Texturise.

Embellish a gorgeous frock, jacket or blouse with a little texture or delicate detail.

Beautiful lining, a fabric flower or lace that picks up the intricacy of an earring....

Evelyn from the Treadgold Collection

Source:jaynsarah.com, treadgoldcollection.blogspot.com, 
crazywithitcrazierwithout.tumblr.com, ohhellofriendblog.com,  

Never.Tire.Of.Pendant.Lights.

How can one ever tire of a beautifully hung pendant light. Not me. I just need more ceiling space and non concrete ceilings so I can let my imagination go wild.

I have recently hung a beautiful George Nelson Bubble Lamp above the dining table (those who don't know these beauties check them out). I admire it at every opportunity.

My love affair continues as I admire from afar how people conspire to hang the most amazing lights in canny ways to suit their spaces...

An Anthropologie favourite, if only they shipped lighting to Oz...

  

Image sources: design-shimmer.blogspot.com,soderbergagentur.com, anthropologie.com emmas.blogg.se, remodelista.com via Emma on Pinterest

Killer Skin.

Love Your Skin.
I'm not going to pretend I'm an expert in this field but I have made my mistakes and found things that do actually work....here's my ten cents worth.

Impeccable, dewy make up is just not possible if your skin isn't up to par. Confidence plummets and make up doesn't look as good as it should. Hormones, stress, diet, genetics and life in general can deal you pimples, wrinkles, redness or all of the above.

My skin is the wonderful 'combination' skin, with spots, dry patches and dark under eye circles on a bad day.

Trial and error is the only way I have found products that work for my skin and if all else fails it is often better to go and see a dermatologist and see what can be done.

A few fab products that I use daily:

• Cleanse: Kiehls Ultra Facial Cleanser (foaming but gentle)
• Eyes: MD Formulations Antioxidant Eye Cream - general eye cream but great for dark circles. Beautiful, creamy and best of all doesn't sting and irritate.
• Moisturiser (all round): Dermalogica Smoothing Cream (as a day or night cream),
• Exfoliate: Biologique Recherche Lotion P50V - this is AMAZING stuff, use as an exfoliating toner (no need for scrubs. Seriously) for those strange bumps, blackheads, congestion and welcome smoothness. Google for a supplier and order online
• Toner: Pure witch hazel from the chemist is fabulous, I alternate this with the above
• Night Cream: Gatineau Jeunesse Night Cream - Beautiful, silky, non-spot creating night cream
• Skin Oil: Cocoa Butter Skin Oil - Still trialling this one but great results so far for all over body, absorbs quickly and smells divine. Gives you a subtle, dewy sheen.

I have a cupboard full of other things but these are the top go-tos....

Facials 

A fab facial can relax and do wonders, but I think they are particularly amazing for specific concerns such as acne, redness, wrinkles, pigmentation...

Skin prep for a big event like your wedding is another story and I highly recommend a series of microdermabrasion facials or Omnilux light therapy (yet to try but hear its great). $$$ but worth it to feel amazing and watch your makeup glide on.

For a sneaky microdermabrasion-style facial at home try Dermalogica Exfoliating Cream - as a mask.

Skin And Your Diet

One e-book I'm keen to read is Crazy Sexy Juices by Kris Carr, promising the world, but might actually deliver.

'Green Juice' is something I'm yet to try, but I can only imagine that a daily blended dose of greens and fruit would deliver fab skin and a massive vitamin hit. Stay tuned.

We all know chips and fizzy drink are not going to deliver glowing skin, but we're only human. I try to balance the odd indulgence with lots of water, a multivitamin and lots of veggies.

Source: brebeauty.com,  rosesarewild.tumblr.com, movenourishbelieve.lornajane.com.au via Emma on Pinterest

Emerald. Eyes. On. Fashion.

I can't begin to describe how in love I am with emerald green at the moment...

Gabrielle from the Treadgold Collection

Couldn't resist a little emerald interior too...

Source: citified.blogspot.com, blissfulbblog.com, gormanshop.com.au, stylesaint.com, frenchbydesign.blogspot.com via Emma on Pinterest

Workplace Beauty.

