A look at Paul and Joe's 10th Anniversary - Meow!

Blusher Stick in Minou

Paul & Joe are all set to celebrate their 10th Anniversary in style, kicking off this January with Meow! How better to start the year than a collection that celebrates Sophie Albou's love of cats and draws inspiration from the ultimate in sex kittens Bridget Bardot.

First out of the stalls, launching exclusively with ASOS on New Years day, will be 3 Face & Eye Colour trios £19.50 and 3 lipsticks £16.

Purr-fect 078

Subtle Ivory and Moss

Siamese, Please 076

Kittycat 077

Each trio contains not just colours that work naturally together, but contrasting textures, matte, pearlescent and shiny to give a professional look and finish. Ideal then for anyone fed up of collections that lack that matte colour that can really set off an eye design. As you can see from the pic above, only the Paul & Joe name is an overlay. The colours can be blended together for use on the cheeks, though I would think you would need to be on the slightly more daring side to try this with Purr-fect. Having said that, I would imagine many of these beauties might well be bought just to stare in wonder at.

Outer packaging for Face and Eye Colour 

 Meow! - sweet natural pink

Catwalk - modish coral

Sex Kitten - sexy nude beige

Meow! - Catwalk - Sex Kitten 

The full Meow! range will then hit Fenwick, New Bond St on the 14th and Harrods on the 25th January.

The amazing top hatted Blusher Stick in Minou is one of 3 colours available. The back of the cats head is smooth to allow easy application whilst not interfering with the stunning design. To maintain the required level of detail, each cat head mould could only be used a few times before being discarded. Minou is a romantic subtle pink, whilst Glamour Puss gives a pearlescent beige highlight and Catfight a bold tangerine burst. £21

Nail Enamels £10

Manekineko - Bright Hot Pink

Kitten Claws - High Society Soft Pink

Tigress - Pearlescent nude hue

The Meow! collection's Cat Flick comes in the form of Paul & Joe's signature Waterproof Gel Eyeliner in black - £16 - and can be spotted at the top of the table shot near beginning of the post. I haven't tried it, but the information promises an easy application that doesn't fade or smudge. Infused with Quick Dry Oil to ensure even application that dries in a snap and Lasting Film Polymers that form a waterproof coat. The liner comes with a tapered flat travel style brush - only just visible behind the nail enamel boxes in my picture – perfect to control application and ensure the look you desire.

Bringing a close to the first of Paul & Joe's ten year Anniversary offerings, is this stunning Matte Pressed Powder. If my memory serves me correctly the tails on these cats each had to be set by hand. Priced at £28 the powder is described as Cinnamon - natural, warm beige flawless on any skin tone, mixing the Spicy Beige of the cat with the Clear Beige of the background. The lid design of the compact can be seen here.

The whole collection will be available from Beauty Bay from 1st February.

Pictures taken at PR event

Illamasqua Sale - Now!

Products that jump out at me:

Art of Darkness Liquid Metal Collection £20

Or £10 each

Body Electrics Illumine Oil £7.50

Originally £32

Some stunning red Cream Blushers for £10, Cream Eyeshadow in Morn still a favourite £5 and tons of false lashes for £5. 

And finally Smash - which has been on my wish list for ages:

Illamasqua School of Make Up Art - Experimental Colour Workshop

Back in November, I had the opportunity to attend an Illamasqua Experimental Colour Workshop having won it at an event at the School which I was invited to by Airbase. Of the four Illamasqua School of Make Up Art courses I've been on (The rest paid for by me - well Mr Sparklz really) I think I enjoyed this one the most. Not because it was better, but where the others showed me how much I need to learn, this was far more in my comfort and enjoyment zone. It was actually strange to be 'in a place' where everyone else was feeling the anxieties that I'm usually struck with and I'm happy as Larry. It just doesn't happen.

First up we had to use make up like it was paint - particularly with reference to artist Joshua Petker. I spent ages yesterday wondering where the paper I'd made a note of his name was and finally gave up. Finding that I'd taken this pic just in case highlights the value of taking numerous pics when on a course. How I wish word processors and digital cameras had been this available when I was studying.

A highlight for me, was having another make-up artist play with my face in the way that I do. I loved this look done by the very talented Mary-Ann Richardson.

