Marian Newman's 'Bento Box' of Minx sushi nails for Fred Butler

The Minx at Fred Butler London Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2012 collection were inspired by sea creatures and this season when Fred Butler stylist Kim Howells briefed in the theme for the nail inspiration to Marian Newman it was just as kooky…

Custom 3D Sushi Minx nails created by Marian Newman and applied by Hollie Wakeham at Fred Butler

The concept behind this collection was based on 70’s James Bond Babes hitting the sexy ski slopes for snow action, and then relaxing afterward to eat playful sushi.

Custom 3D Sushi Minx nails created by Marian Newman and applied by Hollie Wakeham at Fred Butler

Marian said:

“The sushi theme completely hooked me and I began devising nails that would incorporate 3D effects with the realistic graphics Minx can deliver.”

Marian contacted Minx co-founder Janice Jordan and provided her with samples of graphics to be incorporated into Minx templates.

Custom 3D Sushi Minx by Marian Newman applied by Hollie Wakeham for Fred Butler

Once the Minx was delivered, Marian began preparing the nails on 14 tips.

“I wanted to create the look and feel of real sushi, so I placed shapes made from clay under the sushi graphics to add dimension, and also added embellishments such as red caviar and Minx cut-outs on top”

Custom 3D Sushi Minx with wee bits of caviar!

Hollie Wakeham, a nail stylist from Colchester, Essex who was the winner of a Minx contest that transported her to the middle of London Fashion Week applied Marian’s custom 3D Minx nails to models who were not wearing mitten accessories.

Nail Stylist Hollie Wakeham with 2 Fred Butler models wearing custom 3D Sushi Minx

Photos by Hollie Wakeham, Marian Newman and Mark Molloy

Essie Bobbing For Baubles

I have 2 coats on here over a clear base coat to protect my nails. It’s a nice thickness and goes on really well. I find the brush on Essie polishes a bit smaller than other brands, which means a few additional strokes per nail to get a neat finish.

I really love this shade, it’s almost a dark denim colour, and you can actually see the blue tone rather than it just looking black like a lot of dark shades can. I think I might give it a try with my Rimmel Matte Top Coat in the next couple of days, to see if I can bring out the denim colour more…watch this space!

I bought this Essie Bobbing For Baubles online at Look Fantastic for £9.95.

Custom Minx nails and tattoos at Vivienne Westwood at London Fashion Week

She’s again gone with custom Minx designs for the nails, but Minx have taken it one step further and have created custom temporary tattoos for the Vivienne Westwood Autumn- Winter 2012/13 Red Label collection at London Fashion Week.

Custom Minx nails and tattoos at Vivienne Westwood at London Fashion Week

Following the success of last season’s Minx at Vivienne Westwood Spring/ Summer 2012 , Minx co-founders Janice Jordan and Dawn Lynch-Goodwin were requested to customize the Vivienne Westwood show nails for a second season and Minx requested nail stylist and all-round Minx guru Marian Newman to lead the nail stylist team backstage.

Minx nail stylist Laura Streeter applying custom Minx nails at Vivienne Westwood at London Fashion Week

The nail stylist team that worked backstage was made up of Marian, veteran nail stylist Monica Rohipoll, Kirsty Meakin and 5 nail technicians who won a Minx competition to work at the Vivienne Westwood show – such an awesome competition!

Minx nail stylist Hollie Wakefield applying custom Minx nails at Vivienne Westwood at London Fashion Week

Laura Streeter, Laura White, Sarah Marr, Hollie Wakeham, and Samantha Yates experienced their first fashion week show at Vivienne Westwood, applying custom Minx and hand-applied tattoos to the fingers and toes of the models.

Custom Minx nails and tattoos at Vivienne Westwood at London Fashion Week

The brief for the custom Minx nails was to create a nail wrap to look and feel  like the surface of a skateboard.

Custom Minx nails and tattoos at Vivienne Westwood at London Fashion Week

Janice Jordan, the co-founder of Minx said of the custom Minx for Vivienne Westwood:

“We had not created that texture before, but we experimented and developed that exact texture that we are calling the ‘Touch Me, Feel Me’ Minx.”

Custom Minx nails and tattoos at Vivienne Westwood at London Fashion Week

The result is custom Minx nails with a textured finish and symbols.

