Editorial/Couture Beauty

Thanks to the likes of Pinterest and Tumblr I have become increasingly obsessed with beauty and fashion editorials. I just love the harshly exaggerated features of the facial form combined with vibrant, highly pigmented colours which creates interesting and beautiful pictures which are so often featured in fashion magazines, couture fashion shows and in beauty advertising. Like couture fashion, beauty editorials allow for overstated looks that would otherwise be deemed 'crazy' in an everyday look. A definite reason for why I love beauty editorials so much is that the face almost becomes a canvas for a piece of art, where the face enhances the makeup as much as the makeup enhances the face.

By washing out the colours of the eyes, this picture creates an almost ghostly mood, further enhancing the darkness and shape of the lips.

Now that all of the major features of the face have been desaturated. The only facial feature that has been remotely highlighted are the models cheekbones, this creates the angular feel featured in the photograph.

The combination of the water layered over the face in this photo creates a clever distortion of the facial form. The way the water curves on the left side of the face exaggerates the models cheekbones, whilst the colours in the eye makeup and exaggerated and bold eyelashes reinforces the underwater theme featured in this editorial .

The beautiful eyelashes the model has on in this picture creates an almost fairy-like theme in the photograph.

I love the wet-look eye makeup contrasting with the orange power shadow under the lower lash line.

The peacock feather inspired eye is a beautiful feature in this makeup look. I think the gold highlights in the brow lift the whole eye look and is a gorgeous touch to complete an amazing eye makeup design.

The beautiful craziness going on in this picture is gorgeous to me. The white horizontal lines going across the eyes, chin and forehead contrast so well with the vertical shadows going down the models face, perfectly exaggerating the natural bone structure on the model's face. 

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My Obsession with Alexa Chung

Alexa Chung has always been an inspiration of mine, her free spirited attitude to life and of course her unbelievable sense of style are two of many things I constantly attempt to emulate. Her ability to mix girly preppiness with East End 90s grunge is something I am in complete awe of and I find her style extremely inspiring. Whether she is on the red carpet or wandering the streets of London, Alexa always seems to give off an air of effortlessness which is why, I think, her style works so well.

This all-black ensemble is one of my favourites as I'm always one for all-black but I think this outfit is particularly interesting with it's varied textures on each of the different pieces.

I love the aesthetics and textures featured in this look. I think the worn tshirt perfectly dresses down an otherwise flashy skirt. The pinned back hair, simple jewelry and natural makeup complete this laid back, low maintenance look.

I love Alexa's ability to make simple, staple pieces into trendy, fashionable looks. Just by wearing a printed band-tee and worn denim shorts paired with ballet flats, she has managed to create an effortlessly edgy outfit.

Alexa's school girl preppiness is one of my favourites. By layering on a few necklaces and adding a chic blazer to a very simple white tee and skirt, she creates a very easy look. I really love the leather messenger Alexa is holding in this picture as I think it adds the perfect touch of vintage to the whole outfit.

Alexa's makeup is the perfect touch to her edgy-feminine style. Her simple, signature winged out eyeliner paired with natural glowing skin is perfect for any look.

The mascara, red lip duo seen in this picture is trademark Alexa and in her words "a red lip is perfect to detract from heavy eyebags".

I highly recommend having a look at Alexa's book "IT" as it features the fashionable beauty talking about the people she draws inspiration from whilst giving the reader a flavour for her amusing, eclectic personality. 

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My Everyday Makeup/What's in my Makeup Bag?

During the week I don't wear any makeup as I like to keep my skin clean and allow it to breath, but when I do wear makeup, this is what I like to apply. My makeup bag is from Henri Bendel.

I like to keep my daytime makeup natural looking and dewy and to achieve this I like to start by using the photo finish primer from Smashbox. I like to use oil free primers to prevent my skin from becoming clogged and dirty.

Because I like to keep my skin looking dewy I tend to gravitate more towards BB creams and tinted moisturizers. The one I like to use is from Two Faced in the colour 'Vanilla Glow'. On the days when I need a little more coverage I use Nars Sheer Glow Foundation in the colour 'Santa Fe'. I like to apply both of these with a beauty blender to avoid streakiness and achieve a natural finish.

I tend to avoid powder formulations for my foundation as I think it has a tendency to make my skin look cakey and unnatural. If I do need a mattifying powder, I like to apply a foundation from Sephora with a kabuki brush.

After applying a base I like to contour my cheekbones, temples, chin and neck with Benefit's Hoola Bronzer using a contour brush from MAC. This is my favourite bronzer as it is a perfect colour for my skin tone and has no shimmer so is perfect for natural definition.

I tend to gravitate more towards cream blushes, especially in the winter time, as I think it is easier to create a more natural glow. My two favourites are Bobbi Brown's Pot Rouge in the colour 'Blushed Rose' and 'Zygomatic' from Illamasqua, both of which I like to apply with a MAC duo-fibre stippling brush.

If I don't apply anything else, I always like to fill in my brows. I think that defined brows frame the face really well and make the whole face look put together. To fill mine in I use a palette from Anastasia in the colour Brunette, using an angled brush and apply Maybelline's Clear Mascara to set my brows and hold any stray hairs in place. To highlight my brow bone and make the brows even more defined I use the matte highlight in the palette with a tapered blending brush from MAC.

I generally keep my eyes pretty simple so I usually just apply Bobbi Brown's Long-Wear Cream Shadow in the colour 'Velvet Plum' along my top lash line use Covergirl's Clump Crusher on my top and bottom lashes.

To finish off my makeup I have two different lip colours I like to alternate between MAC's 'Morange' and 'Lady Bug'. On the days I want a more natural look I like to use the Body Shop's Lip Stain, which I love because it gives a very vibrant red whilst maintaining a natural finish.

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