My winter essentials

Moisturisers

Vichy Aqualia Antiox Hydrating cream

You can read my review of this here . I use this as my daily moisturiser mixed with an anti redness cream.
As yup know my skin is super sensitive so you can imagine what the strong Irish cold winds do to it, team it with going from the cold weather to heated interiors, equals a very unhappy skin.

Here are the 2 anti redness products I use:

Roc Calmance Soothing Moisturiser

Read my review of this here .

Witch skincare Anti-blemish Redness Relief Moisturiser

Here you'll find my review.


Lip balm

My lips, just like my skin, are super super sensitive and need extra care in winter. My current lip balm obsession that has been going on since mid august is

Carmex moisture plus Clear

I am absolutely in LOVE with this!!!! love love love!!!! Go buy it people!!! It is a tad bit pricey but it's totally worth it!
My lips are very weird in the sense that most other lip balms I've tried before aren't hydrating enough or after a few weeks they just don't have the same effect on my lips anymore. But this is still making my lips super soft after so many months of usage. I've also tried the Peach version but I found it doesn't moisturise as much as the clear version, still VERY good but not as the good as the clear one.

Warmers

my faves being

ear muffs

and

a warm hat

I will show you the ones I'm loving right now in a post very soon.

Hot beverages



Gingerbread spicy biscuits
(preferably German)

Lights and scented candles
(this isn't actually just a wintery thing but it is especially appreciated during this season)

So these are my Winter faves, what do you think and what are yours?

Lil

Opaque transparencies - photo shoot

People have been asking me to see the photos from the "infamous: Florence photo shoot which was cancelled and rescheduled.
Just in case anyone missed how the shoot was born you can read all about it HERE .

I have to say the sense of camaraderie during the day was amazing, priceless and I have no doubt contributed to the pretty specacular result. We all pitched in with ideas, we all helped on set in as many ways as possible. Well done us for the final product, pat on the back and all that.

A big shout out to the wonderful make up artist Eleonora, here you'll find her website and her Facebook, she does Milan fashion week for crying out loud!
All credits to the talented photographer Anna, here is her website and here is her Facebook
So here are some of the photos.








And a couple more

Lil

You can dust it off and Try Again

Jeeeeeeesus look at the state of this place!!!!
*dusts some more*
Look at all those cob webs!!!

Yes, yes people, it IS me! Stop double checking and no need to stop the press, I'm sure they're sick of me already anyway...

So, how have you guys been doing? Anything new/exciting? Thanks crunches for Twitter or I would have lost touch with half of you, my lovelies!
If you're one of my followers on there you'll probably know a little bit about what follows, if you don't, here's a little explanation as to why I disappeared off the face of the planet.

I started this blog mainly for 2 reasons: 1) I LOVE writing(and reading) and one way or another I'm forever writing something, so a this was a new form of writing exercise and 2) for a few years I had people with my condition from all over the world ask me for beauty and fashion advice, and a couple of years ago some of them nagged me for a while to start my own blog, so that I wouldn't have to answer the same questions over and over.
Somewhere along the way, some time between this spring and summer, something started to interfere with the above enthusiasm. It seems no matter what field or situation, there are always some people that will try their best to mock you and bring you down.....and sometimes will be as spineless as to not even be up front about it.
A few bloggers(and people) started to enjoy taunting me(and my blog) because I didn't have all the millions(this might be a slight exaggeration) readers that they had or didn't get the huge amount of PR attention they receive.
Could it be because I don't feature high end products/clothes/accessories? Maybe...(mainly because I don't live with/off mummy and daddy and I'm unemployed, therefore can't afford them)
Could it be because most people wouldn't relate to/be interested in the blog of a person with a disability? Maybe...
Could it because I don't exploit/use friends/family who work in the industry mainly for the satisfaction of being "popular" in the blogging circuit? Maybe...(and also because I don't honestly know that many people other than a MAJOR Irish designing duo)
Could it be because if I don't like someone I don't pretend to get along with them just to appear nice and cool to other people? Maybe...
Could it be because aforementioned people talk behind my back and put people/other bloggers off reading my stuff? Maybe...
Do I care? Not particularly really...