I have always been a lover of cosmetics. Concealers, serums, illuminators, exfoliators and everything in between. I don't want to reinvent the wheel, but share what I have found and hopefully share the love...

One lovely gem I have recently discovered through Mama Mia, is a book by the gorgeous Zoe Foster called Amazing Face. It has all sorts of beauty stuff you didn't know you needed to know...and more.

Now....

The Work Face. 
You want coverage that is light but covers the imperfections, an eyeshadow that hints at glamour but doesn't scream 'made up', defining mascara and a hint of colour on your cheeks for a healthy glow. That about it?

I am blonde with fair skin, so my makeup choices will reflect this but the baseline is the same for what you need, just adapt for your skin type/colour.

Coverage - Tinted moisturiser (+ concealer for imperfections) is my daily routine and I love Clinique City Block or Olay Total Effects Tinted Moisturiser with 15+ is creamy and beautiful.
*For night time or more coverage Chanels Aqua Ultralight Vitalumiere makeup glides on. 
Concealer - Spots: Estee Lauder Smoothing Cream Concealer is the bees knees, just add a bit of loose powder over the spot. Under eyes: Cheap and cheerful Garnier roll on anti dark circles cream doesn't drag skin and hydrates.

Eyeshadow - The perfect duo with a cream and a grey/dark brown colour will take you anywhere and you can just add eyeliner to take you into the night.

The below image shows a basic eyeshadow application with a creamy/peach shadow over the whole eye socket and a browny/grey on the outer half of the socket and a little swept up at the outer edge.

They have added a dark liner along the lash but this is up to you.

Stila make 'rechargeable' compacts so you can pick and choose your perfect combo. Good old Revlon eye combos are also great.

Brushes  - If you only buy one brush, buy yourself a good quality eyeshadow brush (MAC or Bobbi Brown are top of the brush brigade). Preferably small and flat so you can apply over the whole eye socket and use to smooth shadow/liner along the lash line.

Mascara - Thanks to Zoe Foster mentioned above, I now proudly use Clinique Naturally Glossy Mascara, which delivers beautiful eyelashes with no clumps (better believe it). Clear mascara is also fabulous for taming brows.

Blush - Nars Orgasm and Sin are two favourites, which are a little $$ but last and last. Bloom and Benefit make lovely cream blushes too (these make my cheeks break out so see how you go).

Lipgloss/lipstick - MAC and Burts Bees make lovely glosses (not too sticky) and David Jones and Natio lipsticks are creamy + staying power.

As you will see from the links above, if it can be bought on Strawberrynet, I'm there. 

Take it to the Streets
Winged eyeliner is the style of the moment and I talked about it here. The simplest way to take your daytime makeup to night is to add liquid or pencil eyeliner in dark brown/black with more lashings of mascara.

I have not quite mastered the art as yet (have the eye makeup remover pads handy) but hopefully will transform my look very soon.

An easy way to cheat is to use a stubby eyeshadow brush and just moisten your favourite eyeshadow colour and apply like liner along your top lashes.

Help!
For more help than I can offer on a plethora of beauty topics, head to Primped, which has all the latest styles and how-tos.

What are your work essentials for makeup?


Source: Valj via stock xchng, Gabriela Pinto via Flickr, matchstick via stock xchng

Romance Was Born. Where They Create.

One of photographer Paul Barbera's latest 'Where We Create' series is that of our own theatrical King and Queen of fashion Romance Was Born created by design duo Anna Plunkett and Luke Sales.

As always, Paul Barbera presents seriously cool digs and thoughtful, cunningly-eyed photography...I have also mixed in a bit of the RWB 2012 collection too.....

Le Office

They are not afraid of colour....2012 Collection Preview

Images: Paul Barbera, Harpers Bazaar Australia

Reduce Stress. 101.

I have never made new years resolutions but after a weary and weathering 2011, I am looking for inspiration. Hoping this year I can share a bit more with you about life and creativity!
One of these is coping with stress. Living in Sydney is great but it carries its pressure points. I really think it’s the little things that build up over time which cause our stress levels to bubble over.

