London Fashion Week – Jasper Garvida’s Catwalk

This year, for the very first time in my youthful life, I’ve been invited to two showings at the famous London Fashion Week.  I was incredibly excited as I would be meeting up again with Claire from 1000 Heads and who also has a blog! I also went with Vicky from Vanity-Fashionista and her sister, Anne.  I met plenty of other bloggers and journalist and my eyes were totally opened to a completely new world.  This wasn’t just about beauty but about fashion and plenty of statements.  I personally have more of a passion for make-up and face/body art work rather than high fashion but that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate the work of these designers.  My knowledge only extends so far but as a girl who loves clothes and creativity, this event was surely going to be enjoyable.  LFW is sponsored by Vauxhall Fashion Scout – Vauxhall, what a strange company to be sponsoring LFW!

  Firstly I was invited to attend Jasper Garvida’s Autumn/Winter collection for 2010 named 'Venus’ which was his ‘ready-to-wear’ collection.  His work is said to be be inspired by the Art Deco movement and you’ll be able to see influences of the 1920’s with many curves, waves and bold shapes.  The pieces are very streamlined and tailored while incorporating delicate and soft texture to compliment.  With a name like ‘Venus’ the collection exudes femininity and sophistication.  What I loved about his collection were the textures he created using plenty of expensive fabric such as cashmere and even leather but balanced it out with some chiffon and sequins. 









 

 

I love Jasper’s work and am completely inspired by his offerings.  I didn’t realise I’d enjoy the cat walk as much as I thought I did.  I feel like everything was on point; the music, the models, their walks, the timing, the atmosphere and I was particularly touched when Jasper came out at the end for his final bow.

My first cat walk experience was extremely satisfying.  I think it probably helped a great deal as I was sat FRONT ROW and I am so grateful that I was able to.  

Sitting front row meant that I was able to take some wicked pictures (if I don’t mind saying so myself) but I also got to opposite to the likes of Liz McClarnon (former Atomic Kitten singer), Beverly Knight (singer) and also Sophie Anderton (British model).  Did you notice Liz in most of my pictures, in the blue dress? 

 

I was also able to view some of the new and upcoming designers’ work in the exhibition hall.  There were some particularly beautiful pieces from Viking Wong and Felicity Brown.  I also favoured some pieces from Charlotte Taylor and David Longshaw.




   

I had such a wonderful time and I would seriously consider going again.  I will be visiting London Fashion Week and will definitely go to that cat walk. 
London Fashion Week is like a different kind of world I’ve experienced.  It’s as flamboyant as I thought it would be but a lot less intimidating.  If anything it’s become extremely inspiring. 
To me fashion will always be something quite personal and where I adore London fashion, my influences come from around the world.  It’s needless to say that I was born into high street and high street is my where my fashion brain resides.  Can I possibly begin to understand high fashion?  Yes, if everything was alike Jasper’s ready-to-wear collection.  Stay tuned for my next London Fashion Week post to understand what I mean about ‘not getting high fashion…’

Peace,

Cherry x

Review: The Body Shop Facial Brush (with lid!)

The Low Down
Back in early January I picked up The Body Shop (TBS) Facial Brush in the hope it would revamp my skin cleansing routine and push my cleaning products that one bit further.  January, as I know it, usually brings dull skin, redness and plenty of flaking so this year I was ready, willing and armed to battle away all of those skin problems with this tiny baby.  

The brush itself is actually very small;  no longer than your little finger and half the size of my palm (so quite small then).  It’s easy to hold with it’s plastic knob of a handle and the bristles itself are soft yet firm.  This brush is designed and marketed to aid cleansing and exfoliating your skin.  I use it for this reason but there is also something else I quite like using it for…

And what do they claim?

A small nylon brush for the face suitable for use with cleansers, facial washes or exfoliators from The Body Shop®. The ergonomically improved shape allows for maximum control. Supplied with a flush-fitting lid, which allows excess water to be drawn away from the bristles after use for increased hygiene and protection.

                                                    -The Body Shop UK Website

How did it work for Cherry?

Without wanting to sound completely crazy; I’m slightly obsessed.  I love using this brush and I’ve found my skin care routine has been given the boost it needed. Alike many of us, flaky skin can really annoy me and it’s probably one of the top skin peeves I have on my list; imagine that I’d rather have greasy skin than dry, flaky skin.  What this brush has done is transformed my skin to a much smoother texture and it looks very polished.  I’m starting to see my skin improving in terms of its blotchiness as well; there is definitely less red patches.  The added bonus to all of this is that my make-up hasn’t looked this good on my skin for a long time and it’s because there is less flaky dry patches my foundation can cling onto.

