One thing I love about the summer is getting out on location and shooting. So with all of the sun we’ve been having I decided to get together with Mark Enstone www.enstone.net and shoot some beauty. Trust me to pick the one weekend with torrential rain! Well we were shooting in Manchester so I wasn’t too surprised. The rain did ease up in time for us to get these  gorgeous shots of Boss new face Cailin.

I wanted to share this beautiful shoot with you from Tush magazine. I’m very jealous!

I was at a friends 7th birthday when I first saw Barbarella starring Jane Fonda. Probably not the best choice of movie for a kids party given the see through rubber dresses, Cannibal dolls and soft core 60’s sex scenes! I remember the opening scene which is what the film is most famous for with Jane (Barbarella) stripping off her metallic space suit and helmet and looking incredible and falling in love with her look. I’ll still watch it every now and then when I need a bit of  inspiration.

I love the whole look which is super sexy from the mass of marmalade hair which I need to talk about for a second. “There’s nothing two minute scrunch dry about that do” as my hair dresser friend Zoe Irwin would say! It’s the texture and colour of the hair that is so beautiful, kind of a back combed soft candy floss which still looks glossy, like a Breck girl from the American shampoo adverts.

The makeup is great too, it’s a total 90’s matte browns to contour everything look finished with jet black kitten flick eye liner and technocolour tanned skin. It’s a real beauty icon moment for me and I find myself rocking my take on this look when I shoot beauty.  I think Jane Fonda gets a bit over looked as a beauty icon of the 60’s and 70’s which is a shame as she is so gorgeous, especially in this role. If you haven’t seen it make sure you do asap, you can forget about the story which is a bit odd in that 60’s space age way and get lost in the kitsch fashion.

I came across Fernanda Guedes’ work whilst in Sao paulo. I’m a big fan of illustration and thought this set of images were stunning, I love her makeup idea. I find her illustrations full of energy and humour as well as being really beautiful. Check out her website for more gorgeous images. http://www.fernandaguedes.com.br

Images taken from Fernanda’s site.

I’ve taken quite a few long haul flights recently and thanks to the ash cloud pushing up prices of flights with favorites like BA and Virgin I’ve flown with some new airlines ….. Air India to Toronto anyone?! It’s amazing how the little comforts you pack with you for these trips makes such a difference to your flight. Here’s a few of my most loved flight essentials.

1. Murad soothing lip and skin care. This is a wonder lip conditioner especially for those with really dry lips. It leaves your lips really moisturized and can be used on dry skin too.

2. Optrex Actimist eye spary. I thought this was a little pricey at first £14.99 for eye drops but the spray over eyelids formula which helps replenish the natural moisture levels in your eyes really works.

3. M.A.C Fix + Spray. This hydrating spray is full of vitamins and minerals and helps to freshen up your face when the cabin air gets too much.

4. American Apparel Circular Scarf. This is my most treasured travel item as I like to cocoon myself in it on a long trip. It’s basically a huge circle of stretchy T-shirt material which can be worn as a scarf, top, hood or wrapped around you like a blanket, it also makes a great pillow!

I stumbled upon Tush magazine a couple of years ago whilst in Budapest and it’s fast become my favorite flick, I would read but the text is in German! I’m always really blown away by the editorial especially as they shoot some amazing beauty stories. My only problem is getting hold of my quarterly glossy fix as I’ve still to find a U.K stockist. I’ve managed to track it down almost all over Europe but not here so if anyone knows where to get hold of Tush in the U.K please let me know. There web site is always up to date with all of their editorials posted, check it out www.tushmagazine.com .

So I’ve decided to stray from my usual upload of pictures with simple quotes to venture in to something I feel more passionate about and that is beauty trend. Last season I took part in over 20 shows at fashion week in Paris and London and was really taken by summers new take on the tan.

Gone were the oiled and bronzed beauties of Miami beach and the city chis girls of NYC didn’t get a mention either as designers took inspiration from the Sahara desert. I find that skin texture changes so much with each season and this season skin has a matte but healthy look. Imagine a tan that is picked up naturally as if you were walking along the beach rather than baking on the sun lounger. I’m a bit of a bronzer junkie and I’m always looking for new products for my kit. At the moment I’m using a mixture of Nars bronzer in Laguna which a client of mine introduced me too and an (annoyingly) discontinued Tom Ford for Estee Lauder bronzer. I find that Flat toned powders with little red pigment give the most flattering look on the skin and keep everything Sepia toned.

I really like this shot of the Sahara. It has all of the key tones for my makeup palette for the season, I find that yellow sand shades are quite hard to find in eye shadow forms so have been mixing a lot of my own shades with creams which sit on the skin beautifully.

Creating this tan for the shows was tricky as we needed to give the girls an all over deep honey tone without looking too over done. My favorite product was MAC face and body in C6 which looks like real skin. I find it best applied with your hands and massaged in just like a moisturizer.

The secret to this desert tan is keeping your skin demi matte (not shiny and not dry looking) definitely use powder where needed ie around the nose and forehead but leave your cheeks natural.

I love the shot from Italian Vogue as her skin looks really tanned but sitll healthy.

Another shot from Itaian Vogue.

I worked on the Balmain show last season and Tom Peauchaux wanted  the girls to look healthy and beachy but not contrived, almost like nomadic surfer girls. I loved his reference for the show. We created the look by using a toasted brown cream shadow around the eye which made the whites of the eye really bright. The skin was made a honey tone with face and body in C5 or C6 and we slightly masked the natural lip colour with MAC Siss lipstick. The girls looked effortlessly cool.

I worked with Daisy on this promotional shoot just before the launch of her first single. She was rally fun and I love her new song Number One Enemy!