Ooo la À la Carte Cosmetics!!

It's been a while.... but I'm back! And my first return blog is about Cosmetics à la carte, a bespoke makeup and beauty range made in the UK. They are now selling in Vedas Beauty Salon in Dun Laoghaire and held their launch on Thursday night aided by Zoë Clark and Jane Sinclair, two of Ireland and the UK's top makeup artists.

Cosmetics À la Carte, is a bespoke makeup range with a huuuuuuge range! I was writing this blog a couple of days ago and it was so long I had to start again, due to the sheer amount of products I was trying to talk about. So, I decided to start again, talk about just a few of my favourites and to point those of you interested in the right direction to have a look for yourself! On the night in question Zoe and Jane were on stage making over a couple of clients while founder Lynne Sanders talked about her inspiration starting from Chemist to makeup guru.
Zoe had a great team of girls there to make over the audience into Marilyn Monroe inspired red-lipped wearing sirens. The point of the exercise to show how ANYONE can wear a red lip. Everyone loved it!

Zoe working on her model, forever thinking like one too!

Zoe's model looking very fresh with just bare foundation

Lynne decided to start her range back in London in the swinging '60's with her friend and business partner, Christina Stewart as she found it very difficult to get the colours and textures she wanted in her own makeup kit. Many years later and the company has gone from strength to strength, boasting a string of celeb clientele: Princess Diana, Kylie Minogue and Lady Gaga... plus many more! The unique selling point here is not just the quality of materials and colours but rather the bespoke makeup service. Yes, you heard me right! Allergies and discontinued makeup (the bain of my life!)  can be sorted using this custom service. Send Cosmetics A la Carte a swatch of the colour you want and they will make it for you, or if you have not been able to wear makeup due to allergies, they will make your very own so that you can wear makeup with confidence.

This is from their booklet:

• "Uniquely, our face bases and mineral powders can be precisely prescribed to suit the colour and composition of your skin
• With a la Carte you can build a personalised and refillable palette of colours for your eyeshadow and blusher compacts.
• Although our ready to wear collection is extensive, our lab team will combine existing colours to create the right shade, exclusive to you.
• Colour Recreate - bring your discontinued favourites back to life!"

Bloody fantastic!!!

Zoe and Jane with their models on stage.

The A Team - Clare, Ausra, Deirdre and Terri

Ciara working on her model for the night

So the makeup artists favourites from the night:

• Ciara - Pretty in Pink lip liner. A coral pink/red, great for a softer red lip look if you're not feeling too daring and will suit most people of all ages.
• Ausra - Loved all the lipsticks and blushes. The range of colours and textures are great!
• Clare - All the lipsticks/blushers and highlighter ('Starlight')



Zoe's finished look - Gorgeous

• Deirdre - Magnolia Cream blusher and the black eyeshadow pigment. She also fancied the gel eyeliners but finds they best work as waterproof eyeshadows. 

My favourites:

• All the blushes, pigments are great and there's such a range... but my favourite out of them would be the  "Starlight" blush touch powder blush. 
• Velvet touch eyeshadow
• Matt lipstick
• Brow ink in Sable. I LOVE this. I wasn't that excited about it on the night, but once I got home and tried this, I fell..... It's really easy to apply as the very end of the nib is soft and supple but has enough hold that you can use it as easy as a pen. It's transulency gives a very natural look so you don't end up looking like something in a panto!
• Lip balms from Cosmetics a la Carte are amazing. 
• The sheer combination of finishes to the foundations and powders...amazing!

I will say that the packaging is not the prettiest, but I dare say that they put the money into their products. Another downside is the more neutral tones in the eyeshadow ranges need a bit of work to work... but most of the colours are true and work very well. Some of the makeup artists said that SOME of the lipsticks are not as strong as they appear, that could be a plus for some people as a veil of colour could be more appealing.

Ahem!

Consultations and makeovers

Jane doing the do

Rachel Murphy and Peter Kane, both from Makeup Artist Network (MAN) coming to check out the new range.... both got very giddy at some of the products!

One of my favourites: Eye Velvet - Gorgeous!

Ciara's favourite was the lip pencil of a coral red colour called "Pretty in Pink" , she reckons it's great all over the lip without lipstick.

The rest of the amazing team, Ausra, Clare and Deirdre

Jane and Terri

Available in Vedas beauty, this is a diffuser, light and radio in one!!

More of the amazing and gorgeous products available at Vedas Beauty, Dun Laoghaire!

Makeup Artist in the making, Katie

Two beautiful ladies, Katie and her Mum, Margaret

I urge anyone reading this to get your booty down to Vedas Beauty, if not for the cosmetics on offer... you need to try their lush beauty rooms for a facial and a chat with down to earth but very elegant staff. Men, head on down the ladies will definitely be able to help you out with gift ideas. Ladies, if you think it 's only for us, think again, lots of ideas for boys beauty too!

All in all, I love this range... there is far too many products to talk about, too many innovations, too many nifty things for makeup artists... just get down there and check it out yourselves!

Cosmetics A la Carte is the name to watch!

Vedas Beauty

2nd Floor,

19 Lower Georges Street,

Dun Laoghaire,

Co Dublin.

Phone : 01 214 0222
Email : info@vedasbeauty.ie

Opening Hours: 

Monday to Friday: 10am to 9pm
Saturday & Sunday: 10am to 6pm