Arrivederci!

Hey darlings,

I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend? I had a bit of a rough day yesterday - got some bad news about the job I was going for in London. Sigh, back to square one....Life feels a little like a massive puzzle that's in a 1000 pieces and I am note quite sure how to start putting the pieces back together. But I know I will get there, someday, somehow! Keep smiling right? :)

However on the mega PLUS side, I am off on holiday today for a week to the italian island of Sardinia!

I will miss blogging but I can do with a holiday to relax and re-focus. Good weather (fingers crossed) and delicious Italian food; what can be better to heal the soul? ;)

Arrivederci (bye bye) and see you in a week! xoxo

A Dangerous Affair with Marie Claire

I just love the magazine's in the UK! Why you ask? Because you get sooo many free goodies! Honestly it seems like every magazine provides some kind of free beauty goodie to seduce you to buy their mag! And I shamelessly have to admit, their techniques work ;) This month with Marie Claire's UK November Issue they enticed me with a beautiful FREE Ciaté Nail polish.

There was an option of two colours. This darker plummy red and a bright red one. I choose the darker red one because it perfectly suits the current autumn & winter fashion trends. 

The colour is called "A dangerous affair" Ooh la la ;) 

Shade looks a little lighter in this photo; it's more like the colour in the bottle 

but it was hard to reflect the true colour in the photo!

Ciaté says: "Long lasting full coverage nail enamel with mouth-watering shades that are terrifically "bang-on-trend" with names that scream "modern day woman!" Flawless painting made easier with optimum 250 bristle flat brush." 

I had never really heard of Ciaté polishes before but have since checked out their website and think their colour & product range is fantastic. Polishes are priced at £9 each and I found the application was smooth and only needed 1-2 coats to get great coverage!

You can check out their full colour range online. I am definitely adding 'Sugared Almonds', 'Cookies and Cream' and 'Power Dressing' to my lust list!  Thanks to Marie Claire I can also share with you lovelies an exclusive offer of 15% off the total order when you shop online at www.ciate.co.uk! How?

Enter code: CIATEMC at checkout! Note: Offer ends 18/12/2010 and they ship internationally.

PS: let me share my little secret when it comes to applying nail polish.....

Tada! It's my Essence Nail Polish remover pen. It's a real life saver, because I am not very good at tidy nail polish application, left hand ok, right hand...BIG mess. This pen comes in handy to fix up the smudges :) Are you a polish applicator extraordinaire or do you use little helpers like this one too? xoxo

The city of dreaming spires...

Last weekend (while in the UK) I went for a lovely adventure with some friends to the town of Oxford. For those of you that don't know; Oxford is an old city in South East England. It's known as "the city of dreaming spires" and is most famous for it's medieval University. The city is full of beautiful old University College's that reminded me a lot of Harry Potter (I actually think some scenes of the movies where filmed there!) 

We had a great time seeing the sites during the day and some of the oldest pub of the country at night ;) What a fabulous place; stunning historic pretty buildings and SO very English! 

Here is a quick Oxford OOTD picture: Leather Jacket by River Island (my aviator jacket (with woolen lined collar removed) 

White/Blue striped long sleeve VILA dress with padded shoulders

Leather gloves from Zipper (a vintage clothing store) in Amsterdam

We also visited the oldest coffee house in England - Oxford's "the Grand Cafe"There I enjoyed one of my favourite things about the United Kingdom.......DEVONSHIRE TEA!Oeh I just ♥ warm scones with cream and jam! Nom nom :)

Chanel - Enigma

For fall, Les Contrastes de Chanel collection is all about sultry, smokey eyes. It's dark, sophisticated and consists of grays, purple and olive hues.  When I spotted the Chanel # 19 Quad "Enigma" it was love at first sight! 

Enigma (noun): a person, thing or situation that is mysterious, puzzling or ambiguous.

Chanel Enigma Quad: My first ever Chanel Quad ♥ and it's a stunning mix of four luxurious creamy eyeshadow powders in shimmering peach, olive toned/chocolate grey, silver/mauve grey and deep plum.

This quad is definitely all about the smokey-eye which is right up my alley :) There are many looks you can create with this quad; from a soft pink lid with darker colours in the crease or really smoking it up using the dark colours all over the lid.

The pigmentation of these shadows is very rich. They are super soft and silky and may come across as powdery but are actually very easy to work with and allow you to build intensity of colour. All the shades can be intensified a notch or two by using them wet, rather than dry. I also love using the dark plum shade (applied wet) as an eyeliner! 

Below a quick picture of the "Face of the Day" I created with the Enigma Quad a few days ago:

♥ Eyes:

Chanel - shimmering peach colour (all over lid)

Chanel - silver/mauve grey (crease & lower lash line)

MAC Smolder (waterline)

MAC Fluidline in blacktrack (upper lash line)

Chanel Inimitable Intense Mascara

I can't wait to experiment some more and try out different looks; especially a dark smokey look! Please note that if you like/want this quad, that it is limited edition, part of their Fall 2010 collection. However if you love grey taupe/purple smokey eyes, I would definitely recommend this product. Great quality and amazing colours for autumn and winter.