The Fashion Week Edit: Paris

Now that the fourth and final fashion week has come to a close, I thought I would share my favourite looks from the Fall 2018 Season of Paris Fashion Week. It's not surprising that there were themes of empowerment and strength in the wake of the Time's Up and #MeToo movements aimed at raising awareness on and preventing sexual assault and harassment. Fashion is always reflective of whatever is happening in society and with the recent revolution, designers are reflecting and communicating their thoughts through their clothing, and I am absolutely living for it.

I decided to break up my favourite 'power dressing' looks into categories as there were so many I wanted to include; Coats, Jackets, Knitwear, Trousers, Fabrics, Colours and Trend Pieces. 

Coats 

JacketsKnitwear

TrousersFabric: TweedColour: RedsTrend: Baring The Shoulder

I have definitely favoured looks from Altuzarra, Guy Laroche and Agnona this season but Valentino always pull it out of the bag with their vibrant and sophisticated designs. I am excited to see more from Agnes B, every season I fall a little more in love with her designs.

After hours and hours spent gushing over gorgeous looks at the big four's Fall 2018 fashion weeks, I will now go back to my reality of Tweed from Zara and Knitwear from H&M. Maybe one day?

My Top 5 Favourite Foundations

This has been a really hard post for me to narrow down just five of my favourite foundations as I find myself wearing a different one every day and constantly mixing them together to create different combinations. However, if I actually sat here writing about all my favourite foundations I fear I would be writing up until my graduation...

I first bought Charlotte Tilbury's Magic Foundation on a spontaneous trip to Selfridges after Uni with Lydia. All I had heard were good things and so I was eager to get colour matched and try it for myself. As a full coverage foundation with concentrated mushroom extract that moisturises and tightens your pores, I can honestly say I love it and it is worth every penny. Being a full-time student and relying heavily on my mega staff discount to keep me dosed up on beauty products, it is rare that I venture outside of the Estee Lauder Companies to buy makeup these days. Priced at £30, for this foundation I made an exception. The Magic foundation covers everything and is very buildable for days when I only want a lighter coverage. If you want smoothed out pores and a flawless finish then you need to try this!

La Mer's Soft Fluid Long Wear Foundation is to this day the best buy I've ever had. On a day out over Christmas with my Sister and my gorgeous Nephew I encountered my first Estee Lauder Companies discount store at York Designer Outlet. I had always wanted to try this foundation, priced at £90 I could near enough get facial reconstruction for the same price. However, I managed to bag this winner for around.. wait for it.. £17! With a medium to full coverage for all skin types, my pores look refined and my imperfections disappear. The new colour capsule technology helps the colour stay true – even in humidity! The texture is silky smooth, leaving you with natural glowing skin.

There wouldn't be a top five foundation list without Estee Lauder's Original Double Wear. I recently tried their Double Wear Nude Water Fresh foundation but it doesn't compare to the Original. If you do find the Original Double Wear too much of a full coverage then the new Water Fresh formula maybe the one for you. Providing a medium-to-full coverage and a natural semi-matte finish, Double Wear 24 hour wear is super lightweight and comfortable on the skin. I have a few different shades in this foundation ranging from lighter shades for day to day life and warmer shades to wear when I have a tan.

As soon as Clinique announced in our strategy seminar that they would be bringing out Even Better Glow I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. As the new Light Reflecting version of the original Even Better Foundation, Even Better Glow is a moisturizing, luminizing sheer-to-moderate coverage foundation that creates a natural radiance with subtle aluminising pigments. This is now my new favourite foundation from Clinique I always wear it to work. The formula works as a treatment as well as a foundation to brighten your skin so even when wearing no makeup, your skin is visibly brighter! This foundation really gives you that true "no makeup" makeup look with its super lightweight feel and luminous finish. 

Cover FX's Total Cover Cream Foundation was another impulse purchase for me. I swear someone could say something was average and I would be like yep okay I'm sold I'll take it. The artist in Harvey Nichols actually applied some over her tattoo and it fully covered it so I was amazed. This foundation is definitely better than average! I was slightly hesitant to switch from my beloved liquid foundations to a creamy formula but this long wearing ultra-blendable full coverage foundation gives me the flawless finish I desire. I got my Total Cover in a warmer shade to wear when I have a tan, it is perfect for evenings out. 

So lastly I had to include some other honourable mentions that I absolutely adore - Kat Von D's Lock-It Foundation, Dior's Skin Star Foundation and Illamasqua's Skin Base Foundation.

