{happy weekend: beating the january blues}

The best way to avoid the January blues, is to simply not think about it. The mild 11 degree temperature outside make this far easier than having to plod around in sensible shoes and scrape ice from your car at 7am, as has it prevented me from becoming a pyjama-clad recluse in bed or tucked up on the sofa from 6pm onwards - I've actually been braving a pair of sandals to go out to dinner and a few other fun things with my ladies after office hours.

After just three working days I'm so ready for the weekend; plenty of time may well be spent pyjama-clad relaxing with the boy and cooking slutty brownies (yes, so far I am sticking to my New Years Resolutions..) but plenty of time will also be spent browsing the shops, lunching and catching up with friends.

Beauty Icon: Blake Lively

Blake Lively, is bloody gorgeous. Born with quite clearly perfect genes, she shared some of her beauty secrets behind the scenes for her new million dollar campaign for the newest fragrance from fashion house Gucci - Premiere. 

What's your go-to beauty or hair look for events? "It depends. I was at a premiere in Los Angeles recently in a Zuhair Murad gown, and I could have gone two ways - a smoky eye and lighter lip with a very slicked-back, straight, long ponytail, or a Rita Hayworth look with the red, longer nails and little cat eyes. So I went for the latter because that to me was a fun, special moment. But the next day at the premiere in New York I had this beautiful Gucci mellow yellow gown, and with that I thought you could go Grecian or A Midsummer Night's Dream. So, to make it different from the night before, I thought: 'I want a high pony or I want a braid'. And I had a necklace that I was considering wearing, so I thought: 'let's wrap it around the braid because it will make it more interesting." So you decide upon the looks yourself? "I'm always designing what the hair and make-up will look like and I style myself, including the shoes, jewellery, accessories - all of it. But then I'm lucky to be in the hands of some of the most talented people who will say: 'so that's your idea, now let me actualise it in a way that's more beautiful'. Maybe it's that old classic Hollywood look, maybe it's messy Kate Moss hair or a slicked-back J-Lo ponytail. So there's no go-to, it's 'who do you want to be tonight?"

Five Favourites: Red Lipsticks

Red lipstick has long been, and will be, an iconic look for women. Keep the lip neat, the rest of the makeup simple and only ever apply a good shade that suits you skintone onto properly moisturised lips and you cant go wrong! Matte shades of red have always been my favourite, but the stunning editorial of the equally stunning Rosie Huntington-Whiteley from the UK edition of Vogue, March 2011, has me craving a big fat glossy red lip. 

My favourite ever, suits-everyone reds are; Chanel Rogue Allure Luminous Satin Lipcolour in Lover - 09 (£25)  |  Yves Saint Laurent Rogue Pur Couture Pure Colour Lipstick SPF 15 in Rouge Vernis - 35 (£22)  | NARS Cosmetics Semi-Matte Lipstick in Heatwave (£17.50)  |  NARS Cosmetics Semi Matte Lipstick in Red Lizard (£17.50)  |  Rimmel Lasting Finish Lipstick by Kate Moss in Red'n Chic (£8.95)  |  not a lipstick, and we're now onto number six of five favourites.. but you cant create Rosies red lip without this hero NARS Cosmetics Larger than Life Lipgloss  bin Norma (£19).

p r e v i o u s  f a v o u r i t e s  . . .

rose tinted glasses  |  face masks  |  liberty beauty hall splurges  |  beauty oils  |  summer nails  |  may 2012  | british beauty buys  |  tom ford spring/summer beauty  | matte lipsticks  

rachel xo

Fashion Inspiration: Naked in the Name of Style

From designers to models, theres no end to the style stars who have bared all in the name of fashion. Yves Saint Laurent appeared in the campaign images for his YSL Pour Homme fragrance in 1971 and billboards of a naked Sophie Dahl for YSL's Opium were banned in 2000. Kate Moss, Natalia Vodianova and Robbie Williams have all appeared naked on the cover of Vogue while, in February 2010, the third issue ofLove was issued with eight different covers of nude models - including Lara Stone, Kate Moss and Amber Valletta.

Fashion Inspiration: Print & Pattern

 

I may be a little late to this party, but I somehow (probably on Pinterest) managed to stumble across the seneca rising spring 2011 lookbook, and of course, fell in love with the motion of the shots, the soft colour palette and beautiful mix of prints & patterns.

Spotlight On: Stylestalker

To avoid feeling like a useless, new-fangled & part time blogger (after just one day of opening the site...) I've taken approximately seven minutes of a hectic day of packing, waxing, mani/pedi-ing, shopping & mostly drinking home made Martinis to share a few of my favourite images from the new stylestalker collection.

I love the candid, casual shots & the desire the pictures provides to get dressed up, drink too many vodkas & have a good old girls night out!

This will be my last post for the forseeable future; don't hate me, lets just call it a bit of bad timing!

Rachel x