Halloween Makeup Ideas...

Hello Beauties :)

So I'm sure it hasn't escaped your notice, but for just in case it has, Halloween is just around the corner and that only means one thing... Costumes! My favourite part about dressing myself up in some creepy attire has always been adding the finishing touches with my makeup. Luckily, this weekend just gone has seen the Hippy Horror festival hitting my local music scene with a bang (and yes, this is a shameless plug of how successful the event went, most likely because my dad organized it...) so I've managed to get loads of good ideas for how to make my face look scarier than usual this year. I thought I'd share some of my favourite makeup looks of the weekend, for both guys and girls.

*This was my bludgeoned-to-death-dead-school-girl look*

*Ghostly Drummer of All the Best Tapes, photo courtesy of Will's Photoimaging*

*Skeleton Front-Man of Six Towns, Photo Courtesy of Will's Photoimaging*

*Creepy Ring Master of All the Best Tapes, photo courtesy of Will's Photoimaging*

*My boyfriend looked like he'd been in a fire or something what with all his liquid-latex-created burns!*

*Pretty butterfly face, photo courtesy of Will's Photoimaging*

*Various festival goers, photo courtesy of Will's Photoimaging*

*Not 100% sure what the girl on the left is supposed to be, but she looks awesome, photo courtesy of Will's Photoimaging*

*If all else fails, just splash blood on your face like the girl on the right, photo courtesy of Will's Photoimaging*

*Pumpkin heads, photo courtesy of Jo Flynn's facebook photos :)*

So that is just a few of my favourite looks for halloween so far. I'm sure I'll be able to track down some more photos at some point soon, but in the meantime that's all the ideas you're getting!

What are you doing for halloween? What's the most creative creepy make-up look you've seen? Got any cool techniques for how to use liquid latex without having it rip your skin off when you're removing it? My boyfriend nearly cried when I was helping him with his! 

Love and snuggles

GabriellaSofia

x

Louise Gray for Topshop Makeup on a Budget...

If you are anything like me at the moment, you'll be saving up your pennies for Christmas already (I like to be WAY prepared so I don't have to scrimp around the festive season...) so although Louise Gray's colour-popping cosmetics collection for Topshop is absolutely beautiful, you'll be hunting for a cheaper alternative.

As a lipstick lover, I made it my goal to track down some dupes for the two Lips in the collection entitled  Mexican Wave (a rich blood-orange-peel colour) and Legend (the hottest of hot pinks in a deep hue). After seeing that they cost a whopping £10 (!!!) each I scribbled with each of them on the back of my hand just so I would have a swatch for colour comparison.

*Mexican Wave is on the bottom, Legend on the top*

The formulas are absolutely heavenly. Usually I find that with glossier more moisturising Lips that the colour pigment suffers, coming out slightly fainter and needing a couple more coatings just to achieve the colour you see in the stick. However, with these they are both true to the colour in the tube and incredibly creamy and soft. An absolute dream. Nonetheless, they are still £10 and I can't really justify spending that much when I am trying oh-so-hard to save. So I put the Lips down and had a quick glance over the rest of the counter before planning to head off in the direction of Boots to find my dupes...

HOWEVER, and here is the real clincher. As I was 'glancing' I spotted the Lip Sticks in the shades Hedonist and Clueless which looked almost identical to the Louise Gray colours. Amazing right? And better still? They are only £7 each. 

See, Hedonist is the orange line and Clueless is the pink one! Once again, the pigment is fantastic and in the pencil form the Lip Sticks are easier to apply for a more precise finish. The only drawback is that as the Lip Sticks are intended for a matte effect they don't have the same kind of glossiness as Louise Gray's Lips do. Having said that, we all know that this can quite easily be resolved by slicking on some lip balm underneath and dabbing on a little clear lipgloss over the top.

