beauty goss has moved!

Hi, thank you for coming to check out my blog - visit the new and improved beauty goss at

www.beautygoss.com

tamsin xo

how well do you smell?

I am currently writing a story about fragrances for a magazine and I stumbled across this fact: The top selling fragrance in Farmers Department store is non other than Elizabeth Arden's Red Door!

I've interviewed fragrance buyers, brand managers and even the fragrance guru Michael Edwards himself! It's been quite an enlightening experience. It's made me think about how we choose our fragrances.

There are sooo many new fragrances launched every year. I think the number has gone from something like a couple of hundred new releases per annum five or so years ago to 1000 this year! It's a highly competitive market with so many options vying for our hard earned dollars. What's added to this trend significantly is the rise of the celebrity scent. The Britney Spears, J Lo, Hilary Duff, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kate Moss, David Beckham, Sean John... the list is endless.

So how do you choose your fragrance? Does a celebrity spike your interest and you'll purchase it if the juice smells good on you? Do you only choose designer fragrances? Will you buy because a friend has it? Or will you utilise the expertise of the shop assistant and discover a fragrance that works with what you like?

M.A.C attack

Forgive me dear readers for I have sinned, it has been six days since my last beauty obsession, ah confession. It's been a busy week as I catch up on work after being sick!

I did have time to scope out what's coming up on style.com and spied this gorgeous runway look from Tuleh featured as a backstage confidential! Even better - we get all the details and I mean ALL the details. Makeup artist Polly Osmond created these divine metallic lids using a combination of two matte M.A.C eyeshadows and three sparkling pigment shades. The key to her success - blend, blend, blend with a round fluffy brush! (They always say it like it's so easy but fear not if you don't have luck the first time trying - it does take a while to master).

I cruised into the M.A.C store in Chancery Lane, Auckland, to see what new products they've got and I fell in love with the colours in the StarFlash collection. What makes this range so divine is the creamy formulation of the shadows - it's a cinch to apply and doesn't leave pesky fallout on the checks. It will literally stick to your skin and stay there - mine stayed put from 7am-evening. No creasing, no fading. In the pot the colours could be a little overwhelming - purple, aqua, lilac, pink, beautiful bronzes and gold but you choose how bright you want to wear them by how much you apply. Build for an intense pop of colour or use sparingly for a gorgeous sheen. The worst thing about this range? It's limited edition - so get in quick. I reckon these beauties will be a must-have over our humid summer!

are you in a beauty rut?

It's so easy to do - start with a look, develop it, master it and then stick with it because really, we're way too busy to be messing about with makeup. When you've only got 15 minutes to be out the door, it goes without saying that the liner-shadow-blusher and gloss combination you've been doing for a while (and can do without thinking) is what your fingers will be doing while you contemplate the quickest driving route to said event.

But is it time for an update? Are you using a colour palette from three seasons ago - (does it really matter as long as it suits)?

Well we're in August now, which means that the spring/summer clothes and makeup are about to hit the stores. There's a bevy of new lipstick colours just waiting to be sampled and added to your bulging makeup bag. And when it comes to a quick look update - nothing does it better than a new lippie. It's a quick, cheap and safe way to add a new dimension to your beauty routine. Stay tuned as I preview the colour collections as they hit the shelves in the next couple of weeks.

In the meantime, consider these celebs with their tried and tested style signatures. Gwen Stefani has mastered the platinum blonde, red lips looks for sometime now; Angelina Jolie does the perfect cat-eye and nude lip; whereas Victoria Beckham has her 'pob' and razor sharp cheekbones. What do you think? Time for these girls to get a beauty update?

Do you have a signature style? A certain way you always do your hair and makeup that you know works? What is it and how did you end up with it?

crowning glory

To be the best, is to be supreme - Caleb Alex from Servilles Newmarket won the prestigious Supreme Award on Saturday night at the L'Oreal Color Trophy Awards.

His winning style is a short, textured cut that is somehow both pretty and edgy. It clearly suits his gorgeous model (who would probably look hot in any hairstyle), with length at the front and a cropped finish at the back. The colour is modern, wearable and more than a mere nod to the blonde trends we'll see as we head towards summer (go blonder and lighter is the mantra).

Caleb has been in the industry since graduating from the Servilles Academy in 1999 and enjoys challenging the status quo. What does he see in the future for hairdressing?

"I think hair styles will be more technical, structured and strong, while colour will become bolder," he says.

What do you think of his winning style? Have you or would you chop off all your hair or go lighter?

home or salon?

One of the more unfortunate side effects of being laid up on the couch in a near vegetative state while battling the flu is exposure to the drivel that is daytime television - particularly infomercials.

For the majority of last week, as I battled the bug within, I found a whole new world of possibilities. Shiny faced, glossy haired, robotic women with glowing white teeth extolled the virtues of various products that will not only eliminate wrinkles but add much needed happiness to my life, simply by using their products. I'm talking about Youthful Essence by Susan Luci. Have you seen this?

It's an at-home microdermabrasion kit consisting of a tool that mimics the apparatus a beauty therapist would use to slough away the dead skin cells sitting on the top layer of skin. Of course the tool is not enough - there's a bevy of products that go with it - cleanser, toner, moisturiser and so on. All for only $49.95 (I think, if my memory serves me correctly). Which is a tempting offer. Especially considering that in-salon microdermabrasion treatments cost upwards of $100 and more than one is necessary to achieve the desired results (smooth, trouble free skin that glows). And when you're faced with half an hour of happy, shiney women claiming their amazing skin is the result of this product, it's almost irresistible. Almost.

The problem with these at-home treatments is that they are NEVER the same as what you receive at the salon. The active ingredients are not as high. It has to be so much safer to reduce the risk of the user harming themselves. Microdermabrasion is a pretty non-invasive procedure - it's all done on the surface of the skin. Diamond-like crystals are swished around performing the ultimate exfoliation and sucked away with useless, dead, pore-clogging skin cells. The Youthful Essence machine swirls beads in a circular motion to perform the same task. It definitely has it's place - more of us should exfoliate more often. But it's still not the same as what a trained beautician will do.

It got me thinking about what beauty treatments I would forgo having done at the salon to do at home. I very quickly concluded not many. I definitely wouldn't dare try waxing my own bikini line. I like going to my little Indian lady to have my eyebrows threaded (a mere $4). I certainly love the experience of receiving a facial, even though I have reduced my visits lately - it just seems like such a luxury in such hardened times.

Have you ever bought an at-home treatment from an infomercial? Did it work? Do you still use it? What beauty treatments have you given up lately to save a bit of cash?

fresh look for spring

There's something decidely refreshing about the August cover of British Vogue. Perhaps it's the gold and blue hues which immediately evoke images of the beach, or the sunkissed colour of both skin and hair.

I love Lily Donaldson's caramel coloured locks, loosely curled with honey highlights. I also love her makeup by L'Oreal, it's natural yet modern without being too trend driven. It just looks so easy and unfussy.

What I'm particularly taken with is the colour of her nails. I have a penchant for nabbing the newest colour and was quick off the mark to dip my talons in Chanel's navy nailpolish 'Blue Satin'. My only complaint (apart from the fact it chips too easily) is that it is perhaps a little too dark and closely resembles black. This is a lighter shade of blue and looks really pretty. According to the credits it is 'Resist and Shine UV Nail Varnish' in Meteorite Black. I hope it's available in NZ!

It's hard to even contemplate getting excited about spring or summer while the country is being pelted with gale force winds and rain, but this cover shines like a little beacon of warm weather hope!