ELIZABETH HURLEY AT HARRODS TODAY FOR ESTEE LAUDER'S BREAST CANCER AWARENESS

Roll up, roll up the poshest and most mind blowing shop (seems wrong to call Harrods a shop but you know what I mean) in the world will be hosting a personal appearance with Elizabeth Hurley, spokesmodel for Estee Lauder and The Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign at 1pm at the Estee Lauder counter today. You will be able to meet Ms Hurley herself as she will be signing purchases from the exclusive Estee Lauder Pink Ribbon Collection 2010 in support of The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, www.bcrfcure.org. I don't know anyone who hasn't been touched or affected by breast cancer in some way and this is really a fantastic way to give back and support the fight against breast cancer. In the evening there will also be a stunning 3D landmark illumination you will not want to miss!

As a beauty journalist I have been very lucky over the years to be invited to Estee Lauder Breast Cancer Awareness events in October and can tell you that Elizabeth Hurley is truly passionate and dedicated towards the cause. While I have been snugly wrapped up in boots and my cashmere scarf in the cold, I have seen Elizabeth Hurley each year in jaw droppingly beautiful and tiny pink dresses speaking with vigour and commitment and putting on a good glamourous show to help raise awareness without a shiver or complaint and I take my hat off to her and think to myself that sort of spirit wins wars and hopefully the war on breast cancer- good on you love. Get yourselves down there!

DOLCE & GABBANA THE LIP JEWELS

Now I have had quite a few emails asking about this rather blinging and fabulous Dolce & Gabbana The Lip Jewels, £40, on counter from November, exclusively at Harrods, which I spotted backstage in Milan at their show. It literally took my breath away it was so delicious. Quite frankly if I wasn't in the presence of Pat Mcgrath and in the uber chic backstage area- I would have been fist pumping Jersey Shore style I was so excited but I kept myself together and only squealed a bit instead (not too shaming).

I am the biggest magpipe and love all things shiny. I love patent shoes, diamonds baby and the big ass shiny ruby on top of this palette. If I could stick a ring under it I would wear it and touch up everywhere I go in a rather vulgar Marie Antoinette 'flashing my wares' sort of way.

The good thing is this lip palette not only looks good it also doesn't disappoint as such a lot of pretty beauty products do, in a all fur coat, no knickers way. I am pleased to say The Lip Palette is bang on trend as red lips are everywhere this A/W and bless their hearts they have even thrown in a nude (be warned this nude doesn't work on darker skin tones) for those off duty vamp days. The red lip colours are Dahlia (a classic blue red),  Devil (a Hollywood starlet red), Ultra (a warm red)  and they all can be mixed and are very versatile and easy to wear with a creamy, weightless and silky texture, which feels very modern (oh that Pat Mcgrath can conjure up and create some fabulous products). Grab yourself one as I can predict these will fly off the counter and there will be tears if you can't get your hands on one!!!!!!

ELIZABETH ARDEN PREVAGE ADVANCED ANTI AGING SERUM

The last few weeks have been crazy busy for me going backstage at LFW, filming with my company Couture Communications, as well as flying to Milan to go backstage at Dolce and Gabbana. It’s been a bit surreal but to help my skin keep in tip top condition I have been trying Elizabeth Arden’s Prevage Face Advanced Anti-Aging Serum, £145.

Now I do love Elizabeth Arden as a brand - it was started by a grand Beauty dame in her own right back in the day. You can always tell a strong beauty brand by their hero products and in this case the 8-hour cream is both iconic and brilliant!

To say my skin was feeling a little knackered during September would be an understatement, but I have been glowing and my skin looks well rested (even though I have had three hours sleep a night this past month). The silver Prevage packaging looks really high tech which I like as it looks like it will do what it says on the tin. 

The serum also delivered. I love the texture… it sinks in really well with no greasy tacky residue which I liked as at the age of 32 I feel I need to step up my anti-ageing skincare regime but with combination skin lots of the gloopy anti-ageing serums and creams put me off. The serum is bright orange but it’s not from freaky E numbers, it’s actually the natural colour of the main ingredient of the Prevage range and serum – Idebenone which is a potent and powerful anti-oxidant. 

