Vogue launches 'Miss Vogue'

After a month spent languishing in Essex, my friend Eveey picked me up for a stay at her home/palace in Bedford. It's nice to see a different view from the seated position that I spend 99% of the day in, and good to catch up with my friends who have spent the past five months doing a ski season in Samoens. And yes, they do owe me, being the (very) indirect cause of my broken leg. 

During the daily browse of Instagram, we spied a pic of the latest issue of Vogue with an intriguing addition. Naturally we were excited for Eve's subscription copy to land on her doorstep, which it did this morning. 

Launched by British Vogue, Miss Vogue is a brand new publication aimed at a younger audience. Compiled by the team at Vogue, it comprises of similar content (fashion, beauty, celebrity interviews etc) that has been filtered down and transferred into trendy jargon for the new fash brat pack. 

While still embodying the spirit of its mother magazine, the new title targets a younger audience whose interests and budgets vary slightly from that of their parents. It retains the authority of being the number one fashion title, but talks to its readers in a more approachable tone, with a fresh and engaging voice. You still trust all the trend predictions and fashion reports, but you don't feel as pressured into taking their advice. 

The premier edition wisely features the embodiment of this current young rebel fashionista culture on their cover, Cara Delevigne. The successful young model is EVERYWHERE at the moment, as well as gracing the cover, many of the adverts within the mag itself star her distinctive face, framed by her infamous eyebrows. If she's not being papped coming out of hip London clubs with current chart toppers, she's spamming our Instagram feeds with her plethora of 'selfies'. Her distinctive and casual style is the envy of fashion conscious teens the world over, defined by ripped skinny jeans and a beanie hat. It's no wonder that Miss D was chosen for the cover, she is the ultimate idol for their intended audience.

As well as a generous helping of Cara, Miss Vogue is filled with creative and engaging features that appeal directly to the blogging generation. An A-Z of gorgeous featuring numerous spot-busting wonders - perfect for troublesome teen (and, sadly, tween) skin; a peek into the bedrooms of various teenage mini-stars - just the thing for nosey bloggers; an insight into Saturday night for teens across the globe - fun to compare notes with. There's also an interesting and insightful feature on the social dilemmas and personal problems of the 'inbetween' generation, with discussions on body image, sex, drugs and social media. 

The fashion features, while still retaining a slightly designer bias, are much more realistic and obtainable to the teenage shopper, and with outfit ideas for interns and festival-goers, they're bang on the passions and requirements of the reader. Interviews and columns from anarchic fashion designer Henry Holland and Tavi Gevinson, arguably the world's most famous teenager and style blogger, pepper the pages of the magazine, and are exactly the type of quirky and intriguing figures that young fashionistas want to read about.

Overall, I was really impressed with Miss Vogue, and found it much more engaging than  its mother title. I stopped buying Vogue while at uni, partially due to a lack of disposable income for such luxuries and also because I felt more and more alienated from the content. I didn't, nor was I going to have in the forseeable future, £2000 to spend on a blouse, and even if I did have that cash to flash I'd much rather blow it on a high-street trolly dash. I was also never particularly wowed by the features, and found the whole thing too overwhelming as a package.

Miss Vogue is 124 pages, which is much easier to digest than over 200. The features themselves are also shorter, which makes for a much easier read. Although I might be slightly (emphasis on the SLIGHTLY) older than the intended readership, I'll definitely be picking up the next edition, to bridge the gap between the elite (Vogue, Elle, Marie Claire) and the high-street (Look, Grazia).

REVIEW: Barry M nail art pens

After coveting pictures of perfectly painted nails on Instagram for hours at a time, I decided it was finally time to try it for myself. With whole days to spend mastering my manicure, I was ready to progress from cheating with clever nail effect polishes to letting my (supposed) creative streak run wild.

I'd seen a lot of positive reviews of the new Barry M nail art pens, so decided to purchase a couple for myself. With a super fine nib and easy grip bottle, they're advertised as being super easy to use. At the moment they're available in black, white, pink and silver, but I'd imagine that once they've been out for a while they'll bring out more colours.

I'd used nail art pens before, but the kind where you squeezed to get the colour flowing. I always found these difficult to use, as it was tricky to control the flow of varnish, and I could never get anything close to a neat line. 

With the Barry M pens, you pump them a couple of times to get the colour flowing, then write as if you were using a normal pen. This makes it really easy to get neat basic shapes, as well as create more intricate designs. 

I let my sister and my friend run wild on my nails before giving it a go myself, here are the results:

After a few initial hiccups, the final result was pretty impressive. After painting all my nails with a base colour and leaving it to dry, they used the pens along with a second colour and dotting tool to create a quirky aztec pattern. The good thing about this is that each nail can be different, so you don't have to worry about perfectly replicating a design each time. The pens dry pretty quickly, so you don't have to wait too long to add extra details and decorations. The colour is pretty opaque too, so there's no need to go over the same area more than once.

When these sadly began to chip, I felt like it was time to try it for myself. Inspired by a photoshoot I'd seen in Company magazine, I went for a fairly simple American flag design:

Although the stars were a bit tricky, I was pretty happy with the final result. The pens are really easy to work with, even when using your non-writing hand, After a bit of practice, I can imagine that it will be fairly easy to create a range of intricate designs and pretty patterns. I'll keep you posted on my nail tales!