Beach fun

I haven't had much time lately to work on my blog, sorry!!

For a bit of bribery here a picture of Kermit the dog frolicking on the beach

I'll be back updating this page soon,

 pinky promise!

Summer is here!

Summer is finally here, the sky is blue and the sun is out. Perfect time for Chanel to launch their summer collection, in shops near you this Friday.
I love the retro feel of the main picture, 80s blush, manly shirt its all there.

'A perfect warm and bright summer, bathed in beautiful sunshine. Time lingers in a carefree moment, sea and sky seems soothed by sensual heavy notes of a jazz melody.The mind wanders, soars and becomes one with the azure blue overhead' Entranced by summer, Chanel's creative director Peter Philips accentuates the perfect harmony of bronzed shades and tanned skin in the sunlight.'

Sand and spicy tones for the eyes, coral for the nails and gold for your skin. I especially like the look of the Harmonie poudre de soleil, a bronzing powder build up out of  7 stripes all with a hint of gold. The shades blend together to give you a natural bronzed result. Or use the stripes separately, they could work great on your eyes to. Available in sable rouge and sable beige.

Bronzed summer here we come!

Creamy Eyes

photos by Ellisfaas.com

Ellis Faas has launched 7 new shades in their Creamy Eyes collections.

These great pens of creamy eyeshadows transform from a liquid to dry on application. With quick-drying properties, this innovative anti-ageing formulation provides all-over, light-weight coverage that stays crease-free throughout the day. A special blend of flower and coffee extracts smooths skin and reduces wrinkles while restoring lost moisture and protecting from external aggressors.
The range is ideal for a quick smoky eye, since before it dries there is sufficient playtime. Creamy Eyes can also be used like a thick pencil around the eye or to contour and shade in the eyelid crease. For extra drama, cover the entire eyelid using the built-in brush, layer and then fade the edges with the fingertips. When it has dried, the revolutionary formula is extremely long-wearing and will stay fixed until it’s taken off with a cleanser. Creamy Eyes glides on like velvet to smoothen, lift and firm the lids. Even a thin film instantly adheres to the skin for superior wear that lasts without budging.

The new colours are Navy Blue (E113), Bordeaux Red (E114), Purple (E115), Lilac (E116), Mint Green (E117), Light Blue (E118) and Yellow Ochre (E119)

Would you like to win some Ellis Faas goodies? To celebrate the launch of the seven new shades, Ellis Faas is organising an international competition. What you have to do? Create a visual using one of the new shades and email it to  info@ellisfaas.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , marking it "competition". For a full look at the terms and conditions have a look at the Ellis Faas website here.

Vogue Bambini Summer in Black

Have a look at this fashion story in the lastest issue of Vogue Bambini. This is another one of the editorials that I shot in Capetown at the beginning of the year with photographer Igor Borisov and stylist Ellie Lines. I gave the models big fluffy hair, to go with the flower back drops and the black clothes. Hope you like it!

Vidal Sassoon

Last week hair dressing pioneer Vidal Sassoon past away at his home in LA aged 84.

As the creator of the bob hairstyle, he was best known for his short, geometric cuts, the style which succeeded the bouffant styles trendy in the 1950s.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times Sassoon said: "Women were going back to work, they were assuming their own power. They didn't have time to sit under the dryer anymore.""My idea was to cut shape into the hair, to use it like fabric and take away everything that was superfluous,"
The 5 point haircut was born, which Sassoon developed on US Vogue editor Grace Coddington, who was one of Vidal Sassoon's hair models at the time. Speaking in a New York Times interview Coddington said: “He was key to that whole look in the early sixties, that youth quake thing in London. The cut gave you a certain freedom. You weren’t chained to the salon and you certainly didn’t have to go and have it set with big rollers under a hair dryer for a couple of hours. He did it with a hand-held hair dryer so it wasn’t quite drip-dry, but it was remarkable.”

Another one of Sassoon's iconic cuts is the short crop he gave Mia Farrow for the movie Rosemary's baby. This haircut that made Sassoon world famous was a clever publicity stunt by the films director Roman Polanski. In August 1967 Sassoon was flown over to LA to create the, for the time, shocking pixie cut live on the Paramount sound stage in front of the world press. His faith of hairdresser to the star was sealed.

Vidal Sassoon was besides a pioneering hairdresser a savvy business man, he was one of the first hair dressers to brand himself, opening salons bearing his name and developing his own line of products.

In the last 25 years of his life, Vidal Sassoon did not cut any hair, except for a few instances. When on holiday in Italy with a friend, he decided that he couldn't spend a week with him unless he gave him a haircut, and he gave his chihuahua a trim.

Last year a documentary came out showcasing Sassoon's life and iconic cuts, have a look at the trailer here. 

Coffee and cake? Coffee and candle!

Coffee and cake is sooo last season, this spring lets have our coffee and smell it to!

