Christmas Gift Guide - Luxury Edition, Part 1: Handbags & Accessories!

Christmas shopping can invariably lead to stress, headache, and panic (for the unprepared, last minute Larrys, like I am this year)… not to mention extremely painful feet and potential for mild assault from other keen shoppers if you’re braving the shops, rather than shopping online. Personally, I try to stick to buying on the internet as much as I can, so as to avoid the physically painful part, at least.

Now I know there’s loads of gift guides floating around, but I firmly believe that you can never have too much inspiration if you’re truly stumped for things to buy – especially if like me, you have to buy both for the people who seemingly have everything, and also the people who actually want nothing (thanks dad… a jumper it is then, again); and so I’ve compiled a couple of guides for you covering a whole host of fabulous looking ‘stuff and things’ in the hope that I can maybe inspire you on the perfect gifts to buy for your nearest and dearest.

This guide focuses on luxurious and expensive products… my favourite. It was always going to be seriously difficult to keep the amount of ‘stuff and things’ that I want, errrr I mean that would be lovely for you to purchase for your loved ones to so few items – especially spanning so many categories such as gadgets, accessories, jewellery and more, and so I’ve split this particular guide into 3 posts for easier digestion!

And so without further ado, here’s a whole heap of fabulousness that I’d personally love to own/receive. I could probably have just called all these guides ‘Claire’s Wish Lists’ if I’m honest.

1. Michael Kors Selma Large Satchel Bag £315 – This stunning bag is definitely on my ‘most wanted’ list this Christmas, but alas I fear it’ll be a present that I’ll have to purchase for myself at some point in the New Year instead. I make no secret of my love for the colour pink, after finally realising that it is indeed my favourite colour (as opposed to pink, or purple) after only 33 years on this earth. I don’t really do favourites, due to my indecisive nature, and tendencies to like EVERYTHING, and lots of everything at that.

2. Dolce & Gabanna DG4192 Sunglasses in Bordeaux £125 – Now I’d usually go for sunglasses that were a bit bigger in size (hides more of my face, you see – ha) but the fact that these are sparkly just lured me in. I am SO easily won over when it comes to this stuff. SOLD… to the magpie named Claire.

3. Prada PR08OS Oversized Square Framed Sunglasses in Tortoiseshell £215 – Now these are more the kind of size I would normally go for, and I’m also partial to a bit of animal print, so these subtle tortoiseshell glasses are totally my kind of thing. I love the gold accent on the arm too, the shiny pleases me greatly.

4. Mulberry Alexa Polished Buffalo Satchel £1,100 – Who doesn’t want to own a Mulberry bag? I mean there must be some people, but there can’t actually be that many people who don’t secretly covet one of these beauties. The Alexa bag is probably one of the most well-known bags, and rightly so as it’s bloody lovely. I’d have one in multiple colours, just to sit and gaze at, mostly.

5. Mulberry Clemmie Embellished Satin Clutch £1,200 – Now put your hands up if you wouldn’t like to own a sparkly Mulberry bag. Holy macaroni, I love it. I don’t even care that it probably wouldn’t even fit half of my shit in it. I need it, give it to me now. Please. Thanks.

6. Saint Laurent ‘Monogramme’ Glitter Clutch £710 – I don’t know about you, but I’ll always call this brand Yves Saint Laurent, I mean why drop the Yves but then keep it in the iconic logo? It’s madness if you ask me. Anyway, this is another sparkly clutch that will no doubt hold about 0.01% of my ‘essentials’ on a night out, and again I don’t even care. It’s probably another item that I’ll just sit gazing at, and possibly stroking at home. I might even put it on a shelf as a display piece, ha.

7. Marc Jacobs Luna Messenger Bag in Orange £405 – This bright messenger bag stuck out to me during my massive window shopping session due to its vibrant orange colour. I’m a huge fan of bright colour, and whilst I still love muted, neutral shades too, I do lean more towards the bright. Even in autumn and winter. I’m especially a fan of orange with pink, which is a good job really, since those are the colours I currently sport in my hair. ;-) This bag looks perfect for everyday use, and I think it could even fit a great deal of my ‘stuff’ in it too – bonus.

8. Michael Kors Jetset Travel Chain Flap Over Purse in Gold £145 – There is probably no point in me ever owning this gorgeous metallic purse, owing to my utterly rubbish luck when it comes to not losing them lately. However, it doesn’t stop me wanting it all the same. I’m not sure if it’s more of a yellow gold in reality, but on my screen it looks like a rose gold, which I think I’d probably prefer. Stunning.

