A Chic Halloween Tutorial & London Drugs Cosmetics Contest

Check it out! If you're looking for a fashionable Halloween look, I've got a tutorial video for you! I teamed up with London Drugs Cosmetics to put together a gorgeous Vampire Chic how-to video to get you inspired for the #LDglamoween contest they're running right now! Check out the video and then share your #LDglamoween beauty look for a chance to win a $100 London Drugs gift card...I'll be choosing the winner November 6th, so get your entries in by November 5th! (See HERE for contest details)

See HERE for contest details!

Happy Styling! xo

~Britta

Vancouver Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2015: Day 2

Day 2 of Vancouver Fashion Week, I was covering the event on behalf of London Drugs Cosmetics, catching the shows, and spending some time backstage to see as much inspiration as possible! I chatted with VFW Beauty Director Yasmin Morshedian to find out what looks she had been creating all day, and what we can expect to see for Spring/Summer 2015. Graphic liners and smokey eyes are set to be big trends, not just for fall/winter anymore, according to Yasmin! On the other hand, pastel lids will also be a key trend, and are easy to re-create with COVERGIRL Bombshell Shine Shadows. As always, if eyes are the focus, lips should be muted, in shades of nude.

It's always hard to keep in the zone while seeing all these Spring/Summer collections on the runway when in reality we're in the heart of fall now. I decided on deep, deep colours for my outfit and makeup, but thought it would be fun to use a touch of pastel to contradict all the darkness. My amazing pastel statement necklace is from Olive + Piper, while my smouldering makeup was actually the COVERGIRL beauty look created for the runway of Nina Tan's collection last season (follow the link for a tutorial on the berry smokey eye)!

Outfit: Dress-Asos, Shoes-BCBGeneration (via Vince Camuto), Necklace-Olive+Piper

Make-up: Eyes-COVERGIRL Fairytale Palette, Lips-COVERGIRL Lip Perfection lipstick in Divine & Euphoria, Nails-Revlon Gel Envy in Wild Card

With Kassandra of Kassinka Designs, in a Kassinka Original!

With the two always-fashionable ladies behind Style By Fire, Aurora Chan & Miranda Sam (both in designs by Dawson & Deveraux)

Happy Styling! xo

~Britta

Vancouver Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2015: Day 1

I headed backstage at Vancouver Fashion Week on the first day of runway shows with London Drugs Cosmetics, to meet up with COVERGIRL Make-up Pro Amélie Ducharme. I've definitely become more of a beauty buff over the last year, so I was eager to find out what I can look forward to for beauty trends in spring & summer 2015. According to Ducharme, fresh and healthy skin will be a big trend, and she showed me COVERGIRL's TruBlend foundations, which much to my delight she informed me match 98% of skintones! Now, considering how hard I find it to match my poor pale skin to most foundations, that is pretty fantastic news for me.

Dressing for the shows was a blast; I've been pining after tulle skirts for many years now, and since discovering Space 46 Boutique, I've become utterly obsessed with them. After hours (I'm serious, hours) of deciding on a colour, I choose their Wendy Tulle Skirt in black (and assured myself I would get the Wendy in blush later...). I envisioned a pair of hot pink heels to go with my outfit, but no such thing was available on short notice, so I grabbed myself a pair of nude Arturo Chiangs from the thrift store and spray painted them fluorescent pink! It doesn't last forever, but for a night or two, it'll do the trick!

I was very impressed by the level of sophistication we saw in the designs of VFW Day 1. Akira Kuwabara's 3-D designs, while not exactly practical, were stunning pieces of artwork. There was something truly mesmerizing about texture of tiny plastic triangles- and it looked even more amazing up close and personal backstage! On the opposite side of the spectrum, the designs of Dawson & Devereaux were polished and refined; however they also possessed a tad of edginess, whether it was a plunging neckline with chain detailing, or an asymmetrical hemline. I would wear their designs in a heartbeat! It would definitely make the perfect attire for afternoon tea. You can see pictures of some of my favourite collections of Day 1, including Akira Kuwabara and Dawson & Devereaux's collections below:

Shirt-H&M, Necklace-Nobis&Grey, Skirt-Space 46 Boutique, Heels-Arturo Chiang(thrifted)

Hanging out in the London Drugs VIP lounge, playing with all the COVERGIRL LipPerfection shades you can imagine!

Pantene Pro-V Stylist Justin German and COVERGIRL Make-up Pro Amélie Ducharme

Interviewing Lisa and Mary Zilba, who debuted their collection of Lotus Activa yogawear

 With Lisa and Mary Zilba of Lotus Activa

Lots of COVERGIRL goodies backstage!

