Lost Things

After a wild night out I woke up on Sunday morning to find this beautiful film in my mailbox. A real day saver. I instantly fell in love. With the styling the music and Alison's red hair. I will watch it over and over. This stop motion short was made by Angela Kohler and her boyfriend Ithyle, with Alison Sudol from A Fine Frenzy.
I know you will enjoy the film as much as me, So I sent Angela over some questions and I am so glad she had time to answer them. Pop over and take a look at Angela's wonderful portfolio too.


What was the inspiration behind this piece?
We wanted to make a visual journey, and we collaborated with Alison from the beginning, talking about the motifs that she likes in her personal life and in her music. We went to flea markets and picked up objects that inspired us, then we built the piece around all of those elements.

How long did it take to make?
3 days. We built the fake floor in our studio in one day, then shot the film in 2 days. When we were done Ali was pretty sore and from laying on her back on a wood floor for so long, and we all had a few splinters. It took a week to clean up.

Were there any parts of the film that were particularly hard to capture?
The Ocean scene was an experiment with string. We thought it would look amazing and flow, but it was really hard to get the enormous pile of yarn to be hidden behind her skinny little waist before it began to stretch to the edges of the frame. She was teetering on this giant yarn ball trying to be comfortable.
And our dog kept running off with pieces of it.

Who is the music by ?
Alison Sudol of A Fine Frenzy (who is the main character in the piece) crafted the music to fit the film and Butch Walker engineered and produced it.

Where or who are all the dresses from / made by?
Most of the clothing was vintage.

Who or what are some of your creative influences?
We are inspired by things around us. Old things. Things with texture and history. We do a lot of "hey look at this" to each other. I think if it is beautiful, it inspires us.

Do you have anymore that you are working on?
We are currently working on a series of advertisements for the Amazon Kindle as well as a bunch of personal projects, we are a little OCD, there is always some idea that we can't keep our minds off of.

Thanks again Angela.

FOTD with Sleek Eye Dusts

Just a short one - this is a look I created using Sunset and Blue Lagoon eye dusts from Sleek.

What do you think?

Sleek Eye Dusts

I'm not exactly on a spending ban, but have been doing a bit of credit bashing of late, so when I spied these little pots in Superdrug (£2.99) each I figured I could get my fix without breaking the bank.

Although they are absolutely gorgeous colours (I adore the yelllow!), I'm not entirely sure when I'd wear them and fear that they are just going to end up in my 'face painting' kit rather than my make-up bag.

They are highly pigmented and the colour goes forever; you'd only need the tiniest dot to cover an entire lid. However, the packaging is infuriating and my poor bathroom will be stained in beautiful rainbow colours for a few days at least. Lipglossiping had similar issues but she created a beautiful EOTD with 'Livid Lilac' (also her pics are FAB!)

From left to right: 'So Sleek', 'Fantasy', 'JetSet', 'Sunset', 'Blue Lagoon'

Frill seeker

Happy Saturday. I am so in love with everything pretty. Always have been. So it should be with extra caution that I set foot on the high street right now. But alas it is reckless abandon that rules my heart when I see all these vintage style sugared almond coloured frills and layers. If I promise to wear them every day will that go a little towards making up for my shopping misdemeanours?

LUSH Mint Julips Lip Scrub

I'll just say this is a sugar-based, chocolate and peppermint scrub that you massage into your lips, leaving them soft and pouty, then you get to lick the sugar off.

I am trying very hard not to eat it with a spoon.

LUSH Daddy-O Shampoo

I am normally steered away from LUSH by the over-powering soapy smell wafting out the door, but today, seeking solace from the painfully bitter sleet that started pounding on my delicate head, I found myself wandering in...

Trying to look like I was a real customer and not a 'crazy lady' I started picking up bottles and realised that the tester I was holding smelled divine. This shampoo is formulated for blonde and grey hair, but it is apparently good on any other colour too.

It's bright purple and claims to brighten blondes, leaving it soft and shiny. Now any true blonde out there knows that shine is not something that's easily achieved. Since it was only about £4, I bought it and made my way back out into the snow. Enter bathtime; within seconds my entire flat was filled with the amazing smell of Parma Violet sweeties and even as I'm sitting writing this, I keep getting wafts of sweet shop. Yum.

Now here's the thing. Usually with a 'shine' shampoo, it turns my hair into a soft, sloppy, 'can't do anything with it' barnet. My hair might be shiny, but it looks like a 3 year old's hairdo. This didn't!! My hair actually appeared to have a bit more body than usual! AND it ws shiny! WTF? This is a MIRACLE!! OMG I love this shampoo!

I was pleasantly surprised to discover it is suitable for Vegans! This shampoo is a little bottle of wonderment. Have you tried it? What did you think?