9. Michael Kors Dylan Baguette-Bezel Chronograph Watch (MK5412) in Rose Gold £279 – I love Michael Kors watches, in fact I just seem to love Michael Kors full stop; but in particular I love the watches. This rose gold sparkly affair is definitely on my ‘need to own’ list, since I can never have too many Michael Kors watches, especially if they have extra added sparkle to boot.

10. Michael Kors Stainless Steel Bracelet Watch (MK3359) £379 – Shut the front door, sparkle galore!! My magpie senses are on full alert for this watch (and the next couple also), as well they should be. Any watch that has this many crystals automatically gets put on my list of things I need, imagine all that sparkly goodness every time you checked the time?! I don’t think I’d ever be late again… ok; I might be but let’s not dwell on that part.

11. Michael Kors Kerry Gold Tone Pave Crystal Bracelet Watch (MK3360) £399 – This is the gold version of the previous watch, as obviously it’d be rude to have one without the other. I’m not one for favouritism; I’m not even one for favourites due to my indecisive nature – hence the length of these guides (wishlists, ha)!

12. Michael Kors Two Colour Zebra Print Bracelet Watch (MK3315) £279 – This watch combines my love of animal print with my love of sparkle. What’s not to love?! I want it, I need it… I know I can only wear one watch at a time, but I really don’t care. Can I make wearing two watches or more at once a ‘thing’? It should be when there’s this much Michael Kors goodness to be had.

I think it's quite obvious that I love Michael Kors, so sorry if it's a bit Kors heavy but I like what I like and I'm certain others would love to receive anything from these items too. :-)

Part 2 coming soon...

This post originated at www.thebeautyscoop.co.uk

Yves Saint Laurent (YSL) Opium Vapeurs De Parfum!

I've never been able to wear YSL's Opium before, I've always found it a bit too heavy for my tastes - and although I know it is still popular with many people, even after all these years, I've always steered clear. I even felt this way with Belle d'Opium, which was released in 2010 - I really wanted to love it, especially as the packaging and marketing were totally up my street, I just didn't!

I thought this would always be the case with the Opium range, that was until I caught a whiff of Opium Vapeurs de Parfum a couple of months ago, and I've been wanting to post about it ever since (but due to internet issues, have been unable to do so, until now). It has to be said, I absolutely love it! It's a stunning fragrance, that gives a nod to it's big sister, Opium, whilst being SO much more wearable for the modern girl.

The bottle stays true to the most recent Opium design, with a frosted peachy hue replacing the brown - keeping the classic, sophisticated design, but bringing it more up to date to match the scent. 

On spraying the perfume, the first note I recognise is the pink pepper which gives it a slightly spicy scent, this is quickly followed by the citrussy notes (I can't really tell whether it's the mandarin or the orange blossom at this stage) and finally the amber, vanilla and incense on dry down.

The perfume reminds me of a slightly lighter, more feminine version of Spicebomb (although I personally wear Spicebomb too) - I think this is because of the shared pink pepper notes within the fragrances that my nose really picks up on.

Top Notes

Mandarin, Pink pepper

Middle Notes

Orange blossom, Jasmine

Base Notes

Incense, Amber, Nutmeg, Vanilla, Woods

Wear time is also fabulous on me, I could still smell this after 8 hours of wear, which is exceptional performance for an EDT.

This fragrance should make the Opium range a lot more accessible to younger people in my opinion, it's light, fresh and modern. It's also perfect for both summer and winter due to the mix of light citrus and spicy/warmer notes, I can see me getting a huge amount of wear from this - love it.

This post originated at www.thebeautyscoop.co.uk

EOTD with Max Factor False Lash Effect Mascara!

I love long, full looking lashes, but I'm totally rubbish with false ones. I either fail to get them on, looking good and then staying put, or, I run out of time to faff around with them for long enough to get them on etc, so a good mascara is always high on my list of beauty must-haves.

A good mascara can make your lashes look amazing, but I've never come across one that has truly made my lashes look like I'm wearing falsies (in a good way), until now. 

Max Factor False Lash Effect Mascara has very quickly become one of my favourite mascaras, since it pretty much does exactly what it says on the tube, which can be a a rarity in these days of lash inserts and photographic 'enhancement' via Photoshop. 

