obsessed with: home edition

{1. this is glamourous/mariaemb/ikea} {2. designlovefest/mirubrugmann/kinskashop/lotta vase} {3. unknown source/into the gloss/zara home/zara home} {4. niotillfem/ikea/ikea} {5. finnish design shop/orla kiely} {6. little fine day/apartment therapy}

obsessed with: taupe mauve makeup

1. EYES: Une Sfumato S23; Urban Decay Tease; Mac Quarry // 2. NAILS: Essie Ladylike; Dior Incognito; L'Oréal Colour Riche Beige Countess // 3. LIPS: Mac Syrup; Dior Incognito // 4. CHEEKS: L'Oréal Nude Pink 125; Nars Douceur; Tarte Exposed

obsessed with: lady mary's jewellery

1. Cursive Design / 2. Adriana Soto / 3. Adrian Soto / 4. Still With You

Is it just me or didn't yesterday feel kind of empty without Downton Abbey? I had gotten used to my little 9pm rendez-vous. I definitely felt the withdrawal effect and decided to watch one of my favourite episodes again: the Christmas Special (Season 2). I needed to feel comforted after the rollercoaster of a season that was Series 3. There was another reason to my watching this episode. I remembered being taken by the necklaces adorned by Lady Mary. She usually wears the mandatory long pearl necklaces and chockers characteristic of the era, but in this episode she opted for two pieces with Art Deco accents.

They inspired me to have a gander around Etsy and pick necklaces with a modern take on this style. 

1. knobbly / 2. Mariana Galan / 3. Cursive Design / 4. Adriana Soto

obsessed with: ... a pillow case (?!)

rejuvenating silk pillow case

You know the way that wrinkles can tell a lot about your personality? Well, if that's the case, Apparently I'm a cynical lazy feck...

I have the lion's wrinkle (the one you get from frowning) and no laughing marks whatsoever. But there's a new one in town that is slowly but surely making its way into my permanent features. I call it the 'sleepy one'. You know that crease on the cheek you get from sleeping on one side. It's that one. I've always slept with the right side of my face on the pillow. While I don't really mind the 'frowny one' (I had some time getting used to it as I've had it since my late teens), the 'sleepy one' really annoys me. I am not sure that I like what it says about me. I always bought into women should age naturally, and all that jazz, but what I had in mind were wrinkles that tells what a funny, beaming person you are (like those little cute crow feet). Well, okay, I ain't that and I do like my sleep, but still, does my face have to betray my poor character?

I'm trying to do what I can with face products to soften it, but I feel like it's a losing battle. In a nutshell, I'm getting desperate. I've read somewhere that one way to avoid wrinkles is to sleep on your back and I've been trying that ever since but I'm useless, that foetus position habit is a die-hard. I then remembered checking the holistic silk website after seeing Lisa Eldridge's video on her long haul flight beauty regime where she showed a beautiful eye-mask filled with lavender.

I had a wander on the site and stumbled upon the above pillow, read its description:

Naturally dyed and hypoallergenic our ‘Anti Ageing’ Silk Pillowcases are beautifully smooth and could help slow down the onset of wrinkles and facial lines!  It won't soak up your night creams or crease your face as you sleep, and will keep your hair soft and silky and your skin serene.

And proceeded to snort and roll my eyes... (cynical much?).

Fast-forward five months later, I need to try this thing. I know it's silly, I know it's not going to work, but I need to-try-this-thing.

obsessed with: make-up brushes

01.E.L.F. blending eye brush (£1.50) - 02.No7 blend and contour brush (£7.25) - 03.Real Techniques stippling brush ($10) - 04.E.L.F. Studio stipple brush (£3.75) - 05.Real Techniques expert face brush ($9) - 06.E.L.F. Powder brush (£3.75) -     07.Real Techniques buffing brush (from the core collection $18) - 08.Ecotools bamboo buffing brush (£9.90) - 09.Real Techniques blush brush ($9) - 10.Real Techniques deluxe crease brush (from the starter set $18)

My interest in reading blogs has slowly shifted from mainly fashion blogs to mostly beauty blogs between this year and last. I thought about the reason and came to the conclusion that it is a mixture of me gaining weight and acquiring a wardrobe that satisfies me (the only items I feel like buying are back-ups for what I own already so maybe I reached the perfect sartorial balance? Or maybe I'm frustrated with my current figure? As I said probably both).

Anyways, I'm fascinated by all these make-up tutorials that swarm the web and I seem to have transferred my once clothing-colour obsession to my current make-up one. Beauty is a subject I'd like to talk about more here but I don't think I will. The reason is I get so obsessive I tend to impulsively buy in total disregard with my beliefs in non animal testing, chemical-free organic products, minimal recyclable packaging and fair trade. Not unlike my behaviour towards clothes, I am weak. I try to counter act my weakness with education and by reading a lot.

