Fashion Musings by Trininista

Yesterday's day out sparked a few OMG moments in my rational fashion mind and I just wanted to express just a few fashion musings today.

1. Try as much as possible to always put on a great show...or at least a decent show.

I love colour contrasts. You should too.

Looking good should not just be because you want to impress someone. It should be about how you feel and about feeling good about yourself. So even if you don't have a date, or you're not meeting anyone or going anywhere in particular, one should always aim to feel good about the way one looks. Aim for hotness, based on what hotness means to you. I don't know how many times I have to say this. Once. Twice.

When I got dressed yesterday morning, I had no idea I would eventually meet up with someone. I chose a t-shirt in my favourite colour (looking at my blog, do you need to ask what that is?), a pair of jeans and cute blue denim pumps. I accessorised with a blue pashmina and as the sun peeked out for a couple minutes, I used shades of green (MAC Greensmoke) and blue (Sacha blue something) on my eyes with just a touch of mascara (never leave home without it!). The end result was not Trinidad's Next Top Model but it was me and I was happy with it and felt I looked cute. So when with 5 minutes to catch my train, I got the text with my friend (a man) agreeing to meet me for ice cream, I was not scrambling to change into something presentable. And...I got a compliment, and coming from this dude - major win!

2. Don't be afraid of accessories.

One of my fave bracelets ever

You may think you can't pull off some of the summer styles, or may be a very easygoing, laid back kinda gal. I love comfort. Jeans, baby tee and flip flops. But you can always glam even the most middle of the road outfit and make it unique to you. Don't be afraid of scarves or cute hair accessories. Don't be afraid of big or colourful pieces of jewellry. Make them your signature pieces. A great necklace or bracelet can punch up any ole t-shirt. I have a cheap green t-shirt that I love wearing (i.e. beat to death) and usually pair it with jeans and gold coloured flip flops. For that reason, I add a great bracelet with it.

Yes. I wore blue twice yesterday. Bite me!

But don't overdo it either. My rule of thumb is, if the ears are busy, keep the neck free and vice versa - if you are going to wear a bold necklace, wear simple earrings. So I busied up the ears with these earrings last night and left my neck bare, but added a bold bracelet. I saw too many women with too many things going on last night - chandileer earrings with bold necklaces and huge rings and a million bracelets and let's not talk about the makeup...

3. Or let's. The makeup.

Gonna keep this one real simple. This may not be your bag of tea but it works for me. If, God help you, you are going to do a really heavy eye, like a smokey eye, don't add insult to the face with a bold, garish lip. A soft gloss would suffice. The bat wings aka fake eyelashes AND a neon lip just...wow...I am surprised these girls have significant others.

4. Please dress for your body

While I totally advocate hotness across the board, please understand that hot does not mean tight, revealing or short. You can look totally smokin' in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, with some flip flops (I have convinced myself of this). It's all about the way you carry the outfit and yourself. And while I am not myself a skinny minny and I think beauty has nothing to do with dress size, it does have to do with dressing to fit your body. For example: Ladies, if your breasts require a size 36D bra, please do not try to squeeze those suckers into a 36C. I cannot tell you how much boob spillage I saw yesterday alone. Isn't that uncomfortable?

5. Heels

I love heels. I mean,duh...my blog title says it all. However, I am also practical. Last night, despite modern convention, I wore a pair of flat pumps to a night out in the club. This after too many hellish London nights, trying to find bus stops etc and my feet screaming in heels. So I left the heels in the cupboard and bravely wore my black flats. They were cute, stylish and went nicely with my pants. Guess what? Noone cared. Not the person I went with, not the people in the club. In Trinidad, where I owned a car and would just need to walk from the car park to the venue, heels on a night out were not an issue. Here, where everywhere entails a proper walk, and where last night, I spent about 15 minutes looking for the rahtid bus stop, flat (cute) shoes were required. I was happy to see other sexy ladies rocking the summer sandals and low heeled pumps and also quite amused to see the skyscraper heels and the women who sat all night in them. I mean, why come to a club if you're going to sit, sour-faced all night, and then quarrel with your boyfriend or husband because he did not drive and you now have to face the walk to catch your night bus?

That's it for today. I get these sudden urges to speak out against the atrocities I witness sometimes.

