Category Archives: beauty look

As far as gifts go, this one is pretty unbeatable. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a bigger gift with purchase. It’s worth about sixty billion pounds.

OK, it’s worth over £600. But, hello, SIX HUNDRED POUNDS! Who is mad enough to give away that much stuff in a single hit? Harvey Nichols, that’s who. Not a store you’d really associate with getting a load of free stuff – it’s one of the most prestigious shopping destinations in the world, after all – not the sort of place you go into expecting surprise discounts or impromptu money-off vouchers…

But here we are, with a whopping great big tote bag full of high-end beauty products and samples. It’s so much booty that the sturdy tote bag it all comes in appears to have reinforced rope handles. And from today, if you spend £195 on three or more products from Beyond Beauty at Harvey Nics then you get this enormous beauty haul, completely free.

It’s almost an entire beauty and grooming regime – everything from super serums to luxury toothpastes, bath essences to overnight tans. Obviously £195 is a big spend, but I’m taking a wild guess that HN are aiming to catch all of the people who have started their Christmas shopping and are buying a load of gifts anyway – it’s the classic temptation, isn’t it? A little something just for you as a reward for buying all of those nice presents!

Only it’s not just a “little something”, it’s a massive something – and there are a few bits and pieces in the GWP that you could feasibly wrap up and add to the presents pile, including the EOS lip balm gift set, the Foreo cleansing device and the Rodial Eye Masks…

I’ve listed all of the contents here on this page, so take a good look – I’ll wager that more than a few of your favourites are on there. But it’s always the new and mysterious things that grab my attention the most – I love trying new brands but hate wastage, so these little trial sizes are just perfect. Guilt-free beauty testing, usually done when I’m travelling and I dig into my enormous stash of minis!

And my Beyond Beauty picks? I’d be going in for a mixture of Christmas presents and things that need restocking in my bathroom cabinet: the Sleep Together gift set from This Works (£26 here), Omorovicza’s Queen of Hungary Mist, (£49 here), their gorgeous Thermal Cleansing Balm (£46 here) and then the Ole Henriksen Three Little Wonders kit, (£80 here). Blatantly that’s actually all for myself, but I have to at least pretend that I’d give some away…

Thank you so much to those who commented on my makeup in the Chanel Rouge Coco photographs; it’s actually part of a look that I was filming for an upcoming Max Factor video! To give you a sneaky preview of what I had on my skin; I buffed in the Skin Luminizer foundation in shades 55 and 75 (75 in the “contour areas” and 55 elsewhere, to give a kind of natural glow) and then I used the new Max Factor Creme Puff Blush in “Nude Mauve” as a brightening, subtle bronzer. There’s also a bit of Charlotte Tilbury’s Filmstar Bronze and Glow going on in there, with highlights on top of the cheekbones and over the top of the brow bone, and the luminous colour on my eyelids is Lady Godiva from Sunday Riley. I did a final flush of pink blush using the Creme Puff in Lovely Pink. (The lipstick in the photo above is the Chanel Rouge Coco in Catherine – read the post for more info.)

There will be a full video of this look next week at some point, so keep an eye on my Youtube channel if you want to see it unfold. It’s actually quite similar, skintone-wise, to the bronzey, natural makeup look (above) that I wore for my Topshop Maternity post – though that used Charlotte Tilbury’s Filmstar Bronze and Glow over a base of Chanel Perfection Lumiere Velvet in shade 20. (The Chanel foundation is possibly my most-used makeup product in the last twelve months. You can read the review with close-up pics here.)

I went with a bit of a heavier shadow underneath the cheekbones in the Topshop look. I’ve been playing about with the Kat Von D Shade + Light Contour Brush recently and there’s definitely a bit more sculpting going on here! (I also have the Kat Von D contour makeup palette, I’ll report back on that soon. Seeing as though this contouring craze shows no sign of abating.)

Recent contour makeup posts… 

In the future I will try to remember to cite full product lists when I do a post; sometimes, though, I’ve taken the pictures a week or so before and haven’t got the foggiest what I had on my face…

The post Two Bronzed and Glowing Natural Makeup Looks… appeared first on A Model Recommends.

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There were quite a few people asking about my skin in my latest videos, so I thought I’d quickly run through the makeup I had on. It was a bit of a glowing skin “Dream Team” to be quite honest – all of the below photographs were taken with just natural daylight (they usually are, if it’s a natural makeup look) and you can see that there’s a real bit of luminosity going on.

I started with the Laura Mercier Radiance Primer (find it here – I know I keep banging on and on about it, but it’s bloody brilliant!) and then I went in with Max Factor’s Skin Luminizer Foundation (here) over the top, just a very light buffing in as it’s quite comprehensive coverage and I find I don’t need too much of it. That foundation is quite glowy in itself, so paired with the primer it was all rather luminous!

More nude makeup finds…

I finished off with Chanel Les Beiges in shade 30 (online here) to add a very, very light healthy sunkiss (could also have used my newly-found Guerlain Joli Teint for this) and a touch of soft contour.

