Who says you can’t buy a soul? I found a pretty little jar of it from my favourite chemist last night.

I love bareMinerals’s eyeshadows as they last really well and the colours are beautiful. I wear a thin layer of eye make up base under the shadow, and it lasts all day without creasing!

I’ve been using ‘Celestial’ for a while, and get complemented on the colour constantly, but now  I wanted something a little bit lighter and more neutral for the summer. Unfortunately bareMinerals doesn’t have good product images and the colours are so subtle that they’re near impossible to order online unless you know the exact name of the shade you’re after. You pretty much need to try the colours in the store to find our what your getting. The brand isn’t stocked very widely, but luckily my lovely local chemist has recently added them to their store. (Though I have to say that all the colours are so nice that even if you don’t get exactly what you were after, it’ll still be a very nice and wearable colour…)

I haven’t tried ‘Soul’ on yet, but I’m sure it will be a treat. Its a nice creamy light shade with a beautiful sheen on it.

While browsing through the exhibition I was given a wide range of naked kiss plump + polish lipsticks to try.

Twelve delicious colours with the added effect of plumping the lips just that little bit bigger. A range of delicious shades sure to complement any summer dress!

I went to the International Beauty Expo yesterday and went a bit crazy at the O.P.I stand. Nothing too bad, but I did walk home with 8 new nail-polishes and a Rapi Dry spray.

1. The ‘IT’ Colour
2. Sea Ya Later, Sailor!
3. Just Tea-sing!
4. Oh So Glam!
5. Romeo & Joliet
6. Designer Series Natural Nail Base Coat
7. Designer Series Top Coat
8. RapiDry Top Coat
9. RapiDry Spray

In order to appear as a ’50s fetish pinup queen or alternately a vintage goddess on a daily basis, its not just shoes and clothing that require attention.

What is needed is that to die for hair that Dita Von Teese is never seen without.

Now if you don’t have a hairdressed on call 24-7, you do require some skill, the right tools and a bit of time every morning, and you can get the looks where ever you go.

Personally, I’ve found hot rollers to be the easiest option, as they take about 5-10 minutes to put on and act while I’m dressing up and doing my makeup.

Some rollers are easier to operate than others, as glassy dead straight hair like mine is a pain to get around basic plastic slick rollers.

I found a set of Remington rollers that had a velvet-like surface and a startup clip and I’ve been very happy with them. The clip leaves no marks on the hair and is easy to operate even before your third morning coffee.

This set is a bit big to take with you while traveling, but luckily I found a small travel kit from Remington too. The rollers have the same velvety surface, but the kit only has ten rollers and they don’t come with the startup clip. While not quite up to scratch for everyday home use, they are perfect for picking up the hairdo from the previous day, and restoring the glam for another day of wear.

On top of the rollers, you also need the right products to achieve this luscious look. I’ve always been a big fan of TIGI hair products and swear by them in anything hair related.

Heated rollers are of course used on dry hair, and I use TIGI Uptight spray on each strand of hair before rolling it. Once I’ve let the rollers do their job, I unroll all of them and spray a hefty dose of TIGI Maxxed Out in and let it dry before brushing the roller marks out.

After styling my hair the way I want it to look I gloss it with TIGI Dumb Blonde Smoothing Stuff and apply a last generous layer of TIGI Maxxed Out to keep the moisture away, and make sure my partner also gets to appreciate my hair in its full glory when I get home from the office.

If you need extra tips with the rolling part of the job, here’s a couple of how to videos from YouTube:

• Old Hollywood Hair
• Wavy Classic Vintage Look

Good luck!

A colleague of mine just asked what products I use to create my cat eyes every day.

Its difficult to find good products that create the right effect AND stay on all day without finding their way under your eyes before lunchbreak.

Personally, I really don’t like ready mixed eyeliners. The brushes are always dreadful which makes application unnecessarily frustrating. Also, they tend to either dry so slow, that the eyeliners end up everywhere before drying, or they dry so quickly that you only get a couple of weeks use out of the product.

I prefer cake eyeliners cause they allow me to choose my own brush, control the thickness of the paste to my liking, and last but definitely not least they’re very economical as they last forever.

The only problem with a water mixed cake eyeliner though is its tendency to smudge on oily skin.

I’ve solved the problem by using waterproof mixing liquid instead of water. Works a treat!

My products of choice: black cake eyeliner and mixing liquid from Make Up Store and a small angle brush from M.A.C. Cosmetics.