DSW will be selling KIDS shoes online!!

I'm so excited! I know if you don't have kids, you won't care but I am super excited.

I hate buying shoes for my kids. Target and Walmart shoes don't last and Stride-Rite are ugly. I often shop Finish Line or Foot locker but there just isn't enough variety. I've tried Vans and my kids have odd-shaped feet and find them uncomfortable. I'm also no longer a fan of Skechers kids', too many lights and cartoon characters. I'm hoping that DSW will have quality and a good price. Can't wait to see their selection. I think my next few paychecks will be going there! Who would have thought I would be so excited about kids' shoes!

White for Summer

I do love the white trend. Yeah not so practical with 2 kids but who cares ;)

Love love love this dress though
Personally I'm more of a maxi person, but this dress would be stunning on a night out.

Talking of maxis, love this one

The new color block trend

I have to admit I'm really not loving this trend.

MSN has a link of 10 images showing how to "color-block" this season. Some of them are pretty. I love this dress with the orange and white, its a bit more subtle. Has a nice retro 1950s look to it. Also perfect for summer. Available at Debenhams by the way ;)

But what about this one?


Its like someone colorblind is picking these outfits. I'm also not a big fan of the harem trousers. If you are curvy, they just aren't flattering. Trust me, I've tried. If you have skinny legs than you should be fine, but any boo-tay in there is gonna make you look disproportionate. Also not a huge fan of the jumpsuit, but that's still more wearable than the harem trousers.

Target Calypso St Barth Collection

Wedding season is underway and spring allergies have been kicking my butt so apologies for not writing sooner! Its been madness!

I had to go buy more tissue boxes and couldn't miss the lovely Calypso St Barth collection in Target. Its very summery, floaty, looks perfect for a vacation(hint hint).

Lovely Beige dress with hints of chartreuse. Or a lovely pink sleeveless dress.

The site doesn't have as many items as the stores, and they seem to be selling out fast! So go check them out, especially if you're going on your honeymoon or just on vacation. They look fab and colorful!

J-Lo's glowing skin

Jennifer Lopez was named the most beautiful woman in the world by People Magazine this week. An honorable title! And I think well deserved. J-Lo is a stunner. She has an amazing face shape, she knows what works for her and the big cherry on top? She has the glowing skin that all of us would die for!

Now its not that easy to get that J-Lo Glow. She obviously takes care of her skin, she doesn't have any pimples or scarring(not that you would see them in this age of photoshop). Facials, scrubs, good moisturiser, toner and I'm sure sunblock to protect her fab skin.

She also uses bronzer and I would guess she uses Smashbox's Artificial Light. It has a unique peach glow which seems like it is the same sheen as J-lo's cheeks. Its a great product which I love and use on my clients. Photographs beautifully. I have some shoots on the books for the next few weeks and I'll be using Smashbox. Will try to post some pics from the shoots.

In the meantime, let's all just ogle J-Lo on American Idol :)

Dancing with the Stars, Cheryl Burke's hair

Any Dancing with the Stars' (DWTS) fans out there ?

Got lucky while channel surfing tonight and found Cheryl Burke and Chris Jericho doing their number. Not really anything fantastic but what caught my eye was Cheryl's hair. She was wearing Hair Bling!

Those shiny "strings" in her hair? Kinda like tinsel and very sparkly? yep.. those they are hair bling or tinsel extensions as some people call them.I have had them as a piece in my styling arsenal for a little over a year when Beyonce wore them in her hair to the Grammy's. Here is a more subtle sample of some golden colored ones on lovely Theresa :)

If you're looking for them, I have them!!! Just give me a call at 510 380 8304 and I can put them in for you!

They come in various colors and shine. Great for a night on the town. Awesome for a disco party :)

American Idol March 24th 2011

Loved all the contestants' outfits tonight. The glamor of Motown echoed in the elegance of white dresses for the girls and black suits with white shirts and ties for the boys.


The dresses were sparkly and stunning. Tonight J-Lo looked a little out of place with her black dress and layers of gold necklaces. I didn't love her silvery greeny eyeshadow from last night either. It didn't "suit" her. She should stick to her usual golden glowy signature look instead of going all pinky. Her top was nice, but made her shoulders look very rounded - we know J-lo isn't round anywhere but her derriere so a stylist mistake.

I was amazed at how stunning Jennifer Hudson looked. That Weight Watchers is seriously working. She looked sexy, still curvy but so much more toned. Her dress was gorgeous! I know,I know, she's lost weight but the truth is you can't tell from ads or pictures. You don't know what has been photoshopped and which bumps erased away. But a live show... now that's the true test. I'm sure she had some spanx on ;) ;) but GO GIRL! You looked fab!