Skin before and afters, in case you’d like to have a closer look:

I love how the makeup has taken away shine, but added glow. If that makes any sense? There’s just a really lovely healthiness to the look – a “real skin” effect. What do you think? I should point out that in the very top picture I also have some mascara on and I think that I used some Gimme Brow stuff, too (watch my demo here), but I have been filming so much recently (stockpiling so that I can actually have some maternity leave!) that I keep forgetting exactly what I’ve used…

The post The Glowing Skin “Makeup Dream Team”… appeared first on A Model Recommends.

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My latest skincare trial has been an interesting one; the new Hyaluron-Filler CC Cream from Eucerin. I must say that my heart sank, somewhat, when I heard the phrase “CC Cream” – I’ve tried so many claggy, thick versions lately and had no desire to plaster another one on my face – but an initial test showed Eucerin’s offering to be quite dramatically different. For a start, it felt very lightweight and fresh – almost the consistency you’d expect from a gel or gel-cream product – but at the same time it was incredibly moisturising.

And so away I went with my sample of the Hyaluron-Filler CC Cream to give it a thorough testing. I’ve been using it quite regularly for a few weeks, now, and I think it’s telling that I’ve been wearing it way above and beyond the amount I’d need to use it to give it a proper test. I’ve tried it in just about every way imaginable – with moisturiser, without moisturiser, layered over serum, under foundation, buffed on with a brush, blended with fingertips, finished with a quick dusting of Chanel’s Les Beiges or Hourglass Ambient Lighting powder…

They key thing that stood out for me with the Hyaluron-Filler was that it felt so intensely hydrating. Even used without a moisturiser underneath the CC Cream spread easily and blended out beautifully, feeling very plumping and comfortable. If I needed a moisturiser at all, then it was just a light one – on most mornings I’d simply layer the CC over a serum. I suppose this should have come as no surprise, really, because the name of the product kind of gives things away: Hyaluron-Filler. It’s formulated with Hyaluronic Acid, which helps to prevent moisture loss from the skin and make everything look a lot plumper and filled out, as well as working on wrinkles and fine lines to prevent them deepening. As far as ingredients go, a nice visible-anti-ager – it definitely brings some juiciness and life back into my sleep-deprived skin!

So anti-wrinkle properties, then, but what about the makeup element of the CC Cream? Well, it’s quite a sheer coverage cream but for me the benefit is in the way that the Hyaluron-Filler corrects and evens-out the tone, rather than providing a full-face base. As you know, I’m a champion of the “barely there” makeup look – at least on my days off! A few years ago I might have just gone completely makeup free, but I do find now that my skin needs a bit of a boost – a sheeny glow, a hint of a tint – to make it look healthy and well-rested. I like that I can very quickly apply the CC with fingertips without having to be overly careful about tide-marks and so on; this is easy and convenient complexion perfecting. Sheeny, tone-correcting and with a shot of warm colour. I’ve put more than I need on my forehead below so that you can see the tone: Continue reading →

I’m writing this post a few days in advance because – DRUMROLL! – this weekend I should be moving back into my house! I say should – who knows what might happen between now (Thursday) and the weekend. But the carpets have been laid, the water and electricity are back on and my bed (complete with television that rises from the end, don’t ask, Mr AMR’s insistence) is set up and ready to be slept in. So long as the mattress arrives on time. I can’t even tell you what an enormous relief it will be to finally step through the front door and throw my bag down messily in the hallway. (I’ve put that bit to wind up Mr AMR in case he’s reading. Of course in reality I am going to be so tidy from this moment on. Of course.) Once I’m in there will be lots of interiors and renovations posts for those who are interested – those who aren’t can by all means skip them and stick with the beauty. Watch this space.

I forgot to mention when this it first published, but if you are into knowing more about how your beauty products are formulated, then skincare guru Caroline Hirons has written a very quick and easy guide. She talks about how to read ingredients lists and spot the good and the – potentially – not so good. You can find the page on her website here. I thought that it was very enlightening and useful.

Talking about good and bad ingredients: whilst living in Hertford (temporary accommodation number five, very kindly provided by my amazing cousin Anna!) I found a couple of really great takeaway places. Mr AMR and I have been eating a terrible diet for the past few months, partly because we are always on the move but mainly because we have become incredibly lazy.

So, so lazy.

Anyway, if you’re after a good curry place in Hertford (I realise that this information has very limited appeal to many of you, sorry!) then the Ruby is great, and if you fancy Thai then I can’t say enough good things about Baan Thitiya. Everything is so fresh and nicely cooked and the spicy beef salad is a thing of utter glory. If only all takeaway food was as good as this – unfortunately, during our little “time out” from healthy eating, there have been far more dinner disasters than successes. One meal in particular, from a Chinese takeaway in Saffron Walden, was virtually inedible. So. Hurrah for the good ones – keep up the tasty work!

A luxury bath buy that sees a £35 donation go to the Macmillan Cancer Support charity, Floris’ Rose Geranium bath essence is a double-win kind of situation. These weeny little bottles of bath fragrance are incredibly posh – you only need one or two drops and the whole bathroom is left beautifully fragranced. (My Mum has the White Rose one. Or had. I used most of it when I stayed at her house for a month! Ssh.) If you’re after an alternative to the aromatherapy oils and just want some luxurious scent then this is the stuff to go for. The Floris website is here.

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