I fell in love with the holistic brand after seeing it for the very first time in the M&S Marble Arch Beauty Hall and then again on the tube home that same day in the Evening Standard Magazine (it only seemed right that I take a closer look into the world of 'APIVITA':
BEAUTY, Evening Standard Magazine
THE RANGE:
The full APIVITArange comprises a vast product assortment and covers virtually every beauty need you could have with the exception of colour cosmetics:
Face
Hair
Body
Aromatherapy
Men
Babies and Kids
Healthcare
Sun
Personal
The following products were found in the M&S, Marble Arch, range:
Face Masks in tubes (£13) or individual sachets (£3 for 2)
Wine elixir and anti-wrinkle face oils (£32-£39.50)
Lip balms (£6)
Natural soaps (£5)
Shampoo for variety of conditions (£13)
Body relax cream (£13)
Containing barely any nasties (if any) the Greek born product uses only the finest and purest 100% certified organic essential oils. The brand is inspired by Hippocrates' philosophy for a holistic approach to beauty and claims:
APIVITA is the first company to insist on the use of organic essential oils recognizing the high value of their active ingredients:
To rejuvenate the skin
To tone spirit and mood
To remove stress and tension in a holistic way
Although sold across Greece, Spain, Australia, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Hong Kong, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Romania, Singapore, Ukraine and the USA, APIVITA has only just reached the UK and exclusive to M&S stores.
"That's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool"
As the 2013 3D film adaptation of F.Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 novel 'The Great Gatsby' hit screens in the UK this week, it is far from surprising that the romantic drama has sparked inspiration within almost every conceivable industry...including beauty.
The film follows the life and times of millionaire Jay Gatsby at the height of the Roaring Twenties, shrouding the audience in sophisticated opulence and Art Deco brilliance.
So if after watching the film you're raring to inject a little 20's decadence into your nails, grab your gold polish and masking tape and look no further:
Black and Gold - simple but iconic Art Deco (thenailasaurus.com)
Add a bit of glitz with a sparkly topcoat and striping tape (dressedupnails.com)
Get into the line detail (nailside.blogspot.nl)
For an alternative to the gold finger, try a dash of silver (nailpolishwars.com)
Replace black with burgundy for a less harsh look (sonailicious.com)
Two tone not enough? Introduce a subtle third for a classic look (nailside.blogspot.nl)
Art Deco can be curvy too, just remember: repetitiveness is key (pinterest.com)
For a bold look you can't go wrong with gold on a bright base and black border (juliannemonday.com)
If you don't want to go for a full hand, implement an Art Deco "accent nail" (nailside.blogspot.nl)
Subtle hints of glitter on a multi-tonal colour scheme adds endless interest (attackedastorianails.blogspot.co.uk)
Clean, repetitive lines evoke at instant image of Art Deco (nailside.blogspot.nl)
I love this combination of green and gold - perfect for the summer! (polishallthenails.com)
Perfect for the festival season; Art Deco elegance on an ombre base (beautylish.com)
Match Jay Gatsby's yellow Rolls Royce with this embellished look (sonailicious.com)
Make every nail different for a bit of variety but stick to a colour palette (10blankcanvases.com)
I hope that you have been inspired by this post to go forth and create your own geometric masterpieces! Please keep a look out for my upcoming Gatsby post on my sister blog "JUST Fashion", where you will discover the story behind the film's costumes and inspiration into creating your own 20's look.
I am gathering research into which marketing tactics used by retailers engage you as a bath, body and beauty customer, please take just a minute to complete the survey,
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"The focus on men's beauty by both manufacturers and retailers has intensified with ranges expanding and new labels introduced", Verdict, 2012
It's true, the modern man is becoming increasingly concerned with his appearance and is becoming ever more adventurous with gender specific products snapping up shelf space!
Men's must-haves:
The above article from the Evening Standard features a few of the top buys for guys. Items include:
Cream to banish in-growing facial hair, Malin+Goetz (£30)
A peppermint, juniper and jojoba exfoliant, Grown (£29)
All in one body and hair shampoo, 417 (£22)
Ink Keeper for the illustrated man, Sol de Janeiro (£13.90)
Revitalising muscle bath soak, Champneys (£6)
Liquorice mud mask, Superdrug (99p)
Youth activating concentrate, Lancome (£56)
EDP spray, Comme des Garcons (£57)
Celebrity make-up artist Alex Byrne shared with the Guardian, the secret beauty weapons every man should have in his arsenal;
Allure Homme eau de toilette, £43,50ml
Combining the chic and the cool, this scent compliments those rugged good looks.
