PDM - Public Display of Make-up

We’ve all experienced the joys of PDA (public display of affection), whereby a couple feel the need to prove their love to the world by constantly touching and kissing each other. We get it, you fancy each other, but for future reference: nobody needs to sit through an entire train ride watching you and your other halves do everything but the full monty. It is yesterday’s news that public tonsil tennis in the UK is revered and looked down upon. In Paris it is considered a national sport, and a double date consists of sitting on water fountains snogging and only stopping to have a quick smoke of galloise before carrying on.

Recently however, I was thrilled to be shown a whole new form of public indecency, in the form of a woman doing her entire beauty regime whilst sitting on the tube. Why, I wondered, does a woman have so little time in the morning that she needs to apply her spot cream on the tube? Surely this is something that we should all be utterly private about? Being a long-time acne sufferer, my pimple ointment regime is a most embarrassing matter, Id place it on a par with not locking the toilet door at a public venue. Or perhaps on the same level as those disgusting people who mid-conversation start picking their noses whilst looking directly at you. Maybe not as disgraceful as that, but it still shocked me enough to watch her move on to applying her facial moisturiser, foundation, eye shadow, and mascara. The best part was when she started curling her eyelashes, at this point I looked around to see if anybody else was appalled and perplexed by this woman. Surely the whole point of make-up is that nobody knows you are wearing it, we are supposed to simply rise from our beds like goddesses, primped and preened, eyes shining, ready to take on the world. Yet here was a woman proving that really we are all liars and frauds, walking around as one woman and going to bed as another. It made me wonder what the next display of public indecency would be, and where it would take place. Getting dressed whilst waiting for the bus? Shaving your legs whilst chatting at a bar?

I recently read an article about people eating meals whilst sitting on the tube, not just a handy snack or drink, but actual meals. Imagine sitting down on the crusty, faded 80’s seats and enjoying beans on toast whilst everybody stares at you. I can’t imagine anything worse, not to mention the amount of germs flying around the meal provided by the tube which harbours millions of bacteria. There are exceptions to the rule of course, a quick drink or snack is fine. As is a slick of eyeliner or lipgloss. But full make-up appication and meal?? I cant decide if it is my overly private persona or if it really does seem odd to be applying various ointments and potions whilst on the tube? Or any public transport for that matter?

Celebrities through the looking glass...

Yes, a lot of the time celebrities look annoyingly gorgeous, but we know the little secret behind the mask of perfection lies a massively talented make-up artist, stylist, dietician and personal trainer. Imagine if you had all that in order to look consistently gorgeous?! There'd be no excuse for bad hair days, fat days or ugly days! Heres a few of the celebrities who I think get it right every time :



I know what you're thinking. Lizzie Maguire?! Lizzie Maguire gets it right every time?! Well, yes actually, she does. Hilary duff consistently looks beautiful at premiere's and events, why? Because a lot of effort goes in to her make-up look. Here her look is pretty, yet polished and attainable for everyone. She has used a silvery taupey-brown on the eyes with plenty of mascara and false lashes. Lips and cheeks have been kept girlishly pink, yet subdued. The key to this look is lots of mascara, lots and lots of it!

Products to use for this look :
1) For the eyes, I suggest Urban Decay's 'straydog' eyeshadow. This silvery taupey brown is the perfect compliment to all eye shades and has the most beautiful texture. smudge it under the eyes as well as on the lids to create Hilary's polished, yet smokey eye. Use liquid liner on top lids only. I like Boots No7 liquid Liner in Black. Ensure that the line is very thick and very neat, use cotton buds to wipe away any mistakes. For volumised lashes without the clumps, my go-to mascara is 'My Biggest Lashes' in very black, by Prestige. Wiggle the wand through the root of your lashes to create thickness, then keep stroking the wand over and over your lashes till you have created Hilary's doll-like flutter! If you want, stick on some falsies, Im not a fan of them, but I hear eyelure do the best ones!

2) Keep the foundation light and dewy, the skin must not be matte for this look. No powder neccessary! I suggest Myface Mymix foundation for an ethereal glow. For those girly pink cheeks, Urban decay's after glow blush in 'quickie' does the job, dont brush on too much though because its such a pigmented blusher!

