*Still Beauty

This is a new series of posts I will publish every week, with the title "Outfit of the week", which really is very self explanatory.

This week goes to Cara Delenvigne, in Saint Laurent at the Brit Awards. I love everything about this look. This very dark red really suits Cara and I love her makeup as well, a bit more bronzy, a bit more tanned, it is very summery and also works well with her darker hair shade.

I am not usually super-excited about her personal style when she does not go for formal events, but I really think she killed it this time.

Being original, being cool are one of the most sought after things is this over-shared and over-visualized social media world. You look at street style heroines and their seemingly effortless style, they way they wear those jeans and the way their hair is parted, it all looks perfect. And we want to be perfect, this is why we buy and follow trends and trendy items.

But how many times did we ask ourselves how not to be a mere copy of more famous people but to be original and stand out on our own? Believe me, a lot of times!

I put this post together from different products I have seen and tested overtime, which I think are good and can instantly give you a quirky look.

• Marvis toothpaste: this italian toothpaste brand is 50 years old and produces one of the nicest and most effective whitening toothpastes around. The packaging is super cool and the tastes it comes with are very peculiar and to die for (e.g. jasmine minth, amarelli liquorice or cinnamon). Plus point they also sell travel size versions of these so they are also very good to slip in your luggage before travelling

• Les Merveilleuses Ladurée: you probably know Ladurée as the patisserie that produces the most famous french macarons. However just a couple of months ago they released with the collaboration of Sephora this beauty line that counts fards, eyeshadows, hand cream and soap. The all have good reviews online and their packaging is to die for, absolutely divine, creating baroque style containers for the makeup products. They can seem like quite of an investment, but you can easily double them as home decor.

• Liquides parfume: You'll find these in the company's boutique in Paris, or for the UK at liberty.co.uk. The boutique sells a mix of independent parfume brands and it is the place to find something unique. Having your signature scent, and not sharing it with tons of other women across the world is certainly something that will make you feel unique. I personally did that when I created my personal scent at Molinard in France.

 These are just three items, but the general advice here, is that not always famous is better, quality or originality wise.

I recently chnged my skincare routine out of a case. I spent the night at my boyfriend's place for a couple of night in a row and as I wasn't wearing makeup at all and I skipped my night clean up. I was feeling a little lazy and I thought that the wipes would have been too harsh as there was nothing to take off.

In the morning I noticed that my usual redness was gone and my skin felt clean and soft, so I decided to repeat the experiment and actually noticed that my skin was much better skipping off this treatment.

I did a little online research about it and I did find out a correlation between over-cleaning and irritating the skin. Apparently it is not only about too harsh cleansers but also about the quantity of cleaning, so if too little is not good, too much is definitely not better.

So I would advise you if you have like me combination skin, or dry or normal skins to reduce your cleaning from twice a day to just once. Obviously be aware that you NEED to clean your skin if you wear make up, so you clean at night but you don't in the morning. If you like to go barefaced than you can actually choose when to clean, but I still reccomend doing that in the evening to take off any pollution or dirt deposited from the outer environment.

Highlighters are the perfect finishing touch to any make up, in fact they can be your only make up.

I have beeen using regularly 2 different highlighters, the Artdeco anti aging concealer (don't be misguided by the name, it's a good highlighter, on the pattern of the Touche Eclat) and the Benefit Cosmetics Watt's Up. I also recently added to my make up bag the Touche Eclat by YSL not because I needed it but it was a gift.

There is a difference between the benefit Watt's Up and the other two as this one is a more traditional highlighter, in that that you cannot use it as a concealer as well. I heard about it first from an interview that Sara Sampaio gave to Nylon magazine (spoiler alert: she's such a babe!) where she said she used it as a finishing touch for her every-day non-makeup makeup look. I was really curious for a couple of reasons:
1) I never used a proper highlighter before
2) Non-makeup looks are my favourite thing right now
3) I fell instantly in love with Sara after her Victoria's Secret fashion segments and I really think she has a very healthy look

So I got the highlighter with an amazing deal on Ebay. This kind of product, a creamy stick, is quite shimmery so it cannot be used as a concealer as it will leave sparkles on your skin, very suble ones, but still sparkles.

The Benefit highlighter can be used:

• in the inner corner of the eye, a little touch is perfect
• on cupid's bow
• down the bridge of your nose
• over your brows in a little line
• on your cheek bones

Generally the guide line is use it where light would hit your face or to get a nice point of line to redifine makeup (lipstick and eye make up). A trick that I discovered while playing with it and testing it on my face is: put a little dab on your eyelid, it gives your eye a real shine that can be achieved only with very good lights or  lot of champagne coloured eyeshadow; but this is less drastic and more natural looking, making your eyes instantly luminous, but without any make up being visible.

Touche Eclat and Artdeco are on the other hand, liquid makeup in a pencil that facilitates distribution. Both f them are really good products and quite pricy (if you want a good price of the Artdeco try to buy it in Germany, there the whole line can be found at a fraction of the Uk price, mainly because the brand is German itself).

