BEAUTY AND THE BOOK: AUTUMN FAVOURITES

The turtle necks are out and the temperature has dropped: Autumn is most certainly upon us. This, I think, has to be my favourite season of the year. I haven’t got (too many) deadlines, the weather is still warm enough to not have to go outside looking like the Michelin man, and the realisation that Christmas is less than 14 weeks away hasn't quite hit me.

I love creating different looks and transitioning my makeup from the light and bright of the summer to darker, much more dramatic autumnal looks. The Zoeva Naturally Yours eyeshadow palette carries the perfect shades to transition my eye looks between the seasons.

Along with Urban Decay, the Zoeva eyeshadow palettes are some of my favourites of all time. The colour pay off is second to none and the combinations of colours in each palette  perfectly compliment each other; making it so easy to create incredible eye looks effortlessly. I love to wash Pure all over the lid, define my crease with Soft & Sexy, darken the outer corner with Slow Dance and then finally press shimmery Casual Elegance into the inner corner of my eye for a really quick and easy every day autumn look.

When I’m not running out of the front door (which is not very often as I am really good at misjudging the time it takes to get to places), I love finishing off the Zoeva eye with a feminine flick of L’Oreal’s Super Liner in black. This is also a great addition for when I’m taking my makeup from day to night as it fits in any handbag!

THE LIPS

I recently popped into the relatively new Charlotte Tilbury counter in John Lewis in Cardiff when I was home from London one weekend. Charlotte Tilbury is one of my all time favourite brands and any time they release something new, my friend Emma and I text each other with lots of capital letters and virtual squealing.

I was on the hunt for a new nude as my beloved Mac Honeylove had 1. almost run out and 2. started to dry my lips out A LOT. Not ideal.

The lovely lady on the counter, who was also a longtime Honeylove fanatic, suggested I tried their shade Penelope Pink from the K.I.S.S.I.N.G Fallen from the Lipstick Tree collection with Pillowtalk Lip Cheat lipliner underneath. It is a beautiful creamy formula, it never makes my lips feel dry and it contains anti-oxidents and natural SPF. What more could you want from an every day nude?

The other lip product I have been loving coming into the autumn months is Estée Lauder’s Pure Color Envy Liquid Lip Potion in 120 Extreme Nude. My only grievance with this product is that it doesn’t last as long as I’d like however, the colour is stunning and it does not have the drying effect of so many other liquid lipsticks that I’ve tried (I’m looking at you Kylie Jenner). 

I picked this up at Sephora in Rhodes, Greece in August as I knew it was going to be a shade I’d get a lot of wear out of in autumn and winter and so far I have. I like to apply this with a Real Techniques detailer brush from the Core Collection just to get a more precise finish as you can see every tiny mistake if it goes wrong.

THE BASE

I was tempted by this when I went to the Clinique counter to get replacements for my Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturising Lotion and Clinique Anti Blemish Solutions Cleansing Gel. I swear by these two products and use them every day. 

At the time, the Superbalanced Silk Foundation had only just launched so I hadn’t heard too much about it. I was in need of a new foundation so I bit the bullet and bought this one. I wouldn’t say it’s the best foundation I’ve ever bought but its perfect for what my skin needs at the moment. My shade was a very close toss up between two but I went with Silk Bare. The range of shades seems to be great for the fairer of us but (as usual) the darker shades seem very limited.

The new Superbalanced Silk contains SPF and promises a weightless finish that also controls oil.  It is oil free and works for dry-combination, combination oil and oily skin types with build able coverage and a natural matte finish.

It’s buildable, blendable, not too matt so it has a very natural look when it’s on the skin and you don’t need too much product to get a good amount of coverage. It also mixes well when I use my Urban Decay Naked Skin concealer under my eyes. There is nothing not to like about the staying power, coverage, texture and colour of this foundation.

THE FRAGRANCE

A modern take on an oldie. My Chanel No°5 Eau Premiére has been making a come-back in the past few weeks. I find this scent incredibly wearable as a day to day perfume as I move on from my much lighter, more floral and fruity scents of summer. I find the crisp and woody smell of Premiére really compliments my autumnal outfits and I am really looking forward to spritzing myself with this in the coming months.

THE BOOK

Over the summer, I was asked to attend an event at my university where the multi-award winning journalist Gary Younge would be speaking to a small audience. Having been an admirer of Younge’s work for some time, I couldn’t turn it down.

He talked about his impressive career and the many years he spent living in America as a journalist for The Guardian. He said he had decided to write Another Day in the Death of America after realising the extent of the gun violence problem in America and how many gun-deaths go unreported in the media. This book tells the stories of ten young people who lost their lives to gun violence in one day in America. The youngest was nine, the oldest nineteen.

It is utterly brilliant. Younge does not seem to want his readers to mourn the lives cut prematurely but to instead join him in an emotive analysis and examination of the structural roots of a crisis that has resulted in everyday killings. It is unlike any book I have ever read and I cannot recommend it enough.