GabriellaSofia's 2012 Holy Grail of Beauty... Part 4

Welcome back for the fourth and final instalment of Hautefuture's Beauty Awards or my 2012 Holy Grail of Beauty. So let's get on with it...

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Cleanser...

In First Place... Liz Earle's Hot Cloth Cleanser is winner for 2012. It is really gentle whilst simultaneously exfoliating my skin and opening up my pores. The best way to wash my face in 2012 was with this genius product.
Must Buy In 2013... I really want to try some Origins skincare and they do a foaming wash which is my kind of thing. Also, I want to invest in a Clarisonic Mia... or a cheaper alternative. Does anyone know of a cheap version I can buy?

GabriellaSofia's 2012 Holy Grail of Beauty... Part 2

Thanks for coming back to HauteFuture for Part 2 of my 2012 Beauty Awards (also known as my 2012 Holy Grail of Beauty!) Without much further ado...

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Bronzer...

In First Place... This year I have really learned how to contour my face with bronzer and my best ally in this has been my Hoola bronzer by Benefit. It is really quite dark, but bronzer should be used sparingly and in layers anyway, so it doesn't need to be dark at all.
Must Buy In 2013... People RAVE about NARS Laguna bronzer so this year I think I'm going to bite the bullet and add it to my collection.

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

Outfit of the Day 24th April 2012 University-Wear... Topshop, Primark, River Island...

Long time no see beauties! I've been so busy with university exams and my dissertation that my YouTube channel has been shamefully neglected and for that I apologize profusely. Anyway, enough of the remorse, more about my outfit! None of these things are currently in stores so I'm not going to put any links or anything. However, what do you think? It's a cute outfit, no? I never know what to wear to uni because I feel like people dress a lot more casually than I feel comfortable with. What do you wear to uni? 

In order to be aware when I post new things, you really must follow, subscribe and like my pages! Here are all of the links... 

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

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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

Haute Future Haute Haul... Christmas Gifts!

I know this is late... I apologize but as I've said in my previous post, I've been laid up in bed with a horrible cold for the past few days (since the day before Christmas Eve in fact!) Poor me. But never fear, I am in relatively good health again, which means that the excitement of all the lovely goodies I've had has actually hit me! Here are my pressies before I opened them... I couldn't for the life of me work out what the big one was. My mom thought she was hilarious when she went, 'It's the doll you asked for!!!' My parents made me leave it until the end. What could it be? :)

Here are a couple of Christmas dinner pictures to keep you in suspense...

Mummy sets the table so pretty... 

Prawn Cocktail and Brown Bread to start!

TURKEY TIME!!!

And now, without much further ado... it's present time! Let's start with my stocking fillers. Since my sister found out 'The Truth' we have chosen items to put in each other's stockings. We buy the bits, wrap them up, then leave them in a bag. Then, overnight, Father Christmas puts them in our respective stockings and adds extra goodies :) The bits for my sister are in the festive pine-cone and snowed-on-leaves paper, I thought it was so cute!

Weeee presents for meeeeee!

Here is the mess I created after opening all of my goodies...

These are the bits my sister chose for me... I have some chocolate lady-bugs in a ice-cream cup, four (already burned one) Yankee Candle tarts in yummy winter scents like cinnamon and apple cider, some dill sauce (random, but nom nonetheless), a hot chocolate stick, a Hershey's Cookies and Cream bar, a mixer for making raspberry mojitos, some Twizzlers (my favorite US candy), two pairs of earrings and a silver ring. Thanks Meewps :)

These are the bits which Santa Claus added for me... I also had a couple of sachets of delicious popping candy but they're long gone now. In my belly. Thanks Santa :)

As if that's not enough sweets and chocolate, these are some more that I found all wrapped up downstairs too! I'm going to be FAT in the New Year. And I don't even care. That is of course until the New Year...

Now, let's get onto the best bits... The Beauty Pieces! First up, I got the Trevor Sorbie Beautiful Volume collection. I love this brand since I received it last Christmas. It makes my hair look so healthy and their leave-in conditioner is the best detangler I've found so far.

This one has been a long time coming, but I am finally the proud owner of an Urban Decay NAKED palette! Rejoice! I can't wait to practice some awesome new eye looks... the possibilities are endless with this collection and I simply cannot wait :)

These are the five little pieces which I've wanted for ages... Two beauty-product celebrities, NARS blush in Orgasm and my first ever MAC brush, the 219 (this seems to have been cut from the top of the picture somehow, no fair.) I've also got some great benefit bits which I've had my eye on since the summer. The mango-tinted stain ChaChaTint, Moon Beam and the 2011 miracle mascara, They're Real!

