MAC Flat Out Fabulous

I am such a lover of MAC Ruby Woo lipstick - it's the perfect red, and as it's matte it stays put alllllll niiiiiiighhhhhttttt looooonnnnnnngggggggg. When MAC extended their line of Retro Matte lipsticks, I couldn't wait to go and have a look at their offerings.

I came away with Flat Out Fabulous; a hot pink which is very wearable, and, does, indeed, stay put. I tested it out last weekend and it stayed through drinks at a bar, and a three course meal!

The good news is, the new Retro Matte collection will become part of the permanent line - yay!

Has anyone tried any of the other new shades from the collection?

My Day at The Arqiva BAFTA TV Awards Style Suites

As well as the big film awards early in the year, BAFTA also has a Television Awards in May. I was invited down to the Style Suites last week where this happened....

Photo courtesy of Jai'me from www.boymeetsfashion.com

They had invited select members of the press, and four bloggers to experience the Style Suites which were located in London's swish Corinthia Hotel.

The Style Suites are open to all the nominees of the BAFTA TV Awards to get gorgeous pre-awards. I was given the star treatment for the day, visiting each of the brand partners, and getting made up to look like Sienna Miller in The Girl (which I'd never watched before so it was very interesting to see the look unfolding!)

The day began with a St Tropez Spray Tan with celebrity tanning expert Michaella Bolder, a good start to any day! As the look we were going for was very 'English Rose' skin-wise, we decided to go for the Sensitive tan - which leaves skin with a glow, but has no guide colour, and develops over 8 hours - so when I got home that evening, I had a gorgeous tan ready for the weekend - score!

The St Tropez team will be in the suite from the Thursday before the awards, right through to the Sunday where they will be providing skin finishing. Some of the nominees request a spray tan in their own home, which they also have a team available to do.

Michaella predicts that most of the nominees will be going for a glam golden glow. The clothes for the  TV Awards are much more playful, and perhaps shorter - this will be the first time a lot of people will have got their legs out in a long time (me included!) so making sure there's no pasty legs on the red carpet is what she's trying to achieve. Skin wants to look luminous and glowing - slightly dewy like holiday skin with a nice sheen.

I asked Michaella for her top tips for tanning at home - the most failsafe option is a mitt and mousse. The mitt will absorb the moisture of the product so you get a nice even finish over your skin. Pump 2 to 3 pumps on to the mitt and distribute over the body evenly. Use the mitt with no extra product on to do your hands and face... and to get the backs of the hands, put your hands into a claw shape to make it looking natural.

Next up I was off to the MAC room - where the next step of my transformation took place. Sienna Miller's character wears quite simple make up, with a black eyeliner flick and either red or neutral lips - I decided to go for the red look for a bit more fun! 

Photo courtesy of BAFTA

For the 10th year running, the MAC make up team will be on hand on the day of the awards - there will be a team at the Corinthia and another team doing home visits. They will all be given a touch up kit so they can keep themselves looking gorgeous for the rest of the night.

Terry Barber, the Director of Makeup Artistry at MAC said, about this years trends - "This year, I predict we will see a throwback to the glamour of old Hollywood with a touch of modern neon. Lashes will be well defined with Extended Play Lash Mascara – a mascara that is like a ‘blow-dry’ for the lashes. Lips will be filled with a matte burst of electro red. Skin will be refined and teamed with a light layer of foundation coverage to make skin look fresh, natural, yet perfect – try the new M∙A∙C Mineralize Moisture SPF15 Foundation." And that's pretty much what I ended up with! The Mineralize Moisture SPF15 Foundation felt comfortable on my sore, Roaccutaney skin and left a pretty dewy finish. After eyeliner I had corner lashes applied, and Lady Bug lipstick with some lip conditioner.

Terry Barber’s top five products used in the world of Film & TV over the last twelve months include: 

MAC Prep + Prime Skin Base Visage which gives a flawless look that works from underneath the foundation.

