Tom Ford Exclusive Scent Dinner In Dubai

I did not expect this heat in October! That's the first thing I thought as I walked out of Dubai airport in my thick jacket and comfy joggers. I had just flown from London to Dubai for an exclusive event with Tom Ford. I was invited by Estee Lauder for a scent dinner with Tom Ford. What's a scent dinner? I've never attended one before so this should be interesting.

"Scent Dinners are the combination of fine dining with a stimulating interactive master class in scent & perfume, two parallel dinners, one olfactory and invisible, the other gustatory and edible."

Prior to the evening event I was invited to have a private makeup session with Matthew Tyler who is the International Education Director for Tom ford Beauty. I got to try the new products that had launched in the Middle East, I got to ask questions about each product as he told me what suited my skin tone best. It was such a great experience.

I know that many of you are huge fans of Tom ford products, espcially his scents. They are rich, long lasting and unique. Hearing how much thought that goes into a scent was very facinating for me. I love how we all have been thought about in so much detail when this scent was created. If you love Tom Ford scents as much as I do you will really enjoy this post. I want to make you experience it as much as possible through me!

The scent dinner was held at the Burj Khalifa and I was with around 10 other beauty bloggers from around the Middle East. I tried to take down as much information as possible so I could share it with you all. 

This was our menu. This dinner was for the new fragrance launch of Tom ford's Noir Pour Femme in the Middle East. Each course represented an element of the fragrance, so each course we were handed a stick with a scent which made up of the final scent. we weren't allowed to try the actual scent till the end of the meal. This is what our minds/imaginations were for. We had to guess what the final scent would be like based on the scent broken down.

There was Opulent, Addictive and Provocative. The three sides to a woman? maybe.

The first meal was Heirloom Tomato 'Tarte Fine' and it contained Basil, wasabi mustard, burrata and orange sense. From looking at the menu I instantly knew this scent has a fruity side to it which is definitely a favourite of mine. Once the dish was placed in front of us all we could smell the richness of this pizza looking first course. It tasted like the first scent we were given. it was so strange but amazing at the same time. 

 

The flavours together worked beautifully and the feeling of tasting a perfume you could smell is so hard to put in to words.

We were given a Ginger Sorbet with Orange zest to cleanse our palate for the main corse

"This represents the top note, citrus based, the opulent. citruses including mandarin orange oil, bitter orange oil and ginger. This represents more of the confident side because its open, airy. We like to call this opulent" 

- First Note Scent Description

The main course was Brittany Lobster 'Open Lasagne' which was Kulfi royal cardamom-saffron sense and pistachio crust. 

with this dish I didn't really know what to expect. We were told that the base was a Kulfi cream, the middle was a pasta with lobster and a pistachio topping. Matthew explained what kulfi is and where it came from. The history to it was that it originates from India and it was a dessert that was made for the royals at the time. It was meant to be a cold dessert, much like ice cream. Ice would be collected from the Himalayan mountains and then this milk like texture was mixed in and topped with rose petals and pistachio. It was a dessert fit for a king! I thought this was really great to share as I love history of all countries.

This was the second note. 'Addictive'

"Sensual heart of florals, orange flower, Jasmine and rose absolute. this is where the sensual femininity comes."

- Second note scent description 

This scent was my fave and at this point I couldn't wait to try the actual perfume!

The final note was Provocative - the dessert.

This was Dame Blanche 'Profiteroles' - Pear Cremeux, vanilla ice cream and 72% chocolate. there was chocolate sauce on the side to pour over. 

"These are the base notes and what we smell are vanilla, amber and Australian sandalwood."

I wish you could smell the scent that I was smelling through the screen! It's so hard to put into words but i'm trying my best, haha!

We were finally given the Noir Pour Femme to try! This is probably my all time favourite by Tom Ford. I wasn't expecting this. It's made for every woman. It reminded me a lot of Bukhoor - بخور 

Which is wood chips that have been soaked in perfume oils and are burnt to create a beautiful scent around the house - mainly used in Middle Eastern households. The scent is usually rich and long lasting so this is what the new fragrance reminded me of. It is powdery, floral, fresh, zesty and rich all at the same time and we all agreed on this.

 

This was my first scent dinner and I learnt so much, I loved the atmosphere and I'm glad that this scent is finally launching in the Middle East. Thank you so much to Estee Lauder and Tom Ford for having me and thank you Matthew Tyler for your time. It's always great to learn more, whether it's makeup or fragrance related. Thank you for the all the makeup too, super excited to add more Tom Ford to my kit and makeup bag! 