A few friends of mine actually witnessed this kind of childish (mis)behaviour with their own eyes on a couple of occasions and they could not believe it was people in their 20s/30s regressing to kinder garden mode.
Their conduct didn't especially bother me, it was more the trying to avoid them and their sneaky comments to be honest.
In the last 3 months my personal life has taken a turn for the worse, every day living has become really hard and such a chore. Blogging used to be a little getaway, but all the unnecessary bitching just amounts to the crap(apologies for the French but it's the tamest word I could think of to describe what I'm going through).
I am not going to describe in details what's going on with me, it's too personal and it would give extra ammo to the sad little cliquey vultures. I'll just say I'm on stress/anxiety medication, sure that's enough for a few of your pathetic little jokes.

I don't know yet if I'm ready to go back to regular blogging (I don't really have much trialed products to write about) and I don't know if I'll change the style of my blog with a wider variety of posts either (I know there's a risk of it making me lose readers, but unlike MANY bloggers out there, this space is not the Viagra for my ego).

I feel I owed this post to a fair few of you who have been asking questions and sending e-mails...

For people who have been enquiring about the (in?)famous photo shoot in Florence that got cancelled, we managed to re-schedule it and according to the designer and the feedback we've got from the industry, it went REALLY well. If anyone is interested in seeing the photos let me know and I'll ask the photographer if I can publish them on here.

Thanks for taking the time to read,

Lil

I'm blue da ba dee, da ba da...

Do you remember that annoyingly annoying(yes, it WAS that annoying!) song from a few years back? No? Let me kindly remind you...



Yes I am aware of the fact you will "hate" me now as it will be stuck in your head for the rest of the day. I apologise for that and for the fact that the creators of such musical nuisance are fellow Italians...
So, blue is the theme for the day and this post.

I had a job interview this morning which was going swimmingly, until the human resources woman copped on to my eye sight. I was asked to wait outside while she and someone above her decided what excuse to make up not to directly mention my disability to turn me down.
Well, here's a little tip for ya if you work in that field: make sure the person you're about to bring down is out of ear shot, try to completely close the door for starters.
.....this is one of those occasions I hate how the rest of my senses make up for my eyes.

On the way back home my eyes fell on one of these:
NO ONE dare tell me how it ends, I haven't seen it yet!
I was always a Smurfs fanatic(you know me, anything of any shade of blue, I'm there), and I confess to still watching the odd episode I catch on TV when I go home. For some reason it seems us Europeans were more mad into the little Belgians things more than the Brits or Irish.
Back in the 80s and 90s ice cream parlours up and down the Italian boot were crammed with the Smurfs flavour, I survived on the stuff when I was a kid! And I tell you those little things are YUMMY!!! Anyway, I digress....

My head started to go off on one, as it often does, I believe mainly to try and distract me from what had just happened at the interview. And I had a Eureka! moment.
I remember the couture summer collections had plenty of blue splashes so I thought I'd feature some of my favorite in this post.
If you don't like colour (or blue) look away now

previously featured in my Bag Porn post, Juicy Couture

Emilio Pucci

Costume National

Mulberry

and my fave...

Moschino

*adopts tone of Discovery "How do they do it?" voice over* And that's how you smurf from a ridiculously depressing start of the week to some super expensive couture dreaming!

And remember, "don't smurf with the wroooong girl!"

Lil
xx

Best in beauty, Beaut.ie awards

Last Thursday I was invited along to the Beaut.ie "Best in beauty" awards reception at the Dylan Hotel here in town. For my international readers who don't know about Beaut.ie here's a little background info for ya'.
Since 2006 it is the number online beauty resource here in Ireland, and I know people outside the country that won't buy anything without treading their reviews. It is run by two sisters, beauty columnists and more general super media involved gals. You gotta love their writing style! If you're not a subscriber yet, what are you waiting for?! chop chop!! Trust yours truly, you shall not regret it !
For the past few weeks they have been running their yearly "Best in beauty"awards, receiving over 70,000 votes over the two nominating and voting stages. If you wish to see the whole list of winners, make your way over here.
Some winners didn't surprise me at all like MAC winning "best beauty brand" (and pretty much most of the single titles in the make up category as well) , Aussie and Batiste got most of the best hair section, Sally Hansen Airbrush Legs as "best tanning product". However I was positively impressed by some of the other winners being my own fave's like "best bronzer" Rimmel Sun Shimmer Maxi Bronzer, "best hair removal product" Gillette Venus Embrace, or "best body gadget" being none other than the super duper Penneys(Primark to UK peeps) exfoliating gloves.

