TRESemme Split Remedy

I’ve been using the new TRESemme Split Remedy range.

My mother’s words echo in my mind: “the only cure for split ends is to chop them off.”

In my heart, I still believe this to be true (I’m not convinced hair can be repaired completely through ionic bonding) but the positive effects of this range should definitely not be overlooked. After using the range (shampoo, conditioner, intensive treatment and serum) for nearly two weeks, my hair is glossy, shiny and easier to manage. The big three requirements, you might say, are met. Both ‘professional and affordable’, I’d definitely buy these products again but will also be sticking to my regular trims. Mum would kill me if I didn’t!

www.tresemme.com

Ps. I nicked the photo from www.orfalseglitter.com thanks Saz! x

Wash-off Cleansers, Tried and Tested

Ren Clearcalm 3 Clarifying Clay Cleanser £18.00 for 150ml

http://www.renskincare.com/p/3325/ClearCalm+3+Clarifying+Clay+Cleanser+

They say: ‘A purifying, antibacterial cleanser formulated to combat and help prevent breakouts and blemishes.’

I say: 'This smells good (quite minty) and feels really creamy and moisturising which is quite unusual for a cleanser designed for problem skin. It doesn’t really foam very much but there’s something quite relaxing about taking the time to massage it in. After rinsing, my face felt really moisturised but I almost felt like I needed to use a toner afterwards to refresh my skin. It’s really good at getting rid of mascara though so I’d recommend it for that. Love the packaging, the pump dispenses just the right amount of product - it looks really cool and futuristic.'

Super by Dr Nicolas Perricone Sweet Clean $30.00 for 118ml
http://www.getsuper.com/product/super+skincare/cleanser/sweet+clean.do?search=basic&keyword=sweet+clean&sortby=newArrivals&page=1

They say: ‘A gentle cleanser that wipes out dirt and makeup. Packed with Acai, an exotic antioxidant from the Amazon.’

I say: ‘Super by Nicholas Perricone is a really cool new skincare range, stocked in Boots. It’s like the friendly, less-scientifically-intimidating younger sister of the original NV Perricone range designed for older skin. I like this cleanser; it smells amazing (it contains Acai, every product in the Super range is based around a superfood) but doesn’t foam quite as well as I expected it to. It leaves my skin feeling clean and moisturised. Super.'

Aesop Parsley Seed Facial Cleanser £23 for 100ml
http://www.aesop.com/shopuk/product.php?xProd=198

They say: ‘A stimulating gel cleanser for glowing skin.’

I say: 'This is my favourite of the three. It smells absolutely gorgeous, lathers beautifully, leaves my skin feeling clean and fresh and looks good on my bathroom shelf to boot. I have but one criticism: it could do with a pump dispenser because it’s quite hard to control the amount of product you pour out. I’m trying to be sparing because I want to make this last for ages. It really is that good. I will definitely buy this again.'

Hola Ombre

I love going to the Mac tent for a make-over. This time I was given a purple flick on my (tired) eye and an 'ombred' lip - graduating from deep purple to pink. Gorgeous. Please excuse my slightly spotty chin, too many toxins at the Diesel party the night before!

Making up for Diesel (and 10 magazine)

I went along to the Diesel Black Gold and 10 Magazine party on New Bond Street last Friday.

As the party was for Diesel Black Gold, I thought I'd dress (and make up) appropriately...

I curled my hair with GHDs, applied black liquid eyeliner to my eyes and did the same with my lips. A slick of mulberry-coloured lipstick on top kept things moisturised. I finished with a sculpted face and defined eyebrow.

Ps. DJ for the night, Hanna Hanra (www.thebeatjuice.com) was absolutely amazing, playing classics by Destiny's Child, Lucy Pearl and En Vogue. Roland Mouret was dancing away, looking as gorgeous as ever!

We later left the party and headed for the Twenty Six magazine party in Whisky Mist - great fun.

Shamelessly Name-dropping at Marios Schwab

Mr Hudson, Hurts, Kelis, Eliza Doolittle, Marios Schwab, Henry Holland, Nick ‘Grimmy’ Grimshaw, Erin o Connor, Marina and Diamonds and BB from Dirty Sexy Things (phew) all attended Marios Schwab’s super cool afterparty at the W Hotel in Leicester Square. Many inflatable animals (smuggled in from the Mulberry party at Claridges) also attended. Yes, it was a Sunday but no, that didn’t mean we didn’t party hard.

A gorgeous collection deserves a great send-off and this party, hosted by Fran Cutler, was exactly that. My final memories of the night include dancing intently with an inflatable Zebra, doing a (bad) Australian accent then eating a KFC.

Nails with the Saturdays!