Now, I know what you are thinking, '£7 is still a lot babez! You'd only be saving £6 if you bought both! NOT GOOD ENOUGH." And I would be inclined to agree with you.... that is if I wasn't mad on the Louise Gray Cheek Duo in Up In The Air too...

The duo costs £12.50 which once again, I can't really justify. But just look how those colours pop in the palette! I very nearly couldn't resist... That was until I swatched a little of each colour on my hand and was horrifically disappointed with the pigmentation. 

You can hardly even see the colours! I soon realized I got a colour which was much truer to the pan when I scribbled a bit of the Lip Sticks on each finger and patted them into the apples of my cheeks. So technically, these Lip Sticks dupe for not just one product each, but two. Great success.

Needless to say, next payday I will be heading out to buy Hedonist and Clueless for £14 as opposed to buying the Louise Gray Lips and Cheek Duo for £32.50. A whopping save of £18.50 is to be made here. You. Are. Welcome.

Have you given into the temptations of Louise Gray? Do you know of any other amazingly cheap dupes for the Lips and Cheek Duo? Do you ever put lipsticks on your cheeks in place of blusher? I do it all the time, the creamy consistency is WAY better for staying power.

Love and snuggles

GabriellaSofia

x

Backpacking Packing Guide: Capsule Cosmetics Collection

When I decided to go backpacking, my friends and family pretty much all said the same thing, 'You can't take your entire makeup collection you know'. I confidently replied that I'd have no problem compressing my collection into a capsule makeup bag. No problem whatsoever. Then I looked at my train case... Oh dear.

*The image which sparked fear in my cosmetics-obsessed mind pre-travel*

Ok, don't panic, I thought. You can do this. You need two 'looks'; one for daytime and one for night-time. Keep it simple. Less is more. I began applying the bare minimum makeup face that I would feel comfortable wearing out shopping or whatever... I know it looks like a lot, but here's what I came up with.

*A mattifying primer by LOreal, Maybelline's BB Cream, my Royal&Langnickel foundation brush, 24hour Maybelline concealer, Ecotools contour brush, benefit CORALista blush, Nars Orgasm Illuminator, benefit BrowZings, Ecotools fluff brush, Urban Decay Naked Palette, benefit They're Real mascara, Revlon Peach Parfait Lip Butter*

The most important thing was to appear dewy but not sweaty. Hence the mattifying primer. Plus I wanted a natural look so the BB cream was light enough to give this look. Revlon's Lip Butters are so beautiful and hydrating, plus the Peach Parfait colour matches my CORALista blush perfectly. Coral colours always look fresher and more natural. The Nars Orgasm Illuminator kept the look dewy also. I used the colour 'Virgin' to brighten my eyes without making them look too 'done'. And this is the natural, fresh, daytime face I came up with:

  

I was happy with this look. NEXT I wanted the kind of look which I could wear on a night out. Something a little more obvious... snazzier. So I'd need a brighter lip, rosier cheeks and a smoky eye. Thanks to my Naked Palette I didn't need to include any more eye shadow. However, I knew I'd need eyeliner, blush and lipstick. Here's what I grabbed for this look. 

*Everything is the same as above until my LOreal True Match face powder, benefit HOOLA bronzer, Lumiere Mauvelous mineral blusher, NO7 Deepest Red lipgloss, Urban Decay Primer Potion, InColour Fabuliner and MAC lipstick in Sin*

I wanted my evening look to be a lot more matte than my daytime one with a lot more contour in the cheekbones. I used Virgin by Urban Decay in the corners of my eyes, Gunmetal from two thirds of the lid out and Creep in the crease and outer corner, and dragged a little into the lower lash line. Obviously I slicked on some eyeliner and piled on the mascara. Here's what it looked like:

Now, I know I should have stopped at this point. But I started fiddling around with the makeup I already had in the capsule collection and had to add just a couple more things in order to create a third look. This third look is a more versatile look which I thought could be easily transferable from day to night without looking too overdone during the day or too underdone at night. These are the products I used...

