Guest Post: Lush Emotional Brilliance

Lush's Emotional Brilliance range

This may be all of my favourite things rolled into one, Lush (one of my favourite British brands) has launched it's cruelty free, natural cosmetic range Emotional Brilliance. A line of thirteen liquid lip colors which double up as cream blushers, eleven liquid eyeliners and six cream eyeshadows and even offers a mascara with only one perservative. Products retail at £14.50 which is not cheap but it does contain a lot of goodies, though for regular Lush users you will not be surprised to know that some of the range does contain parabens. The range is based on the idea of colour therapy and colours evoking moods and shades are named as such e.g. a vibrant red lipstick called Strong and Motivation a teal blue eyeliner. It's worth making a visit to a store to get a better idea of the concept behind it.

Eyes Right Mascara £12

The lipstick recipe for the liquid lipsticks is a super softening base, which is a simple blend of organic jojoba oil, candelilla wax and rose wax, intensely skin-softening and soothing.

Lush Liquid Lipstick

                  The eyeliners are made with the same nourishing base as the cream eyeshadows with a soothing rose petal infusion and skin-softening almond and jojoba oils, there’s also glycerine to help carry the colour. The cupuaçu butter in the eyeliners helps to set the colour pigment nicely, these beautiful colours are easy to use and able to create a softer look if required.

I love the droplet packaging and sponge applicator on the lipsticks and eyeshadows and the eyeliners have a fine point brush for precision application. For those of you that are anywhere near a Lush store I urge you to go in and check these out and take part in the Lush colour wheel, for those of you can't then click on the link below to learn more about Emotional Brilliance.

Emotional Brilliance

Guest Post: 3D Nails

Black Pearl 

Um excitement! There has been a lot of innovation with nails and nail art over the last year with an emergence of effects and textures and intricate print nail wraps, but this has got me slow motion fist punching the air. For those of you who have not already seen these, let me introduce you to the Caviar Manicure, the 3D embellished, designer nail look by Ciate.

Mother of Pearl

The Caviar Manicare duo from Ciate, designed to create a striking 3D manicure effect, features one nail polish and one bottle of caviar pearl nail beads. This hotly coveted collection is available in 4 colour combos: black pearls, mother of pearl, rainbow and exclusive to Selfridges, red,white and blue, but can be worn over any nail varnish brand or base colour so the combinations are endless. A definite conversation piece

On the down side these effects will not last more than a couple of days without chipping, but they will be great for occasions. I'm thinking Summer brides in Mother of Pearl, graduates in Black Pearl and anyone lucky enough to be in attendance for the London Olympics could show some national pride with the Selfridges red, white and blue Jubilee exclusive, go Team GB!

These kits are on sale at a number of stockist for an average of £18. Check out Ciate for full details.

Jubilee exclusive to Selfridges

xoxo

Stacey  

Guest Post: Lip Service with MUA

In a bid to get a few extra minutes sleep (the impending London Olympics due to triple my travel time in the morning) I have taken to a low maintenance look to get out of the door in record time. Most days I can be found wearing my hair in a high bun with my Everyday Minerals foundation in Truffle and a slick of bright lipstick. Unfortunately my favourite hot pink lipstick (Dior’s Rouge Dior lipstick in 766 Fushia Star) had reached it’s natural end and as I stared down into the bottom of the empty bullet I realised my budget didn't stretch to a repurchase this month.

One short trip to Superdrug later and my make up bag contained 4 of my newly discovered MUA lipsticks which retail at just £1 at selected Superdrugstores and online at www.muastore.co.ukin 16 shades.

The lipsticks went on very smoothly with just the right amount of gloss (I’m not a huge fan of shiny lips) and are highly pigmented. The colours lasted all day, though like with any lip product you will need to touch up and they do not dry out my usually super sensitive lips. I blotted down shade 1 to give more of a lip stained look in the day then reapplied in the evening for maximum impact and stepped out feeling like a Hollywood vixen as only red lips can do. 


The shades I picked up were not for shy wallflowers and my expectations were not high for such an economical purchase, but I was surprisingly happy with my shade selections as they stayed pretty true to colour from stick to lip. They also blend well to create your own personalised shades, bonus! Being a big fan mineral make-up and higher price point make up brands, this cheaper alternative to other high street brands which gives a smooth, pigmented and blendable finish gets a big thumbs up from me and my purse. 
All this for only a quid!

Shade 1

Shade 13

Shade 3

My favourites were shade one in a rich wine red and shade 13 a true pillar box red.

.

From L-R: Shade 13, Shade 3, Shade 1
RRP £1

xoxo 

Stacey 

Cos For Excitement....

There are some shops that as I walk through the door I like to pretend I have transported myself into my very own walk in wardrobe Mariah Carey cribs style. Cos has long since been one of my favourite places for mix and match investment pieces and relaxed tailoring, but one look at their Spring Summer 2012 campaign sent my heart a flutter. It offers quality, cut and design taking a nod to the idea that simplicity can still make a statement, it's all in the detail.

Here are some of the staple items that have now been added to my ‘want it, need it, must own it’ list.

xoxo

Stacey Fashion Ed

www.cosstores.com

Hold Me Close

I’ve recently found myself in a position where I’ve had to adopt a more corporate look and by that I mean a very grown up suit. There are times when only a black two piece suit will do, in my case a job interview, still I believe no outfit is beyond an injection of personality and an ordinary suit can still say heck yeah with an eye wateringly beautiful oversize clutch. I can’t deny that when I tuck a portfolio clutch under my arm I have to fight the urge to strike a pose and strut like the pavement is my catwalk.



