Author Archives: marc

1) FeelUnique have some quite amazing reductions going on in their sale, and I just had an email newsletter to say that there’s an extra 10% off over the bank holiday weekend, using the code PLUS10. Bravo! My super-duper recommendations, with the biggest savings, are below.

MD Formulations – anything from. I bloody love MD Formulations, but sadly it seems that they are winding down operations, in the UK at least. Their antioxidant moisturising gel is one of my favourite things ever – I think that may have sold out, but there are plenty of other bits. See here.

Medik8 Cleanser – I really like this! I keep meaning to do a post but never get around to it. It’s creamy and comfortable feeling, great for dry skin. It’s down from £21 to £12 here.

Melvita Extraordinary Waters – lovely, refreshing beauty waters that are half-hydrating, half-toning. A true hybrid product that’s great for a quick swipe after cleansing and before serum. Find the Narcissus version here, reduced to £12.75 from £17.

Elemental Herbology – again, pretty much anything from this brand. I think it does a truly gorgeous job of making skincare. My top pick is the Moisture Milk Ultra Light Hydrator which is just the best thing since sliced bread. Soothing on hormonal skin, good at injecting a bit of moisture into skin that needs careful handling – if you have blemish-prone skin and just don’t know where to start with it, this is a nice moisturiser to invest in. It’s currently £27.30 instead of £42. (Remember there’s an extra couple of quid off with the PLUS10 code.) Find it here.

FeelUnique Beauty Sale

2) The lucky Lancôme Génifique testers are as follows. You’ll get an email this week asking for your details, so don’t worry if you haven’t received anything yet! Elaine Ward (eward), Jo Sutton (josutt), Justine Pendlebury (jspendlebury), Charlotte Cantrell (charlottelawrence2008), Zoe B (zbeech), Jenna (detectivedisco), Anne Robinson (annierobinson), Sophie Horton (sophiehorton) and Caroline (carolinecarpenter). Thank you to everyone who volunteered their testing services!

Read the Lancôme Génifique serum review… 

3) Pet pics. Mr AMR took the one above of Mr Bear – doesn’t he look grumpy! Ha. His favourite place during the summer is an empty bathtub and he does not like to be interrupted. He lies down next to the plughole waiting for spiders to come up (he chases them down there first) and now and again he’ll do a little walk around the perimeter of the bath, knocking all of my beauty products over and getting cat hairs stuck to the soap.

Dexter’s fur is slowly growing back – we are trying to be vigilant about combing it so that it stays lovely and soft, but he gets so many things tangled up in there! It’s honestly like some kind of nature experiment when you run a brush through; various grasses and plant seeds, bits of tree, rare insect species…

Follow @dexterandthebear on Instagram for more pics – my account is @modelrecommends, should you want some human interaction.

4) If ANYONE is having email problems, still, then please follow the steps on this troubleshooting page. It seems that the vast majority of issues have now been solved, so that’s great news! If you’d like to sign up then you can do so here. Happy Bank Hols, all of those in the UK – have a wonderful long weekend!

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I’ve been doing some styling this week; Topshop set me the task of creating a maternity mini-shoot for this advertorial*, finding different outfits for different occasions. A nice little challenge, as it has all been a bit dry on the old fashion front, recently – having an ever-changing figure does not make life easy when it comes to clothes shopping, and so my off-duty uniform has basically consisted of the same pairs of leggings and jeans, worn on rotation, topped off with huge t-shirts and bits of knitwear that I can manage to stretch over my bump!

So a “maternity clothes for every occasion” styling post was just up my street. Granted, most of my “occasions” are very casual – it’s not like I’m going out clubbing at the moment, or finding suitable attire for a dirty weekend in St Tropez – but there are subtle differences! Here we go:

Something Smart for Work

What I have really struggled with, pregnancy dressing-wise, is finding that middle-ground between casual and try-hard. You know when you have to go to a meeting and you don’t want to wear jeans, but you also don’t want to look like an overly-keen candidate on The Apprentice? This dress hits the sweet spot with its smart fabric and “body-con” side panelling.

It’s pretty tight, though, so I took the sex factor down a bit by throwing a nice long cardigan on over the top! The Geometric Bodycon Dress is £30 here (I might be tempted to take a size up, it’s very snug!) and Salt and Pepper Cardigan, £30 here.

Something Slouchy for Home: Part 1

Because – let’s face it – I spend a hell of a lot of time at home, working on my computer. And when I’m squirrelled away, incognito, I just want to be comfortable. So: Topshop Maternity Luxe Charcoal Joggers (a lot softer than the other jogging bottoms and with a kind of “sport-luxe” look to them) and a simple black “slubby” t-shirt. The joggers are £28 here, the T-shirt is £14 here.

Something Slouchy for Home: Part 2

Well, a girl has to have options even if she is staying at home! This outfit is a little more structured, though – the ponte leggings are quite thick and firm, more like trousers than leggings, and so you could throw on some boots and a leather jacket with this and feel confident meeting the outside world. It’s kind of like…smart slouchy. I’ve had loads of compliments on my Salt and Pepper Jumper (£36 here) and I have to say that the leggings (£20 here) would be fine post-baby too, as well as being useful from very early pregnancy when you can’t bear to wear anything tight in the tummy region.

