Category Archives: beauty products

A few weeks ago I did a shoot for the amazing new online magazine MinMax Beauty. MinMax is the brainchild of top photographer Elisabeth Hoff and is as glossy and gorgeous as magazines get; every shoot is perfectly executed and has some kind of twist or unusual element to it.

My story has just come out and I’m so over the moon with the pictures. The idea was that the MinMax Beauty team were “getting their hands on me”, quite literally, and Elisabeth wanted to show various hair and makeup stages taking place but in a really graphic and interesting way. So over the course of the shoot we had “cleansing” (visually helped along by a bit of white paint mixed in with the cleanser!) nail-painting, hair-conditioning and lipstick application – all quite run-of-the-mill things, really, but made striking and beautiful by using vivid colours and interesting textures.

Not only do I have the shoot itself to show you (click here for all of the pictures) there’s a proper behind-the-scenes video too. I don’t often get the chance to do proper b-t-s videos because it’s almost impossible to film myself when I’m on set or having hair and makeup done, but we had a dedicated videographer (Matt Jarvis) roaming about and capturing candid moments. (God, how I wish I hadn’t spent the whole day with a big bulky dressing gown tied around my chest! So unglamorous!) So a rare “day in the life” kind of video – I really hope that you enjoy watching it.

MINMAX BEAUTY SHOOT

With many thanks to the MinMax Beauty team for a wonderful shoot day. All credits are below – please check out the mag! http://goo.gl/oFhk26

Amazing filming and editing by Matt Jarvis: http://www.influencesports.com

Ruth Crilly’s Instagram: http://instagram.com/modelrecommends
Ricki Hall’s Instagram: http://instagram.com/rickifuckinhall

Photographer: Elisabeth Hoff @ A&R Photographic http://elisabethhoff.com/
Make-Up: Caroline Barnes @ Frank Agency http://goo.gl/tVdBnD
Hair: Liam Curran @ Frank Agency http://goo.gl/7e9a44
Fashion Stylist: Hayley Caine http://www.hayleycaine.com/
Models: Ruth Crilly at Models1: http://goo.gl/fEXM4G
Ricki Hall at NEVS: http://goo.gl/4OcTMO
Digital Operator: Curtis Gibson
Photographic Assistant: Eva Haftmann
Behind the scenes filming: Matt Jarvis

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The three lip products above look almost identical in tone, don’t they? When I was trawling through my still life photos (I tend to do a huge batch all at once, at the beginning of the month) this picture really caught my eye – strange to have such similar shades in a relatively small seasonal collection. The Rouge Coco Shine, Brilliant Extreme Gloss and Rouge Allure Intense are all from the Chanel Spring 2015 makeup collection and – in this photo at least – all look to be very juicy, bright coral-reds. I was intrigued enough to sit down the next day and have a play about, so here they all are, tried and tested:

First of all, the Rouge Coco Shine in 97, Désinvolte. (£25 at John Lewis.) I love the texture of Rouge Coco Shine; it feels nourishing and balm-like, but there’s also a low-key sheen, almost a gloss, but entirely non-sticky and absolutely maintenance free. It’s the kind of lipstick you just want to keep applying and it’s just sheer enough to be pretty much foolproof. Désinvolte is a cheery springtime coral – a beautiful shade for giving a little “lift” to your makeup collection if you fancy something colourful but at the same time slightly muted and non-scary.

For those who prefer a true glossy gloss, the Brillant Extreme Glossimer in 192, Fleur d’Eau (£22 at House of Fraser) is pretty:

but it’s quite similar in tone to the Rouge Coco Shine, and I must confess I find the lipstick easier to wear. That applies as a general rule, I suppose – I prefer to be absolutely stickiness-free – although watch this space for my rave about the Rouge Allure glosses, which are simply sublime.