MAC Fast Response Eye Cream - a must-have for those tired moments on set - it's an "instant miracle worker".

MAC Extended Play Lash in Endless Black gives up to 16 hours of wear.

MAC Lipstick in Lady Danger as it works as a great  retro, yet modern red for any period drama or television chat show needs.

Off to Mark Hill, the hair partner for this year's awards who expect to be busy on the day of the awards with 10-20 people to style each! There will be 9 stylists and assistants on hand, so it seem's it's a very popular stop in the Style Suites!

Mark Hill himself will be there on the day, and already has confirmed Sienna Miller as one of his do's for the day. 

The team predict that this year will be Hollywood and glam (I sense a theme here?!) - it's moved on a notch from loose waves and is more defined. Plaits aren't such a main focus any more but may be incorporated into a style, or we may see micro-plaits which are hot this year and adds texture to a style while being effortless.

Photo courtesy of BAFTA

My hair was curled with the tongs, then rolled and pinned up at the back. I've never had my hair like that before, but I felt like I was from a different era for the whole day - I loved it!

House of Fraser is the style partner, and is offering brands including Biba, Untold and all of their eveningwear collections such as Shubette, JS Collections and Adrianna Papell. 

The nominees are sent a lookbook with the available gowns in it, however many of the nominees and VIPs will book personal shopping appointments within one of the stores in the weeks leading up to the awards. When it comes to who get's what it's first come, first served, and once a dress is confirmed it will be off limits to anyone else. The team are also on hand to avert any last minute dress disasters - last year a certain celebrity's vintage gown split one hour before the awards so they had to sew her into her dress!

The main trends the team predict for the night will be a mixture of modern, catwalk inspired monochrome and clean lines as well as Great Gatsby inspired, traditional glamour, with full length beaded gowns.

I asked for tips for any woman deciding what to wear for a big night out and the general consensus was to wear something that not only made you feel glamorous, but was also comfortable as there's nothing worse that spending all night breathing in or constantly re-adjusting your dress. Go for something that fits you perfectly in all the right places and you will automatically feel confident and beautiful.

Carat is the jewellery partner - a brand that is loved by many celebrities, as you can see in the photo below.

Just look at these gorgeous diamonds!

Psyche! The secret of Carat, is that they don't use diamonds, but hand cut and polished natural gemstones. This means the price tag is a lot more purse-friendly and they can actually be worn, rather than hidden away! 

They didn't have the range there on the day but check out the bracelets from the Chelsea collection - I am totally lusting over the rose gold ones! 

The brand operates in a similar way to House of Fraser - the nominees are sent a look book, and if they like any of the pieces, they are sent them with a view to them being worn. I picked out some cluster earrings which we thought were very fitting for the era, a matching ring, and a simple bracelet.

Photo courtesy of Jai'me from www.boymeetsfashion.com

Photo courtesy of Jai'me from www.boymeetsfashion.com

And that was the end of my day! I really enjoyed getting to see how the other half live for the day and was so fun to transform into someone else I never would have otherwise. The hair, clothes and jewellery are things I never would have picked out myself - it was great to have a play with new styles, I encourage everyone to do it! 

The Arqiva British Academy Television Awards take place on Sunday 12th May. You can watch them on BBC One and BBC One HD. I shall be going to the awards (what on earth shall I wear!?) so make sure you're following me on Twitter and I'll try to sneak in some updates! 

MAC Archie's Girls

MAC release limited edition collections more often than I've had hot dinners, but as soon as I got wind of the Archie's Girls Collection, I knew some of it had to be mine! I am too young to have experienced Archie's Girls as a comic, but I believe MAC have taken two of the characters from it - Betty who I gather is blonde, sweet and innocent and made a collection for her, and Veronica - a dark haired vixen, and made a collection for her too.

