Get The Look: Janelle Monae at the 2018 Grammys

Makeup artist, Jessica Smalls got Janelle Monae got rockstar ready for the Grammy’s using Kiehl’s, Buxom Cosmetics, and Eylure Lashes.

 

INSPIRATION:  “I wanted to give Janelle a timeless and current look at the same time, so I decided to give her a Twiggy 2018 vibe.”

 

“I wanted Janelle’s skin to shine like the star that she is, so we began prepping her skin the night before Grammys with Kiehl’s Turmeric & Cranberry Seed Energizing Radiance Mask to help brighten her skin’s appearance. When I arrived to Janelle the next morning, she was already glowing, but I decided to take the glow to the next level by giving her a light 5-minute steam, and then massaging Kiehl’s Powerful-Strength Line-Reducing Concentrate all over her face and along her neck, followed by Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Cream. I then applied Kiehl’s Creamy Eye Treatment with Avocado around her eyes, using my ring finger, to keep that delicate area moisturized.”

 

“For a bold and sexy eye look, I applied Buxom Cosmetics Eyeshadow Bar Single Eyeshadow in shades Lingerie Lover, Haute Couture and LBD to her crease, using a soft blending brush. The powerfully-pigmented formula glides onto lids with a luxe, powder-to-silk feel. I then lined her waterline with Buxom Cosmetics Hold The Line Waterproof Eyeliner in shade Ring My Bell and swept the Buxom Cosmetics Eyeshadow Bar Single Eyeshadow in shade Twilight Tryst on top to make the green pop. I finished with Eylure Luxe Silk “Trillion” false lashes and then applied a few individual lashes on the bottom for a “Twiggy” effect. To complete the look, I used Buxom Cosmetics Big Tease Plumping Mascara for instantly plumped, longer lashes.”

 

“Giving the moisturizer plenty of time to penetrate the skin, I then applied a pore minimizing primer all over her face using a synthetic brush. I then mixed Buxom Cosmetics Show Some Skin Weightless Foundation in shade In the Dark with the Buxom Cosmetics Divine Goddess Luminizer and using a damp sponge I applied all over Janelle’s face, starting by her nose and blending upwards and outwards. Using my ring finger, I sparingly dabbed some Concealer under her eyes to brighten. I contoured her face, focusing on her cheeks, temples and forehead with Buxom Cosmetics Hot Escapes Bronzer in shade Maldives, which gives off the perfect sun-kissed color and flatters all skin tones. And to complete her face I applied a soft pink to the apples of her cheeks, with some Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Cream on top for a subtle glow.”

 

“Now that her eyes and skin are finished, I hydrated her lips with Kiehl’s Lip Balm #1, and filled them in slightly with the all-in-one plumping lip liner, Buxom Cosmetics Plumpline Lip Liner in shade Stealth. I finished the look with the ultimate plumping lip gloss, Buxom Cosmetics Full-On Lip Polish in shade Megan. The high-shine gloss tingles for a lusciously soft and seriously sexy pout. And a stunning red carpet look was born!”

Soft Surroundings is throwing a BIG PARTY this Saturday | The Summit

Soft Surroundings is celebrating another year of helping women to #LiveSoft by hosting an all-day party at our Birmingham store (at The Summit) this Saturday, January 27th, beginning at 10 am.  We truly appreciate our wonderful customers and have a very special day planned out for them, including:

  • A very special FREE GIFT for the first 50 customers at the event
  • 15% off your entire in-store purchase (we never do that!)
  • Tasty Sips & Sweets for you to enjoy while you shop

Soft Surroundings offers an amazing line of women’s apparel, luxurious bedding, and home décor, and incredible beauty and skincare products devoted to helping women take time out for themselves so that they can look and feel their best. Feel free to visit www.softsurroundings.com to get a better idea of our current product lines.

MARIA ARISTISOU Couture Show: Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week

Close your eyes and fly to the Secret Gardens of Alexander. A utopia, a fantasy land that euphoria is the only feeling of existence! A land with never-ending gardens of delicate Japanese flowers, that human eye cannot gasp in one breath!!! A land with human smiles that never will be forgotten and always watching over us.

 

One of them, close to my heart is Alexander Boulais! My agent in Paris! The person that with his instinct believed in my work. A gentle human soul, a nobleman that was always calm, soft-spoken with a genuine smile and loved his garden! May you be the wind and the light that crosses your Secret Gardens and always be a shining star upon us!

 

Maria Aristidou, a specialist in couture knitwear, created a fantasy colorful world for spring-summer daywear-eveningwear for women that romance, positive energy and freedom are the safety keys to happiness. A playground of flower patterns with silk viscose and metallic yarns where elaborate embroideries decorate the luxurious knit fabrics creations for the women today.  A collection with carefree curves and sleek cuts with unexpected details, and accessories that complete the beauty of this womenswear secret garden story!

