Green Angel Fashion Show for Barnardos

Last week I took part in the fabulous Green Angel Skin Care Fashion Show in aid of Barnardos. The show was held in The Ballsbridge Hotel on Friday 22nd of March. First of all I’d just like to say that Barnardos is such a worthy charity and it was really nice to see so many people from the fashion industry coming together to help out such a fantastic cause.
The show was produced by Emma and James English’s company Couleur Productions who really pulled out all the stops (as usual) and was organised by the lovely Amanda Gavin.

Now for the fashion!! The show was styled by budding fashion designer Eamonn McGill. Eamonn did such an amazing job of the styling, I have to say this was one of the best styled shows I have ever been in. It was kept funky and interesting throughout yet the piece’s where still very wearable. Some of the stores featured where Karen Millen, Avoca, House of Fraser, The Ivory Closet and Lara Boutique.  Eamonn even showcased some of his original creations and I was delighted to be asked to close the show wearing one of his original designs, a bikini with angel wings (in keeping with the green angel theme).
Cathy O’Conor and  Noel Cunningham presented while some of Irelands top models from First Option, Assets, and Andrea Roche graced the catwalk, along with many celebrities and fashion industry insiders including fellow blogger Joanne Larby (The Make Up Fairy), Celia Holman Lee, Paddy Fitzpatrick, The Corminator, Roz Flanagan and many more.
Check out the pictures and a sneak peak video of the night below.
Mucho Love,
Aoife X

Video Filmed & Edited by Alan Farrell Timeline Production

Street Style at PYG Dublin

Friday night I went to Pygmalion to see Gerd, it was a great night and there was some really cool style there. I took some pics to share with you all and don’t forget to check out Gerd’s boiler room set (below).
Mucho Love,
Aoife

Ciara Glover

Katie Stenson

Ellie

The Blonds Spring Summer ’13

Even if you are not directly familiar with New York fashion duo Phillipe and David Blond  the chances are you’re familiar with their work. They are the go to designers for stage costumes and a huge list of celebs have donned their creations including, Rihanna, Katy Perry, Nicki Minaj, Christina Aguleria and Cheryl Cole (Who can forget that amazing gold jumpsuit from her a million lights tour!).

 

Having a look through their recent Spring Summer 2013 collection got me very excited, so I thought I’d share. It’s in your face and glamorous while still maintaining a level of cool and never trying too hard. In my book they can do no wrong. You can check out more from them here.
Mucho Love,
Aoife X

Xpose: YSL Make up

Last week I was lucky enough to be interning at Xpose. I was so lucky because due to the large amount of requests they constantly receive Xpose don’t take people for work experience/internships as a rule. However some of my presenting work was brought to the attention of one of TV3’s staff and they very kindly bent the rules for me a little and offered me the chance to see how Xpose works, as they thought of all the TV3 shows it would be the one that would best suit my personality.

I was put with one of TV3’s camera men Ronan out on the road and we went from place to place filming different packages for the show. Xpose usually features 7 packages in each show meaning there is lots of filming to be done every day! Ronan was really great and I learnt so much from him on all the different pieces we filmed. The first package we worked on was one for YSL in The Style Club on South William Street. We filmed this piece with Karen Koster (who I think I should mention was a really lovely girl and brilliant at what she does!). YSL’s head make up artist was flown in from London and he created 2 stunning looks on the models using all products from YSL’s new Spring/Summer collection.

The new YSL Spring/Summer collection is really gorgeous with lots of fresh pastel colours that are great for subtle but colourful summer looks and a fab cream blush (in 3 different shades) which is a must have for everyone this spring/summer to create that light dewy glow we see so often re-appearing every spring/summer. I really love the packaging of this collection and and as a whole it looks like an on trend summery well rounded collection that includes eye shadows, lip colours, blush, nail varnish and lots of lovely special additions!

YSL very kindly gave me the new Y Facettes Palette to review as a little sneak peek of the collection. I’ve been meaning to try a new highlighter for awhile as mines been running low so I was excited to try it. YSL have a great reputation when it comes to their illuminating products (of course I’m referring to the famous Touch Eclat!) so the Y Facettes Illuminating Palette had a lot to live up to, and as far as I’m concerned it didn’t disappoint! its a nude colour powder product with a slight shimmer and some very subtle glitter. I applied it along the top of my cheek bones and lightly to the bridge of my nose, the centre of my forehead and top of my brow bone for a little extra definition. It was easy to apply and looked great. The packaging is YSL’s signature gold, very classy, and as an added bonus it comes with a fab little storage pouch to protect it.

 

Overall I really like the product and the packaging of the Y Facettes Illuminating Palette and think its a great all round highlighter that can be used multi-purpose for contouring, eyes, or even just to add some extra sparkle to any look!
I’ll have more posts about my time in Xpose over the coming days. You can check out the video from one of the two looks created (An Anne Hathaway inspired look) here.

Mucho Love,
Aoife X

Karl Ferris

After last weeks post including some of my favourite models I’ve had a lot of requests to do a piece on some of my favourite photographers. There are so many photographers that I love its hard to choose just a few so that post will take some time and research.In the mean time I wanted to do a post on my favourite photographer of all time Karl Ferris.

Vedra Meditation (Ibiza 1970, used in 2011 Pacha flower power add campaign)

Karl Ferris’ work first caught my eye in Ibiza in 2011 when some of his work from 1970 was used as part of the flower power poster campaign. I fell in love with the pictures but no matter how hard I looked and researched I could not find out where they where from. It was only one day when reading model and designers Willy Van Rooy’s blog  that I saw an article about her time in Ibiza in the 1970’s, in the article she mentioned Karl Ferris and included some of his pictures, almost instantly I recognised his work and knew I had found my mystery photographer!

