Monday 31 October 2011

Concealer Tutorial

Hey all, it's Raghda here! For Styleground's first ever video tut, I've decided to do something on concealing under eye circles. Concealing that area has been a bit of an obsession of mine for a while and this is a method that I have found works the way that I like, with pretty full coverage. I hope someone finds this helpful-- washed out lighting, various shambles and chipped nail polish aside. Hey, it can only go up from here, right?! :P


Products used:
Kat Von D Tattoo Concealer (Tan)
Laura Mercier Secret Concealer (6)

Wanna see how I do my full face? A winged eyeliner tutorial perhaps?
xxxxxx
-Raghda

Saturday 29 October 2011

Five Favourite Make-up Essentials

I don't know why I picked five. I clearly have a lot more than five but perhaps it's 'cuz it sounds better with the word 'favourite,' but either way here it is.

1. NARS Lipstick in Fast Ride
 


I love this lipstick and it also cost me a fortune. Ok not really, but it is very expensive for a lipstick. Fast Ride is a dark purple but when it's on, it's sheer and not as harsh as one would think dark purple would be. What I love about this lipstick is how it looks vampy and sultry yet sophisticated and classy. I also love the packaging but everything NARS makes is awesome, least the packaging anyways (I haven't tried everything they made). Although I'm almost out of this, because it's so expensive, I might not purchase another one for a while. We'll see how desperate I get. ;)


2. Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Dark Circles Eraser (Concealer)

I just recently got hooked on this concealer. I have in the colour 30, which is Medium and it definitely works to erase my dark circles. I love how blendable it is and smooth. It doesn't cake under my eyes and the applicator that's attached to it is soft as well. I don't use it to blend though since it's where all the concealer comes out of, so I usually use my clean fingers or a brush. It was kinda pricey for a drug store concealer but I feel like it's worth it.

3. EOS lip balm in...I forgot the name of it but it's green and has Shea butter


These are the cutest little lip balms ever. I love the shape and the texture and they're super moisturizing. I just went through the corally-pink fruit one and now I'm on my greenish Shea butter one. The only problem I have with these is that sometimes the smell can be annoying, so I tend to change it up once in awhile. Also that due to their round, egg-like shape, it's difficult to store or stash in a small/crowded purse (or even your pockets). Other then that, I love these and I take 'em with me everywhere.

4. Kat Von D Tattoo Eyeliner in Trooper


This eyeliner is my all time favourite liner. It's a pen liner and the tip is so thin! The brush isn't floppy but it isn't so stiff that you poke your lash line. I like how dark the liner is too and the finish when it dries is matte with little to no shine. Love it! I kinda wanna try her other colours but I'll stick with one for now.


5. Voluminous Million Lash mascara


Not only is the mascara good but it's hecka cheap too. I've really been into the plastic-y bend-y brushes for mascara and this one's got it. I like the formula too. Very volumizing.  I have this in black, dunno what kind of black but it's still black and it work wonders to my straight little Asian lashes :P

What are your five favourite make-up essentials?

<333
Mila

Images via Sephora, NARS Cosmetics, and Google

Thursday 27 October 2011

H&M And The Dragon Tattoo

Hey it's Raghda. So H&M is coming out with a collection on December 14th (in almost 200 stores worldwide) based on The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, designed by the (soon to be released) movie's costume designer. Why? God knows. Actually, H&M's creative director has an answer for us- "We sat together and said, 'Why don't we do something? We are Swedish, this movie has a lot to do with Sweden, which is unusual for Hollywood.".




To be fair, it will be a 30 piece collection. So I'll try not to completely write it off as being boring and black and leather and brown and combat boots and leather and four shades of grey until we can see it all. Thoughts?
xx
-Raghda


Mila: I think it'd be ok for work :P Seeing as how I can only wear black, white, and grey.


image and quote via la times

MAC Holiday Collection 2011

So I was browsing the net and putting off my studies when I happened to come across the MAC Cosmetics website. Like magic, it just appeared on my screen. :P

Image from Google
The MAC Holiday Collection for 2011 is out, but only on the site for now. I haven't seen it in stores yet. They also tend to add new sets later on after it's launch. What I look forward the most whenever MAC launches holiday collections are their brush sets. To be honest, this collection is my first brush set purchase so I'm really excited for it to arrive. I love the glitteriness of the brush handles and the white packaging of the lipsticks and beauty powder. I've always been a fan of simplicity and white. Not so much that silver circle thing on the eyeshadow palettes, though. I know some people aren't really that into the packaging and I understand that. For a holiday collection, it should be a little more extravagant, and I like what I see so I approve.

