My Day with InStyle & Manhattan Cosmetics

I recently was invited by Manhattan Cosmetics to attend their Style Day Make-Over Event that they were hosting in partnership with InStyle Magazine. Twelve InStyle readers had won a make-over through the magazine, and I was invited to attend and document the event as a blogger journalist, so to speak.

It was so exciting not only to get a tour of the InStyle offices and interview the Editor-in-Chief Annette Weber personally (video coming on that soon), but also to see how much fun the winners had at their make-overs! They were so excited, and the stylists did an absolutely wonderful job on their hair and makeup.

Watch my video documenting the whole day including a room tour of the fancy Sofitel hotel I stayed at, a tour of InStyle's Fashion and Beauty closets, the make-overs, and an evening of fine dining and partying it up at the exclusive Heart restaurant and lounge in Munich.

Some more pictures from the event...

Inside the InStyle Fashion & Shoe Closet...a fashionista's dream!!
And the shoes are all my size - torture!

I don't have enough makeup yet, so I picked up the supersize versions. Hah!

I stayed at the luxurious and extremely comfortable 5-Star Sofitel in the heart of Munich, which was absolutely beautiful and utterly decadent. I would have loved to try out their Spa but alas, there wasn't enough time. Boo hoo :(

The breakfast buffet was jaw-dropping and utterly mouth watering. These are only a few of the things that were available, I didn't even photograph the warm buffet section. Everything from home made smoothies, fresh squeezed juices of a dozen varieties, fresh exotic fruit, tons of breads and cakes and buns, eggs, salmon, caviar, a tea samovar and many tea varities... Basically I wish I hadn't eaten in three days so I could have consumed a lot more! I love breakfasts but I usually am not very hungry in the morning yet.

Thank you to Manhattan & InStyle - it was a ball!

Recipe: Cheese Fondue

Ahhh winter! Cold nights, snowy landscapes (at least here in Switzerland), and long nights with friends gathered around a cheese fondue and white wine. What could be better?

Here's how to make a traditional and authentic Swiss cheese fondue! Watch the video for all the steps...

Here's what you need for two people. Adjust the recipe for larger parties (duhh!)

200-250g of Swiss cheese per person (for strong eaters, I'd go for 500g for 2 people)

• This can be a combination of Gruyeres, Vacherin Fribourgeois, Appenzeller, Emmentaler and Tilsiter. The most common is moité-moité which means half-half in French, which is half Gruyeres and half Vacherin. I personally prefer a mix of different cheeses.

Fondue Set (such as these on Amazon): Fondue Set (You will need to buy the correct Fire Gel with it, which is also available on Amazon.)

Other ingredients:

1 medium sized loaf of crusty, country bread

150-200ml of dry white wine

1 clove of garlic

2 teaspoons corn starch

1-2 teaspoons cherry or pear schnapps
Dash of nutmeg

1. Combine the white wine with the schnapps, then add the corn starch and stir until there are no clumps left. The liquid should be an even, milky liquid.

2. Cut the bread into bite sized cubes.

3. Rub the garlic all over the fondue dish. Then over medium heat*, heat up the liquid mixture until it is hot but not boiling. Add the entire lot of shredded cheese to the dish, then stir frequently as the cheese starts to melt and combine with the liquid.

4. Season with a dash of nutmeg and black pepper (optional) at the end. Serve immediately on your lit fondue set. Serve with bread cubes. (Other great side dishes are gherkins, mini pickled onions, cherry tomatoes and pears in juice.)

*If you use a gas flame cooker, make sure to use a cast iron fondue dish, as cheaper models will probably burst from the direct heat.

Let me know if you try it out!! You can also make delicious fondue variations. Here are some of my favorites.

Tomato fondue: Add chunks of tomatoes to the cheese while it's cooking

Herb fondue: Add finely chopped basil, rosemary, thyme and parsley leaves

Bacon-mushroom: Fry up some bacon and mushrooms in a separate pan. Drain excess fats, then add the bacon and mushrooms to the fondue

Goat Cheese fondue: Use a portion of goat cheese with the other cheeses for a slightly different taste

Get Ready With Me!

I really like those "Get Ready With Me" type of videos on Youtube so I thought I'd make one of my own. This was getting ready for a semi-casual night out with friends. I didn't want to get dressed to the nines, but still look put together and like I put in a bit of effort. Watch the video to watch me get ready from start to finish, including makeup, hair, and outfit!

Everything I used and wore is listed below...