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Review: Revlon CustomEyes Mascara

Revlon's CustomEyes Mascara

So after an awesome 3 weeks in Trinidad and Tobago, I am back in the land of fish and chips and I was excited to find my latest package on the table - eagerly awaiting its new mistress. My new CustomEyes mascara courtesy the great people at RevlonUK. As I had mentioned before, one of my fashion must haves is mascara, and now after a few uses, I can give my take on my new best friend.

So what's so special about this mascara you ask? Well, it has a customisable wand, which gives you two options for eyelash porn. With the twist of the cap, you can create length and drama, or length and definition. I have to admit, I tried the mascara without a primer and I was not that thrilled at first. I thought the formula itself was a bit clumpier than I am used to, but I am patient.  I was happy that RevlonUK sent me the Blackest Black mascara for my dark skin and eyes, and after a coat of my primer, it really worked for me. The length it gives really is fabulous and the definition and drama are commendable as well. If this mascara came with a primer, it would be perfect.

The brush is made of plastic though, and since I had never used a plastic mascara brush before, it took me a while to adjust to that harder texture on my lashes. I read other reviews that said they found the mascara flaked after long wear. I personally did not have this problem but I always use primer on my lashes as well so not sure if this contributed to my personal eyelash success.

All in all, I like the mascara - my first Revlon mascara at that. I still like my Maybelline XXL mascara though, and my Clinique, and I felt I got a better result with this Revlon mascara after a coat of primer as well. But all in all, not bad. I still think Revlon are the kings of nail polish though and to my great disappointment, I still cannot find my bottle of Plum Seduction (hint hint).

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In Beauty Terms, My Best Friend is not the Diamond

They say diamonds are a girl's best friend and I love sparkly, shiny stuff, but let's be real. Can I afford diamonds? I can barely afford a pack of pork chops. There are some things I have control over at this point and some things I do not. Diamonds - no control. None. But, my best friend in daily life, without a doubt is...


These days I use Maybelline XXL Extensions Mascara. It's really good.

 ...my mascara wand. I have said it enough times - my one beauty must-have is mascara. I can go with just about anything else, but mascara is a must. And there are varying degrees of mascaraliciousness. For a quick trip to Hi-Lo, one quick coat. For a night out, primer and 2 coats.

Sexy mascara!

I typically would buy Clinique's mascara and primer but before travelling, I could not find it, so I bought this Maybelline mascara, which is also pretty good and even better, the primer and mascara were in one tube. Primer. I never knew about primer until maybe 2006, when I bought my first Clinique mascara and primer duo. Now I swear by it. Not only does it condition your lashes and prevent that crunchiness that mascara can cause on your lashes, but it also works as a great base for the application of the mascara, and lengthens the lashes as well. For someone like me, who is not blessed with full, voluminous lashes, primer is a must. Maybelline's XXL has Step 1, the primer and Step 2, the mascara in the same tube which really is convenient especially when travelling, because you know my mascara must go in the little zip-loc bag in my hand luggage.

And second behind the Marvellous Mascara? Eyeshadow. I don't wear eyeshadow every day. There are some days I go to class, sans colour, either because I am late, feeling rather blah, or just prefer a clean eye. During the day, earth tones work best and I have a mixture of Sacha, L'oreal and M.A.C.. For night though, predominantly, the mysterious tones of M.A.C.

M.A.C. - my evening shades, though I have used them for daytime as well.
It's all about the application!

It seems almost anti-climactic to end this entry with my final must-have, but I mentioned before that I do not wear lipstick, and the British weather has caused me for the first time in my life to have dry, chapped lips. So bite me if you want to make a comment about must-have #3.

Vaseline Lip Therapy - a must-have for cold weather lips

 I do wear lipgloss as I said, but mainly to go out - not to sit in a lecture hall or in the library. C'mon. I got a laugh yesterday when Unilever posted this photo...

Marmite flavoured Vaseline? Nasty.

...which clearly had to have been an April Fool's gag, cause after trying marmite last weekend, I will not understand why anyone would want THAT taste on their lips. Blech.

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Makeup Porn, courtesy Chanel

The eyes have it!

I love a well done eye. Makeup, I mean. It's always the part I place most focus on when doing makeup, especially since I don't wear lipstick as I mentioned here. These days, I have nowhere to go where I can do a pretty makeup job like this. At least not anytime in the near future, but I love makeup porn. I just do. My makeup job these days includes chapstick and mascara (my one daily  must-have).