Plum

The sky remains the same, dark grey and always threatening never the less I have found a colour that really lifts my spirits and which luckily pairs perfectly with all greys. Plum. I have seen a few flashes of plum (a hat, scarf and skirt) in the off the runway shots in New York over at Style.com.

I managed to grab a some all my own today in the form of a soft throw and it was only £7.50. It befriends my hand embellished cushions very nicely. Although I will probably end up wearing it as a cape, its chilly at home today.

Beaute 'Fever' Liqui-Gel Stain

First of all, apologies for the horrendous pics today. I took them last night and unfortunately it was pitch dark by the time I got round to doing it, so stuck with the awful orangey lamp.

Anyway! My growing love for Beaute continues to bloom with my 3rd purchase from Coco Beau. This is one of the Liqui-Gel Stains in 'Fever'. It appears a little on the purple side on the official pic above, but it is blood-red in real life.

It is of a thicker consistency than other stains I have tried - Benetint is very watery, but this is like the syrupy sister. It blots on without running on your lip and is easily blended with your finger, or for a more 'just got out of bed and looked fab' look, blot on and just smoosh your lips together. It dries quickly and tastes sweet, without a horrible synthetic sickly smell.

It is marketed as a Cheek and Lip stain - I have only tried it on my lips, but as a stain 'uberfan' I am taking an educated guess that it will great for the cheeks too.

The first pic is the stain alone and the second is with a slick of very sheer Chanel red lipgloss over the top. I have worn this out twice now, both times for about 5 or 6 hours and it has not rubbed, or started to disappear at all - no touching up required.

It retails at £25, so quite pricey, but if you're like me and enjoy no-fuss products, then you'll get your money's worth.

Outfits for Marrakech

1 A humid summer evening.
Dress
Bag
Shoes
Scarf
Sunnies


2 Walking and adventuring in delicate florals and bright whites to reflect that sun so high up in the sky.
swimsuit
cardigan
bag
glasses
Trousers
top

I apologise profusely for the fact that I lost the link to where these sandals came from and the floral top seems to have disappeared much to my dismay from the Jigsaw website. I was hoping that one would make its way into my suitcase.

3 Bits and pieces to remember to pack.No expense spared.
bag
Two piece bikini
scarf/sarong
Earrings
sandals
sunglasses

I appreciate some of these items are extravagant but this blog is all about having fun and dreaming plus who knew Roberto Cavalli would design a dress to match my favourite flavours at Laduree?

Ps. all the interior images are from P'tit Habibi our hotel in Marrakech.

Make-up Bag Essentials - Benetint

There are some products that we flirt with; we spend £££'s on trends, colours, technology, only for them to fall by the wayside after a couple of weeks because you suddenly realise that the colour is crap or it isn't doing what you hoped. Then there are the products that you inevitably fall back on when your new flirtation ends. That's what this mini-series is about; the oldies, but goodies.

Today is Benefit's Benetint. This was actually one of the first two products I ever owned from Benefit (the other was Bad Gal Eyeliner) and believe it or not, it was given to me by Mac on our first Christmas together in 2005 and so, that Christmas, 2 Great Loves began.

5 years ago, I'd never heard of 'tints'. I'm not sure if Benetint was the first one on the market? Maybe someone can enlighten me? And I'm not even sure that I would have had the guts to go for something like this, if it hadn't been bought for me. Now, 5 years later, I don't recall what life was like without it. I use it all the time. It doesn't matter if I'm tanned, pale or inbetween. It works. And it always looks fab. We've had our ups and downs - the first time I used it as a lip tint and realised it had wiped off the inside of my lips, leaving me a ring of pink round my mouth. The first (and only!) time I spilled it over the cream carpet in my new, rented flat. It wouldn't be a good makeup day without 1 stained finger tip from patting it onto my cheeks.

So, this is for the girlies amongst you, who tend to stay on the safer side of makeup purchases and have never understood this blood red bottle of ink, winking at you from the Benefit stand...

I gently tap off the excess from the brush on the inside neck of the bottle and dot 5 or 6 drops onto my cheek in a circle, like here. I didn't demonstrate on my cheek as by the time I'd taken the photo, it would have stained in dot format and I was leaving for work shortly after these pics were taken... On your cheek, it wont 'spread' like it has done in the lines on my hand, unless your face is as lined as the back of my hand!

I pat the dots with the pad of my ring finger until all the dots are blended and there are no discernable lines. I repeat if I want more of a girly flush. It's then stuck fast for the day and wont budge or need touched up. If you don't like a lot of fuss, this could be your wonder product.

The 'before and afters'

It is available from most Boots stores, Debenhams and online. It's RRP is £23.50.

What are your 'can't live without' products?