A lot of Karls most Iconic work was done in the 60’s and 70’s (before the times of photoshop and digital editing!) he has been credited by many to be one of the main innovators of ‘psychedelic’ photography and was a big trend setter during the time. He worked all over the world but spent a lot of his time based in London, Canada Ibiza and the US, he photographed all the big models and musicians of the era including Jimmy Hendrix, Paul McCartney and John Lennon to name a few.

It’s really difficult to find good quality images of Karl’s work online but here’s a link to the online version of his book ‘The Karl Ferris Psychedelic Experience’. Below is a little collage I made with some of his work.

Mucho Love,
Aoife X

Happy Thursday!

I have one more post to do about Miss Tourism World but I wanted to take a little break from that now and get back to what this blog started as, a style blog! Here’s some of my favourite shots of some of my favourite models to brighten up everyone’s Thursday morning, only one more day to the weekend!
Mucho Love,
Aoife X

Miss Tourism World: National Costume

One of my biggest stresses for Miss Tourism World was  trying to sort out a national costume. A national costume needs to be something that represents your country but also something that really stands out on stage. When I thought about an elaborate stage costume the first company I thought of was Love Jewles x.
Love Jewels is a fairly recent business venture set up by one of Ireland’s leading make up artists Julie Caufield. I first met Julie when we worked on a shoot together a few years back, she’s really creative so I wasn’t surprised at all when I saw she had expanded her creativity into costume design. Love Jewel’s is really unique and is filling a gap for high end costumes and customised pieces in the Irish market. Whether it be  for a dancer costume, a stage show, a fancy dress costume, or something a bit different for a photo shoot love jewels will have you covered with their extensive range.

One of Love Jewels more elaborate costumes, perfect for a shoot!

This one would look great as a dancer costume.

Stunning Julie models some of her custom studded bras (these can be made to order)

I called over to Jules house for a fitting and we tried on a few costumes. In the end we decided to go with a sparkly emerald green dress and the theme of my costume could be the emerald Isle.

I themed it with a black cloak, green necklace and a green shamrock embellished headband, I really loved the quality of this dress and I thought it really stood out and sparkled on stage, especially against the black.

Backstage with Ms Lebanon

On stage

In Bangkok Scene Magazine.

My shoes for the pageant where provided by my favourite online store NoPolka.com, if your a regular reader of my blog you will have seen me blog about nopolka before, I use them alot and find their online service to always be quick and very reliable. The shoes they provided me with for the pageant where great because they where super high with a 6.5inch heel (meaning they gave me that extra bit of height on stage) but still comfortable to walk in so that I didn’t have to worry about tripping or having sore feet during the show.

I love the suede effect and the red sole, I think it gives these shoes a really classic designer look. Nopolka are my go to brand for shoes and  these stunning heels are currently reduced to a bargain €39.19, unbeatable value! Unfortunately they don’t have many sizes left, but don’t worry there are plenty of other similar amazing bargain heels on the Nopolka website.

I really loved my national costume and thought it was a cool twist on the Irish theme, using two great Irish costume/clothing company’s. You can check it out in the video of the Miss Tourism World final below.
Until next time,
Aoife X

Polaroid and Film Shoot: Behind the Scenes

Last week I took part in what was a very different shoot for me. Most of my shoots to date have been digital, but this one was done solely using polarograph and film cameras. I had to adapt my style of modelling for this because its a lot slower and more set up (also film is more expensive to run so there’s no room for error or the photographer/client will incur unnecessary cost!).
The photographer for this shoot was Peter McCabe. Peter was great to work with, he has a real passion about using the older/original mediums of photography, its really refreshing and a little bit different which I loved!
Styling wise we went for a ballerina style. Rather then dance shots we took more of a fashion angle, like the ballerina in her dressing room before and after a show. We also played a little bit with a ‘Black Swan’ idea with the black and white outfits. The use of film and polaroid also adds a nice retro twist.
Heres a few sneak peeks and bts shots from the day and once I have the finished shots I’ll stick them up, I’m so looking forward to seeing them! If you’d like to see more of peters work here’s a link to his flicker.
Untill Next time,
Aoife X

Forever 21 autumn/winter ’12 collection

So summer is nearly over and winter is well and truly on its way. For me the only thing exciting about the approaching winter months is the prospect of a new a/w wardrobe, and forever 21 have just made that thought a lot more exciting with the launch of their brand new a/w collection!

They just recently released their latest campaign shots featuring their new face up and coming model Ashley Smith, and I just love everything about them. I think Ashleys young and quirky look really suit the brand and as far as the styling goes forever 21 are ticking all the box’s when it comes to a/w trends (studding, prints, leather, layering accessories, nude colours, ankle boots).
Some pieces I’m loving from this collection are this cute studded crop top (perfect under an open lumberjack  or with denim cut offs) and this eye catching green printed shirt (reminiscent of something you’d find in a vintage store!)

 
The best part about this collection though defiantly has to be the fact that everything is under £36 (€45) so its super affordable and perfect for updating your wardrobe!

Untill next time,
Aoife X

Sale Alert: Urban Outfitters!

Just a quick post to let everyone know my favorite shop in the world Urban Outfitters is having the most amazing online sale at the moment!

Not only is the sale a whopping 50% off many items but its also really extensive, covering womens, mens and home items!

Im loving this cute Truley Madly Deeply Batass Tee, its an online exclusive and has been reduced from €37 to €18.

Another great bargain, this lightning dye tank has been reduced from €39 to just €12. Check out this sale for yourself, its one of the best online sales I’ve seen in a long time!
Untill next time,
Aoife X