Tag: Lancome

Monday 13 February 2012     Leave A Comment

BAFTA Beauty Secrets So Far…

So girls, shoe wobbles (Meryl), embarrassing photo op moments (Brad) and a highly charged Grammys aside, here are a handful of beauty secrets sported by the stars at last night’s BAFTA’s.

Tilda Swinton, Christina Hendricks and Joanne Froggatt (and that’s just the start of it): Lancôme.  The company celebrates 12 years of BAFTA sponsorship – a fabulous association that makes sense.  The Lancôme woman always has a story to tell and BAFTA is the ideal showcase.   Here are a few highlights used on the actors by Lancôme make-up artists on the night, that you might like to try:

  • Joanne Froggatt (Downton Abbey – bumped into her in the loo at Matilda the other day, she’s a honey) – Lips: Rouge In Love in The Rose 200B – great, natural pinkish nude.
  • Tilda Swinton – Looked peachier than usual – glorious (photo doesn’t relay just how) – thanks to Blush Subtile in both Rose Sable and Shimmer Peach Fever.  Blend just under cheekbones and out, for most modern, glamorous look.
  • Naomie Harris – Tools for her smoky eyes: Les Oeillades (eye shadows) in Blondette Fatale, Le Crayon Khol and Hypônse Doll Eyes Mascara.
  • Christina Hendricks – The foundation for a porcelain complexioned red head: Teint Miracle Foundation in a mix of shades 02 and 01, with Effet Miracle Primer underneath.

Jessica Brown-Findlay, Emilia Fox, Dawn Porter, Holliday Grainger – Charles Worthington Limited Edition Volume Big Bounce Spray.  He’s the BAFTA’s official hairdresser and this was his secret weapon for giving oomph and root lift to their hair.  Mine too (though not that night), I have been using it for the past few weeks and can vouch that it’s a great, volumising blow dry spray.

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Thursday 9 June 2011     Leave A Comment

Emma Watson: Lancôme’s latest face as you’ve never seen her

Next week and for the rest of the month a series of drawings and paintings of Emma Watson are on show the Panter & Hall gallery, St James’s, Piccadilly.   They’re by Mark Demsteader, the Manchester born artist.  He has gathered rather a reputation for his attractive, dreamy paintings of beautiful women.  You may have seen those he did of the model, Erin O’Connor.

His work first caught Emma’s eye when she was at school in Oxford – he exhibited at a gallery there and his were always her favourites, she says.   She recently got in touch with him, with the idea of buying a painting – it was around the time of her 21st birthday.  He asked if he could paint a series of Emma, and this exhibition is the result.  The two I’ve attached here are my favourites.  Top: Study for a Painting 2, below: Emma 10.

There’s another spin to this.  10% of proceeds from the exhibition will go to Camfed International, a charity helping to educate girls in Africa, which Emma supports.

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Monday 21 March 2011     Leave A Comment

The perfect nude lipstick

I’m always on the look out for the perfect pinkish, brownish lipstick.  The kind of nude and natural lippie that makes me look more pulled together, healthy and er, prettier.  Bobbi Brown once told me the secret was in finding a colour that matches your own lips or is a shade darker.   I tweeted the other day about my Shiseido find, the perfect soft, mauv-ish brown with a hint of copper to give it a lift.  It’s Shiseido Shimmering Rouge in colour RD709 and has found its way into my make-up bag.

Today I add to the list with Lancome‘s newbie, L’Absolu Nu in 304.  It has more pink to it, without being girlish.  It is completely flattering, thanks too to its slightly sheer finish and transparent pearl pigments – so lips look luminous and younger, rather than flat, and older.

I have yet to track down the perfect equivalent out of Dior’s new Addict line of lipsticks but it’s surely only a matter of time.  Right now am thinking of going off piste, and trying out a shimmering peach, such as the one Kate Moss is wearing in the ad.  See below…

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Tuesday 4 January 2011     Leave A Comment

Mid Winter Make-Up (my pretty fabulous edit)

Happy New Year!  And while I get my beauty hat buzzing again, here’re some pretty lovely polishes and lipsticks for your per-oooh-sal – they’re all from the new Spring collections which will be in the shops over the coming weeks.  Each of these colours look fabulous this time of year – the deep tawny browns, reds, steel greys and a bit of gold.

Double click to see colours close-up

Clockwise from top:

Estée Lauder Pure Colour Nail Lacquer in 24 (£14) Wild Storm and 04 Berry Desire.  The first is deep grey with a bit of shimmer – dead on trend right now as you’ll have seen from my Dior blog a few weeks ago.  A strong, stark look that’s not for everyone, but it is devilishly chic – so too, the berry.  Wear two coats for maximum impact.  Available March.