Skincare
Embryolisse Lait-Crème Concentré, Clinique All About Eyes Rich, Blistex lipbalm,

Makeup
Bourjois Healthy Mix & Illamasqua Rich Liquid foundation, Smashbox Artificial Light, Kryolan Eye Shadow Primer, Catrice shadows in Grey's Philisophy & Swimming With Dolphins, L'Oreal Infallible eye shadow in Endless Pearl, MAC Brows in Lingering, Urban Decay eyelash curler, L'Oreal Volume Million Lashes, Lancome Maquicomplet concealer, Smashbox Idolize Me blush, Smashbox Tempt Me lipstick

Hair
Sebastian Molding Mud, GHD straightening iron

Earrings
Aldo Accessories

Perfume
Thierry Mugler Alien Essence Absolue

Clothing etc.
River Island blouse, faux leather pants by H&M, Wool coat by ASOS, Shoes by Tamaris, Purse by handbagheaven.com, faux fur collar by H&M

Nail Polish
Anny Ready To Go

Style Steal: Hanna from Pretty Little Liars

Have you ever seen a picture of a celebrity in a TV show or magazine, and wanted to recreate the entire look from head to toe? That's exactly what I'm going to do in this project I'm starting called "Style Steal". The idea is to make a video where I show a celebrity look, and include a hair, makeup, nails, fashion and styling segment so you can recreate the entire look at home. Since most of us can't afford the designer duds that many celebrities wear, I want to show you that you can easily capture the feel of a look with affordable brands and products.

For this Style Steal I'm going to recreate the look worn by the character Hanna Marin from the TV show Pretty Little Liars. I took these picture straight from the new cast photos on the show's website.

Check out my video to recreate Hanna's edgy and chic look, from going shopping for the clothing, to makeup, hair, nails, and styling. Her hair is obviously quite different in cut and color to my own, so I improvised! I guess this is more her style when she had longer hair.

Here's a look at the makeup from the video...

Let me know whose Star Style you want me to Steal next! You can also post your picture suggestions on my Facebook Wall here.

Here's a low-down on everything I used, and what I'm wearing:

Outfit

Grey T-shirt: H&M

Faux leather jacket: H&M

Black denims: H&M

Belts: H&M

Armor ring: Asos.com

Black ring: H&M

Necklace: Forever 21

Cuff bracelet: was a gift, don't know where it's from

Earrings: Asos.com

Shoes: Graceland by Deichmann (or Dosenbach)

Nail polish

Anny Ready To Go

Makeup

Bourjois Healthy Mix foundation, L'Oreal Infallible Endless Pearl e/s, MUA eyeshadow palettes in Heaven and Earth, and Undressed, Margaret Astor eyeliner in Brown, Laura Geller black eyeliner, Rimmel Scandaleyes mascara, Kryolan Eye Brow Powder in Medium, Smashbox Blush in Bare, Revlon Colorburst Lipbutter in Berry Smoothie, L'Oreal Colour Riche Balm in Rose Elixir

Hair

Enzo Milano 1" clipless curling iron, Schwarzkopf Got2b Powderful volumizing powder, Balea Trend It Up Mattifying styling paste, L'Oreal Elnett hairspray

Is this a look that you might recreate? Where would you wear it?

Pumpkin Hummus Recipe

Like this? Then pin it on Pinterest here!

I've had lots of questions how I make my Pumpkin Hummus after posting on Instagram, so here's a quick recipe. I love to serve this with pretty much anything! It's filling and makes a good side dish for dipping veggies or bread in.

Ingredients

1 can drained and rinsed chick peas
1-2 cloves garlic
2-3 Tblsp. Sesame Tahini
2 Tblsp. extra virgin Olive oil
Splash of water (about 1/4 to 1/3 cup)
1-2 tsp ground cumin
juice of half a lemon
shot of tabasco sauce if you want a bit of kick
salt & pepper
pumpkin purée (anywhere between 1/2 to 3/4 cup)

To make the pumpkin purée, you can use a variety of pumpkins or winter squash. If you use a Hokkaido pumpkin you can leave the skin on, so that's the one I normally use because it's so easy. You could also use butternut, Muscat, whatever you have on hand - these varieties you will have to peel. This is what a Hokkaido pumpkin looks like:

Depending on the size of your pumpkin, use a quarter or a half of it. Remove the seeds and peel (if necessary.) Chop up into rough chunks, and steam them for about 15-20 minutes until fully soft. If you don't have a steamer pot, try roasting them in the oven for 20 minutes on 200 degrees C. I wouldn't recommend boiling as that makes them very watery. Then use a handmixer to purée the flesh, or a blender, whatever. Since this is the most time consuming part of the process, I like to make a lot of purée at once, and use the left over for soups or baking. You could even freeze any left over purée.