The Beauty Factory

After weeks and weeks of planning and preperation, the day finally arrived that I would put on my first live event. As part of my university degree for my Events Management module, I was given a brief in which we had to get into groups of eight to plan and execute a live event in order to raise money for a local Birmingham Charity, St Basils. We wanted to create a fun and sophisticated day out for all beauty enthusiasts and so me and the lovely ladies I had the pleasure of working with created our "Beauty Factory". As a BeautyCon style day out, "The Beauty Factory" is the perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon for all beauty lovers, featuring masterclasses from industry professionals, blogger meetups, and pop-up stands by beloved brands.

On the morning of event day I had to wake up at 6:30am and somehow put my hair into rollers and attempt a full face of makeup whilst still half asleep as I knew this would be the only free time I would have all day to make myself look alive. We arrived at the venue at 9am to set up for the fun day ahead. Decorating the venue, we started to see everything we had been imagining for weeks start to come together and it was the best feeling. As the Brands and Makeup Artists started to arrive to set up their stands, it was so exciting to finally meet all the people I had been emailing with for the past few months leading up to the event. Looking around the space and seeing every little detail we had planned coming to life was very (as cringey as it is to say) heartwarming. 

Upon arrival, our guests were greeted with Prosecco and Fresh Orange Juice and given a gift bag along with an itinerary for the day. We had Canapés and sweet treats going round for our guests while they browsed the space. Upstairs we had a variety of beauty stands from nail and brow bars to skincare stands to a Bobbi Brown stand, there was lots for people to get involved with. Downstairs we had our masterclass studio featuring some very talented Makeup Artists sharing their expertise. On a whole, the event was a huge success. It has been a working process full of tears, stress, and sleepless nights, but the end result was so worth it to see everyone having such a good time (myself included)! 

Brands who worked the event said they would love to take part in another event as they saw potential for it to grow bigger and better with time so I definitely don't think this will be the last you hear from Cosmetize Events...

Below are the links to some lovely brands and artists that deserve a special thanks for their donations and contributions to making the day so special!
@pollylanecupcakes
@winniebeaulondon
@myglamsquaduk
@hissyfitclothing
@loveyourbrows
@placenail
@jvckriddle
@umanails_
@sef_lvllashes
@elisehegney
@picmeupuk
@tropiclaurapursehouse
@anastaciabeauty
@hennabeautee
@jemma_bowers
@wishuponasparkle
@hairandmakeup_danihaines
@hbmakeupartist
@hollybakermakeup

Day In The Life: Private Coach Event

As some people may be aware, I had a pretty exciting week last week. I was invited to a private event at the Coach House on Regent Street where I got to meet the one and only Selena Gomez. I was invited to this event along with a plus one after I purchased the Selena Grace bag that Selena designed alongside Coach's creative director Stuart Vevers.

The Selena Grace bag was available in three colours, Black Cherry, White and Red. I decided to go for the Black Cherry design as it would be more wearable all year round. I was honestly so excited to finally be able to meet one of my idols and fashion icons. 2017 is the year Selena finally found her style and honestly, I love everything about it. You can definitely see her new style incorporated into the bags she designed with Coach which is why I was drawn to them. She has left behind her Disney Princess vibes and transformed into a fully fledged style icon.

On Monday morning we got a train to London Marylebone and then got the tube to Oxford Circus. It didn't take us long before we reached the Coach store - it wasn't hard to miss with all the Selena fans circling the area. We did have to wait in line for an hour or so (Selena did have a busy day that day see her five outfit changes) but we got talking to some lovely people so time passed quickly.

We were greeted with Coach personalised hand warmers and hot chocolates which were a nice touch for people who were a little cold whilst waiting in line. On entry to the store we were asked to place our phones in a small Coach envelope and they were given back to us. This was disappointing at first but then you can imagine the frenzy of everyone at the event trying to get pictures of Selena so I understand why they did it.

The store's shelves were filled with Selena's designs and her ad campaign was playing on a loop on their big screens. It was then our turn to go down to the ground floor of the store where Selena was stood in a studio style set up in front of a backdrop. I fangirled as soon as I saw her, I couldn't believe it was really her just stood there in front of me. She hugged us hello but to me it's a bit of a blur from then on. We got our photo taken with her by a professional photographer - the lighting was awful. Selena signed my bag and after a couple of minutes we said goodbye.

Once back upstairs we were greeted with gift bags which included a Coach X Selena Gomez coin purse, a cookie, Selena's new single, bottled water, Coach pins and promotional vouchers. Afterwards, still buzzing from meeting Selena, we went for dinner at Ping Pong and enjoyed some Dim sum and cocktails before heading over to Selfridges for some late night shopping.

I didn't get many good pictures as I was just enjoying the moment but overall I had such an amazing day, it was a nice break from university deadlines before Christmas.