The Sartorialist

I love street-style blogs and the cream of the crop in this genre is The Sartorialist. Photographer and blogger Scott Schuman formerly worked in sales and marketing for high end fashion houses so he definitely has fashion pedigree & an eye for a look. In 2005 he began photographing stylish people on the streets of New York, and since then Scott has posted hundreds of inspiring images from all over the world, picking up assignments from the likes of GQ and Style.com along the way. His subjects range from French Vogue editor Carine Roitfeld, to a group of school girls on a school tour to Paris (very stylish school girls!), to two Milanese barbers (one of my favourite photos), all framed by a street backdrop.

A selection of images from The Sartorialist blog have just been published in a book of the same name and I love it - there are 500+ pages of photos curated by the author. Some have commentary from Scott, relating stories or anecdotes about the subject of a photo, why he chose to photograph them, or how he got a particular shot.

If you haven't already, check out The Sartorialist.

My favourite category on the site is 'Bicycles' - people looking impossibly chic while riding their bikes. Not a trouser-leg-tucked-into-sock or a high vis jacket in sight!

Mad about Mad Men

For a while now I have been a little bit in love with the programme MAD MEN, it is just so different than anything else on TV. Its hard to pinpoint just one thing that I love about the show, visually it is very beautiful to look at. The programme is set in the sixties and shows the advertising world of the sixties. It really shows more than that it is from a time when men were men and women were....well, housewives.


The lead in the show is the delicious John Hamm who plays the talented and yet moody Don Draper, he is a man's man, chain smoking, whiskey drinking, womanising, alpha male. We should hate him....but we don't. He is married to the Grace Kelly look alike Betty Draper who hides her depression behind perfect hair. If Bree from Desperate Housewives had a God she would be in the form of Betty Draper.


The programme is set in such an exciting time when women are breaking out of the home and into the workplace. Times are a changing and the programme shows how people and the world evolved.

To be perfectly honest though the thing that grabs me most are the wonderful clothes and makeup, I dare you to watch this programme and not break out the red lippy and black eyeliner.

WATCH IT, LOVE IT.

Official Shopping Ban

So, after all this shopping, I am on an offical shopping ban, no clothes or make up until November (when I am going on my holidays). I have to be stopped, anything from now on will be things that I have already bought. But it will be worth it cause I am (fingers crossed) going to America on my holidays.


my exceptions are when I go to B.I.T.E. it would be mean not to let me get anything there..

Lovely Treats from America

My friend was recently in Vegas on her hols and very kindly offered to bring me back some goodies. Here is what I got. First on the list are the three Barbie Loves Stila Smudge Pots. These can be used as eye liners but also smudged (see what they did there??) as eyeshadows. The colours are not flat colours - they have a sparkle to them. The colours are 'Cobalt Clutch' which is a vibrant blue which a shimmer, 'Purple Pumps' which is a purple with a pink shimmer and 'Little Black Dress' which is black with a pink shimmer. The colours are beautiful and the black especially is a lovely surprise because you think at first it is just black, however the shimmers make them a bit clumpy to apply as an eyeliner and they are not as smooth as the other smudge pots. Honestly though these colours are meant to be seen so its probably better to smudge them up so you can get the full effect. I love the colours of these and the packaging is probably one of the cutest things I have ever seen. There is a hologram of Barbie's eye on it that you can make wink at you. The colours on the package correspond to the colours in the pot. They are priced at $20.00 each.

My next treat is Barbie Loves Stila Lip Enamel Luxe Gloss Trio. The colours are 'Joy' which is a red, 'Happiness' which is a pale pink and 'Tickled Pink' which is a radioactive 80s-tastic hot pink. These are not like Stila's Lip Glaze they are longer lasting as also a lot drier and allegedly "infused with happyness". I love these, the colours are really vibrant and fun. The trio is priced at $32.00

I also managed to get Nars blush in Super Orgasm which is as wonderful as the original but with glitter.

The September Issue

If anyone is on the fence about seeing "The September Issue" (currently on in the IFI, Temple Bar) then I would strongly urge you to take the plunge. I loved it and I don't even get fashion. Seriously. My new hero is Grace Coddington (Creative Director at US Vogue). Her shoots are nothing short of art and I cannot help but love anyone who shares my fondness for floppy black clothes and wildly age-inappropriate hair. I have even taken out a subscription to US Vogue. I don't really know what's come over me.

THREE FOR TWO???

After a very busy day on Friday I took myself and my wonky eyeliner (see previous post) off to Liffey Valley. I had been in Boots in Liffey Valley on the Wednesday on a search for their new eyeliners and they had nothing new so I jumped and grabbed when I saw they had a selection of new sets in stock and they were on a special offer THREE FOR TWO how could a girl say no (even though I had spent a lot earlier in the day ooopse I feel another shopping ban coming on.) Just to state for the record.... Boots in Liffey Valley is probably the best and biggest Boots I have ever been in, if you havent been you really should check it out.

Anyway, there I was grabbing with both hands the new and very fabulous Book of Shadows Volume 2, These are brilliant value at €36.00, I think that Urban Decays single shadows are €17.00 each (which at nearly $25.00 is pure madness when you think about it). I love both the quality and the colours of Urban Decay Shadows and with the new Book of Shadows there are seven brand new shades. The new shades are AC/DC a kick ass purple, Nylon a light brown, mushroom a very flattery brown that I am gonna love (a bit like satin taupe, Sphinx a gorge pink colour, Jinx a dark teal which is beautiful, Homegrown a very pretty pure light green and Misdemeanor which is a smoky dark green. But that my friends is not all... you get two 24/7 liners with this kit in Zero (black) and Burbon (brown) and (yes and there is more) a dinky tiny primer potion. I love this set, LOVE IT, I love the fact that there are new colours and the older colours that are in the set go well with the new colours.