Since this is  more a tutorial-kind of post I will generally tell you the application for both products as it is the same. These liquid concealers/highlighter do not contain shimmer or sparkles, their aim is more to give you a rested look than a glowy skin, which means that there are other focal points for their application.

These products can be used:

• over your brows, or just under for a little contour
• down the bridge of your nose
• on the cheeck bones
• on the sides on your nose
• on your dark circles
• around your lips again for a little contour
• on your forehead
• on the nasal-mouth lines (just to be understandable by everyone, on those big line that form when you smile from your nose to your mouth)

As you can see these products play with light in a different way, if the Benefit cosmetics works to attract and reflect light, these work on minimizing the shadows on your face.

Generally it could be argued that the Touche Eclat/Artdeco formula is well adapted for slightly older skins were it can minimize wrinkles and work as a eye area lifter when put around the eyes, while the Benefit one is more aimed at a yourger skin as wrinkles are not a problem and a glowy skin is required. Let's not forget though that these products can be combined when we are dealing with a more complete makeup look. If we want a full Oscar red-carpet look than together these formulas work wonders. With Touche Eclat on the sides on your nose, around lips and on your forehead and Watt's Up on yuor eyes, nose bridge and cheeckbones you can achieve a complete killer look.

I would like to finish off this post with a quote from Blair Waters, a Nylon magazine executive producer and contributor, about Touche Eclat: "A magical product. A couple days a week I’ll just wear this, without anything else—because If you look too pretty all the time, people don’t trust you."

I recently was involved with my university's charity fashion show, this is why I haven't been posting for a while.This post is basically about a designer that really hit my immagination when I saw her creations backstage at the fashion show.

Rachel Mcmillan is a 23 years old Glasvegian that won a Scottish Fashion Award just six months after openig her fashion label. This really reflects the talent of this young and gorgeous woman.

Rachel has a very unique and modern personal style that permitted her to have her own show during London Fashion Week, and while her clothes are still very affordable for the beauty and quality the come with, you will certainly find yourself with a head-turning fashion piece.

Rachel's style is in my opinion very scottish, the dark blues and greens, the purples and black are very reminiscent in their shades of the traditions tartan colours, non very light, but vibrant in their darkness.

The patters are also very interesting, not always very big and more lines of colours tight together that form flashes of light, a bit like multi-coloured windows of gothic cathedrals.

Rachel Mcmillan is surely my new fashion obsession and I will raid her online shop for sure!

Working or studying means numerous hours in front of a computer. So why not make the most of it and incorporate some simple beauty steps in it?
This is the ultimate guide to what should always be on your desk with you.

Water. The first and untimate beauty need, a good hydrated skin and body comes from the inside.

Hand cream. Putting on hand cream can take away some of your time, mainly because you need to massage it and wait until it is absorbed, but doing that while you're reading a paper or reviewing something can be a very easy and non-distracting way of multi-tasking

Mists. Mists are the utlimate way to keep your skin hydrated after long hours of climatisation exposure. Spay some on th eyelids as well, as your eyes dry up as well if the outside environment is not adeguate.

Lip balm and lipgloss. These are perfect to keep your lips well hydrated and unchapped, easy also to freshen up your make up in case you need to go somewhere stright away.

There's really not much more you need on your desk with you, it is still work what you're doing and not a spa session, but these little things will help you cope better wit the stress.

France has probably some of the best beauty lines in the world, and some of the more cheap ones are actually amazing too. So here are some products that you should buy if you happen to be in Paris, without spending gazillions on a cream. If you can't fly all the way to France for them amazon and other online stores will do just fine.

The products I am talking about are found in pharmacies, so no need for sephora or magasins Printemps. these products are sworn by make up artists, models and beauty insiders for a reason, because they are amazing.

La Roche-Posay, Effaclar A.I. Correcteur Ciblé des Imperfections. This product is the best you can find for pimples! It dries them over night and prevents them from leaving marks.

Embryolisse Lait-Crème Concentré. I first heard about this when Sara Sampaio reccomended it for her sensitive and break out prone skin, then I read quite a few make up artists having it. Basically it is a multi-purpose cream, that can be a make up remover, a mask and a primer besides being obviously a good moisturizing cream.

Bioderma Créaline H2O Solution Micellaire, this micellar wwater is a make up remover and a cleanser, and generally the secret weapon of every French woman ( I wrote a review here).

Homeoplasmine. This is a beauty insider product that basically substitutes Vaseline. it works wonders for winter ravaged lips or chapped skin. You will need to ask the pharmacist for this one as it is usually stored behind counter.

Now with your shopping list done, go and buy your beauty products. I hope you'll be strolling down les Champs élisées, but if that is not the case you can always play "Je t'aime, moi non plus" while you stock up on these products online; and don't worry you're not the only one who thinks that she should go back to Paris!