Divya Katdare's Sangeet pics

So I finally managed to get hold of some pics of the dreaded Sangeet makeup for character Divya Katdare of USA's Royal Pains.


It just needed some blending on the eyes. The lipstick was light and natural, great foundation matching. All good but for a little too much contrast on the eyes which could have been easily fixed by blending a little.

I have to admit her outfit has kinda grown on me too. I wasn't too keen on it at first and I felt like her seagreeny saree and her fiance's baby blue sherwani were a little conflicting, but they actually aren't so bad :) I suppose the underlying imagery was to show that they were not really compatible.

Shoe tape dispenser

A friend of mine posted this on her Facebook Page.  Isn't it awesome?? A perfect gift for the shoe lover or fashionista in your life(or yourself :-D).

Don't know how long they have been about but they have them on Amazon.com and also Office Depot.

This dispenser si also available in pink and red, but not with the same platform heel. :)

Awesome gag gift too !!

 

Art Karat's New Aishwarya Collection

For those of you unfamiliar with Art Karat, their jewelry is crafted in silver then plated in 22karat gold and daintily bejeweled with precious and semi-precious stones.  It makes it a slightly cheaper version of a pure gold set .  I say slightly because Art Karat items are really "art" pieces and are priced accordingly. They also come with a lifetime warranty, to be expected when you are paying $1420 to $7900 for a complete set that may become tarnished.

Art Karat brought out a new Aishwarya collection a few weeks back.  Its gorgeous.  They covered the 3 biggest love story movies starring the former Miss World; Devdas, Umrao Jaan and Jodha Akbar.  All set in the early 1900s in India.  A time of opulence and grace when women were expected to wear vast amounts of gold to show their social status. Hence these pieces are perfect for a traditional classic-style wedding.  You can't get better than  a traditional piece of kundan.  One of my favorite pieces in this collection is this jodha akbar ring.  Very classic looking. 




Another favorite is the borla - a round hair piece that isn't seen on many brides these days.  It sits at the hair line similar to a mattha patti (minus the chains).  A stunningly unique accessory for the classic bride.  If your getting married and you have an outfit with old gold colored embroidery, this could make you the most talked about bride this year. 

Check out Art Karat's  collections.  Well worth it for a unique piece.

Update on J-Lo's dress on American Idol March 2nd 2011

So I found the dress....

Its lovely! Its from Pamella Rowland's Spring 2011 Collection.


It is super bling!

I think J-Lo was wearing it with knee high boots to make it look a little less dressy but who cares what your wearing on your feet when all the attention is on this dress ;)

On a side note, doesn't Jovany Barreto look like a young Sylvester Stallone a la Rocky era? I mean the hat, the grandad shirts. I dunno, maybe its just me, but he was hot.   Shame we won't be seeing any more of him:(

American Idol

I'm a closet American Idol fan. I tell people my husband watches it but i secretly watch it with him. Not a fanatic or anything but it is a form of amusement.

I love Jennifer Lopez's style. She's really adding some flair to the Show. I didn't love Paula Abdul's style quite as "in". I love Paula but she was a lil whacky for me :)

J-Lo - love the hair, love the clothes, love the makeup. Tonight I am drooling over her silver sequin/lace one-shoulder dress - its gorgeous! She even carried off the "chola" lips with the dark liner and nuder lips. Normally NOT a makeup look I would recommend for anyone or ever do but I am really digging it on her. Oh and for those who don't know what a chola lips are, here is a visual :

Not attractive, right? :) Some people call it the black liner nude lipstick look ;) But J-Lo girl you rocked this :) So it was much subtler on J-Lo. It was a lighter brown lip liner and a coffee colored sheer gloss. Maybe a MAC Spice liner with MAC hue or high tea. If it needs a little more gloss, maybe a teeny weeny touch of OCC clear lip tar or any clear lipgloss but only a teeny weeny little bit. Don't want super shiny lips. :)

I'm going to see if I can find a good pic of J-Lo from tonight's episode so watch this space. In the meantime here's a good laugh on behalf of all the cholas out there ;)









So here's a dress similar to J-Lo's.  It's not as pretty as J-Lo's but it is cute:

 

I do quite like this one too but I don't have a couple of thousand lying around ;)

Royal Pains - Indian wedding of Divya Katdare

I love watching shows that have Indian/Pakistani characters. It is hit and miss. Some I find just out right offensive and others, funny, not always in a good way.