Now back to the evening. Firstly I have to apologise for the major lack of photographic evidence, my camera decided to have a little hissy fit (or maybe it was too excited?!) and decided it wasn't gonna show me 90% of photos taken at the event and after.
This is one of the few that survived the mutiny

The reception was kindly sponsored by West Coast Cooler which provided plenty of bubbly and part of our goodie bags. Being the wine snob I am (hey, I'm Italian, I'm allowed!) my taste buds were introduced to a new bubbly experience! Thank you Beaut.ie and thank you to the guys at West Coast Cooler!
Here's my outfit of choice for the event:
I had a really good couple of FOTD shots but they also were part of the "can't display this image" bunch. My right eye was pretty much refusing to work properly on Thursday so maybe it's a good thing you don't get to see it, make up wasn't exactly impeccable...

Now to the aforementioned goodie bags, here's their content:

- Rimmel Vinyl Max gloss in Outrageous
- Sally Hansen complete salon manicure in Haute Chocolate
- No. 7 lash adapt mascara in black
- a Kiehl's handy travel bag with a few samples
- a money off voucher for a course of treatments at a local cosmetic clinic
- 2 different bottle of West Coast Cooler, currently coolly sitting in my fridge

There was also a pamphlet in the bag, which made me aware of the "Look good...Feel better" programme supported by The Irish Cancer Society, where "expert beauty advice will help patients gain the confidence they need to face the world and fight the disease".
When I was going through cancer myself I met a lot of women going through chemo or radio therapy and I know a lot of them would have loved the chance of taking part in little workshops like these. If you or anyone you know would like more info about the programme, you can visit their web site.
The gorgeous Karen Coster from Xpose was presenting the event and man is that woman even more stunning in the flesh!!!!
Did I mention the yummy finger food? No? Well I just did....finger licking yummy !!!

Here's to next year's reception

Lil xxx

Beauty TAG: would you rather...?

1.) Would you rather lose all of your mascaras, eyeliners, lipsticks, and lip glosses or lose all of your palettes and eye shadows?
Definitely lose all palettes and shadows, mascara, liner and gloss have priority for me (I actually DON'T wear eye shadow most days I wear make up)

2.) Would you rather chop off all your hair or never be able to cut it again?
now this is just silly, if I chop it off, it's gonna grow back :-p

3.) Would you rather have a coral cheek or a pink cheek?
I am not sure, I have to be careful with cheek colours with my skin tone, maybe a light dusting of pink is better

4.) If you had $1000 to spend, would you rather buy clothes or makeup?
The way my head works at the moment, neither! Apparently my brain has a temporary(I hope!) shopping block and won't let me buy anything other than groceries and strictly important items. I hate this whole unemployed and strapped for cash malarkey...

5.) Would you rather apply lipstick as eyeliner, or eyeliner as lipstick?
That would be very easy as I don't really use any lip liner, I don't like drawing attention to my mouth.

6.) Would you rather only shop at MAC or Sephora?
Big fat HAHAHAHAHAHA, for once we've no Sephora in Ireland, and MAC is way out of my league, so...

7.) Would you rather only use one eyeshadow color or one lip color for the rest of your life?
one lip colour

8.) Would you rather wear winter clothes in summer or summer clothes in winter?
Summer clothes in winter, I do it all the time, and you can always layer it up.

9.) Would you rather have dark nails or bright nails all year round?
I pretty much NEVER have dark nails, easy peasy question.

10.) Would you rather give up your favorite lip product or your favorite eye product?
lip balm or mascara? Yikes! NEITHER!!!!! they're my staples!!!!

11.) Would you rather only be able to wear your hair in a ponytail or a messy bun?
pony tail, I have too much hair for a bun, it takes me AGES and it makes me look older anyway.

12.) Would your rather never be able to paint your nails again or never use lip gloss?
never use lip gloss

13.) Would you rather shave your eyebrows and have none at all or sharpie them in everyday?
I pretty much have to draw them in every time I use make up, so...

14.) Would you rather live without makeup or nail polish?
nail polish

As usual I tag everyone, if you do it, leave me a comment with the link

Lil xx

One time, at band camp...

I thought long and hard about this one post, the post about my big modelling experience in Italy in June and... I came up to the conclusion that it would be WAY too long and people would get bored.
So, instead I'll do a little photo gallery with captions.

Plus as far as I'm concerned the trip dripped(see what I did there?!) with awakenings and realisations and little moments that would be too personal and difficult to explain, especially to an audience of "normally sighted" readers.