Just look at the pictures, every one of these, apart from the first one below has 2 (light-ish) coats of the mascara and was taken at the end of the day, so you can see how well it lasts too.

One light coat, no lash curling or other make-up!

I am very impressed with this stuff, I had at least 3 people in one day asking me if I was wearing false lashes, something I've rarely encountered before bu found to be reassuring that other people also thought my lashes looked as good as I did. 

It's also effortless to use, the wand works brilliantly and seems to do most of the work for you, which is always welcome with me. It's hard to believe that this mascara only costs around £11 as if I'd done a blind test, I'd have easily believed it if I was told it was a £20+ mascara.

My 'extra' eye make-up in the pictures below consists of 3 shades from the Urban Decay Naked palette (the original one): Virgin and Sin in the inner corner and over the lid, and Darkhorse in the socket. It's a very simple look, but one I find myself wearing quite a lot during the day.

Excuse the hair and robe, it was pyjama o'clock when I took this photograph.

You can see the 'stain' left on my lips from my Rouge Volupte lipstick, shade 10, Provocative Pink - another long lasting and impressive product.

 

False Lash Effect Mascara was a PR sample (views are unchanged by this), the rest of the make-up mentioned/worn in this post was purchased by myself.

This post originated at www.thebeautyscoop.co.uk

Wordless Wednesday - Chloe Loves Cosmetics!

Caught in the act!

She's clearly not bothered, and goes back to sleep.

I couldn't help but think that my cat, has acquired my taste for luxury cosmetics after finding her lay on a pile of products I had lined up to photograph. She's too cute though, I couldn't move her - so she went back to sleep, and I waited for her to get off so I could do my photographs. She totally wears the trousers in our relationship.

I'm thinking that she could start doing some modelling for Chanel, Clarins, YSL or Selfridges with these pictures haha, what do you think?

Hope you're enjoying my photographs of Chloe, I must spend most of my time doing it as she's so cute.

This post originated at www.thebeautyscoop.co.uk

My YSL Rouge Volupte Co-Buy Is Currently Live on Buyapowa - Be Quick!

This is quick as it looks like it might sell out very quickly.

http://www.buyapowa.com/ref/bFNl9i


Wow, sold out already - did you get one? x

There's another Rouge Volupte on right now, courtest of Millie from Pearls and Poodles right here, go go go! www.buyapowa.com/ref/mLYOt8

This post originated at www.thebeautyscoop.co.uk

Yves Saint Laurent (YSL) 'Noir Terriblement' 5 Shadow Palette!

YSL have done it again with another palette that I adore, their Noir Terriblement Palette is inspired the the classic tuxedo and even comes with it's own little 'tux' jacket - very cute.

You might think that a palette of blacks would be a bit, well, boring... but there's enough difference in both the the shade, texture and finish of the shadows to make it a worthwhile purchase for me. I actually find that one leads towards more of a brown-y tones black and one more grey-black too.

No flash (dull day, sorry).

I love a smoky eye, which is another classic look, and this palette is perfect for creating one; especially with the white highlighting shade that you can use both to highlight and also to further change the shades of black on your eye, making them more grey if you desire.

On the left I have swatched the shadow with no base, and to the right I have used Urban Decay Primer Potion (a staple in my beauty bag) and onthe white shade, the UDPP is at the top.

As you can see, the depth and shimmer/glitter are both more intense when using the primer, but I quite like that the shadows have a buildable quality to them when using them with no base, as this to me makes them a lot more suitable for daywear, where a full on black smoky eye may not be as appropriate! This also means that you would get a lot more use out of your palette and that can only be a good thing.

I hope you can see the differences in the shades in these photographs, I tried to capture the images in varying shades of light to show that there were slight differences to the shades.

Available for £39 from House of Fraser and other YSL stocking department stores. x

EOTD - Featuring My YSL & Chanel Favourites!

I've been totally in love with my Yves Saint Laurent Midnight Garden Palette and Chanel's Illusiuon D'Ombres, especially in Épatant ever since I got them, and think they work really well together, so this is another EOTD using them, but in a slightly different way!

This time I used the gorgeous forest green AND the beautiful purple from the YSL palette with the Chanel Épatant - and I think it worked out quite well, especially as I was in a rush to get ready after being out during the day of the party (my nephews birthday party) and didn't have much time to get ready!