I've been watchign Royal Pains for a while and I love the character Divya Katdare played by Reshma Shetty. She's trendy and chic and not too outwardly "desi" or Indian. BUT I have to say the whole "arranged marriage" thing is a little dated for me. Can we not drop the arranged marriage thing? Not everyone who is from India/Pakistan has an arranged marriage and no we don't all meet our future hsubands when we are kids so that we can join our failing family businesses in the future. Come on, let's find an original idea for a single Indian girl on an American TV show for once.

Ok, so I'm done critiquing the writers for tonight. :)

The reason for my rant is tonight's show had Divya's Sangeet - a prewedding party which involves henna and dancing. The setup was lovely, her clothes were nice(a little revealing but nice colors and very trendy) BUT her makeup? Did someone forget their brushes? The eye makeup was 2 contrasting colors completely unblended. DARK BLUE color and WHITE!! Every time she blinked, I just wanted to rub her eyes!!! I don't know who does the makeup but I really hope he/she learns how to do color better, especially if he/she's going to do the "wedding". I'm getting shivers thinking about it.

The makeup has always been great up until now. I don't know if its just a lack of experience or if that's what the perception of Indian makeup is, but it was in no way attractive. I have loved Reshma Shetty's makeup and hair up until this. Its very natural and clean. The base is great and lipsticks are ery flattering but this was a major messup. From memory, I think her engagement makeup was a little lacking color but it was blended and nicely done regardless.

Here's a pic of the engagement. Will try to update with one of the awful look if I can find one online.

You can watch Royal Pains on USA on Thursday nights 10/9c or on hulu.com. Let's see what happens with the wedding makeup. If the wedding happens next week, I hope its not that bad!

Makeup Classes

I've been thinking about giving classes for a while and so I decided to try it out - today.

I want to offer a specific type of class that isn't overpowered by the underlying sale. I also don't want to teach makeup artists, I want to teach the laywoman, the business executive, the stay at home mom, the working woman, who doesn't have time to mull around stores trying out every brand and color. I want to show them how to get a basic daytime look and an evening look.

I invited some of the Moms from my Moms' group to be my pupils. I thought this might be a casual way to see if I want to invest in this more.

It was fun :)

But a few things I learnt right off the brush ;):

Keeping classes small is important. People have a lot of questions.

Sticking to one specific area and not a look when dealing with makeup novices, is best. So instead of trying to show a group of people who know nothing about makeup or skincare a start to finish look, just do eyes or lips, or base.

Start on time, even if everyone hasn't arrived. I suppose this applies to all teaching. If the whole class isn't there on time, don't worry, just go with it, they can catch up.

People want to know exactly what brand and color to buy. This is a hard one, not everyone has the same colorings or style. Its even harder when you don't buy regular department/drug store brands or non-professional makeup :-D

So, will I do it again?........ probably, BUT I will have to go research my non-pro brands :)

MAC's Wonder Woman

You say the words "Wonder Woman" and what's the first thing that pops into your head?



For me, its this cheesy theme song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fwq3ECOFKEM&feature=related and the image of Linda Carter in that red bustier, with red boots and blue underpants! I know it sounds bleuch but she was (and still is) HOT!! And for an icon of the 70s, she still looks amazing.


Back to the makeup relevance, MAC has just released a Wonder Woman Collection with matching red tops and blue unders ;) I'm a shiny addict! I like things in pretty packages - hey I'm a makeup artist, we put pretty packages on people's faces ;) - and I love this packaging. It is totally wonder woman!



The makeup colors themselves however, aren't really anything new or unusual. I would have liked to see more shades of red instead of the brown "heroine" or the coral "marquise d'" - maybe different reds for different skin tones.



The utility belt brush bags - yeah bleuch - glorified bum bag - not buying it - it may be nice shiny gold but its a lil too 70s for me personally. I can just see some Jersey Shore wannabe wearing that in a club thinknig she's so cool while I'm cringing!!! (Picture courtesy of http://www.maccosmetics.com/)



I do loveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee the red and blue shimmery leather makeup bags. Those are great colors and would look pretty awesome coming out of your (or my) little black bag. Very secret identity revealing ;) BUT I am going to stick to my New Year's resolution and NOT go buy them (just as well since they are already sold out :) )

What do you think?

UPDATE: Just found out from Ann Ho of Styles by Ann that MAC in ValleyFair is holding a WonderWoman event in the store on Friday - 11th Feb 2011. Go check it out for yourself, not sure how much they will have left!