I love the colours of the baked (or is it mineral) eyeshadows, all the swirls and the colours. Beautiful. I've never really used eyeshadow like that but the thing is, I have so many shadows to begin with, I can't really afford to add to it. What I did add to my collection was the darkest shade of the lipstick. I admit that I mainly purchased it for it's white packaging but we'll see how it looks in person once it arrives. I'm not big on lipgloss but from what I've seen on the site, they're very pretty but nothing special.
Image from Google
I was debating on whether I should purchase the beauty powders (perhaps the darker shade) but I'm not so sure if I truly need it. If you have purchased one, let me know what you think? Is it worth the buy, because I'm not a big powder kind of person. 

We all know that the swatches on the MAC Cosmetic site are not accurate so I was hoping that I could buy them in the store... but I couldn't wait. I'm an impatient little child. I hope you enjoy the new holiday collection and if not I still advise you to take advantage of the sets/kits of the brushes or make-up essentials because you won't get a chance like this until next season. 

<333
Mila


All images via Google

Tuesday 25 October 2011

Wear Nicki On Your Nails



Well not for a while, just a quick post for Nicki Minaj's OPI collection due out in 2012. Can I please live in "Save Me", it looks like a party. 

Have any favourites?
<3
Raghda

Mila: OMG! Super Bass! Bet that's gonna be awesome!

Thursday 20 October 2011

OOTD: Board Games & Blue

This week I met up with a friend for a day of board games at downtown Toronto cafe Snakes & Lattes. Unfortunately it's been sweater weather lately, so I layered a lightweight sweater from Forever 21 over my denim shirt from H&M. Added some dark blue skinnies from Le Chateau and my all time favourite bowler hat from H&M (this is getting serious, I think I'm obsessed with this hat.). I hate accepting the colder gloomy weather, so you guys will be seeing me layering for as long as I possibly can before finally throwing on a coat. :P


Right now I'm obsessed with collars and cuffs peeking out under sweaters. I love that the orange stitching in the denim shirt went with the coppery tone of the necklace (from etsy) and the stitching in the jeans, whereas everything else stayed in the realm of dark blues. It's always the littlest details that you fall in love with.

<3333
-Raghda

Friday 14 October 2011

F21 Mini-Haul

Heyyy, Raghda here. I've been meaning to get a statement necklace and big earrings for some time, so I headed down to Forever 21 yesterday.
I ended up getting this spiked gold necklace for $7.80. I plan on wearing it with dress shirts with it peeking out under the collar, or using it to dress up something casual like a tank and jeans.

Gold again! How pretty are these? Although the downside is that it feels really cheap ): . It was $5.80.

While I was in the queue for cash, I saw these polishes and couldn't resist. The Mint colour ($1.50) was big this summer and I've wanted a creamy shade for a while. It just screams warm weather to me, so I doubt I'll wear it before next spring. The Dusty Lavender ($3.80) is what I'm currently wearing. In the bottle it looks like a grey polish with iridescent pink shimmer, but once applied, it has a matte finish and the colour is true to the name.

Last but not least, this hand mirror is probably my cutest purchase of the season and only for $1! The rose looks a bit darker in person.

So there it is. Lately I've been losing interest in the actual clothing that F21 sells (there is only so much pattern you can have), but as long as they have accessories and other bits and bobs, I won't completely write them off.

Let me know if you guys want to see the different ways that I'd style the necklace.
<33333
Raghda

Mila: I love that necklace. It'd look hot with a one shoulder white dress. 

Thursday 13 October 2011

Spider Lashes

Spiders have eyelashes....

No I'm just kidding. Actually, I wouldn't really know but I do know one thing, spider lashes seem to be 'in'  this season. It depends on your taste, but usually spider lashes (when the mascara clumps your lashes together) would be seen as messy and unflattering, and it would look like you had fewer lashes than you really do.

