Zuland

Zuneta Relaunch and blog is moving!

2009-11-30T12:52:00.000-08:00

It has been a pretty crazy couple of weeks so sorry for not posting much. We have been trying to get our new website up and running and its nearly a month late to launch. Apparently that's normal in the land of technology but it's been driving me crazy!
Anyway, the good news is that our brand new site is live and it has coincided beautifully with Zuneta's first birthday!!
So much has happened in the last year, and thank you for your support in helping me grow Zuneta - all your support is greatly appreciated!
Our new site has an exciting new magazine section so aswell as the usual articles from our guest writers, I'll be using it as my blog as well. You can still leave comments and participate as much as you want. And if anyone fancies a guest writing slot, don't hesitate to ask.

Come and visit us at the new Zuneta.

The Winners have been announced!

2009-11-18T09:02:00.000-08:00

The below girls are the lucky ladies that were the final choice based on the public votes and the judges votes.

We are getting a lot of questions about the voting and the selection process, so I just wanted to lay out the process that was followed. We have also been filming the entire process so we will upload the final documentary on the Zuneta Youtube page and also on http://www.zuneta.com/ before Christmas hopefully. This will include interviews with all the winners and all the people involved so you can see the whole process and maybe improve your chances for next year!

The girls with the most verified votes in each category made it into the top 10's. Only verified votes were counted as this was the only way we could maintain a fair competition with a 'real' public vote.

The top 10's were then discussed with FM Agency, who were looking for girls that they felt they could potentially develop a successful modelling career for. Together we shortlisted the girls that we contacted. Some of the girls that have not been selected as the winners for this competition will still be contacted by FM. We had to choose 7 winners that looked good together and that we felt were good ambassadors for their phenotype.

It was a VERY tough decision.

We apologise to those that were not contacted in the top 10's, but due to the timings and sheer volumes we approached those that we felt had the most potential (or the highest votes) first.

I hope you'll agree that the girls that were chosen are all stunning in their own way and all of us here at the Zuneta office were completely overwhelmed by the number of entrants and also the quality of entrants! Next year we will make it into a bigger event as the concept has proven to be so popular.

Thank you again to all those that entered!

Model Search 2010 Finalists

2009-11-08T14:57:00.000-08:00

2,500 entrants and 200K votes later, we were ready to go through the top 10's of our Model Search (in conjunction with ELLE, FM Agency and Rouge Bunny Rouge) with FM!

As laid out on the Model Search site, we can only take votes from verified email addresses into consideration to make it fair. Those people that set up scripts to generate email addresses to try to beat the system didn't achieve anything other than causing us issues with our server (due to the bounces such efforts generated) so those contestants had to be disqualified, as we had specifically warned on the Model Search site. However, there were a huge amount of genuine votes and of course, we understand that not every genuine voter would have verified their email address so we only disqualified people who had literally thousands of unverified votes.

Thank you to the huge amount of contestants that took the competition seriously and followed the rules! Hopefully some of you will see yourselves below!

So, these are the official top 10's that were presented to us and FM agency and these are the girls we will be plucking our 7 winners from!

We'll announce the winners on the 18th of November, so GOOD LUCK!!!!!

Group A Top 10

Group B Top 10

Group C Top 10Group D Top 10

Group E Top 10

Group F Top 10

Group G Top 10

We'll be choosing 7 girls that compliment each other, have the potential to have a career as a model, have a modern/edgy look that represents Zuneta aswell as their Phenotype group and that are friendly and forthcoming when we contact them as that is more important than you might think when it comes to success as a brand rep!
Stay tuned for more updates soon....

The Ultimate Lipgloss

2009-11-03T12:36:00.000-08:00

This evening I have decided to do a new kind of post for this blog. I want to showcase the product that has become my new obsession, the Hourglass Extreme Sheen Lipgloss.

I have been *blessed* with enormous lips. Very pouty. While most people are jealous of this, it has taken me years to work out how best to *dress* them. I am a big fan of lip butters and coloured balms which give me a light hint of colour, but nothing too overpowering. Occasionally I go through a lipstick phase and get brave with my shades (although I still can't carry off a good, iconic, pillarbox red- its just not my shade). I have definitely been going through a lipstick phase recently, encouraged by the blackcurrant shades that I keep raving about.

