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Fiona Butterworth is a top Manchester make up artist, with many years experience working in film and TV.

We have worked together on a number of occasions, and she has very kindly put together a few tips for us on this season's makeup trends.

Fiona’s Top Tips

Make up this season should look fresh and soft with natural, glowing flawless skin.
Foundations should be light with illuminators applied on top to the places that normally catch the sun for example, cheekbones, down the centre of the nose, temples and even on the collar bones and shoulders to give a healthy glow.

Eyeshadow colours have gone pastel with washes of colour over eyelids. Swap black for dark brown eyeliners.
Try wetting your eyeshadow with a brush to give a greater intensity of colour for an evening look either for the whole of the lid or to be used as eyeliner!
Smokey eyes are still in but they too have softened from last season.

Lips should shine with the lipgloss making a comeback. Apply over a bright lip colour to increase colour intensity or on its own with a natural lip pencil to give a fresh youthful appearance.

Soft apricot and pink blushers dusted over the apples of the cheeks will finish the look for the season.

Image from womenzstyle

Image from Daily Mail

Tom Ford lipsticks

Fiona is available for private client work and can be contacted on 07970721798.

If you are lucky you might still be able to grab a last minute bargain in some of the high street shops. Retailers seem to have taken advantage of the recent bad weather and their sales rails have lingered longer than usual, which is all good news for us customers. Look out for winter coats and jackets, there are some excellent buys, and maybe you could invest in a cut price party frock or two.

As for the new season the spring styles are slowly starting to appear. During the next few weeks I shall be reporting back on the new spring trends, take a look at what the shops have in store for us, and what we can expect to see over the coming months.

For starters today, I thought I would take a quick look at an ageless spring classic, the nautical trend.

Personally, I find the easiest way to get a new spring look is to invest in some nautical stripes.

I have my old reliable favourites that come out of their winter packing each spring, but, I always like to liven my look up with some new season stripes.

Colours do vary year on year, but so far for spring 2010, the predominant colours seem to be the traditional navy, white and red.

All images courtesy of WGSN

Last minute shopping for party frocks.

With Christmas just around the corner, it’s quite possible that some of you haven’t had time to source a special little party number, so here are a few ideas, all at great prices.

Cabaret sequin dress from HOBBS was £199 now £169 www.hobbs.co.uk	Sian dress, plum silk with waterfall ruffles and ruching, by LK Bennett, was £225 now £160

Sixteen dress, Scarlet silk and chiffon with diamante neckline, by LK Bennet was £225 now £160	Winter florals, Petra dress by LK Bennett, comes in blue or green, featuring a heritage rose print in a fine grosgrain. www.lkbennet.com

Great websites to have a look at...

Check out the fabulous Almost Famous website www.aflondon.com, and see lot’s of lovely frocks. Get an extra 30% off by quoting the discount code xmasaw09.

For something more unusual have a look at www.jolaby.co.uk,

I featured both these dresses at a recent fashion event I hosted and the audience loved them:

Purple hitched dress with stripy cowl collar	Red taffeta dress with v-neck front frill and ruched hemline.

Well, I am just 2 months into my foundation degree in fashion and clothing technology, and I thought I would let you all know how it is going, FAB is the first word that springs to mind, I am having a great time, although the workload is relentless.

I truly wanted to be the class swot, but that hasn't quite gone according to plan, or doesn't appear so at the present time. But, once I have mastered the arts of pattern making, fashion design, sewing, Gerber, Photoshop, and have have plucked up enough courage to start sticking my ideas into my 2 sketch books, I should be well on my way to catching up to all my classmates, who by the way are a great bunch.

I am the oldest student by far on my course, and I am conscious that my brain cells are dying off at an alarming rate, but, by surrounding myself with my lovely clever, classmates, whom I shall call "the bright young things", I am hoping that I will miraculously absorb their energy and ideas, so that at least I might be able to fool not only myself, but, also my tutors that I am keeping up, (I do hope they are not reading this!)

My first assignment, which we call a brief, is due in on Monday 30th of November at 9.30am. Which means lots of working late into the night, which means not much sleep, which leads to tired, puffy eyes, which is not a great look! Talking of eyes, my eye sight seems to be failing at a remarkable rate, I am lucky if I can see the needle on the sewing machine, let alone try to thread it, which doesn't bode well as by November 30th my brief will not be complete unless I have produced a 1920's Flapper dress, made by my own "fair and wrinkly" hands.

