The Body Shop - Wild Argan Oil Launch Event

Last Thursday my friend and fellow blogger, Belinda and I attended the launch event for the new Wild Argan Oil collection at The Body Shop in Leeds. The event was a great way to introduce the collection to a crowd of beauty enthusiasts as it gave us an opportunity to look at the new line outside of trading hours.

The theme for the event was of course all things Moroccan. All the sales assistants were wearing middle eastern inspired hair accessories and they had sweet mint tea and my favourite, Baklava for refreshments. As well as the opportunity to try out the new products, they also had professionals doing sample back and hand massages. They did a really great job of letting everyone indulge in a bit of luxury and they were all very clued up on the line and how the new range came about.

A presentation was delivered telling us all about the collection, where the oil comes from and how it is made. It was clear that The Body Shop really invest their efforts into where they source their ingredients from and more importantly how they source them.

Their Wild Argan Oil comes from the foothills of the Atlas mountains and the kernels that the oil comes from can only be extracted by hand cracking the nut with a stone! This is all done by the Berber women of the Taraganine cooperative who are experts in doing this. Beauty with Heart is what The Body Shop call their collections that are made with Community Fair Trade ingredients and their Wild Argan Oil suppliers in Morocco are the latest to partner up with them.

The collection itself includes eight products all containing the luxurious 'Queen of Oils' as the Moroccan women call it. Rich in vitamin E and essential fatty acids the range is great for all skin types as it deeply hydrates, protects and nourishes the skin. My favourites in the collection are the Radiant Oil and of course, the Body Butter. It's a great luxury addition to their current product line and is perfect for anyone who wants to indulge and achieve beautiful skin. As the Moroccan women say: 'When your skin is glowing it's a reflection of a peaceful soul' and anyone who knows me knows I'm all for a peaceful soul!

You can see the Wild Argan Oil collection by clicking here.

Have you tried the Wild Argan Oil products yet? What do you think of the collection?

Just love

Rina xoxo

Big love for Big Hair

My last shoot of 2013 was with photographer Emily Bailey. She arranging a shoot to advertise a range of extensions for beauty company, Stylelux. The brief was 14 models, great hair, fresh make up and a 'fun' vibe. So with me on board for make up and Tony Waterhouse doing hair, this was bound to be a brilliant collaboration.

I wanted the make up to look really natural but fun and fresh at the same time so I prepared the skin first with an illuminating moisturiser before applying the base. I added colour to the whole look with a pink flush on the cheeks and a translucent pink gloss on the lips. I finished the look off with a flick of black liner on the upper lid to open up the eyes and keep the models looking bright-eyed and flirty.

My backstage posts on Instagram saw me getting asked loads of questions about what make up I used to get the models looking so natural but flawless so here are all the products I used for all the models on the shoot:

The Body Shop Vitamin E Illumiating Moisturiser
Bobbi Brown Stick Foundation
Bobbi Brown Brightening Nudes Finishing Powder
The Body Shop Blush in Macaroon
Bobbi Brown Black Gel Liner
L'Oreal False Lash Flutter Mascara
Bobbi Brown Lipgloss in Pink Lily

Hope you like the look!

Just love

Rina xoxo

  

Photography - Emily Bailey

Hair - Tony Waterhouse @ Rebel Pin Up

Models - Alana Elliot at Face Model Management and Pippa Perkins

Skincare shoot for Stylelux

In July I got involved in a project that was commissioned by a Danish health and beauty company called Stylelux. My friend and photographer, Emily Bailey called me in to do make up for an editorial style beauty shoot for one of their face masks. Which was black!

So with close up beauty photography in mind, we needed a great model with excellent skin. Emily I have have worked together on shoots lots of times before and what I love about collaborating with her is the fact that we both gel our ideas effortlessly and come out with some wonderful images. It truly is a collaboration when I work with Emily so there was no doubt that it was the right choice when we invited friend, model and muse Pippa Perkins to be the face of our shoot.

Before we cracked on with the face mask I wanted to get a few beauty shots in given my love of natural looking make up. Pippa's look is perfect for beauty photography and I really wanted to create a soft, sensual beauty look with natural looking contours and highlights.

I created this look by keeping the skin looking fresh and dewy with MAC Face & Body foundation. This is one of my favourite formulas for natural, beauty photography as it photographs really well and doesn't look like the model is wearing make up at all. When a model already has great skin, I don't see the need to put on heavy coverage foundation. I like to let the model's features speak for themselves. And as Pippa already has great skin, I didn't cover it up too much.

I simply used a touch of Bobbi Brown Pot Rouge in Uber Beige to contour her fantastic cheekbones but sticking to a cream formula, it kept the texture of the skin nice and supple rather than powdery and matte. And then for highlighting which was my main focus for this look, I used MAC Strobe Cream on the top of her cheekbones, down the bridge of her nose and on her cupid's bow and I punched the highlighter out even more by going over this with an almost white coloured, shimmer eyeshadow by The Body Shop in Moonstone.
I finished off the look with Shiseido Shimmering Cream Eye Colour in shade WT901 on the eyes and Bobbi Brown High Shimmer Lipgloss in Star on the lips.

The final images are stunning. I loved the lighting that Emily used as they make Pippa look really dreamy, soft and romantic. These are definitely some of my favourite beauty images to date.

I then had to switch the look up for a more editorial look. The face mask was a black gel texture so with Emily's monochromatic theme in mind I started by completely blanking out Pippa's face. I wanted full coverage so I built up over what base Pippa already had on using Illamasqua Rich Liquid foundation in white covering the lips as well. I slicked her hair back into a tight, clean ponytail and for a it of variation on some of the images I used Kryolan cream pigment in an orange tone on the eyes. These are some of my favourite edits from the shoot.

 



Just love

Rina xoxo

All photography by Emily Bailey click here for her facebook page.
Model - Pippa Perkins
Images commissioned for Stylelux.co.uk