3) The lips are a neutral creamy pink, I suggest MAC's angel lipstick for pink lips that dont look overdone.

Although I find Keira Knightley really quite annoying, (why is she ALWAYS pouting?! even when shes talking shes pouting!!) she does happen to always have a good make-up artist and stylist to hand. I have heard she's an acne sufferer which makes me like her a bit more, as I am pront to acne breakouts. She mostly goes for a smokey-brown eyeshadow look with nude-rose lips. The look is very english rose/rock chick, like shes been running around on the windy moors for too long or something. Heres my break down :

1) The foundation shes used is quite high coverage, yet leaves a lovely natural glow. I suggest trying Revlon Colourstay foundation for this look. This foundation takes quite a while to set so do your eye make-up whilst its setting. (what is it?! paint?!)

2) For the eyes a dark, chocolatey brown is key. I suggest using Barry M chocolate dazzle dust (no.53). Use a brush to bring the shadow right in to the socket line, and at the outer corners of the eyes. Keria has not used much highlight, however the lid has a small amount of purpley-grey to offset the chocolate brown. I suggest BarryM's dazzle dust in mushroom, a lovely sparkly grey with hints of lilac. Use a fluffy brush to run over the entire eye and blend the colours together. Use a black kohl eyeliner to line the lower lashes and top lashline. Dont use liquid liner for this look, it is too harsh and not rock chick enough, sorry. My fave kohl eyeliner is no7. amazing eye eye pencil in black. Now take your little finger and run some Barry M chocolate dazzle dust just under your lower lash line. I have always used my little finger for this job because it gives a more worn-in rock chick effect, a brush tends to make it look too polished and precise. Now for the mascara, Keira's eyelashes are volumised and multiplied using layers of mascara on both the top and bottom lashes. I suggest using Revlons fabulash for this, at first this mascara seems useless, but trust me, keep building it up and up and after a while you will be very satisfied with it indeed! I like to blink my lashes in to the brush again and again until Im happy. It makes me really dizzy, but it works!!!

3) Hopefully your foundation has dried by now?! For Keira's glow, use an iridescent gold powder all over the face, especially down the length of your nose, tops of cheekbones and chin. I like Too faced's candlit glow, but if you prefer something less sparkly, Pixi does a lovely blush called Energy blush in naturally sunny, the highlighter part of this blush is perfect! For keir'as naturally pink glow I suggest 17's blush in bramble frost which is a really neutral pink, and literally goes with ANY eyelook you have gone for!

4) Keiras lips look naturally glossy. I like Burts Bees super shiny lip gloss in sweet pink.

C'est fini!

Vivienne Westwood, Naughty Alice Perfume

My favourite designer, Dame Vivienne Westwood, has released a new perfume called 'Naughty Alice'. Could this be anymore perfect for me??

A) I LOVE perfume so much it is a bit freakish. Some people lust after chocolate,clothes, holidays,handbags, shoes. But for me, it has always been about perfume.

B) I LOVE Vivienne Westwood, I love her designs, I love her other perfumes, I love her style, I love her adverts, I love how the British style is reflected in her designs. Hell, I love her crazy red hair and freakish outfits.

C) As you may have noticed from the title of my blog, I LOVE 'Alice In wonderland' and anything related to it. I have considered having an 'Alice in Wonderland' tattoo but maybe it would be tacky? Im not sure on that one. I just love Lewis Carroll's story, its so different to anything I have ever read. I especially love the illustrations. My favourite director, Tim Burton, also provided me with a 'has he made this for me?' moment when he released his version of 'Alice In Wonderland'. Johnny Deppy playing the mad hatter was pure porn for me.

The Vivienne Westwood site describes it as : 'At the very heart of Naughty Alice's perfume is a luminous floriental which dazzles the senses. The modern powdery elegance of Black rose and carnal violet is subliminated by the warm sensuality of the ylang-ylang. Naughty Alice is available in three sizes (30ml, 50ml, 75ml).'

Christmas collections - Too Faced and No7.