But now I have a new obsession. Lipgloss.

The reasons I haven't normally gone for lipglosses are:

- A lot of them taste gross

- My hair manages to stick to my lips as soon as I step outside and the feeling of glamour therefore disappears immediately

- Most lipglosses seem to last for about 5 mins on the lips which annoys me

However, I have finally found a super shiny, super tasty lipgloss that has, quite frankly, revolutionised my attitude to this particular make-up essential!

Instead of raving about it too much, i will just dispaly the stunning shade range below. Yes I have them all, yes that's how obsessed i've become. Look how used up some of them are already!

That's flash and no flash so you can see the shades in the way you prefer. I also decided to do some swatches whilst I was at it. More so that I could choose which shade I will be rocking with my new gold metallic vest this weekend, but also so you can see how wearable they all are and how easy it would be to become obssessed. And look how shiny it is!!!!

The shades from left to right are:

Primal, Nectar (amazing), Origami (amazing), Reflect, Imagine (amazing), Ignite, Verse, Lush (amazing but sold out), and Truth (great if you don't want too much sparkle).

Today I was at a meeting with ELLE discussing the Model Search and someone actually asked me what lipstick i was wearing. It wasn't lipstick, it was this gloss! In Nectar. Sure, the shine had subsided a little ( this was over lunch so I had eaten....) but the colour was just as you would expect from a lipstick.

I'm pretty darn impressed, I must say. For all you gloss fans out there- you need one of these!

Zuneta on ELLE blog and retro style Hulger phones!

2009-10-30T03:19:00.001-07:00

Check us out on the ELLE Beauty blo g today!

This is the last weekend of our Model Search, which has been a huge succes so far with over 2,500 entrants and 200,000 votes placed!

This weekends prize is courtesy of a fantastic little company called Hulger that make these cool old skool phones that you plug into your mobile or your computer (makes Skype calls a hell of a lot more interesting...).

If you are a regular at the Tate or like your design museums worldwide you might have come across Hulger before. Their newest invention is the Plumen Range- energy efficient light bulbs that actually look good as opposed to the large, ugly, awkward shapes we have forced on us from the less inspirational manufacturers. I'm sure we'll be seeing these pop up all over the shop in the near future....

Enter now to win your Lady Penelope style Skype phone....I wish I was eligible to win!

Make Me White

2009-10-27T16:02:00.000-07:00

I'm watching a fascinating programme on BBC1 called 'Make Me White'. It is about the Asian community and how much pressure there is within it for young women to appear light skinned.

The market for whitening creams is huge in Asia, something I had a lot of exposure to in my old life at L'Oreal. I have to say, I don't have a huge issue with responsible companies having a presence in the whitening market as it ensures that there are 'safe' options available. However, I hope that the trend for whiter skin slows considerably with future generations as there is absolutely no substitute for natural beauty. As a fair skinned, blonde haired, blue eyed gal I often look at images of stunning women such as Aishwarya Rai and I sometimes wish I had features and a skin tone as stunning as hers.

It is normal to desire what you don't have. Curly haired women lust after straight locks and vice versa. Caucasian people flock in their millions to the beach every summer longing after tanned (darker) and therefore beautiful skin.

It definitely works both ways.
If I just take our Model Search as an example, a lot of girls that have entered themselves in Group E, designed for women of Latin origin with medium to tan skin tone, are actually very pale. But if you take into consideration all the fake tan......they suddenly appear darker.

Why are we all so hell bent on damaging our skin to look different?

I'd be interested to know whether more caucasian women use fake tan over asian women using skin whitening products?
At the end of the day, beauty products are there for us to help us feel confident and good about ourselves. Who are we to judge what is right or what is wrong? As a retailer, I am happy to offer people the products they want. But when it comes to giving advice, I'd always encourage people to make the best out of their natural features as no doubt they are the envy of somebody else!

RBR Luminous Skin Wand- Instyle Beauty Buy Winner 2009

2009-10-26T07:49:00.001-07:00

Well, today I have some exciting news!!!
The Rouge Bunny Rouge Concealer (Luminous Skin Wand) has has been voted one of Instyle's Best Beauty Buys. Of course, I wholeheartedly agree as I am a BIG fan of Rouge Bunny Rouge.