It was released in USA at the beginning of February, so I have been eyeing up the swatches that have appeared on blogs, making a list of what I wanted. It still isn't for sale in MAC stores in the UK, but when I got an email from Selfridges saying they were stocking it exclusively I couldn't wait to place an order!

I feel I was quite restrained really - if I was better off I definitely could have ordered more, I love the look of most of the collection. Number one on my list of importance was Betty Bright. The moment I saw it swatched on Temptalia I knew it was definitely my kind of lipstick!

When I swatched it on my hand I thought it was quite similar to Viva Glam Nicki by MAC, however side by side, you can see that Betty Bright looks much more coral in comparison to the pinkiness of Viva Glam Nicki.

It's a Satin formula, which I find means that it will be moisturising, long lasting and buildable. The colour is opaque and not overly creamy - however as this is a colour verging on neon, I found that it needed to be applied with care so as to not look streaky - and also picked up any dry bits on my lips. That said, I adore the colour and think it will look amazing with a tan.

The next must-buy for me was the Pearlmatte face powder in Flatter Me, which is also from Betty's collection.

It is described by MAC as a 'golden peach base with coral hearts' which sounded up my street - Stereo Rose by MAC has been my blush of choice for years now, and this sounded like it could come close colour wise. Besides, I loved the design of the product - the hearts are mega cute!

In the photo above I first swatched just the coral heart, then the base, then the two mixed together. The hearts could quite easily be avoided if you wanted to use the base colour on it's own - I think it would be a really pretty highlight shade. Temptalia said in her review that she had problems in getting any colour from the hearts - however I found it to be no problem at all - the two mixed together leave a gentle coral colour which I find to be ideal with my kind of skin tone. It's fairly sheer so it may not show up on darker skin tones though.

It went on really easily and smoothly and lasted all day - could this be a contender for my new fave coral blush!?

The Pearlglide eyeliners all looked amazing - if I could, I would have bought all four in the collection, but they are part of MAC's permanent collection so I wasn't too worried about getting them just for the Archie's Girls packaging (plus they're £1.50 cheaper!). Instead, I went for Black Swan, and Designer Purple.

Amazing, huh!?

They have glitter particles in them, which make them almost frosty looking and shimmery - even wet. You can't use them in your waterline in case the glitter irritates your eyes, but they look fab on the lower or upper lash line.

They are really highly pigmented so one swoop of the pencil is all you need. I found them to be incredibly soft - so thin little eye liner lines are not possible straight from the pencil. These are all about being seen! The softness means they glide onto the eyes really easily. I think the black will look great to accentuate a smokey eye, but think I may end up using these as eyeshadow bases - they seem the perfect consistency!

And so, unfortunately - that is all... the photos above show me wearing everything I bought.

Let me know what you think, and what you have your eye on from the collection.

The MAC Archie's Girls collection is available at Selfridges.

Britain & Ireland's Next Top Model Live - Backstage Makeup Tutorials

I am just about back in the land of living after my trip to Birmingham with AOFM for the Clothes Show Live where we did make up for Britain & Ireland's Next Top Model, and the Diet Coke stages - I had such an amazing time I cannot begin to tell you!

The key make up artist for Britain & Irelands Next Top Model was Michelle Webb. The look started off as per the face chart below, and the make up I did on Roxanne.

