Author Archives: oliviawindsor

About oliviawindsor

A writer, everyday dreamer and hopeful wanderlust adventurer. A Melbourne city girl through and through, Olivia is a Communications student at RMIT. Now also a columnist at Teenage Girl’s Survival Guide: http://teenagesurvivalguide.com/ and a beauty writer for Couturing.com. Olivia belongs to the world of performance, dancing classical ballet, jazz and contemporary. As such, her closet is overflowing with tutus, sequins and sparkly leotards! Enchanted by the bright lights of the stage, she’s drawn to the glitz and glamour of the world of beauty. She never leaves home without makeup essentials- peach lip balm, perfume, and a sweep of mascara, her ipod to satisfy her music obsession and a page crinkled book. Oh and she thrives on good quality coffee. Follow her at https://twitter.com/#!/oliviawindsor

THE TOP BEAUTY LOOKS AT PARIS FASHION WEEK

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This article was originally published on Couturing

It’s the time of year where the weird and wonderful in beauty is vigorously encouraged! Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week sees a fabulous display of the latest designs for Autumn with dizzying arrays of fantasy inspired makeup and hair.

There was a predominant focus on clear skin and barely there makeup at this year’s fashion week. The beauty looks were generally elegant and simple with the rare runway pulling out a show-stopping style!

Couturing brings you their favourite beauty looks from Paris Haute Couture.

Jean Paul Gaultier: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This runway was all about releasing the animal within! Jean Paul Gaultier stood out for its exaggerated hair styles with four different up-do’s created by Odile Gilbert. Style one saw  models’ hair fashioned into the “Chintilly Chignon”, designed to resemble a “tall, swirly mound of whipped cream”. The second look incorporated long hair extensions wound around sparkly rollers for an almost sci-fi style. Other models’ hair was wound into an extremely high topknot bun whilst the most exciting look saw animal leopard prints painted onto hair!

Jean Paul Gaultier didn’t disappoint with their makeup either, as artist Lloyd Simmons channelled the early seventies for inspiration! The focus was on cat like eyes using thick black liner, white liner top open eyes and brown eyeshadows.

 

Valentino


 

 

 

 

 

 

The beauty look at Valentino was feminine and beautiful with echoes of fairytale princesses. Makeup was soft and natural with dewy skin, pretty pink blush swept onto the apples of cheeks and petal pink eyeshadow and lipstick. Models’s hair cemented the fairytale princess look as it was swept into a chignon with a centre part and finished with a delicate headband braid.

Armani


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Flappers from the Great Gatsby era were centre stage at Armani. Elegance and sophisticated glamour oozed off the runway as both the hair and makeup were flawless! Linda Cantello created the 20’s inspired look focusing on luminous skin, silvery lids, no mascara and deep pink lipstick. The hair was styled into a faux bob, with the fringe slightly waved for an extra glamourous look.

Chanel


 

 

 

 

 

 

The look was somewhat masculine at Chanel. Hair was pulled back harshly off the face and fashioned into a pompadour and sleek ponytail. Eyebrows were thick and bushy with little arch and cheekbones were emphasised with rosy pink blush. Makeup artist, Peter Philips, kept the eyes subdued with no mascara and finished the look with a splash of soft pink lipstick.

Dior


 

 

 

 

 

 

It was all about working the pout on the Dior runway this year! Artist, Pat McGrath, created a metallic, reflective lip using bronze, lilac and dark rose shades that looked truly magical glistening under the bright lights. The lips had a wet finish and were mesmerising to see! The rest of the makeup was kept fairly simple with bold brows, gold flecks in the inner rim of eyes and light eyeshadow. The hair was tightly slicked back into a bun and wet with glitter

Elie Saab:


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The beauty at Elie Saab was graceful and incredibly wearable. The hair was pulled back into an elegant chignon with the fringe swept across the forehead to the side. The makeup injected some modernity to the look with black and metallic shading the eyes. Thick black mascara was piled onto lashes as well as a flick of black eyeliner to make the eyes stand out. The rest of the makeup was kept simple and finished with a subtle rosy pink lip.

 

When I think of design…

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This week’s unlecture and the classes involved thinking about “design” and “speculative writing”.

What springs to mind when thinking about design is:

– Creating something new
– Developing a product, service, object
– Can be for better or for worse for our lives/ the world
–  Linked to double loop learning ?
– Can effect change
– Perhaps an antidote to reporting/parroting back info
–  About us being innovators

Speculative fiction is said to “offer writing as a way to think with and through things”.

So with this in mind, I think their is a close relationship between design and speculative fiction. We can use our writing to think through ‘designs’, become innovators and create objects using our imagination.