*As you can see, I only really added the brown InColour Fabuliner... I also added benefit's POREfessional and my Burt's Bees lipbalm. See, I was REALLY well-behaved realistically!*

And this is the look I came up with using the above products:

*I figured this would be cute for a nice lunch out or an early gig or beach party. I used coral-ly colours, a relatively dewy base and a gold-brown based eye with Urban Decay's Half-Baked, Buck and Smog.*

And that was it! I decided I did not need any more make-up than this. If I was going on a night out, I layered a second painting of BB cream on for slightly heavier coverage and did the same with blusher and mascara too. I was able to play more with my Naked palette than ever before as the colours inside were the only eye shadows I had. In times of desperation needs must!

*My entire capsule cosmetics collection... And these were my absolute essentials.*

*I set my tools out separately. This was VERY hard having to choose just four brushes! And my eyelash curlers had to stay at home as they just wouldn't fit in the bag :(*

I was really quite proud of myself! If I wasn't so into makeup, I could quite easily have taken just my BB Cream, BrowZings, one blusher, mascara and lipbalm. But you know what I'm like! It was actually kind of fun trying to create so many different looks out of such a bare collection while I was away. Not that I'd rush to do it again in a hurry. I'm currently rolling around in all of my beloved cosmetics and I refuse to be parted with them again for the foreseeable future. Its all I can do to prevent myself from putting it all on at once in fact... *Clown-face warning*

Anyway, have you ever needed to compress your cosmetics collection into JUST ONE BAG for an entire 6 week vacation??? What would be your essentials? What are your tips for transferring your look from day to night with the smallest amount of extra products?

Love and snuggles

gabriellasofia

x

Prom Make-Up Look...

Just a few weeks ago it was my baby sister, Amelia's, first ever prom and she was so excited, especially because she knew that I'm such a beauty enthusiast and had promised to do her make-up for her.

Amelia spotted her dream prom dress on a Mango advert in December (Kate Moss was wearing it so obviously it looked AMAZING) and she decided she had to have it. Blood-red, floor-length, Grecian-style, plunging neckline, thigh-high slit, it was a big deal trying to get our mom to agree that she could have it as it was apparently 'a bit too grown up for a sixteen-year-old'. Dad's always on our side, so we showed him the dress when we were shopping in the Bullring in Birmingham and as he is usually in charge of giving us treats he said that she could have it as one of her Christmas presents, which was genius because only a huge meanie takes a Christmas present away from a child and even my mother isn't THAT MUCH of a monster *onlyjokingmomyouarebeautifulweloveyouverymuch*. Anyway, the dress was a total HIT at prom and my sister looked absolutely amazing and so did her friends.

My sister's always had lovely long dark hair and we decided that it would look best in a far-side parting, curled and swung around onto one shoulder. However, unfortunately, the hairdressers didn't quite follow our instructions (in spite of the pictures we supplied them with of Kourtney Kardashian) so my sister ended up with ever-so-slightly wavy hair with a side parting and a little bit taken from by her ear pinned back. In all honesty, her hair looked lush, shiny and healthy so we couldn't complain at all, regardless of the fact it wasn't what we'd asked for...

See, not even similar hair, but it looked nice nonetheless. Whilst my sister was getting her hair 'did' I was pulling her face in all kinds of random directions with make-up brushes and eyelash curlers and tweezers and so on. All of the prom-goers finished school at 3.35pm and had to be back at the school for prom by 7.00pm and in between that their double-decker bus which they had chosen over a limo was picking them up from a friend's house at just 6.00pm. Which, when you consider travel time, left my sister only about an hour and a half to actually be getting ready. Hence me having to do her make-up while her hair was getting 'did'.