Fyza Ali xxx

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The BLACKEST eye liners EVER!!

There's nothing more annoying than your top liner fading during the day, or an eyeliner that turns light grey once it dries. No eye liner is perfect but our top 3 picks are close enough, We've tried and tested these long enough to say what we think about them including Pros and Cons. They all dry matte.

We have broken down around 10 eyeliners out there down to ONLY three - a high end, an affordable and one that is available in the Middle East so it's a win win for every one!

These are in no order! 

Benefit Cosmetics- They're Real - Push-up liner

So much to say about this product, It is a GEL, looks like a pen and has a screw on cap which is great because it won't fall off and end up at the bottom of your make-up bag. Love the grip, the fact that it's like a pen makes it so much easier to hold when applying. The end has a twist, you have to twist it to get the product out so you have fresh gel liner each time. In a pot you will notice gel liner dries up quick.

It has a rubber angled tip, it is a dream when creating your wing, glides on beautifully and you will find your self surprised when you get your liner perfect after using this for the first time. The angled applicator helps precision when placing your wing/flick, gets into the inner corner perfectly.

 Without Flash

With Flash

It's one of the blackest, the formula is great, staying power is 10/10, easy to remove with makeup remover.

CONS:
when you twist for the product to come out you have to apply it at the back of your hand first because there's a clump at the end of the applicator which is the only downside.


Kiko Cosmetics - Lasting Gel Eye Liner

So the packaging says it's a gel but it actually looks more like a thick ink, it has more of a jelly-like consistency, it is SO SO black! You will need a fine point brush to apply this. Kiko is a great affordable brand so you wouldn't be splurging out on this.

Without Flash

With Flash

You can see how black and matte this product is, the formula is great. If you're someone who has trouble with your top liners melting and transferring on to your crease this is the one for you, great for summer, vacation - waterproof so you can have the perfect liner stay put all day.

CONS:
To some people it will be a pro but this liner is VERY tough to remove, it's almost like a tattoo. You will need more than a makeup wipe to remove this stuff! Don't bother rubbing it. If you love your liners to stay put try this but we suggest you use an oil based makeup remover to remove this bad boy. More for a special occasion.

Elizabeth Helen Fluid Eyeliner

We ALWAYS stock up on this product when we visit the Middle East, the perfect liquid liner. SUPER BLACK Arabic eyeliner which is only available in the Middle East (We haven't searched online so maybe it is available outside the Middle East) Love the formula for everyday eyeliner. It dries matte, good size tube, has a screw on cap that is comfortable to hold when applying on yourself.

The applicator is a fine brush, easy to glide the very black fluid and to make a cat-eye wing.

Without Flash

With Flash

It's a liquid so it will take a while to dry. Gorgeous rich black colour, looks good in flash photography too!

CONS: The only thing we wish we good change about this product is how it transfers after around 5 hours if you have sweaty eye lids! some people will be okay but if you want to use this without an eyeshadow be sure to use an eye primer and dust some pressed powder on your eye lids before applying this.


We hope you found this post about the BLACKEST EYELINERS out there useful!

Fyza and Sonia xoxo

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The Contour Kits Hype!

So since last year the hype of "contouring" hit social media with a bang! 'Contouring' is a beauty method that involves "carving" the face with a darker shade of foundation or powder - creating the illusion of more defined cheekbones, a slimmer nose, shorter nose, slimming the face, temporarily getting rid of a unwanted double chin and it's also used on the body for creating cleavage, abs etc - it's been used in the industry for years! Even Marylin Monroe's Make-Up Artist contoured her nose to make it look more narrow (she had her nose done and they said it still wasn't small enough so that's where contouring came to the rescue!)

using Sonia as my muse.

(This type of contouring is used for photo shoots and red carpet events)

Contouring isn't a new thing for people who have been in the industry for years, it's just become popular to the world because of social media, all the pictures and videos you see being posted on the Internet. I want to explain (my own thoughts) the types of contouring products you can get to use on yourself every day, I don't mean you have to spend two hours every morning drawing lines all over your face, Contouring is meant to be quick, easy, yet effective. If I could do it at the age of 18 with no social media pictures (I would have 15 minutes to get ready for college every morning) so can you! I would use a cheap eye shadow that was COOL toned and a shade darker than my skin to shade the sides of my nose and the tip, a little dust on the hollows of my cheeks too - in 5 minutes my contouring was done, I instantly had a smaller nose and high cheekbones!