Too faced cosmetics have always been a favourite of mine, you actually get what you pay for, unlike other cosmetic company's who shall rename nameless, but charge triple for a very low quality product's. I wont name and shame them, except to say that some of their products are often copied by other companies, for example a rose tinted cheek and lip stain which has been reproduced by other companies who probably did a better job at the product and dont overcharge. Anyway, moving on before I get too heated about the subject!

Its that special time of year when cosmetic companies release their Christmas collection waaaay too early, and it makes me waaay too excited and therefore willing to splurge on all types of glitter coated eyeshadows which will be worn once on Christmas day when it is exceptable to look like a deranged fairy. And this is exactly what I wanted and recieved from Too faced's 'Enchanted Christmas' collection. The collection has some gorgeous fairy-themed palettes which I can only lust after (penny-less student). My favourite is the 'Pixie Perfect make-up collection', featuring a make-up bag with illustrations of fairy's on it. Inside you recieve : Lash Injection Black Masacara, Shadow Insurance, Fairy compact with two blushes in Sun Bunny&Papa dont Peach (gorgeous), Glamour Gloss in Plush, Pixie eyeshadow quad with : Velvet revolver, Enchanted Forest, Totally Toasted and Peach Fuzz.

As for No 7 , they never fail to delight me with something sparkly over the Christmas period. They have released their limited edition 'Tis the season to be twinkly', yes indeed!! Their collection features 'Mirrorball Highlighter compact' - (a sparkly pink and white powder), 'Mirror ball palette' -(featuring 4 sparkly eyeshadows), Mirror ball lipstick, MirrorBall eyeshadow pencils, Christmas Glitter mascara (luuuuust), Christmas collection eyeshadow palette in CandyCane.

Are you feeling more scrooge or more sparkly??!

MAC- just a pretty face?

I'll be the first to admit, I love make-up, especially MAC make-up with its vast array of colours, textures, compositions and many collections. It gives me that little buzz. So when I heard that beauty you-tubers and bloggers who previously adored MAC were boycotting the company I was shocked and extremely curious. What on earth had MAC done to cause such demonstration of resentment after previously being so adored? After doing much research in to the matter, I had my answer and it wasn't pretty (excuse the pun).

MAC released a collaborative collection with clothing company 'Rodarte' . The make-up collection in conjunction with the clothing was supposed to capture the "ethereal nature of the landscape" in vast areas of Texas. As many people are aware, Mexico is well known for having 'Maquiladoras' , more commonly known as sweat shops, which are factories providing cheap export goods to many parts of the world. A typical daily shift in a sweat shop is from 4AM to midnight, with the workers taking home $4.50 at the end of the week (which is actually higher than the average wage in Mexico). However, because the workers are earning more they are having to pay higher rent. This disables the workers from having any basic household amenities such as running water and electricity. Two thirds of the sweat shop jobs are taken up by women, this is because women are considered to have nimbler fingers and are apparently more obedient than males and therefore more reliable workers.

The women are made to prove that they are not pregnant each month either by tests, or appalingly, by showing a used tampon or pad. If they are pregnant then they will lose their jobs, but this isn't even the main problem. The city of Juarez, near the US-Mexico border has become a site of female destruction and murder. 400 unsolved murders and even more abductions lie at the realm of this hell site. A huge number of these victims hail from the 'Maquiladoras', and instead of protecting these women using the huge amount of wealth they have accumulated the factory owners are leaving them defenseless in the face of violence and murder.

But what on earth could my favourite cosmetics company have to do with this brutality and murder? In an act of extremely poor taste, MAC released the Rodarte collection of make-up containing an eyeshadow called 'Sleep walker' after the large groups of women making their way to the sweat shops in the early hours of the morning. This caused huge scrutiny because of the red veins running through the eyeshadow. Many were under the impression that this red veining represented blood. Not only this, but the collection contained a nail polish called 'Factory' because of the large amount of 'Maquiladoras' in the area.

MAC 'Sleepwalker' eyeshadow.

If this information doesn't put customers off MAC as a company, I dont know what would. MAC released a statement on the issue,

'We understand that product names in the M·A·C Rodarte collection have offended some of our consumers and fans. This was never our intent and we are very sorry. We are listening carefully to the comments posted and are grateful to those of you who have brought your concerns to the forefront of our attention. M·A·C will give a portion of the proceeds from the M·A·C Rodarte collection to help those in need in Juarez. We are diligently investigating the best way to do this. Please be assured that we will keep you posted on the details regarding our efforts."

