Event: Stila Glitter Undergound Collection Launch at Harvey Nichols Birmingham

What do you think of when you think of the Seventies? Is it flares, Saturday Night Fever and Studio 54? How about the glamorous side of the decade? Think David Bowie and Cher, the sparkle of the disco ball and that of the dazzling disco era itself.

For Spring 2017, Stila has gone glam with the Glitter Underground collection. These modern metallics, inspired by the dazzling 70's come in gorgeous jewel tones to make eyes, lips and cheeks shine bright, no matter what your skin tone.  

I was invited to a special Stila preview at Harvey Nichols to meet Kaci Harabedian, International Director for Stila Cosmetics and Sascha Jackson, UK Lead Make-Up Artist.

Hosted in the Style Concierge, I headed to the Stila counter to experiment with some of my favourite Liquid Lipsticks before being whisked away to a hidden room to meet the Stila girls.

In the Style Concierge, Haci and Sascha were sat waiting to show us the beautiful new Stila Glitter Underground Collection.

The girls showed us the new products including the Matte 'N Metal Eye Shadow Palette, Magnificent Metals Glitter and Glow Liquid Eye Shadow, Heaven's Hue Highlighter and Glitterati Lip Top Coat.

Magnificent Metals is a stunning sparkling glitter eyeshadow, that's so intense and pigmented. Glitter can often be difficult to pull off or look sparse, but this is intense and rich. With a lightweight, water based texture, this dries quickly and doesn't leave any fallout.

Here's a swatch of all the colours from the Magnificent Metals Eye Shadow Collection. The shades include Diamond Dust, Molten Midnight, Smouldering Satin, Rose Gold Retro, Bronzed Bell, Smoky Satin, Gold Goddess and Kitten Karma.

The Matte 'N Metal Eye Shadow Palette is full of wearable shades, with six subtle matte nudes great for everyday, and six metallic shades to amp up the volume. This is everything you need for day to night glamour! Even better, each vertical line of four shades is designed to be worn together, so no guessing!

Heaven's Hue has an incredible texture, almost like a soft bouncy pillow! These unique highlighters are soft, light, and literally melt into the skin, making the skin look warm and glowing. Available in three colours, Kitten, Transcendence and Bronze, these are so wearable for everyday illumination or bronzing.

Lastly, we were shown the new glitterati Lip Top Coat. In two shades, one for neutrals and one for berry shades, this top coat is perfect for wearing over matte colours, like my favourite Stay All Day Liquid Lipstick, to add a sparkling finish.

What do you think of the new collection? Which one is your favourite?!

Stila Launch at Harvey Nichols Birmingham

Forget diamonds, this year I'm asking for Stila for Christmas!

I was lucky enough to be invited to Harvey Nichols recently to celebrate the launch of the new counter, have my makeup done by pro artist Sascha Jackson and also take a sneak peek at some of the new product launches, just in time for Christmas.

Heading to the beautiful new Harvey Nichols store, I sat down to see Sascha and talk through some top trends for AW16, what she's been up to this year and also try out some of the fabulous new products.

First off, we caught up and I discovered Sascha has been a busy bee travelling to New York for the M&S Beauty Conference, and to make up the models for the Alice and Olivia shows.

At AW16, skin was flawless and dewy, with a real focus on graphic eyeliner and glitter eyes, with plenty of colour!

Back to the makeover. Sascha started off by asking what kind of look I wanted, and I opted for something bronzed with a very seasonally appropriate lip.

To get the look, Sascha used Correct and Perfect All in One Colour Correcting Palette to correct the skin followed by the new Aqua Glow Serum Foundation and Aqua Glow Serum Concealer. Perfect for dry skin, this moisturises and hydrates. The concealer has all the same benefits of the foundation, but in a thicker consistency, with light reflecting pigments.

Next, products from the newly launched Perfect Me Perfect Hue Eye and Cheek Palette in shade Medium Tan were used on the eye to create a beautiful bronze look, with shade Curious as the base, Feisty in the crease, Magnetic used as a wet liner blended in with more Feisty and the same shade underneath.

The eyes were finished off with Stay All Day Waterproof Brow Colour in Medium and Huge Extreme Lash Mascara in Black.