FAQ
Picture Perfect Makeovers
http://www.pictureperfectmakeovers.com/

Dark Circles!!

Its a word we all hate, but as a Mom, I think I have a monopoly on worst circles ever! I know most Moms have to deal with them because we are too busy taking care of our kids and other halves ;) But if you think about it, in this day and time, who doesn't have dark circles? Ok, maybe the Kardashians ;) Or J-Lo - who btw is looking fab for having had twins! Wish I had a nanny, personal chef and personal trainer ;)

Anyways, back to the dark circles :) Don't we just love them? :-D

So here's a step by step to hiding those evil half-moons.

1. Moisturise - even if you aren't going out or trying to cover them up, make sure your eyes are well moisturised. It really helps to avoid wrinkles and laughlines in the future(or in my case, getting worse). I am loving Exuviance Eye Bionic Brightening Serum right now and you only need a tiny drop of it. Another old time favorite of mine is Vita-K's dark circle eye cream. Its pretty cheap at about $14 a jar that will last you a month if you apply it religiously am and pm, and you will notice a difference - I certainly did. The only thing is, you do need to apply it consistently to notice a change and it is NOT overnight. Also, if you stop using it for a while, those circles will just come back.

2. Pick the right color for your skintone. If your like me, olive/Mediterranean/Hispanic/Indian skin tone, then make sure you pick something peachy or orangey. This will help tone out the purpley grey color of the circles. Now if you can't find an orangey concealer(trust me, not as easy to locate as you would think), use an orange color creme, MAC used to make one but stopped for some unknown reason and I haven't been able to find one I liked as much. My 2nd choice is Eve Pearl's Samon concealer - but very pricey and if you're using this, make sure your eye cream has been completely absorbed before you apply it, because it is very creamy. And be very lighthanded If you have oily skin, then I'd avoid the eyecream altogether before applying this concealer, it isn't going to stick otherwise.

If you're a little paler in skin tone or Asian, a yellow toned concealer will work well. Again if you can't find one that is yellow enough for you, then try adding a lil yellow creme to your eyes first. Yellow is also essnetial to counteract any bluish tones your dark cicrcles may have. Lots of companies now sell "yellow" concealer kits just for this. Most skin tones need a lil yellow somewhere. I hate to admit to buying drugstore brands but I do like the Maybelline yellow concealer. It looks like a lipstick but it has magical powers ;) Just kidding.. its just a concealer in lipstick form :)

3. Match your concealer. Very important!! Some people suggest using a concealer that is lighter than your skintone, by a shade or 2 - WRONG!! Do you want to have reverse racoon eyes? no... OK, so stick to the color of the skin color of the side of your nose. This way you will match your face and not look like your cheekbones melded with your eye socket.

4. The final step - make sure you BLEND! You don't want anyone to be able to see that yellow or orange concealer under there. Use your fingers or a small concealer brush. I find both work pretty well, just depends on how much of a rush I am in and whether I'm doing myself or a client :) You can of coruse blend the orange/yellow color with the concealer before you apply and this works well too. Finally, dust very lightly with a transluscent powder.

5. Optional final step- if you're looking in the mirror and thinking, "uhoh, those circles won't give up" then there is a final step, a lightener. Skip the powder at the end of step 4 and apply a drop of either Yves Saint Laurent's Touche Eclat or Body Shop's Lightening Touch. Now there's a big cost difference here and to be fair, I amn't sure the Touche Eclat is worth it. Sorry, blasphemy I'm sure but I'm not a brand snob! Sorry Yves Saint Laurent :) I wouldn't use either on their own but over a bit of concealer, for sure!

If your circles aren't as bad as mine you could probably skip steps 1 - 4 and just use the lightener but then you probably wouldn't be reading this anyway :-D

Hope this helps!

Fizza Qadri
Picture Perfect Makeovers
http://www.pictureperfectmakeovers.com/

Shoes

I know shoes may not appear to have anything to do with makeup but its all part of the fashion industry and who doesn't feel better after buyign a new pair of shoes? :-D

I love these shoes, they are from Next and only 25GBP. That's like $32! Not bad ;)

But by contemplating purchasing these I will be breaking a New Year's Resolution to stop buying frivolous things I don't "need".

Wonder if I can persuade someone to buy me them for my birthday? ;)

Happy New Year!!

Here's hoping for a successful and bride-filled 2011!

Hope you all have an amazing year!

xxxx