I am particularly excited to see this as most magazine based Beauty Awards only honour the big brands (read- big advertising spends). So it's very refreshing to see a little unknown like Rouge Bunny Rouge sneak in and take a prize!

The Rouge Bunny Rouge concealer is very unique though so it definitely deserves recognition. It is an eye cream and concealer in one so actively works to reduce fine lines, bags and dark circles as well as just covering them up. It contains an ingredient called Haloxyl™ which is what works hard to reduce dark circles. Meanwhile Fermiskin, made from Shitake Mushroom Extract, reduces puffiness and firms up the under eye area.

I am a bif fan of multi-tasking concealers that have performance related properties to them as well as just being good cover-ups. Granted, this may not be the product that properly covers those nightmare-ish bemishes, but it's worth investing in to care for the eye area.

Super Natural Beauty

2009-10-23T06:45:00.000-07:00

A brand that I really like but that still seems to be fairly unknown in the UK is John Masters Organics. They sprang to mind today as they ahve a nice little piece in National Geographic which I quite like as that is not usually the first place I'd look to find beauty reviews!

I have to say, I generally find it hard to get inspired by Organic brands. I feel like a lot of brands have taken the obvious route when it comes to their overall concept and I also struggle with a lot of organic formulas. They just AREN'T as good as normal products in general.

Having said that, I do like John Masters Organics as the products do exactly what it says on the tin, its simple and subtle and I think the packaging is understated and sophisticated. I like the brown bottles and clear labels. Something very 'apothecary-esque' about them.

The other brand that recently caught my eye is Absolution which recently launched on Being Content. Its a brand I think I'd like to find out a little more about.....

Silly Sausage

2009-10-21T16:24:00.000-07:00

We have a new member in the Zuneta office and his name is Oscar!
He's just with us for the week but already he's proving himself useful in the warehouse, running around with a little cart attached to him picking orders.
Well, not quite- he mostly sleeps all day but he's keeping us all entertained which is welcome as we like to enjoy ourselves at work!

Zuneta Model Search: Only 2 weeks left!

2009-10-19T03:10:00.000-07:00

Last week was SO busy, I didn't even have time to post. There are a lot of changes coming up in the next few months so we are pretty busy here at Zuneta HQ.

We are a year old next month and to celebrate, we are going to be relaunching the site with lots of exciting new features that should make the whole Zuneta experience even easier and more fun. The new site will be a lot more interactive, so you'll be encouraged to add your product reviews and comments on our magazine content etc.

We also have our shoot with the winners of our Model Search coming up.

But first, we have to choose our winners! Last week I spent some time at FM Agency, going through all the entrants and seeing who is the most popular with the public and who we think could have a good career as a model. We've had some fantastic entries and I think there are a few girls that could have a great career ahead of them.

As we only have 12 days to go, I thought I'd share some of my favourite entries for each category so far.

Group A: The Redheads

I am looking for a girl that really encompasses the beauty of a natural redhead. Someone with pale skin, freckles and a beautiful tone to her hair. Here are a few of the girls that have caught my eye:

Group B: The Blondes

Blonde girls can be very difficult to cast, believe it or not! I always look for girls that have a beautiful, symmetric face and a quirky look about them. These are some of the girls that I thought were quite interesting:

Group C: The Fair to Medium Brunettes

Group C and E are the most popular categories, and we have had some great entris into both. Group C is my more delicate, English Rose type look:

Group D- Fair to Medium Asian

We need more entries in this group please ladies!!!

Group E: Medium to Tan Brunette

This category probably houses the toughest competition. Some fantastic entries!

Group F: Medium to Tan Asian

I am quite excited about a few of the girls in this category. We haven't had huge amounts of entries for this category though, which is a shame as this is where you can discover some truly stunning girls with long, beautiful lashes to die for!

Group G: Tan to Dark

Some seriously trendy young ladies in this category!

Make sure you vote for the girl you want to see representing you as there are only 12 days to go!

