Beauty icons Ruby Hammer and Millie Kendall have created a make-up line with a difference for teen brand Scarlett and Crimson. Launched only in September this year, it’s the first make-up line especially designed for teen girls and young women.  It’s very easy for teens to associate themselves with the two cartoon characters who champion self-expression, individuality, creativity and friendship.

Do we all remember our early days using make-up as a teen? How wearing our first make-up made us feel? I remember it gave me confidence and made me feel older, more grown up, which felt great.  Experimenting with make-up is part of life for any young girl in the transition years from girlhood to teen. “The products are intended to be the ‘first’ beauty experience for girls as they become young women. They are the mother to daughter secrets that are passed down through generations, but with a contemporary twist” say Ruby &Millie. The Make-up line emphasizes natural, youthful beauty whilst allowing girls to have fun with their make-up.

If you are looking for the perfect present for your daughter or niece, I think this is a really nice gift idea. It will turn your little darling into a little lady whilst having fun creating her own look. At the same time there are quite a few products in the range that can be worn by women of all ages and are really fantastic products. I must confess I now have my own S&C shimmer highlighter, too. I use it to look revived and fresh when going out.

Scarlett & Crimson make-up is available in boots stores nationwide. Having a look at the new product ranges and colour palettes that come out next year, I can understand why Scarlett & Crimson make-up is set to take the beauty industry by storm. Wish we had such a great make-up line when I was a teen.

To find out more about Scarlett and Crimson, the teen duo invite you to step in to their interactive digital ‘lair’ at www.scarlettandcrimson.com

Looking for a perfect Christmas gift (for yourself)? This sexy lingerie designed by Sonia Rykiel will make every women happy. Sonia Rykiel pour H&M lingerie collection will be available from 5th December, just in time for the festive season.

Kate Bosworth, Eva Herzigova and Nadja Auermann partied together with fashionistas in a magical world in Paris last night to celebrate the launch of Sonia Rykiel pour H&M. The Grand Palais, one of the city’s most famous buildings, was transformed into a Parisian fantasy land for around 2,000 guests. Among them were stars such as Jean Paul Gaultier, Ellen von Unwerth and Emanuelle Béart, who walked through an enchanted forest before arriving at a recreation of Saint Germain, the spiritual home of Sonia Rykiel. Then, seated under a specially made Eiffel Tower, guests were given a preview of the Sonia Rykiel pour H&M lingerie collection, which debuts in around 1,500 H&M stores worldwide from 5th December, as well as the knitwear collection for women and girls, which arrives in around 200 stores on February 20, 2010.

“It was all about the brilliance of Paris and of Sonia Rykiel. We wanted to give our guests a story-like experience, let them enter a fantasy world where they could discover the Sonia Rykiel pour H&M collections and let themselves go”, says Nathalie Rykiel, artistic director and president of Sonia Rykiel.

“It was the most magical evening. Sonia Rykiel is so totally Parisian, the epitome of chic. This is the spirit of the Sonia Rykiel pour H&M collections that shone through at the party last night. It was such a thrill to work with a fashion icon like Sonia Rykiel. We are really happy with the collections, which we feel is 100 percent Sonia Rykiel. The lingerie collection is really the perfect Christmas gift”, says Margareta van den Bosch, H&M’s creative advisor.

Held on the first night of December, the H&M party for Sonia Rykiel truly marked the start of the festive season. Embodying the essence of Paris as much as Sonia Rykiel herself, the glittering city inside the Grand Palais was like a sparkling and surreal theme park for adults. The collections were displayed on floats which emerged from a recreation of the Arc de Triomphe, with a Parisian funfair as backdrop.

“I’ve always been a big fan of Sonia Rykiel. To me she is so feminine, and so wonderfully dramatic, like a big glittery bow on a dress. It’s crazy here, I wasn’t expecting this. It’s like a mini carnival,” says Kate Bosworth.

“I love Sonia Rykiel, and I love the association with H&M. Sonia Rykiel is like a revolution in fashion. She makes sexy clothes, but ones that are very modern, cool and feminine. She’s super-clever and super-talented and I have big, big admiration for her,” says Jean Paul Gaultier.

