Giorgio Armani’s new face for beauty is film actress Megan Fox.

Giorgio Armani has chosen Megan Fox to ‘incarnate his vision of beauty. She embodies the spirit of the women of today: free, confident, and seductive. Her beautiful features reveal femininity, sensuality and strength’.

Watch out for Ms. Fox when the campaign kicks of this October.

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Were you ever at a foreign airport and ‘whift’ in a most sophisticated scent that was as clean and steely as the men and women who wash their aristocratic fingers in bowls at the Ritz Monaco?  You think ‘… if I ever had that fragarance, my whole life would open like a sparkling white door onto Park Avenue’s Easy-Street’.  If your daily quest is to be an out-of-the-box sophisticate, Aqua Di Parma may just be your new Summer scent!

This 90 year old fragrance contains Sicilian citrus, lavender, rosemary, verbena, Bulgarian rose, sandalwood, vetiver, cedar and ylang-ylang; it begins clean and sharp with pungent citrus and verbena.  It’s lasting strength is great and turns into something equally clean and marvelous into the early evening.  Keep in the fridge so you can splash it around you cold, it will be bracing and life affirming all Summer long.  Ava Gardner, Humphrey Bogart and Carey Grant were no fools.   Available only at Brown Thomas.

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Over the last few weeks the wow girls have been fessing up to their absolute compulsory, ‘must have on before leaving the house’ cosmetics, and this week Amanda gives us hers. Feel free to let us know if you have an unhealthy addiction to a particular cosmetic.

1) Urban Decay – glide-on eye pencil, gives great definition to the eyes and lasts the day, it’s also waterproof!

2) Ultra calming cleanser by Dermalogica. Doesn’t irritate my skin or dry it out.

3) Intense volume hypo-allergeric mascara, helps with flutter power!

4) Climate control – lip treatment by Dermalogica. Stops my lips from drying out and cracking during the day.

5) Nude lip liner, a discrete way to enhance lips without smothering them in gloss!

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Topshop, the most fashionable and original high street store on the streets of Dublin today, is finally putting the icing on the cake with a cherry or two on top by releasing their own make up range this May.

The make up collection promises a seasonal range of make up that is inspired by some of the hottest and trendiest places on earth like L.A’s beaches and Rios clubbing scene.  Their colours are going to be as wild and quirky as its customers who sport Topshop’s unique style, and were created by fashion trends instead of make up trends.

Those who have been lucky to have a sneak preview have mentioned that they have tried a nail polish called ‘The Big Smoke’ which is similar to Chanel’s popular ‘Particulier’.

Their aim is to make girls look natural so it’s no surprise that they haven’t focused much on foundations.  They have Skin Tint instead, which is a lightly tinted moisturiser and also Skin Glow for under the Skin Tint, that reportedly looks amazing.

Topshop have always offered fun and inventiveness.  They plan to keep us excited by changing their make up every season.  With the Oxegen weekend in sight their first instalments will be themed on festivals.  False eye lashes, bright festival colours and glitter, it just shouts festival!

With the promise of this make up range making its debut in May I plan to be camped outside the store before they sell out of everything, which is no doubt going to happen.

Write it into your planners girls, and be the first ones to sport the fabulous new Topshop make up range.

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I always dreaded putting makeup on my early teenage skin, knowing that the terrifying Oily Complexion would bite back and cause it to glow in a very unstylish manner. The years have passed (not that many of them!) and I find myself on the opposite end of the scale. Dry skin has become the bane of my life, and I would happily trade it for my old oily variant without hesitation.

The thing about having oily skin is that many products can dehydrate skin to make it look smoother. Lots of foundations offer a matte finish that’s a dream for oily skin. But finding a product that re-hydrates without clogging pores is another story entirely. I have spent a small fortune in trying to find one. I’ve done the very expensive and the relatively cheap- and while many moisturisers and cleansers have failed to pass my tests, the makeup has finally, thankfully, been found!

By chance one day about three months ago, I ventured into Brown Thomas and emerged with a starter kit for Bare Minerals. I had always had my doubts about mineral-based powder foundations, and so this lay unused for quite some time. When my previous foundation (L’Oreal True Match) began to irritate my skin, despite a long period of it working to perfection, I knew that I had to try something new. The Bare Minerals box was lying around so I learned how to use it, and I came away surprised at the result. It doesn’t make my skin flake, the colour is perfectly summery and suits my natural skin tone, and it honestly feels as though I’m not wearing any makeup at all. Excellent.

To that end I have decided to stick with it; as it stands the foundation (Bare Minerals Original SPF 15) retails at €25 a pot from Brown Thomas, but it’s a large pot and the cost, while a little more than I usually spend on a whim, is definitely worth it. I’ve now been using it for about a month and it hasn’t bored me yet. People have complimented me on how natural it is. I use Bare Minerals Mineral Veil over it, which really evens out the texture and gives it as professional an effect as I have ever managed to achieve. These people don’t let you work it out for yourself either- the starter kit provided good brushes and a How To DVD, as well as a primer that I now rely on every day.

If you fancy trying it, and I cannot recommend it highly enough, the entire Bare Minerals line can be purchased online at a lesser cost. Their range has grown massively, and in all of the makeup I have tried over the past 10 years or so, it ranks among the best without a doubt- dry skin and all.