This star ingredient has been blended with a cocktail of anti-oxidants such as a green tea blend, Bamboo Isoflavones and Thiotaine to help firm, tone, smooth out fine lines, age spots, minor scars and wrinkles. My skin loved this serum! It feels really soft, smooth and radiant, especially impressive considering what I have recently put it through! Grab a bottle and give it a whirl!

http://www.elizabetharden.co.uk/prevage/

AUTUMN'S STATEMENT RED LIPS

Ohhhh it's time for a statement red lip, which is so exciting. Red lips were back with an ass kicking avengence on the catwalks this A/W 10 of Karl Lagerfeld (loved the patent leather effect), Sass & Bide (gothic burgundy) and a worn red lip was seen at Moschino. For me red lips will forever be my mama's look, as she vamped it it up hard in the 80s with a power red lip. There is nothing more sexy and grown up than a red lip. You can't be as Britney so eloquently puts it, "I'm not a girl, not yet a woman". Red lips are all about embracing the woman inside of you and being fearless. Repeat after me, everyone can wear a red lip, like clothes you just have to know your red lip rules. If you have a warmer skin tone no matter your ethnicity, tomato warmer red shades look great on you. Deep aubergine / berry shades look (try MAC's Kittenish lipstick, £12.50) great on darker and cooler skin tones as well as giving blondes and brunettes are more vampy feel. Also look out for reds that have lots of blue in it if you have a cooler skin tone. For the purest amongst you, nothing beats MAC's Russian Red lipstick, £12.50, www.maccosmetics.co.uk, for a classic red which will never date just like a Hermes Birkin bag- you know what I mean!

I've been a busy bee this month and here is another film my company Couture Communications, www.couturecommunications.com produced for Sky Showbiz on how to create a 3 different red lip looks seen on the catwalk.


Sky Showbiz

http://www.youtube.com/user/skyshowbiz#p/u/0/8X8NDvX8irg

HOW TO GET DAY TO NIGHT HAIR IN A FLASH

Hi guys,

I can't believe it's the  October already you know how much I love Autumn and chic Autumnal beauty looks. As the days are getting shorter, making a quick change to rock your beauty look in evening can get hard. Celebrities such as Whitney Port, Olivia Palermo, Leighton Meester and Lauren Conrad are all sporting super easy but chic updos all created from a simple ponytail. Grab yourself a baby sized can of the iconic L'Oreal Paris Elnett and stash it in your desk drawer, which every session stylist I know swears by and was everywhere backstage at LFW this season. Please check out this film my company Couture Communications produced for Sky Showbiz with celebrity hair and make up artist Holly Silius on how to turn your work ponytail into 3 evening looks in the blink of an eye!!!!!


Sky Showbiz 
http://www.youtube.com/user/skyshowbiz#p/u/8/bLMmH-jJfpo

DOLCE & GABBANA MILAN FASHION WEEK SS/ 11

I woke up with butterflies in my stomach the day of the Dolce & Gabbana show, I felt like I was a kid and it was Christmas morning. But instead of running down the stairs and seeing a Christmas tree with loads of presents under it,  I was whisked backstage to the Dolce & Gabbana show at the chic Metropoli in Milan. This was a real honour, as they have not let journalists and bloggers backstage before and given so much exclusive access, so I was really thrilled to be asked. I was also to meet and interview one of my make up heroes- Pat Mcgrath, who was creating the make up look for the show. 


In the beauty industry Pat is our Mick Jagger. She is a legend who transcends make up and turns it into art. She is super skilled but it's her ideas, inspirations and concepts that make her so interesting and why I love the beauty industry. It's not just about lipsticks, it's about a mood, channeling characters from history about being that feisty bitch rocking a red lip and owning it (word). Make up can help you become, express and unleash sides of your nature, which both empower and excite you and that's beauty to me and Pat Mcgrath is the high priestess of this school of beauty. All great artists tell stories and they tell them really well whatever the medium be it film, music, fashion or make up and the Dolce & Gabbana show didn't disappoint. Backstage was the most organised and most chic backstage I have ever been to. It was all clean black and white lines, security guards with presidential style radio mics and ears pieces in D& G black suits and patent leather shoes politely saying please move back and wait for your pass Signorina. Even the bottles were lines up in an very pleasing and OCD manner (at LFW you'll be lucky to find some overturned red bulls and half eaten Pret a manger sandwiches). I said to myself, "you're not in Kansas anymore Ateh".  Lovely Chanel Iman was backstage and I said hi to her bless that girl she was so sweet she remembered me from LFW!