Paul & Joe Nail Enamel in 008 Sunshine (£10) – pretty layered on top of a deep colour – lifts them, looks a little more lighthearted, less stark.  Or try two coats over a bare nail – gives a golden lustre that’s more flattering than some of the more orange-y versions, especially now when we’re all are feeling a little pale and wan.  This is from their Parasol Collection – desperately pretty especially the lipsticks and with the most adorable names that conjure up jugs of lemonade on the verandah on an Edwardian Mediterranean.  Chantilly, Alfresco, Dapple…   All out now at Fenwicks and Harrods.

Lancôme French Touch Absolu Lipstick in 312 Ohaa (£23) – odd name but this is lovely.  Not just its neat, compact, discreetly expensive looking tube, but its cherry colour which looks rich and lustrous on.  It’d work well on a slightly cooler skin tone because it’s got blue in it but if you like the sound of it anyway, give it a try at the counter see how it looks.  Available Jan 9th.

Estée Lauder Sumptuous Extreme in Extreme Brown – (£19).  Bronze-brown volumising mascara – fabulous as an alternative to black.  Try it after smudging soft brown shadow over your lids and under your lower lash line.  The effect will be softer than you’re used to if you swear by black, but it’s gently glamorous.   It would work particularly well if you have a bit of red to your hair colour.

Chantecaille Hydra Chic Lipstick in Willow – (£27).   This has made it firmly into my make-up bag.  It is a warm, rich, tawny brown colour without too much orange to it, so works well with my slightly yellow sometimes a bit purple, in-between-y, pale skin.  Available soon from Space NK.

Burberry Lip Cover in Nutmeg (£22).  This is a more orange version of the above so would work well on a redhead.   And on a warmer skin tone, whatever your hair colour.  It featured in the Burberry shows this Spring so is a hottie in terms of ‘look’ for the season ahead.

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Thursday 12 August 2010     Leave A Comment

‘Best Face Forward – why appearances matter on online business networking sites’

The following article appeared in the FT Life & Arts on August 8th.  To read it more easily, please click here

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Monday 22 February 2010     Leave A Comment

Old school Hollywood beauty looks fresher now than ever

I was chatting to my friend, the make-up artist, Lisa Eldridge the other day – you’ll probably know her from 10 Years Younger.  We were at the launch of No7′s collection of make-up to celebrate their 75th birthday, at The House of St Barnabas in Soho… Anyway, she’s done a set of glorious nostalgia shots of make-up looks from the last seven decades, starting with the 40s.  (Lisa’s the creative behind No7 make-up.)

‘Which is your favourite?’  I asked Lisa.

‘The 1940s,’ she said in a flash – here’s the picture, you’ll see them at Boots stores from the beginning of May.

‘It feels the most contemporary.  You could do it tomorrow,’ she says. ‘ It’s glamorous, classic, you’ve got the Hollywood red lip, a lovely brow, nude eyes, eyeliner – I’ve used the shimmer chocolate brown eye shadow mixed with water and applied it with a brush.  I prefer it to black for this 40s look.’

What do you think of this look?  Would you wear it?

Watching the BAFTAs last night and spotting the odd celebrity at London Fashion Week, too, there’s a definite fan base – in spite of the yawn-makingly enduring, pale- lip-smokey-eye thing that’s been going on so long.

At the BAFTAs it was Jaime Winstone (she’s wearing one of Lancôme’s red lippies), Audrey Tatou, Anne-Marie Duff, Claire Danes (another Lancôme red) and Romala Garai.  At LFW it was Sienna Miller, Peaches, Jaimie (again), Little Boots…

For this shot, here is what Lisa used on the lips:  1. No7 Perfect Lips Pencil (£7.75) to line and fill lips.  2. No7 Stay Perfect Lipstick in Cherry (£10.25) applied with a brush. 3.  No7 1940s Lipgloss (6.75) at the centre bottom lip.

For the eyes, she used No7 1940s Eye Shadow Trio (£9.75) – the darkest brown, damp with a liner brush.  The make-up artist,  Jemma Kidd always uses this trick, which makes this kind of thing easier:  Apply the line with an eye pencil first, so you have a  light outline to work on.  Go over with the damp, liner.  For me, the best kind of brush is a flat, angled brush.  MAC does one.   The tip is broad, so you literally rest it against your eye at the root and sweep it gently along.  It’s far easier than keeping a steady hand with a fine, line brush.

And not forgetting the cheeks (this look can wash you out).  Blend a natural, pink blusher over the cheek’s apple and out, ‘to balance out the strong lip,’ says Lisa.

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