The Saturdays pose with their new nail varnishes and a fan

The Saturdays have launched a new nail varnish with affordable make-up brand Fashionista (stocked in Superdrug). It's called 'Magnetism Nail Lacquer' each shade is named after a Saturdays song - my favourite is Una's, Ego Green, a rich emerald shade. The girls launched the new varnish at the Soho Sanctum Hotel and, refreshingly, were really excited about the range and seemed to have had a lot of involvement with the conception of it.

The varnish gives a cool 'wave' effect - you just shake the bottle, paint two coats on. When the second coat is still wet, you just hold a magnet over the top and watch it work. It worked best on my thumbnails, I think because there's a larger surface area. Judging by the previous success of Barry M's crackly Nail Effects, I think this will do really well.

The Fashionista make-up range, including the Saturdays' nail varnishes (£6) and magnet (£3) is available to buy in selected Superdrug stores.

Toni and Guy at LFW

Here I am with the lovely Samuel, who managed to turn my partied-out locks into a big, bouncy seventies-inspired extravaganza. I love it!

The First Hair Fashion Show!

My photos are rubbish but just wanted to quickly tell you about Toni and Guy's 'Hair Meet Wardrobe' event on Thursday night. It was held in the BFC tent and Naomi Campbell herself introduced the concept. In a nutshell, Toni and Guy have come up with a concept involving matching high performance hair products with fashion looks. Toni and Guy is one of the main LFW sponsors so it was really exciting seeing the focus shift to them for a change. I have been using all the products from their very generous goodie bag - they are amazing!

Celebs at the show included Naomi, Olivia Palermo (my favourite), TOWIE's Lydia Bright and Amber from Made in Chelsea!

I'm about to go and get my hair done at the Toni and Guy tent, will keep you all 'posted' (groan).

Amy News

The Amy Winehouse Foundation, set up by Amy’s father Mitch, launches tomorrow, on what would have been singer's 28th birthday (I still can’t believe she’s gone).

www.MoreTvicar.com is selling an exclusive Amy Winehouse tee in her honour. It’s priced at £22.99 and 100% of the proceeds will go to the Foundation.

There are five other T-shirts in the Amy Winehouse collection (also priced at £22.99). Together with the Charity Tees, they can all be viewed and purchased at: www.moretvicar.com

A Chari-tea Party

Thursday September 22nd is White Stuff’s National Wear a Tea Cosy on Your Head Day. Each White Stuff shop supports its own local charity and all are geared towards helping disadvantaged children and young people.

Loads of celebrities have got involved; Henry Holland, John Rocha, June Brown (AKA June Brown) and, most recently, model Jacquetta Wheeler and Editor of British Vogue, Alexandra Shulman.

I hosted a ‘Chari-tea Party’ at my house last Saturday, raising £45 for the White Stuff Foundation.

There was a prize draw (to win a goodie bag), I did tailor-made manicures and there was a jumble sale too. We didn’t end up drinking much tea - more G&Ts! I invented a cocktail for the day, the Teacosy Tipple, which included raspberries, elderflower cordial, mint, gin and tonic.

Guests were encouraged to bring a teatime treat and a donation.

If you’d like to host a chari-tea party of your own, get some tips (and a downloadable invitation here): http://www.whitestuff.com/-aNWATCOYHD_PARTY?icn=NWATCOYH_160811_NWATCOYHD_HOME_host_a_chari_tea_party

You can donate your fundraising money to the charity here:
http://www.justgiving.com/teacosy?icn=NWATCOYH_160811_NWATCOYHD_FUNDRAISING_sponsor_your_shop

Cosies at the ready!

Kirk from TOWIE in his tea cosy

Jacquetta Wheeler

Alexandra Shulman

A chari-tea jumble sale

Becky and Saz cosy up

betty in a cosy

Charlotte wears a handmade cosy

Elly and Betty coordinate

The girls

Tara and Camilla

The teatime feast

The donations/prize draw table

Nails!

The Teacosy Tipple!

Jo susses out the goodie bag she won

Tara and Charlotte munch

Looking Reem - TOWIE Style

Look reem, smell reem, be reem.

Essex girls and make-up go together like Mark and Nanny Pat’s sausage plait - very well. With this in mind, The Only Way is Essex beauty range is hitting the shelves of Superdrug and Argos. Along with the biggest bronzer I have ever seen (Essex Glow, RRP £10.00), there are affordable fun, colourful eye palettes and lip glosses aplenty. These would make fab presents for younger relatives or Secret Santa presents at Christmastime.

