SamanthaCardno: 2013

Tuesday 24 September 2013

My 3 favourite summer nail polishes

As Summer has fallen swiftly into Autumn I thought I would share some of my favourite summer nail colours as an official see ya later summer wrap up. Since I started growing my nails like a proper married lady should I've really really taken to painting my nails every other day to keep any temptation of biting away. I also detest chipped nails - tacky!

Although my nail polish collection is steadily increasing, I tend to be quite seasonal with colour choices and have really been loving these three colours;

1. Essie's Bikini So Teeny - a gorgeous pastel blue

2. Nails Inc Totes Pink - an opaque baby pink which I got free in an InStyle magazine so I don't know if it's available anymore

3. Mavala's Nice - a deep red/orange

What are your tried and tested colours for summery talons?

S x

Saturday 8 June 2013

Illamasqua Haul

Hi everyone,

did anyone else take advantage of the 50% off everything promotion Illamasqua did a couple of weeks ago when they reached 50,000 likes? I totally did and I couldn't be more pleased with myself. I've been a lover of Illamasqua ever since my little sister Louise of The Baking Fashionista bought Skin Base a ages ago and I kept sneaking into her makeup collection and stealing some when I lived at home. But since I moved out in September after I got married I decided that the time has came to purchase my own.

Illamasqua was founded in 2008 and has went from relatively unknown to cult brand status. Their high performance cosmetics encourage the boldly beautiful eccentric in all of us to come out to play with its roots in stage and screen make up. Unfortunately, there are currently no Illamasqua counters in Aberdeen with the nearest counter to me 180 miles away :(

However, Illmasqua do provide a great way to determine foundation shades by offering a Skinbase Foundation Shade Chart which more beauty brands should definitely offer for customers purchasing online. Essentially, when trying to figure out what skinbase shade you are you can cross-reference with the chart with other brand's foundations to give you a more accurate idea of what will suit you. Also when you click on the each shade it gives you a mini description of the tones in each one ie: my shade is no.5 which is a yellow undertone with pink.

So this is what I bought:

If I had purchased these products at full price my order would have came to £110.00 altogether but with the 50% off promotion it came in at £55.00 which I though was amazing for 5 items that include a foundation and a palette!

These have been such a great addition to my growing make up collection because of the the fantastic pigmentation and lasting power. I've worn the eye palette almost everyday since it arrived and have received a lot of compliments on it so far. The only thing I haven't tried yet is the eye shadow in Anja as I intend to recreate the make up look Lisa Eldrige created for the Tippi Hedren look from Birds which you can watch here.

I've swatched the colours here:

Complement Palette

(R-L): Slink(soft champagne shimmer), Focus (cool brown metallic), Forgiveness (rich chocolate plum), Queen of the Night (blackened plum)

Pure Pigment in FURORE

Pure Pigment in ANDROID

Powder Eye Shadow in ANJA

(R-L): Furore (champagne peach shimmer), Android (shimmering charcoal black), Anja (bright sky blue, matt finish)

Skin base

The skinbase foundation provides good buildable coverage and mixes really well with my other foundation when I need different shades if I have a tan etc. It gives a lovely healthy, glowy finish and I've been a fan of this cult product for a while.

I also follow Illamasqua's instagram were the post the most incredible make up looks. Here's a few:

Have a lovely weekend,

S x

Wednesday 24 April 2013

Writer's block

Hey guys,

First off I want to say I'm sorry i haven't written anything in about 3 months, i guess I went on a kind of hiatus from writing because I was pretty ill for a while and was in a bit of a crossroads career-wise where I didn't know what to do with my life. I didn't feel like writing anything because I put a lot of pressure on myself to make this into more than just a hobby and it led to me resenting my little space on the internet.
But I've realised how much I miss this, just writing about things because I want to, not because I feel I should. I'm going to write for the joy it gives me and not care where it takes me.
I went to London last week for work and I think thats when I realised that there's still more life to live outside my little house and village. I used to dream of travelling the world and writing about beautiful things whilst wearing equally beautiful things but after i got married I kind of got caught up in the romance of having my own house and waking up next to M and my ambition seemed to fade because all I wanted to do was to become a housewife and nest and look after my husband. None of these are bad things and are still things I love to do but I've still got much more I want to accomplish and dreams I want to fulfil so new dreams can take their place.

There is a great quote that sums up my feelings just now:

So hopefully this explains why I've been so silent this past while but I'm back and very much raring to go!

Samantha x

Thursday 31 January 2013

So MAJ that she is totally BA-NA-NAHS!!

I want this woman's job, actually I her want her closet...maybe, probably both!

I wanted to do a post about Rachel Zoe because she's one of my inspirations career-wise as well as style-wise. I love all most all of the looks she puts together for her clients (Anne Hathaway, Jennifer Garner, Kate Hudson etc) as well as her own personal outfits.

Yes, she is petite in the extreme but that should not discredit her work ethic or styling abilities. I remember when I was younger and magazines called Nicole Richie and Lindsay Lohan 'zoe-bots' because their style choices became more in sync with Zoe's but mainly because their figures changed drastically, again more in sync with Zoe's.

But all I could think when I looked at them was that they had never dressed better. Previous to this all I thought of when I imagined Nicole Richie was circa her Simple Life days where she looked trashy and obnoxious. Fast forward a few years and Nicole's personal style is another one of my fashion inspirations and her jewellery and clothing lines are beautiful. I thought it was unfair of the media to attack Zoe, blaming her as the root of size zero evil, she is hardly locking their refrigerators and kitchen cupboards forcing them not to eat anything. Her other clients looked healthy and beautiful, she can't be held responsible for a client's change in weight loss/gain.

But anyway thats all irrelevant now, I just wanted to share that I love Rachel's glam-luxe effortless 70's urban bohemia style. I also loved watching The Rachel Zoe Project on Bravo and hearing her hilarious catch phrases and banter with her husband Roger.

Here's some of my favourite Rachel looks:

Samantha

Wednesday 30 January 2013

And best dress goes too....

I love awards season for the amazingly major dress action.

I try to record most of the award shows but we still haven't got our sky/cable organised so i'm having to resort to online :(

Golden globes dresses were lovely but I wasn't blown away completely by the dresses overall to be honest. Anne Hathaway in Chanel was standout my FAVOURITE look of the night. I say 'look' because her hair/make up/ skin tone just everything overall was as goldilocks would say JUST RIGHT!! She was divine monochrome, classic, Chanel perfection.

Here's some of my favourite looks...