Many companies out there have taken advantage of this contouring hype and created contour kits - but do we REALLY need those? do we need all 6 to 8 shades? Yes if you're a Make-Up Artist maybe, but I know of many Make-Up artists in the industry that don't store these contour kits in their make-up kit because there's either products that work better, just as good and they save more kit space. I have used almost every new contour kit out there, powder to cream to those contouring sticks, to realise what makes these so different to concealers and foundations? these companies have just stuck the word "contour" on anything so we buy them, it's the hype, the IT thing, we all want it!

I recently purchased the Laura Mercier contour kit, the shades are perfection, the consistency is heaven and I love how they glide on, but I realised the staying power of this product is not the best, I used it for weeks and I was really disappointed, it melts off after four hours and if you have oily skin it's not the best. People will say set it with powder contour but how many of us have the time to layer our makeup for work, school, college etc? not everyone is a professional Make-Up Artist with a whole day to do make-up and touch up. I decided to write this post to tell people out there you don't need to spend a ton of money on these hyped kits that have contour written on them when you can use any cream foundation or powder that's cool toned and a shade or two darker than your skin.

Many of us probably already have concealers in our make up bags that are a few shades darker because we use them for the summer or we got matched wrong - use those to practise your contour! I will give you a few examples of products that you can use to contour. I prefer cream concealers because they are quick to blend out, make sure they are cool toned - they help mimic colours of the natural shadows on our faces. (check out my post about cool and warm tones if you want to know how they are supposed to look.)

Fave products to contour with - that don't have the word contour on the packaging!

Laura Mercier Camouflage Concealer SC8

It has a warm and cool side - the warm shade is perfect for correcting and the cool is a great contour shade.

Milani Secret Cover Concealer Stick

lovely make-up brand with great products and the shade range for these are great, some cool toned concealer sticks that are affordable.

Cover Girl - TruBlend Fixstick Concealer 

love the tones and the easy use!

LA Girl Cosmetics - HD PRO Conceal

These concealers come in many colours, Love them for contour because it already has a brush applicator! 

Motives Color Perfection Quads

My most used, it's meant to be a foundation but I was one of the first Make-Up Artists on Instagram to use this for contour early last year. love the shades and consistency!

I'm not against contour kits, I have a fave too but for women who love to wear make-up you shouldn't have to break the bank to find the right beauty product. You can still be in trend but you don't have to follow what everyone else is using. Try any of these products and I know you will LOVE at least ONE, they save space in your makeup bag, easy to carry, pack and the staying power of these is much better because they are a concealer formula :)

I hope this helped some of you, I try my best to explain everything without going on and on. I don't always use high end products, I love to experiment with different brands just so I can give my feedback. If you have any confusion about shade picking be sure to check out my post where I explained all of that including powder contour products,

love, Fyza x

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OUR TOP 7 CONCEALER PICKS

The last few months have been really hectic so we're really sorry for not updating. My sister and I have been meaning to post about concealers for a while. We were actually going to post on our instagram but thought it would be way better on the blog since we can post more pictures and explain a lot more in detail.

Under eye concealer took me years to master and I'm still trying new ways till this day!

As most of you may know by now that I (Fyza) am the makeup artist and my sister (Sonia) is my model/muse. I test all my techniques on her so we both can review the product together. Sonia has probably been through more concealers than I have as a makeup artist, We are both beauty junkies so we hope both our opinions will benefit a lot of you out there!

Sonia tries concealers that are more for everyday whereas I test them out for photographs since all my clients are going to be photographed at shoots or events. So here are our picks, let us know your faves  too and why :)

1. Laura Mercier Secret Camouflage Concealer.
This concealer is probably my most used. It has two tones in one which allows you to mix both colors depending on how you want your under eye concealer to look. It is amazing for redness and it blends beautifully. I love how long wearing this product is and it is suitable for all skin types (yay)
I like to use this product with my fingers because the warmth of my skin helps melt the concealer and makes it easier to apply (i love using my ring finger because it doesn't tug the under eye like a brush would.)

2. Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Concealer.
A drugstore concealer! yes! The price isn't the only good thing about this because the product itself does wonders! It already has a soft applicator attached which is perfect for the sensitive eye area. This product works great as a correcter for dark circles, puffiness and fine lines! I love the light weight feel of it and it's for all skin types. Everyone should try this at least once (perfect for everyday)

3. NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer.
Probably one of the best concealers out there. The name of this product basically speaks for itself. It's creamy, light weight, blends so well AND is creaseproof! I love a concealer that will work well with all skin tones/types and this is one of those concealers that is great for the kit and one for your own makeup bag. The coverage is buildable and it creates a soft, glowy under eye that almost looks like a blur effect of an app - so it's great for your selfies!