I forgot to curl my lashes, and also I only put a light coat of mascara on (shhhh) but it didn't affect my night and we had a great time all the same - nobody died. ;-)

As per usual, these photographs are end of the night fodder, so they're not the best and neither if my full face below, but you get the idea and next time I'll try to remember to take a photo before I leave the house!

Any tips for me to be more organised? Ha! x

Celeb Sunday - Emily Blunt For Yves Saint Laurent (YSL) Opium!

It would be rude not to show you the gorgeous (and exclusive) behind the scenes footage I've been sent of Emily Blunt in the new TV Campaign for Yves Saint Laurent's Opium fragrance. Opium hasn't had a TV Campaign for 10 years, so it's nice to see that they're putting such a classic fragrance back on our screens, don't you think?!

I think Emily looks amazing, I am totally loving the smoky eyes and glamorous hair and am looking forward to seeing the ad in full - weirdly, I only really like beauty advertisements, the rest get fast forwarded! :-)

The full advertisement will be showing from December 4th but have a little preview with some behind the scenes footage below!

Yves Saint Laurent Autumn 2011 - YSL 5 Ombres Lumiéres, 11, Midnight Garden Eyeshadow!

By now, you may already know of my love for Yves Saint Laurent make-up (and basically every other luxury beauty brand too, for I am a girl with expensive taste and a big beauty shopping addiction, but the less said about that in black and white the better as I never know if Mr Beauty Scoop sees any of these posts), so when I got sent some of the new autumn collection to try, I was very excited indeed.

First up from the collection is quite possibly my favourite from the collection, the Ombres 5 Lumiéres in 11, Midnight Garden. This palette is made up of shades of purple and green that are very pretty to look at in the pan, and yes, I did find myself making it twinkle in the light before swatching them.

Which brings me to my next point, that is if you don’t like shimmer or glitter, then this palette is not for you at all as it is loaded with shimmery and glittery particles galore... but this makes the magpie in me very happy indeed!

Back to the colours though, I really like the selection in this compact and I think that they work together surprisingly well. There’s a deep, forest green with teal shimmer running through it that I cannot, for the life of me get my camera to catch – it is stunning though and a very pale mint green with teal shimmer running through – although I think this is touted more as a highlighter than a shadow, but it is pigmented and colourful enough to use as a shadow too, in my opinion.

There’s also a lilac in there that looks to have sky blue shimmer running through it, a more aubergine-y (eggplant) shade of purple with what looks like a very fine red/magenta shimmer and an almost electric purple with blue shimmer running through it. The contrasting shimmer running through these shadows, really make them pop, it gives them more depth and a multi-faceted appearance too!The lighter shades are almost iridescent in some lights too - totally stunning!

The darker shades in this compact are a LOT more pigmented than the lighter ones (especially the lilac), but can still be used as a light wash of colour if you wanted as they are still very buildable when used dry/alone... they all apply a lot better over Urban Decay’s Primer Potion though, as you can see on the swatches – which is how I’d use them anyway, personally.

The swatches were done using the sponge applicators included in the compact, on the left is a dry swatch and on the right is applied over UDPP - which makes a huge difference in depth with less effort needed! However, I quite like that you can use the colours a bit more subtley if you desire, it makes this palette much more universally wearable!

Showing the highlighter blended out, I thought it looked quite nice.

The lighter shades are still lovely, but just need a bit more time spent applying to get the desired effect, I find this is the case a lot of the time with lighter shades so it’s not really of too much detriment to the palette... and it also allows you to use both as a highlighter, due to them not being too heavy in application.

All the shadows had great staying power on my lids too – even the lighter ones, I was very impressed... although not quite so impressed when I was trying to remove them from my hand after swatching, ha!

The packaging is gorgeous, as always – but also as always, is a total fingerprint magnet and I do find myself buffing these cases quite a lot to try to hide that, is that a bit OCD?

Anyway moving swiftly away from my OCD tendencies, I really recommend this palette to those of you like me that have magpie tendencies and a penchant for colour. It is £40, but then you get 5 products in there totalling 8.5g... which effectively makes each shadow £8.

I really don’t think that this all that bad to be honest, especially if you consider that a No7 Stay Perfect Eyeshadow will set you back £8 for 1.5g of product - which, if multiplied by 5 would equal 7.5g... which is 1 whole gram LESS than YSL give, therefore making YSL surprisingly better value, financially, than No7!!