Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess

Estee Lauder's new range of palettes and varnishes under the Bronze Goddess colletion has got me a little bit excited about the arrival of summer. As a young journalist writing my beauty pages, I used to be sent a jiffy bag of treats almost every day - filling my weekends with tons of reviews for my pages in the magazines. Estee Lauder always sent gorgeous products, but it was the Bronze Goddess range that stood out for me one summer. The scent on every product was mesmerising and the oil especially left my skin glowing and smelling gorgeous.
The latest collection looks just as promising. Inspired by "hues from the surf and sand" the new LE Bronze Goddess Island Oasis EyeShadow Palette contains six shades that will suit every skintone. Each contains iridescent pigments to add radiance and shades include: copper, bronze, gold and coral, turquoise, seashell pink, silver and seaweed.
Personally, I am a big fan of the seaweed...green and purple shades bring out the colour of my hazel eyes, so this will be applied with care followed by a tonne of mascara. Can't be having piggy eyes.
The collection also includes Limited Edition Bronze Goddess ShadowStick Duos in Gold Bronze and Pink Teal. These are water resistant pencils - perfect for the pool. Or a nice sweaty workout in the gym. Think I know where I would rather be...
Try the newest lipgloss for the summer - Pure Color Gloss, Limited Edition Sun Burst Sparkle. Cutie lips - this is also one of the only lip glosses that delivers shine without stickiness. A nice juicy fly does spoil ones look. Especially if you're on a date....bugalicious...

New work

Some new shots - worked with my fabulous Sophie B, photographer Ben Riggott, GQ Fashion Director stylist Jessica Punter, model Silvia D and Lisa Valenica make-up and hair.
Another shoot in a couple of weeks - cannot wait to get started.

Hop Farm Festival

I have never professed this before, but I love Twitter. The immediacy of news, the engagement with like-minded strangers (sounds like a recommendation for a dating site...) and the fact that I can write about scallops and have fabulous people like @Besidethesea tweeting me back a fab pic of a plate of scallops. Beautiful.

However, on this occasion, I love it because I have been stalking the @HopFarmFestival page for news on the line-up for this year's Hop Farm Festival. I have tweeted and re-tweeted and have been waiting with baited breathe for the moment the line-up can be announced.

wait for it....The EAGLES! BRYAN FERRY! BRANDON FLOWERS! DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE! 10CC and more to be announced, which leaves me even more giddy...

Last year's line-up was also pretty rocking and I mentioned it in this post: http://beautystylegossip.blogspot.com/2010/05/hop-farm-festival.html but was gutted when I couldn't attend due to a number of ridiculous reasons.

Get your ass on the site and snap up your tickets now:

http://www.hopfarmfestival.com/home.aspx#/home.aspx

Estee Lauder Pure Color Lip Gloss Custom Collection by Tom Pecheux

I have a dilemma. I cannot decide which of the new limited edition Tom Pecheux shades to choose from. Estee Lauder love a good lip gloss and to be honest, I always fine them perfect for my lips - lips that often dry out under a coat of lipstick or gloss. They last for ages, come in a wide range of colours and are pretty reasonable priced for the time they last.
The Estée Lauder Creative Makeup Director Tom Pecheux has created a range that allows you to build on colour and saturation, depending on your mood.
I am currently leaning toward Red Tango with a 40's wave and gentle slick of liquid eyeliner and Perfect Nude for a more subtle, grown-up daytime look.
The other shades in the collection of six, include: Nude Rose, Coral Fantasy, Plum Desire and Fucshia Fever. Get them for £15 for a limited period only from Selfridges or www.esteelauder.co.uk - a great present for your fav BFF this Christmas?

