Tips on downgrading

 

This year has been a seriously impoverished one for me – I’m a student, which is great but has meant a long tumble down the beauty products ladder from YSL and Clinique to whatever I can find in Superdrug. I have learned many coping techniques, which I think are worth sharing. I don’t put huge amounts of work into my regime but I do like to feel comfortable at all times (no taxis to protect my beauty efforts!) and take care of my skin because it gives me hassle.

The most important thing I have learned is to do things properly. A lot of my expensive products covered up my bad habits rather than making me look amazing. At first when I didn’t have things that looked and smelled nice, I lost my motivation to make any effort at all.

• Use base coat and top coat on your nails, just cheap ones are fine. This makes cheap nailpolish look good and last longer. Gem Fatale is the duchess of nail tips.
• Most overused tip ever: take off your makeup every night. Expensive makeup is a waste of time if you’re applying to a face like gravel.
• Wash your hands at every opportunity. Prevents breakouts better than any product ever invented and is free.
• Blowdry your hair. Once you’ve got the product and the hairdryer it’s free and it makes up for old clothes and lack of fashion bling.
• Exfoliator is the king of beauty products as far as I’m concerned. The last thing I have hung onto from my dollars days is the Clinique Clarifying Lotion (go for number 2, number 1 isn’t strong enough). On the body, anything will do really but if you have backne etc, I recommend the Sanctuary one because it has oil in it. Oil works on oily skin. 
• An excellent tip I got recently: every now and then, exfoliate your underarms. It prevents BO and therefore emergency top purchases. Also, exfoliate your legs before shaving and it will make your razors last longer.
• Vaseline your feet before wearing tight or high-heeled shoes. Result: no blisters.
• Carry plasters and eye makeup remover wipes with you. Hobbling and panda eyes, especially as a combo, make you look insane. While I’m at it, buy some Party Feet (the foam ones, not the rubbish gel ones). I’m amazed that I still see people hobbling about – I recently saw a lady whose foot was bleeding from her shoes.

GOD I love expensive makeup and skincare. I have very pale white, combination type skin that is prone to spots and blotchiness. Therefore I am a real fusspot. Some things can be downgraded and others you can invest in with the aim of them lasting a long time. Trying lots of cheap products that don’t work for you is one of those false economies like in the news.

Worth spending money on:

• Hair products. I trim my own hair with haircutting scissors (you can get them in plain and slotted from Boots) and avoid colouring because it always looks rubbish when you do it at home. Cheap hairspray and grips are easy (but put your grips in a container or you’ll spend a stealth fortune on them). However, I would spend money on one good product like blowdry lotion; I use Tigi Superstar and it keeps me from wanting to pull out my terrible amateur haircut, plus it protects from heat and gives lots of volume for Cheryl Hair.
• Foundation. No one has yet invented cheap foundation that can cover actual blemishes.
• I’m in two minds about mascara. I still only use posh ones because they last much longer, but the effect isn’t that different. If you have sensitive eyes you should chuck them out every couple of months anyway so a posh one is a bad investment.
• Eyeshadow. Cheap ones don’t show up and fall off quickly. Waste of time. Get a decent brown one from Mac and you can use it for your eyebrows as well.
• Eye makeup remover. I tried cheap ones but they made me look tired because I was dragging on the skin and it took three goes to get it all off.
• Sunscreen. In a way it’s worth spending lots of money on moisturiser (see below) because the posh ones usually have SPF and something with a high SPF needs to go on your skin everyday regardless. Realistically you are not going to go to work with white stuff on your face and neck every day. Some people will be fine without it but the gnarly thing is that you don’t know until you are 35, by which time it is too late. No: you will not be rich and leisurely enough to have surgery to fix your appearance.

