Pantone: Colours of the Year 2016

For the first time in it's 16 year history, Pantone have for the first time chosen two shades to carry the accolade of being named PANTONE Colour of the Year 2016; Rose Quartz and Serenity...  

A harmonious pairing of inviting shades that embody a mindset of tranquility and inner peace.

Top Five: Luxury Eco Make-up Christmas Gift Ideas

Now December is underway, I can now turn my thoughts to Christmas. As someone who is mightily antagonised by the appearance of crackers and christmas puddings in the shops before the arrival of the twelfth month, I make a point of not thinking about it until then.

Strobing Products For Every Skin Tone

Contouring is so last year. At long last the Kardashian inspired (and much over [and often badly] used) trend is waining and there is a new kid on the block; Strobing. In all honesty Strobing is nothing new - Make-up Artist have been using this techniques for enos but we just called it highlighting...

Wild Child by Ilia Beauty

Despite the somewhat sporadic summer we are having, the annual trend for bright lips remains steadfast and I have found myself turning to the more vibrant shades in my kit

Top Five: In Flight Make-up Tips

With holidays on the horizon, here is the second of my Top Five tips to travel skincare and make-up...

Top Five: Purple Lips

OK. I am imagining that purple may not be everyones first pick when it comes to choosing a new lip colour and it certainly isn't for the feint hearted, however with both Rihanna and Lupita Nyongo seen rockin' shades that defiantely aren't for the shrinking violet, it seems that purple lips are here to stay...

From The Vault: The Kiss

This months trip down memory lane takes us back to Valentine's day 2013 and five steps to getting your lips in tip, top kissable condition for the most romantic day of the year...

Top 5: Lip Treatments

With many parts of the country enveloped in a white blanket, icy winds whipping around every corner, temperatures regularly sinking below 0ºc and the local drugstore running dangerously low on petroleum based lip protecting products, it is safe to say that winter is well and truly here...

Love: Ilia Beauty New Products

I'm a little slow in posting this but I am loving the look of the new additions to the Ilila Beauty range. As well as a couple of new shades to their existing lip line, Ilia are taking their first steps outside lip colour creation with the inclusion of a tinted moisturiser and concealer - I can't wait to see how they fair...

Top Five: Products of 2014

This year seems to have passed within a blink of an eye. It seems only a couple of months ago I was compiling this list for 2013. So what were my thoughts on clean beauty in 2014? Can my Top Five top last years compilation which consisted of an utterly amazing assortment of products)? We shall see...

Make-up: Luva Huva Autumn/Winter Collection 2014

A few weeks back I shared a couple of images from a shoot I worked on over the summer. Midnight Garden is the new Autumn/Winter 2014 collection from ethical lingerie line Luva Huva; a sumptuous yet sexy range of handmade underwear produced using ethically sourced and sustainable fabrics such as organic cotton, bamboo and soy. 

New Additions - Autumn 2014

It's been a busy couple of months so I have been doing quite a bit of replenishing of my kit. Some of the bits and pieces I picked up were to restock old favourites, whilst others were complexity new additions. It's been a while since I shared the new additions to my kit, so here we are... (Apologies in advance for the different settings in the photos)

Top Five: 60's Inspired Nude Lip

Many of the big Autum/Winter 2014 shows looked to the 1960's for inspiration. The catwalks of Oscar de la Renta, Mochino and Yves Saint Laurent were all rocking a retro vibe reminiscent of Marianne Faithfull or Britt Eckland.

Top Five: Metallic Bronze Eyeshadow

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, Bronze is big news this summer, as are metallic eyeshadows... Kerpow! 

My Festival Beauty Essentials

The sun is (currently) shining and the wellies are on standby. It can only mean one thing. Festival time!

Ilia Beauty Lipstick: Neon Angel

One of the great things about spring/summer beauty is the emergence of vibrant shades. I am a big lipstick fan but over the past few years I have fallen prey to the practical, low maintanence charms of tinted balms (Hurraw! balms usually). On a night out I am usually seen wearing a dark or red lip, but of late I have (for probably the first time in my life) been rocking the brights and loving it!

Education, Education

Make-up is ever evolving and I am a big believer in the old adage you never stop learning. I am always looking to update existing skills, learn new techniques and find out more about products and brands. This week I had an education double bubble and took part in two training sessions - on the same day!

Ilia Beauty Mascara: Shadow Of A Doubt

There is a wave of new clean mascaras coming onto the market at the moment, which is fantastic news but they are all black. Now I like a black mascara as much as the next Make-up Artist but what about brown? Brown seems to be very overlooked these days but it is an incredibly versatile colour that has many depths and hues, so for this post, put your chestnut aversions aside and take a look...

Top Five: Orange Lips

After the sultry, deeper tones of the autumn and winter I always get a little excited when I see the little pops of colour that surely signal the start of spring.This coming season is certainly no different and many of those splashes of colour have taken the form of an orange lip.

Orange can be a bold choice for a lip colour, so if you don't fancy going all out citrusy then try using a tinted balm to create a faint wash of colour or filling the lip with a pencil before applying a clear gloss (or leaving it as it is).

Behind The Brand: Ilia Beauty

Content is a beautiful little shop in central London that is a real Aladdin's Cave of beauty products and a perfect place for discovering new brands. A year or so ago they came up trumps with yet another make-up collection that I absolutely had to begin working my way through and that are the focus of this months Behind The Brand; Ilia Beauty.