Me? I've been alright though - trying to focus on school and controlling hormonal rages. Managed to get out of the house this weekend for dinner and a movie. Huge thumbs down though to the snoggers next to us. I mean, if you really want to spend 2 hours kissing, can't you do it at home?

Thumbs up to Wahaca at Canary Wharf, specifically to our waiter, Brendan, who was a ball of energy and courtesy. I just love Wahaca.

But, Matthew McConaughey - can he be any hotter? The Lincoln Lawyer was excellent and for me and my date - both of us huge Michael Connelly fans - it was well scripted and well cast. I give it a thumbs up - an unmanicured, shabby cuticles, thumbs up!
 
I really love the Black Pearl nail colour Lisa is wearing in the video. Nail polish porn.

Lust and enjoy as much as I did.

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Hamster Beauty

I looked on tonight as a female hamster sat in the cold, at the bus stop, putting on a full face of makeup. I am not sure what she was trying to accomplish exactly with her little makeup bag, under a streetlight. Streetlight illumination can never be flattering. I looked on as she carefully applied powder, eyeshadow, blush, mascara and a most ghastly lipstick, which to me seemed pointless cause her hair was a hot mess, not to mention the outfit. But this is just another part of London hamster life apparently. I have seen it many times on the train in the morning, but this was my first evening/bus stop hamster-makeup sighting.

I mean, everyone rushes around as though their very existence depended on it, and the sad thing is, it probably does depend on it. As I walked to my platform 2 days ago, with my cup of coffee, a male hamster rushed past me and almost knocked over my mochaccino. You better believe if he had knocked over my morning salvation, and if I had to chase after him, knock him to the ground and make him fork over my 2 quid, he was going to buy me another coffee.

But hamster beauty is something else. The only thing I have not seen is a blowdryer, but the sunken eyes come onto the train, with full resurrection kit aka the makeup bag, and they pray they get a seat and don't have to stand with some of the other unfortunate hamsters. Once seated, they apply products ranging from Boots to M.A.C to dull skin and eyes. They also stand at the platform while they wait for the train with purse draped over one arm and makeup bag at the top of said purse, and they busily apply concealer and the like before the train gets there. I refuse to do hamster beauty. Jostling onto a crowded train with a makeup bag, and then risking digging out my eye with the eyeliner or mascara wand, is not my idea of diva behaviour. Sitting on a dirty bus stop bench, most likely after touching nasty, germy seats, handlebars and railings and then using those same hands to apply stuff to my face is just nasty. Brushing wet hair so droplets of water from my shower splash on others is discourteous. My advice to the hamster women out there: Lay off the pints the night before and set the alarm to wake you up an half hour earlier in the morning. It works!

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Beauty by Trininista

Someone remarked that I looked so fresh and pretty yesterday. I put some effort into making my hair a bit neater than the day before, and did a fantastic eyeshadow job which always works to lift my mood. Yesterday I really made the effort to look as good as I did not feel. And I succeeded. I looked stellar even though I felt like crap. There are some days when you get out of bed physically but the spirit and the mojo don't quite get the idea and they stay under the covers.  It may seem like it would take some doing to get yourself from Mumra to She-Ra, but my solution, as I outlined to my colleague, is quite simple.

A good cleanser - I like L'Oreal's Go 360 Clean, because it is good for my oily skin and it also comes with the cute green scrubby which fits neatly in the bottle. Great packaging for the woman on the go.

My secret weapon - Because I have oily skin, I never leave home without my Clean and Clear oil absorbent sheets, but I have also discovered Herbalism from Lush, which after a good cleanser, really makes the skin softer and drags away any leftover oil. And you don't need to use a lot. It's an awesome product and really jumpstarts my day.

Moisturiser - I use Pond's Clarant B3 because it is again, a great matte moisturiser for oily skin and does not give that greasy look. At night though, I use a combo of Vitamin E oil and a night time moisturiser to keep the youth alive and the laugh lines at bay.

And of course...even if you're not going the full monty with the makeup (bring on the awesome shadows from MAC during the work week for me), mascara never hurt anyone. I love Clinique and Maybelline XXL Extensions for my fine lashes. A touch of lipgloss and you're ready to show the world that even in the face of questions, doubts, frustration and exhaustion, you're a star!

So what is your daily morning beauty regime?

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