Product Love: Wish Wash

Hey everyone,

First off I am sorry, I can't believe it's been a week since I have blogged! Life has just been a little busy the last few days with work, life and travel. I love blogging so it's not that I have lost the 'passion' but sometimes the days just fly by and recently just haven't had the time!

Now onto a product I have been loving recently: Wish Wash by FIX Malibu!

Wish Wash is a exfoliant cleanser but nothing like a traditional cleanser! It's actually a finely milled powder that is activated by water into a light foaming cleanser that exfoliates and deep-cleans pores gently without stripping your skin. A powder cleanser was a totally new concept to me so was very intrigued to see how it would work & feel. The powder comes in a cardboard container that looks a bit like a pepper or seasoning shaker because it features the same type of lid.



All you need to do is tip a pea-sized pile of powder into the palm of your hand and mix in a little water. I was expecting the powder to turn into paste like consistency when mixed with water but instead it turns the powder into a lovely soft 'foaming' cleanser.

As well as naturally abrasive cellulose powders, it contains citric, salicylic and ferulic acids which are natural skin smoothers said to draw extract the dirt from your pores. Done this way, exfoliation allows any toner or moisturiser applied afterward to penetrate maximally, without irritating sensitive skin.

The idea behind the product is to gently but effectively exfoliate with every single wash, rather than just saving a harsher exfoliation for once or twice a month. I have been using this in the shower daily and love how it leaves my skin feeling refreshed, super-clean, soft and not stripped 'raw' like some other exfoliating products can do.

Wish Wash is available online at Cult Beauty here for £27.50

And seeing it's Wednesday again.....
Think a lot of us are feeling a bit like this at the moment….Happy Hump Day :) xoxo

Shoe Mint by Rachel Bilson

Rachel Bilson is definitely one of my favourite Hollywood Style Icons (as you can see here) so you can imagine I got rather excited yesterday when I read that she's about to launch her own fashion range!

Following in the stylish steps of Kate Bosworth for JewelMint, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen for StyleMint and Jessica Simpson for BeautyMint (which launches later this month), the former OC actress has teamed up with her stylist, Nicole Chavez, and Steve Madden for the project, which offers a monthly selection of shoes to members for US$79.99 each.

I think Rachel looks amazing in these promotional shoes for ShoeMint.

I especially LOVE the Isabel Marant Yoan alpaca-blend instarsia sweater she is wearing!

The shoes will be made from real leather and suede and will range from US sized 5-11. First shoe to be unveiled? A nude suede, platform which Bilson was sporting at a recent event!

Speaking about her new project, the ‘Hart of Dixie’ star said that "I loved the idea of designing really cute shoes that are affordable and accessible. The whole idea behind the BeachMint brand makes the online shopping experience so personal. More and more, people are shopping for shoes online and with BeachMint, I have the opportunity to design not just the shoes, but the full experience for our customers, which feels more personal and rewarding for me. As a designer, I’m always exploring new mediums and footwear is a category I’ve always been very passionate about.”

        

And in anticipation of the site launch, ShoeMint is holding a sweepstake in which five lucky winners will get a year of free shoes! Sign me up :) Check out all the details at ShoeMint.com.

And yes...that time of the week already

Happy Hump Day everyone!! xoxo

Girly Checked Shirt

I quite like my checked shirt looks, as you can see here and here. So when I spotted a blue, white, red checked shirt in ZARA the other day I just loved it. It's not your standard checked shirt because it comes with a cute ruffled/frilled neckline! Here is a recent OOTD wearing my new shirt :)

♥ Checked Shirt with frills by ZARA (available here for £29.99)

Can I just say ZARA used a terrible look to 'sell' this shirt, I vote I wear it better than the model ;)

♥ 'Roxanne' Jeans by 7 For All Man Kind (as seen here)

♥ White racerback singlet from ZARA

♥ Watch Michael Kors (as seen here)Then before heading out I just added my favourite leather jacket (by River Island as seen here) and aviator sunglasses and I was ready to roll. Am loving this simple but fun look :) 

How do you wear your checked shirt? xoxo 

Blue Smokey Eye FOTN $

A couple of weekends ago I went out for dinner and a few drinks (and ok maybe a boogie too!) in South Kensington with some friends. Back in September I'd bought this navy, lacy and slightly sparkly lowcut back dress from Trafaluc by ZARA so I decided a blue smokey eye would accompany this look perfectly. 