Easy way out: Use canned pumpkin. Make sure it's not pumpkin pie filling, it should just be 100% pumpkin, no added sugar, nothing.

To make the hummus, put all the ingredients into a bowl and use a handmixer to blend. Or, if you have a blender, dump everything in and blend. Wow, that was hard wasn't it? Now you've got amazing pumpkin hummus!

This hummus will be gone in no time, so I normally double this recipe and keep it in the fridge for snacking. I love dipping veggies in it, or use it as a healthy sandwich spread.

Icy Snowflake Nails

Like it? Pin it on Pinterest here!

These snowflake nails are perfect for winter and the holiday season. I love snow, and wanted to do a wintery, icy cold blue design for the nails, so I thought this was both festive and appropriate for the season. It's also a very simple design, that even a beginner nail artist could accomplish. You only need a few things! Here's my tutorial...

Products I used:

Models Own Feeling Blue

Essence Fashion Victim

L.A. Colors Art Deco in White

ANNY clear polish

rhinestone nail wheel (from ebay)

Do you like this design? Let me know in the comments!

Lilash Annual Sale & Sigma Free Shipping

It's that time of the year again for major Thanksgiving feasting, and post-feasting shopping! A few people have asked me about the annual Lilash lash enhancement serum sale which happens every year around this time. Here are the details:

From 12:00 a.m., Black Friday, November 23rd through 11:59 p.m., Cyber Monday, November 26th, LiLash and LiBrow products are only $99 each, and the LiLash + LiBrow Combo is only $149.95!

Get Lilash on SALE now!

Lilash and Librow normally retail for $139.97 each when not on sale, so this is a huge discount that they only offer around Thanksgiving.

Here's a picture of my own lashes after using Lilash, and you can read all my experiences with the product on my blog post here, and my video here. I am currently not using the product because I just wanted to take a break for a bit, but I have used it for a long time before and it definitely worked for my lashes! See for yourself below.

Also, Sigma has FREE WORLDWIDE SHIPPING for two days! Yes, worldwide. Here are the details:

Thursday, November 22 (12:00 AM Central Standard Time) until 12:00 AM CST Friday, November 23.Use code BF2012 at checkout.

If you want my opinion on Sigma brushes, I have several review videos on them. My favorite brushes are from the SIGMAX synthetic series for foundation and concealer brushes (F80, F88, P86, P88). Other individual real-hair brushes I like from them are E55, E40, E35, F35, E25 and F10.

You can check out all the products such as makeup brushes, eyeshadow palettes, and more here.

Tutorial: Kristen Stewart Makeup "On the Road" Premiere

I loved Kristen's look at the movie premiere for On The Road. Overall, I love the makeup looks she's been sporting lately, she really has a signature style. Often she wears smokey brown eyes, although this time her makeup artist used a lot of warm red tones which really flatter Kristen's fair complexion and medium brown hair. It's such a beautiful look for autumn and winter.

Here is my take on the look...

For comparison, here are some pictures of Kristen at the premiere which I used as my inspiration.

If you want to recreate this look, watch my video tutorial below:

Face
L'Oreal Visible Lift foundation, MAC Blushbaby blush

Eyes
Maybelline Color Tattoo in Tough as Taupe, MAC Blue Brown pigment, Catrice Heidi Plum, Ben Nye Toast, MAC Woodwinked, Laura Geller eye pencil in Dazzle, Rimmel Scandaleyes mascara

Lips
KIKO Nr. 88 lipstick, NARS Lip Lacquer in Diablo

Nailpolish
KIKO Nr. 243


Which movie are you more likely to watch? On the Road or Twilight Breaking Dawn Part II? Let me know in the comments!

Recipe: Apple Cranberry Crisp

Like this? Pin it on Pinterest here!

This is my favorite seasonal crisp or crumble to make in the fall, and beats out plain old apple crisp by a mile, in my humble opinion. Something about the tartness of cranberries mixed with the tenderness of apples makes me excited in my mouth a little bit - actually not just a little bit! It's a party in my mouth, oh yeah!!!

Watch my tutorial for how to make this extremely simple but very delicious dessert. Serve it hot with vanilla ice cream, and I promise you there won't be a bit left over!

Fruit:

4-5 peeled, cored and sliced apples
1 package fresh Cranberries (about 340g or 12oz)
1/2 cup white sugar (100g)
Juice of half a lemon to prevent oxidizing
Cinnamon
Ground cloves
Ground nutmeg

Mix everything together in a deep casserole dish. Make sure to use a lot of fruit, your dish should be filled to the top before you spread the crumble on top.

