admin

Early summer Wishlist

I’ve started to change up my wardrobe a bit for summer and decided to feature some of the items I’ve had my eye on.

summer wisklist1.Gaby Mercury Half Metal Rim Sunglasses from House of Fraser. Half metal frame sunglasses with smoky gradient lenses, UV protection and only £15!

2. Oversized dress £39.99 by H&M. At first glance, this doesn’t seem like an overly flattering item but I think it could be a useful and versatile piece. its dramatic silhouette could really benefit from some accessories.

3. Natalie Shau “Teardrop” sweatshirt 54.95$ from Live heroes, with I think worked out around £35. I don’t normally go for such obvious prints but I loved the fact that she had recreated the look from the Givenchy AW 15/16 show, in her own signature style. The only downside to buying of this site (which is not the artist’s own) is that the item took around 8 weeks to arrive. I’m not sure if this is always the case but it was for me.

4. Ruby lace applique bralette $122 and thong $77 by For love and lemons. I love wearing sheer shirts and dresses in the summer and detailed bralettes are perfect for wearing underneath them. I love this set because the bottoms also look comfortable and interesting without being too fussy.

5. Andromeda V-neck £158 by Demobaza. I’ve known about this site for a while but never actually bought anything before. I wanted to try out a basic item first to see what I thought of the quality, before investing in a more elaborate piece.

6. Ash Absolute black £159 from Daniel footwear. I love wedge trainers all year round but I wanted to get a new pair for summer as my nike’s are a bit warm. These look perfect as they combine durable leather with breathable mesh and also have a white sole, which makes them look a bit more summery to me.

If you’re thinking that these don’t look all that summery, it’s because it isn’t quite sandals and short shorts weather here in the UK yet. but I’m hoping to do a midsummer wishlist next month with some holiday style stuff.

Let me know if you’re thinking of purchasing any of these items, I’d love to know what you think of them!

antler dragonfly banner long

 

admin

New year beauty must-haves

Hourglass-Ambient-Lighting-Edit-Palette-65

 

My most coveted product of the last couple of months has to be the Hourglass Ambient lighting edit palette.

I love the finely-milled shimmery powders, they sit beautifully on the skin and don’t cause the flaky or dusty effects I have noticed when using some others.

The palette contains 3 powers in different shades, 2 blushers and a bronzer. This makes it perfect to travel with as all the powders you need are beautifully arranged in a gold case. The mirror is also quite large which eliminates the need for a travel mirror.

I would love to be able to take this to fashion week with me next month.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A second product I have loved this month is the lipstick queen “Ice queen story” set.

I wish I had found out about this before Christmas as it would have made the perfect stocking UK200016145_LIPSTICK_Qfiller. The “wine sinner” is my perfect red and “Ice queen” would have been perfect for my “winter wonderland” shoot and fashion show. I also have a couple more lipsticks in my collection it would look great layered with.

Lipstick queen is fast becoming my favourite lipstick brand. I have 6 of their lipsticks in my current collection and love the cleverness of their products. As well as producing a variety of formulas and finishes (often indicated by the colour of the packaging), their ranges are also conceptual and often include an unexpected property to spark your interest.

This is currently in the sale at SPACE NK. I hope someone buys something off my website so I can treat myself before it sells out.

Lipstick queen, Ice queen story £17.50, SPACE NK

 

UK200002511_NARS_COSME

For the past couple of months, I have also been obsessing over the Nars makeup brushes.

They are on the pricey side but I have never come across “good” brushes that I find so aesthetically appealing before so I just have to have them. When I first got the Real techinques brushes, I remember complaining about them ruining my dressing-table colour-scheme, whereas these fit in perfectly. I have 3 so far, trying to buy one every time I have some spare cash.

Nars “Yachiyo” kabuki brush £43, SPACE NK

Rococo-Nail-Apparel-Love-Protection-Duo

 

This next product is a bit of a surprise. I have never really been that “into” nail polish and the chemicals that Iwork with on a day to day basis ruin it so I don’t wear it often. I ended up picking up a one from “Rococo”, a brand I have never tried before in the SPACE NK sale (it was only £1.50!) and was impressed by both the packaging and the quality of the polish. 

At this price, it’s definitely worth trying out. I really love the box as it goes with my decor and it looks like a lot of the colours have a beautiful iridescence to them.

The shade I like best out of the ones left in the sale is SNO BABY £1.50, SPACE NK

US300025295_HOURGLASS

 

 

Next we have another hourglass product. I need a new tinted moisturiser and I’ve heard so many good things about this one.

From the description, it sounds like exactly what I’m looking for but I haven’t tried it yet so I hope I can get my hands on it soon and that it lives up to my expectations.

Hourglass illusion Hyaluronic skin tint, £45, SPACE NK 

10878523-2044294061464758

The final product is a hairspray, which might seem a bit odd, but I am featuring it for quite a pointful reason. If you read my “2016 goals” post, you may have noted that I’m trying to turn all of my beauty and household products cruelty-free.

Hairspray is quite a tricky one so I was pleased to come across this Argan oil infused one by Moroccanoil. I featured it in case anyone was also on the lookout for something similar.

Like all Moroccanoil products, it isn’t cheap, but I think it might be worth it as I don’t really use hairspray that often.

Morrocanoil luminous hairspray, £17.25 www.lookfantastic.com

 

 

 

 

I hope you found this post useful! Feel free to share your new-year beauty must-haves, I always love checking out new products! And let me know if you have tried any of the ones I’ve listed here today and what you thought.