It makes my outfit feel a little more pulled together, more considered and a bit more grown up which is miles away from my off duty look (I am by no means a corporate dresser), I make sure that, black suit be damned, I’m always in attendance in a killer pair of heels, some on trend nails and a giant clutch (able to fit an A4 CV and then some) no matter the result I make sure I give them something to remember me by.

xoxo

Stacey

Girls Who Wear Glasses....

“You know what they say about girls who wear glasses...Men don’t make passes at girls who wear glasses.” 

How wrong could Ms Monroe be? OK so this happens a lot, while watching How To Marry A Millionaire I started style crushing on Marilyn as she donned a pair of diamante trimmed, black cat eye frames. I’m addicted to old movies and I fell in love with her retro frames (well not so retro then), I’ve always thought cat eye glasses look a-maz-ing but now that frames are in vogue they are no longer just about function, they are a style statement all of their own. Places like ASOS Marketplace, Retro Specs, Glasses Direct and Ebay offer a massive selection of authentic and affordable vintage frames and sunglasses but for the cash strapped Romwe has a great collection of retro frames for every taste.

All frames from www.Romwe.com offer  free worldwide shipping.

If you fancy making an investment on some true vintage frames check out RetroSpecs or for a free at home trial of frames try GlassesDirect

XOXO 

Stacey

Happy Fingers

Image

Retail therapy is not to be underestimated; it’s not something women make up to mask their latest impulse buy. When we feel like crap it tends to reflect in the way we look. When I’m having a bad day I throw on grey and head out the door, when I’m feeling perky let the colour clash commence! When I’m feeling confident my style tends to get more, shall we say, experimental. Having a job where I’m often sat at a computer for the majority of my day it gives me a boost to look down and see my happy fingers tapping away. As silly as it sounds, I may not be what I wear, but I dress how I feel and looking down at perky nails makes me feel like doing jazz hands; that can’t be a bad thing.

ASOS’s range of Nail Rock wraps take happy to a new level, for accent nails or from your pinky to your thumb fashionista’s without the ability to recreate the Sistine Chapel on their fingers have no excuse

This Meadham Kirchoff collaboration with Nail Rock made an appearance at their runway show at LFW SS 2012 and is great for accent nails and are available on ASOS 

Nail Rock nail wrap are availble from ASOS 

Lust List-Prints

So the runway is highlighting the scarf print as the spring summer trend and it looks hot, but I say no matter what the weather or the trend I love to see prints and patterns, the bolder the print, the more colour clashes thrown in the better; beautiful jewel tones with autumnal solid shapes, neon paisley with a colour block blazer, whatever, clash it, set it off with a plain top, play with shapes and proportions. In fact the greyer and wetter the day the more I feel the need to combat it with colours and prints and it’s a cold wet day in London town…   

Romwe £12.50

Lipsy £35

kookai @ ASOS £65

Fashion Conscience £42

H&M £19.99

 Warehouse @ ASOS £45

Zara £59.99

Broderie anglaise for less

The Spring/Summer trend of broderie anglaise, brocade, lace and silks made a huge appearance on the Spring Summer catwalks of Chloe, Louis Vuitton and Yves Saint Laurent, models in all white outfits contrasted with pretty feminine textures to offer interest and flirty detail.

Louise Vuitton’s jumbo broderie anglaise designs were one of the stand out looks of the season and have adorned everyone from Lana Del Rey on the cover of Vogue to Corinne Bailey Rae at the Roc Nation pre-Grammy brunch so you can imagine how excited I was when I saw these jumbo broderie anglaise pieces without the Louis V price tag.

H&M £29.99

River Island £22.00

Asos £30.00

Guest Post: Super-collar-fragilstic....

Hi my name is Stacey and  I'm a Shopaholic.

May I add I am shopaholic on a serious budget, I am known to thumb through endless magazines then troll the internet and markets for bargainous treasures looking for replicas at a fraction of the price.

I love to experiment with prints, colour and texture and having grown up with friend and former flatmate, Miss Belle, I have always had access to an awe inspiring array of silhouettes, prints and designs in which I could dip into and treat as my own extended wardrobe. Shopping and the thrill of a new find have always been my passion, shoes have always been my first love but my crush statement necklaces, and I’ve only one rule, BIGGER IS BETTER. Investing in accessories has updated my staple wardrobe whether it be an oversized, colour pop clutch in this seasons colours or a hot of the press pendant to give my old LBD a new lease of life.

My love of accessorising has led me to a huge collection of oversized bibs, collars and pendants but after seeing the metal collar necklace from Louis Vuitton’s Fall 2011 range a new obsession was born…THE STATEMENT METAL COLLAR. One look at it and the clouds parted, the sun shone, a harp strummed and a choir began to sing. 

Here’s my season favourites for all budgets

SPOT THE DIFFERENCE

The original: Louis Vuittion

The dupes: Topshop £18.50

Dorothy Perkins £5 (in sale)

H&M £7.99

BEST IN SHOW

from Ebay 

from ASOS 

from Romwe + free shipping!

Stacey has always had a silent role here at Natural Belle, working on brand awareness and PR, after much coaxing she has accepted the role of style editor for Natural Belle, bringing us her style savvy views please email pr.naturalbelle@gmail.com for brand features