ZIAD NAKAD Couture Show: PARIS HAUTE COUTURE FASHION WEEK

“I am Demeter, revered by all, the power most useful for gods and men,”
For his Spring Summer 2018 collection, Ziad Nakad decided to celebrate the “Goddess of wheat” and “Mother of the Earth”. Goddess who gathers the fruits of the earth and offers them to humanity; its cult is particularly flourishing in the countries where this wheat is found in abundance, in Sicily, in the region of Eleusis, in Crete, in Thrace, and in the Peloponnese.

 

Like a bird flying over the harvests, perfectly free, crossing a colorful sky, resplendent and singularly geometric: the pale blue of the firmament mixes with the yellow and gold of the wheat, the green of the earth, the coral of the ocean and the bronze trees at sunset. Wheat ears dot the dresses, a tribute to the most iconic representation of the goddess Demeter. Dress after dress, Ziad Nakad plays a subtle game that celebrates life in a precise mastered know-how and silk embroidery sublimated tulles.

 

Ziad Nakad created this collection for a strong woman, assumed, voluntary but also and especially generous, inspired by one of the most favorable deities to humans, as a symbol of accomplishment and peace.

 

Maria Aristidou Couture Show: PARIS HAUTE COUTURE FASHION WEEK

Close your eyes and fly to the Secret Gardens of Alexander. A utopia, a fantasy land that euphoria is the only feeling of existence! A land with never-ending gardens of delicate Japanese flowers, that human eye cannot gasp in one breath!!! A land with human smiles that never will be forgotten and always watching over us. One of them, close to my heart is Alexander Boulais! My agent in Paris! The person that with his instinct believed in my work. A gentle human soul, a nobleman that was always calm, soft-spoken with a genuine smile and loved his garden! May you be the wind and the light that crosses your Secret Gardens and always be a shining star upon us!

 

Maria Aristidou, a specialist in couture knitwear, created a fantasy colorful world for spring-summer daywear-eveningwear for women that romance, positive energy and freedom are the safety keys to happiness. A playground of flower patterns with silk viscose and metallic yarns where elaborate embroideries decorate the luxurious knit fabrics creations for the women today.

 

A collection with carefree curves and sleek cuts with unexpected details, and accessories that complete the beauty of this womenswear secret garden story!!!

 

RANI ZAKHEM Couture Show: Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week

Fury, fervor, effervescence! For his first couture fashion show in Paris, Rani Zakhem celebrates life and joy in incandescent metaphors. Fire is the essential element of this sumptuous yet relaxed collection, dedicated to a volcanic woman.

As devouring as ethereal, the sacred element comes in pyrotechnic explosions and cascades of gold, drawn by embroideries of arachnoid crystals of lava on the black of a sheath whose draped top splits into a deep “V” neckline.

Some creations seem to be sculpted in the light, like this pearl-beige silk dress, where red, orange and gold gems glow with a myriad of sequins that bring precious reflections back to the surface. Here the image of the volcano is spun to the neck, columned and entirely gilded, a recurring element of the collection and keystone of an architecture that favors ease, movement and, one would be tempted to add, the dancing flames that seem to devour the fabric barely touch the floor.
Reminiscent of a party in Vienna where the designer returned bedazzled, Klimt’s Kiss, itself cast in gold in a powder dust of stars, infuses into the collection a resolutely modernist visual vocabulary, translated into sequins of geometric forms. Geometry that also brings us into the disco spirit of the 1970s with many references to Halston, especially in a loose single shouldered fluid dress with a golden Mao collar, in a fanned out degradé rainbow, gold to red through yellow and bright orange. Gold, again, subtle and powdery, sculpts a feuille d’or chiffon dress, knotted in a wrap around bustier dropping into a deep backline, a tribute to Mireille Darc elegantly quoting Guy Laroche.

Clearly, the theme of fire sometimes extinguished leaving precious streaks of diamonds on silky nights; sometimes fluid, sizzling cascades of molten metal on a short dress with a dripping panel, and sometimes gently iridescent with warm colors is only a pretext chosen by Rani Zakhem to salute the masters who nourished his vocation.

A scarfed collared, vertiginously split yellow chiffon, plissé soleil dress with mouton sleeves, is a joyful smile addressed to Jean-Louis Scherrer. Another, short black silk satin, real Moujik tunic adorned at the bottom with pleated yellow faille embellished with a large bow of the same fabric is a nod to Yves Saint Laurent. A third composed of a densely embroidered golden top with narrow three-quarter sleeves and a long black pleated skirt is a reverence to Balmain. The heart skips a beat when the liquid gold drape of a silk jersey habillé evening sheath appears, ending with a large bow of black silk satin on the shoulder, a tribute of the designer to Madame Grès.