Something else I’ve noted that this product is good for is a facial massage.  I will discuss with you how to do that below but I just want to tell you how it has worked.  With the morning facial massages I do with this brush, my skin can look glowing and radiant throughout the day.  The circular motions you apply to your skin allows circulation of the blood and this not only accelerates the renewal of your skin but also allows healing blemishes to disappear quicker. 

How can you use this product?

This baby can be used in several ways so I think it appropriate to clarify how I use the product for its different uses.

For deep cleansing:
I will make sure my face has been steamed in the shower (or however you want to open up your pores) and I will use a deep cleansing product such as the St Ives Apricot face washes and apply over my face and lather.  Once my face has lathered up with the product I will warm up the brush by submerging it in warm/hot water.  I apply to skin gently and in circular motions, manoeuvre the brush around my face making sure I reach around my nose any any other areas that need deep cleansing i.e. the t-zone.  After this I rinse off with warm water, then a splash of cold water and path dry.  This is suitable to do daily but I would suggest that once daily is quite adequate.  This is totally up to you but make sure you do not apply too much pressure if your skin is very sensitive. 

For exfoliating:
Much like the deep cleansing but I will make sure to use an exfoliating product.  Right now I’m loving The Body Shop’s Honey and Oats 3in1 Scrub Mask and its works well with a product like that.  When exfoliating I take care to go over my face 2-3 times to make sure I really polish away the dead skin cells.  Whilst doing this I also like to use Lush’s new Lip scrubs to polish away any dry skin on my lips.  TBS Facial brush helps with this process as well.  After this I rinse it off with warm water, splash a couple of times with cold water and then pat dry.  I recommend you do this 2-3 times a week but this is totally at your discretion and preference.  I go through stages where I like to do it twice or three times in a row if the weather is being particularly mean to my skin or I’m suffering from a dry patchy area on my forehead or near my hair line. 

For facial massaging: 
When facial massaging, you do not necessarily need any products.  I personally prefer to massage extra virgin olive oil, or pure coconut oil to my skin and massage first with my fingers.  I do this in the shower it’s easier to wash off.  Using natural oils will help moisturise the skin and allows the brush to glide over the skin beautifully.  I then use the brush to gently knead into my skin, concentrating on the cheek bones, the contours of my eyes, around my lips and my neck.  You do not have to scrub vigorously, just a gentle, circular kneading motion is enough to give your face a work out. Afterwards it’s easy to wash it off your face with warm water or if you prefer, wash it off with your favourite gentle cleanser.  I like to do this from time to time; there really shouldn’t be a time interval between doing this as it’s really great for the face.  I would suggest as guidance, you may want to try it once or twice a week when you have some quality time for yourself or during your bubble bath!

How much will it cost me?

At The Body Shop, it costs only £3.00 so it’s very cheap and easily affordable.  I would suggest that you change this brush every 3 to 4 months despite it being ‘hygienic’ with a lid.  It' can only be as hygienic as the built up dirt on your face is.  With regular cleaning it will be fine for a few months but once the bristles begin to deteriorate (mine has begun already) and the bristles start to change colour, it’s time to get yourself a new one!

Cherry’s Final Verdict

Like I’ve said, I adore this product.  I think it’s incredibly useful and has definitely pushed my skin routine to the best of its potential.  I would recommend this tool for anyone and especially those who suffer from dry and dull skin.  Those with greasier skin types will find it useful for dead cleansing.  I haven’t found such a useful facial tool in a while; most I’ve come across have seemed a novelty and a waste of time.  The Body Shop facial brush has become my best friend!  This product deserves a 5/5 rating!

No Name Creature Mini Contest

Recently I was sent a few pairs of cool novelty contact lenses from Mark of Youknowit.com and it’s given me a chance to be a bit creative with my make-up.  It’s amazing what a simple pair of contact lenses can do; it pushes your make up just that bit further as does things like faux lashes, hair accessories and camera lighting. 
With one of the pair of lenses, I decided to go for a creative look that had elements of vampires and cats in it.  I’ve held a contest and I hope my blog readers will also join in.  The contest prizes in clude four eye shadows from Natural Collection.  Please view my video to see them!    Here are some pictures of the end result.









What to do to enter: 
~ Go to www.youknowit.com and check out their lenses
~ In the comments of my Youtube video (CLICK HERE) tell me which lenses you like the most
~ Next give me a name for this tutorial/look (Comments in the blog post do not count, please enter a comment in my youtube comments section)
Contest rules:
~ please have permission to enter this contest + for me to
send you products if you do win
~ you must be a subscriber of Cherrychan108
~ you may (not necessary but may give you brownie points) subscribe to www.mattermorphicme.wordpress.com
This is open worldwide and closes March 31st 2010. 