Custom Minx nails at Vivienne Westwood at London Fashion Week

Marian explained:

“The Minx coatings were just as the brief described:  rough, grey and abrasive, just like the surface of a skateboard”

 

Custom Minx nails and tattoos at Vivienne Westwood at London Fashion Week

Last season’s custom Minx for Vivienne Westwood were a mix of crazy brights, so very different to this season’s. If you fancy a peek pop over to my post about the Custom Minx at Vivienne Westwood Spring/ Summer

Pictures by Becky Maynes

Rimmel Volume Flash ScandalEyes mascara

Rimmel ScandalEyes promises maximum volume with no clumps and that the super chunky brush will reach every last lash. So does it actually work?

Well Rimmel aren’t kidding when they say Volume Flash ScandalEyes mascara has a chunky brush… I’ve put it side-by-side with my Rimmel Lash Accelerator brush so you can see the difference – it’s mahooosive!

Rimmel Volume Flash ScandalEyes mascara

I actually found the over-size brush a little hard to handle and if I got the brush to the wee lashes on the inner corners of my eyes, I ended up with mascara all over my eyelids.

Once I had gotten used to the brush, the results were quite good, a wee bit clumpy, but ScandalEyes definitely added volume and length to lashes.

Rimmel Volume Flash ScandalEyes mascara

So the final verdict? Rimmel ScandalEyes mascara is good, but the slightly unwieldy brush and slightly clumpy finish mean it won’t be replacing my beloved Rimmel Lash Accelerator mascara!

PR Sample

Chanel limited edition Las Vegas de Chanel makeup collection

There are four new products in the limited edition Las Vegas de Chanel makeup collection:

1. Chanel Le Vernis – Gold Fingers nail polish – £17.50

Chanel Le Vernis Gold Fingers nail polish from the Las Vegas collection

Now you all know I love my nail polish, but to be perfectly honest gold polish isn’t usually my thing…

2. Las Vegas Exclusive Creation Lucky Stripes compact – £48

Las Vegas Exclusive Creation Lucky Stripes compact

This gorgeous compact is the stand-out of the collection for me – it’s just beautiful! This gorgeous iridescent powder can be used on the eyes and cheeks.

3. Le Crayon Lèvres lip liner – Vegas Gold – £17.50

Le Crayon Lèvres lip liner - Vegas Gold

This lipliner is gold… not to be used to line the whole lip, but to accentuate the centre of the upper lip with a golden line.

4. Rouge Coco Shine (hydrating Sheer Lipshine) – Brillant – £23

Rouge Coco Shine (hydrating Sheer Lipshine) - Brillant

Now this new Rouge Coco Shine lipshine is a wee bit confusing if I’m honest, I’m reserving judgement on the shimmering gold colour until I can see it in real life!

The Chanel limited edition Las Vegas de Chanel makeup collection is available exclusively in Chanel boutiques, Harrods, Selfridges W1, Selfridges Manchester Exchange, House of Fraser Glasgow and Fenwick Newcastle from the 24th February.

OPI Ogre the Top Blue

I’ve got 2 coats of the polish on here, plus a clear top coat. I’m a bit obsessed with blues at the moment and I absolutely LOVE the bright colour, definitely has helped me out of my January blues!

It goes on really well and is lovely and thick like most of the OPI opaque shades. It did take a while to dry – I had an early night after painting these and ended up with those annoying duvet marks on a couple of the nails!

You can purchase this lovely OPI Ogre the Top Blue nail polish online from Look Fantastic for £11.

Minx are able to produce nail wraps that are modeled on just about everything from Diet Coke bottle designs to fabric swatches provided by fashion designers.

Here are some of the gorgeous Minx nail wraps that have been gracing the catwalks of New York Fashion Week this year…

1. Daniella Kallmeyer’s Fall/Winter 2012 collection with custom Minx

Custom Minx for Daniella Kallmeyer’s Fall/Winter 2012 collection

Daniella decided she wanted to design custom Minx for her collection, and provided Minx co-founder and designer Janice Jordan with an original photo of an oil slick, images of the finished high-saturated print, and images of the fabrics from the collection as guidance.   “The plastic used on the some of the coats has a rainbow hologram iridescence to it, and that kind of effect could not be pulled off by regular polish,” Daniella explained.

Custom Minx at Daniella Kallmeyer Fall/ Winter 2012

Lisa Logan and her team of Tiana Logan, Najzali Allen, Valerie Quinones, Titilayo Bankole, Priscilla Parker, Courtney Foster and Nail Taxi NYC’s Danielle Corbin Jaime applied the custom Minx to 15 models at the show.

Photos by:  Becky Yee

2. Red Minx at Odilon ‘Twin Peaks’ Autumn/Winter 2012 collection

Instead of going for a designed Minx Odilon models wore bright solid red Minx nail wraps.

