Nick Verreos Hosts FIDM San Diego Debut Fashion Show!

Uncle Nicky Goes Traveling, Part One: The San Diego Edition
Runway Struttin': Nick Verreos at the San Diego Debut Fashion Show

This last weekend was a busy one: I was invited to host a great fashion show in San Diego sponsored by that city's Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising Campus on Saturday afternoon and the next day, I was scheduled to be in Seattle for a big photo shoot for a new campaign I am doing with MSN and their new Victory Project. Time to "Make it Work", as Tim Gunn would say. The Debut Fashion Show--a yearly runway show highlighting the final collections of the top graduates of FIDM's Advanced Fashion Design Program--goes "on the road" each year to several of the FIDM campuses. And this time, it was sunny San Diego!
Model Love: Nick Verreos gets hugs from Mercedes, Lisa and Tanisha

Years ago, I was actually one of those fashion design graduates in FIDM's Advanced Fashion Design Program and now, I am actually one of the instructors in this exclusive program. You may remember (if you've been keeping up on my blog) that these were also the graduates who got to design for Barbie (yeah!)
Gown Happy: Model in Clay Sadler's gown, FIDM San Diego Debut fashion show

The site of the fashion show was the Westin Horton Plaza right in the Gaslamp Quarter of Downtown San Diego. The show featured the designs of FIDM graduates Charles Ryan Sands, Clay Sadler, San Diego native Sara Lighthall, Mike Cheng, Adrian Manuel, Liz Sandhoefner, Brenda Ahamad, Lacey Osberg, Valentina Vardanyan, Johnathan Webster and Natalie Hara. Untied: Models wearing Sara Lighthall's designs on the runway, FIDM San Diego Debut fashion show

Several of them have already done very well: Adrian is working with Single, Charles Ryan interned at Chado Ralph Rucci for his most recent NY Fashion Week Collection, Natalie launched her own company, Natalia Romano and several of them are in Italy as we speak, studying at an exclusive Haute Couture fashion design school.
Muse Mercedes: Modeling at the FIDM San Diego Debut Show (left), and modeling for Nikolaki (right)

A special treat for this San Diego show was seeing lots of my favorite models--including one of my first "Model Muses", the gorgeous Mercedes. She was one of the very first models we ever used when we launched NIKOLAKI back in 2001 and we have remained friends ever since. Lisa Blades models FIDM Debut graduate Valentina Vardanyan's creation

Also on hand was Lisa Blades, whom you might recognize from Lifetime Networks Models Of the Runway show, as well as Tanisha Harper. Both of them are finalists in the show and got a chance to model at Bryant Park (so excited for them!). Jonathan models Charles Ryan Sands' screen printed jeans, coat and scarf, FIDM San Diego Debut fashion show

To the delight of the young audience, there were also lots of male models strutting down the San Diego runway, including Jonathan , the runner-up from Bravo's "Make Me A Supermodel". He is THE SWEETEST guy! Love him!
HIIIIIIIII Everyone! Nick Verreos and the line at the Westin Horton Plaza Ballroom

After the show was over, I told the audience that I would be happy to take photos and sign anything! Well, little did I know that hundreds of high school students (their mommies and daddies too!) would be waiting for me in the lobby. I think even some of them got some photos with the models as well which I am sure will end up on Facebook. Get ready to be tagged!
Cheeky Kisses: Nick Verreos and his "fans", San Diego FIDM Debut Show

It was a wonderful afternoon of fashion and models. Maybe there were some future FIDM Debut 2014 Graduates in the audience. Who knows? Thanks for a great time San Diego! Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go catch a plane to Seattle! Where's my trench coat when I really need it?

Ooglemakeup

As some of you may know Gail, writer of one of my favourite blogs ooglemakeup, has had to unfortunately delete her YouTube channel due to privacy issues. However, I am very happy to say that she is back!! Wooop! You can find her on her new channel ooglemakeup here. So for great reviews, hauls and beauty musings please check her out!! :) xxx

Review of New CID Cosmetics

I just wanted to review a couple of New CID Cosmetics products that I have been using lately and to give you my thoughts on them. First up is I-Glow Ice Pop which is similar to a MSC Mineral Skin Finish. Here's the blurb "i - glow is hand baked unlike many other powders which use waxes to stick ingredients together. This means i - glow glides smoothly over skin to create a radiant and youthful look. Great for accentuating a tan, the special ingredients ‘bounce' light off the skin.
For a fresh, luminous look, dust i - glow Ice Pop all over the face, neck and shoulders with a big powder brush".

