Ok so a new feature I've been thinking of for a while. How many times do you see a picture of someone or watch TV and think 'next time I do my make-up I'm going to try and do that'? Well I do it all the time and for so many different kinds of women purely depending on my mood. So I thought I'd have a look at each of my 'make-up muses' and pick out the bits of their look, style and make-up that I love. Now this may seem done to death but this is my blog and these are my make-up muses so some of them may be unexpected and Audrey Hepburn will not feature. It will be the first Monday of the month and you can search for them by clicking 'Muse' in the tag cloud in the right sidebar.
Thought I'd start this off with Gwen Stefani because, apart from the classic icons she has been one of my make-up muses since school and is still doing it! Whenever I see a picture of her even if I don't particularly love the outfit it is guaranteed that there will be a fab item of jewelry or a new lip colour that I covet. She is a modern version of the classic 50s icon - the blonde hair, the red lips and nails, even her eyebrows but she is so up-to-date it hurts.
I suppose with Gwen we should start at the top with the hair. When I fist went blonde a billion years ago it was party because I wanted to look like all the fantastically cool 80s metal bands that I loved (yes they were men, what?) and then along came No Doubt and Tragic Kingdom and she looked so cool and I wanted her hair. How the hell does she maintain it? How? I need her hairdressers number. I'm having to have a break from dying mine because it was so damaged and she never even has a root visible. There's a secret I know there is... I need to find it out.
Her make-up (what I think of as being classic Gwen Stefani though she actually changes it up quite a lot) usually involves a flick of varying degrees of drama, a red lip, and flawless skin with not a whole lot of blusher and bronzer going on... just enough. She always hits the right note of made-up but not overdone, again a real classic look that's hard to do. What makes the eyes work is the use of pale shadows and slight contour to make the shape perfect and the ideal backing for the black liner and lashes. Even when she goes for more dramatic eye make-up and a nuder look she still seems to ooze classic style.
What I always feel when looking at Gwen Stefani is that if there were no stylists and make-up artists in the world she would probably look pretty similar to what we see. If you remove the bindi in the Don't Speak video you'll see she's already got her signature make-up look going on. Love, love, love her.
Gwen Stefani Make-up Must Haves:
Eye Shadows - neutral tones and slightly darker matte shades for contouring are the best backing for a classic looking flick liner. For neutrals try Brulee or Blanc by
MAC and for the darker shades Wedge and Omega are great. Or you can get a palette with similar colours in -
Sleek Make-up I-Divine Palettes in
Au Naturel or
Oh So Special are my picks. My top pick is the
Essential Eye Palette by Louise Young.
Eye Liner - choose a gel liner like my favourite 77 from
Inglot or
Blacktrack from MAC with either an angled brush (
266 from MAC is my preference) or a
Real Techniques Fine Liner brush or a pen liner if you find that easier. I prefer the ones from
Eyeko or
Collection.
Lips - the most important thing is to get a red that suits your skin tone. My favourite red pencil is
Redd from MAC but in terms of an actual lipstick there are so many out there to choose from.
MAC Ruby Woo is a bestselling favourite but my go-to MAC colour is
All Fired Up which is more flattering, as is
Lady Danger. YSL,
Chanel (Pirate for my preference) and
Charlotte Tilbury (I love Lost Cherry) are also worth checking out. For more affordable brands
Barry M's Lip Paint in 121 would work and my most recommended red lipstick is the mighty
Revlon Fire & Ice.
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I get asked this a lot. I think eye shadow palettes can be so daunting especially now there are so many to choose from so here's a look at how you can use them in a really straightforward way and a look at some of the ones I had to hand at the time of filming. If you want to go high end I love the 
I don't go on interviews but I do have a make-up look that I'd pull out of the bag if I was going on one. It's one of my go-to looks for anytime I have to look smart, made-up but not over done. If you would rather then swap the black liner for brown or even just smudge the darkest brown shadow over the pen liner to soften it.
This is a really simple face of the day. I've tried to use affordable products and where I haven't I hopefully explain why not and offer a High St alternative. As always I've listed everything below and if I've mentioned other products I've listed them too.
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Mascara (in black)