I attended the brand launch last Wednesday at the Soho Sanctum Hotel. Admittedly, I was keen to see the cast in the flesh but was, perhaps, slightly dubious about the potential quality of the products. Particularly, I was nervous about ‘Dazzle’ and ‘Be Reem’, fragrances for women and men respectively. Dazzle was actually not as bad as I expected – fresh and floral in a sort of ‘Charlie Girl’ way. I was actually impressed with men’s Be Reem – so much so that I am wearing it as I type this! Both fragrances are priced at £18.49 and will be available in the Fragrance Shop from October 2011.

Shut uuuuup and don’t be jel - take these products as they are intended; fun, purse-friendly reminders of the show that captured Britain’s heart.

Sam, Jess and Kirk fielded questions about the new range (it was a 'no' to vejazzle kits, sadly)

I convinced handsome Kirk to don a tea cosy in honour of National Wear a Tea Cosy on Your Head Day. Find out more here: http://www.whitestuff.com/-aNWATCOYHD_HOME?icn=wk19_autumn_launch_Homepage_NWATCOYHD

Mulberry at Vogue's Fashion Night Out

Tali Lennox presents me with my wrap!

Mulberry’s Fashion Night Out was one of the best on New Bond Street. And no, I’m not just saying that because I won a Feather Friend wrap one of the half-hourly prize draws! They had Mulberry mojitos, face-painting a fortune teller, nail artists and goodie bags. Lots of fun.

I celebrate Vogue's FNO with Laura and Elly

Bastyan at Vogue's Fashion Night Out

“Modern classics with a twist”

The Bastyan team invited me to join them at John Lewis for Vogue’s Fashion Night Out. Although I have only recently discovered this gem of a brand, it has quickly become one of my favourites on the high street. It has won me over with luxurious fabrics, sloping, flattering silhouettes and the best attention to detail I have seen in affordable clothing for a very long time.
Formerly Senior Designer at Whistles, Tonia Bastyan launched her brand in Spring 2010. These are clothes made to be worn for years after purchasing. The core range includes great fitting jeans, classic silk shirts and timeless coats. The dresses are more trend-led but no less elegant. Most are also extremely versatile and would work for a number of occasions.
A case in point is the silk/Lycra Tokyo dress I for the event. The design was inspired by a vintage Japanese kimono and represents Bastyan’s first experiment with print. During the day I wore it with a simple knitted cardi, a pair of opaque tights and my favourite dusty flat biker boots. When partytime finally arrived, I quickly switched my boots for skyscraper patent platforms and replaced the cardi with an infinitely more glamorous Bastyan jacket, resplendent with its hundreds of stacked matte sequins. It’s detail like this that makes an occasionally three-digit price tag simply worth paying.

I caught up with Tonia Bastyan at the buzzing Bastyan John Lewis concession to see what she had up her stylish sleeve for the future. The Bastyan founder seemed really excited about upcoming plans to collaborate on a new print collection with textile designer Vanessa Harrington, “There’ll be a selection of DNA and floral prints. It’s an opportunity to really make the clothes your own.”

www.bastyan.co.uk

“For me, it’s all about affordable luxury – giving the customer more than they expect”_Tonia Bastyan

Styles are often inspired by Tonia’s collection of vintage clothes and the Bastyan colour palette is based around neutrals, mainly chocolate brown, black and navy but for spring/summer ’12, there are plans to introduce “a beautiful vintage chartreuse and hot tomato red.”

I had the opportunity to see some of the current collection on the runway as John Lewis hosted catwalk shows at regular intervals. I joined guests including Mischa Barton at the 6.30 showing. It would have been amazing to see an outfit per brand but (I suppose because of time restraints and model numbers) clothes and accessories from different brands were mixed. I spied another favourite Bastyan dress with leather detailing at the neckline and managed to snap the model waiting backstage (see below).

A very glamorous member of the Bastyan team in the rust version of my Tokyo dress

Glam Vogue Fashion Night Out guests visit Bastyan

Vanessa Harrington makes gorgeous personalised bracelets with the Tokyo print fabric

“I am obsessed with detail”. Gorgeous details are a Bastyan staple

Autumn Beauty: Tried and Tested

Autumn’s here and it’s time for a big new beauty round-up. I’ve been trying out the newest products the beauty world has to offer. Here are my findings…


Smashbox
O-Plump
£20.00 (now £18.00) for 10ml
http://www.debenhams.com/

They say “O-PLUMP is the first intuitive lip plumper that goes on clear and then reacts with your personal chemistry to turn lips your own custom shade of pink, while instantly plumping to perfection.”

I say: I’ve tried many-a lip-plumping formula in my years, so I approached this one dubiously. It had the familiar tingling sensation but I found the results to be more pronounced than with previous experiments. In terms of O-Plump turning your lips ‘your own custom shade of pink’, I can say that my lips were coloured in a flattering shade. I’m not convinced that this shade varies very much from person-to-person. Apparently it reacts with water molecules. A very scientific experiment in Islington’s Breakfast Club saw my friend and I smearing it on the plastic table cloth to see what it would do. It went on clear and turned pink. Not sure what that really proves though because (I think) plastic also contains water molecules.

