MAC X Marge Simpson: Packaging Design

This post is  a little bit different...  I don't tend to blog about upcoming collections from brands.  I love reading what's coming up, but when a MAC collection is being released, my Bloglovin' feed is filled with the same thing - the promo shots.  Being a designer, when I heard about the MAC X Marge Simpson line coming later this year, not only did the beauty addict in me get excited for what might be coming our way, but my design intuition kicked in.  I instantly started imagining what I would do if I was working for MAC; what products would I release to represent Marge Simpson, and just as importantly, how I would package it.

MAC have been getting a lot more creative with their packaging lately.  Their latest collection, Alluring Aquatic, was a gorgeous, metallic turquoise with realistic 3D water droplets .  Although I don't own any of this collection, I was seriously in awe of the packaging and how MAC translated the theme of the collection through the selection.

I decided I would do a quick mock up sketch as to how I would package a MAC X Marge Simpson lipstick. I mentioned this on Twitter lately, and got some nice feedback.  I went straight for the obvious; The Simpsons is a well known animation - we've all watched it and we've all grown up with it!  The collection is a celebration of 25 years of The Simpsons!  They're older than me!  (When I was younger, I used to get an annual every Christmas detailing all the episodes!)  I wanted to bring the animation across in the lipstick packaging, and created a simplistic, recognisable figure of Marge.  I used the base of the lipstick as her green dress, the usual silver rim was replaced for Simpson skin yellow, and the removable cap is textured, bright blue Marge hair.  I also slipped in a sneaky orange MAC logo to act as a little reference to her necklace!

I'm so excited for this collection, and I absolutely can't wait to see what they bring out!  I'm definitely hoping to get my hands on some of it, even if it's just one piece!  I hope you all liked my mock up!

What are your guesses for the MAC X Marge Simpson Collection?

Abel Organics Vintage '13 Eau de Parfum

I know you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but my freaking God this packaging is bloody gorgeous.  This is a limited fragrance from Abel Organics, and it is the Vintage '13.  The simple, recycled glass bottle is housed in protective, reclaimed oak casing with what looks like a little laser etched Abel logo.  It even comes beautifully wrapped in recycled paper packaging instead of a box!

A while back now, after declaring my love for the aesthetics, I was offered a small sample of Vintage '13 - only 2000 bottles of Vintage '13 were made, so I was very lucky to have obtained a vial!  It is a fragrance for both men and women, but the fragrance isn't one for everybody, and the brand are first to admit that.  I absolutely love it.  For me, it's definitely not a Summer fragrance, but for Winter, it's perfect.  With top notes of clove, bergamot and black pepper, middle notes of ginger, thyme and vanilla and base notes of Vetiver, Sandalwood and Amyris, this is warming, spicy and sensual.  Vintage '13 is believed to be the first 100% organic fragrance, produced with completely natural ingredients.

I want to say it's almost a Christmassy fragrance, but I feel as though I would wear this all the way through the colder months.  From the amount of Vinatge '13 that I had, I found that the scent was very long lasting and it even had the seal of approval from Liam - although, it's not one that he would wear despite it being a unisex fragrance.  At around £94 for 50ml, this isn't the cheapest of perfumes, so if you are interested, I'd definitely recommend ordering the sample vial for just over £4.  It is a lot to pay for a sample vial, but not as much as you would pay for the full size to not love it - the stockists of Abel are very select and there is only one in the UK, which is in London.

Whilst the fragrance might not be for everyone, I genuinely believe that Abel Organics is a brand to watch out for.  It is clear to see that each and every aspect of the fragrance has been carefully planned, and executed.  If studying Product Design taught me one thing, it's that translating your brand into your products is quite difficult, but the aims and values of the brand have been perfectly demonstrated in Vintage '13 and I can't wait to see what comes next.

Seriously, go and check out their website - the story of Abel and Vintage '13 is a really nice read and it's great to see a brand being so crystal clear in everything that they've done, as well as really setting out the journey of an idea for everyone to see.