They way to achieve spiders lashes is quite simple. Like mentioned above, you just pack on mascara one coat at a time. Remember to let each coat dry before putting on more, that way the spider-y-ness effect would be epic. You can see tutorials on this by Andrea on her YouTube channel Andreaschoice. I realize that some people aren't really into this trend, but the way she did it made it look real nice and wearable.


When I tried this out, I used my Voluminous Million Lash Mascara. I concealed my under eye circles and my lids to make them light and as nude-looking as possible. To lighten it even more, I added an eyeshadow that was one to two shades lighter than my own skin tone. I think it had a little bit of a shimmer, but it was subtle enough to do the job. I built up my mascara on my bottom lashes first than my top and put a little bit of white eyeliner on my water line to open up my eyes. Andrea used a a bright red-pink lip but because I didn't have that I just used orange. You could also use magenta or a dark purple, anything that stands out and pops. I applied a dark blush in the hollows of my cheeks instead of using a bronzer.



Problems I encountered were the difference in the amount of lashes on each eye. For some reason my lashes have diminished on my left eye so my spider lashes would be more spider-like on one eye and just clumpy on the other.


Products used:
- Voluminous Million Lash
- Rimmel Match Perfect Concealer in 030 Classic Beige
- Nude Sephora eyeshadow from a Sephora palette (doesn't tell me the name)
- MAC Amplified Lipstick in Neon Orange

<333
Mila

P.S. I did this awhile ago so I don't have so I don't a picture for the look, but the pic above illustrates the idea well.


Video from YouTube and image from Google

Wednesday 12 October 2011

Gaga Is A Tramp


Hello everyone and a very warm welcome to our new followers!!
It's Raghda here with a really quick post (I should have a charger for my camera delivered in a week, so there might be a lack of posts for a bit. It'll be worth it, promise!) about that drop dead gorgeous look Gaga was sporting in her video for The Lady Is A Tramp with Tony Bennett.


Only Gaga can pair a lace dress like that with blue hair and make it seem timeless. Check out the video below.


I just know that this'll be the song that I repeat all throughout winter and the holidays.
<333
Raghda


Mila: I loved her overall look too. Very stunning. Wonder if I could pull off blue hair...

First image via tumblr

Saturday 8 October 2011

Buckle Up, Adventure Calls!

click for larger image :)

When was the last time we had so many new female leads in a fall season? Above I have Christina Ricci in Pan Am, Zooey Deschanel in New Girl, 2 Broke Girls, and Ginnifer Goodwin in Once Upon  A Time as Snow White.

Pan Am, being a drama of the stewardesses of the Pan America airline in the 1960s, has such a beautifully feminine feel as far as costume goes. Honestly, just think Mad Men on a plane. There is not a second where you don't see an immaculately dressed and poised character (alright there are a couple of moments, like when Christina Ricci's character is called at the last moment to board the plane, and she changes in a cab). My favourite line from the show so far has to be from the pilot when a gentleman says (in reference to the women) "That is natural selection at work. They don't know that they're a new breed of women!" Ha what a lovely thought.

As far as New Girl goes, most of us know what to expect when it comes to indie darling Zooey. Throw on something vaguely vintage and be gorgeously dorky in it. I love Zooey, but her wardrobe in the show may as well have been from her very own wonderful closet.

Although I've only seen some trailers, what I love about the wardrobe in 2 Broke Girls is the contrast of characters. I mean it's such a painfully obvious contrast of "ordinary plain girl" and "spoiled little rich blonde girl", but it just works while avoiding being too patronizing. I mean, I really like that the 'formerly rich girl' wears an over-the-top necklace with her waitress uniform. I like that her hair is always beyond perfect. What I don't like is that Hollywood is kinda pushing the "ordinary plain girl" as, well, ordinary and plain. She's gorgeous, look at her! Hand over "formerly rich girl"s necklace and roles could easily be switched!


In Once Upon A Time, Ginnifer Goodwin stars as "Snow White" in a land where fairy tales are real, until something horrible happens and they all have to live in the real world with their memories wiped. I love Ginnifer and with her youthful disposition, I think she was made for roles with a fairy tale element. I'd imagine this show will have moments where we see the fairy tale world with everyone in their extravagant costumes, and I'm much more looking forward to that then their boring old 21st century gear. It airs Oct 23rd on ABC.