Things you can go cheap on:

• If you get spots, use a crushed up aspirin in a bit of water. 16p in Boots versus £8 from Clinique and it’s the same chemical. Admittedly you can only really do this when you get time alone but being cheap is hard work.
• Shampoo. It’s all just soap at the end of the day. Spend the money on conditioner instead. The best budget-y one I’ve tried is John Frieda Brilliant Brunette. I used it on my blonde hair too but I assume the blonde one is preferable for that!
• Apparently the Garnier caffeine roll-on is superior to Touche Eclat and costs half as much. In addition, expensive undereye concealer is mainly about texture but what you really need is colour. The L’Oreal Professional range is expensive for highstreet but good at this colour-neutralising malarkey that I have yet to master.
• Primer is expensive but really handy as it keeps your makeup where it is, but this can be achieved by using powder on your face. Mine cost £1.99 from Rimmel and has lasted for ever. Especially good on sweaty nights out.
• I have tried what feels like every cheap and middle-range moisturiser there is and nothing has replaced my Clinique Superdefense, but ordinary Nivea Creme was the frontrunner. It’s neutral so you can use it for every cream-necessitating scenario. Go easy around the eyes because it’s very thick.
• Facewash. I liked Neutrogena better than anything else. I looked like I had scrofula after using almost everything else.

My last tip is that buying clothes to pep up your wardrobe and your mood doesn’t work. I’ve bought more expensive clothes in my year of poverty because I had to really justify everything and I’d always rather one top from Whistles that makes me feel awesome than three crap ones from H&M. Buy party dresses in Primark because you’ll only wear them once or twice anyway; also hats, sunglasses, pyjamas, knickers and accessories. The most underrated shop for day-to-day clothes, bags and shoes is Marks and Spencers. You’ll feel good because you’ll be a size smaller there than in Topshop, the clothes don’t go rubbish after one wash and everything is affordable. If you never buy the really edgy stuff with cut-outs and fringing from Topshop anyway, you might as well buy a more flattering floral dress from the M&S Limited Collection. No one needs to know!

What a mission of a post! Feel free to share any other money-saving tippage.

S

Make-Up Monday – Berry Beautiful

This past week I have been inspired by lipstick, berry and burgundy shades in particular. A little late to the party admittedly, but look at these stunning images of Christina Hendricks from  LA Times magazine back in July, where she rocks differing shades of lipstick and quirky accessories like no other. What a stunner.

I have had a really mixed relationship with lipstick. I have often admired from afar the use by others, generally older or cooler than myself, and opted for pale gloss, choosing to vamp up my eyes instead. But just recently I’ve felt inspired to experiment more. A very kind and generous colleague recently bought me a Benefit lipstick in a berry shade which has turned out to be a firm fixture in my handbag and in turn on my lips. The joy of these shades is that you can wear them to their full pigment potential, or you can blot a touch of colour for a slight stain, and then add to it for a bolder evening look. In addition, there is a shade that works for everyone whatever your colouring, and the autumn/winter months couldn’t be a better time to try them out.

If money was no option, I would recommend one of the shades from Giorgio Armani’s Night Queen collection, which not only gorgeous, stay on for ages (even through food and drink, I promise).

Either I’m getting older or lipstick is back. Let’s go for the latter.

V

Make-up Monday: Giorgio Armani joy

I took myself off to Selfridges the other evening with the sole purpose of buying some sunglasses but naturally found myself distracted by the beauty floor, which was busy but not over-crowded. Having amused myself (without purchasing) the very tempting Illamasqua Pastel Nails, I headed towards the Giorgio Armani counter which I have been meaning to check out for ages having heard such great things.

Immediately I was approached by the assistant Frederic who turned out to be an absolute gem in the ‘not too pushy but I know exactly what I’m talking about’ kind of way. I instantly felt relaxed and was happy to try on anything he might throw at me, which for a control freak like me is no easy persuasion! Anyway, the long and the short of it is, their products are simply awesome. Expensive? Yes, but worth it? Absolutely.

I would put them in the Laura Mercier/Bobby Brown category in that they are great for natural base products, but with the technology and sophistication all of their own. First he applied the Face fabric second skin (£29) which is an incredibly light and sheer liquid foundation with a powder finish which had a really lovely dewy coverage:

He then bronzed up my cheeks which again was so natural that I looked like I had just glanced at the sun, after which he decided to complete the look with lip colour. For anyone who reads this blog regularly you will know that my lips are the bane of my life and that colour matching has previously duped artists at MAC, Laura Mercier and Nars. Frederic graciously accepted the challenge and matched me with the most gorgeous Rouge d’Armani and this dreamlike gloss which you can lick your lips when wearing and it literally doesn’t budge:

 

I ended up walking away with the lipstick and gloss as I was so blown away that he had colour-matched me so well.  Be warned the cost does hurt, but this is definitely one of those brands that once you have tried you will never go back, and despite the price, I will be  heading back for the Face fabric as I think it will be a fantastic summer product.