So, what did I use to create this Prom Make-Up Look? Well, we decided that we wanted quite a dewy finish to her foundation to keep her look youthful, so I began with some of my favourite benefit MoonBeam all over her highlight points (cheekbones, below eyebrows, cupid's bow of lips and length of her nose). Since my sister NEVER wears foundation and has amazing skin without it, we decided we'd just go for a thin layer of Garnier's Miracle Skin Perfector applied with my benefit foundation brush. To matte up her forehead I dusted my benefit Hello Flawless powder foundation lightly over her skin and left it at that. Using my Royal and Langnickel blusher brush, I packed on a load of Nars blush in the shade Orgasm. I used quite a lot as make-up can look a bit sparse under the glare of prom-night-photo-flash, in some of the pictures you can't even tell she has any on, but in person she looked nice and rosy. I took my Hoola bronzer by benefit and layered it beneath her cheekbones, either side of her nose, the temple areas and beneath her jawbones in order to contour her face. I used some of benefit's BrowZings in order to create a bolder brow (we're all about the brows in our family!) and got started on her eye shadow. Patting on a bit of Urban Decay's Primer Potion, her eye was now ready for the smokier colours in Urban Decay's naked palette. I started with Virgin all across her top lid, up to her brow, into the inner corners and onto the lower lash line. Next, I used a blending brush to dust some of Gun Metal from about two thirds into her eye getting darker towards the outer corners, creating a kind of smoky cat-eye shape. To make this more intense, I used Creep on her outer third of her eyes, buffing it into the crease of her eye fading towards the middle. I also used a smudger brush to give a smoky line on her lower lash line. Finally (shadow-wise), I packed a splodge of Half Baked right on the center of each of her lids, to add dimension. Taking my Soap & Glory Smoulder Kohl eye liner, giving her a tiny flick at the outer corner, lining her lower water line and buffing this out slightly with the smudger brush from before. We used Eyelure Individual Semi Permanent Lashes, for a more natural false lash look, and we piled on layer after layer of benefit's They're Real mascara after curling the lashes together. To finish, I used Topshop Lipstick in Blush across her whole lip.

Isn't she lovely??? Haha, I was so proud of this face I painted. Finally, we had to add the finishing touches of the nails as my sister is a TERRIBLE nail biter. We used some Elegant Touch false nails and painted them in a No7 varnish in a lovely semi-matte effect gold colour. She was really happy with the novelty of long nails.

So to conclude I think I definitely made my sister more beautiful than she has ever been before! Haha. No, I know she's beautiful as it is, but prom night was pretty huge for her as she looked so glam. Here is a collection of a few of my favourite pictures of her throughout the night...

 

 

 

And before we knew it, with all the crazy excitement, it was over! My sister had a fantastic night and I know it seems like I'm bragging (BECAUSE I AM) but I really do think she looked amazing. She's quite possibly the most beautiful person I know in real life. But enough of the gushing *oo-ermadam*.

How did you do your make-up for prom? What was your dress like? Do you have any hilarious prom-night memories you'd like to share? 

Love and snuggles

gabriellasofia

x

HauteHaul January Part 3 - Boots Drugstore Essentials!

Some of you might find this a really dull video but I'm really nosy and love watching other people's drugstore hauls so I figured I'd film one. I've given you some tips here on where the bargains are at the moment too, so keep an eye out for 2 for 1 offers and Boots Advantage Card coupons also. They save me a bundle!

Don't forget to check out Part 1 which includes Topshop sale goodies:

http://hautefuture.blogspot.com/2012/01/hautehaul-january-part-1-topshop-sales.html

And also my H&M, Lush and Dior bits in Part 2:

http://hautefuture.blogspot.com/2012/01/hautehaul-january-part-2-h-lush-and.html

Please check out my other sites and let me know what you think in the comments box below:

Please follow me on Twitter at:

http://twitter.com/hautefuture

Click 'Follow' on my blog which has tons of reviews, beauty-fashion-lifestyle features and more:

http://hautefuture.blogspot.com/

Subscribe to my Youtube channel where I post hauls, tutorials, outfits of the day and WAY more:

http://www.youtube.com/user/HauteFuture?feature=watch

Also check out my facebook page at:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/HauteFuture/149057205180776

Finally, here is the link for the Joe Gilligan Trust:

http://www.joegilligantrust.com/

Please rate, like, follow, comment and subscribe and I promise there will be loads of beauty, fashion, lifestyle, culture and gossip material going up on here each week :)

Thanks for watching, guys and I'll see you soon!