Hourglass on WSGN

2009-10-07T10:13:00.000-07:00

Hourglass is beginning to feature in the UK press. Check out this article on WSGN:

Until recently stocked only in the US, Hourglass Cosmetics, created by renowned beauty expert Carisa Janes, is a luxurious line of contemporary make-up products loaded with skincare benefits.
The brand, launched in 2004 features the "latest cosmetic technology and cutting-edge ingredients" and has been developed without the use of parabens and fragrances, which are usually found in colour cosmetics.
After noticing a gap in the luxury cosmetics market, Janes was inspired to create a collection of "modern luxury" make-up products. "My objective was to design and create a capsule range of make-up solutions that would become staples in a woman's cosmetics bag, so the products are highly considered,"Janes told WGSN. "For me the main emphasis is and has always been on science over, say, colourtrends, and the ability to launch exceptional products to the market."
The product range includes foundations, powders, concealers, eyeliners, mascaras, lipglosses, lipsticks, bronzers, eyeshadows and a full set of brushes is also on offer.
An impressive feature that makes Hourglass stand out from the crowd is the stylish and functional packaging design. The bronzers and duo eyeshadows are housed in sleek compacts, which incorporate a revolving mirror that can be swivelled around in a 360 degree circle - adding a practical touch to the design feature.
We love Solar Tan (£44), a unique and innovative self-tanning foundation primer that claims to "create a luminous, bronze glow" on the skin. With a colourless lightweight texture, it
acts as a perfect base for foundation, but can also be applied onto the face at night as a self-tanner.

Hourglass also has a celebrity following. Actress Mila Jovovich is a huge fan of the Hourglass Tinted Moisturiser. Angelina Jolie is a fan of the Veil Fluid Makeup, a liquid foundation with age-defying benefits of matrixyl, skin tightener ST and vitamin A and E. "Our Veil foundation is a total must-have," Janes explains. "This product is quite revolutionary as it bridges the gap between skincare and colour with the addition of the skin firming ingredient matrixyl, and was designed primarily as a result of me battling for several years to find the right foundation that would provide an even yet natural coverage for my blemish-prone skin and that would ultimately prevent me from breaking out."
In conjunction with the launch, Hourglass has also created video demonstration clips on the Zuneta website, showing consumers how to apply the cosmetics.
"The video demonstrations form an integral part of the overall Zuneta retail experience. They help to bring a brand to life, through application and technique advice and ultimately offer the consumer a more experiential quality when browsing online," says PR director Nadine Attar. "Just as you might be assisted at a cosmetics counter at a department store per say, the video demonstrations on Zuneta are able to help bridge the gap between brand and consumer. In particular with an emerging brand such as Hourglass, which has chosen to partner with an online retailer for its European debut, it is of vital importance to engage the consumer in this way as ultimately seeing is believing." At the press launch, we were given a sneak preview of the forthcoming blushers, which we predict will be a winner. The future looks bright for Hourglass and we can expect to see more innovative products in the future. Janes ends: "We have some exciting plans for 2010 and beyond."
Hourglass Cosmetics is available exclusively at www.zuneta.com. Prices start from £18.

Copyright WSGN 2009

Hourglass videos are live on Zuneta

2009-10-07T04:53:00.000-07:00

As you have probably already noticed, our Hourglass videos are now up on the site! You can watch MUA Michael Pierce take you through each product. He has some great tips and tricks up his sleeve, like this one below....this was a particularly exciting find for me! My mother won't leave her room unless her red lipstickis firmly in place and she has been searching for the perfect way to get long wear without drying out her lips for years! I think we may have just found it....

I hope you enjoy the vids! Watch them here or directly on the product pages.

Hourglass launches on Zuneta

2009-10-01T09:30:00.001-07:00

Its been a very busy week at Zuneta HQ! Not least because we were rushing to get Hourglass live and launched! But, I can now finally announce the official arrival of Hourglass in the UK....live on Zuneta.
We had our press launch last week, as you know, and Nadine (who does our PR) has been crazy busy ever since then. Seems there are a lot of people that have been waiting for this fab brand.
Just to give you a little bit of background- Hourglass was launched in 2004 by Carisa Janes. It went staright into Barney's (in NYC) and stayed exclusive there until 2007. In 2007 Hourglass launched in 19 Sephora stores and was their most successful brand launch of the year. Why? They have cracked the code when it comes to a flawless looking face. For all you Laura Mercier lovers- I think there may just be a new kid on the block! Hourglass is now in over 150 Sephoras and is seen as one of the most successful US launches. You'll know exactly why when you try some of the products.