Here is my face of the night:

♥ Face
MAC Select Cover-Up Concealer (under the eye & to conceal any blemishes)
Estee Lauder Double Wear Foundation in the shade Desert Beige.
This is very much a 'stay-in-place' kind of foundation and I love wearing this when I'm going out.
It provides great smooth coverage and stays on perfectly all night long!
MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Medium Light
NARS Laguna Bronzer to contour
and MAC Well Dressed Blush on the apples of my cheek

♥ Eyes
Urban Decay Primer Potion (as a primer to ensure my smokey lasted to the wee hours of the morning)
MAC Wedge eyeshadow to fill in/accentuate my brows
NARS Copacabana Multiple - applied over entire eyelid right up to my brows as a shimmery base
Estee Lauder – Pure Color Eyeshadow Duo in Clouds using the light blue colour on the inner corner of my eye until about half way and then applying the darker navy on the rest of the lid and working up into the crease/outer V and blending in the socket towards the brow.
MAC Wedge eyeshadow - I used this a little bit to soften the socket/crease to blend it all together
MAC Fluidline in Blacktrack along the waterline and upper lashline
NARS Larger Than Life Volumizing Mascara applied (top & bottom) after curling my eyelashes

See here the Estee Lauder Pure Color Eyeshadow Duo in Clouds that I used for this look and swatches of the eyeshadows in the palette. Very pigmented, long lasting and quality eye shadows! Available online here for £22.5

And to finish off my look...

♥ Lips

Ciate Lipgloss in St Barts (I got this for free with the July Marie Claire Magazine)

What do you think of my blue/navy smokey eye? xoxo

Vanilla & Ice cream and Coconut & Cream

Don’t those combinations just sound delicious? To eat yes but also to treat your body :)
I love using ‘I love’ cosmetics’ range of amazing smelling body and hand lotions to lather up my skin to keep them smooth, soft and hydrated whilst smelling luxuriously yummy!The only downside? Every time I lather up in the body lotion it leaves me CRAVING vanilla or cookies &cream ice cream ;) Click here for ‘I Love’ stockist information.

I hope you are all having a fabulous week? The cold weather is really hitting London now, this morning it was only 5 degrees when I left home for work!! Brrrr. Last Friday I went to the musical ‘the Lion King’ with a friend and have to say I LOVED it! The stage, the costumes, the music…FANTASTIC. If you ever have the opportunity to go to this anywhere in the world then I’d definitely recommend it. So because it’s Hump Day, this week’s message is little inspired by The Lion King!

Very well said Pumbaa and Timon!!! Happy Hump Day xoxo

Victoria's Secret 2011 Fashion Show >

Last week the Victoria's Secret models once again strutted their stuff on the catwalk at the 16th annual lingerie extravaganza in NYC. I love looking at the pictures of the Victoria Secret fashion shows (you can see last years pictures here) and every year it seems to get bigger and bigger ! This year the show was rumoured to have cost $12 million!

The shows just look like so much fun because unlike most fashion week runway shows, where sour faced models tend to walk passionlessly up and down so as not to distract from the clothes, here the models are encouraged to wink, wave, blow kisses and whoop up the crowd. I adore the designs and creativity of the outfits, themes, performances and of course the girls are incredibly beautiful...you pretty much can't help loving a Victoria Secret Angel ♥

South African VS Angel Candice Swanepool and Brazilian model Isabel Goulart

Super Hero Angels?
Illinois-native Erin Heatherton & Brazilian model Isabel Goulart definitely look the part!

L:Victoria Secret Angels Chanel Iman looking fun an cute with neon wings!
M: Australian model Miranda Kerr wearing a $2.5million diamond-studded Fantasy Treasure bra!
R: Doutzen Krous looking amazing! (She only gave birth to her baby boy in January).
This was the Dutch supermodel's 4th year as an VS Angel.