Crumble:

1/2 cup quick oats (65g)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour (65g)
3/4 cup brown sugar (160g)
1/2 cup unsalted butter (113g)
1/4 tsp Salt
1 Tblsp. pure vanilla extract

Mix all the dry ingredients together, then drop in chunks of butter and the vanilla. Mix together until it's nice and crumbly. If it's too soft, add a bit more flour and oats.

Crumble the mixture on top of the fruits, then bake at 375 F / 190 C for 55 mins. The crumble mixture should be slightly browned. Serve hot with ice cream or whipping cream.

Tutorial: Carly Rae Jepsen "This Kiss"

Like it? Pin it on Pinterest! 

This makeup look is inspired by Carly Rae Jepsen from her music video "This Kiss". Her makeup artist Desirae Cherman created two looks for the music video.

Scene 1 — The Rock Star: "The performance scene is an underground-club kind of a vibe: dark, smoky flashes of light," Cherman explained. "It created a lot of cool shadows and highlights. I wanted to do the same with Carly's makeup so her features would really pop." The first look was inspired by Pat Benatar's classic smoky eye, which was paired with a dark red lipstick. Cherman recommends a bold lip color as every woman's go-to for after five events. And you can make the look last all night by adding loose powder after lip liner. Then, apply your bright lipstick, blot once, and clean any smudges with concealer.

Scene 2 — Girls' Night Out: To stage a casual night out with girlfriends, Cherman created a cool cat eye. "One of my favorite looks to do with bangs is a nice, strong winged eyeliner," she explained. "It instantly lifts your eye, defines the shape, and makes them pop out." If you have bangs, Cherman recommends skipping makeup on the forehead altogether. That way, your fringe won't end up greasy after a long night spent on the dance floor.

Source

My look was obviously inspired by the second look, although I thickened up the black eyeliner a bit because I just liked how it looks. Here are some screenshots from the video, although I mainly went off the description from Cherman, as the makeup is a bit hard to see.

Watch my tutorial below for the step-by-step to achieve this fun look:

Face
L'Oreal Visible Lift foundation, Ben Nye concealer wheel, Smashbox Passion blush

Eyes
Kryolan Eyeshadow Base, Smashbox Softbox II palette, Smashbox Smokebox Palette, Smashbox Jetset Waterproof liner in Navy Blue, Smashbox Artificial Light in Flash,

Lips
Combo 1: MAC Beet lipliner, Smashbox Electric Pink lipstick
Combo 2: Barry M Nr. 146, MAC Show Orchid

Nails
KIKO Nr. 288

USA Election Nails Tutorial

Like it? Pin it on Pinterest!

Want to wear a patriotic and fun USA inspired manicure on Election night? Try this one on for size. I got inspired by the American Flag, but added a ballot box on the thumb to pay homage to the election. Whether you're voting for Romney, Obama, or someone else - this nail art is sure to fit the bill.

Get these nails with the help of my tutorial below.

Nail polishes used:

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Whirlwind White
KIKO Nr. 336
Anny Woman in Red
China Glaze Shine
Leighton Denny Miracle Mist Speed-Drying Spray

Tutorial: Queen of Hearts

This will my last Halloween video for this year. I hope you enjoyed this year's offering! If you missed any of them, you can see a review of them all here.

This last look is for a Queen of Hearts costume, but that's not a copy of the makeup from the Tim Burton movie, which I personally thought made the character look quite ugly. (I guess that's the point!) I wanted to make a more fun, cartoon-like inspired Queen.

If you want to recreate this look, watch my step-by-step tutorial below.

Face
Maybelline white eyeliner pencil, L'Oreal Visible Lift foundation, MAC Airbrush foundation in White, Makeup Forever Mat Velvet+ foundation, Illamasqua Intrigue blush (white), Ben Nye blush in Pink Blush

Eyes
Kryolan Eyeshadow Primer, Kryolan eyeshadows (don't know the numbers), NXY White eyeshadow, Lancome Le Crayon Kohl in Noir, Ben Nye cake eyeliner in Black, Ben Nye LiquiSet, Illamasqua Obsidian eyeshadow, Urban Decay Supercurl mascara,

Lips
Sleek Eau La La liner in Moulin Rouge, Giorgio Armani Lipstick Nr. 400

Nailpolish
China Glaze Ruby Pumps

The costume I'm wearing is available for purchase here

Tutorial: Red Hot Devil!

Like it? Pin it on Pinterest here!

RAAAWWWWRRRR!!!! Are you ready for Halloween? I am, with this RED HOT DEVIL look! This is a very artistic interpretation of a devil makeup, which is exactly my style. This look is sure to turn heads - trust me! When I was filming the intro and outro to this video, I had a crowd of onlookers, and even random people taking photographs of me. It was hilarious - and slightly unnerving!