Love

gabriellasofia x

HauteFuture Beauty Tutorial Urban Decay 15th Anniversary Palette Gold Eye

I've been playing with this palette for months now and finally I'm ready to share one of my favorite looks with you! This bronze and gold look is a fab night-time look for transitioning from autumn/winter to spring/summer as it isn't too dark, has a nice amount of shimmer and stays put even when it rains or becomes warmer in the evenings.

Here's what I used:

Channel Vitalumiere Foundation: £33 at http://www.boots.com/
Maybelline Superstay 24hr Concealer: £6.19 at http://www.boots.com/
Benefit Brow Zings in Medium: £22.50 at http://www.boots.com/
L'Oreal True Match Powder: £8.19 at http://www.boots.com/
Urban Decay Primer Potion: £14.50 at http://www.urbandecay.co.uk/
Urban Decay 15th Anniversary Palette (used Vanilla, Cash and Deeper): UNAVAILABLE as this was a limited release unfortunately. However, Urban Decay does many similar colours so just have a hunt through!
Sally Hansen Sexy Curls Precision Eyelash Curlers: $7.99 at www.walgreens.com
Benefit They're Real! Mascara: £18.50 at http://www.boots.com/
Benefit Coralista Blush: £23.50 at http://www.boots.com/
MAC Mega Metal Shadow in Peek-at-You: UNAVAILABLE it seems like this has been discontinued... However, there are tons of colours which actually work better... try Crystal Avalanche which is £11.50 at www.maccosmetics.co.uk
Benefit Posie Tint Lip Tint: £24.50 at http://www.boots.com/
Topshop Lips in Rumour Has It: UNAVAILABLE :( This was a Limited Edition shade but they have one similar for £8.00 called Nevada at http://www.topshop.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/TopCategoriesDisplay?storeId=12556&catalogId=33057
EcoTools Brush Collection: £15.31 at http://www.boots.com/

Please check out my other sites and let me know what you think in the comments box below:

Please follow me on Twitter at:
http://twitter.com/hautefuture

Click 'Follow' on my blog which has tons of reviews, beauty-fashion-lifestyle features and more:
http://hautefuture.blogspot.com/

Subscribe to my Youtube channel where I post hauls, tutorials, outfits of the day and WAY more:
http://www.youtube.com/user/HauteFuture?feature=watch

Also check out my facebook page at:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/HauteFuture/149057205180776

Finally, here is the link for the Joe Gilligan Trust:
http://www.joegilligantrust.com/

Please rate, like, follow, comment and subscribe and I promise there will be loads of beauty, fashion, lifestyle, culture and gossip material going up on here each week :)

Thanks for watching, guys and I'll see you soon!

Love
gabriellasofia x

HauteFuture's First Giveaway Including Barry M, Juicy Couture and Models Own Goodies!

So this is my 'Thank-You-Followers-and-Subscribers-for-Being-Amazing' giveaway! Watch the video, then get entering :) The giveaway ends on the 14^th February 2012 which I figured was nice because then someone gets to win something on Valentine’s Day. I will be drawing the winners from a hat on the 14^th and to prove that it’s all been fair I will record and post a video of the draw! This giveaway is open world-wide so everyone should enter, and please tell your friends. Swatches of the products to come soon and more sample-sized surprises to be included... 

How to Enter...