We started this look by preparing the skin and making sure the lips were well moisturised which I did using my new fave, Dr Lipp.
We wanted a velvet finish to the skin so used an appropriate foundation according to the model we were making up - I used a variety, from MAC Face & Body, to Bobbi Brown's BBU Palette, and Illamasqua's Skin Base - after day one we had more of an idea of what each models skin was like and which foundation would suit them.
We used MAC Luna as a base on the eyelid, and added a small pat to the cheekbone, then used MAC Smoulder pencil tightly in between the upper lashes.
We then used MAC Naked Lunch shadow on the lid and inner corner of the eye, and MAC Wedge with a small crease brush along the entire crease and outer corner of the eye which we then blended with a fluffy brush.
We then added a flick of black eyeliner using MAC Blacktrack, and lined the inner rim of the eyes with MAC Fascinating pencil.
We added black mascara to the top lashes only then brushed through the brown, filled them in then gelled them in place.
For the lips, we used MAC Brick pencil, then MAC Redd pencil to fill the lips in. We then used MAC Diva lipstick in the center of the lip and blended it out.
We then contoured using MAC Harmony under the cheekbone and into the temple, then used MAC Melba blush on the apples of the cheeks and blended up into the contour and temple.
We highlighted the cheekbones using MAC Soft & Gentle MSF and added a small amount to above the cupids bow.
We then set the face with powder - I used Make Up Forever's HD Powder.

By day two, the look changed slightly, with Michelle Webb adding more of a powerful lip - we were now using MAC Nightmoth liner on the lips, filled in with OCC Lip Tar in NSFW, blended together.

Here is Michelle demonstrating the look on Emma G, and the finished make up look.

Here is Emma S with the same look, that I did on her.

On the final day, Michelle decided to go out with a little sparkle, so once again, we changed the lips! This time we lined the lips with MAC Redd lipliner, added OCC Lip Tar in NSFW, then patted on Helen E glitter in Red Disco. Their lips looked amazing, especially under the lights of the catwalk! Here are some of the make ups I did on Madeline and Anita with this look.

The girls were so friendly, such a gorgeous bunch of girlies. We had lots of others popping backstage too, Amy Childs who was showcasing her collection, Times Red, Charley Speed who was presenting, Grace Woodward, and Danny Shah who was singing on the same stage. Here are a few more pics from the BINTM stage.

The AOFM Team with some of the BINTM Girls

The BINTM Dream Team!

Crowds watching the show

The AOFM Team with Charley Speed

The AOFM Team with Danny Shah

Touchups on the glitter lip for Emma S!

The AOFM Team with Grace Woodward

Touch ups on Letitia, this years winner

Letitia Herod

Penelope

AOFM Team with Times Red (no one else got the 'stick your tongue out' memo, obvs!)

Backstage touchups

AOFM Team with Amy Childs

As well as doing the make up at Britain & Irelands Next Top Model, we were also doing make up for the Diet Coke 'Image Stage', which was a catwalk graced by some gorgeous models. AOFM artist Kelly Mitchell designed the look using Rimmel, who was the sponsor for the show.

Here is the face chart and look that Kelly created, on Molly, one of the stunning models.

For this look, after prepping the skin, we applied foundation and concealed around the eyes.
We used the Rimmel brown eyeliner, and thickly lined the upper lid, then blended it out using a brush. We also added a thin line under the eyes, and again, blended it, this time using a small brush.
We used the '002 Smokey Brun' palette - using the darkest brown colour we pressed the shadow onto the lid, over the liner, and using a small brush, added it to under the eye too.
We then used the gold tone on the lid, from where the dark brown colour ended, up to the crease - making sure not to take it into the crease. We added a small amount onto the first 1/4 of the eyelid.
We lined the inner rim of the lower lash-line with a white Rimmel eyeliner then got to work with the brows! The brows were fairly strong, using a colour slightly deeper than the natural brow colour. We then added a small amount of the lightest colour from the Smokey Brun palette under the brow and into the inner corners of the eyes. We didn't use any mascara to keep it fresh and innocent looking.
We used a fairly strong contour then added '012 Coral Rose' blush on the apples of the cheeks then blended slightly upwards.
We used Pink Impact eyeliner as a lipliner quite softly, for a little definition then added a mix of lip glosses on '701 Outrageous' and '640 All Day Seduction'.

Here are some more images from the Diet Coke 'Image' Stage.

The days were very long, but I was working with such a fabulous team of people, the adrenaline pushed me through! Normal blogging service should resume as of now! x