The Primers, Tinted Moisturisers and Veil Foundation are the obvious winners. But for the mascara addicts amongst you- the Hourglass Superficial Lash is brilliant. I used to be the global strategist (product development if you like) on mascara for Maybelline so I've tried a fair few formulas in my time but this mascara is quickly becoming an Hourglass best seller.

Also of note are the eyeshadow duos and bronzers. If nothing else, the 360° swivel compact they are housed in are worth the money! Each compact has a large mirror that you can actually see yourself in. No blurry vision or opaque glass. But, I should be fair about the products too...the eyeshadows are creamy and blendable (although RBR eyeshadows are probably a little more creamy) and come in a great variety of shades. Everyone has been getting particularly excited about Prism, which is the smokey duo. The black shade in that duo has a little bit of (classy) glitter that adds a really nice touch to your endlook.

The cream bronzer compact (with highlighter) is one of my favourites as its very versatile and easy to use. The bronzer is a very natural shade so there is no danger of looking orange. As an LA based brand, you would certainly expect Hourglass to get bronzers right and they really do!

I could go on about this brand for hours, but I'll save some of my comments for future posts.

In the meantime, I'll sign off by saying the person that really put this brand on the map is Angelina Jolie. This is her brand of choice and the foundation and primer that she buys. She has turned her friends onto the brand as well and phonecalls starting in 'Hi, Angie told me about you and....' are very common in the Venice Beach HQ. Well, if its good enough for Ange......

New Rouge Bunny Rouge goodies!

2009-09-29T03:45:00.000-07:00

I have some new Rouge Bunny Rouge goodies to share with you. The new Matte Eyeshadows went live last night. They have already been popular & we only have one left of each! So be quick! The new delivery should be here on Fri or Mon. They are very pretty.....I am wearing blackpepper jay this morning, which is a smokey grey-brown. I am a huge fan of the smokey eye so I was particularly excited for this launch as there is a shade for me for every occasion. My eyes are very very pale blue, so with the right shade of eyeshadow they transform into brighter blue or even green.
The new eyeshadows are available in the following shades:
Grey Go-away Lourie Semi opaque smoky slate grey
Blackpepper Jay Semi opaque smoky black brown
Papyrus Canary Semi opaque palest creamy beige
Chestnut-napped Apalis Semi opaque chestnut puree with a hint of cocoa dust
I am also trying out the new Witchery Modelling Mascara today which is another new RBR launch. This mascara has a moulded brush and uses the popular tubing technology. Moulded brushes can give quite a natural, defined look (like Maybelline's Define-A-Lash) or quite a strong look- like this Rouge Bunny Rouge version. It all depends on the flexibility of the brush. The Rouge Bunny Rouge version is not flexible, so it deposits quite a lot of product on the lashes which is great for volumizing. I am wearing the brown shade today, called Golden Darkness. Still, I think moulded brushes are great for a daytime look and fibre brushes work better for a buildable impactful endlook. But, mascara brushes are very personal so you'll all know which ones you prefer!

Finally, Rouge Bunny Rouge have also come out with a Tinted Moisturiser- called Sketches on Water. I love the name!

The product is very nice, very light. It absorbs straight into the skin, leaving it looking healthy and refreshed. It has quite a high water content which gives it a lovely texture and is packed with botanicals and vitamins which protect the skin from external aggresors (so pollution to you and me!). Nice to even out the skin tone when you are looking to hide behind something but not ready for full on coverage! The only thing for me is I wish the product was in the beautiful glass bottles that Rouge Bunny Rouge do!

Just want to remind you all that there is only 2 days left to use your RBR code! You can get 20% off if you use the code RBRALIST at checkout. Happy Shopping!

Natural Beauty

2009-09-28T14:10:00.001-07:00

Another busy weekend of model entries! I really like the natural pictures that you guys are sending in. Makes it easy to see your potential. A blank canvas.....so that Rouge Bunny Rouge (our make-up sponsor) can work their magic!