Is it the sheer volume of work, or am I just rubbish at time management? Whatever the reason, I need to speed up a bit to get everything finished on time. Watch this space!

I hope you all had a great summer and managed to wear some of your clothes despite the disappointing weather.

The summer has been extremely busy for me, with writing assignments and more development work on the online style consultancy project that will be launched
this season.

Now September has arrived, I’m also starting on one of my lifetime’s objectives
- a degree in Fashion and Clothing Technology at Manchester University.
It’s a long time since I studied and I can’t wait to apply all my experience to a strong academic programme.

As it is September, it’s high time we got to thinking about our Autumn/Winter 09 wardrobes, so I thought I would chat about some of the more popular trends
that are hitting the high street, so you can start

Click here to download my newsletter as a PDF.

The Manchester Evening News recently featured an article 'Graduated? How to get the first break' and I was asked to contribute as an Image Consultant on how to dress for an interview to make the right impression and stand out from the crowd. This is a very popular question and one, which crops up time and again with my clients. Here are a few of my thoughts on the subject. It is very important to put a lot of thought into what to wear for a job interview. There is a saying "you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression" and this is so true, in an interview situation first impressions are crucial. And employers and interview panels are expecting to be impresses. My first recommendation is to do your homework, most companies these days have Dress Codes, find out what the Dress Code is and dress accordingly. It is always better to be smart and over dressed than too casual. For example, Ernst and Young operate a flexible dress code with guidelines for employees and prospective employees to view. Their recommendation for If in doubt what to wear is to “overdress.” So where to begin: For most a good quality work suit will be the essential core piece. Remember quality always shines through, so whatever clothes you are buying, always buy the best you can afford. Be aware of any alterations that need to be carried out to ensure that your suit fits you perfectly. I am amazed by how many people wear suits with sleeves that are too long, or trousers are far too short, it is this sort of lack of attention to detail that can sometimes let you down. For ladies, most suits nowadays come with a choice of matching options e.g. dresses, skirts, trousers, waistcoats etc… so when making your selection be aware of your body shape, and get to know the styles that flatter you. Choose a neutral colour, black, navy or grey, this might sound a little dull, but seasonal colours can be in introduced with blouses, shirts and your accessories – handbags, shoes, hosiery, jewellery, ties, belts, scarves etc…. to create a more distinctive and stylish look. It is worth investing in a few well-chosen accessories, as accessorizing can instantly lift an outfit from average to polished. Keep footwear non fussy and elegant. Make sure your shoes do not overpower your outfit, and remember to ensure your shoes are clean and not in need of any repairs. When choosing a handbag, a structured style bag will look neater and more professional. Set the standard high and pay attention to the details. Don’t be let down by lack of effort and care to your nails, hair and make up. Think smart, tailored and well groomed at all times. I now offer an image consultancy service for men, including mens personal shopping trips.

Both images courtesy of Jaeger

It seems crazy that we are only in the first week of July, but, most of the August editions of the magazines are concentrating their efforts on the Autumn Winter collections, and the majority of the stores have new season woollens on display.

In the recent heat wave shopping has been uncomfortable to say the least in poorly air conditioned shops, but for my clients it has been far worse, as they have been having to get dresses and undressed in these sweltering conditions, where the only saving grace has been some of the fantastic bargains that we have come away with!

Rather than concentrating on the new trends for Autumn Winter 2009, I thought that it might be useful to have a think about summer essentials that you can buy and wear now, but which will also be relevant for summer next year.

Summer dresses form a huge part of my wardrobe,

1. Because they as so easy to wear and I am lazy!
2. Because they never date, and, if they do I have them tweaked.

	Most recent additions to my wardrobe are this bright and cheerful number from Whistles bought in the Selfridges sale a couple of weeks ago.
	And this gorgeous little pansy creation from the girls at Get Cutie www.getcutie.co.uk (left)
	Summer footwear I keep simple, ballerina pumps, laced plimsolls (mostly converse) flip flops (Haviannas) and a couple of pairs of canvas wedges. This season new buys were a pair of super comfy, super quality ballet pumps from Hobbs,
	And a pair of great canvas wedges in silver from the sale at Dune.
	Although I love huge handbags, I tend not to use them much in the summer months and, opt instead for a large basket. This years addition was bought at a show at Tatton Hall a couple of months ago, but you can bag yourself a bargain now in the sales.

I will be sending out the new edition of my newsletter very soon, if you would like a copy, register your details here.