DIOR HAUTE COUTURE SHOW

I was really blown away by the look at Dior’s Haute Couture show in Paris last week. Pat Mcgrath the legendary make up artist who created the looks really is a visionary and is a bit of a rock star in the beauty world. Other beauty journalists like me, get a bit silly and overexcited by her work and her down to earth personality. I love the drama, romanticism and historical referencing in the look. If you want to give a nod to the look, reach for Diorskin Nude Foundation in Ivory or if you have darker skin think matte and powdered, with plenty of black liquid liner and on the lips Rouge Dior Replenishing Lipcolour in Red Premiere or Celebrity Red. Bravo Madame McGrath and Monsieur Galliano!

NARS MARC JACOBS

I love this look Francois Nars himself created for the Marc Jacobs show. The inspiration was of dancers with left over stage make up going out for an evening on the town with a white base, and NARS Pandora Duo eyeshadow on the eyelid and the new S/S shade D.Gorgeous eyeshadow in the crease and Nuit Blanches Eyeliner Stylo used to line the eye. I also love the lips, which were created using NARS Pop life Velvet Matte Lip Pencil with a really well defined cupid's bow and a more worn and faded bottom lip, which was supposed to look like the girls had taken a swipe at the stage make up before heading out. Very creative- very chic.

NARS THAKOON SHOW

Here make up artist Diane Kendal for NARS cosmetics uses the Orgasm Illuminator at the Thakoon show in a samurai meets surfer inspired look.

NARS ORGASM ILLUMINATOR

The illuminator was used backstage at lots of shows in NY S/S 10 fashion week

NARS ORGASM ILLUMINATOR

I'm having a beauty moment, I am loving all things Narssssss. Yesterday I went to the launch of their S/S 10 colours and also the launch of wait for it – Orgasm Illuminator – a liquid orgasm. The product lives up to its name with the amount of owwws and ahhhs heard from the fellow beauty journalists. You know a product is amazing when a room full of beauty girls who have really seen it all are gagging to get their hands on it. There was lots of smearing on of the product and full make overs using the new collection.

The original Nars Orgasm powder blush is an iconic product and is loved by millions but like me, many of my friends with Asian, Iranian and darker skin tones find the powder blush a bit too orange. It makes me look like an angry African dictator’s wife in London for a spot of shopping with some embezzled US dollars.

However, I can report the new Orgasm Illuminator looks amazing on darker skin tones with more peach and golden tones, which makes you look really fresh faced and well rested like when you were 19 and could go clubbing all night and look hot the next day. It even has skin friendly ingredients like anti-aging Indian frankincense and raspberry and black currant, which are packed full of anti oxidants. The illuminator is very versatile, you can pat it on the cheeks as a blush, on cheekbones to highlight, under the eyebrow, mixed with your foundation or even just above the eye brows near your hairline to give yourself a brow lift. A little goes a long way so take it easy and remember to build up the illuminator a little bit at a time. At £21 the illuminator does feel expensive but I think it’s one of those products you will use everyday and it will take ages to get through, so like an fashion investment piece it actually works out quite economically. Grab your tube from Space NK, www.spacenk.co.uk from the 18th Feb where it will be launched exclusively until it rolls out nationwide from the 1st March.

What do you guys think? Will you be rushing to get yourself an Orgasm illuminator?

BACK TO BLACK

My lovely husband emailed me this image of a fresco of a Minoan lady (the Minoan culture flourished in the Bronze age in Crete) from around 1400 B.C. and she is also known as La Parisienne. We both studied History together at university and I love that he gets what I do beauty wise. This lady made me laugh because quite frankly she looks like Amy Winehouse with her black liner, red lips and beehive. This lady like Amy, was also worshipped and adored, as it seems she has a sacred knot worn at the back of the neck, which experts think means she was a priestess or goddess. What I love about history is that you quickly learn people really don’t change, just the outfits and even the make up stays the same! There will always be woman who are adored and worshipped for music or similarly as a priestess- a vessel that can take normal people away from their everyday lives.

It seems that in this era there were also special beautification areas (that’s a salon to you and me) in the palaces of Knossos, Zakros and Pylos. Any woman knows going to a salon for a fake tan, hair colour, mani/pedi and blow dry is like going to a temple where you will find gossip, fun and lots of chat and also confidants. Ask any hairdresser and they will tell you they are a deep pool full of secrets about affairs, secret plastic surgery, AWOL cheating husbands and much more. Salons are part of our ceremonal culture and are scared places to many women. Even putting on make up to go to a gig, party or just the office does take on a ritualised quality and La Parisienne shows us that it ain’t nothing new.

What do you guys think of La Parisienne???

GUERLAIN-SUPER AQUA-EYE

Apart from looking damn cool these eye patches are also really good. There is something very decadent and ‘Mommy Dearest’ I think about applying eye patches. I think of Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford lounging around perhaps with a medicinal bloody Mary in her hand. When you are having a diva moment, do it with these patches, which you can stick in the fridge for extra de puffing and cooling on tired eyes. The formula is loaded with skin plumping hyaluronic acid, anti- aging desert rose flower complex and decongesting Terminalia Sericea extract (a plant found in Africa), which will help fight dark circles and puffiness, whilst adding instant glamour while watching Eastenders. Fabulous darling.