And I'd just like to take this moment to say R.I.P. to The Playboy Club, which has not been picked up for a full season amid terrible ratings. Well lets not pretend to be too sad, I don't know anyone who has even checked it out. I mean I was meaning too, I was just busy organizing my pencils and reciting pi or something.

What do you guys think about this season's lineup of new shows? Anything you're really liking?
Alright now lets all go and enjoy the outdoors, because once the week starts up again, so does great television.

<33
-Raghda


*pic of '2 Broke Girls' from google images

Wednesday 5 October 2011

That 70's Trend

Do you guys remember those braided headbands of the past two summers? That tan suede and all of those fringes? Those gladiator sandals and the big round sunnies? It's almost as if we've just hidden them away for the winter months and back out they came to bask in the glow of summer 2011.Well not only are they back, but this summer they had friends. They've been joined by maxi dresses, big floppy sunhats, feathers feathers everywhere and a surge of billowy lightweight fabric in the form of culottes and rompers. Oh and patterns and colours galore-- aztec, tribal and block colours. Surely that's all, right? We can't really bring this trend with us into the cooler months anyways..can we? We can and we will, the trend seems to be here to stay. "Well then, what do we call this trend?", you ask? At least I'm assuming that's what you've asked, I can't quite be sure over the volume of 'Tiny Dancers' on my record player. Because you see, it's a song that Elton John put out in 1971. Oh I'm fun. Anyways, the 70's look doesn't quite seem to be the kind of trend keen on going that easily. If you've been to the mall lately, you may have noticed that stores seem to be stocking up on furs, leathers, knee length skirts, ponchos/large scarves/borderline blankets, and lightweight sheer (what I like to call) 'billowy' garments.


Billowy fabric
Adam & Eve
Anna Sui
H&M $39.95
As long as the fabric drapes well, you could get this effect by buying a few sizes up. This summer this trend was definitely in full force in the form of  comfortable light rompers and flirty sheer tops. To bring it into the colder seasons, try getting dresses/tops with either sheer panels instead of completely sheer or completely made of a single fabric. Also, look for dresses/tops with full length sleeves. Janis Joplin was the queen of layering billowing garments, here she is for her 1971 album Pearl photoshoot.


Ponchos and capes
Anna Sui
Adam & Eve
*via shefinds.com, $60 at Shopbop
The poncho has been around since the spring, I'll give it that. It's feeding into the "aztec print" and "native" trend thats been around lately. It's really the perfect thing to throw on with a casual/comfortable look to just cover your shoulders/arms. It's also the kind of thing that you can imagine would come in handy for outdoor festivals ala Woodstock, no? Throw it on to shield you from the elements, curl up on it on a nice patch of grass, it becomes an impromptu blanket.
How can we dress this up and maybe even make it a more durable form of outerwear? In comes the cape. Popular in the 1960's, this is where the silhouette of the casual trendy poncho can become sleek and classic.
I strongly believe that Andrew VanWyngarden of MGMT was made for the 1970's, though I'm glad we have him instead.
and I can't bring up poncho's without this coming to mind.


Skirts
Adam & Eve
H&M $39.95
Adam & Eve
H&M $39.95
Knee length A-line skirts are the mature autumn cousin of everyone's favourite summer mini. This season we seem to be keeping the lines clean while adding something unexpected like a bold pattern or making it entirely out of leather! On the leather note, it's a huge trend on its own this season (leather skirts, dresses, shorts), especially black leather, so I was admittedly surprised when I saw camel toned one in H&M. Just remember that when you have a lot going on with your bottom half (large blocks of texture/pattern), try and keep it simple with the tops.
So somewhere between the mini's of the 60's and the flowy care-free maxi skirts of the same era, we have the knee length A-line sophistication for the mature woman of the day.
Charlie's Angels!