4. Benefit Cosmetics Boi-ing Concealer.
This concealer has a love-hate relationship with some people but i really like this product. I like the consistancy and a little goes a long way, again this is one of those products that works best when using your fingers. It works really well for under eye discoloration and the coverage is perfect. The shade range is good because of the undertones of the concealers, they work great as correctors because of the salmon undertone.

5. Tarte Cosmetics Colored Clay CC undereye corrector.
Tarte is one of those brands that has so many great products that have benefits for the skin too. I came across this concealer randomly, It's more of a corrector actually. It is available in two shades which is the only downside to it. Th coverage and texture is just right and works SO well for discoloration and dark circles (it even improves the appearance of skin after you use it for a while) I would usually use this under foundation.

6. MAC Select Cover Up
I like using this concealer after a correcter because it is so light in texture and it worked perfectly as a under eye highlight. I blend this concealer with a beauty blender and it melts in with the corrector. Radiant and has the 'no makeup makeup' look to it. If your afraid of the whole contour and highlight I suggest using this as a subtle highlight. I love the fact it comes in a tube :)

7. Clinique Airbrush Concealer 
Best for those girls who never have enough time to apply their makeup in the morning! It is a concealer twisting pen/ brush applicator. This concealer works best for when you want the under eye bright look if you look tired. I did notice how good it is for fine lines. The coverage is ok, it's a light weight concealer that is perfect for everyday work/school makeup.

We have chosen these concealers as our faves because we have tried and tested them. I hope you guys find the right under eye concealer because we all have different preferences and that's one of the things that was the toughest to perfect. If you have tried any of these let us know how they worked for you :)


Fyza and Sonia x

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"No Makeup" Makeup

Sometimes we don't want to make the effort with so much make-up and the dramatic look but at the same time we still want to wear make-up to feel good and that's wear the "no make-up make-up" trick comes in.
"No make-up make-up" is basically wearing make-up without making it look like you have make-up on ;) the skin in the main focus. It's all about fresh glowing, healthy looking skin which is perfect for summer and it is pretty simple to do.

I recently shot with a beautiful model from Germany called Lorena and she had beautiful skin with some freckles. When I saw her I just thought "I don't want to do her make-up so it looks like she has it on" I don't want the make-up to be seen when you look at her. She was going to be professionally photographed so I did take a while to achieve the "natural" look on her because it could look quite washed out with all the studio lighting and camera flash but I will be explaining how you can achieve the natural no make-up make-up look on yourself or anyone else for every day.

 


Products to create fresh looking skin:
Use your favorite moisturizer. You can use a primer if you want but it's good to use one especially in the heat. I used Maybelline baby skin primer (£6.99) , For foundation I used Makeup Forever face and body foundation but a really good one is Neutrogena Healthy Skin Foundation ($11.37) It is a cheaper option and gives a beautiful dewy finish. For concealer I used Laura Mercier secret camouflage a little under her eyes and on some blemishes (I used a MAC 217 brush to apply the concealer lightly) A cheaper option would be Revlon Colorstay Concealer (£6.99) It's one of my fave drugstore concealers. I combed through her brows and used Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz in Brunette (if you are from the UK you can purchase this on cultbeauty.co.uk)  For the glow on the cheek bones and brow bone I used NARS Illuminator in Orgasm, a cheaper option would be e.l.f. Essential Shimmering Facial Whip in Golden Peach ($1.00) To warm up her skin I used Tom Ford Shade and illumnate on her cheeks and sides of her forhead but I recently tried a drugstore foundation (yes foundation!) to bronze/contour and I was amazed! You can try L'Oreal Nude Magique Eau De Teint in 220 Golden Sand (£9.99) It's so light weight and easy to work with especially if you want a natural looking bronze look. To keep the foundation in place I lightly dusted some translucent powder by Ben Nye.

Eyes  
You can skip using any eyeshadow and just apply a few coats of mascara but I used Bonjour Summer Eyeshadow Palette by Too faced, the colors I used are Firefly all over the lid and Sand Dollar on the inner tear duct - I know that Kiko Cosmetics have amazing eyeshadow palettes that are super cheap and have beautiful bronzy colors. I literally used my fingers for this look except for the concealer. I used a Kiko Mascara and for lips I used Heidi D cosmetics Lipstick in Natural rose - I put some on my finger and pressed into her lips to give a natural looking lip tint and topped with some clear gloss and that's it.