Back to complexion, the same palette was used to blush, and Stay All Day Bronzing Powder in medium was used to buff over the face.

Finally, the lips were lined in Stay All Day Lip Liner in Cabernet and finished off with Stay All Day Matte'ificent Lipstick in Framboise.

I adore what Sascha did and especially fell in love with the lip colours she picked for me; these are going to be perfect for Christmas!

How beautiful are all the products used too? These make such perfect presents, especially the palettes which start at £28 for Perfect Me, Perfect Hue.

With such beautiful packaging and standout products, any girl would love to receive some Stila for Christmas! Have you tried any Stila products before? 

Event: A Beautiful Fairytale at Harvey Nichols

Last week I took a trip to Harvey Nichols for the Beautiful Fairytale event, a chance to try out some new products, meet representatives from some of the brands stocked in Harvey Nichols, and take a look at the store in the midst of the Mailbox redevelopment.

Myself, Ting from The Ting Thing and Elle

Outfit post alert: Dress and Shoes - New Look / Bag - Whistles

One of the highlights of the evening was the chance to win £500 to spend on shoes by guessing which shoe was hidden under velvet. Sadly I didn't win but it was fun to try!

The Shoe Competition

The Winning Shoe

Myself and Ting from The Ting Thing quizzed experts from brands including SantaVerde and Dr Jacksons and tried out the healthy drinks from Plenish.

Plenish Drinks available here

SantaVerde skincare available here

There was also a chance to spin the wheel and pick an extra prize with every purchase. I managed to resist but Ting and Elle took a spin and won both times! The gifts were fantastic and they won a Life candle and luxury body cream.

Spin to Win!

We also got to enjoy some themed drinks such as pink gin and tonic in mini milk bottles and treats from the sweet cart such as macarons, love hearts and chocolate mousse.

Ting from The Ting Thing

Heart Shaped Macarons

Love Hearts in Jars

Drink Me Pink Drinks

Pink Drinks only

Sweet Trolley

There was also time for dressing up fun and we raided the box and had our picture taken by the professional photographer on hand (the pictures below were taken on my camera, the first picture was taken by him).

It was great to have an excuse to look around Harvey Nichols ahead of the £50m Mailbox revamp when the store will take on 45,000 sq ft in time for a 2015 opening.

A big thank you to Harvey Nichols for hosting the event.

Harvey Nichols Fashion Show AW13

Get ready guys because the Harvey Nichols Fashion Show is back! A highlight in every Birmingham fashionista's diary, the A/W13 catwalk event will showcase the very best in designer collections on Tuesday September 10 at the impressive Old Post Office at The Mailbox. New season collections from Christopher Kane, Kenzo, Stella McCartney, Gucci, Markus Lupfer, Christian Louboutin and Philip Armstrong will all be included.

“We certainly set the bar high at our S/S13 show, so this one needs to be even more impressive,” explains Richard Vickery, General Manager of Harvey Nichols Birmingham. “Having recently announced our expansion plans, this event will give our customers a real taste of things to come”.

Tickets last year sold out quickly and around 500 guests are expected to attend including the city's biggest sporting stars, celebrities and VIPs.

Sponsors include Professional Player magazine, Aston Martin, Quilter/Cheviot Investments, Webster’s Interior Designers and Streets Chartered Accountants. Models’ hair will be styled by Paul Jones and SHOW Beauty while makeup will be created by the in store team at SpaceNK.

Tickets cost £15 and are available instore and from the Personal Shopping team.  The evening will kick off with a Champagne reception at 7pm, catwalk at 7.30pm and an exclusive 15% discount in store afterwards (uh oh!). There will be a charity auction, hosted by TV presenter Nick Hancock, with money raised going to the footballers’ charity XPro.

I can't wait to take in the new season collections and enjoy a few canapes, see you there!

Harvey Nichols Birmingham Spring / Summer 2013 Fashion Show

A few weeks ago I went along to the Harvey Nichols fashion show at The Mailbox Birmingham to see what first hand what we’ll all be wearing once the weather warms up. It was a freezing evening (it snowed later on) but we bravely tottered along in out highest heels and most stylish of dresses.

The fashion show itself was held in the Old Post Office. For those of you that don’t know, The Mailbox used to be a Royal Mail sorting office. The room we were in used to be the main sorting office (I think!) but was put to good use.