Have you tried Abel Vintage '13?

Adventure Time: We Bought A House!

Today is the day I've been waiting for for what seems like years!  Liam and I have finally bought our first home together!  I've been absolutely dying to tell everybody the news, but we both decided to keep our plans under wraps until everything had been confirmed.  Well...I'm pleased to write that everything has all gone through, and we finally have a date for our move in!  We should get the keys to our first home on Friday!

Honestly, it has all come out of nowhere.  We had always planned that we would start looking for a house this year - it's been a year since I left University, and my job became permanent and contracted at the start of April.  We had intended to start looking, but did not at all expect to find something we loved so soon!

I might have given away some clues as my Pinterest board has been brimming with home décor ideas and DIY decorations and furniture the past few weeks, but I am so excited!  I can't even put it into words.  Liam and I have been together almost ten years, so finally living in a place of our own has been a very long time coming!  We've kind of lived together before, and by kind of, I mean I crashed at his flat when he was at University for five days a week so I could see him more as well as walk to college instead of having to get the train every morning.  But now, we have our perfect little house!  Well actually...we have a perfect little cottage!

With both Liam and I coming from a creative background, we both have so many ideas for what we want our house to look like!  Our cottage is eighteenth century, so we feel like we have a theme to keep, but we also want it to represent the two of us...'shabby chic' (I hate that phrase so much!) and vintage style just isn't our thing, so we're looking forward to giving a good twist on what is expected!  I don't know how you feel about design and interiors, but you can expect to see lots of wishlists, ideas and DIY's being thrown your way!  Now...bombard me with great websites for homewares as we are starting completely from scratch!

Any advice you'd like to give us?  Where is the best place you've found for bargain homewares?

Models Own Speckle Collection

The Models Own Speckle Collection was one I was really excited about.  I absolutely loved the look of the Illamasqua I'mperfection Speckled collection, but never managed to bag myself any what with being a skint student when that collection was released.  Last month, Models Own released their own interpretation of the nail polish at a fraction of the price - hurrah!  Luckily for me, I managed to bag myself the complete collection (and another collection I'll save for another day!) on one of their Twitter giveaways!

I absolutely love the look of these nail polishes and have worn every single one of them.  The collection consists of five nail polishes, and I have worn and loved them all!  The polishes apply quite sheer, so two to three coats make them fully opaque and the finish is semi matte.

Going from left to right on the swatches, we have Swan.  Swan is a really pretty pastel lilac, and I really like this shade.  Next is Magpie, which is quite a vibrant mint green.  It doesn't quite fit into the pastel category in my opinion, because a lot more white could have been added to get a true pastel mint.  Duck is the pastel blue, which is almost a cornflower blue.  Dove is the gorgeous pastel pink, which reminds me of strawberry ice cream!  And finally, we have Goose.  Goose is a bit strange for me, I still like it, but the shade is so unusual.  I think without the black flecks this would be a really nice custard yellow, but the black almost reflects back on it or something and I think it comes out a bit of a muddy yellow - almost like a pastel mustard.

The wear time I was initially really disappointed with, but soon realised that the problem was in my base coat.  Removing the troublesome base coat, I found that the nail polish lasted a good five days with minimal chipping!

I absolutely love these nail polishes - they're such an easy way to add an interesting effect to your nails without going for sparkly glitter or intricate nail art!  I think my favourite is either Magpie, or Dove!

Do you own any of the Speckle Collection?  Which is your favourite?

Nails Inc Kensington Caviar Top and Base Coat

In one of my previous ASOS hauls, I managed to pick myself up a Nails Inc Kensington Caviar Top and Base Coat for less than the cost of one bottle!  It was a huge bargain and I was feeling pretty pleased with myself.