Men Skincare Moisturising Aftersahve Cream, £27, 75ml
If prone to a few cuts and a portion of razorburn, apply this cream immediately after shaving as it is packed with essential oils that soothe, heal and protect
This bottle of intensive hair oil is an essential for sensitive skin, calming itchy, flaky scalps. Apply 10-15 minutes in advance, massage in, shampoo out in the shower and you will never scratch again
Rituals have just launched a men's body collection inspired by the Japanese legend of the dragon. This matt, non-greasy styling paste is packed with ocean minerals
Penhaligons, a perfumery founded by William Penhaligon 135 years ago, recently launched a new men's fragrance line with an eccentric, quintessentially British campaign and quirky modern twist;
Sartorial : The Scent of Saville Row
sar-to-ri-al [sahr-tawr-ee-uhl, -tohr-] adjective
1. of or pertaining to tailors or their trade: sartorial workmanship
2. of or pertaining to clothing or style or manner of dress: sartorial splendor
"Bringing together the great tradition of British perfumery and British bespoke tailoring, Sartorial is a fragrance for a new generation of gentlemen. The modern thread running through Sartorial is beeswax; echoing the blocks of wax each thread is run across before stitching. This sweet smudged note ties together the more traditional elements; the oiled flash of shears cutting cloth, the rub of fabric beneath fingers, tobacco tinted cabinetry, puffs of chalk in the air and old paper patterns vanilla with age"
This new men's fragrance line from Penhaligons is incredibly relevant at this time as interest in traditional male grooming continues to increase. A further relatively new product to reach the high street is "The Essentials Range" from The Gentry Grooming Company;
The "Essentials Range" is over 93% natural, PH balanced and suitable for all skin types, even sensitive!
The range uses ingredients that complement the structure and function of healthy male skin, helping to reduce skin irritation and replenish natural defences to make skin all the more touchable.
I asked my boyfriend to try a sample I received and he fell for it immediately. It banished blemishes, left skin smooth and, to the ladies out there, I also found that the shaving cream is great for your legs!
Marketing to the males:
Male beauty marketing campaigns tend to pigeonhole men as the metrosexual man or uber-manly man, only reflecting one or the other polarity. Male grooming brands would benefit from helping men to negotiate the many roles they inhabit, offering products/role models that are both dad-friendly and professional.
Old Spice campaign:
Gently poking fun at unspoken stereotypes with a spot on understanding of the new definition of masculinity, this commercial has rejuvenated a tired brand.
Adventurous? Get advise:
Guidance for male beauty regimes can be hard to come by and many guys may feel embarrassed to ask for advise in large department store beauty halls, in answer to this problem, the creators of mankind.co.uk have incorporated 3 grooming guide sections titled: THE BASICS, THE ULTIMATE GUIDE and MASTERCLASS.
The Masterclass section allows you to browse topics and easily navigate the lessons:
Groominglounge.com is a further amazing source of male maintenance information. The site offers the widest selection of premium men's brands from Jack Black to Molton Brown to Aqua di Parma to Kiehl's, including their own award-winning shave & hair care solutions.
This site will help any guy that is either in need of a new skin care regime or just some grooming advise.
The leather trend proved to be one of the biggest trends of AW12 and continues to influence fashion in SS13, as seen at Fashion Week. Nails Inc have captured the leather look with their revolutionary 'BLING IT ON BLACK LEATHER AND SKULLS' set.
"Inspired by the SS13 trend for texture and leather, we have created leather effect polish. This stunning shade applies glossy but will dry down into a chic leather look texture. The polish features a limited edition leather effect cap. This fashion forward collection also includes 4 crystal skull embellishments and glue so that you create a unique nail art look at home"
There's no need for top coat on these show stopping nails as this will take away the edgy leather effect. Follow the simple instructions below and get fashion forward nails in no time;
Face Lace is the creation of Phyllis Cohen and comprises of a range of intricately detailed face appliqué; but I just couldn't think of better suited name for this feature.
The laces are made from vinyl with a hypoallergenic backing so that you can delicately place them around your eye area - who needs eye shadow!