Giorgio, for sheer style, sophistication and staying power in the make-up department, I salute you. I’m just sorry I’ve only just found you.

V

Word from the editors: V’s opinions are all her own, she doesn’t get freebies or paid to promote things – we’ve recently learned some blogs do this! If we ever get freebies, we make it clear what the situation is. xxx A&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.

Make up Monday – “Dark Times Lie Ahead” – The Kiss of Death

Last year’s A/W 08 catwalks were full of this: 

So now we are hurtling full force into A/W 09, we should be thinking about wearing/working the looks that they provided us with, but even with a year’s advanced warning are we ready to paint our lips black?

I think the image above is absolutely stunning, I love the bold simplicity of it and how the black lips brings a uniformity. I do however remain unconvinced as to whether I or anyone else I know could pull it off without taking part in a full on grunge-fest!

I found this fabulous M.A.C. Colourview video that provides inspiration for looks to try this season. It is clear that soft, dewy, natural looks have been replaced by bright, bold, sculpted colour continuing the 80s fashion trend. With make-up however, I am always a little wary of trends. I’d rather look to the catwalks for inspiration for new techniques to try, rather than painting my face a certain way just because the industry dictates that it should be so. I also think there is a massive void between what works both on the catwalk and photographically as opposed to in everyday life.

I love the use of black on the eyes both matt and glitter based, I have also mentioned in previous posts how I love red lips, although I’m yet to find a shade I can pull off myself! These images below are from M.A.C’s new limited edition ‘Style Black’ collection coming out in the UK in October. I am particularly excited about the black grease paintsticks  and will definitely be purchasing one or two.

 

But back to the question of black lips; all that’s left for me to say is could you, would you?

V

Makeup “essentials”

The other day, inspired by V’s excellent makeup posts, A and I decided to play a game. A not-very-fun game entitled “if you were sent to a desert island, what five bits of makeup would you take with you?” Under what distressing circumstances would this happen? This was very difficult for me. For a start, being stranded on a desert island is a totally different situation from any other I am likely to find myself in, so if the point of the game is to establish what my five most important items of makeup are, then it will fail in its purpose.

After some minutes of this sort of discussion, we both chose our necessary items:

I went for Lancome foundation, which is genius, Lancome Hypnose mascara (I only own samples of mascara!), Touche Eclat and a blusher and eyebrow defining kit, both by Benefit. I consider these to be essential items because in my white-person-centric mind, darkening your eyelashes is the number one thing would do if you weren’t allowed to do anything else to your face, presumably because the person who stranded you on the island is threatening you with a sharpened bit of coconut shell.

I am a bit sensitive about my skin and so my makeup routine for a day when I am wearing makeup, which I don’t always, would go:

• moisturiser
• sunscreen (Clinique City Block factor 40)
• tinted moisturiser all over
• touch up with foundation
• concealer under the eyes. I’ve started doing triangle shapes instead of half-moons after reading about shading in this month’s Elle
• pencil in my eyebrows, a relatively recent addition to the process
• blusher
• Benefit concealer under the eyes, right up to the lashes
• powder liner applied with a brush from the Benefit eye-defining kit
• mascara
• Sometimes a bit of neutral-coloured lipstick, but I don’t usually bother with my lips.

I can’t believe how much makeup that is but it’s very quick to do. For an event I’d do black eyeliner on the inside of my eyelashes as well but there isn’t that much difference between the amount of effort. It distresses me how little A needs:

A, with her thick modelly eyebrows and black eyelashes, has the luxury of including makeup brushes. All she needs to look that gorgeous is apparently some concealer, blusher and sometimes a stroke of eyeliner. When I learned this I slightly wanted to kill her.

We did have concealer and blusher in common, which united shortly after to bring peace to the warring factions of our make-up, i.e. Mac vs. the Lancome/Benefit alliance.