COVERGIRL Make-up pro Amélie Ducharme touches up my make-up and lets us in on the hottest make-up trends for Spring/Summer 2015

Akira Kuwabara

Dawson & Devereaux

Evan Clayton

Priscille Canivet

Santa Clara

Thabo Makhetha

Happy Styling! xo

~Britta

Afternoon Tea for Fashionistas: TWG Tea Haute Couture Tea Service from The Urban Tea Merchant

Cards on the table, I'm overly obsessed with afternoon tea! There's just so much to love about it...the fresh scones, the sweet macarons, the perfectly steeped tea, and - of course - the dressing up for it! And so it seems natural that The Urban Tea Merchant would want to offer a TWG Tea Haute Couture tea collection and tea service, combining fashion and tea for the afternoon tea lovers out there. I was invited to try it out for myself, along with bloggers Claire of Von Vogue and Whitney of Macarons and Mischief, and now I can share with you a mouth watering teaser of what you can expect! 

Not only is the food beyond delicious (you can tell just by looking at them below), but the service is truly spectacular as well. Chef Michael Riley even surprised us with a few new items to taste: a tea infused tiramisu, and tea infused ice creams (chai was my favourite!). The tiramisu was infused with TWG Tea Number 12 Tea, which itself has notes of coffee in it, which explains why it's a perfect match for tiramisu. What is really interesting, though, is that Chef Riley also loves to experiment with infusing tea in savouries as well. In fact, several of the savoury items in the Haute Couture Tea Service are infused with TWG Tea.

We tasted a few different TWG Teas, including the Haute Couture Follow Me Tea and French Earl Grey Tea; earl grey is always a favourite of mine, but the Follow Me Tea was surprisingly delicious, with its notes of succulent pineapple. I've been hoping to expand my tea selection at home, and it sounds like I've found a new favourite! An added bonus: with the purchase of the Haute Couture Tea Service, you receive a $5 voucher towards a TWG Tea Haute Couture tea.

If you love your tea, and have a penchant for delicious treats and fashion, The Urban Tea Merchant Haute Couture Tea Service should be on your to-do list this fall!

The massive selection of TWG Tea available at The Urban Tea Merchant

First tea of the day: TWG Tea Haute Couture 'Follow Me' tea, with notes of royal pineapple

Haute Couture Tea Service

Left to right: mini poached lobster benedict, beef carpaccio, TWG Tea Dignitary's Tea smoked chicken in sesame cone

Left to right, back to front: TWG Tea macaron, Chocolate Tea profiterole, Devon crème & tea-infused jelly with fresh baked scone

Left to right: Chocolate-dipped strawberries, Tokyo-Singapore Tea lime-mango tart, French Earl Grey Tea petit four opera cake, Weekend in Venice panna cotta

Left to right: TWG Tea infused ice cream (earl grey, chai, matcha), tea infused tiramisu

Mmm...Silver Moon French Press (prosecco, Silver Moon Tea)

 The Urban Tea Merchant's TWG Tea infused macarons...heaven!

Happy Styling! xo

~Britta

Vancouver Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2015: Opening Gala

There aren't nearly enough reasons to wear a sequin maxi skirt, but the Opening Gala of Vancouver Fashion Week is definitely one of them! I love starting fashion week with the gala because it gives us just a taste of what's to come; you get a chance to see a piece from each designers' collection, which will be showcased later in the week. I took photos of a few of my favourites on the runway that you'll find below. As always, VFW brings a great variety of styles, from collections that resemble art pieces to ready-to-wear designs, it definitely keeps things interesting!

We kept ourselves very entertained; other than the obvious runway shows, there were Pantene & Covergirl beauty bars set up for touch-ups, an Instagram wall, Modiface stations, and of course the London Drugs VIP lounge. The Modiface booths were a really cool addition this season, especially if you wanted to try some of the new Covergirl shades without applying over top of your make-up. Essentially, the Modiface technology detects your face on the screen, and then you're able to pick and choose any of the 500 Covergirl shades of eye shadow, foundation, blush or lipstick that will appear on the screen on your face! When you're done, it even prints out a page with the exact products you tried listed...and a coupon! The technology will be rolling out at the London Drugs stores in Kerrisdale and Salt St. & Athletes Way starting October 3rd, and at West Broadway and Marine & Byrne from November 7th to 14th.

I have lots more Vancouver Fashion Week updates to come, stay tuned!

Top-One Clothing(via Winners), Necklace-Sears, Skirt-Love Alana Designs(in gold here)

With Kassandra of Kassinka (how amazing is that braided hair??)

The London Drugs Cosmetics VIP Lounge

P&G Communications Manager, Manon Lapierre (front) & former Real Housewife / Designer Mary Zilba (back)

Left to right: Priscille Canivet, Renata Buzzo, Nyoluoch, Santa Clara 

Left to right: Akira Kuwabara, Jeehyun Lee, Shravan Kumar, Suitably Enough

Left to right: Dawson & Devereaux, Taranjit K Cheema, Joffrey Mongin, Olya Shishkina

Trying out a new make-up look with COVERGIRL'S Modiface technology (available at select London Drugs)

Happy Styling! xo

~Britta