I love using my fingers sometimes because it gives the "effortless" finish and it saves time if you are doing make-up on yourself. I always say your hands are your best tool when applying make-up, just make sure your hands are sanitized before you touch your face.

Here's some more pictures of different looks I did. I just changed up the eye make-up by adding eyeliner and smoking out some shimmery black shadow.

 

I hope you enjoyed this blog post. I wanted to recommend some decent make-up that you can buy for way cheaper and still look as glam so I hope that helped :) Tag me in your no makeup makeup pictures on Instagram with the hashtag #soniaxfyza I would love to see! 

xxxx

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Chantel Jeffries Makeup

As a lot of you know I was the make-up artist for Chantel Jeffries while she was in London. I had a great time working with her and she is such a sweet girl. Her face is a dream to work on and made my job a lot easier (haha!) I did a few looks on her and I thought I'd give product break downs of what I used for each look since I got so many questions.

This was the first look I did on Chantel "fresh off the jet" as she said xD
Because she was on such a long flight and had some puffiness around her eyes I prep'd her skin first. Skin is so important, even if I'm working with models I take care of their skin because they have to wear a lot for shoots. I used Eyebright Soothing Eye Lotion by Liz Earle, it instantly calms itchy, puffy eyes. For all over the face I used Embryolisse moisturiser and Too faced pore primer. I let all that sink into the skin before applying foundation.

Foundation - Makeup forever HD foundation in 153 Golden honey blended with a Beauty Blender. Using a beauty blender gives it more of the flawless airbrush finish and no brush strokes! For under eyes I used the Motives color perfection quad in light - reason I used a foundation because I feel as if concealers and highlight sticks oxidise under the eyes and end up looking cakey and gray after a while, so using the motives quad is much for blend-able. I used the darker quad for a cream contour and blended it all together with a beauty blender and setting it with Anastasia Beverly hills contour kit. I usually set the under eyes with a colorless loose powder.

The base is prepped for eye make-up and brows. Priming the eye area with too faced shadow insurance, starting with smoking out smoulder by mac on the lash line and BLENDING  it with cork by MAC not going past the brow bone. I did the same on the lower lash line using a Kiko mascara and added two pairs of Huda Beauty Giselle lashes for that extra drama. Cheek bone highlight is Laura Mercier Candle light and this blush is soo pretty I got it at Sephora in Madrid (pictures) For the lips I used 1C MUFE lip liner and I mixed Yash lipstick by MAC. (Setting your make-up with powder and a powder brush gives you the real life Photoshop finish)

SUNKISSED BRONZE NO3


The Summer Glow

This was my fave look to create 

I prepped the skin the same way except I didn't use the too faced primer, I used the MUFE HD primer (white)

I used MAC face and body foundation in C4 (Chantel's foundation and concealer colors are the exact same as Sonia's for all the people who ask about Sonia) I used Laura Mercier Secret Camouflage Concealer in SC4. Even though this is a dewy look we still have to set it with powder ALWAYS. without powder your make-up will be running and melting the first hour. I have to make sure every one's skin is set and prepared for all those flashes and lights. I powdered the skin the same way and added the glow later using Laura Mercier Candle light (I love loose powders to highlight when going for a dewy look) I contoured with Charlotte Tilbury Kit very lightly & used a cream blush by NARS called Enchanted.

Brows: Anastasia Beverly Hills brow wiz pencil in Brunette and brow powder in soft brown.

Eyes I lightly dusted gold and bronze colors from Urban Decay Naked palette (1), I curled Chantel's lashes with Kevyn Aucoin lash curler to prep them for individual Lashes by Huda Beauty in Alyssa coating them with L'Oreal carbon black mascara on top and bottom lashes.

Lip liner is Nutmeg by NYX with NUDE BALLET  Liquid Lipstick gloss  L'Oreal.

Vampy Lip

MUFE HD foundation, MAC pro Longwear concealer (it's not as thick has a cream or stick concealer)

I blended the concealer with a MAC 217 brush. Lashes are Huda Beauty Monique and I used Motives eye shadows to create a subtle cut crease and smoked out Onyx on lash line. NARS Orgasm Blush, Anastasia Beverly Hills to contour. Lip products were amazing and are not expensive at all

SEPHORA 09 PLEASANT PLUM

KIKO 12

I hope this answered your questions, I'm still trying to get the hang of blogging so be patient :)

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