What are you dressing up as this year? Please share in the comments. :)

Get the look, plus how I style it with Devil accessories, a red dress and pumps, by watching my tutorial below:

Face
Illamasqua Rich Liquid foundation mixed with MAC Airbrush foundation in Pure White,

Eyes
Maybelline kohl pencil in White, MAC Flammable Paint, Ben Nye Cherry Red eyeshadow, MAC Young Punk Mineralize eyeshadow, Ben Nye cake eyeliner in Black, Ben Nye LiquiSet,

Lips
MAC Velvetella lipliner, MAC Media Lipstick, Illamasqua Pure Pigment in Berber

Nails
China Glaze Ruby Pumps

Dress
Lipsy from Asos.com (last season)

Shoes
Red pumps are from Deichmann

Devil Accessories kit is from here and costs £7.99

Tutorial: The Crow (Halloween)

Like it? Pin it on Pinterest here!

I have wanted to do a dark crow look for ages, so when October rolled around, I knew it was finally time for this idea to take fruition. For Halloween, I personally like dark and scary looks that still look beautiful and even delicate. This one I think fits the bill quite well! For costume, I think a long flowing black dress, black wings, and maybe some feathers in your hair would work great.

If you want to recreate this look, watch my video for the step-by-step tutorial below.

All the products I used:

Face

MAC Airbrush foundation in White mixed with Illamasqua Rich Liquid foundation

Cheek & Contour

Ben Nye Greystone e/s, Illamasqua Obsidian e/s, Ben Nye black cake eyeliner (for speckling)

Eyebrows

Kryolan Cinewax, Ben Nye concealer, Ben Nye Neutral Set powder

Eyes

Illamasqua Obsidian e/s, NYX White e/s, MAC Plumage e/s, Ben Nye Cosmic Blue e/s, Ben Nye black cake eyeliner, Collection 2000 glitter eyeliner in Hustle, MAC Blacktrack Fluidline, Rimmel Scandaleyes mascara, false lashes (ebay)

Lips

White clown face paint, Ben Nye concealer

Nails

China Glaze Wagon Trail

Black Feather wings are available for purchase here

Kryolan Re-Launch in London

Last week I attended the Kryolan re-launch event in London. If you've never heard of Kryolan, they are one of the few left remaining brands made specifically for the professional makeup artist. Their products cater to a variety of needs: fashion, beauty, theater, special effects, body painting, and film and TV. They are largely unknown to the end-consumer, as their brand is not marketed as commercially as other brands, which are geared more toward consumers. Hopefully this will change!

The brand has existed for over 65 years, and offers over 16,000 products. Yes, you read that correctly - everything from nailpolish, to fake blood, liquid latex, eyeshadows, lipsticks and more. Their products have now been newly repackaged, their first redesign since 1995, and finally a worldwide online shop and new homepage is set to launch this November.

You can see my video from the event and my escapades in London below.

Some more pictures from the event. Photography credit here goes to David Short and Gary Nunn.

The last picture is of the new packaging, which is honestly not a massive change and I'm not sure if I even like it all that much. The actual products are still packaged the same, I think they changed more the cardboard boxes. So the actual "redesign" was a tad underwhelming, as hyped up as it had been.

At the event we were shown some promotional videos about the brand and it's specialties, and the founding family Langer gave some insight into it's new slogan "Makeup is a Science". The idea behind it is that their makeup is created by scientists, who are always striving to make improvements on a scientific level to the products. Then models circulated the room, each model showcasing one of their strong-points, such as theater, film, etc.

I have to say the event was a tad underwhelming. I like Kryolan products very much, but the actual presentation to the media and press lacked the "wow" factor. As a Blogger I've attended many events like this one, and from a prestigious brand like Kryolan I expected a bit more. It would have been great to see the artists in action on a model, to see how the products actually performed. Maybe a live body painting? (The picture of the body painting was taken before the event was open to the media.) Or a demonstration of some basic steps taken in the lab, something that I've always wanted to know more about - how is a lipstick actually manufactured? Or an eyeshadow? The actual presentation was a bit short, and also no mention was made at all of the launch of their new website. We had to find that out on our own.

However, I do think the products are really good and moderately priced, so hopefully the new website will make them more accessible to the public. Especially to those of you who have always asked me where to buy Kryolan, since I use their products in my videos. Apparently their online shop will offer worldwide shipping of their entire catalogue of products, so it will be a lot easier to get your hands on the products, which used to be a bit hard to find, depending on where you live.

Have you tried any Kryolan products before? Let me know in the comments!

Kryolan.com