Perricone MD 'No Foundation Foundation'

"New generation of foundation that let's your skin's natural beauty, but not it's flaws, shine through".

It's a lightweight foundation which contains (natural) SPF30, delivering a soft, dewy radiant finish, whilst providing what I reckon is a light to medium coverage. The actual product is kind of almost gel like, definitely more of a tinted moisturiser consistency than the double-cream consistency of traditional foundation, but still manages to deliver a decent amount of coverage. .

I'm delighted with the presence of SPF30, courtesy of Zinc Oxide and Titanium Dioxide. Alpha Lipoic Acid smoothes skin texture and deal with pesky fine lines; my skin did feel smoother - I particularly noticed it on the back of my hand after rubbing away the swatch!

Ok, so I've told you what it is and does, but what did I think? Well, it glides on beautifully and gave a brilliant even finish to my skin tone, covering all the minor blemishes and blotches, without it looking like I was wearing a full face of foundation. It did definitely give a dewy finish, which I was worried about due to my tendency for oily-ness around 4pm, but it seemed to stay under control. For me, I'm not sure the coverage would be enough for a night out, as I like a full coverage in candle-light, but for everyday wear this would be great. It wouldn't be Perricone without a funny smell, but this one is light, fresh and citrusy.

Unfortunately, it only comes in 1 'universal' shade, which is slightly disappointing and in the icy white winter sunshine, this is defintely 1 shade too dark for me. However it will be brilliant once I have a touch of summer sun on my face. I actually think it will be a great summer foundation since it's so light. It looks much darker on the hand swatch than it actually appears once properly applied onto the face and anyone who is darker than 'porcelain' would probably find the shade easy enough to work with.

Although I received this free of charge, it retails at £41 for a 30ml bottle. I only used a pea-sized amount, so can imagine it would last for at least a month, using it every day. You can check out http://www.perriconemd.co.uk/ for stockists.

Overall, a thumbs up from me!

Glossy

You can always trust Noa Noa to make spring fashions so girly and pretty, but what caught my eye the most were the beautiful glossy locks tumbling over the models shoulders.

All images Noa Noa

FOTD Featuring Beaute 'Girlina'

Morning beautiful people! Today this little beauty popped through my letter box from the fabulous peeps at Coco Beau, I ordered it on Saturday and it cost £22. It is of course, Girlina Weightless Lip Creme by Beaute. You saw me rave about 'Trace' a couple of weeks ago and as soon as I tried it, I knew I'd be back for more. I also ordered 'Fever' stain, which I will post in a few days.

The colour is very Barbie-esque and is a little scary on the swatch, but once I had it on and blended properly on my lips, it just melted into this amazingly beautiful girlie pink colour. So today's FOTD is dedicated to the team at Coco Beau who are lovely and are probably sick of hearing me rave about how fabulous they and Beaute are! Enjoy!

Products used are: Pro Lumiere in 10, Benefit Dandelion, Benetint, Chanel mascara (sorry the 'type' has rubbed off), Shu Uemura eyebrown pencil and Beaute WLC in Girlina

Birds and beeswax

I saw these pretty hand stitched birds from Pheasant Mailorder in a magazine today and had to bring them on over here along with a few other items, like these super bright pink candles and the fluffy rug that I want to smoosh my bare toes into. To top off my day while I was over there I saw Lobster and Swan listed in their news section alongside some of my favourite blogs, how flattered am I?!

All images Pheasant Mailorder.

The Difference Between Men and Women

This conversation just ensued between Mac and myself. Background information; we have just bought a house and Mac has spent at least 83 hours so far 'researching' exactly which new TVs will go where ...

Mac: Do you think we'll ever need a Blue-Ray player? or just a DVD player?
Me: emmm, we never watch DVDs. What is a Blue-Ray?
Mac: Discs. Never mind.
Me: But you told me a couple of months ago that Blue-Ray will become obsolete soon.
Mac: Yeah, but this is for HD.
Me: So why are spending £££'s on an HD TV if HD and Blue-Ray will be obsolete.
Mac: Not HD TV, HD DVD.
Me: Stop saying letters at me. Will I be able to watch QVC?

Nooberella's Fab Follower Giveaway!

To celebrate reaching the 100 follower mark, Nooberella at Nooberella's Secret Beauty Blog is doing a 'pick your own prizes' giveaway!

Check it out here

Some fab prizes and a fab blog! What more could you want!

A xx

dress like a sailor

We had a super fun and delicious dinner at a friends on Saturday evening. Then up early on Sunday feeling nautical I decided to wear the new dress that I got for my birthday a couple of weeks ago. Braved the red tights to nip out and grab breakfast, an apple tart and cinnamon caramel milk.

If only the weekend could last a couple more days.