1) All those entering MUST be a follower with GFC (Google Friend Connect) - You can do this by clicking 'Follow' in the top left hand corner of the screen, or by clicking 'Join This Site' down the right hand side of my page next to all of the mini pictures of my followers. Once you've done this, you must comment and state something like 'I'm following as _____' and say your GFC name. You must also give your email address so I can get in touch with you if you win. This will give you 1 ENTRY.

2) Follow @HauteFuture on Twitter. This will give you 1 ENTRY!

3) Click 'Like' on the HauteFuture Facebook Page. This will give you 1 ENTRY!

4) Subscribe to my YouTube channel. This will give you 3 ENTRIES.  

5) RT this: 
'Head to http://hautefuture.blogspot.com/2012/01/hautefutures-first-giveaway-including.html to #win #giveaway prizes from @BarryMCosmetics and @modelsown Thanks @HauteFuture x' 
This will give you 3 ENTRIES.

6) Tell your friends... If a friend of yours begins to follow with GFC because you've told them to, make sure they mention it in their comment down below and they will get 1 ENTRY and you will get an extra 5 ENTRIES! If you're a blogger, you may want to write a post about this giveaway, if not you may want to mention it in a Facebook status or show your friends my page or something like that :) 

Everyone wishing to be entered must state their various applications in their comment... For example, 'Hi, I follow with GFC as MaryBean. I also RT'd as MaryBean3, and I follow with that name too. I subscribed on Youtube with the name MayBe and I 'Liked' as Mary Berlap on Facebook. My email is marybean@gmail.com. Hope I win, thanks! x' This person would have won herself 9 ENTRIES into the giveaway. If her friend Jenny began following and said in the comments 'Hi I follow as Jenbo2012 and I was referred over by MaryBean. Email me if I win at jenbo2012@yahoo.com x' Then Mary would now have 14 ENTRIES and her friend Jenbo2012 would have 1 too! Simples :)

Once again, thank you so much guys for supporting me in my blogging and vlogging. It means an awful lot, and I hope that very soon I will be able to organize another giveaway when I get 300 followers! Good luck <3

Love

gabriellasofia

x

IMATS 2012... Here I Come!

Hey Guys!

Let me apologize in advance for the stock photos which will be featured in this post... I haven't actually been to IMATS before and it's not until February so I guess we'll have to deal with the anticipation until then and just borrow photographs from IMATS' official photo gallery for the purpose of posting. So... Photos courtesy of Make-Up Artist magazine.

So for those of you out there who aren't aware, IMATS stands for the International Makeup Artists Trade Show and it is quite literally the Place To Be if you are a beauty enthusiast. Each year around February time, IMATS comes to London and holds host to lectures, awards sessions and most importantly, tons of our favorite beauty brands! As I say, I've actually never been to IMATS before, but I became interested in it last year whilst I was watching the beautiful Macbarbie07's YouTube channel. She attended one of the shows in the USA, seemed to have a great time and picked up a ton of beauty bits. Naturally I knew I had to go, so this year I got in touch with the beauty editor at Make-Up Artist magazine, Melissa MacGillivray, and chanced to ask if I might possibly obtain a press pass and she said yes! Great success :)

The first ever IMATS was started in 1997 and was located in sunny Los Angeles. The founder of Make-Up Artist mag, Michael Key, is responsible for giving all beauty lovers world-wide this fantastic opportunity to geek out together and enjoy our first love, make-up. What a legend!

Anyways, I wanted to tell you a bit about IMATS as I'd love to meet some other bloggers and beauty enthusiasts at the event. So what do IMATS say about themselves? Here it is...

"The International Make-Up Artist Trade Show is the make-up world’s biggest gathering. Thousands of make-up artists, vendors and enthusiasts discuss, display and collect the best the industry has to offer. Make-up pros from fashion and film (including Oscar, BAFTA and Saturn award winners) provide education and demonstrations at IMATS, and new products often debut there. IMATS also features a make-up museum and an Afterglow party, where trade-show guests can socialize.

