Last Saturday the lovely Gabriel Llano taught me how to apply false eyelashes properly.
I'd worn false eyelashes before for shoots & events, but I'd never really attempted to try it alone. I'm a bit of a disaster when it comes to sticking them on: last time I'd tried was a couple of years ago, and the glue just ended up going all over my face, hands & eyes. It was something I wanted to try again, but knowing my luck, one of the eyelashes would lose stickiness midway through dinner.
Gaby asked me to bring him H&M eyelashes, as well as special eyelash glue (he recommends buying a special eyelash glue instead of using the one that comes in the box- it is not expensive & lasts longer). We met at our usual spot- Moncho Moreno's salon in Madrid- and he taught me how to apply them, as well as customizing them to fit my eye & look more natural.
Here is Gaby's May tip- I hope you find it useful :)
I love Anni. She is as sweet as her songs, and loads of fun to be around.
We first met in December'10, when I interviewed her for Mtv, & stayed in touch ever since then.
The Spanish singer/songwriter has been writing a follow up to her first album "Start, Restart, Undo" (2009) for the past 3 years. "Oh, Monsters!" was released last month, & I was really excited to finally listen to it. I can't wait to see her live in Madrid at the end of this month.
Anni has started touring, & is going to be writing about her tour experience on her new blog on Harper's Bazaar Spain.
I popped in for a chat with her whilst she was getting ready for her Harper's Bazaar Spain May'12 feature.
Here is what we talked about. I hope you are having a good week :)
Last Friday I had the pleasure of attending Calzedonia's "Recicla Tu Bañador" ("Recycle Your Swimsuit") launch event in Madrid.
Calzedonia gives you a 5€ discount on a new bikini/ swimsuit from their store if you bring an old one in to be recycled (the old bikini/ swimsuit can be of any brand). The old ones you exchange for the discount are recycled by "I Collect Ag", an international company that will recycle them in an eco-friendly, legal & ethic way. This initiative will last throughout the whole month of May.
I spent the morning at the brand's store in the heart of Madrid, catching up with other bloggers, checking out their Summer'12 collection (click here to see my favorite bikinis for this summer), & chatting to Malena.
Here is a little vido with Malena in Spanish. My apologies for the lack of subtitles!
From left to right: Miranda Makaroff, Ainhoa Rebolledo, Anni B Sweet, Ana Fernández, Marina Salas & Tania Llasera.
Last month we all got together in Daylight Studio (Madrid) to shoot a little feature on our views on dating & men for Marie Claire Spain.
We spent a fun day shooting (with lovely photographer Cristina López), gossiping, chatting about guys & enjoying the catering.
Here is a little video I edited from the shoot. Thanks to Marie Claire & all of the girls for a lovely day, & special thanks to Miranda for helping me with the footage :)
I love braids. Specially when they are on top of my head, and get all of my hair out of the way.
After a long month of work & travelling, Gaby & I met up at Moncho Moreno's hair & beauty salon last week to film April's video tutorial. We decided to do something a bit special for the April tutorial.
Up until last week, I only knew how to do simple braids. Gaby taught me how to braid it properly, all the way around my head. I suggest watching the video with a friend / sister / somebody who you can practice on, and somebody who can practice on you.
Later on that day I wore it to the Condé Nast Traveler Spain awards the other night, & kept it in the next day. It lasted for ages! Once you've practiced a bit, it gets easier and easier to do.
I hope you find his instructions as useful as I did. Enjoy!
I landed in Manchester airport & stood by the designated luggage conveyor belt for about half an hour before I realized my suitcase was not going to make an appearance anytime soon.
After another 30 minutes of waiting around, checking every other conveyor belt, & even in the plane, the man who was in charge of helping me find it received a phone call saying my suitcase had been left behind in Madrid. They also said it would it would be sent to me on the next flight from Madrid to Manchester- in 3 days.
