Harry Potter goes dark

On Friday night it was the global release of the new film Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows-part 1, and it was brilliant.
With reading the J.K Rowling novel about a year ago I couldn't wait to watch the film, and with all my suspense it wasn't a let down. As the characters have grown up, along with the storyline, the filmmakers had to make a decision whether to stay safe or portray the real imagery in its fullest. And so as the film unravelled I was pleased to see the sometimes funny, jokey and cuteness has passed on to reveal a darker side to the wizarding world.I also read this morning that the film has beaten the previous opening record for the franchise in the U.S and Canada. The film took $125.1m (£77.9m) at the weekend box office, taking it straight to the top of the chart.
The first of the two part film has now made $330m (£205.5m) in global ticket sales.
I now cant wait till Summer 2011 for part 2!! Hurry up!!

Debenhams Edition

Debenhams are launching a new designer fashion concept called Edition to build on its own brand fashion offering, as it reports an increase in full year sales and profit.

The launch of Edition is the next step in Debenhams' strategy to shift its focus to own bought product ranges to boost margins. Edition will include fashion collections from designers Jonathan Saunders, Preen, Jonathan Kelsey and Roksanda Ilincic who will work with the retailer for a minimum of 4 seasons.

The range will launch in Spring 2011, with a 'gallery style' area in stores. Rob Templeman, Chief Executive of Debenhams says "we remain concerned about the general retailer environment, but we are encouraged by the start to the new financial year".

Fragrance-at new heights

Olfactorialist.com is a blog/website which explores the world of fragrance with scrutiny. A relatively new blog, online since March 2010 and written by Berlin-based editor Lena Brombacher whose interest in sophisticated perfumery transcends in fashion and major brands by giving an insight into some of the best niche perfumes on the market. "A lot of big brands try to sell their products as the most amazing stuff ever, I try everything on the market but I don't write about the mainstream".

Brombacher explains that she has a hyper-sensitive nose- I smell everything perfume, flowers, food, people, apartments, streets, cities....I smell if a person is already in the office or smell fire before anyone else does. Lena's friends once told her that it is impossible to write about smell, but there are many perfume blogs and people love to communicate and get inspired. What Lena tries to do is create an image of the fragrance.

Recently Olfactorialist.com was the official media partner of the famous perfume fair Pitti fragranze.

Berry Beautiful

Berry shades seem to be the favourite for Autumn/Winter lips, from crimson to grape tones. Nars have created one of the darkest shades in a Black Berry matte lipstick, along with Topshop creating a lip marker perfect for creating the precision pout, its a must if your after a crushed rasberry colour with a velvet finish.

Even designers are featuring the shades like Tom Ford's lipstick in Moroccan Rouge, which is a fantastic deep plum colour perfect for Autumn weather. Makeup artists are also showing the shade is big as Rebecca Ferguson was seen wearing the colour as her lipstick on Saturday's X Factor Live show.

Eat Pray Love

I have to say that this film didn't particularly blow me away with its spirituality and neither was it a tearjerker, but I did enjoy the way Roberts' character wasn't revealed too much which left it to the viewer to decide on particular areas of the story. There was never a scene to introduce Elizabeth Gilberts occupation yet you understood she was a writer of some sort, could it of been fiction? Romance? We were kept guessing. But in reality Gilbert was a writer and a very successful one at that, releasing her first novel Stern Men in 2000, a story of brutal territory wars between fishing villages off the coast of Maine.

In 2002 her book The Last American Man was a finalist for both the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award.

This film has inspired me to travel areas in the world that were still unknown to me, and as for Italy I would like to run away to the city of Rome, enjoy the amazing food and drink lots of wine.

Pure Spirit meets Stitch

The trade show Pure Spirit has teamed up with menswear and accessories event Stitch, to produce a trading event on the international buying calender. This will show case at London's Earls Court in February with over 250 brands will show along with catwalks, trend presebtations and business seminars.

Brian Duffy, Managing Director of Stitch, explained "we have a goal to put London on the map as a fashion city for menswear, it's better to compete with foreign cities like Paris or Milan than amongst each other".

The strategy behind the idea was to create the biggest and best buying event the UK has seen in decades.

The show is the 13-15 February 2011.

illamasqua

illamasqua have some fantastic products for dramatic, theatrical make up and have just begun to sell their items in a boutique in Manchester city centre. The brand takes its roots from the dark and illicit 1920's club scene, and combine a rich heritage in the manufacture of makeup for film and theatre.

This beauty brand is for the bold consumer, with attitude and a confident statement of self ownership. Stockists in the UK are limited selling in Selfridges, selected Debenhams stores and asos.com.

The products are hugely wearable, daring and the choice of colours in all products is extensive, blushers come in all shades of vibrant pink and orange to deep plum. And powder eye shadows available in over 80 different colours. High performance makeup is the key to this brand with a professional finish perfect for burlesque, dancing, film and stage.