I must say it was surprisingly eye-opening finding out what someone else would rescue if their makeup bag was set on fire by that horrid coconut-shell toting person. If I was allowed twenty things, most of them would probably go on my skin, while A has the chance to see beyond this and into the world of actual colours.

S

My fabulous lifestyle

Well, you know, this blog isn’t all about A and I wishing we had stuff we can’t afford and photos of us in pumpkins. It’s also about our amazingly stylish and trendy lifestyles that you only wish you could emulate.

So, here are my tips for living up to my fabulousness:

• Get sacked. Seriously, it’s the new having a job.
• Spend three hours of your day in the jobcentre because, in the words of the kindly manager at Wandsworth “Jobcentre Plus”, where you went wrong was not giving your form to Susan. You know Susan! She’s the one you give your form to. Sorry, you’ve now been deleted from our system.
• Get toothache, go home and have a sad.
• Remember you now have a cat living with you and feel weird that it can see you sitting on the sofa with no trousers on.

The only good thing about today is that Igot to carry my new Marimekko bag around with me. Had you forgotten this is a fashion blog? Here it is in all its mustardy glory. Luckily, despite having no job, I have a lovely Finnish grandma who gives me Euroz and I spent them all in the Marimekko shop (not pictured: new additions to my napkin collection) (oh my god, I really do have one).

I think a whole other post should be dedicated to my learning to buy and apply makeup as I am not really that skilled at it. Magazines have never addressed how to make up a face whose most important feature is the cheeks.

S

Maquillage

I have a nice little spot in front of the window in my wardrobe where I do my makeup, with a lovely padded floor cushion and good light. But I don’t have a suitably tidy approach to my makeup. I have four different bags in different states of tattiness. Less-loved items get relegated to more stained cases, while the favourites get to live in an oilcloth Cath Kidston purse with stars on it that my ex-flatmate gave me. It’s ideal in size and waterproofness when it comes to carrying a few bits to work and back, but isn’t fulfilling my needs at home.

I saw this case from Etsy today via an article at Tfs about how to store makeup. It would cost $100 or more with postage (not feasible with the exchange rate as it is) but I love the idea and it suddenly occurred to me my makeup isn’t being treated with enough respect and probably isn’t all that hygienic. I have a lot of nice makeup from when I used to have money and I much prefer posh brands like YSL and Benefit. Sorry budget makeup lovers, but I just prefer it. I’m not saying I look any better but frankly I probably take more work in facial upholstering terms than you do. I have complimented you into submission.

S

Wistful listful

Now that I have a job I can once again start my favourite hobby of daydreaming about stuff I want to buy. Ranging from the expensive dreambuy, through to the little treats, this is my list.

£££

• Ferragamo Varina flat pumps (£225!)
• A brown leather Miu Miu bag. Even if I could afford this ever, they don’t seem to have any pleasing dark brown leather ones at the moment.
• New GHDs.

££

• Lancome Adaptive foundation.
• Clinique facewash.
• Shu Uemura eyelash curlers.
• A haircut that will make me look exactly like last season’s Balmain catwalk models.

£

• Organic semi-skimmed milk. The drink of the gods.

Hair

Karl Lagerfeld Sping 2009

I’m irritated as today I dropped a second expensive mascara down the back of a radiator and now whenever I do my makeup I can see a designer makeup graveyard down there, winking at me gleefully (gold YSL packaging) while melting all over the pipes. I do love doing my makeup but I’m a bit clumsy at it.

My friend Karla says that you are either a hair, makeup or clothes person at heart, although I’d add that one can be a shoe or a bag afficionado as well, and I’d say I’m definitely a clothes person. However, since my taste in clothes has started leaning towards the more restrained end of things, I’ve become more interested in grooming. It’s a lot more time-consuming than putting together outfits, which is instinctive – it comes from the heart! With hair, you have to spend quite a lot of time for what seems a very subtle result. But when you see someone with that pefect hair it brings a whole outfit together, it makes casual clothes look beautiful. You know that perfect hair, just matte enough but smooth and shiny, falling just the right way? I’d like that but I’ve never had the time or inclination and I might start a New Year’s resolution to do that – it’s free!

S