Trend On Trial : A (Dark) English Rose

‘A rosebud lip, the first blush of spring and a luminous glaze in homage to the fresh start of the New Year”

I really wish my words carried as much imagery as Anita Bhagwandas words do but lets face it, I struggled through my GCSE English Language classes (though I wished my English Literature classes would never end) and the fact I can even string together a blog post that is not covered with grammatical errors is a win in my book. In this week’s StylistMagazine, the beauty team was inspired by the “Jane Austen-esque” makeup look worn by the Valentine S/S13 models and decided to try it out for the day.

While I’m all for natural and dewy makeup looks, I can’t say I have every tried anything remotely close to being classified as ‘English Rose” but I’m also up to try anything once the inspiration hits. So pushing aside my powders and vamp lipsticks; with a few colour appropriate tweaks, I’m going to don highlighters, concealers and a lot of rose pink for a “Dark English Rose” look.

Luckily for me I have normal skin so that’s half my job tackling concealers and correctors done, I’m still going to go in with Black|Up’s Corrector Palette in 02 to correct the purple-blue tones of the straightener burns on my forehead and the dents on my noses *Oh, the woes of being a glasses user* and apply a thin layer of Illamasqua’s Skin Base in No. 16 with a duo-fiber stippling brush.

I’m really focusing on highlighting my face for this look so taking my L’Oreal Paris True Match Concealer in Café Coffee, I’m going to highlight the bridge of my nose, my chin and under my cheekbones and slap on Becca Cosmetic's Beach Tint in Strawberry on my cheeks with MAC’s Stereo Rose MSF as my inner radiance highlighter  . . . or that’s what I’m aiming for anyway.

For that just bitten lip effect, I’ve taken MAC Apres Chic lipstick and blotted it on with some tissue to give my lips a rose colour that hopefully ties everything together.

You would think that a subtle look would involve less products but here you go . . . now all that’s left to decide is whether I want to go find my Mr. Darcy or curl up in my bed with a book.