Left: Candice Swanepoel
Middle: Alessandra Ambrosio; this was the 10th year she walked the glamorous runway!
Right: Miranda Kerr

Alessandra definitely stole the show in the Passion Play wings (above)! The wings came from a collaboration between Victoria Secret and Swarovski Elements that took seven years to design and make. The antique copper wings are plated with 23-carat gold and are embellished with 105,000 Swarovski crystals. Apparently Alessandra did extra back strengthening exercises leading up to the fashion show and you can imagine why when you learn that this set of wings weighed 10kg!!During the fashion show music was performed by Jay-Z, Kanye West, Nicki Minaj, and Maroon 5. On the left is Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine serenading his model girlfriend Anne Vyalitsyna as she walks down the catwalk to his song 'Moves like Jagger'. Adriana Lima looked sensational in blue underwear and a massive 'Incredible' cape whilst Kanye West sang his hit song 'Stronger'.Brazilian Angels Alessandra & Adriana during the finale of the Victoria Secret Fashion Show ♥Confetti and balloons at the finale, how fun does that look right?! I loved seeing Miranda Kerr and Doutzen Krous back on the catwalk this year. Sadly missing was Angel Rosie Huntington-Whiteley who had another work commitment and therefore passed on walking the catwalk for Victoria Secrets this year.

The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show will be screened on US network CBS on November 29.

Will you be watching? xoxo

Cherry Blossom Lips

In the colder months of the year I tend to wear more of a red lip then say in summer time and recently I've been loving the AVEDA Lip Glaze in Cherry Blossom.

Cherry Blossom is part of the Aveda Rehydrating Lip Glaze range which contains 11 other gorgeous shades from nude to bold. The lip glaze is infused with plant emollients and is clinically proven to moisturise, plump and smooth the look of fine lines of your lips. 

The gloss has a lovely formula, shiny but not sticky, pigmented but still with a hint of sheer and it also feels super refreshing and tingling due to its organic vanilla and mind aroma and flavour! 

This is the lip glaze on my lips, such a bright cherry red, I love it :)

For a high gloss look you can wear it alone, applying along the natural contour of lips or for a more intense effect, layer over other lip color. Also a little tip is if you want more of a 'pouty' lip then focus applying colour intensity at the centre of your month.

Do you like a red bright gloss like this? xoxo

Aveda Cherry Blosom Lip Glaze retails at £15.50 and is available online here.

The future belongs to…..

Picked up the December issue of UK Glamour magazine yesterday and it came with a lovely freebie! This month Glamour are offering a FREE Nails Inc polish with every magazine and there are four different shades to collect: Tate, Victoria, Piccadilly Circus and Basil Street. A Nails Inc polish usually retails for £11 and a Glamour mag is only £2, so I’d say that is a pretty good bargain! :)My copy came with the Nails Inc nail polish in the shade ‘Tate’ which is a rich warm red colour!
I am a big fan of Nails Inc polishes, the formula is always so smooth and the brush makes it easy to apply. This is two coats plus a Seche Vite fast dry Top Coat. Me and my flat mate were both doing our nails in front of the telly last night while watching America’s Next Top Model (cycle 16). Have to say, am truly loving my new flat! ♥

And yes it's that time of the week again….. Happy Hump Day xoxo

And Miss World 2011 is....

On Sunday (6 November) 122 contestants showed off their figures, boasted of talents and skills and spoke of their hopes for a better world, all in hopes to win the coveted Miss World 2011 title. The annual beauty pageant took place in London this year with the show being broadcast live to an estimated audience of more than one billion viewers in 150 countries. On a lazy Sunday evening, I was on the couch in my comfies watching the last hour of so of the finale to see Miss Venezuela, Ivian Sarcos (21) win the famous crown!