Rodarte also issued a statement,

"Our makeup collaboration with M·A·C developed from inspirations on a road trip that we took in Texas last year, from El Paso to Marfa. The ethereal nature of this landscape influenced the creative development and desert palette of the collection. We are truly saddened about injustice in Juarez and it is a very important issue to us. The M·A·C collaboration was intended as a celebration of the beauty of the landscape and people in the areas that we traveled."

Since then, MAC have cancelled the release of the collection and have donated proceeds to the countless problems in Juarez. Needless to say I can not help but be put off by MAC cosmetics as I'm sure many other women world wide are. To associate themselves with such hideous crime is to cut themselves off from countless customers. There may be some truth in Rodarte's comment that the collection was entirely based on the beauty of the landscape, but to release a product called 'Sleepwalker' ensures that they must have a least been aware of the sweat shops. As for MAC, it seems that they are JUST a pretty face.

Charlotte Tilbury - The best of the best :D

As a makeup junkie, I like to know who's the best of the best at their job as a make-up artist. Who is in high demand and creating the best looks at shows? The answer : Charlotte Tilbury, who is my all time favourite make-up artist. She is renowned world wide for her ability to paint the 'Perfect' face on models at shows and wont stop until she has achieved this perfection before sending them out on to the catwalk. She is also a genius at using colours to create a beautifully made up face, each year she works with designers at shows to come up with a colour palette. The make-up used at each show is extremely important to the overall impression of the fashion collection. Charlotte is in high demand when fashion week comes around, often working up to 17 hour days and jet setting at least twice a week.

Says Tilbury; “It’s high pressure because you have to achieve a look sometimes within minutes. But it’s one of the exciting things too. It’s never boring, that’s one thing about fashion.” Too right. Tilbury has her own make-up line at Boots called 'Myface Cosmetics'. The idea of this collection is that the guessing game of 'which foundation colour is right for me?' is solved by the collection having a 'fair, medium, dark' category. In each category there are three shades to choose from, making choosing a LOT easier. The range also has the right blush, concealer and powder for your skin tone. The only product not categorised are the eye shadows which, as Tilbury claims, are the products that will suit everyone no matter what eye colour. As long as the foundation, blush and concealer colours are right, you can run with whatever eyeshadow colour you want! I love the range, especially the 'Bling Tone' eye shadows which, true to their name, are very 'bling'.

Tilbury has recently covered many spring/summer 2011 fashion shows, including the New York fashion week doing the Donna Karan line. The inspiration for the look was 1930's photographs entailing bronze and gold on the eyes and very matte skin.

Some more of my favourite looks created by Charlotte :

Fashion week spring/summer beauty looks - Tres Jolie!

Paris fashion week for spring/summer 2011 had a lot to offer in terms of beauty. The bleached eyebrows at seen at Giambattista Valli and YSL offer's a fresh, modern, structured look that was feminised at YSL by adding a glossy deep burgundy lip. Perhaps model Lara stone with her bleach blonde eyebrows was an inspiration? One of my personal favourite make-up artists Pat McGrath was going for a 'fresh and strong look", which she achieved with the lightened eyebrows and no mascara. I think it works exceptionally well with the bold lip. However I'm not sure I'll be digging out the bleach anytime soon, best left to the catwalk...

Also at Paris fashion week, dark lips featured at Emanuel Ungaro, this time paired with a bold eye as well. Hairstylist Guido Palau went for a heidi-inspired braided headband look to accompany the bold make-up, it gives an innocent yet mischevious and playful look, "There is something very innocent about this style, but once the girls have their makeup done with dark lips, she turns into this very sexy, decadent, Helmut Newton woman." says Palau. YSL went for a similar look but this time the hair was invertedly rolled around the head. "The designer wanted a very structured look, so we went with a style that is very close to the head," says Palau. "And the shine adds a bit of drama."

At Milan fashion week Charlotte Tilbury (my absolute fave) worked on the models at Etro and produced an amazing purple-lavender look, smoking out the eye and producing “smoked lavender purple that’s universally flattering”.