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We are going through the wow girlies for their top 5 cosmetics they would risk life and limb to save from a burning building.  This week I’ll be divulging my cosmetic addictions and must admit to finding it hard to narrow the list to 5… issues!!  Going on the title of the post I am leaving out the skin care items and just listing cosmetics, but it wouldn’t be right not to mention my La Roche Posay serum, A-MAZ-ING.  Back to the ‘can’t open the door unless I’ve got on….’

1) Lancome Teint Idole Ultra foundation.  It’s oil free and retouch free lasting all day without making your skin greasy.  Also, it has an spf15.

2) Poudre Majeure Excellence, Lancome’s pressed powder which sets the foundation and takes away any shine.  It also lasts really well and just needs a couple of touch ups through the day.

3) Egypt Wonder sport matt bronzing powder, without it I would look like I belonged on a slab in a fridge – good old Irish skin!

4) Benefit blusher – the dandelion is my favoured one giving a nice healthy pink hue to cover up the otherwise unhealthy pale hue!

5)Mascara – THE item to save.  My mascara of choice (having tested MILLIONS!) is Clinique’s high impact mascara.  It doesn’t clump, smudge or irritate my eyes so we will always be friends.

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When Chanel release a new colour for the season you can be guaranteed it will be THE hottest colour to wear, that and it will be sold out, gone without a trace just as you give in to buying a bottle!  If you want to know what to have drooled all over you talons this Summer this is it, Chanel Nouvelle Vague.  The limited edition Summer 2010 colour has hit the Chanel counters so be quick if you like it, they honestly do seem to sell out remarkably quick.

The varnish has a creamy textured look with pearl veining through the shade of bright turquoise – which will work best with a tan!  Chanel have brought out other shots of colour for your nails including Mistral (517) and Riviera (537) above but it’s definitely the turquoise Nouvelle Vague (527) that will get you noticed.  OPI have a great silvery blue in their latest collection called Breathe Life (in fact they have a great selection of ‘greens’).

Illamasqua do a couple of shades similar to this (see here for our previous post on these lovely pastels) and good old M&S have a gorgeous Baby Blue – plus one very similar to this offering from Chanel.  Gosh have produced a pearlized blue – Oceanic, which is definitely a little more neon in colour than most of the other takes on this trend.  I am finding it hard to let go of my Chanel Rouge Noir (thanks sis!), although it seems we can still get away with dark colours even if Winter is allegedly behind us.

As always, DON’T FORGET YOUR BASECOAT!!

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When you think of addictions you would be inclined to think of cigarettes, coffee, soaps, eating or drinking.  Or, if you are anything like us girls here at wow you think of your cosmetics bag (suitcase for me!).  We were having a ‘what’s your desert island must have’ banter (we are all allowed a little coffee break you know!), and it’s funny to hear the different hang ups we have.  I also realised that MAC are well propped up by my insecurities!

Anyway, I’ve listed my top 5 saves from a burning building…

1) MAC – Mineralize SkinFinish Natural €26 – it’s great as you can reapply it during the day as often as you like without it looking caked!

2) MAC – Powder Blush – Harmony – stays put all day.

3) MAC – Fix Fluid Foundation NW15 – I swear by this foundation, it has great coverage and lasts all day.

4) Jessica Nail Polish – Unleashed – It’s a dark deep wine/purple varnish (above) that stays put for up to a week.

5) I get very dry lips so I make sure to apply the aloe vera vaseline several times a day as I find this really helps.

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For today’s pick we focused on nail care following a conversation we had about what’s in our cosmetic bags!  This has got to be the one item we should all have in our cosmetic line up – Jessica’s Blush Nail Varnish.  It’s been a favourite of mine for the last few years and popular with all the wow girlies.

Why do we love it?  It’s so natural on and almost mimics the colour of your own nail bed so it looks just like you have a shine on your nails.  We also love that it is fool proof, even if you paint half your finger along with your nail who’ll notice with this colour!  The brand is favoured by many celebs hence their catch line, “Celebrity manicurist to the stars.”  Expect to pay about €11-€15 depending on where you purchase.  This will last you for years and it’s great for lashing on a coat over your fingers just before you run out the door.

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Q: False Lashes – would you recommend the individual lashes or the strips?

A: I would definitely recommend the individual lashes as the strips can feel very heavy on your eyes, and they generally only last for one night.  Having said this if you are dead set on getting the strips I recommend getting the MAC ones as I have worn them before, and they did stay on for the full night and didn’t feel too heavy.

The individual lashes can last up to a week and depending on the length you like can look very natural or if you prefer can look very dramatic!   The individual lashes really give you that “full lash” look and can be tailored to suit your eyes unlike the strips.  Slightly longer lashes on the outer corners of your eyes graduating inwards with shorter lashes will give the best effect.

I do however recommend getting the lash remover – available from your nearest Salon Services, also some salons stock this too.  If you are doing a DIY job there may be a small bottle of lash remover in the pack.  When you want to take your lashes off just put some on a wet cotton disc and hold on the lashes for a few minutes, the lashes should just slide off.  If you don’t have lash remover, cover your lashes in vaseline before you go to bed and in the morning, just slide the lashes off.  NEVER try to pull the lashes off as you will end up pulling your natural ones out too!  It would be easier to have this done at a salon so shop around to get the type you want at a reasonable price, a lot of places charge ridiculous prices.  Warning – false lashes can be very addictive!

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