So, here goes and I hope you enjoy...


a relaxing Sunday by the pool; yes, the tan is ALL mine, not from a bottle or a bed! Later that day Florence saw the worst down pour in YEARS: about a foot of rain came down in less than half an hour. Town was a complete chaos and navigating our way back to our designer's place was quite the adventure!


After spending a good 12 hour solid helping Alycia(far right) put the final touches to the collection, we decided to let our hair down and try to relax the night before the big day.
From left to right here you see Andrea(1 of 3 Norwegian models), good ole Carla (Alycia's Aussie best friend) and Desiree from Gran Canaria.


Here you can see the source of MANY a worry: the shoes us girls walked the runway in. We practiced every spare moment we had but they were so ridiculously dangerous it got to the point where the director almost had us ditch them. And the best part? We were the only non professional models, we had the most hideous shoes, but unlike the pro's, NONE of us fell on the cat walk!! Pat on the back all round!
Alycia tells me these shoes came to her in a dream...too much cheese that night, eh?!

(spot me?!)

A group shot with our dressers, not long before one of the 2 shows. I love how I was put in charge of "communication" with the hair and make up department. Thankfully a couple of us had brought our own powders, foundations and concealers, just in case....we ended up pretty much doing our own make up as the professionals had nothing to match our skin tone.
I have NO idea the amount of bobby pins, hair spray and wax it took to keep my hair in place ALL DAY in that super tight bun. I had to spray my bangs in place every half an hour...

This is me (yes, really!) wearing and capturing the 3 piece you wouldn't be able to see on the cat walk. You can pick up one of the style inspirations for the collection: the 20's.


Here's one of the shots of the group mid show, I'm the one at the back with the "mop" on my head. See, the cape coat covers pretty much most of the underneath.
Now, imagine us coming out one at a time, pretty slowly compared to a normal cat walk show speed, a loud imposing music, like during THE scene in a movie, and then stopping in this formation for a few seconds....apparently we made a BIG impact and the whole thing was pretty moving, we heard reports of several members of the public actually being moved to the point of crying!


A couple of shots where you can see me better...


Guests of honour at the after show party. Aly's collection (amongst more than 60 of them) won one of 4 prices being given that day as "Most creative collection", which has given her an enormous amount of publicity. We're talking pretty much one of the top fashion schools in the whole world here...

The show was obviously covered by everyone of who's who in the fashion sphere in Italy and we ended up on a few web sites, the 2 most important ones being Style.it and fricking Vogue Italy, people...VOGUE ITALY!!!!

Aly's main inspiration(and aim at the same time) was the attention to the condition of people with albinism in Africa and especially in Tanzania where they get killed for body parts, believed to have magic powers. Families and relatives are so desperate they will even sell their own for a bit of money, children being killed and dismembered in front of their own siblings and parents. Those who can afford it have got to the point of living every second with body guards.
If you are interested in finding out more, just google and you'll get into a whole field of cruelty and gruesomeness.

I hope you enjoyed this little peak through the key hole, and if you have any questions I'll be more than happy to enlighten your curiosity.

Lil

I could use a dream or a genie or a wish

Can we pretend that airplanes
In the night sky
Are like shooting stars
I could really use a wish right now
wish right now
wish right now

FOTD & OOTD: lady in red

Face:
First Light Cosmetics foundation in First Frost
Rimmel sun shimmer bronzing powder in Light matte
Sleek rose gold
Lancome Tropique Minerale smoothing loose bronzer
GOTbeauty powder

Eyes:
3 random eye shadows: 2 tones of grey and a chalk white
Lancome Waterproof Khol
L'Oreal million lashes waterproof
The collection 2000 brow liner in blonde

Lips:
Revlon lustrous in nude lustre

I bought this dress back in January in Italy. It's from my fave Italian brand, Rinascimento. I was SUPER lucky to pick it up during the winter sale and I seem to remember it was 50% and it came to about €40. Unfortunately you can't appreciate all the detail in the photo but it was very dark outside and this is the best I could do that evening, sowwy.
You can't see the shoes but I was wearing these . I thought it was a nice contrast with the dress.
I have to be honest when I bought this dress I had NO idea it would attract the attention it did; at one point during the evening I kind of almost regretted it. I am seriously not used to much attention and/or compliment.

I hope you liked it.

Lil xxx

Bloggy lovey

This is my little blogging loving award thingy bob post.