The overall process would take about a week- which meant I was stuck in Manchester with nothing but a jacket, the black skinny jeans & t-shirt I was wearing, 3 handbags & 3 pairs of shoes (I like to keep my accessories in my hand luggage, for some bizarre reason).
Jord, who meeting me at the airport, took me straight to Trafford Center (Manchester) where I ended up at the best place to go when you have the perfect excuse to buy new clothes: Topshop.
Whilst I ran around looking for underwear & socks (and maybe some nail stickers), J came back with a lovely knitted, slightly colourful jumper from Topshop's Spring collection. Suitcase or no suitcase, that jumper would have made its way into my wardrobe eventually.
I packed the jumper for my trip to Barcelona this weekend, and wore it to my photo shoot on Sunday (where the picture was taken).
As for my suitcase, it made its way back to me a week later. I've started packing an extra change of clothes & underwear in my hand luggage now, in case it decides to leave me again ;)
I've been here since Friday- after a couple of lovely weeks in England- to prepare for O.P.I's launch party.
I discovered this brand in 2009, when I visited Tokyo for work, and have loved the brand ever since then. Because they didn't have a store in Spain, I'd always have to buy the nail colours abroad. I was so happy to hear they were finally coming to Spain.
O.P.I had asked me to Dj at the event, which meant I had the pleasure of spending the day with the whole O.P.I team organizing the event, including the amazing Suzi Weiss, Vice President & Artistic Director of the brand. I also got a heavenly manicure.
It was an honor to be part of an event filled with fun, colors, music...and lots & lots of nails. It was also great to see so many nail lovers: Gala, Andrea, & Madrid's nail art queens- Laura & Jessica.
Thank you O.P.I, and welcome to Spain :)
You can listen to my OPI mini playlist on Spotify(with some of the tracks I played last night) by clicking here.
Earlier this year I attended Harper's Bazaar Spain's feature on Missoni's SS'12 collection with Blanca Suárez & Margherita Missoni.
I met Blanca at a party in 2010. We started talking about silver jewelry, and she asked me where I'd bought my small skull earring. I told her I'd bought it in England, and if she really wanted it, I'd bring one back for her next time I travelled to London.
A couple of months later I visited The Great Frog in London & remembered about the earrings, so I bought her a small skull. We met up for coffee when I got back to Spain, & chatted for ages. Her new movie Carne de Neón (which she co-stared with Mario Casas) had just come out, her lead role in "El Barco" (one of the most popular tv shows in Spain), and she'd just finished shooting Almodóvar's new movie, The Skin I Live In.
Amidst all of the madness & stress, she still manages to stay calm & collected, easy going, and very easy to talk to. The more she achieves in her career, the more of an incentive it is for her to keep calm & focused...and happy.
I was so happy then I found out Blanca is one of Missoni's faces for their Spring-Summer'12 collection. Her hard work & dedication is proving to be worthwhile- her performance in The Skin I Live In got very good reviews and award nominations (including a Goya nomination), and she has a lot of work lined up.
It was great to catch up with her, & see that she has not changed a bit. You can find the full editorial in the April 2012 issue of Harper's Bazaar Spain.
I arrived to the North of England last Wednesday for a couple of weeks of rest & work- and thought I'd take a little blog-free Easter Break week. You can still find my daily updates on Five Days A Week.
Cosmetic brand Sephora held an event in Madrid yesterday to present the new brands & products they are bringing to their stores in the next few months. I attended it with the gorgeous Veronica Blume :)
I was extremely happy when I was told that the event was also held to present Zadig & Voltaire's new perfume, La Pureté, which they will be selling exclusively.
It is hard to find perfumes that smell like "you". Some people wear the same scent throughout their entire life, others like to change according to a perfume that suits a moment or year in their life. I am that kind of person (I like to change perfumes about once a year or two).