The Kensington Caviar Base Coat (left) was one that I had never tried before.  It is a pink base coat, which dries semi matte with a pink sheen...yep, a pink sheen.  It's such a shame, because the caviar extract in the base coat is both strengthening and nourishing, and I did notice some strengthening to my horrendously weak nails.  But the sheer pink can alter the shades of some of my lighter nail polishes, which I've been reaching for more now it's getting into the warmer months.  I don't think you could even get away with wearing just the base coat either, because the colouring applies quite unevenly and is obvious against the natural nail.

I'd tried the Kensington Caviar Top Coat (right) before, as I had a small sample in a Glossybox and really liked it.  I do still love the top coat, and it gives a really nice, high gloss finish and dries to touch dry quite quickly!  I have found that, like the base coat, if you apply this in too thick of a layer there is a pink tinge to lighter shades so thin coats are the way to go.  I feel like this works better without the base coat.  Since using the base coat alongside the top coat, my nail polish chips really easily in large chunks, or just peels up completely.  It's almost like the base coat is a bit like PVA glue, and it just peels up in one big sheet of nail polish which is actually damaging my weak nails and leaving them flakey and peeling.  Wearing the top coat without the matching base coat, I found that my nail polish lasted really well!

I think that next time, I'll just repurchase the top coat as a single, unless I can get the duo for cheaper than one like this time!  But I still don't think I can beat my Nail Envy...

Have you tried the Nails Inc Kensington Caviar set?

Converted to Reverse Hair Washing

I have seen the word 'co-washing' thrown around the internet for a while now.  I first read about products specifically appearing for the purpose of co-washing - conditioner washing, in which you ditch your shampoo once or twice a week and just cleanse with a nourishing conditioner.  But I've more recently read about reverse washing - washing your hair with conditioner before you use shampoo.  Co-washing didn't appeal to me at all.  I have fine hair, which is pretty thin, it's naturally straight, a bit flat and does get greasy ridiculously quickly.  The idea of washing my hair in a rich conditioner just didn't make me think clean hair, it made me imagine grease, and lots of it.

A few weeks ago, I was feeling particularly daring and decided to reverse wash my hair.  I applied my conditioner, concentrating on the mid lengths and ends, rinsed and then worked my hair into a nice lather with my shampoo.  On drying I was actually really surprised.  My hair didn't feel dry at all and felt super clean.  I felt like I could see every hair strand where as normally it all blends together.  My hair felt totally smooth, and normally I have a bit of frizz but everything was smoothed into place!  I didn't notice any extra volume on my roots, but my mid lengths and ends, which are normally weighed down with conditioner residue, definitely had a lot more body.  My flat roots were easily fixed with some volumising hair mousse.

I'm completely a reverse hair wash convert, and have been reverse washing every single time!  My hair is getting all the nourishment from the conditioner still, but it's not being weighed down with any residue because shampooing after completely cleanses the hair.  If you have fine hair like me, or if you find conditioner too heavy, I'd completely recommend trying this because I think you'll be surprised!

Have you tried reverse washing?  What's your top hair care tip?

Benefit Coralista Lip Gloss

I am not a major fan of lip gloss, so it has come as a surprise to me that I have found one that I really, really love.  Back in January, you might remember that I bought a bargain Benefit tin, which was the It's a Love Fest, set and inside was a miniature Benefit Coralista Lip Gloss!

The reason behind my long hatred for lip glosses is obviously the horrendous sticky feeling that you are more often than not left with.  The Benefit gloss gives super shine, with the smooth feeling of a balm!

The colour of this gloss is quite sheer, and gives me a gorgeous, natural shade to my lips with an ever so slight hint of coral.  I've been wearing this shade so much lately, especially on the days that I just can't be bothered with a face of make up.  It's so pretty for Spring and Summer make up looks.

I love the miniature size of this, and it has accompanied me on both days and nights out.  I honestly think that I will be buying a full size version of this when this runs out, and will definitely be looking into the other shades!  Who knows, I might even have to treat myself to the matching blush...

Have you tried any of the Benefit Lip Glosses?  What's your favourite?