Before IMATS, there were no trade shows specifically designed for make-up artists, although cosmetic companies had expressed a desire for such an event. In response, Make-Up Artist magazine publisher Michael Key held the first IMATS in August 1997 in Los Angeles. It allowed artists to customize what they wanted to see and it offered a diverse mix of products, demonstrations and education from industry leaders.

Like Make-Up Artist magazine, IMATS continues to educate and connect make-up artists from around the world. The show is held six times annually—in London in January;  New York in April; Los Angeles in June; Vancouver, B.C. in July; Sydney in September and Toronto in November."

Sounds great right? So, how can you buy tickets? Well, the show in London will be held in Alexander Palace on the 3rd-5th of February. However, the 3rd is reserved for complete make-up geniuses (maybe one day that will be me!) so I'm attending on the Saturday the 4th and Sunday the 5th of February. General admission for both days costs £70 with a student price of £58... huge saving so make sure you have your student card to hand if you own one. After heading over to the IMATS website, if you decide that you only want to attend lectures on one of the two days, it will only cost you £45 or £40 for a student. 

Let me be honest and say that as I haven't been to IMATS before, I can't say whether it is worth this cost. HOWEVER, I can also honestly tell you that had I not obtained a press pass, I definitely would have purchased a ticket this year as I've wanted to go for a while.

 

   

Now the nasty details are over, let me briefly run you through some of the features which really sold IMATS to me... MAC's Director of Make-Up Artistry Terry Barber, their Senior Artist Neil Young AND one of my favorite YouTube beauty gurus pixiwoo will each be presenting a lecture!!! On top of that, there are lectures on everything from Red Carpet Oscars-style and Editorial looks, right the way through to Bridal and even a Goblin Make-Up Demo from Nick Dudman (Harry Potter films veteran make-up artist) and actor Warwick Davis (THAT'S GRIPHOOK TO MY FELLOW HP FANATICS!!!) As if that's not enough, IMATS are also giving stalls to the likes of MAC, Tweezerman, Dermalogica, Illamasqua, MAC PRO, Naked, NYX, Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics, Paperself, Sleek and tons more, so the shopping opportunities should be immense.

To conclude :) You can expect a ton of future posts between now and the show from me as I'm super-duper excited for my first IMATS experience. I encourage anyone who is into make-up in any capacity to purchase a ticket if funds allow, and if you do, perhaps we can meet up and hang out together? I'll need someone there to ensure that I don't collapse from all of the excitement... any takers? :D

I must say a great big 'Thank you' to Melissa at Make-Up Artist for giving me this opportunity, I literally can't wait :)

Will you be attending IMATS? What are you most excited about? Have any of you been to an event like this before?

Love 

gabriellasofia

x

Selfridges Christmas Beauty Event...

I've been crazy busy so far with so many things to do in time for Christmas, not to mention my looming deadlines for January... don't remind me about them!

I was wandering through the Bullring the other day, and a handsome man in a rather sharp suit accosted me outside Selfridges, telling me all about this Christmas Beauty event which had been organised for two days later (the 1st December). I was told that tickets cost just £10, which was redeemable against purchase on the day of the event. In exchange for my £10, I would get a beauty goodie bag, a glass or two of champagne, a yummy mince pie and a handful of make-up application master classes from some of the major brands in Selfridges. I took a leaflet and walked on, dreaming about all of the beauty goodies I'm craving for Christmas and thought I wouldn't think of it again!

However, that day my dad expressed an interest in a Bullring shopping trip (this means he was desperately lacking in Christmas shopping) so before I knew it, I was stood outside Selfridges with my little sister in tow and a belly full of Jamie's Kitchen!