 

 

admin

Eustratia Halloween Favourites and SALE!

Every year, I notice it’s coming up to Halloween on about the 10th of October and decide to schedule an appropriate photoshoot and a “top picks” collage from designs for Eustratia.

This year, I decided to be a bit more pro-active and post my selections early. This gives you guys more time to think about your outfit and also coincides with the mini SALE I’ve just put on for the remainder of the week! (but obviously you’d have to make up your mind quick for that, end midnight on Saturday GMT).

I’m not really into items that I see as tacky, or anything that is specific to a particular character, though I do love dressing up. I prefer to choose items that can make an impressive addition to a costume, but are versatile and can also be used in other situations.

eustratia halloween favourites

Here we have a few examples of items I have incorporated into past costumes but continue to come in useful today.

The Elizabethan Ruff

The latexlace mask

The bunny hood, bunny mask fascinator and bunny ear fascinator

The antler headband

The miniruff trim collar

and the kitty ears.

These are just some easy options I picked to save you looking through the whole website, if you have some spare time though, there are plenty more wonders in the sale section. Harnesses of any type are also a great choice in my opinion. They give a distinctive “tough” look that can also be toned down enough to wear every day, with the right outfit.

If you have something extra special planned and nothing on the site will quite do, I’m always happy to take on custom commissions and I will offer 20% off those until Saturday. That includes crowns, horns and hair covered, sculptured head pieces that you may have noticed in some of my work.

To give you some inspiration, here are some of my costumes from previous years that I’ve been photographed in:

148838_502110675364_619630364_7532209_3472591_n

Dark

395742_10150593659410365_971684925_n

Jamie Mahon-5418a

299394_190410681026072_2018649_n

248114_354044057996066_1739569179_n

399942_262946613772478_15487553_n

547308_341800835887055_332125466_n

A few of these are a bit old now, but I hope you enjoy looking at them all the same.

BLOG SIGNATURE

 

admin

Pre-fall shopping

pre fall shopping

 

We’re reaching the end of summer but the weather is still quite warm and I haven’t properly started thinking about my winter wardrobe yet (though I have done a small clear out to make way for new pieces) so this month has been about make up, lingerie and comfy shoes.

I desperately needed some new make up and there seem to be quite a few new palettes out at the moment. The ones I decided to go for are the illamasqua sculpting palette and the urban decay smokey eye palette. I was initially sceptical about the sculpting palette as the colours look a bit dark and warm for me but I went into selfridges and got them to try it out on me and decided it was just what I needed. I was immediately drawn to the naked smokey palette because of the greater variety in tone compared to the previous ones. I also love the larger mirror and the fact that the shades really compliment the  ones in the sculpting palette.

My love of strappy lingerie is no secret so I wanted to feature a couple of my recent favourites. The bra is from one of my own recent collection, Vanguard and the briefs are from a designer I’ve loved for a while, so I had to get a pair when they went in the sale. The colour probably seems like a bit of an odd choice but I have loads of black lingerie and am trying to branch out a bit.

Finding stylish comfy shoes is always a bonus and the brogues in particular, are a bargain. I also need some new docs and since I’ve realised black is really the most practical boot colour for me, I decided to go for some texture with the snake print.

BLOG SIGNATURE

admin

Shooting for Coco and Max Melbourne

In January, I was sent a selection of wonderful garments to shoot by my friends at Coco and Max and with the weather finally starting to warm up over here, I thought it was the perfect time to share with you all.

coco 1

coco 3My first set featured the Geo pop leggings in white/pink.  I paired them with a floaty open shoulder top from my own label, Eustratia and some gemstone necklaces. Anyone who reads this blog can probably guess I don’t wear much pink and I don’t usually go for these shiny looking leggings but the quality and fit on these are amazing, they feel cool rather than sweaty and the waistband and seams are super comfortable.

coco light 1

 

For my second look, I wore the Geo skull bather. This has recently been reduced on the website as it’s now winter in Australia, giving all you northern hemisphere readers the perfect chance to snap one up. The print is so detailed and magical and despite it being white, it will not become see-though when wet due to the amazing pink lining (though it also comes in black). A close up of the print can be found on my instagram, here.

coco light 2

I paired the bathers with the dragonfly poncho in white. Beautifully draped, it provides the right amount of protection from the sun, while still keeping you cool.

coco light 3

I love dragonflies so the print is an added bonus for me and will definitely be debuting this at the beach very soon!

coco silver 1

 

For the final part of the shoot, I wore my absolute favourite piece from the range, the crystal leggings. I love knee pad details and these lightly padded, crystal heart shaped ones are so unique! The leggings are made of liquid foil effect 4 way stretch fabric and offer a comfortable fit with just the right amount of support.

odin 1For this look, I also enlisted the help of some furry friends. This is Odin, my favourite puppy from our litter. My scale headpiece is by Richard Ayres.

coco doggies 1

I also tried the leggings with a more casual look, pairing them with my limited edition crystal heart t-shirt and some large headphones.

headphones2

Charlie and I rocking our Coco crystal hearts!

headphones 3

 

I had loads of fun shooting these and am glad to have found another great indie label with high quality, original and ethical products. Every garment is proudly 100% manufactured in Melbourne, to support fair local trade.

Supporting smaller labels is great for the economy and means more people can survive doing what they love. I always believe it’s better to have an eclectic selection of special items that you enjoy wearing than a sea of generic mass produced garments that make you feel like you have nothing to wear.

All images by Richard Ayres photography, styling and retouch by me.

BLOG SIGNATURE