I am extremely excited about one of the upcoming spring collections from MAC cosmetics. A collaboration with Liberty (a London department store which made my 10 things I like about London list a year ago), the cosmetic cases are not only pretty (in a very pretty but not overly girly way) the makeup bag and scarf in a custom floral Liberty print are definitely perfect spring accessories.

From MAC:

The very latest in a series of famous M·A·Coll aborations, it was only a matter of time before the demure-to-daring kaleidoscopic prints of Liberty of London coloured our world with Brit wit and bohemian chic. From the unstudied, Sienna Miller style of Spitalfields Market to the grit-and-glamour of Portobello Road, the swinging London girl has always been an unstoppable M·A·C makeup force! Spring 2010 insists on the ultimate flower fusion, with M·A·C joining forces with Liberty, creating cool Britannia compacts and Lipsticks, Eye Shadows, Powder, Blush, Nail Lacquers and, of course – blushing, bountiful, quite British accessories.

Sephoras talented makeup artists share some of their favourute bold holiday looks this season. Hypnotic Shimmer is a personal favourite of mine, check out this step by step video and the items used after the jump!

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Whilst browsing around at Refinery29 I came across a post that included five holiday makeup tricks. Although I personally won’t classify any of them as ‘tricks’, the looks featured are pretty easy to try out and adopt as your own signature holiday look, making it easier to hop around seasonal events and parties knowing you consistently look good.

Here are two of my favourites:

The skinny braids with bold red lip: Seen on Chanel Iman at Lacroix. There’s something really fun about mixing young playful braids with a really bold red, sophisticated lip…it’s a quirky play on contrasts that’s easy to pull off.

Above, clockwise from left: Christian Dior fall/winter 2009 backstage, photo via Style.com Beauty Gallery; Lipstick Queen Red Sinner, $18, available at Barneys New York; Bare Minerals Matte SPF 15 Foundation, $28, available at Beauty.com; Boots No7 Lash and Brow Perfecter, $5.99, available at Drugstore.com; Nars The Multiple in South Beach, $37, available at Beauty.com.

The smoky-lustrous lined eye: Sometimes black liner just isn’t enough. Hence, Anna Sui’s expert blended a shimmery gray shadow along with some eye-popping highlighter to a classic lined eye.

Above, clockwise from left: Anna Sui fall/winter 2009 backstage, photo via Style.com Beauty Photo Search; Julie Hewett Los Angeles Cheekie Cheek Shine in Peachie, $24, available atMiomia; DuWop Gray Eyes Eyeshadow Set, $32, available at Sephora; Estee Lauder Double Wear Stay-in-Place Eye Pencil in Onyx, $16, available at Lord & Taylor; M.A.C. Plush Lash Mascara, $13, available at Bloomingdale’s.

You can find the other three looks over at the Refinery29 website.

I just stumbled across this amazing website by uber (Emmy Award Winning) makeup artist Kevin James. As an aside from his website, Kevins ‘In My Kit’ aims to showcase what professional makeup artists really use, in other words products that have been proven time and time again to work so brilliantly, they are used on the faces of the best.

I don’t really talk about makeup on this blog, maybe I should, I have spent hundreds if not thousands of money on makeup since I started wearing it! Like most black (or any other ‘minority’) girl young woman, finding the perfect shade of foundation has been the hardest task of them all… Lots of trials and errors, products bought solely on word of mouth, and worst of all, products bought impulsively almost every time I walk by a Sephora or go into Selfridges, just because it looked good and I am always day dreaming about accidentally stumbling across my holy grail, perfectly matched skin colour in a bottle. This hasn’t happened yet, and I assure you I’ve done everything, including getting custom blends – which sometimes works colour wise, only to have some other major flaw in ingredients that wrecks havoc, causes dryness, irritation, and (for someone prone to this) dreaded acne. Whilst on the constant lookout, and backstage when modelling, I learned a lot about makeup, and I am almost positive I can prescribe a face to most people… So positive in fact, I considered beauty school (as opposed to fashion), but stopped kidding myself upon the realisation that the second I found my HG products, I won’t care about the face of others.

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