A couple of hours earlier I'd headed into Selfridges and purchased two tickets and signed myself up for an Estee Lauder foundation lesson, an eyeshadow masterclass at Bobbi Brown and a blush-match with Clinique. However, by the time I'd finished my dinner with my parents, I'd missed the final two so headed straight to Estee Lauder where the lovely Jay removed my 'face' and reapplied a more flawless version of it! Of course, he used the esteemed Double Wear Foundation and the Double Wear Stay-in-Place concealer amongst other great products and my

skin looked and felt so smooth whilst also feeling so lightweight!

There was a 'performance' by some creepy clown-looking version of Santa Claus (and we all know how I feel about clowns...) and some gospel-choir style band of about three women and two men who seemed to be shouting the lyrics at us. This is no exaggeration. I remember the rendition of Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas is You to be particularly cutting complete with screeching and the 'I've-got-attitude-so-I'm-going-to-wiggle-my-head-from-side-to-side-and-do-twinkle-fingers-up-and-down-by-the-side-of-my-face-as-I-can't-hold-a-note-and-it-makes-it-look-like-I've-done-it-deliberately' dance moves. Fantastic. The music was actually so loud, that Jay and I were having to shout into each others' ears which although he seemed very nice, I have to admit it is a bit too close for comfort with a strange man with a foundation brush for my liking... Nonetheless, he is a wizard with that brush and I felt so much more beautiful than I usually do, haha.

As I previously mentioned, my dad needed to get some Christmas shopping done, namely for me, so I figured that would be how I could get my £10 redeemed as there were numerous beauty goodies I was dying for for Christmas, from benefit, Urban Decay and Nails INC. Of course, I'm a complete idiot and didn't realize that Selfridges no longer have a benefit counter and seems never to have had Urban Decay or Nails INC. I was temporarily gutted, until I remembered that Selfridges DOES HAVE a MAC counter and also NARS. Plus, Debenhams have the three that I was looking for with a fantastic 10% off offer on the same day, so the disaster was generally averted! Thank goodness for that...

I had the best beauty day ever really! I'm not going to reveal the bits and bobs I chose from the various make-up counters as honestly I'm trying to forget so I'm surprised on Christmas morning... According to my dad, they've all been sent off to Santa Claus now and are ready in the sleigh. Eeeep!

And now for the bit which you all want to know about; the goodie bag. I was going to record a goodie bag haul for the event but the items are all so small that I figured a picture would be best. I got a Balenciaga Paris 10. Avenue George V mini fragrance, and also an Acqua di Parma one too. I got this really cute hot pink cosmetics bag from Juicy Couture with a delux sample size of Viva la Body Lotion by them too. I got a little tube of Dior's Creme Reparation Rides (also known as Wrinkle Correction Eye Cream), Alien by Thierry Mugler Body Lotion and also a sample of Fekkai's Shea Butter which is lush! The best bits in the goodie bag though were, by far, the little sample tube of NARS's Firming Foundation, Super Orgasm skin Illuminator highlighter and Clinique's exfoliating Clarifying Lotion 2. Honestly, the goodie bag wasn't amazing, but considering the whole event was essentially free once I'd redeemed each of my two £10 tickets on a couple of Christmas purchases courtesy of the Bank of Daddy I really can't complain. Furthermore, I got two of everything as my sister is nowhere near as much of a beauty fanatic as I am so she gave me her bag and the entire contents! Great success :)

So in all Selfridges Christmas Beauty Event was an evening well spent. I know that a few different department stores run this kind of event around Christmas time, and it seeks that House of Fraser were giving an even better goodie bag. However, I much prefer Selfridges at the moment as I find it to be a much friendlier environment, so I'm quite content with what I got. I would definitely recommend this kind of event to anyone who loves beauty. Get some girls together and head on a night out afterwards when your make-up has been done by some of the best brands in the industry... not many people will be looking as good as you one the likes of Estee Lauder's Jay has had anything to do with it.

Have you been to this kind of event before? What was in your goodie bag? Was anyone in Selfridges that night?

Let me know

Love

gabriellasofia

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