Something Familiar for Everyday

My old daily “uniform” was always jeans, a vest top and a plaid or checked shirt. It’s what I feel most me in. And so this is probably my favourite outfit. So much so that I’ve done two options! Both great for everyday trips into town for appointments and events, meeting friends, going for lunch, doing stuff at the weekend… The first version shows the Soft Checked Shirt (£38 here) with dark grey Leigh Jeans (super-skinny, nice soft feel, £38 here) and a grey ribbed vest (£6 here).

Version two is a bit double-denim; dark-vintage Leigh Jeans (go down a size – all the other washes seem to run true to size but these came up a little bigger on me! They are £38 here) with a peach-coloured vest (£8 here) and Oversized Chambray Shirt. The shirt seems to have disappeared from online, but it might be in-store still…

Something Dressy for Evening

Actually, I say evening, but this little black dress is just as suitable for daytime with some flat ballet pumps. Dresses with full skirts like these do tend to make you look very pregnant, but I quite like that – the resulting shape is somehow quite cute and feminine! The lace panel detail on the shoulders of this LBD is lovely, too… £28 here.

Something Different Because…

I almost forgot about this one; I picked out a top in a colour that I’d never usually wear, just because I thought that it might make a nice change. I’m still not 100% sure whether this kind of shade suits me – what do you think? It’s the Maternity U-Neck Top (£18 here). I’ve gone for black jeans with it (Leigh again, I just really like the fit) but actually, it would be quite nice with something grey.

You can find Topshop’s Maternity Collection online here.

*This post is a Topshop advertorial. For your reference, I am usually a UK10 and all of the items shown are a UK10, so fit true to size except where noted. I was 28 weeks pregnant when the pictures were taken. Hope that helps!

The post Topshop Maternity: Outfits for Every Occasion appeared first on A Model Recommends.

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Not having been particularly enamoured with any of the previous “Daisy” fragrances from Marc Jacobs (love the bottles, always found the scents to be a bit “young”, which I suppose is probably bang-on for the target market) I surprised myself by really liking the new one, Daisy Dream Forever. It’s warm and comforting, rich and fruity. I want to say chocolatey, but a quick glance at the fragrance notes and there’s nothing remotely chocolatey about it!

Now this is very weird: without reading any kind of blurb about this fragrance, just looking at the bottle, which reminds me of dark winter nights, cosy pyjamas and – weirdly – bonfire night, my mind told me that this was a warm and sweet perfume. It reminded me a lot of Angel – that same edible, slightly oriental kind of scent. But Angel mixes up its fruity florals with warm and spicy base notes – vanilla, amber, tonka bean, chocolate – whereas Daisy Dream Forever has nothing of the sort. It has blackberry, pear, grapefruit; it has jasmine and fresh lychee. Where the hell I get chocolate from I have no idea!

It’s a prime example, I suppose, of how your nose can be led by your mind – I took in the colours of the bottle and the name Dreams and formed my own scent conclusions before I had even properly sampled the scent. And now I can’t seem to go backwards, because no matter what you tell me about the official fragrance notes, I still think that this is warm and chocolatey – it makes me want to put on my star pyjamas and drink cocoa in bed.

Read more fragrance reviews…

Whatever; I think that it’s lovely. Rich and softly woody, like a big cashmere blanket. It’s not the most grown-up fragrance out there, but it has a certain warmth that I think will make it irresistible to many people who wouldn’t usually go for the other Marc Jacobs Daisy incarnations. It feels like a winter scent, to me, and I can imagine that it will do incredibly well this Christmas.

Marc Jacobs Daisy Dream Forever is £59 for the 50ml Eau de Parfum, or £50.15 at Escentual.com

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Some of the Youtube-phobes amongst you might actually like this video; it’s really short and I don’t speak! I’m planning on doing a few more music-only videos, mostly because it’s a relief not to have to sit there listening to the sound of my own voice for hours on end as I edit. I’m not sure that they’re as effective, really, when it comes to showing how the makeup is applied, but…a change is as good as a rest and all that jazz.

This video is an “affordable everyday makeup look”. I was trying out bits and bobs, researching for my Makeup Starter Kit video which will be out in the next couple of weeks. Unfortunately, two of the staple products featured no longer exist. They are both from Avon – an eight colour neutrals palette and the Earthen Rose blush that I have been harping on about for years. It’s just a brilliant matte bronzer or contour for very fair skin and I’m incredibly sad that they’ve stopped making it. Especially as I spent about six hours filming and editing a video with it in! Fear not, though, for I have tracked down the eyeshadow palette on Amazon here, and if you want an alternative to the Earthen Rose then I’d go for the Honey Bronze bronzer from The Body Shop (here) – I use shade 2, but if you’re really fair then shade 1 will do the trick.

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