More fashion week beauty looks to come!

Have our lives become black and easy to wear?

One of my newest and perhaps strangest new hobbies is to sit on the tube at the end of the working day and look at all the surrounding travellers whilst making up stories about them in my head. Who are they? What is their job? Why do they look so down beaten and miserable? Usually by this time of day I am drunk with tiredness, and generally so is everyone around me. This makes it easier to stare at someone as usually they are asleep, staring at the floor contemplating their Asda value microwave meal they will later consume and probably regret , or they'll be pretending to read a fascinating article on M&S's new range of eco-friendly underwear. Today whilst participating in my new hobby, I was struck by an appalling thought brought on by the excessive amount of people wearing black clothes...Have our lives become black and easy to wear? Are we going about our banal daily work lives and throwing on the first black, clean-ish garment that our floor-drobe has delivered? It’s a depressing thought and somewhat reminds me of Nuns putting on their habit's everyday and going about their daily gardening and praying.


However, it seems incredibly old school to suggest that wearing a pop of pink or a racy red might improve our lives, but perhaps it could lighten up a somewhat cynical Britain? There could be a section on it on News night, 'The government suggests that we should all start wearing colour and then everybody will be happier, obesity levels will drop, it will rain money and we can all dance in it wearing rainbow clothes declaring "Huzzah! The recession is over!"'. But really, why do we all wear so much black, grey and navy blue? Are we all reaching for the easiest choice in order to make way in our minds for the harder things in our lives? Perhaps we are all just feeling a bit fat after copying Nigella's peanut butter cheesecake? Or maybe it's the Twilight movies making us all feel a bit vampish and cool? Whatever the reason, I am certainly not one to step away from the black uniform. I have even had 'you're a Goth, aren’t you?' comments, invoking my inner cheerleader to squeal 'NO, black isn’t JUST for goths!’ No, it certainly isn’t if the rest of Great Britain is anything to go by.

It isn’t just our clothes that have become easy to wear. We now have easy meals in the form of take-away's, and supermarkets have provided us with the 'shove it in the microwave for 5 minutes and enjoy your authentic home-made Italian lasagne' easy meals, (lovely, IF you can ignore the taste of burnt plastic and occasional lump of frozen beef). Sadly, even our friendships have become one hop, skip and a click away from socialising. All we need to do is log on to facebook, twitter or any social networking site and find comfort in each other's status's, e.g.: Martha : 'crappy day at work, spilt tipex down my black dress' , by clicking the 'like' button we can acknowledge said persons disappointment in their day, thus equalling what used to be deemed as a 'conversation'. Information is at our fingertips, we no longer need to go on a quest to the library to find out why third nipples exist. What can be done about this laziness, this lack of motivation within our lives? Hold on, I'll Google it!

Korres - Natural make-up.

Korres naural products – release your inner natural goddess!


Let’s get one thing straight before I start; I am definitely not a ‘minimalist’ girl when it comes to make-up. In fact, sadly, it’s quite the opposite. I’ve tried to do a Jen Aniston approach and do barely there bronzer, lip-gloss and mascara. Trust me, I tried. It just doesn’t work for me, sorry. It makes me feel naked, unkempt and unpolished. Yes, it’s sad that I feel this way without the slap but that’s the way I am. I’ve learned to accept my inability to be a bare faced goddess. My friends and family have also given up on the whole, ‘You should wear less, you don’t need it’ thing and have also over come and understand that make-up is my dear, dear friend, my daily crutch. However, in order to rectify this disability I intend to wear the most natural make-up ingredients as possible, to the point where I am using red currants to stain my lips and mud to define my eyes. Perhaps that would be slightly over stepping the natural mark, but I think you understand what I’m getting at.



