Undereye concealer for those long work days

I have been back to work for about a month and a half now. I am sleeping through the night, no more insomnia thankgoodness, but I still can't seem to get to bed before 11.30pm. This means I average 6 hours of sleep a night, which isn't all that uncommon for me, but these days you can see it on my face by the end of the work day. 

On top of the short nights and long days the hard water in London, paired with the circulated air in the office, are really wrecking havoc on my skin, which by 5.30pm is dry and flaky, particularly around my eyes. 

I have always reached for under eye concealer when I am freshening up at the end of the day and before heading out to meet a client, it always did just the trick to brighten my face. These day my go to isn't cutting it though. With the dryness and well, lets be honest, age, I needed something more, something smoother, silkier and with better coverage. 

Image courtesy of Beauty Bar

Image courtesy of Beauty Bar

Enter Touch Expert by Terry. By Terry is a line created by Terry de Gunzburg who worked as YSL's makeup designer for 15 years before launching her own brand. I have heard that she basically came up with the hugely popular Touche Eclat by YSL, so I had to try it, right? 

So far I am very happy, it is subtle but really adds a brightness. I think I would like to try it paired with a creamier stick concealer, but going to stick with just this for now. Will keep you posted!

Summer make up for work

I know I have mentioned it before, my makeup routine is elementary. I certainly don't change it for the summer, but if I did, I would totally try to recreate these gorgeous summer ready looks from Elle France, courtesy of Visual Optimism. 

visual optimism Elle France May 9th 2014 Beauty.jpg

The lip-glosses featured are, in order of appearance, Dior Addict Lipstick Sunlight £24, Lancome Lip Lover in Rose Gracieuse and Lancome Lip Lover in Rose des Nymphes, £18 each ($23 at Sephora)

Work Hair. A Seriously easy updo for work

I wear my hair in a ponytail or a bun almost everyday. Why? Because at 6am when I have about 10 minutes till I need to run out the door my hair is usually still soaking wet from my shower. At this point I only have time to blow dry it just dry enough to run a comb through it. 

This is actually fine for most days, but some times I just want to DO something with my hair. I went on a hunt and happened across these hair tutorials from Birchbox and I have to say this easy updo is exactly that, it is easy AND professional looking. You could have had your hair back all day in a basic ponytail and still pull it into this updo, ponytail bump be damned, right before heading out to a client meeting. What more could you want?! 

http://birch.ly/X6xWqj Oscar Blandi Pronto Texture & Volume Spray http://birch.ly/Uf7CJw Nick Chavez Beverly Hills Volumizing Extra Hold Spray Prepare to be totally amazed. When we first learned this holiday updo, we didn't believe that it would take us less than five minutes to put together.

Inspiration. Spring 2014 Beauty

Leave it to the French to do 'beauty' so perfectly.  

The skin looks polished but still dewy. The bold lip is confident while remaining fresh and clean. The pairing with the natural eyes and brows, accentuated by highlighter, cream shadow and probably brow mascara is sheer perfection. Even the pink eyeshadow around the whole eye glows in a subtle way. Nothing looks over done or Friday night ready, which is key for the work place.  

Images from French ELLE, March 2014, via Visual Optimism

Update: Brows. The easiest way to look put together

Image courtesy of Sephora. 

I am not changing my stance, I am changing my eyebrow routine, and by that I mean I am simplifying it.

While I was in California, back in February, I swung by Sephora to pick up my makeup must haves and decided to try the Anastasia tinted eye brow gel. OH MY GOSH. This is all I use now and not only do I LOVE it, but now instead of 3 minutes (the original eyebrow routine here) my eyebrows are groomed and all day face framing ready in 1 minute. 

 

Showing yourself some love on Valentine's Day

I am not a big believer in Valentine's Day. I just don't buy the, well the calendar says it is February 14th, so now we HAVE to be romantic. Isn't that as unromantic as it can get? That doesn't mean though that it isn't a great excuse to treat yourself to a little something. 

So this Valentine's Day why wait for someone to make some grand gesture, go out and make yourself happy. We certainly don't wait for people to give us anything in the workplace, do we? No. We go for it and take what we believe we have earned and deserve, thankyouverymuch.  Oh, and Happy Valentine's Day! 

Images from Anthropologie, & Other Stories, Catbird, Coach, Garnett Jewelry, J. Crew, Smythson, Madewell, Kate Spade Saturday, Jo Malone and Bimba y Lola 

& Other Stories. I love you

Continuing with the theme of Valentine's Day I thought I would make a confession of love. 

I am in LOVE with & Other Stories

So now that we got that out of the way.... Are you surprised that the store is part of the H&M Group? After all the Swedes seem unable to do wrong. Sadly, & Other Stories is only available, currently, in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the UK.

Here are some things that I LOVE right now. If you have not checked them out though, seriously visit www.stories.com and get ready for some major butterflies.

All images from & Other Stories 

Ponytails. Office appropriate?

Abso-frickin-lutely.

First off, I love ponytails. Maybe it is all the years of dance I did, from elementary school up until college, where having your hair in your face is an absolute no-no. I just love pulling my hair off my face, a bun, a ponytail, a messy top knot. Actually it is rare to see me with my hair down. Plus, what is easier than pulling your hair back and running out the door? Nothing. 

Thank you to Collage Vintage for a number of the gorgeous images! The remainder are from Mana Hair, Picture Insights and finally Vogue

Brows. The easiest way to look put together

Having to be at my desk (once I am back at one) at 7am means getting up around 5am. I have to shower, get ready and get out the door as quick as possible, and I don't move that quickly at that hour. 

I think the easiest way to look put together in the morning, outside of my mandatory foundation/BB cream, mascara and blush (I refuse to even go to the corner store without blush and mascara) is your brows. Up until about 6 months ago I was clueless on how to do my brows though. One of my closest friends pulled me aside one Saturday and told me, you know you have to color in your whole brow, not just the front... Well since then I have learned a lot and you know, it isn't at all as hard to get your brows right and it is the perfect thing to do when you don't have a lot of time but you want to look all day ready.

So what is my brow routine? I start with brow gel, I am partial to Anastasia's brow gel, which is quite tacky feeling, which I personally like, followed by Anastasia's brow powder duo in dark brown. I use Sephora's brow filler brush which allows me to blend and also create precise lines if needed. It takes about 3 minutes to do my brows. Wham, bam, thank you m'am. 

If you don't know where to start, or want to get your brows shaped and maybe have someone do them for you before you started in on them yourself I can recommend The Brow Bar at Completely Bare in NYC, which I have personally been to.  In London the go to place seems to be Blink, however I have yet to give them a whirl.