In terms of skincare, I am slowly but surely getting to a regime that I find both natural and suitable, with some trials and loads of errors. One day, maybe I'll post about it, hoping that by the time I do it my skin needs wont evolve too much because I am not getting younger obviously.

In terms of make-up, it is way harder and I am currently ashamed of my beauty bag and how much of a hypocrite I'm making of myself. Add to that, companies change their policies as quick as socks (see recently the Revlon case).

It's weird how my relationship with make-up has evolved since I was first old enough to wear some. I already mentioned it here, but make up was pretty minimal when I was a teenager. We were mostly wearing kohl in the waterline, me and my friends.  A few girls were wearing horrendous cakey orange foundation (staining the top of their white pashminas)but those were generally the ones who  weren't confident about their skin. Later, end of the nineties, came the gloss (there was a bit of Buffy Summers/Joey Potter/Liz Parker influence in there I think for us). 

Of course, we tried eye-shadows but it usually ended up with a baby blue cloud homogeneously applied over the lids. And I am not surprised in retrospect as we had to use those mini sponge sticks. For nail polish, I remember owning a pearly purple in the nineties but wasnt that much into wearing it, I just liked the pretty bottle. I became addicted when garage rock came in fashion and chipped red polish, long pearl necklaces and fringes were staples back then. The blush was the last to come, I fell in love with Carrie Bradshaw's pink doll cheeks and nicked my Mum's blush - bourjois lilas d'or and I have always had one on the go since then (see the hypocrite!). Oh and lipstick, well you know the story.

Things have changed so much indeed and I am probably still crap at applying make-up but all those beauty blogs I love reading at the moment made me a (sheepish) believer of the motto 'your make-up is only as good as your tools' (yes! I finally got to the point... phew that was some introduction).

I am not willing to pay as much as 40 quid for a brush but I still want brushes that do a good job. You can see the edit list above for the ones I am lusting after.

(1-2)I started obsessing over blending brushes and especially dupes for the infamous mac 217. The n07 brush and the elf one seem to attract positive reviews. I don't even know why I am so adamant to get this type of brush because I don't even have a crease! If you have hooded lids like me, you might want to check this tutorial that teaches how to give the impression of a crease. Pretty awesome.

(3-4) There is something happening with cream-like products: cream eye-shadows, cream blushes, etc... Both formulas I love and I can't wait to try a stippling brush for cream blushes!

(5-8) Hearing all those beauty gurus describing their foundation as 'dewy' makes me think that I'm definitely doing something wrong with mine. I always look cakey and it marks my expression wrinkles in a scary way. Apparently a brush can make so much difference and I want to believe. I never was a foundation girl but age coupled with bad habits makes it that I have more bad skin days than good skin days now.

(9) I have always wanted a powder puff, something I can throw at my face and in one gesture, everything is evenly powdered. This brush seems like a good compromise.

(10) I really want to use the deluxe crease brush for concealer. For pretty much the same reason as (5-8), I need more coverage with age and the very thought of pressings/tugging/massaging with my finger the fragile skin under my eyes makes me shudder.

I am not sure yet I'll surrender to the gods of consumerism but I need to highlight that those brushes are synthetic and thus all cruelty-free!
P.S.: You might be interested to know that E.L.F. UK is having a 50% sale at the moment with the code INDEMAND50.

obsessed with: hearst castle

I just finished Louise Brooks' biography (written by Barry Paris) and can't get the San Simeon chapter out of my head. Louise Brooks was often invited there by Marion Davies' niece, Pepi Lederer. Always up to some mischief, the two young ladies brightened up the strict life under the roof of the castle. I am dreaming about a trip there but meanwhile I have a few things to keep me busy until I cave in and book a flight to California *wallet's scream of agony*.

- Rhiannon's beautiful post about her honeymoon there

- Re-watching Citizen Kane (C.F. Kane and Xanadu were largely inspired by William Randolph Hearst and his castle)

- Reading Aldous Huxley's After many a summer dies the swan. This lesser known book by Huxley was also inspired by Hearst and deals with the fear of mortality.

- Anticipating the release of Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby. The set looks totally xanadu-esque!(release date: 25/12/12 - trailer)

obsessed with: ankle straps

alexa chung/alexa chung's chanel shoes/sofia coppola/alexa chung/edie campbell/gia coppola/chanel fall 2011/valentino fall 2012/kate moss/valentino resort 2013