I first smelled La Pureté last week when I gave into the temptation of wandering into one of Zadig's stores in Madrid (the flagship stores also sell the perfume) & was given a sample. I instantly fell in love with the smell- a mix of jasmine, wood, vanilla & all sorts of flowers. The packaging is also lovely- a white leather book box.
Coincidentally, my old perfume was about to run out. I simply couldn't resist :D
I wore a full look by Zadig: black denim shorts & tee, necklace, quilted bag my new knitted gold waistcoat from their SS'12 collection.
Time to set off to the airport. I'm going to England for a couple of weeks!
Hope you are having a good week :)
Lx
Harper's Bazaar Spain has teamed up with H&M to collaborate with four Spanish bloggers: Miranda Makaroff, Ana Agulló (TuMePlaisCoco), Lucúos & Angie (HeelsAndCigarettes) & myself. Each blogger was in charge of creating a look for a different Spanish actress from H&M's Spring basic collection. I was in charge of creating the look for lovely actress María León.
Just a couple of days after winning the Goya award for Best New Actress, we met at Harper's Bazaar offices in Madrid for the video shoot. She was glowing. After ages of hugs, flowers, gossip & catching up, we prepared for the shoot. Here is the look I chose for her :)
I fell in love with the trench coat, and sort of built the look around it. María told me ages ago she feels more comfortable in jeans than anything else, so I thought black skinny jeans would be a safe bet. Choosing the shirt was probably the most complicated part of the outfit- because at the time of choosing it I didn't know what type of necklace I was going to use. I decided I wanted a slightly big necklace, so in the end I went for a simple cut, cream-coloured shirt.
When it came to choosing the accessories from Harper's Bazaar closet, I think I chose every item I would like to own the Spring collections. The little bag by Valentino came first, followed by the Lanvin cross necklace, paired up with some Louboutins.
The make up was quite simple & elegant- focusing on her eyes with defined eyeliner, & my favourite braid to keep her hair up.
It was the first time I got to make all of the decisions about the entire outfit, hair & make-up, etc. & I'm happy with the result. What do you think of the outfit?
It was lovely working with H&M, Harper's Bazaar, the hair & make-up team at YSL &, of course, lovely María. Harper's Bazaar published the post & video for the styling on their website. I've embedded the video in this post, and you can read their post by clicking here.
I hope you enjoy the video, & have a lovely weekend :)
I was sent to an audition in Barcelona just after the Christmas holidays. The audition was for Falabella's Autumn-Winter'12 campaign.
Falabella is a retail store that can be found in Argentina, Chile, Colombia & Peru. They were looking for two girls to star in their next campaign, which they were shooting in Barcelona. After a couple of castings, a call-back & a couple of weeks' wait- they choseBrianda Fitz James& I as the faces & guest bloggers for the campaign. Each of us had one style they had to represent- I was going to represent Glam Rock.
I flew out to Barcelona a couple of days previous to the shoot for preparation- they wanted us to meet the team first, hair & make-up tests, run through the looks, talk to press, etc. On the cold morning of January 27th, the whole team (including press) of about 150 people were gathered at the meeting point in the heart of Barcelona, in Borne.
It was a long shoot (about 14 hours), but I had such a good time. The days of preparation before meant everything was perfectly organized, & everybody knew what they were doing. The entire team was great. I loved working with director Martin Romanella. It was lovely working with Brianda, who was shooting on the same day & I got to catch up with between shots (when she was shooting I was preparing, and vice-versa). After spending most of the day shooting at Barcelona Forum, we moved to an old factory for the last couple of shots. That is where I met Alba, & got to sing a few seconds of one of my songs :)
The campaign also consisted in creating looks for Falabella's catalogue. I enjoyed styling, accessorizing & being involved in the creation of the looks for the brand's catalogue shoot.
A couple of weeks ago, the campaign video came out, as well as the first of my guest posts for their website (click here to see the campaign + posts). I was able to film a little bit during the shoot, & finally sat down to put it all together. The video brings lovely memories, of a lovely day, with lovely people :)