Disclaimer: The contact lenses featured in this video were provided by Youknowit.com.  By no means was I paid for this video and this was video was produced on my own accord.  This contest is not sponsored by Youknowit.com either.

It seems my creativity has sparked some interest for some people; I shall be doing the same for another pair of lenses but next time I will show case something pretty unusual….
Peace,
Cherry x

Brush Wars: MAC VS Crown

Having a vast array of brushes for my own personal use, I have some knowledge of certain brushes and most of them are of the drugstore variety.  However in my stash, the majority of the brushes you’ll see are actually from Crown Brushes. 

I’ve been often asked to compare the Crown brushes against the bench mark of brushes – MAC Brushes.  There is little explaining to do when it comes to MAC brushes; the majority of us will have at least one or two in our collection, heard and read countless reviews on them or played with them in store.  They are, no doubt, some of the best make-up brushes you can buy in store with a wide variety and are cruelty free.  The only downfall with MAC brushes is that they are expensive and only recently have they increased the prices still; so a comparison may be in order.

The news of Crown brushes have been circulating between the make up community for a while now and before owning over 20 of them, I really wanted them because I heard they are of good price and quality.  Now that I not only have the 23 Piece professional set, plus more I purchased from IMATS, i think I can do a comparison against the few MAC brushes I do have. 

So this is the ratio between my Crown Brushes against my MAC brushes.  Granted, most of the Crown was bought in a set and for Christmas so I didn’t spend a lot of money on them.  The few Crown brushes I picked up from IMATS were only about £2-4 each which is an absolute bargain.

The MAC brushes I do have are the 217, 224 and two others numbers I have now forgotten.  I adore the MAC brushes that I do have and would still like to have more in my collection but in all honesty, most of the brushes within the Crown bunch I have do the job just fine.  I also have more brushes so would I really spend more money at MAC?

So needless to say the biggest difference between the two brands is the price.  Where, for instance, a brush from MAC could cost you anywhere between £15-£20, a typical Crown brush costs you about a quarter to half of that price.  So what there is left to debate about is quality…

The quality of a make up brush if like the difference between a quality nail polish and a ‘rubbish’ one, or perhaps the difference between an old banger car and a beautiful, gleaming Ferrari.  Yes you can get from A-B but you won’t get there comfortably and you probably will break down half way.  Yes it’s a similar colour nail polish but the result is a thick, gloopy consistency that takes a million years to dry.  See what I’m saying?

So top quality is imperative when it comes to make up brushes therefore my standards are high.  What I find with Crown brushes is that the bristles are not as soft as MAC.  I’ve also purchased brushes from Royal and Langnickel and I would say that those slightly softer than Crown.  But that is not to say, however, that Crown brushes have potential to scrape off your skin or leave you red and blotchy.  They are decent in terms of ‘softness’ and apply make up well.  Their handles are sturdy; in general these brushes are decent and I would recommend these to anyone.

The one thing I have noticed with Crown brushes is that they shed hairs from time to time even after a few washes.  It’s never a huge problem but on occasion it can get frustrating, especially if I’m buffing my face and I end up looking like a Werewolf.  This doesn’t steer me away from Crown brushes; I love them for their price and their quality.  I’m not wowed by absolutely everything but I didn’t expect to be in the first place.  There is a difference between when you pay over £20 for a MAC brush and find it shedding and then paying minimal price for quality output and occasional shedding.  Does my logic make any sense?

The next couple of brush brands I want to try out are Sigma and perhaps one day Hakuhodo but for now I’m content with the Crowns and the few MACs I do have.  I’m also loving the likes of Revlon, Eco-tools and GOSH make up brushes, so all is not lost if you don’t want to try out Crown brushes. 

I hope that helped some of you who wanted that comparison,

Peace,

Cherry x

No Name Creature - A sneak peak

This is a special look I’ve done an upcoming contest topic….stay tuned! 

Green Apples and grapes look

Face:
MUFE HD FOUNDATION – Soft Sand
Origins Whole Grain make up – Light
Maybelline Pure Mineral Concealer
ELF HD Powder over concealed areas
MAC “By Candle light” MSF
Illasmaqua – Steal

Eyes:
BarryM’s Green Apple Dazzle dust (limited edition)
Heart breakers cosmetics pigment in Intrigue
Lancome definicils mascara
BarryM Eye kohl in Lime green
Bodyshop Eye Pencil in Cactus Green

Lips:
Nothing!

Nails:
OPI Gargantuan Green Grape nail polish

 

Enjoy everyone :)

x