LANCOME TEINT VISIONNAIRE AND ALEX BABSKY

Growing up I loved movies and make up. So for me my rock and roll stars were and still are make up artists. To this day I get very excited when I meet my make up heroes and I had so much fun filming with the fabulous make up artist and Lancome's UK Make- Up Ambassador Alex Babsky. Lancome has just launched their latest foundation with the most delicious skin care benefits enriched with Vitamin CG that help to not only conceal but correct your skin imperfections such as dark spots, pores and wrinkles. The foundation comes in a rather nifty 2 parts with a mirror and concealer on the top half and a liquid foundation on the bottom half. The fact it comes in 18 shades (I'm shade number 13 lucky for me) makes me want to cry. Finally major brands are realising that catering to everyone is what it's all about. I'm turning 35 this year and the fact that the past 18 months has been the first time in my life I have had a wardrobe of foundations all in my shade without having to mix and get the correct 2-3 shades is shocking and both a relief. I say BRAVO Lancome and congrats on a really innovative and fabulous new foundation. Check out the films below to get Alex's top tips on how to choice the perfect shade for your skin tone, apply foundation and also conceal and perfect your skin using the new Teint Visionnaire!

STUDIO LINE MATT & MESSY

If like me you are a child of the 80s you will remember stu stu studio line! Along with the Bourjois make up TV ads, these all formed part of my formative beauty years. The past few months have been super fun and busy with lots of filming with my production and creative agency www.couturecommunications.com. I was so excited to be working with the very latest generation of Studio Line products Matt & Messy, which has just launched. We have created a series of films on how to create the latest A- List looks using the new line. Check out the films below on how to create a messy bun and messy updo for your very own red carpet A-list moment.



How to Create a Messy Bun 

How to Create a Messy Up Do

BUTTER LONDON STARKERS LACQUER COLLECTION

I do love all things nails. When I say love I mean it. I have even bled..like real blood in my love and pursuit of fabulous nail art. Back in the day in the 90s when I was in school my friend and I went to the Odeon to see a movie. She had just received- by post a nail piercing kit from some kind aunt in the US (this was before internet shopping people). I was so excited to give it go I made her pierce my nail with a sharp mental drill in the back of the cinema in the dark (why do you have zero common sense as a teen), anyway after some bleeding and screams I had my first nail piercing on a perfect 90s french manicure thank you very much. 

A couple of decades on and piercings aside and post footballers wives french manicures I still do love a nude nail. Butter London one of my favourite nail ranges are launching the Starkers Lacquer Collection, www.butterlondon.com, with 3 nudes. I could literally kiss them, as often when people launch nudes there ain’t nothing for me to create hot mannequin nails. However, the new collection have a light creme, soft beige and warm tan, I would happily wear any of them but it’s a pleasant surprise that all skin tones have been thought of. The same goes for tights, it’s much better today but you have a look for nude tights for darker skin tones, they are hard to come by and if they are good enough for Kate Middleton....... anyway grab yourself a bottle for pain free chic nails. 

CHRISTMAS HOLLYWOOD RETRO CURLS

Oh I do love this time of year when it's icy cold and your sparkley outfits come out from the back of your cupboard and the slap goes on for parties and dos. If you want to get glamourous hair (remember the Texan adage the higher the hair the closer to God) I love that have a look at the film we produced at Couture Communications for John Frieda on getting Hollywood Retro Curls all super achievable to do by yo' self. Enjoy.

BOBBI BROWN CREAMY MATTE LIP COLOR

Like a pair of killer Louboutins, which make you walk a little bit taller and with a spring in your step, lipstick can also bring out the sex kitten in you. I don’t know what it is but when I pull out a lipstick and slather it on, I feel so grown up like a woman in a Film Noir or Alexis Carrington from Dynasty, all big blow dried hair and ready to kick ass darling. My latest lipstick obsession is Bobbi Brown’s Creamy Matte Lip Color, £18, www.bobbibrown.co.uk. The formula is very 21^st century, which won’t give you 80s flashbacks of matte lipsticks, which left your lips dry and cracked and looking as if you had been eating bowls of salted peanuts all day without drinking anything. Bobbi’s new matte lipstick is creamy and packed full of pigment and leaves lips feeling cushioned and soft, which I love. I’m wearing the Crushed Plum and Razzberry, which look great on darker skin tones and the True pink and Warm Beige look like they will become instant classics. Grab one today!

LES TWIN- SETS DE CHANEL

Ok, that naughty Peter Philips, Creative Director of Chanel Make up has only gone and done it again. He's gotten me all excited about his latest creation for Anna Wintour's Vogue Fashion Night 2012. These 3 matching limited edition Rouge Allure Velvet lip colours ( a mind blowing modern texture that you really do need in your life- believe) and matching nail colours are the height of sophistication and have me feeling like a Hitchcock Heroine, a grown up womanly kind of beauty- very pulled together. The autumnal plum shade La Provocante has my name all over it, while I do love the vibrant pop of pink of L'Infidele, which is a less obvious choice for my skin tone but works just as well. The creamy beige of La Delicate has modern classic and the touch of the Rouge Noirs written all over it. Grab your Les Twin-sets de Chanel exclusively at Chanel boutiques from this September and remember pearls are optional but oh such a good look!

MAMA GOT HER GLOW BACK

Back in the day I used to be able to party all night (on a podium bumping and grinding I might add thank you very much) and the next day I would look as fresh as daisy all shiny and taut and glossy- like only a 19 year old can look and by the way I never appreciated this fact at the time. I used to slick on a touch of MAC's Face and Body Foundation (a mere whisper of a sheer foundation used and loved by celebs- very good as body make up and on legs too). Alas these days are gone. While in Topshop (where I know I have no business shopping these days),  I look at the little batty riders and sigh for my days in the sun. A decade and a half later, after twin girls and running my business as well as writing mama needs a little more help to look all glowy and fresh faced. People can become delusional over many things whether it's doing dad dancing at a wedding thinking you look like the dog's bullocks, pulling on those jeans from 1999 while breathlessly saying, " it will fit,  it will fit. For me my delusions are totally beauty related. Until recently, I was still looking at the light weight mositurisers that I used to wear  until at 4am the other night during a nappy change I caught sight of my tired reflection, which was a huge wake up call to get with the programme and up the power and potency of my skincare. I love a good serum me it's like a facial cocktail of goodness to help strengthen and treat the skin before the protecting and cocooning nature of a moisturiser. With my 30s "not in denial" skincare hat on I'm lovin' Chanel's Hydra Beauty Serum, it has a velvety decadent texture and harnesses the protective power of the antioxidant blue ginger, which feels very grown up and leaves the skin looking very uniform and soothed. Clarins Hydraquench Intensive Serum Bi-phase also leaves my skin feeling very dewy and plump. I also have to give a shout out to Estee Lauder's Advanced Night Repair Synchronized Eye Recovery complex. This is fab if you want some anti- aging protective properties but like me you a combination skin type as the gel texture feels like it's doing something without being too gloopy and sticky. Finally, nothing spells healthy skin like glossy, glowing skin and I love L'Oreal Paris Youth Code Luminize Super Serum for helping my skin find it's inner light. The best products make you feel like you are blessed with Kate Moss cheekbones and every little turn of your face catches the light and spits back a sexy glow.  Fabulous! Check out the film below my company Couture Communications, www.couturecommunications.com produced of the Behind the Scenes L'Oreal Paris Youth code shoot.