I didn’t take many pictures of the models themselves so I’ve borrowed the first two from the lovely Rachel from Pretty Petticoats.

The show was really professional and featured Jade Thompson from Britain's Next Top Model and 6 trends, Palette Cleanser (White), Colour Pop, Foil, Mixed Print, Monochrome and Fantasy Frock and brands such as Philip Armstrong, Phillip Lim, Alice + Olivia, Finders Keepers, McQueen and more.

After the actual show we all headed over to Harvey Nichols for canapés courtesy of Hotel La Tour, champagne and an Easter Egg hunt. We also got 15% off our purchases but I thankfully managed to resist! Afterwards we headed over to Marco Pierre Whites for more bubbles.

I somehow missed Rachel but I did bump into Fashion Mommy, EmilyJayne, Amy PYT, Wardrobe Mag and The Style Floozie. Lovely to see you all girls!

Christmas presents – What Santa got me for Christmas 2012

So this is super late, but hey, let me explain. I’ve finally managed to squeeze in some time for blogging after the madness of Christmas. Work was so busy that I only had time to take pictures in readiness for writing and posting later. But never fear, I can finally share with you the pictures of what I was lucky enough to receive for Christmas.

First up, my fellow beauty addict friend got me a personalised Glossybox! This was in fact a pink Glossybox filled with minis from L’Occitane, a brand that I’ve been meaning to try out more and did in fact ask for.  Inside the box I got a Verbena Shower Gel, Pivoine Flora Shower Gel, Essential Water and Cooling Hand Cream Gel as well as a red Yves Rocher lipstick which actually did come from a previous Glossybox. This was such a thoughtful present and I love things like this! I’ve used the Essential Water so far and really liked it as a toner.

Next, more beauty from a male friend who I was super impressed with! When asked what I wanted, I basically directed him to the Harvey Nichols beauty hall.  He did so well! This Korres Lip Butter has been on my Amazon wishlist for a while and the rose colour is exactly what I would have picked myself. It hasn’t left my handbag since I got it, and I really use it as a light lipstick as the colour is so pigmented it’s more like Benefit Benetint lipbalm. This nail polish is OPI, another brand that I’ve been meaning to try out more.  The shade, every month is Oktoberfest, is part of their special edition Germany Collection from Autumn Winter 2012 and is in my opinion the standout shade. A deep rich metallic red, I was so impressed by the consistency of this and it went on really easily. I’ll do a NOTD for you guys later.

This No7 Art Deco Palette was a Secret Santa gift from work. I haven’t had a chance to use it yet but the colours are a great mix of smoky browns, greys and blacks in this gorgeous handbag sized palette!

I’ve been going on about how much I wanted these UGG Scuffette II slippers for ages now, everyone is so sick of me talking about them! But, I finally have them! I got them in grey/black because I wear a lot of black, and they are ridiculously comfortable, much more so than cheaper imitations. So in short, get some!

I got a cupcake gift bag full of cupcake making bits and pieces as everyone knows how much I love baking! Inside are some cakes, sprinkles and a professional tin so next time I make cupcakes I can get really creative!

A few pieces from the family, I asked for the Benefit High Flyin Glosses set, Nivea minis and Harvey Nichols fudge (I love fudge!). The gloss set is perfect for me because I never finish any of my products and I get to try out all the shades, which are Coralista, Dallas, Bella Bamba, Hoola, Sugarbomb and Dandelion.

More family presents, a half bottle of Harvey Nichols champagne (which I got to enjoy at THIS event), Dior Addict Eau Fraiche perfume, Tweezerman Slant Tweezers (mine have gone blunt and I wanted to have a pair ready for when I send them to the USA to be sharpened), and finally, the Real Techniques Core Collection brushes. I can’t wait to use these!!

And finally, I got a bottle of Soap & Glory Clean On Me from my friend in Secret Santa (that's me sorted for shower gel for months!) as well as some gift vouchers which I’m going to spend on a NARS makeover and put towards some blusher/bronzer, as I always hear such good things about their products.

That’s it! I’m so lucky to have received such lovely gifts this year, beauty themed now more than ever as my friends get to know about the blog. What did you get for Christmas? Show me your links guys!!