (the mothership of all things cute) and saw this adorable, red robot. I’m too lazy to read the instructions and purchase batteries, but I’ll get around to it in my own time…ha! See what I did there? Gawd, I’m so lame.
At first I thought that the iPhone 6 Plus was a weapon. It’s huge! It’s likely that I’m the last to get on the fan-wagon but because I try not to wear reading glasses (even though I ought to and they’re kinda cool) the big screen helps. I’m such a phone snob now. I look at my iPhone 5 and wonder how did I ever manage with such a teeny screen?
The night before my vacation was sadly over, I got a surprise car ride to Selfridges and some birthday flats. I never thought I’d pick out flats for a birthday gift but I actually prefer wearing them in the day, especially when they’re as comfortable as the Tod’s and Vuitton ones that I’ve nicely broken in. Sorry Stiletto’s!
Good travel palettes are extremely hard to find. Some of them will have the perfect eye shades paired with creepy lip colors. Who the heck wears a frosted vamp? Others will have concealers and powder foundations that aren’t the right shade for my skin tone. Then, then…I found one! I was flying to Heathrow on British Airways, eating a chicken salad (um yeah, I’m no longer a vegetarian, I’m on Yoga’s dark side now) and was looking through the in-flight shopping magazine where I spotted the most beautiful Dior palette. It housed all the colors I adore and came with a sponge, brushes and a mini mascara. Whoever it was that came up with the concept of shopping forty thousand feet above sea level, you are a God!
I use the foundation as a primer for the eye-shadow or as a highlighter under the brows.
Ever since I bought my first set of really good brushes, I’ve been obsessed. I’m always on Beautylish.com convincing myself that a particular make-up brush will change my life. I’ll tell you what phenomenal ones have done though, they’ve given me a flawless, air-brushed look and if everyone walked around with HD vision, the application would look seamless. So I’m all about the buy a brush, enhance your life campaign. Is there one?
The Chikuhodo Z Series Z-1 Powder Brush is my holy grail of powder brushes. I love, love, love the way this brush distributes powder foundation! If you have smaller areas that need concealing, this brush blends the concealer well. If I have redness anywhere then i’ll follow up with a dab from a make-up sponge dipped in my powder foundation, otherwise this brush helps me with a fantastic light coverage.
Lastly, these two Chanel bronzers/highlighters are my favorites. It’s slightly challenging for me to find the right bronzer that won’t make me look like I’ve applied more than I ought to. My skin already has a golden tint to it, and my good friend keeps asking me why on earth I need bronzers. I like the luminous glow that they can give off, especially in the evenings. I’m not a fan of laying in the sun and tanning, personally I think that’s a form of skin vandalism, so bronzers are always a good idea.
Les Beiges healthy glow in Marinière #02 (See below, left) has some pink tones in it which is ideal for an already bronzy person like myself. Chanel’s Lumière D’ Été, Illuminating powder (below, right) has a subtle highlighting effect. This is not a true bronzer in my humble opinion, it’s what it says, an illuminating powder. The color can be misleading and entice you to douse on more than you should, so it’s better to use it along with a bronzer or blusher.
That’s all for the August favorites, although I did use many of these products throughout July as well. As always, thank you for reading. Have a happy weekend and don’t forget to wear your sunscreen!
XOXO
All photos by Minelle Mir for Maison Minelle