Category Archives: beauty products

A burning question, for those of you who’ve read The Cuckoo’s Calling and/or The Silkworm: who, in a TV or film adaptation of the novels, would play Cormoran Strike? Mr AMR and I have spent hours discussing this most important subject and, despite trawling through every single actor in the world on IMDB, we still haven’t found our man.

If you haven’t the faintest clue what I’m on about then you need to get stuck into the new Cormoran Strike detective novels that are topping the bestseller lists; J.K. Rowling has been writing them under a pseudonym, Robert Galbraith, and they are proving to be quite the flavour of the year. They’re well-paced and filled with colourful personalities and although I’ve been a tiny bit disappointed with the endings in both cases, I thoroughly enjoyed them and couldn’t put them down! The main character, Cormoran, is a huge, hairy, ex-army interrogator with one-and-a-half legs and a psychopathic ex-girlfriend; he’s one of those characters you find yourself rooting for. Something of an underdog, living in his office with a fold-away camp-bed and boxes filled with his belongings, but also a figure with a bit of clout and authority, not least because of his huge size. What I like about Cormoran is that he’s fallible; throughout the novels you see him at his most vulnerable and pathetic as well as at his most professionally triumphant. In one moment he might be casually threatening a potential suspect, the next he might be slipping over on his false leg. He would be a very interesting character to play in a film or TV series, I’d imagine.

And so who would play him? Who would play Cormoran Strike? As I said, Mr AMR and I are at a loss; the closest we have come to a possible is Tom Hardy, but I think that’s just because we both love Tom Hardy. A friend pointed out that perhaps Hardy would be a bit on the short side (Cormoran is over six foot tall, Hardy is apparently around 5’8″) but is that a deal-breaker? He played Bane in Batman, after all; Bane’s the biggest guy on the planet. We are both desperate for suggestions so please leave them below – now there’s something enjoyable and entirely pointless to do with your Saturday morning!

(If you haven’t read the Cormoran Strike books then you can find them on Amazon here.)

The post Who Will Play Cormoran Strike? appeared first on A Model Recommends.

Continue reading →

With the Pop Lip Colour + Primer, which launched last year, Clinique brought us a lipstick that was just about as perfect as could be. Great, intense colour, an easy to apply formula, a comfortable feel and a juicy, non-greasy finish. I had thought before testing them out that the Primer part would be a gimmick – just a word that they had thrown in to make the whole enterprise sound more marketable and unique – but to my great surprise the primer worked. It managed to smooth over minor flakiness and the colour didn’t bleed or wear off quickly. I think, at the time, I called Pop Lip Colour + Primer the perfect lipstick for learners. Foolproof.

Read the original Pop Lip Colour + Primer review…

And now Clinique have introduced a new little gem – the Pop Matte Lip Colour + Primer, which is probably one of the most wearable matte lipsticks you’ll find. If you’ve always wanted to go for that edgy, sultry, retro sort of look but have worried about getting dry lips or accentuating fine lines or flakiness then this is the starter stick for you. In fact, you’ll probably never move on from it if you try it – there’s no real need. It ticks all of the matte boxes (non-drying, vivid colour, a chalky-ish-yet-comfy finish) and, at £16, it most definitely does not break the bank.

Here I am sporting (sporting!) Peony Pop, a pink I thought I’d hate but instantly loved. It’s a pretty, girly shade but the matte finish makes it far more interesting than it would be were it your typical sheeny lipstick. Please ignore my red-tinted eyes, I was exploring the Chanel Le Rouge Collection before I shot this picture…

I love the earthy but glamorous look from Shu Uemura Fall Vision of Beauty 2014. Not sure about the tiger brow though!

It’s early information at this stage but those two palettes are just sumptuous in shades of green and orange. Shu formulas are always silk-soft and blending is a non-issue – they’re a dream for blending. Although my colouring probably favours the orange led palette, my eyes are straying strongly to the green.

As well as eye-liners, the shadow palettes and a small collection of lipsticks, there are two cheek sticks (Satin Radiance Sticks) – one a golden bronze and the other more burnt orange.

I wasn’t all that interested in looking at forward collections this year for some reason, but now they’re all starting to filter through, I can feel the beauty rush again! I don’t have a launch date – it’s very early in Asia on 1st August, so I guess we will be looking at Shu Uemura Fall 2014 Vision of Beauty from September.

The post Shu Uemura Fall 2014 Vision of Beauty appeared first on British Beauty Blogger.

Continue reading →

Anyway, back to Dexter: he hasn’t shrunk, but I am trying to feed him up a bit. The problem is that he never stops running around – he would be a world champion dog if they judged the competition on stamina alone. He must burn off an Olympian amount of calories every day! Back to the vets this week and hopefully all we be sorted before Baby AMR arrives, otherwise things will be really stressful! (If you want to follow my pregnancy blog, then please do have a look. It’s here: www.theuphill.com)

2) I mentioned this briefly last week, but just a reminder: Colab (my dry shampoo brand) is running a brilliant competition with Superdrug. One winner and a friend will be sent to Monaco on a luxury trip – Michelin star food, helicopter ride, plush hotel, the lot. To enter, just go on over to the Colab Instagram page. It’s for UK peeps only, this time.

3) I’m starting on a new book, A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson. It’s the sequel to Life After Life, which I loved. I’m going to do a book post really soon as I’ve read some excellent novels recently, so I’ll try and finish this one quickly and add it in. If you’d like to “read along with me” (silently, if you don’t mind) then you can find A God in Ruins here. It has only just come out – I had it on pre-order and it just turned up in the post one morning last week. Lovely surprise… If you’d like to read Life After Life before you get cracking on this one, then that is here online. It’s absolutely brilliant – it’s one story told over and over and over again, but each time something tiny happens differently and the whole story changes. I couldn’t put it down.

The post Sunday Tittle Tattle: Dogs, Luxury Prizes and A God in Ruins. appeared first on A Model Recommends.

Continue reading →

Someone has very kindly pointed out to me that Whistles currently have 20% off everything, including the gorgeous Lola dress that I wore on a recent trip to France. I mentioned that I wanted to buy it in khaki, so I was quick as a fox when I heard about the discount. Unfortunately, I have to wait for a call-back because the khaki one is an “order from store” item, but they have it to buy online in black (here), orange (here) and navy (here). All are reduced to £76 instead of £95.

The dress has a really relaxed fit, but the cut is extremely clever – nipped in at the right places so that it doesn’t just hang like a sack. The ultimate throw-it-on dress, looks great with sandals, boots and even Stan Smiths! The black is very chic indeed – I’m considering ordering a back-up version – but I do love a bit of khaki to jazz things up a bit. If jazz is the right word. (What is your sartorial life coming to when you consider khaki to be a jazzy splash of colour?!)

Other things in my basket, though I’m going to order them all at once when they phone me back: the bardot top, the striped Josie Dress and the double dot print Hannah dress. I’m tempted by lots of other things, but I have to rein myself in – I’m still trying to justify my one-wear Cannes dress from Issa*…

Continue reading →