Hmm. Either way, the most plumping plumping-lipgloss I have used for sometime. It feels silky, not sticky, which is always a bonus.

Skin Wisdom
Instant Benefits Eye Roll On
£7.00
Tesco 0800 505 555

They say “The new Instant Benefits Eye Roll On instantly refreshes weary eyes and reduces the appearance of puffiness and dark circles.”

I say: A refreshing start to the day. After using my creamy wash-off cleanser, I follow with my moisturizer then this. The roller makes application easy and, most importantly, doesn’t drag the delicate skin around my eyes. This is a good one for young skin (if you’re in your twenties) but I’d recommend something with anti-ageing ingredients for older skins.

Benefit
They’re Real Mascara
£18.50 per 85g
http://www.benefitcosmetics.co.uk/

They say “This bodacious breakthrough lengthens, volumizes & curls lashes for a spectacular “out-to-here” look! The long-wearing, jet black formula doesn’t smudge, budge or dry out so your luscious lashes last all day.”

I say: Brilliant mascara. It lengthens and plumps enough to make me consider replacing my old faithful Dior Blackout. The end of the brush is rounded (bit like the popular Givenchy wand) meaning you can capture the little lashes at the edges of your eyes which tend to escape a coating. As usual, with Benefit, I love the packaging. It seems the bold claims on the box (94%
saw dramatic length & volume* 90% saw base-to-tip curl* 94% saw visible lift* 100% saw long-wearing results* Results observed in a consumer panel survey) are substantiated.

Smashbox
High Definition Healthy FX Foundation
£28.50 (now £25.65) for 30ml
http://www.debenhams.com/

They say “An oil-free, weightless formula packed with anti-aging, revitalizing, and firming ingredients that work overtime to provide cellular nutrition for skin.”

I say: As soon as I used this, I knew I was onto a winner. Normally, I’m pretty loyal to Bobbi Brown’s foundations but this one gives such a smooth, silky finish that I could well be turned. Even though stress has made my skin pretty dire, a decent slick of this creamy formula in the morning definitely makes the best of a bad situation. It feels lightweight and gives a glowy, healthy-looking finish. I’ll buy this again (especially as it’s on sale at the moment!)

Ren
Tonic Moisture Mist
£18.00 for 50ml
http://www.renskincare.co.uk/

They say “A cooling and hydrating facial spray that revives and tones the complexion.”

I say: Love this. You know when it gets to 3pm in the office and you need a coffee/tea/massive Haribo fix? You’ll start looking forward to a good spritz of this lovely-smelling spray. It’s particularly enjoyable for spraying colleagues with. As well as having a bottle permanently attached to my desk, I will also be taking a bottle on the plane whenever I travel – it will be perfect for mid-flight skin revival. My only criticism is that the spray could be a tad finer (but this wouldn't stop me buying it again).

Laura Mercier
Laura Mercier Nude Lip Glacé (I trialed ‘Bare Pink’, pictured and ‘Bare Naked’)
£18.50 for 4.5g
http://www.lauramercier.com/


They say “Laura Mercier Lip Glacé is a high-shine, perfectly pigmented lip gloss with rich, long-lasting colour and brilliant shine that creates the appearance of fuller lips.”

I say: Bare Baby and Bare Naked are part of Laura Mercier’s new Nude Lip Glacé collection. I have been alternating between the two since I got them – I love both shades! I think my favourite is the slightly pinkier Bare Baby for its sixties baby doll appeal. Bare Naked is a tad chalkier in colour but would work a treat to blank out lips against a grey/brown smoky eye. Laura Mercier lip glosses are wonderfully shiny and give a really good finish. Unlike YSL’s lip glosses, Laura Mercier ones smell and taste okay too, not like pencil shavings. Bonus.

Avon
SuperShock Eyeshadow Pencil
£7.00
http://www.avonshop.co.uk/

They say “Blending easily to leave a beautiful shimmering finish, these dual-ended pencils have a creamy formula which is perfect for shading.”

I say: As I have abnormally greasy eyelids, I thought I’d better leave this one to my friend Tara to test. The golden/brown tone looked brilliant with her blonde hair and tanned skin and she said she found it really easy to use. Her only criticism was that she thought the paler shade was a bit hard and dragged a tad when she applied it. Not wanting to miss out, I had a go as well. I found the paler shade perfect for highlighting the brow bone and inner corners on my eye and, surprisingly, the warm brown colour faired extremely well on my shiny lids, staying put for far longer than I had expected. A nice compromise between cream and shadow formulas.