She is the sixth winner from Venezuela. "I believe that the next Miss World should be a woman of responsibility and reason," Ivian said before winning the title. "I believe the woman should be committed to the organisation and help people in need. Beauty with a heart", added the Venezuelan, who works for a broadcasting company and has a degree in human resources. Out of the top 7 I definitely think Miss Venuezuela was one of the most stunning! Interesting facts are that Ivian has 12 siblings, was sadly orphaned as a young girl and doesn’t speak English!   

Full of emotions when they announce her as winner and being crowded by last year’s Miss World, Alexandria Mills of the United States.

The final seven at this year’s Miss World chosen by the judges, were Miss England, Miss Korea, Miss Philippines, Miss Puerto Rico, Miss Scotland, Miss South Africa and of course Miss Venezuela.Second runner up was Miss Puerto, Amanda Victoria Pérez (left) and Miss Phillipines, Gwendoline Ruais (middle) finished as the first runner-up. On the right is Miss Korea, Kyung Min Do.

L-R: Alize Lily Mounter from England, Bokang Ramaredi Montjane from South Africa and Jennifer Reoch from Scotland completed the Top 7 Finalists. My top 3 from the final seven were probably Miss Venezuela, Miss England and Miss South Africa.

What about you? Did you watch any of Miss World 2011? xoxo 

NOTD: Blue Asphalte

Hey! Did you all have a good weekend? I was rocking the following nail polish on the weekend:

This is So Laque Nail Polish in Bleu Asphalte (#37) which launched as part of the Bourjois Paris Ballerine collection back in April this year. I love the colour of this polish; it’s a very stylish blue-grey shade. I found the colour quite hard to capture in the photos so I think in the above pictures it looks a lot bluer than it did in real life. It’s really more a dark slate grey with a hint of navy which comes across a little better in the photo below.

The polish is highly pigmented, which means you’ll only need 1-2 coats and it has a gorgeous super shiny finish! So overall; lovely shade, good formula but it I found I did chip reasonably fast (after 2-3 days I needed to be remove it due to chipping).

I think dark nail polish can either look a little vamp/gothic or if you get the shade right it can also look really chic. This shade is definitely very modern and classy!
What do you think; have you ever rocked a dark nail like this? xoxo 

How to wear red jeans this fall..

One of the hottest trends this fall seems to be coloured jeans. I was immediately hooked on the look but couldn't decide what colour would suit me & my style the best. I was debating between cobalt blue and red but in the end red won because I felt it was more striking and suitable for fall and winter. 

I ended up finding a great pair at ZARA and have been loving them ever since :)
Here is a recent outfit of the day:

♥ Red skinny Jeans by ZARA (cropped with gold zips)

♥ White ruffled sleeve t-shirt by ZARA

♥ Leather high boots by Country Road

♥ Fake Fur Scarf by Primark

♥ Leather biker jacket by River Island

Red jeans could seem intimidating to pull off, but they can really be as versatile as your trusted indigo favourites. The best advice I can give is probably just to wear them like you would your regular jeans! But if you're still a little shy about sporting the red jeans trend, here are some quick tips: 

♥ Don't pair red with red. Instead wear with black, white, gray, navy or beige/nude.

♥ Team the red jeans with a pattern! This could be polka dot, animal print or nautical-inspired stripes. The busy print is a nice balance to the solid red.

♥ Even bolder (but still right on trend) is to team your red jeans with equally bold colours.  For example a bright orange top, blue blazer or even a yellow belt!

♥ Red jeans look fabulous with neutral-coloured or black heels, flats and boots.

♥ Avoid carrying a red handbag when you're wearing red jeans. It will just be way too much. Instead stick with a tan, white or black bag. Or as per the above point try colour blocking by adding a bold green or blue bag!

Here some more red jeans inspiration:

The other night I teamed my favourite new jeans with a French Connection black silk vest for a fun and easy evening ensemble just like Stacey in the first pic!

I'm loving all these looks and definitely think I made the right choice going red! 

Will you be bold and getting yourself a pair of red jeans this fall? xoxo

Discovering BB Creams!