London Fashion Week S/S10

2009-09-27T07:49:00.000-07:00

Its been a very busy week at Zuneta! Fashion Week mania plus a press launch for Hourglass. I can't wait to launch Hourglass on Thursday, I am really impressed with the brand and I think you're going to love it! We will do a sneak peak of the make-up trends coming our way for Spring/Summer 2010 but in the meantime I wanted to highlight a few looks seen at London Fashion Week. I think its important to support the looks concieved on British shores after all!

The big show was Burberry Prorsum of course. Make-up was neutral, complimenting the pastel fabrics and detailing. Fresh faced and ready for spring.
Louise Goldin took a similar approach with her look, with full focus on her collection.

I always love the glamour of Julien MacDonald's shows (I worked at a few back in the day) and I liked the slick backed look the girls were rocking this year. Julien seems to be a fan of the sleek shiny look. A look I like to recreate on holiday especially, by lathering on the Hei Poa!

The Luella collection was gorgeous and her focus was on the eyes. How cute is this outfit?

The look that was really following through from this autumn was the strong lip at House of Holland and Basso & Brooke. A coral red at the former and my favourite- the blackcurrant lip at the latter.

Weekenders

2009-09-22T06:06:00.000-07:00

We had a real mix of applicants this weekend! It was hard for me to come up with a theme, so instead I have taken a slection of some of the most different so you can see some of the different personalities.

Having said that, the theme could be black & white....and this is our second or third twiggy lookalike!

Enjoy....

Zuneta in the press

2009-09-19T12:52:00.000-07:00

This has been an exciting week for Zuneta! Not only are we featured in the gorgeous October issue of ELLE (loving the Lily Allen shoot) but we are also in the October edition of Tatler! Infact, Mariela calls us 'the best website for all those hard-to-find beauty brands'! A great achievement for us after a year of hard work. Hopefully we can keep impressing with the new brands we have lined up for launch in the next few months! The product that caught Tatler's eye was the Rouge Bunny Rouge Aqua Primer- a great choice! We have sold out twice over this month already so obviously you guys think so too....

We also made it into the Grazia Beauty Charts this week with another Rouge Bunny Rouge product- the Seas of Illumination Highlighting Liquid. This is our best seller in the UK so far! Like candlelight in a bottle according to many of you! Thanks Mizzworthy for that imaginative description!

Finally, we had our 1000th entry on our Model Search-lots of beautiful girls to choose from! Please help us with your votes!

Hourglass Video Shoot

2009-09-17T02:59:00.000-07:00

OK, you've heard me mention it before butthe Hourglass launch is imminent and I am getting very excited! We are working hard at getting the brand ready for upload and our stock should be arriving any day now. The press launch is next week and I'm really looking forward to it as it gives me great pleasure presenting brands that are truly impressive in terms of quality. No faddy brands here...only hard working products that are really going to make a difference.

We had the shoot on Sunday for the application videos. We did it at a venue called The Russian Club which is a gallery as well as a studio. It was perfect, our new favourite place to shoot. And they let us work late into the night on Sunday (no rest for the kids at Zuneta).

Michael Pierce, Hourglass' esteemed make-up artist, flew over for the shoot. He was a true pro and had us all watching avidly as he took us through some of the amazing little tricks you can do with the formulas. Be prepared to be completely hooked to the Solar Tan Primer and the Veil Fluid Foundation. I will post about these properly later, because they totally deserve it, but just to give you a snippet....the foundation contains Matrixyl which stimulates the production of collagen. Heard of it before? That's right, it can be found in brands such as Strivectin and is regarded as one of the best anti-ageing ingredients out there.

Can't wait to tell you more....

Pretty

2009-09-16T14:00:00.000-07:00

As I was looking through the model entries today (some great new girls recently- the decision is going to be tough- the agency have spotted a fair few potentials!) I was reminded of this gorgeous, classic YSL Paris perfume ad. I love the simplicity and femininity. Here are some of the girls I thought had a similar soft focus theme going on. With a modern twist and some great mae-up of course! Love them!