If we can pinpoint and reduce these, hopefully we can prevent a meltdown when something major happens.

The. Commute.
If you live in an idyllic rural enclave or a tropical island with no traffic to speak of, please ignore (and feel my jealousy). I live on one side of Sydney and work on the other. It involves leaving very early to miss traffic, or jumping on a very crowded train.

Tactic: Distraction and Diversion. Two tactics I am trying here are listening to audio books/classical music. Not a revelation but helps calm and distract from the traffic/people in close proximity. Secondly, I have started exercising next to my work, after work. By the time I finish, things are quiet and cuts half my driving time.

Morning. Routine.
Normal day is wake up with alarm, jump out of bed and run crazily around drying my hair, eating my breakfast, brushing my teeth, packing my lunch and deciding what to wear (all at the same time – yes a rare talent).

Tactic: Getting up ½ hour early, sitting to eat my breakfast and working out what to wear the night before. Sounds simple, but means fewer things to worry about in the morning and a calmer start to the day. Keen beans would include 30mins of meditation in there, but I can’t seem to sit still long enough for that.

Exercise. I know.
We all know it should be done and surprise, surprise it actually helps us stress less. So choose your poison and put it in the diary.

Tactic: If you love to exercise then please ignore. For everyone else, the ease and closeness of your chosen exercise makes a big difference. Note from my first point, I am doing Yoga in the building next door to work and it does double duty reducing my commute time. On other days I am walking and playing tennis across from our house. Morning and lunchtime exercise is not in my vocabulary unfortunately.

More: Find a local teacher, gather 2 or 3 colleagues and start an after work or lunchtime training/yoga session. Apps if you have an iphone are the go here too, choose one that lets you plan exercise for the week, alerts you and lets you track how far you’ve run, how many sessions you’ve completed.

Making. Lists.
I love a good list making session, sad isn't it. Not only does it relieve the stress of forgetting important things, but it trains your brain to release the worry when you write it down. Same strategy as when you wake in the night and write down what’s on your mind.

Tactic: I have taken this one step further and have lists saved in the drafts folder of my phone and include everything from the measurements of the shelf I am after to what I need to buy for dinner. Always at hand.

More: I have posted about being organised here. Instapaper is also a nice little program that lets you click a button and save pages as little bookmarks as you browse the web and come back to later.

Health. At the Core.
After a recent illness this is really at the centre of all of this stress-lessing and I am determined to get back to full flight. Healthy eating and being organised helps. A lot.

Tactic: Sit down and plan out your weekly menu. Seems overly organised doesn’t it (and I don’t even have kids), but seriously it takes 20mins once you have a few good go-to recipes. No more arriving home late with nothing to eat and grabbing take away. Buy your staples ahead of time and then all you need are some lovely fresh veggies to finish it off. If you are really keen, poach some chicken, boil some eggs and make yourself a yummy lunch salad for the first half of the week.

More: My New Roots  Beautiful, fresh recipes. Even if you intersperse your normal meals with a few of these you will be doing well. Sarah Wilson and Louise Bell (Table Tonic) both write great blogs on living a healthy, creative, fulfilling life and are two of my favourite blogs. If all else fails order it to your door. In Australia, Doorstep Organics and others bring health to your door 

Working from Home: If you are lucky enough to do this, a beautiful workspace can make the world of difference....

This is just the tip of the iceberg I know, but hopefully it will spurn me on to new heights….next I want to tackle finances/budgeting, beauty/maintenance and time management.

NB. This is my longest blog post to date...hope someone is reading it!
I’m interested, what are your pressure points and what are your stress-relieving tricks?


Images: artur84 via freedigitalphotos.net,  Mental Health Australia, My New Roots

Reminder. Be Inspired.

A little bit of inspiration for a Friday. I know these kind of affirmations abound, but nice to be reminded of this stuff once in a while.

Enjoy.

Thanks to Sarah Wilson for the pearls of wisdom and you can even visit Holstee to buy it in a poster version.