Luxury home fragrance brand Jonathan Ward has launched a candle with Dutch coffee brand, Douwe Egberts. Jonathan was inspired by Douwe Egberts first shop and its years of historic trading.
Think of hand-crafted wooden shelves infused with years of spilled coffee beans and peppered with aromatic teas, sugar cane and spices and you get the jest of this candle. The ingredient list read like a cake recipe, it has Patchouli, Saffron, Sandalwood, Cinnamon, Roasted Coffee, Molasses, Cardamom, Caramel and Cashmere Musk.
This little treat will set you back £25 and will burn for approximate 30hours.
Have a look on the website here.
A good last minute idea for Mothers day? That is if you are in Holland or America, you crazy English already celebrated your mums last month ;)

Join the pipe

I was given a water bottle by a friend of mine, a lovely clean designed refillable green flask. I didn't think more of it until my sister told me the bottle was by Join the pipe, a company that's aiming to provide clean drinking water to the whole world. Their water bottled are shaped like a water pipe, you have straight ones, like the I bottle and curved once like the J bottle and K bottle. On the bottom of your bottle you can find a coordinate, this is where your purchased water bottle will help providing clean water. My bottle is supporting in pump in Congo on 4 31'15.69 N/18 30'49.94 E
Have a look at Join the pipes story:

This is the short story of the longest water pipe in the world.

Once upon a time there was a world where half of the people wasted 70 litres of drinkable water every day just to flush their toilets, while, at the same time, the other half was dying of thirst.

Then, at the beginning of 2009 two friends living in The Netherlands, a country constantly threatened by floods and too much water - had the dream to re - distribute water in a fairer way.

They started to think about how to do that. They thought they needed a sort of very long water pipe, long enough to bring water where there was none. But that was a massive thing to do for only two people. That's how they came up with Join the Pipe - the first social community of tap water drinkers. The idea of the two friends was to design a set of bottles that resembled a water pipe element, then sell it to all the members of the community and with the money raised they would finance the installation of pumps, wells and other water projects in Africa and Asia.

So, they went to a factory and produced their bottles in a durable plastic so that you keep them all your life and save the planet from drowning into an ocean of plastic water bottles. And they also created water carafes for the restaurants and tap water stations for parks and public spaces.

When they were ready the two friends asked everyone to join: at first there were only relatives and friends but soon schools, commercial companies, museums, nobel prize winners, actors, football clubs, event makers, airports, water companies, they all started to join from all over the world.

The two friends became two hundred and then three thousand. The pipe became longer and longer and today over 10.000 people that didn't have water, have water to drink.

With the help of everyone the pipe will continue to grow until we live in a world where half of the people has drinkable water - and the other half too.

If you do just one thing today purchase a Join the pipe water bottle. Not only will you be helping out others getting excess to clean drinking water you will also help the environment by not getting throw away plastic bottles. Less plastic to produce, less trucks to drive around delivering your water to shop and less garbage heaps filled with plastic bottles. Its a win win situation!!

www.jointhepipe.org

Flower power

Have a look at the latest Goop news letter for some great tips on flower arranging.

They have broken up the tutorial per vase type, so you can learn how to make a gorgeous bouquet depending on what vase you have at home.

Take a look here.

Anthropolgie bracelets

I am a big fan of stacking lots of different bracelets around your wrist, so when this Anthropolgie image arrive in my inbox I let out a little scream of delight. Am not a big fan of the hairstyle but the bracelets look absolutely amazing!!

Have a look at the new catalogue here the images look amazing. The clever people of Anthropologie also made a video of their new collection.

Hesters Hall of fame: Beauty classics

You cant go wrong with a beauty classic, they have been around for ages for a reason!

Have a look at my favourites

Advanced style

Have you guys had a look at www.advancedstyle.blogspot.com yet? This blog by Ari Seth Cohen celebrates stylish seniors, showing you that personal style advances with age. Or as he says on his blog intro  'Respect your elders and let these ladies and gents teach you a thing or two about living life to the fullest.' The advanced style blog is so popular it has been turned into a book! Available from Amazon the book is a collection of over-60s street fashion unlike any seen before set in the world's most stylish locations. Ari Seth Cohen was inspired by his own grandmother's unique personal style and his interest in put-together fashion of vibrant seniors. His pictures are a timeless inspiration for all you fashion folk!

 Have a look at these stylish ladies from advancedstyle.blogspot.com, showing you that you cant go wrong with a bit of red lipstick.

The leader of the senior fashion pack must be Iris Apfel. This New York interior designer, and fashion icon is the current toast of the style scene. At a sprightly 91 Iris calls herself 'the oldest living teenager' inspiring both Mac and Jimmy Choo to launch collections in homage to her this year. Iris is also the subject of her own documentary, shot by Albert Maysles, out later this year. I love Iris Apfels style mantra: 'When you don't dress like everybody else, you don't have to think like everybody else.'