“I think it’s very Sonia Rykiel to have her presentation with H&M here. She’s so Paris, and I don’t think she could have had it anywhere else,” says Eva Herzigova.

In September two of my friends are getting married and the usual question has come up: what am I going to wear? Over the weekend I have been searching the web to find a nice dress for the wedding. A few weeks ago I saw a lady on the tube wearing a really nice dark blue dress and since then I decided that for this year’s wedding celebrations, I am going to go for dark blue dress, too. The colour is elegant and very flattering on your figure. But it turned out to be rather a difficult hunt to find a similar dress. After spending an hour online and coming up with nothing not finding anything similar, I gave up.
And imagine my surprise this morning on my way to work, when I saw a blue dress in one of the shopping windows. There it was, waiting for me to try it on. So I went into the store and within minutes I was in the changing room and the dress fit perfectly. Now I don’t have to worry about finding a suitable dress anymore, it just leaves the matching shoes, handbag and accessories…. Should I wear a waistbelt with it?

Guess are really pretty close up. Something I have never really realised. I have to admit that they are not necessarily exactly my style, but I can understand why someone would find them appealing.

Guess are not purely a handbag brand, they are also famous for their other fashion items – besides clothing especially their watches and jewellery are worth a mention. Guess was founded by Georges, Armand, Paul, and Maurice Marciano, four brothers born in Ouarzazate Morocco but who supposedly grew up in the south of France and were influenced by the culture and style in the region. They moved to California in 1977 and founded the company in 1981.
Here are some handbags that you can currently buy online – one even as new as from the Autumn/Winter 2009/2010 collection!!

BizRate

I’ve always loved to be different and I like to have things that perhaps others might shy away from wearing.

English Eccentrics is a great brand for quirky handbag designs; my favourite is the pavilion flowers in turquoise and silver. Made from canvas it has a silver leather strip along the bottom and around the frame, and is decorated with a marvellous picture of what looks like the Taj Mahal in turquoise.

I also love the Humawaca Puna weekend black leather black and white hair. It looks like a horse or a hairy cow, it really is fabulous. In a tote style this handbag holds just about everything you would need for a couple of nights away. It also sports a zip to close, whereas many overnight bags just close with a popper.

If all that is not ludicrous enough for your tastes, check out the rather colourful Billy Bag Celia embroidered tote in chocolate. A large woollen holdall with twisted straps it could carry off being a spacious everyday bag or perfect as an “evening handbag” for a night on the town when you might not come back and sleep in your own bed!

Whichever style is you, all of these bags are fantastically well made and beautifully created by some of the greatest of designers and will most certainly be a talking point amongst your friends when you nip down to the pub for the after works drinks on a Friday.

After one too many re-runs of Bridget Jones, you might convince yourself that at this years Christmas party, you will end up standing atop the managing director’s desk, warbling at the top of your voice. Scary but I bet it happens once if not a thousand times this year!

It’s tempting to wear Bridget-style knickers underneath your party dress, and if that’s the case I’d go for the Nude-hi waist and thigh slimmer. It’s a steal at £18.00 and means you don’t have to worry about the dreaded bulge later on in the evening.

Then there’s the bra to consider. If you have opted for a low cut dress, but lack a bit of cleavage to view in the space, then you might want to choose a deep plunge gel bra. After Eden is Gok Wan’s brand of choice.

A Halterneck dress is often a nightmare to find a bra for, but BeCheeky has a fantastic new design with crystal back straps. The idea being that if they did happen to make an appearance they would look part of the dress design.

This autumn, British accessory brand Jimmy Choo will bring its international glamour and covetable shoes and bags to selected H&M stores.

The collection will be available from November 14 in around 200 stores across the world. It is the first time that H&M is collaborating with an accessories brand, and to celebrate Jimmy Choo will extend its design vision for this collection to women’s clothing to complement the accessories. Further exciting news is that this collaboration includes a men’s collection of shoes, bags and accessories.