As requested, I received a gift box of Soap N Glory goodies. They include Clean on Me, Flake Away, Glad Hair Day, Hand Food, Girligio, The Righteous Butter, a loofah and this nice big toiletry bag. I prefer showers when I'm sick, so I can't wait to have a nice long pampering soak in the bath now I'm better...

These two items are total luxuries! The In Crowd Nails INC collection contains 15 of the companies best selling polishes, and the benefit Crescent Row perfume collection carries four of the most beautiful scents I've known so far. I'm already a massive fan of So Hooked on Carmella by benefit, so I'm sure I'll get on with these perfumes like a house on fire!

I've also been gifted these two little toiletry boxes. My next door neighbors gave me the Champneys box which contains a couple of rich body creams, a loofah, a body wash and a bubble bath. My cousin Ruby treated me to this Natural Moods set which contains a soap and a body wash also... Thanks guys! 

My best pal Vikki so kindly bought me ALL THESE BITS!!! A super-cute little brown satchel from Primarni, a pair of adorable socks from New Look, the Terry's Chocolate Orange (featured in my chocolate and sweets pic), an electric blue nail art pen by Flirt which I can't wait to experiment with, an eyeliner from Soap N Glory's new cosmetics range and finally, one of my all-time favorite perfumes, Ghost in Ghost. What did I do to deserve all these presents Vik??? Hardly complaining though! Thanks a dozen baby. 

 

Look at all of the jewelry my mom got for me... They all suit me so well. I've already worn one pair of the H&M earrings as you can tell from their absence on the card... 

My mom also bought me a lovely pajama set from Topshop... She also got me a lovely purple stripy dressing-gown from Topshop too, but it's not been off my back since I got it during opening my presents, and since I'm ill I've hardly had any photographs taken since then. You'll just have to trust me when I say it's really, really nice.

And the super-cool hot pink 80's jumper I sported on Christmas day. Jazzy, huh? I love it! 

I got two books about the Harry Potter series and films which will be perfect as I can use them in my dissertation of Children's Literature in the 20th Century. My grandma and grandad got me a cheese-board (I'M OBSESSED WITH CHEESE) and also a copy of Uncle Tom's Cabin which apparently revolutionized American Literature, so I'm excited to read it. My parents got me a subscription to one of my favorite magazines, Company, plus two books about Retail Business. My dad took it upon himself to surprise me with  a book about how to recreate vintage-inspired make-up looks! So sweet!

And also... I GOT A KINDLE!!!!!!!! YES YES AND YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

We're now coming to the end of my haul. This next piece was a total suprise. Now, everyone who's anyone (even haters apparently...) know that I live in the box room as my parents moved my sister into my old room when I left for uni, and now I've returned home for my final year to save some money, it's only fair that I take her old room so she doesn't have to move all her things again. This is totally fine. However, this means I can hardly fit a wardrobe in my bedroom, so we've had to be creative with clothes storage ideas... My parents found this clothes hanger from a chic furniture store in Chester. It's absolutely perfect and I can't wait to put it up in the corner of my room and hang my prettiest dresses from it for the world to see :)

Finally, this is the big one. The one I never expected to get but have been quietly pining over since my interest in beauty began. My parents, crazy-beautiful people, have treated me to a big pink make-up train storage case!!! This is absolutely perfect, I can't believe they even got the one I've been fantasizing over!

This means my make-up won't be spread across my dresser anymore in a disorganized mess. There is a section for everything! I may even have space to store my hair-dryer and curlers in the bottom. My God, I can't thank them enough!

Isn't it beautiful?

I've really been terribly lucky this year. I also got a super pretty Kindle and laptop case and three pairs of socks which didn't get separately photographed... On top of all that, I also received about £65 worth of store vouchers. I can't wait to get spending in the sales... Boots, Topshop and River Island, here I come, and I'm taking no prisoners. Check out the bits I'm on the lookout for here.

So that's that! All of my presents are still stacked up in the living room so I could gaze longingly at them when I was sick...

I couldn't wait to start practicing with the make-up and sporting the gorgeous jewelry, but when you're sick as a dog, you don't even feel like getting dressed in the morning never mind painting my face or hanging my accessories. I couldn't even enjoy the chocolates as I couldn't swallow :(

SO glad I'm back on form and can eat myself into oblivion. After all, that's what Christmas is all about!

Thank you to everyone who bought me a gift this year! I hope that everyone I've bought for has enjoyed their presents as much as I am now enjoying mine :) Thanks to this haul, you can expect a ton of beauty reviews on the way pretty soon, so keep an eye out!

What have you had for Christmas? Do you know what you're spending your vouchers on? Did any of you get a Kindle too? I love mine already and I can't wait to work out some more of the features!

Thanks guys, and I wish you a (slightly) belated, Merry Christmas :)

Love

gabriellasofia

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

x