Amy Winehouse

I am tired. I have a cold. However, despite various cold and flu remedies I cannot sleep. I wake up and feel shattered and then need to nap throughout the day..hence being awake at 21.55 and writing. I tried a DVD - Disney's Hocus Pocus to get me in a Halloween mood...didn't work, just a timely reminder that I am getting old. Great.
So here I am at silly o'clock tapping away on my shiny new laptop...which by the way gave me no end of grief this morning when attempting to work. Almost two and half hours troubleshooting, listening to Neo while on hold and 1 hour and 20 minutes on the phone to a tech support advisor. Shitty day so far. Something has cheered my
melancholy-self up though. The wonderful Amy Winehouse. There are so many Wino haters and to be honest, I am not one of them. I know way too many people who have succumbed to addictions and in the limelight and to have this intrusion and problem compounded by the media continuously, then it makes it all the worse.
Amy is looking fabulous with the new, tamer hair; the minimal make-up which shows her pretty awesome complexion and lets face it, beautiful face. Big, strong eyes - hidden by steam-roller eyeliner for too long. Cakey make-up hiding the freckles (ok, I admit as a youngster I hated these and did the same with Maxfactor stick...result was chavsville) so all in all, a pretty happy, healthy and gorgeous looking Amy Winehouse. Loads out there will wonder how this can make a difference to their lives, but I just enjoy seeing someone coming out of something so dark. It is nice to see that people can recover and not allow something/someone/anything take over their lives. Wow, I am feeling philosophical...maybe the painkillers have kicked in after all....

Mac Strobe Cream

I always envied SJP's amazing cheekbones in Sex and the City so I was delighted when I found out she had a little help from Laura Mercier's Secret Finish (oh and Mother Nature). However, as much as I love Laura Mercier, I am also a huge fan of Mac's Strobe Cream. I have been silently using this for a couple of years and even used it on model's back in the day of the regional newspaper magazine fashion and beauty shoots. I noticed, however, that I had failed to write about it and it's many wonders.
1: Mix with moisturiser or foundation for a subtle sheen and gentle boost of skin that may be looking a little sallow.
2: Mix with body moisturiser and pat in over shoulders and décolletage for a sexy shimmer (great with a light tan - no wag mahogany here please)
3: Or do as I do, a la the SJP and gentle pat a small peanut sized blob onto the back of my hand and pat and warm with three fingers. Use these fingers to pat this on the cheekbones - above the blusher and up towards your temples. Ensure you have already applied foundation - I use this as my finishing product. Gentle pt until a subtle sheen is glistening your cheekbones. If you feel the sheen is too much, use the palm of your hand to gently and carefully remove an excess.

Whenever I use this technique I am always complimented on my make-up and asked what highlighter I am using. Hence the reason for this post!
Happy sheening! K

Nat Thakur London

I am a shoe girl. Always have been. I used to own about 120 pairs of shoes of varying descriptions and designers - Topshop, Karen Millen, Kurt Keiger, Ugg, Havaina, Kate Cuba (the KC were the most beautiful clogs..) - mostly of the High Street variety, built up from when I was a trainee journalist spending my ill gotten gains on shoes to make me look a little bit more professional than I was. I worked across news, features and had a double page 'ents' spread every week - allowing me to gain entry to nightclubs and bars across town for free. Fabulous for a 22 year old who had spent the week on death knocks (an unpleasant industry term whereby you have to speak to the family of someone - usually a teenager, husband/wife, or child who had died) so was feeling shitty about intruding on their grieving time and needed to let off steam in super high heels in a nightclub sipping free (many free) cocktails in lieu for PR favours.
Well after the house burnt down (I still cannot find another phrase to describe this) I had to rebuild the shoe collection and along with it, my bag stash.
Having looked back, I now realise I had more designer bags than I did shoes....Miu Miu, Mulberry, Louis Vuitton, Kate Spade...and I have since come to discover an almost equal passion for bags and their family members, as I do shoes.
My latest discovery is Nat Thakur. Her designs are so cute, you can't help but feel a little childish when you look at them. They are definitely a trip to the zoo, date in the park, sexy little restaurant type bag and I love them.
Former experience working with Ghost and Mulberry has lead bespoke designer Nat to create a range of unique and quirky accessories, perfect for adding a little sparkle to your day.
Using leather that is only a bi-product of meat, the leatherwork is really high quality considering the reasonable price. Having been voted number gift by The Indy and having her bags on display at 'Plastic Fantastic' at NESTA, she really is proving that innovation and art go hand in hand. My favourites are: The leather sweet shop clutch bag (from £75) and the Half Crown Purse (from £30) and the smaller leather sweet shop purse (from £30) - all perfect as gifts.
Check out more of Nat Thakur's amazing designs at http://www.natthakur.co.uk/