I thought this was so good in fact I had to get this for my friend too so I bought two of these and got the 24/7 superstash free. (isn't free the most wonderful word in the English language??)

The 24/7 Superstash has nine mini 24/7 Eye Pencils (now people please bear in mind that when they say mini they mean mini - much smaller than the eyeliners they have in the set last year and smaller than the liners in the Book of Shadows) but they do have four new shades Corrupt, Binge (a very interesting navy), Eldorado (a gold which will be great for fun looks), and Oil Slick (black sparkle). I love these eyeliner so to get them in a set where you get to try them out is brilliant, the only downside is that they are supermini :(
the set is priced at €28.00 but it works out brilliantly if you get it free like I did.

They also had smoke out kits which looked nice but not as much fun as the sets that I got. I highly recommend getting on down to Liffey Valley and enjoying this special offer.......alas still no Ink for eyes but that just means I will have to keep going back.

Illamasqua Make Over Experience

Hi All, after reading posts and especially after seeing Pixiwoo's youtube video I was intrigued to try out Illamasqua's new range for Autumn "Dystopia". I headed into BT2 to get a makeover last friday. Illamsqua do both traditional makeovers and also makeup tutorials where they do half your face and you do the other. It was such a lovely day on Friday I decided that I couldn't possibly do anything myself so I just asked the girl to try out the new range on me.

Now to start off they didn't have the palettes on display which was one of the main reasons I went in, also the girl who was doing my makeup (lovely as she was) didn't have great makeup on herself, in fact I could see a blob of glue on her false lashes, now call me picky but I do like it when the makeup artist can apply their own makeup.

To say that I was happy with my make over would be a lie, a big whopper of a lie actually, some of it was, granted, the fault of a leaky eye (my eye would not stop watering) but I didn't really rate the makeup artist, my eyeliner was wonky and I looked a little mental...but not in a good way (the other girls on the counter had perfect makeup so I think that perhaps with a different artist my experience would have been different).

So besides that what did I think of the products??? what did I buy???



First item I bought was the Cream Foundation, the packaging is gorge, the shape of the packet (like the shape of most Illamasqua products) is shaped to fit in your hand. It has a built in mirror and looks very slick. I always thought that cream foundation was for older skin and I am still not convinced that it is right for me but it is smooth, bendable and has buildable coverage. It is priced €24.00.

Next up is a Cream Blusher in Dixie, it again has that smooth shape and is extremely pigmented (extremely) I love the name and when I learn to control my heavy handedness I am sure I will learn to love the blusher. It is priced €20.00.

Then comes the eye makeup I got a eyeshadow in Wicked, its a dusky pale purple, more of a base colour, don't ask me why I bought this out of all the colours that Illamasqua has to offer but it is a nice colour. It is priced €17.00.

For lips I went with sheer Lipgloss in Rouse which is a nice basic pink the tube of the lipgloss is really interesting and it has a nice and not overpowering smell. It is priced €15.00.

Finally for the fun bit I got the pure pigments in Android which is a metallic grey almost petrol colour, it will be the most fun to play with. It is priced €18.00.

For the most part I really like the Illamasqua products, the packaging is really slick and attractive although some items are obviously not the best like their eyeliner cake which cracked on the skin after a short time and needs a mixer to be applied (to have to buy another product to use the first is a bit of a cod to me, also the price points for some of the products is a bit mad?? 24€ for foundation but yet €18 for a very small amount of pigment??)

Anyway I do like the Illamasqua products and it was a nice experience but deffo not the best I have ever had.

Confessions of a Shameful Shopper

Hi

Ok so I made out I was good as gold and did not shop for a month but I have a deep and dark confession..... I bought a top (and a makeup brush but that doesn't count right??).

I was in Awear last week well before my no shopping time was up and what did I see but a lovely Barbie t-shirt for €22. In my blind panic I could not leave it behind but I knew I was not allowed to shop...whats a girl to do?? Well if your this girl you give the money to She-ra and you make her buy the top for you (see I didn't technically buy it cause I did not go up to the till) and I made her keep it until the shopping ban was over..

Ok just re-read it and it turns out I am a bit crazy and I go to the Del Boy (from Only fools and Horses) school of Morals

The Torture has Ended

First shop was Awear.... ahhhh Awear what a highlight of any shopping day, this shop has recently become my favourite shopping venue, not only are the clothes there gorge but they are such good value for money. So my highlights today were a sequin blazer (another sequin blazer you ask??? yeah so shoot me I like sparkly things), its really stretchy and comfy and sparkly. The skull cardi has been something that I have been looking at for the past couple of weeks but have resisted, I am so glad I got it, it is so soft, I also got a structured black top with gathering on the shoulder.



Then I toddled over to Zara where I tried on a cool pair of boots with straps around them but decided that I was going to pretend that it was still summer so I gave them a miss.. so I got a lovely beige top with skulls on it (people will call me Newtt from Hollyoaks with all the skulls going on). Of course that lead me to have to go to Penneys to get a beige vest top for underneath (and here is the downward spiral of shopping cause as everybody knows with Penneys you leave with a big bag of God knows what at the end).




(I also got some make up but I will leave that for another post)

After my lovely day of shopping I was wrecked so I went home and watched a DVD, Confessions of a Shopaholic (I kid you not) and laughed (some parts of that movie are uncomfortably close to the bone) my little shopped out head off, I love the meeting where they say "My wallet is closed I do not need to shop".

So what have I learned from not shopping???? Its actually quite bad for you, you just blow twice as much at the end of the month, I think I need to learn Moderation ..... MOD er ATION.... mmmm that is a difficult word to learn lets see if i manage it.

My wallet is closed i do not need to shop, My wallet is closed I do not need to shop, My wallet is closed...........