10 ways to feel fabulous on a budget
1. Snap up designer diffusion lines the second they go on sale – H&M, Target and Forever21 make the best designer and celebrity collaborations, and - here’s a heads up - often sneakily put them out on racks a day before the advertised launch date.
2. Wear a hat. Not a beanie, but a proper hat. Trilbys, Fedoras and Bowlers add instant chic, elegance and intrigue to a plain outfit.
3. Throw a tea-party. Pick up an old tea stand at the flea market, bake a cake, cut the crusts off sandwiches, make your friends dress up (think Charlotte-style from SATC) and enjoy an afternoon of inexpensive, old-fashioned glamour.
4. Put aside two hours to watch an Audrey Hepburn movie, alone, with a large glass of red wine.
5. Cut bangs into your hair, paint your nails chocolate brown and slick on red lipstick. An instant new, ladylike you.
6. Buy last-minute, standing tickets to the opera. They’re very cheap, and it still sounds the same!
7. Sit in a posh hotel lobby to people-watch and just soak up the atmosphere. I’m obsessed with Claridges in London, The Sunset Tower in LA, and The Waldorf Astoria in New York…but every city’s got a good few!
8. Always wear expensive perfume. Whiz through the department store, spritz, and leave with as many samples as they’ll hand out.
9. Dress up to the max with a friend and spend the afternoon trying on clothes at designer boutiques. (Discreetly) take a Polaroid camera. Many stores even serve free champagne while you’re in the changing room too.
10. De-clutter your bedroom, iron your sheets, sprinkle lavender water on them, and put fresh flowers in a vase. A lot closer to a 5* hotel than it was before.
Living
Rise & Shine
Check out Louise’s top Summer Beauty Trends
Lip liner is back – but applied gently with a smudge, and in very fleshy, light shades. Use a blunt pencil around the edge of your mouth - and then colour in your lips with it too. Smudge a tiny amount of Benefit High Brow above your Cupid’s Bow, it’ll lift and plump your top lip. Run Stila Kajal eyeliner in Topaz along the inner, lower rim of your eye, to make you look awake and fresh. Rub a creamy shimmer eyeshadow, such as Dior’s Undressed Beige, along the top of your cheekbone. Mix in a good primer (we adore Laura Mercier’s) with your fake tan (St. Tropez is our fave). Only use conditioner on the ends of your hair, and spray a little dry shampoo along your parting, to get that mussed-up, flyaway tousled. Label M and ReneFurterer are brilliant brands. Switch up your scent to something sweet. Wild Fig and Cassis cologne by Jo Malone has people asking what you’re wearing, like bees to a honeypot. Nails need to lighten up as the season changes, but avoid pinks or creams. Esse’s Mink Muffs mushroom tone is spot-on this Summer.
Beauty
Red Carpet Ready
Awards Season Secrets... How the Beautiful People get that way
One month before: It’s time to prep that bod with a long weekend spent at Liv Tyler’s favourite detox centre, We Care, in Palm Springs. Juices, yoga, and more juices. 2 weeks before: Back in LA, hit an intensive course of the ‘High-Heel Workout’, at the Equinox gym.
1 week before: Beauty & grooming… an oxygen facial at Kate Somerville takes 10 years off the skin. Brow-shaping with Beyonce’s threader, Damone Roberts. A discreet upper lip wax at Wax on Melrose (no one wants a ‘tache), and a trim with Kate Hudson’s brilliant hair stylist Adam Campbell, at the Neil George salon. Then dodge the paps as you run incognito for an appointment with Demi Moore and Madonna’s main man, Dr. Fred Brandt, for this season’s newest trend: botox in the ear-lobes (stops those chandelier earrings from drooping or hurting – only drawback being you won’t know if the borrowed diamonds worth millions of dollars fall out – eek!).
2 days before: Hop over to Kinara, West Hollywood spa, for a 3-hour full body scrub, followed by a St. Tropez spray tan. This season it’s all about a non-orange, lighter look, so the brand is offering ‘Skin Perfecting’ to give that polished glow. Then it’s next door with your personal stylist, to the new Christian Louboutin boutique, to pick at least 10 options for the red carpet. A manicure with Rihanna’s new fave, Minx, for metallic nails that won’t chip for 3 weeks. Result! Final fittings with stylist, decide on a dress.
The big day: Waft around the lobby in very large sunglasses at A-lister hangout, the Peninsula Hotel, making sure all the top peeps in town (everyone important stays here during awards season) notice you.
Fashion
Chic Seat
Oh how we love a bargain. So we nearly leapt out of our Jimmy Choos when we caught sight of Ikea’s cool Perspex ‘Tobias’ office chairs – the perfect seats to decorate the new white lacquer conference table, over at Front Roe towers. Call us geeks, but we’re excited about how fab the office looks now! Next we’re on the hunt for chic ‘n’ cheap stationery…reporting back soon…
Living
Nipping at Your Heels
As self-confessed shoe-aholics, our 11th commandment states you can never have too much foot candy in your closet. This week our ‘shradar’ (shoe-radar, we made that one up ourselves!) has fallen on Linzi Shoes – insanely affordable platforms, sandals, and most gorgeously, studded velvet shooties. At the other end of the stiletto-spectrum, the a-list’s new designer-darling, Prabal Gurung, has joined forces with Manolo Blahnik to design a killer satin shout-shoe. The shape is meant to mimic Thom Mayne’s design for the new Cooper Union building in NYC, and it’s HAWT. www.linzishoes.com, Manolo Blahnik for Prabal Gurung, 212 582 3007.