Solid red Minx at Odilon Autumn/ Winter 2012 at NYFW

Odilon designer Stacey Clark explained “A lot of people know Minx for its wild patterns, but since my collection had very graphic prints, I decided to go with a beautiful solid Minx red that looked fantastic with the variety of colors and styles in my line.”

Solid red Minx at Odilon Autumn/ Winter 2012

New York nail stylist Danielle Corbin Jaime and her team at NailTaxiNYC applied the Minx to the models.  Danielle, the owner of NailTaxiNYC, led the team of Annika Corbin, Nichole Frasier Bailey and Michelle Matthews as they applied Minx nail fashion to all 18 models before the show.

Solid red Minx at Odilon Autumn/ Winter 2012

Photos by Douglas Harrison Neill.

3. Custom Minx at Calla Autumn/Winter 2012

Custom Minx at Calla Autumn/Winter 2012 collection at NYFW

Calla Haynes, the designer of Calla approached the owner of Nail Taxi, Cinnamon Bowser and askedif she would be interested in providing a nail stylist team for the show. When she mentioned that her brand has a strong focus on prints and that she wanted to match the fabrics in her collection with the nails, Cinnamon contacted Janice Jordan the co-founder of Minx.

Custom Minx at Calla Autumn/Winter 2012 collection at NYFW

The result was three custom Minx nail coatings that complemented the Calla collection.

Custom Minx at Calla Autumn/Winter 2012 collection at NYFW

Cinnamon and her team of Emily Ryan and Janee Baldwin applied the custom Minx to 18 models.

Photos courtesy of Calla.

Lady Gaga also wore Minx to the Grammys this year as well if you fancy a peek at the pictures!

OPI Do You Lilac It nail polish

I have on two coats of OPI Do You Lilac It because I got my nails done at the nail shop, but I would have preferred 3 coats and would definitely use 3 if I was painting my nails myself. The finish was a tiny, tiny bit less than opaque on some of my fingers with 2 coats.

Of course if you’re a normal, non-nail-polish obsessive, you wouldn’t even notice it!

OPI Do You Lilac It nail polish

Apart from the slightly less than opaque finish of this nail polish, it’s beautifully glossy and streak free and check out that colour! Just a perfect pastel purple shade, perfect for spring-time nails! (wee bit optimistic I know!).

You can buy OPI Do You Lilac It nail polish online from Lena White for £11

Lady Gaga's Minx nails at the Grammys 2012

For her appearance at the 2012 Grammys Lady Gaga chose Minx and LA based celebrity nail stylist Tracy Dinkel applied the Minx nails to Lady Gaga.

Lady Gaga's Minx nails at the Grammys 2012

Tracy applied classic pointed tips covered with Minx Golden Lightning and added a large black semi-circle shape on the side of the nail.

image source

Here are a few of the best NYFW big brand beauty tweeters and this is by no means an exhaustive list obviously, it’s just out of the tweeters I follow!

My favourite NYFW beauty tweeter so far has to be @Allure_magazine – they have a constant stream of tweets with fantastic behind-the-scenes photos. Here are just a couple of pics courtesy of @Allure_magazine – do pop over and follow them!

Red lips backstage at Zac Posen courtesy of @Allure_magazine

“The red, lacquered lips at @Zac_Posen couldn’t belong to a more perfect mouth. Backstage with Lindsey Wixson. #nyfw “

…see the original pic here…

Hair backstage at Thakoon courtesy of @Allure_magazine

“Finished hair @ThakoonNY! Gorg textured French twists by hairstylist Odile Gilbert- “An ode to Audrey Hepburn” #nyfw”

…  See the original pic here…

Another fabulous NYFW beauty tweeter is @StyleDotCom they also tweet loads of fashion as well, so definitely well worth a follow!

Red lips backstage at Victoria Beckham courtesy of @StyleDotCom

“Nothing like a gorgeous red lip to make you look awake at 8 AM on a Sunday. Backstage at VB. CE”

…see the original pic here…

Nails backstage at Thakoon courtesy of @StyleDotCom

“Dope nails, doing dope nails backstage at Thakoon. CE”

…see the original pic here…

Last of all is @bellasugar

Sally Hansen colours backstage at Tracey Reese courtesy of @bellasugar

“Can fall come sooner, please? We want to wear these @sallyhansen nail colors. As seen at @tracyreese.”

…see the original pic here…

Obviously these three tweeters are all big brands. Does anyone have any favourite NYFW beauty tweeters? Maybe ones that are a little less mainstream…? I’m notoriously un-cool so could use some help and am always looking for new people to follow, so any help is gratefully received!

If you don’t already follow us, here is the link for Pampered & Polished on twitter – we love chatting so pop over and say hi!