You’ve heard it before, make-up is BAD for you. Perhaps they started telling you when you were 10 and took your first innocent interest in pale blue eye shadow. Outraged teachers and parents alike took it as a serious mis-conduct and told you that you are too young to wear make-up, ‘it’s bad for you’, they said, and ‘your natural beauty already shines through.’ (aka they were worried you were becoming a little tart and wanted you to look like a baby for as long as possible) but we all started wearing it eventually, and all came to know the evil list of ingredients on the back. The never ending list of chemicals that we hoped would go away if we ignored it. But let’s face it, there they are. Look on the back of any typical drugstore foundation and you’ll see it, ‘Paraffin, mineral oil, talk, oxide...’ I’ll be the first to admit, I’ve been shovelling this concoction of chemicals on my face daily for ten years (more if I’m honest), it can’t be good for me surely? As someone who watches what she eats, shouldn’t I also watch what I put on my face? I’m not saying make-up has to be so natural that its edible, I just want to look good with minimal chemical reaction. In fact, I’d like my make-up to actually benefit my skin, provide a decent amount of minerals and vitamins that aren’t pore blocking. Enter Korres, the famous Greek brand of cosmetics that focus on using natural ingredients found in your back garden....well, in Athens. This is about as close to Greek goddess status as you’re going to get. My personal fave is the bronzer which comes in two shades. The bronzer feels weightless on the skin, it is non-itchy and non-irritating on my acne-prone skin. Not only does it feel good, it looks fantastic too. It provides a glowing, golden, natural bronzed look that doesn’t scream ‘Hey everyone, I’m wearing bronzer, aren’t I tanned?!’. It simply looks healthy, natural, and without sounding too much like a QVC shopping channel, I highly advise you give it a whirl.


The mascara is another gift from Mother Nature of make-up. Enforced with whey proteins to nourish your lashes and help them grow, it also defines and lengthens lashes beautifully, with no clumps. I almost wish I could tell you that the chemical tripe we’ve been smearing on for years is of better quality despite the chemicals. Truthfully though, it really isn’t. In fact I’d say that Korres products produce a better finish faster, and doesn’t end up down my face by the end of the day.

Top 5 Perfumes

Hello wonderlanders!

So today I decided I'd tell you my top five perfumes of all time...but first I simply MUST have a perfume rant....

For a young person I actually have quite "adult" taste in perfumes...one could almost say that some of my perfumes are 'granny-ish' but I'd prefer to call them 'Classics' because as we all secretly know, the classics never fail. I have been lured in countless times by the pungent fruity concoctions created speedily by money grabbing manufacturers and I have learnt my lesson the hard, expensive way. After one week, these perfumes sit collecting dust on my shelf. These are the perfumes we smell everywhere, on everyone and quite frankly they are BORING me to death...I'm talking about you Michael Kors, 'Hollywood', and you Marc Jacobs, 'Lola'. And I'm GLARING at you especially Britney Spears 'Fantasy'. If I have to smell any of you one more time I'm going to stop entering Boots altogether... (but as we all know that is never going to happen so I must live to endure your rank fruit-sweety-tennybopper-odour for another month at least before you are off the scene and another mass produced perfume called something like 'Papparazzi whore' enters in.) UGH. Rant over, lets begin now shall we?

Perfume number one of ALL time:

Coco Chanel eau de toilette : Oh how do I love thee? Let me count the ways...I first discovered this beauty when I was in 6th form when I would go to Debenhams JUST to spray it everywhere on myself, then walk around feeling delightfully mature and sophisticated. If Coco Chanel was a woman she'd wear classic Chanel suits, her hair perfectly coiffed in a neat chigon, her make-up perfection in neutrals. In other words very much like Coco Chanel herself! The notes involve : Mandarin, Coriander, Peach, Orange Blossom, Mimosa, Clove, Rose, Sandal, Vanilla, Civet, and Amber . I can't describe to you how this can make you feel, you must try it yourself. Remember its the Eau de toilette, the parfum version is really quite different and a little too strong for my taste. Some of you will feel this is far too mature, and I see your point, but for me this is the cream of the crop. Other perfumes may come and go on my dressing table, but Coco, you're a keeper.

Perfume number two : Hilary Duff, With Love

'WHAT?!', I hear you scream, 'BUT YOU JUST RANTED FOR ABOUT HALF AN HOUR ABOUT CELEBRITY SCENTS CREATED TO EAT OUR MONEY!!' Yes I did, and as I said I have been lured in by them myself, I actually OWN Britney Spears 'Fantasy', I'm so ashamed of it that I hide it in a drawer. It makes me sick to smell it. But 'With Love' is really quite different to all the celeb scents you smell over and over again. With Love is woody, deep, almost masculine. It could definately be considered a unisex perfume. The notes are : mangosteen fruit, spices, mangosteen flower, cocobolo wood, amber milk, and amber. It's beautiful to wear in the day time, it makes me feel alive and energised, but at the same time a bit mysterious...try it out, don't give up on it after a few minutes, I bet you'll love it. (HA with love!) I hate the name of this perfume, it makes it sound like a typical celeb scent....the bottle is gorgeous though and looks really vintage on my dressing table!