Fashion
Bourjois, je t’aime
Add a little Ooh La La to your life with Bourjois limited edition Paris Pots. To celebrate their Parisien roots, they’ve created a line of vintage-style packaging, complete with a famous French landmark. We’re loving the Beige Rose Eyeshadow.
Beauty
Harajuku Girls
Gwen Stefani brought Japanese joy into our lives with the funky Harajuku wing girls who never left her side on stage. Now you can get your own pocket-sized version! A limited edition perfume, Gwen’s Harajuku Lovers Snow Bunny comes dressed in snow boots and attitude (www.amazon.com).
Beauty
You Snood, You Lose
Scarves are silly, beanies are boring. It’s all about the snuggliest accessory of them all this winter: the snood. Go chunky-knit, go cream or black, Gap has the best.
Fashion
All a-flutter
Lashings and lashings is what it’s all about this season – falsies will open up your face and let you flash a pair of coquettish, bedroom eyes. No need to spend a lot, and make sure you practice applying them too… tilting your head back and looking down at a mirror is a good trick. Eylure, Ardell, Nails Inc, Stargazer and Shu Uemura do the best novelty pairs – go glitter!
Beauty
Come Dine With Me
Maybe it’s the cold. Maybe it’s the recession. Either way, Supper Clubs have become the hottest new way to meet new people, and show off your skills in the kitchen. From posh to not, check out our favourite options, online: www.savoytrufflesupperclub.com, www.humblekitchen.co.uk, www.thesupperclublondon.com.
Living
Get Lippy
Think red lipstick is just for other people? Think again – it’s time to actually use the makeup that sits decorating your bathroom shelves - and try a new look. Pillarbox red lips are elegant, striking and oh-so-Marilyn Monroe. Our faves? Armani’s Armanisilk, and Benefit’s Flirt Alert. Paint on a scarlett cupid’s bow and watch the boys line up for a smacker.
Beauty
Anya Hindmarch’s Melting Moments
She’s the goddess of arm candy, and now the kitchen too! Our spies got hold of Anya’s favourite dessert recipe, and we’re sneaking it on to you… Cream 75g caster sugar with 110g butter. Beat in 1 egg yolk. Add a few drops of vanilla extract and sift in 150g self-raising flour, until you get a smooth dough. Divide into 24 balls and roll in lots of crushed cornflakes with a rolling pin. Flatten the portions onto greased baking sheets and bake for 15 minutes at 190’C/Gas 5. Hey presto!
Living
Foot Fall
Boys, no more excuses for your scruffy, shoddy shoes. Flips-flops, boaters, sneakers and boots can all be dispensed with: check out Fins For Him, a hot new UK label pumping out suede loafers in a rainbow of colours. Zac Efron, David Hasslehoff and Valentino have all just ordered pairs – what better company do you want than that?
www.finsforhim.com
Fashion
Love Games
Happy Valentines... 10 Ways to Dazzle on Your Date
1. Wear suspenders, even under a pair of jeans. Knowing you’ve got them on will make you feel sexy, and give you Jessica Rabbit-style confidence.
2. Be a lady in red. Statistically, more men flirt with women wearing red, than any other colour.
3. Do the one-shoulder top or dress. It’s this season’s best way to show skin and seductive décolletage, whilst leaving enough to the imagination so you still remain elegant.
4. Leave the lipstick and lipgloss at home. Most guys prefer natural-looking make-up, and the thought of kissing stained or sticky mouths puts them off. New Aussie product Lucas Papaw Ointment (www.cultbeauty.co.uk) is the perfect compromise for a smooth, shiny Cupid’s Bow.
5. Spritz Bumble&Bumble’s Surf Spray into blow-dried locks, for a mussed-up bed-head that moves when you walk. It smells delish too.
6. Invest in a high-waisted pencil or fishtail skirt. Femme fatale is back, with this instant way to hot Coke bottle curves. Don’t be afraid of high-waisted silhouettes, they actually suck us in, they’re our friends!
7. Dab a pheromone-laced perfume behind your ears. We love Basic Instinct, by Pure Romance.
8. Buy false half-lashes in any MAC counter and ask the shop assistant – who will also be trained in make-up - to put them on for you. Subtle, but oh-so seductive…
9. ‘Forget’ to bring your jacket. He’ll have to lend you his, or cuddle you, or both.
10. Buy 2 red envelopes, rip them a bit, and let them peek from the top of your suitably sparkly clutch. Nothing wrong with him assuming you’re in demand!