But back to the spring shades, and my pick of the three has got to be the Rouge Allure Intense in 152, Insaisissable:

Punchy, perky and just the thing for whipping out on a dull, grey day. Because that’s the thing with all of these spring makeup collections, isn’t it? They come out in the winter, and so really they have to stand up to the constant drizzle and the bitter, windswept mornings – no sign of blossom or green shoots or gambolling lambs. By the time the lambs come and the trees start looking lovely, the summer collections are out and we’re thinking of beaches and bronzing and improbable eyeliner colours.

Anyway, Insaisissable, the most impossible-to-pronounce shade name of any lipstick in existence, ever, is quite hard to track down online – it was sold out in most places at time of writing. I found it at Boots here – it’s £26 or 2,600 of your most splendid Boots Advantage Points. A lovely, luxe little treat if you can hunt one down…

The post Chanel Spring Lips 2015: Variations on a Theme appeared first on A Model Recommends.

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RMS have been on a roll lately with lots of exciting new releases; brushes, powder shadows, nail polishes, and in a few days… a new luminizer!

I recently ordered a few of their new releases and today have swatched the polish I picked up, Diabolique!
I don’t have this shade of lip2cheek, but it was the nail shade that stood out to me the most – a lot of the polishes are shimmery or bright and not for me. Diabolique is the perfect shade for autumn/winter, a deep berry that’s a complex mix of purple, brown and red. I don’t have anything like it in my collection and it looks really different in all lights. It’s a beaut

Diabolique looks best with a glossy top coat applied. On its own the polish is glossy, but any smudges or annoying fabric indentations really dull the shine, so definitely go for the top coat to prevent that and obviously help it stay chip free for longer!

Wear time is above average I would say, after 6 days of wearing the polish 5 out of 10 nails are showing tip wear and have started to chip, with 2 of the 5 having quite big chips. I have been doing a lot of washing up, though… So if you have a dishwasher your manicure would probably be way better than mine 😉

What do you think of this shade? Have you tried any of the RMS polishes? I have a post with the eyeshadows I got coming up next week! so watch out for that, too.

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I haven’t had time to download and resize the official images yet, but here’s a very first look at what’s coming up from Chanel Beauty Spring 2015 (it’s in stores from end of January) using my own images taken at the event today. The stand-out piece is the Jardin de Chanel blush above, which is a masterpiece of make-up engineering. There are petals raised to three different heights within the same piece. I have no idea how they did this! I did ask if there was any info on the mould or the method – I’m sure I’m the only person to ask, and I’m pretty sure that I won’t get any info back!

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I have a new vlog for you to watch – it’s quite random, but I’ve included some gratuitous pet and baby footage to sweeten the pill. I went to get my ears re-pierced but things didn’t quite work out the way I thought they would…

Talking of gratuitous pet footage; I have been trying to film the cat and dog doing stupid and/or interesting things, this week, but they have been failing to perform. By interesting I don’t mean that I expect them to construct a scale model of the Clifton Suspension Bridge or anything like that; just roll over or pat a ball across the floor or – and this is hardly an ask – stare whimsically out into the garden as raindrops stream artfully down the windowpane. But no. They have spent the majority of the week lounging about on the rug or (the cat) sleeping on chairs. Must be the weather.

Not that I expect my pets to perform for me – please don’t get me wrong. I just wanted to capture some “f.u.n.” clips for a video I’m working on. At the moment it’s looking like a photo slideshow – you’d hardly know it was video if it wasn’t for my shaky camerawork!

Not to bore you with pet stuff (sorry pet-free people) but I have finally managed to train the cat not to claw on our leather dining chairs. Hurrah, success. I’ve been rewarding him with a Dreamie treat every time he goes to his cat tree and scratches on the post and now, if he goes to scratch a chair, he sort of looks around himself and seems to suddenly remember that there’s a better option. I am aware that giving cats Dreamies is probably the equivalent of feeding toddlers Red Bull or something, but hey. It’s only occasional and it saves me having to commission someone to make little protective gloves for his paws. (Is there a market for that?! Mum, I’ve found you a new hobby!)

The post Sunday Tittle Tattle: Pets and Piercings appeared first on A Model Recommends.

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