A black silk satin kaftan, embroidered on the edges with gold sequins and flame patterns at the bottom, recalls Rani Zakhem’s native orient and plays the bond between his multiple cultures.

A delicate apotheosis of this fashion show, shaped in flowing lava and blazing fires, is the wedding dress, long and tight, in delicate whitish lace, emphasizes by its precious simplicity the minimalist bias of a collection with budding emotions.

Laskaris Couture Show: Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week

She used to sleep with the snakes and nurse the reptiles. The Muse of the Laskaris House for the summer of 2018 is Olympias, the Princess of the Molossian of Epirus, the wife of Philip II, King of the Macedonians, and the mother of Alexander the Great.
The inspiration of collection is based on the travelogue of a strong woman. It begins with the birth of Olympias in Pasaronas, an ancient city of Epirus. The domesticated snakes are made of skins, embroidered with handmade enamels or depicted on clothes with dazzled Swarovski. The sandals of the collection are traditionally handmade, manufactured by Laskaris. The emblem of Epirus, an oak, gives its green color to mark the collection which is composed of ivory, pastel and bright green in Grecian style.
Olympias served in the Oracle of Dodoni, where had already been initiated into the bacchanalian mysteries. Thus, the entire collection is reminiscent of ancient Greek costumes of priestesses combined with pagan music from the Greek music band Daemonia Nymphe, which uses reconstructions of ancient instruments and lyrics in ancient Greek, with Bacchic ceremonies and invocations.
Then, the Olympias’ life journey leads us to Samothrace, where the designer Laskaris was born and where Olympias became a priestess of the Kavarion Mysteries. The legend says that Philip II had been initiated into the mysteries, where he met and fell in love with Olympias, in a mystic ritual orgy of Kavarion Mysteries.
The collection is influenced by the columns of the Temple of Samothrace, where the charismatic Great Alexander was conceived, during the ritual. The clothes are crafted by handmade meanders, destructurized columns, draped worked with real stones, beams of light, nervir, and copper.
Olympias told Philip II, that one night, Zeus came to her dreams in the formal of a snake and left her pregnant to Alexander the Great, which is why the Great Alexander was the son of god. Olympias then had only one mission: to make Alexander the most powerful man, as he became.
The last phase of the collection identifies Olympias as the wife of Phillip II in Pella and in Aigia – today’s Vergina -, where the leather, embossed flowers in the wreaths of the collection have been influenced.
A hymn to Vergina of Macedonia, Greece.
May our Alexandre B. rest in peace .

How To Mix & Match: Find the Perfect Outfit

Finding the right color for your outfit is no easy task.  You have probably read a thousand articles online telling you what works which makes it even harder for you to get the best results out of your wardrobe.

Use a Color Wheel

A lot of people talk about colors that compliment each other, which may lead you to believe that you should use colors that are similar to one another. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Black and white for example are actually classed as being complementary colors. This is why they look so great together and as they say, opposites do have a tendency to attract. Every color out there has a color that compliments and for this reason, you may want to try to use a color wheel. When using a color wheel you will quickly see the colors that work well and this is a great way for you to spice up your outfit.

Get Inspiration Online

You may find a top and jeans that you like as well. The problem is that when you put these items together, you may find they just don’t work. If you want to avoid all of this then it helps to look at the clothes that models are wearing. This will help you to know what style they are utilizing so that you can then apply it to your own wardrobe. Buying full outfits online is a great way to know if something is going to work and you would be surprised at how easy it is for you to get a deal online. If you don’t want to buy online because you are worried that the clothes won’t fit, simply go to stitch it and they can alter it for you.

Black and White is Your Friend

Neutral colors can really go a long way. If you want to mix colors but you are not sure if it is going to work then black and white is a brilliant way for you to stay safe. If you don’t want to go black and white then consider opting for colors such as white with beige or even grey. It does help to opt for colors such as brown as well, as this will help you to stay neutral while also making a very strong fashion statement. Long coats in beige or grey are also great and this is especially the case when you pair them with jeans and even some black boots as well.

So it isn’t easy to find the perfect wardrobe, but shopping for you and not for trends, you can be sure to find something that makes you feel more confident. Remember that jeans can work with just about anything and that black pants can work with nearly every single top out there. If you want to branch out, use the above tips and even use a color wheel as well.

Collaborative Post

 

Love is in the Air with Ann Taylor: Valentine’s Day Gift Selection

This Valentine’s Day, stray away from the classic chocolate and roses combination and find your partner a gift that is as beautiful as they are. Go on a date with Ann Taylor to help find that perfect gift for that special someone.

Featuring sparkly accessories, romantic hues, and a velvet touch at a budget-friendly price, even Cupid would be impressed with Ann Taylor’s Valentine’s Day gift selection. See gift ideas below featuring NEW accessories and shoes from Ann Taylor’s Spring 2018 collection.