Make Up Monday – The Sweet Smell of Success

As my annual bottle of Chanel’s Coco Mademoiselle runs low, I started thinking about people’s perfume habits. In all my beauty fixations, my choice of perfume is my most consistent. I have been using Coco Mademoiselle for about 5 years now, summer and winter, and see no signs of changing. I have had dalliances into other sultry tones such as Dior Pure Poison and Flower by Kenzo, but Chanel has remained a true constant. I love how it makes me feel (I feel naked without it) and how friends and family identify that scent with me.

I have never been into changing my perfume to reflect the seasons. This might be because I am not a fan of the light floral scents or because I get so easily distracted in fashion and make up that I need to keep my scent the same! Of all beauty products, perfume is a total luxury. With luxury comes a hefty price tag which is why you should think about, and test, your scent before you buy it.

I have been making a concerted effort recently to test alternatives just to make sure that my money is being well spent (100ml of Coco Mademoiselle EDP is £78!).

Working above House of Fraser has its advantages when it comes to this. I have been tempted by the saccharine delights of Viktor & Rolf’s Flower Bomb which smells like a really naughty sweet shop.

In the words of 50 Cent, it’ll take you to the candy shop...

I will leave you with the infallible words of Coco Chanel which eloquently sum up what I have been trying to say:

“No elegance is possible without perfume. It is the unseen, unforgettable, ultimate accessory.”

So when you put it like that, it would be simply rude not to indulge. Is anyone heading through duty-free soon?!

V

Women banned from wearing trousers in Paris

Coco 'Criminal' Chanel as she was known on her trouser wearing days

There is an byelaw first introduced in 1800 which bans women from wearing trousers in Paris, according to today’s Telegraph.

This made me chuckle. Itmeans that A & S are both criminals. But considering this also makes criminals out of Coco Chanel and Rebecca, Eurostar competition winner, I feel we’re in good company.

Although the lawyers amongst us don’t want to admit it, there are any number of stupid laws about. These are laws that no-one actually takes any notice of but no-one can be bothered to get rid of. Here are a few of my favourites from the UK:

• Eating mince pies on Christmas Day is banned
• It is illegal to hang washing in the street
• It is illegal to die in the Houses of Parliament
• It could be regarded an act of treason to place a postage stamp bearing the British king or queen’s image upside-down
• It is illegal to bet or gamble in the library reading room
• It is illegal for a woman to be topless in Liverpool except as a clerk in a tropical fish store

Now that my silliness quota for the day is full, I’m off.

A

Fluffy pink and graphic black

It’s sometimes hard to replicate lovely looks from magazines whether due to poverty or lack of natural graces, but in this instance no amount of money or beauty will help: you need ingenuity and a lot of black felt tip. I love this look from Glamour and have been browsing the internet rather religiously trying to find a decent copy of the footwear, but I have noticed that they’re not actually knee-length boots.

I’m fairly certain she’s wearing these Christian Louboutin ankle boots and that the stylist has had a go at the rest of her leg with some black substance. I still want to do this look but without having black marks all over my legs for days to come.

Sadly, my perusing has led me to believe that there are no long gladiator-style boots in existence anywhere in Britain. I didn’t want them previously and thought they were pretty horrid but now I’ve seen this I do. Oh fickle Lady Fashion!

S

Natural beauty and the Challenging-o-meter

Surprisingly challenging.

In the absence of our excellent makeup and beauty correspondent V, I’m going to mull over a beauty issue: “natural beauty” versus the made-up look. This annoys me broadly because only exceptionally beautiful women can maintain the standards men and society expect while not actually making any effort, so this is more about tactics than vanity.

Assorted amounts of challenging.

I saw Jennifer’s Body last week and I enjoyed it surprisingly much. It was very much an updated version of Heathers with a supernatural element and that can’t be bad. One theme of the film was that Jennifer, played by Megan Fox, is your classic shiny-haired, skinny but busty, Hollywoodised teenage girl, while her friend Needy, played by Amanda Seyfried, is a glasses-wearing “normal” girl. But it’s Needy who gets the boy (ish). Megan Fox is the male pin-up de jour I am told but even though she is certainly beautiful I’ve got my doubts about her appeal outside of teenage boys.

As in real life, being mega-gorgeous and “sexy” doesn’t actually do Jennifer any favours. Boys seem scared of her, and thinking of my male friends, they all go for girl-next-door types, except my boyfriend who goes for grouchy, ranty, feminist types who like to walk around in embarassing leotards and things.