“We are privileged to be among the fashion greats who have been affiliated with H&M so far, and to be designing a collection appealing to fashion savvy, street smart women, and to be including some great pieces for men, too. Jimmy Choo will bring to H&M a sophisticated, fashion forward, accessible and glamorous collection – the perfect party pieces to buy now and then wear out that night!” Tamara Mellon, Founder and President, Jimmy Choo.

“We adore Jimmy Choo’s shoes and bags. They are glamorous and sexy, and they add instant style to the simplest of outfits. I like the way we have worked with clothes to accessorize the shoes and bags rather than the other way around. This collaboration is particularly exciting because it’s our first shoe designer collection. It’s a joy to be able to offer top end designer shoes and bags of excellent quality to our customers.” Margareta van den Bosch, creative advisor, H&M.

Since its launch in 1996, Jimmy Choo has been such a phenomenal success that the brand name has become part of popular culture – say the words “Jimmy Choo”, and you know you mean shoes. In Hollywood, Jimmy Choo shoes have become a red-carpet essential, and have been worn at the Oscars by winners such as Cate Blanchett, Halle Berry and Hilary Swank among many other actresses. The famous Jimmy Choo shoes will be at the heart of the exclusive collection for H&M, but there’s more. Jimmy Choo has also become well known for its bags, and for H&M there will be a whole range of accessories to complete the look.

BizRate

Not having children yet myself I do wonder how yummy mummies manage to fit everything they need to carry for the small person on board without a large entourage to assist. I needn’t worry. I found out the secret.

They have managed to make a changing mat masquerade as a handbag. It’s truly amazing. From the outside it looks like a cutesy slouch bag, two front pockets with pretty bows on, perfect for holding those necessary items that you need to get hold of quickly. Keys, mobile phone, dummies!

On the inside however, it’s quite a different story. With individual pockets for holding babies’ bottles it’s not only excellently designed its practical too, as they are insulated to keep the milk at the perfect temperate. There is also an elasticated umbrella pocket, a dummy fob and the piece de resistance, a shocking pink waterproof changing mat.

Really very clever.

They come in all manner of designs so they will suit any style of Mum! For fun and flirty you could try the Katie Bow as described above, or for the more mature look, the large petal might be a good fit. For the truly adventurous there is a gorgeous design with buses all over it and a big cup cake on the pocket!

I popped out today to buy a couple of essential items for a night in front of the box. As it’s the weekend I was dressed down to say the least. Slumping around in my tracksuit bottoms and t-shirt, I slung on my uggs and battered girl’s coat to make my five minute journey.

Worst five minutes of my life. I realised that every other woman out there wouldn’t be seen dead nipping out in the state I was in.

It got me thinking. If I threw away all my slouchy “women’s clothing” that makes me look more of a tramp than effortlessly stylish, I would have no choice each day but to make an effort and pick something that made me look, well, nicer. I dream of being the woman with time on her hands to do her make up every day and wear something that other girls might be jealous of but where on earth do they find the energy?

I think there is something in the whole culling idea, so I am going to do it! No more plain fleeces that are easy to throw on and totally comfortable and no more tracky bottoms, it’s over people. My days of slumping are long gone. After today…

Whilst pondering my new found enthusiasm to make an effort each day in what I wear and how I present myself to the world on non-work days, I realised that I don’t have many everyday tops to wear with my weekend Capri pants.

I always used to feel a bit uncomfortable in shirts and blouses and frankly stretchy t-shirts have really got to go. I’m also resisting the urge to buy anything remotely resembling a fleece. A designer sweater or top might do nicely though …

I unearthed a rather sensational chiffon top. It’s a flower and paisley print and will add a touch of colour to my complexion, rather than sticking to black or block colours or worse stripes, which are so last season.

There is a huge range of chiffon tops with pretty patterns. Most are long enough to skim the top of your bottom and would like great teamed with jeans. I did decide that it’s ok to have some t-shirty style tops but they have to have something about them, off the shoulder perhaps or a gorgeous print design on the front.

I totally fell in love with a glitter print design, it’s slightly off the shoulder with ¾ length sleeves, grey in colour with a silver picture on the front, the length is perfect with it being nipped in at the waist and then fitted around the hips. I loved it, I wanted it, and so I bought it. Happy Christmas to me.