For the last few months I started noticing the term ‘BB cream’ popping up everywhere in the media; from blogs to magazines. To be honest I’d never really heard of this product before and when my flatmate pointed out to me that she’d read about it and bought one, I thought to myself, Roz you are supposed to be a beauty blogger, how can you not know about this! So I decided to do a little research. If you are, like me, a bit clueless on the whole concept of BB creams then read on….

BB cream stands for ‘Blemish Balm’. Now you might think I am talking about some kind of spot cream but that’s not the case. It’s generally marketed as both a cosmetics and skincare product. BB cream was originally formulated in Germany and used by dermatologists to help laser surgery patients protect, soothe and refine highly sensitive skin while providing light coverage for post-laser scars, acne and other blemishes. BB cream became very popular in South Korea and soon, it exploded all over Asia and now it’s the new beauty hype of 2011 all over the world.

These days BB creams come in a variety of different formulations and qualities. Some are said to have skin whitening or brightening properties. Others are anti-acne, some are anti-wrinkle, some are intended to even out skin tone, and yet others to lighten blemish scars. BB creams are sometimes used like a primer under foundation, and if tinted may even replace foundation and some newer ones will have functions of primer, foundation, moisturizer, sun block, pore minimization and skin refining all together which can save time and money in make-up. Basically BB cream is billed as the answer to all your skincare woes in a single product! Sounds like heaven right?

So after doing this research I was quite keen to get experimenting to see if the hype lives up to it’s reputation! The first BB cream I decided to play with was UNE's Intuitive Touch BB-Cream foundation. UNE is the natural beauty sister company to Bourjois that promises a high performance range of products that are paraben-free, made from bio ingredients and almost totally natural. Most BB creams seem to come as a liquid form so it was quite interesting to see that UNE has launched their BB cream as a solid compact. But I have to say I like the look of its stylish simple mirrored packaging. UNE says their BB-cream foundation is a 7 in 1 product that will smooth, correct, moisturise, enhance, mattify, nourish and protect your skin at the same time! Being a creamy compact I was expecting it to feel quite oily and heavy but was pleasantly surprised that the UNE BB cream felt light, smooth and silky! It seems to almost melt into your skin and blends really naturally. It’s a cream to powder formulation and you can control the coverage you want. Apply as a concealer with the small brush provided or use your fingers or regular foundation brush (in my case my stippling brush) to apply all over your face for a light to medium coverage foundation. Final thoughts? I am enjoying using this product and it’s been a positive first experiment with BB Creams. UNE’s Intuitive Touch BB-Cream would be great for people that like a natural finish that feels gorgeously creamy and smooth on your skin, that provides that little bit extra to say a tinted moisturiser. After this I'm definitely keen to try some more BB creams to compare…..watch this space!

UNE BB cream comes in 7 shades @ RRP £14.49/€19.99.
Available from Boots, Superdrug & Lovelula.com

Has anyone tried this yet or any other B.B. Creams? Would love to hear your thoughts :) xoxo

Happy Hump Day %

I seriously can’t believe how the days are just flying by at the moment. The UK girl band The Saturdays actually switched on the Christmas lights in Oxford Street yesterday because it’s Christmas already in 7 weeks, c’mon that is just plain scary right? ;) I think it feels a little bizarre that Christmas is upon us so soon because only about  a month ago we were experiencing an Indian summer here in London; sun bathing in the parks and wearing summery dresses! 
But you can definitely tell it is autumn now; one of my favourite seasons.
I just love all the red, yellow and orange colours and the hundreds of fallen leaves throughout the city. This is a picture I took on the weekend whilst biking through Kensington Palace gardens in London, so pretty!

We also had day light savings on the weekend which means it’s now dark by 4.30pm which is bit of a struggle to adjust to but then again to me winter and it’s darkness has something cosy about it too. I love being snuggled up and warm inside with candles, lights and maybe a hot cuppa tea! At the moment I am loving the Lounge scented candle by Rodial Life & Style. It fills my room with a luxuriously gorgeous honeycomb & vanilla fragrance! I think scented candles are fabulous because they make you feel warm, relaxed & when people walk into your room they go ‘ooeeeeh’ ♥

Happy Hump Day everyone! xoxo