What is starting to really interest me in this course is the growing emphasis on the importance of IMAGINATION!
Without imagination we can’t become designers, innovators or media producers.

THOUGHTS ON : BLOGS IN MEDIA EDUCATION

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Adrian Miles’ reading made me have a bit of a lightbulb moment about what this course is about/ aiming to do. The idea is about using a blog to engage in a different style of contemporary learning. It links in nicely with that other confusing reading about different approaches to learning such as double loop learning.

Having a blog allows you to think out your ideas and implement this whole concept of “The Takeaway Idea”. You can easily record your ideas, reflections, thoughts, activities and ramblings and develop your individual online persona. There’s the knowledge that your blog will be read by others and the notion of belonging to a community of other bloggers.

I started up my own personal blog at the beginning of 2012 keen to start developing my writing, my online persona and produce an online portfolio of my work. It led to me being offered an internship with The Teenage Girl’s Survival Guide and later Couturing Magazine. Both sites are aimed at different markets- I write monthly book reviews and an advice column for the former and beauty reviews for the latter- however, I re-blog all my posts once published onto my own blog.

I love writing and the idea of blogging and am hoping this course can make me become a more successful blogger. I’d love to produce some more original content for my personal blog rather than simply re-blogging work published on other sites. While I get the occasional comments from members of the blogging world I really want to learn how to maximise this interaction!

My takeaway ideas from “Chris Argyris”

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Taking away ideas from Argyris..

This reading seemed fairly confusing to begin with. I found myself wondering why we’d be reading about organisations and learning theories designed to make organisations better when we were studying media and essentially “just blogging”. BUT the conclusion seemed to point to some direction and relevance. That is, to use Argyris theories of double-loop learning in our university education rather than rely on learning by trial and error.

So, instead of going through an entire process where we wind up discovering what we have done wrong and reflect upon how to resolve this problem we can now cut out this wasted time.

Sounds a bit abstract but according to this reading we can learn by reflecting upon the “theory in action”. Basically, my idea of this theory is that it’s a framework for understanding why we make the choices/actions we do. Considering this, if we implement “double-loop learning” we can analyse and question the actions we make before we make them.

Double-loop learning is “creative and reflexive” which seems to be what this course is about. If not, well I guess I’m sure to discover more throughout the course of this semester.

On a side note…this feels scarily like I’m back in COMMS…!

TRIED & TESTED: L’OREAL PARIS COLOUR RICHE LIPSTICKS

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This article also appeared on Couturing.com 

Searching for the perfect Winter lipstick? L’Oreal Paris Colour Riche lipsticks are the answer. Incredibly nourishing, these lipsticks are the answer to attaining comfort as well as glamour.

The Colour Riche ‘Naturals’ line are lip shades designed to suit every woman’s hair and skin colouring. The tailor made shades aim to provide your perfect colour match from nude to intense red.

The lip colours designed for blondes and fair skin colouring are delicate pinks and cool browns. Brunettes and those with olive skin are instructed to wear warm browns and plums , whilst those with dark skin should wear purple, bronze and glimmers of gold.

During winter, skin can become flaky and dry so it’s important to use makeup products with moisturising qualities. But, if you think that means you have to sacrifice rocking a beautiful lipstick you are sorely mistaken! The L’Oreal lipsticks use a combination of Omega 3 Oils and Vitamin E to ensure lips are cared for and remain smooth and healthy. The lipsticks glide onto lips easily and feel incredibly creamy.

Rose Tendre (No. 303) is a frosty, pale pink shade intended for blondes. This lipcolour delivers a fairly sheer tint, although it can be built upon. A notable aspect is the shimmery effect it has on the lips to add some glimmer to a daytime makeup look. Rose Tendre is very pale reminiscent of sixties babydoll pink lips.

Sensual Rose (No. 379) is a rose pink shade intended for light brunettes. This colour is shimmery with flickers of gold showing up on the lips. The golden frostiness of the lip colour makes it an exciting lip colour to try out that is suitable for both day and nighttime wear. Sensual Rose provides more of a sheer tint to lips than a dramatic splash of colour and would suit blondes as well as brunettes.

Once again L’Oreal delivers in terms of packaging. The lipsticks are encased in a classy, sleek golden tube giving them a more upmarket feel. A real bonus is the ‘clip lock’ lid that means your lipstick is extra secure and won’t become separated from its lid.

So if you’re after an affordable lipstick that will work wonders on your pout during winter look no further than L’Oreal Colour Riche lipsticks!

Images courtesy of L’Oreal Paris and Blogspot.