In no way challenging.

It’s the middle-ground girls who do the best with the boys: every since Jen in Dawson’s Creek walks onstage wearing a hideous floral dress I’ve noticed that keeping it casual works for men. Demure girls with long hair in unchallenging clothes is all they ask for. Oh men. Why are you so boring?

There’s a lot of girl-hate around for Megan Fox’s looks and demeanour but it’s no more calculated than perfect invisible makeup. I love it when stars bust out of the pretty mould and do something artistic with their looks. After all, they’re the only ones who can, due to their staff and the fact they get driven everywhere.

The opposite of challenging.

Even though I want to look like Haley or Brooke from One Tree Hill – on this topic I will not tolerate any discussion, they are goddesses – when I think of who I adore in the looks stakes, it’s Lady Gaga. I think it’s weird that her look is described as “sexy”, a word usually used for Jennifer Lopez or other nice, girly celebrities. Gaga is super-sexual, but it’s really not about being a man-pleaser. If it were, she’d just stick on a floral dress and have done with it.

S

Pretty much the ultimate in challenging.

Recessionista Jewellery

Gold - always believe in your soul. A lesson to all bankers everywhere.

I like this necklace by Plot especially like the simplicity of design and variety of materials used. You can get it in lead, gold, silver, all the materials of the financial stock market rainbow.

Gold & Oil

They even have a little poem:

It tells stories
It creates patterns
It proves points
It backs up plans

But imprisoned by PowerPoint
Its beauty blemished by Excel
Data is overlooked by the stylish

PLOT aims to right this wrong
To unearth the beauty of perfect figures
To celebrate the stories of exact facts

Data is beautiful
PLOT is beautiful data

Lead is my favourite.

To be honest, I’ve never thought of data as particularly beautiful and I have short shrift for poetry on Fridays. I’m willing to put up with it this time though because the jewellery is very pleasant indeed. And I do like numbers.

A

Luella shuts down!

What a terrible week so far. First Lucie went home on the X Factor (TRAVESTY) and now Luella has shut down. The whole thing, shop and all.

No heart-neckline dresses. My hairbows now feel like bad luck. Get all the details from Liberty London Girl because I am too lamed out to copy them.

I’m going to go and look at some bluebirds or something to stem the bad thoughts.

S

Frou frou and fabric and frills oh my

This frills trend is fabulous and I am so tremendously bored of everything I own I want to tear everything into rags, sell the rags and buy a sequinned zip-frill dress from Primark with the resulting £4. I will have to wear it every day because I’ll own no other clothes but as long as I retain some woollen tights and my duffle coat I won’t die of exposure.

 A better option for my party-season pennies might be this good look-alike of the Lanvin dress, above, from Asos., whose magazine I have started receiving in the post against my will but which I find strangely good reading. I do wonder how it is that Asos can get their magazine to me but Elle, which I actually want, has still failed to turn up.

I’m in the mood to look more glamorous than my duffle coat allows me to and as soon as I have clothes funds, I am going to go and buy a feel-good dress. I have been fantasising about something like the Oscar de la Renta dress Carrie wears in season 6 of Sex and the City. Hopefully you remember that big shiny box because this picture really doesn’t do the feeling justice. I would like my dress to come in big black shiny box too.

S

Make Up Monday – Feathers, Flappers and Frivolity

I was very excited to receive an invitation last week for a 1920s-inspired ‘Feathers, Flappers and Frivolity’ party. For once I didn’t have the usual feeling of dread I get when I think about fancy dress. It is a theme that is instantaneously glamorous, filling my mind with images from The Great Gatsby, Bright Young Things and Brideshead Revisited. I already know that I want a drop-waisted dress, mary-janes and to adorn myself with pearls, creating a gorgeous up-do like Kate Bosworth achieved here, but I want to be authentic with my make-up as well.

Courtesy popsugar.com

Before the 1920s women wore make-up but were much more reserved in their application, however when the 20s hit so did their cosmetic freedom of expression. In its rawest form, make-up from this era did not evoke much variety, but it was the stars of the silent movies such as Louse Brooks (below) that provided the inspiration for porcelain-white skin, bee-sting red lips with a highly defined cupids bow and blackened eyes. So far, it all sounds wonderful, but when you think of the ingredients of these cosmetics it is incredible what lengths the ladies would go to.