Pat was brilliant and created a make up look every women in the world aspires to a glowing, simple, clean chic and polished look with a nude to red mouth depending on the girls. Pat said the collection was mainly all white and that Domenico and Stefano wanted the girls to look sensual and gorgeous. She said the guys were inspired by white lace and the make up had to be natural and very peaceful, which it was. Pat has been working with the guys for 12 years and said it was a joy to collaborate with them and you could really see the relationship between the beauty and the clothes. 

Pat used the Dolce & Gabbana make up line she created and used the eyeshadow quad in nude in the crease and just under the eye with lashings of black mascara on the top lashes only. She lined the eye with the chocolate pencil but also said you can wet black/ dark brown eye shadow to use as a liner to give the eye definition. The top of the cheek bones were chiseled using a silver ish highligher, which made the girls look like angles and a caramel blush was used on the cheek for a slight sun kissed yet sophisticated look. My absolute favourite backstage product was the new lip jewels! The packaging was blinging with a giant ruby on top and it housed a quad of creamy lip colours in Dahlia, Devil, Ultra and Nude. Pat said she was mixing the colours together for some girls and using them separately on others, which was fab. The palette works well on all skin tones (no BS) and was too delicious. 


Eugene Souleiman who is a super creative powerhouse of a session stylist created the hair look for the show. He is also a complete sweetie! Both Pat and Eugene had to prepare 50 girls for the show but like all people at the top of their game, they both had time to talk me through the look with no diva drama or hissy fits. He said the guys wanted the hair to be romantic, soft but without looking like wedding hair, so he created a loose raw chignon with some structure at the back but with fly aways. He blowdried the hair at the roots to give the hair guts before twisting and pinning it. It was very dreamy and covetable hair.


Before I knew it-it was time to leave and go and see the actual show. The waiting area was v glam and they served amaretto sorbet, which stopped me in my tracks and almost made me trip on a stair, it was so good. Ice cream, beauty looks to die for and amazing fashion to come, I was in heaven and having some sort of out of body experience. Inside Kylie, Naomi Campbell, Anna Wintour, Suzy Menkes and Hilary Alexander were all excitably waiting for the show to start. Giant plasma screens showed us all the hussle and bussle that was taking place backstage, which felt very interactive and cool,  as we saw the girls having finishing touches applied to their hair and make up before hitting the catwalk. 


The show started with a huge projection of images of Sicily with old women making lace, of beautiful Monica Bellucci types cradling their beloved little first born boys and white washed church staples, which was quite emotional as they were really drawing from their past and personal heritage. Then out walked a succession of beautiful girls some with tits and ass (model tits and ass, so that's a size 8/10 to you and me), which was quite shocking but fantastic to see. The clothes told a story of a Sicilian woman on her wedding day with beautifully crafted white lace dresses. Then this woman made her way onto the beach with flirty white romper suits. Then all of a sudden the colour palette changed from brilliant white to that of black adorned young sensual widows dressed in curve clinging black power suits. The final florish was that of embellished blinging white dresses, which made me gasp they were so fabulous and made parts of the audience burst into spontaneous applause they were so overcome with the beauty of the white dresses and shimmering diamante. 


I left on a high and then was grabbed outside by a Dolce and Gabbana camera crew, as they wanted to interview me about my blog and what I thought about the show, which really was the most glam ending to a fab time at the show. I could see people looking at me, as they were spilling out into the street  thinking that Oprah's aged well but her weight's gone up again. Oh well. Thank you Dolce and Gabbana and Pat Mcgrath for a fantastico time in old Milano! See you next season Ciao bella!

LONDON FASHION WEEK SS 11 COUTURE COMMUNICATIONS AND GLAM MEDIA

Hi guys,
As you know London Fashion week was a crazy and exciting time for me and my company Couture Communications. We had four crews out filming all at the same time! Please check out this fab film we produced for Glam Media!

p.s. check out my hand in shot as I shamed myself getting various celebs such as Sienna Miller, Tracey Emin, model of the moment Jessica Hart, L'Oreal Paris' James Kailardos and MAC's fabulous Gordon Espinet to give me some sugar and fashion week tips!