Firstly a big big Thank You to the lovely Shanna from Behind Green Eyes, Lisa Jane from The Brunette Diaries and Stina from Chic Beauty Blog; it means the world to me to be recognised by other bloggers I luuuurrrve.

So here are mine, in alphabetical order...

Ash-Lilly's Lacquer Lust
This blog is just pure nail art porn!!!!! I get loads of ideas from her and I love to drool over photos of nail art I could never do myself. If you like your nail polishes, this is your one stop blog.

Behind Green Eyes
I love Shanna, she's crackers and she gets my dirty humour without judging me. I love reading her blog because I love the way she writes, her way of writing is everything mine isn't. She has a variety of posts and I absolutely LOVE her sarcasm. For a more varied reading, she's your girl!

Big Fashionista
Kellie is a proper top blogger and a proper top woman. Her posts always bring up interesting topics and discussions and her writing style is superb. She was the first big blogger not to look down on me and even host me on her blog. (You can read my guest post here )

Chic Beauty Blog
I have to be honest, I read/follow the stunning Stina and her blog mainly because I LOVE to look at photos of her and her style. She is physically what I would KILL to be and she embodies the "I moved abroad for x reason and I'm gonna make it, no matter what!" situation I aspire to. I LOVE her FOTDs, OOTDs and NOTDs. Check her out, for pure perfection.

Le petit jardin de Liloo
I LOVE Liloo from the most inner bottom of my heart! She is just the most adorable person ever, she gave me a lot of advice blogging and beauty wise and she'll never look down on you. Her NOTDs are just impeccable and her eye looks are just super colourful, cheerful and flawless.

Setanta Art
This is simply an outlet for my very good and seriously talented friend Mike. Posts show some of the variety of his amazeballsness (yes, I did just use that word!). I personally think his talent is wasted on his hideous job! He will also do drawings by request if you send him photos. (plug plug, Mike you owe me a drink!).

The Brunette Diaries
Gorgeous blog, gorgeous owner, gorgeous outfits, gorgeous EVERYTHING!!!! (uber jealous of her legs!!!)

L'Oréal Elvive Colour Protect vs Tresemme Colour Revitalise conditioner

... Some mouthful that title, I tell ya !!

VS

I have been colouring my hair of (almost) all different colours in the rainbow since I was 17. And although I have been settling with different shades of blonds lately, and put the purples and oranges aside, I still require protecting the dreaded fade effect.
More so because colour has no natural pigment to hang on to and will tend to fade a lot faster than on normal hair, never mind if I use very subtle golden blonds.
For the most part of 10 years my choice has been L'Oréal Elvive Colour Protect, the beloved red bottle! I have to be honest and admit that I might very possibly be emotionally attached to this product. Please don't judge me!
I have had some majorly amazing sets of colours on my head in the past and the red bottle has always helped keeping them all alive(I might actually do a post with a little gallery of some of my past colours).

However since moving to Ireland I have grown a lover of a few products from TRESemmé, including their extra hold hair spray(the fuchsia can) that withstands Irish string winds.
So a couple of months ago I took advantage of a promotion in Boots and picked up their colour protect conditioner, I thought that maybe sometimes it's good to try new things, right?

So here's my comparison of the 2.

Scent:
I REALLY like them both, but T has a slight advantage and it lingers on my hair even 2 days after washing it which is a bonus.

Application:
Both very good to apply and work with. However T is an absolute nightmare to rinse off!!! takes me ages to completely wash off. L also gets rid of knots a lot better, combing my hair through after towel drying is a lot smoother with L.

Results:
As far as colour protecting properties they honestly both seem to do the same thing. However T leaves my hair slightly softer than L, although hair is not as smooth to blow dry.


So in my experience Elvive is generally better, where as Tresemme is slightly better on some points.
My verdict? I will generally stick to L'Oreal but won't mind a bit of Tresemme with a good offer or deal.

FOTD: all about the lashes

eyes:
Maybelline Volume Express The Colossal Waterproof mascara
Maybelline Volum Express The Falsies black drama Waterproof Mascara
L'Oreal waterproof volume million lashes
Maybelline line definer in black
Lancome waterproof black kohl
The collection 2000 brow liner in blonde
NYC white single shadow
SLEEK The Original palette(the coppery brown colour)

face:
Revlon colorstay in Ivory
Rimmel sun shimmer bronzing powder in Light matte
Sleek rose gold

lips:
Revlon lustrous in nude lustre