 

Mascara in its earliest incantation was melted wax that was applied to the lashes. The ‘kohl’ in the eye make-up consisted of either soot, lead or goose grease that was deeply smudged into the socket area to create the ‘vamp’ look. The powder to even out the skin tone was made up of rice powder in its palest form, and there was little variety in the shade of lipstick, with a red stain for all. I can’t wait to embrace all of the above (with modern products of course) however if I was to truly adhere to the era I would need to pluck my eyebrows painfully thin, drawing them in higher on my face, which just feels like a step too far!

I adore the glamour of the 20s, and cannot wait for the opportunity to relive it, if only for one night. It seems like modern women do not have the time, nor perhaps the inclination to express themselves through make-up as they once did, opting for the more natural look on a daily basis. Although of course it must be celebrated that we do now have more choice about whether we actually want to or not.

V

Paris Week – A Love Letter

Lovely blog reader R went to Paris after winning the Eurostar competition and she was under strict instructions to write to us afterwards. Here are her splendid efforts.

Oh to be whisked away for a weekend, to float away to somewhere beautiful, to relax with a glass of wine and some fine chocolates. Sounds like a dream, no? But it is not, or was not in my case. After I shared my French icon Simone de Beauvoir with the folk of Disconap and wearesocial, I was ecstatic to discover that I was to go to PARIS, FIRST CLASS (Leisure Class) on the Eurostar to Paris! I read Garance Dore like all other good wannabe stylish people, I’ve seen the stillettos tripping across the Tuilleries on Jak and Jil. Paris would be cool for me now. What an amazing surprise!

My first thought when I realised I was actually going to Paris was as practical as it gets for me. What on earth shall I wear? With each passing moment it became increasingly important for me to look as Hollywood Parisian as possible using my own wardrobe. Actual Parisian is kind of simple and average and in my opinion not too different to the average London style, except with less Topshop. I wanted to be in sleek blacks and expensive camels, in spindley stilettos from Prada. After much soul searching I settled on an outfit that I could wear on both days of my trip. And flat shoes. Sob. This was very important as it meant I could just take a handbag with me, containing the essentials. I wore my Margiela high waist peg legs (peg legs sounds more piratey that pegged trousers, so I prefer it), some black top, and a J+ by Jil Sander coat. A bit of red lip liner made me feel smart and less touristy, more me. I hate feeling like a tourist. I prefer feeling like I do in London, like a cool explorer. Anyhow, outfit accomplished, I could set to actually going to Paris.

I went with my lovely friend Caitlin, for one wonderful warm night of wine and wandering. We spend two days walking from St Germaine to Marais to Les Halles to Les Champs Ellyses, back to the river, several trips to L’Ile St Louis and all the way round again. It was a weekend of trekking, of shiny exploration. We looked everywhere, up and down and around. Everywhere we looked we found more to admire. I loved the buildings, like English townhouses, but more frivolous, sillier and prettier. I still prefer our London Georgian splendour but I can appreciate a good balcony, or a nice pair of shutters, or an excellent French courtyard. We ate omelettes and macaroons and fondue with the best of them, all polished off with a little purchase from Longchamp and L’Artisan Parfumerie. Yes, I know you can buy from both shops here, but there is something special about buying from a shop where it’s supposed to be. Like buying Burberry in the UK and… something.. from New York. I now smell like a floral cup of Earl Grey, c’est bien!

So all thanks to the fabulouso A and S and wearesocial for showing me the wonders of one of the greatest cities in the world. I cannot wait to go back (and have more champagne on the train!). You cannot imagine how lucky I feel.

Au revoir!

You’re welcome, with love from A&S

Paris Part Two – The Shops

I thought I better follow up Paris Part One quick sharp, before my holiday completely and utterly fades from my memory.

I explored the Marais, and all its fantastic shops, for the first time on this trip. I’ve obviously been missing out on something quite special for years. The first thing you notice are the mannequins in the window displays – much more interesting than the dull UK ones.

And the shopping was not cheap (I popped into APC for example) but it was lovely to look at and I even bought myself a little sumtin’ sumtin’ from Anna Rivka, a boutique jewellers.

The glamorous, friendly sales assistant

My new bracelet

Anna Rivka’s designs take their inspiration from vintage, but are reworked into modern looking pieces with a glamorous feel. She uses art deco shapes throughout her collection and this bracelet nearly lost the contest to this necklace. Her designs are available to buy at Paul & Joe boutiques in the UK.

And of course, I visited Laduree, the most important shop of all.

A