Time to get Cheeky

2009-09-15T05:32:00.001-07:00

One of the prettiest trends for A/W09 is the rosy cheek! Feminine and flattering, its amazing what a little blush does for your features. My top 3 blushes are:

theBalm Hot Mama- I LOVE the packaging, makes applying make-up fun! And the peachy shade with slight gold highlight is super flattering on all skin tones

BECCA Creme Blush in Turkish Rose- Lovely creamy formula that looks lovely and natural when you dab it on to the apples of your cheeks

Rouge Bunny Rouge Original Skin Blush (for the love of Roses)- A finely milled powder blush that blends super easily.

Looks like lots of you are adopting it already....here is a selection on some of the pretty rosy cheeks we collected from the Model Search over the weekend!

Win £200 worth of BECCA products!

2009-09-15T03:19:00.000-07:00

Today is BECCA day in the office! The reasons for this are two-fold.....firstly the lovely team at BECCA have generously donated a £200 goody bag packed with their best sellers to the lucky winner of today's Free Stuff Giveaway on our Model Search micro-site! Make sure you sign up today because that is a prize well worth winning! Secondly, we are in the process of loading all our new application videos on to our Youtube channel so you can see all the products in action and get some tips from their make-up artist on how best to use them. The videos will be going live on Zuneta over the weekend as well so lots of opportunity to decide which products you can't live without.
I'm definitely in a 'hang on to the last days of summer' mood today so I'm going to share the Beach Tint video with you here. Such a great little product. Multi-tasking, flattering and just makes me feel young and fresh which is always a bonus. Gorgeous!

BOO to Royal Mail!

2009-09-14T06:37:00.000-07:00

Another week, ANOTHER bout of postal strikes!!!!
Last week there was another postal strike affecting the London area. With 22 million packages already lying undelivered at the main London sorting office, you'd think they'd call it a day already! But no, there are going to be more strikes this week making it the 12th strike in London this summer.
The effect this has on small business and internet retailers is terrible. It is our reputations that are put on the line thanks to the selfish actions of the unions. Surely this will just lead to privatisation of Royal Mail which will potentially have a negative effect on the legions of staff anyway?
BOO to Royal Mail and BOO to the strikers. We just want our mail!
I received a letter on Saturday with a postmark from June! It was only coming from Barnet, a few miles up the road!
Just to let you all know, we are now going to be upgrading people to next day delivery with our courier, City Link, until we can trust Royal Mail to actually deliver your packages. My apologies to anyone that has been affected.

Grazia Michael Jackson Hommage

2009-09-12T02:47:00.000-07:00

By the way, if anyone is wondering what I am going to wear with my berry lips this autumn you can rest easy in the knowledge that the best fashion shoot i've seen this summer is still the Grazia Michael Jackson hommage. I've seen it done before, it hasn't always worked, but this one is GREAT. Billie Jean at full volume when you're getting dressed ladies!

Berry lips and A/W tips!

2009-09-11T07:12:00.000-07:00

This autumn I have fallen head over heels for the strong lip trend (Chloe, Hussein Chalayan etc) and I have 3 lipsticks that I am getting A LOT of use out of right now. First, one of my favourite lipsticks ever, which is L'Oreal Paris Glam Shine Cream. I loved this brand because its quite sheer, super glossy, nice taste/scent and gorgeous shades. I believe they've stopped selling it now, certainly in the UK, which is a huge shame as that was the brand that converted me back into lipstick. I have two shades that I still use, a gorgeous deep ink which I think must be my perfect shade, and a delicious icy blackcurrant. Its the latter shade that is getting a lot of use right now!

I also have the BECCA Sheer Lip Tint in Milla which is a warmer version of said blackcurrant shade, also quite sheer. The BECCA Sheer Lip Tints are DELICIOUS. They taste of toffee apples and re-applying throughout the evening is an absolute pleasure because of the delicious aroma. Check out our latest beauty trends article for some tips on how to use to make your lips look fuller/poutier.

Finally, I am addicted to Hourglass' Adorn lipstick in Eternal. Now that is the colour of the season. Without a doubt, that is the one! It is so good that I even wore it on a first date the other day. A big no no I know....don't wear overpowering make-up, scares the boy etc but in this case I just had to. I feel quite unstoppable wearing it! Hourglass is our new exclusive brand, launching early October on Zuneta. Can't wait to tell you more.....the products are amazing!!!

So, in honour of my love of the hot lip trends, take a look at some of these gorgeous girls from our Model Comp who aren't afraid of a little colour!