It has the same marbelised look to it as a MAC MSF and can be used as a highlighter, blush, all over powder or an eye shadow. I really like the clean, practical packaging and the colour is a gorgeous soft pink. The powder is buttery smooth and can be built up if you want to wear it as a blush. I found it looked very similar to MAC Well Dressed as it just gives the prettiest flush of pale pink to your cheeks. It looks very natural as there is no shimmer or glittery particles, perfect for daytime use! I have also used it lightly all over my face to brighten my complexion and that works really well too. It gives a nice glowy finish to my makeup without creating a shiny or greasy look to the skin. Here's a swatch...

I love this product and because you get twice as much as you would in a MAC Blush like Well Dressed, I think it's good value for money at £20.00. It's multi-purpose as well so it would be great for saving space when travelling when you need a product that has a few uses. It's also the kind of shade that would suit alot of people because it's so subtle.

I wasn't as impressed with the i-Flick eyeliner in Black. Here's the blurb "i - flick is a double ended liquid and kohl liner that makes creating the ‘Sixties' flick a no-brainer. It's a tried and tested look that shows no signs of going away, heavily influenced by the doe-eyed, kohl rimmed eyes that prevailed in the 1960's, it's also a look that makes everyone look instantly cooler. Designed to make applying precision eye-liner easy for everyone (and let's face it, it's a hard one to get right). In fact, i - flick's special capillary system which controls the flow of ink to the brush nib makes it virtually impossible to make a mistake!"

Here's what the product looks like...

And with the lids off...

I am a big fan of liquid eyeliner as you all know and I have tried so many of them that I just won't put up with anything that's falls below par. My problem with this product was that the pigmentation in the liquid liner was just very poor and when I swatched it, it actually came out looking more dark grey than black. Maybe the problem lies in the 'capilliary' liquid pen design that controls the ink flowing to the end...maybe it works TOO well and waters down the colour on application. All I know is that I like my liquid liner to be intensely black to create good definition and this one just didn't cut it. The khol pencil on the other side is ok, but nothing special and it didn't have great staying power either. Here's the swatches...

The liquid liner is on the top and the khol on the bottom. The khol is actually darker than the liquid liner!

So, all in all, I would recommend the i-glow but not the i-Flick. I much prefer my new Estee Lauder Double Wear Liquid Liner which just refuses to budge and gives the most intense black I have seen yet in a liner!

Lee Stafford Hair Growth Treatment

Project healthy hair is still going strong and I've added another product to my haircare arsenal to try and encourage growth and generally improve the condition and look of my hair. There's a big buzz around at the moment over hair growth products (I've heard that Boots do one and I'm guessing that's the mysterious product that Lollipop26 is trying at the moment although she hasn't divulged that information as yet). I had heard some good things about the Lee Stafford Hair Growth Treatment pictured above so I decided to pick some up a few weeks ago as I was browsing around Boots (I NEVER just browse in Boots, I always buy something!). I got a 200ml tub for £6.84.

This is what the product looks like inside...

It is described as a "gorgeous, thick intensive treatment with Pro-Growth™ complex gives your hair strength from within by fertilising your follicles, creating a healthy environment on your scalp to help hair grow faster and reach its maximum potential length. Its soothing formulation reduces irritation and moisturises the scalp, helping to keep it healthy and improving the volume and feel of your hair".This treatment is designed to be used between shampoo and conditioner, however, since my hair is so fine and flyaway, I didn't want to weight it down by using the treatment and then conditioner on top. So I have just been using it like an intensive conditioner, brushing it through, massaging my scalp and leaving it on for 5 minutes every time I wash my hair (which is pretty much every day). It smells lovely too! It instructs you to scoop out an amount the size of an egg but I found that half of that amount was enough to cover my long fine hair. I have been doing this for the past 5 weeks and this is what my hair looks like now after just blowdrying it straight (I didn't use straighteners or any kind of serum)...

I am SO SO happy with the condition of my hair after using this product on a regular basis, it's shiny, bouncy and feels lovely and soft (without being so soft that it goes all fuzzy). This has worked wonders on my fine hair, I'm not sure how it would work on thicker or coarse hair but if you have fine hair then I would definitely give it a go. I was pretty cynical about whether it would make my hair grow but it has definitely made a difference. It's been just over 5 weeks since I had my hair trimmed and it's grown alot faster than it normally would. Generally when I leave more than 6 weeks between trims, my hair starts to get split ends and generally just looks a bit untidy, plus it never sits right. However, since using this treatment, my hair feels as nice as it does just after I've had my hair cut. I don't have as many split ends and my colour hasn't gone dull like it usually does (I get highlights every 6 weeks). I think you really do have to use this each time you wash to see the optimum results but once you're happy with the length/condition of your hair, you can just switch to using it once a week.

So, now I've found a product that helps my hair grow...I want one to make me have thicker hair!ha ha. I'm never happy! I think I will have to buy clip in extensions to achieve that and I reckon I will get some at the end of the month so stay tuned for updates on that.