Furs
Alice & Olivia
Anna Sui
H&M $34.95
Anna Sui
Dior
H&M $79.95
Furs are big this season, like huge big, and not only in coats. Gloves, shoes, hats, bags, snoods, headbands, seemingly anything that you can stick some fur trim on or completely cover in fur is sold somewhere. When you think of it, why not? It sure is warm, and even if its faux fur, there's no way that you don't feel a bit wealthy and posh in it. Come on, I know you daydream in front of the mirror when you try on a lush fur adorned item. It'll be our little secret ;) 
I find the oversized fur coats especially reminiscent of 70's boho rock star charm.
and of course, The Beatles even rocked it



Well I hope you guys enjoyed this as much as I did! And while we're still feelin' groovy, I want you all to find a copy of Almost Famous and watch the heck out of it.


Peace and love,
-Raghda






All pics from style.com, h&m.com, tumblr and google images except for the following
*http://www.shefinds.com/2011/gotta-love-this-two-in-one-poncho-that-also-turns-into-a-scarf/

Topshop Hits Canada!!

Today at 11am, Canada's first Topshop and Topman opened its doors in Toronto's Yorkdale Mall!!!! Ahhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Hey guys, it's Raghda and I'm beyond excited, so please excuse the plethora of exclamation marks! :P I have been a fan of Topshop for many years, and the moment the online store began to ship in Canada, I had a small panic attack of glee. When I vacationed in Abu Dhabi last winter, I was completely euphoric once the big block letters of the store were in sight. The sales people had NO IDEA how lucky they were to work there!
A few months ago a huge chain retail store in Toronto began to carry a small collection from Topshop and a friend and I would visit it often. Now, the moment has come. Talk of it opening its own store has been in the air for quite a while, and today was the day. Well lemme just quickly go back to last week when a friend and I were stopped by a woman who asked if we knew what Topshop was.
 Me: YES O_O
And she told us about the grand opening on Oct 5th, 10am and gave us Topshop mags. The first 10 people to arrive in the lineup got $200 gift certificates for the store, and unfortunately we weren't as early as we'd hoped so we weren't as lucky. ):
I believe it was supposed to start at 10am, but there were a few delays and Sarah Taylor (TV personality/former MuchMusic VJ, in pic above) let us know that it would all start soon and that UK band Friendly Fires would play later in the day. When it was finally time to open, owner Phillip Green and supermodel Coco Rocha cut the ribbon and in we went! 
I was surprised by the amount and variety Topshop made available to us. Everything from outerwear, accessories, makeup, lingerie and a wall of shoes that could rival Aldo's newest collection! Naturally, as my newest obsession is faux fur, I was drawn to the fur collars. The ones I've been eyeing at H&M would just lay over your shoulder unless you clasped it with something like a brooch, whereas one side of the Topshop collar had an extra bit of fur that you could loop the other side through. 


Well at this point, one of the members of the camera crew (they were around earlier interviewing people in the lineup) was behind me as I was trying on the collar in front of a mirror. I didn't acknowledge it because my mind was on the collar and talking to my friend about it, until I turn and notice the rest of the crew filming me on my right! lol I had the shock of my life and couldn't help but laugh and awkwardly put the collar back, until a gentleman asked if they could film me putting on the collar. Why not!? So they wanted it to look like I was looking in the mirror (looking right into the camera) as I put it on, and I walk away at the end. I'm not quite sure what it was for, but as soon as I find it I'll link it here. :)
Anyways, the place is connected to the department store The Bay, and downstairs is Topman while upstairs is Topshop. The men's section was pretty straightforward, and nearly empty of customers compared to Topshop.
Once we had our fill, my friend and I went to Starbucks (the salted caramel mocha's are insanely good!) and I updated my fb status as "Coco Rocha is here at Topshop". I then had an eerie feeling and quickly closed the page when I felt someone over my shoulder. A few moments later the gentleman sitting next to me mentioned taking Coco to the airport. Okay, okay, be cool. stay calm. I didn't want to be really obvious and look over, but I knew Coco was sitting on his right. It's an understatement to say that I love Coco, because I LOVE Coco. I'll never know if she saw me updating my facebook, but the fact that its a possibility makes me giggle.

Ah so that was my day. Sitting next to Coco at Starbucks almost made it okay that I wasn't amongst the first 10 to win a gift certificate, but the fact that a beautiful Topshop is finally here in Canada makes us all winners in the end.




xoxoxox
-Raghda