 Couldn't resist putting my hat on to hide the slap head

Playing with textures, I'm straight in there with my fingers and maybe the odd brush. Mary-Ann had the pleasure of 2 of us working on her at once due to a last minute drop out on the course.

 Lots of cream pigments and some wet liquid metal tears?!

Next up Educator and National MUA Daniel demonstrated the use of masking tape to produce looks based on make up at one of last years Dior haute couture shows.

Having seen Daniel use Powder Shadow in Dare over Bedaub Cream Pigment, I NEEDED to play with this. The Dare really comes alive! I bought Bedaub earlier in the year after seeing it used to deal with redness, so needless to say Dare went straight in my shopping basket. Got to wait for Christmas to play with it though.....

I picked Cream Pigment in Depravity for the lid, and again it's fascinating to see the colour that appears from a red powder shadow. I'm fairly certain that Daniel said this was Daemon. The combo is awesome, though the untidied up nature of the bedaub in the pic continues to irritate me, I love it! 

Picture published with permission and may NOT be reproduced.

Jade Mitchell

Finished with Cake Liner in Mislead - having always struggled with gel liners setting on me, I am a serious lover of the Illamasqua cake / sealing gel / liner brush combo. Even before I ever tried it I was struck by this review from Pink Sith and hooked, using it again I am totally reeled in.

After lunch the inspiration turned to stain glass windows. For me, this gave room for more experiments with how different Cream Pigment bases changed the hues of the Powder Shadows and Pure Pigments.

 Thank you to my model the lovely Aphrodita

Stain glass hand?

Illamasqua's Experimental Colour Workshop costs £200 - check out their website or chat to Chinyee who Manages the Illamasqua School of Make Up Art.

I had a fabulous day - Thank you Illamasqua!

A Billion Stars - FrontCover Swatches

I was overjoyed to see this addition to the FrontCover To Go range. I loved last years To Go Palette and the Spring Collection that followed, but really wanted a few slightly less shimmery additions to go with it. So seeing the Satin Pressed neutrals and Shot Silk Effect Blues and Greens in this set was most exciting. Having said that BrickBat and Baby's Eyes in Baked Powder have really wowed me here too. Meanwhile I'll continue to nudge FrontCover along to bring us some mattes - please please!

For some reason my photography sessions with this set have been pants - I've had several goes and they still don't measure up to my exacting standards, but here goes:

The set contains, Shadowline, which I've raved on about endlessly before - Changes any of the shadows into eyeliner - especially recommend you have a go at this with the Twinkle Baked Powders. Eye Effects Glue to Keep those Billion Stars in place and Shadowbase simply a brilliant base for your shadows. I've swatched all 16 shadows with a base of Shadowbase across the top of the swatch tailing down to bare skin. This gives an idea of how much difference the Shadowbase makes if you want colour intensity or the subtleness that can be achieved without. Glitter Stars and 2 pigment pots make up the rest of A Billion Stars. The set costs £35 and is part of Boots 3 for 2 offer.

 Green Moon - Brickbat
Good  photos of these two and the Twinkle Baked Shadows have evaded me.

Or - Icy Lavender

Hoar  Frost - Ink Blot

Dawn Chorus - Darkly

Over Shadowbase - Without Shadowbase

As above but in bright winter sunlight

See here, here and here for information on other 2011 Christmas sets from FrontCover.

PRSample

Swarovski Ornaments - Not just for Christmas?

I've been in bed with some virus or other for the past couple of days, so this week's posts are once again on hold. In the mean time, I thought share this little beauty with you. Being the Sparkly lady I am Mr Sparklz drew it to my attention as we steamed through town the other day. This picture doesn't do justice to the thing at all. I call it a thing, because he was seeing it as something I would wear round my neck, though looking at it now on the Swarovski site I see it's a Christmas Ornament. I'm still very tempted it must be said. Minus the dodgy 2011 tag of course (Sorry Swarovski- though it makes sense now I know it's an ornament I have to admit). At 6.5 x 8.1 cm it's not small and may well be too heavy. The Star does have a little brother however which could prove more wearable.....

3.7 x 4.8 cm and without the tag....if I get well enough to go have a proper look.....who knows!

The Stars cost, £50 and £29.00 respectively or there are sets of 2 and 3 if you do want them as ornaments.

You're all going to be coming up to me saying hello Christmas tree if I wear one now though aren't you ;p