Perfume number three: L'Occitane Vanilla Eau de Toilette

My lovely sister got this for me for Christmas because I have a love affair with the store L'Occitane. How charming and quaint that all their products are from provence! It makes me went to sit in a french cafe, Gallois held daintly in one hand, red wine in the other, smelling sweetly of L'Occitane products! But Vanilla?! How boring you cry! Oh no, this is no ordinary Vanilla, it has notes of caramel swirled in and causes a sort of chocolatey rich 'I want to eat you' olfactory...this perfume has garnered me more compliments than any other. J'aime vouz Vanilla!

Perfume number four : Tommy Hilfiger, Tommy Girl

Yes, I know...how immature of me, what a strange scent to choose after something like Coco Chanel at the top of the list! Many of you probably wore this in high school, as did I. It has an invisible label attached to it that says 'I am for young girls, I smell very sweet and young and fresh, like an American cheerleader'. But throw away your judgement dear wonderlanders, the scent is based on the classic Tea Rose scent, and if you do away with the American cheerleader image, you are left with a beautiful, classic scent that makes me feel vibrant, sparkling even. For one day I urge you to throw away your judgement and try Tommy Girl without the advertisement in your mind. You might be surprised....In the book, 'Perfumes, the A-Z guide' Luca Turin gives Tommy Girl an outstanding 5 stars, and I quite agree with her.

Perfume number Five : Chanel Chance

Sadly I can not wear this perfume because my mother has worn it for many years, so to me, this perfume says, 'Mum' but how I wish I could wear it. It really is a very invigorating fragrance that becomes quite bewitching after a while of wearing it. For some strange reason I can imagine wearing this at the seaside dressed in classic nauticals and running along the sand, very much as if I was in my own perfume advert. Infact I think Chanel chance did have a seaside advert on TV once apon a time...either that or my imagination is running away with me! In many ways this perfume is similar to Tommy girl, it's very playful and could definately be worn casually and in the evening.

Product Review - Number One!

Welcome to Alice's make-up wonderland reviews!

For my first review

I just wanted to share with you some of absolute essentials that I use

day in and day out. I have tried one hell of a lot of products, so I reckon

I've pretty much nailed the best products for me (my 'hg' items), at an

affordable price. I know loads of people can afford Chanel foundations

but sadly I am not one of them and have to find sliiightly less pricey

items in my local 'Boots' or 'Superdrug', which loads of Brits will have

heard of I'm sure :D

I'm going to start with a foundation that I know a lot of people are fond of

and have blogged about in the past.... it is the one and only :

Revlon Colourstay Foundation....oh YES!

Being very pale, yet warm skinned I wear this in 'Buff', and it seems to be the perfect match for my skin. It is yellow toned but not TOO yellow toned. Having read the reviews on make-up alley it seems there are tons of people who agree with me, this stuff WORKS! It provides a really natural look, but can be built up for more coverage. It conceals flaws beautifully and does last all day :D

With my oily skin I wear the combination/oily variety, but for you lucky girls with normal skin Revlon have created a seperate option for your skin needs too! Yup, this gets a thumbs up from Alice! I have been wearing it for 4 years and not ONE foundation has beaten it! Yes MAC studio fix does provide me with a gorgeous complexion but it is far too thick, almost like stage make-up. It provided me not only with beautiful, even skin, but a face full of back heads, spots and oil. Thus I had to wear MORE of it to cover the spots, which created even MORE spots! This combined with the huge cost of the foundation created a lose lose situation and it had to be ditched! I practically sprinted back to my lovely Revlon which is half the price of MAC and about twice as good! Lets hear it for Revlon colourstay, you're the Rabbit to my wonderland, aka ESSENTIAL!!