The stick on Face Lace made it's debut at the FW12 Corrie Nielsen show, providing a gorgeous extension of the plaid fabric to the face and perfectly reflecting the collection's reference to Scottish Clans, Victoriana and a touch of the equestrian.
What's more these lace sensations are now available to buy!
I have recently discovered the Phyllis Cohen range in Harvey Nichols where the appliqués are available as singles from £15.95 and packs from £45.95.
They're ideal for the artistically ambitious, in the post-Gaga era, looking to add a touch of unique flair to an evening look.
Dare to be a little braver now and you will prove your fashion forwardness before the look inevitably becomes as commonly seen as the false eyelash.
We can already see the opulent eye-work reaching the media through music videos - so hurry!
Frames from Pink's 'Blow Me (One last kiss)' music video
A further way to incorporate the lace look into your eye make-up are lace lashes, providing a more subtle approach to the bold look.
PAPERSELF provides a commercial platform for this innovative exploration of lace as contemporary eye-wear. Launched in 2009 by London based designer Chunwei Liao, Paperself unites artists, designers and manufacturers from East to West.
Their eyelashes, pictured below, are inspired by nineteenth century French silk bobbin lace, held in the collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
BOURJOIS-
"Lace and catwalk inspired, Miss Couture lashes for elegance and high-end glamour. Created in collaboration with Paperself, the world's leading paper-art brand for lashes. Uniquely fashionable, chic and stylish in design, they are the ultimate fashion accessory to be bang on trend this season"
For AW12, designers embraced the dark arts after seasons of bright colours and glaring prints. The focus was on wine-stained lips, paled out complexions and Snow-White-dark tresses.
You could say Christina Ricci introduced the goth look to the mainstream in 1991's remake of The Addams Family; with her middle-parted dark pigtails and ghostly complexion, she became the poster child for pouty angst.
But it was perhaps Brandon Lee's starring turn in the film version of The Crow that truly brought goth beauty to the big screen. Lee donned stringy black centre parted strands and graphic black-on-white make up as the undead vigilante spawned from the 80's comic book series of the same name.
Then there was The Craft, in which a group of young Hollywood hotties gave underworld worship a new kind of sex appeal. Fairuza Balk's pencil-thin brows, matte berry lip, kohl-stained eyes and multiple piercings epitomise 90's goth.
Thanks to the release of David Fincher's The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, goth is experiencing a third wave. Make up artist, Pat McGrath, created a threatening and otherworldly appearance via shadowed eyes and bleached brows. The look would also inform the bulk of McGrath's backstage repertoire at the AW shows.
McGrath established the look that would define the season backstage at Gucci. "Dark romance" is how she described the models' peroxided brows and deep berry lips. The innovative use of the light brows prevents the period look traditionally created from a red lip and full, dark brow. This is an opinion that a number of other high-profile make up artists bought into.
#2 : Application of ebony, grey and brown pigments to lips at other shows made for an entirely different, more gothic narrative. To compliment Tomas Maier's moody Bottega Veneta collection, she used an eyeliner rather than lip liner, to rim lips before layering them with burgundy pigments - creating a black cherry finish
To recreate this look at home, blend MAC Lipmix in Black with its clear Lip Conditioner, Butler compared the custom tint to the "1980s Shiseido lipsticks that were very weak in pigment but gave a little bit of darkness".
Lucia Pieroni - a minimalist make up artist with maximal appeal
"I'm obsessed with lips at the moment", Lucia Pieroni told style.com backstage at Rochas.
For the AW show she administered velvety red pouts after engineering a few of the most impressive mouths of the SS collections earlier in the year, from fluoro pink at Giles to a glossy wine at Jonathan Saunders to an electric cerise at Missoni. The precise applications were tailored and tweaked just so for individual models,
"When you're doing someone's make up, it's about what brings out their features, what makes them look more beautiful" Pieroni
Pieroni, who is approaching 25 years in the industry has been adapting her technique to suit different faces since she picked up a make up brush on a whim in the 1980's. Pieroni grew up as a fine artist and still thinks of herself as one,
"I don't love make up that much but I love creating" Pieroni
Her unique approach to beauty, which favours understatement over theatrics, keeps the innovative make up star in demand with the fashion crowd of Hollywood.
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