Looks from Books: Wonder by R.J. Palacio

For book club this month we read "Wonder" by R.J. Palacio which is a middle grader book which we normally don't read but Wonder is NOT a typical book.

Auggie is a fifth grader. His face is badly deformed and he spent much of his preschool years hiding under a toy astronaut helmet in and out of surgeries. When August starts attending school for the first time, he makes enemies and friends, enduring the worst kind of taunts and enjoying the best kinds of friendships.WONDER captures the dual nature of childhood, both how cruel and how tender we can be with one another. It's about the wounds we inflict and the scars we carry, all the things that teach us to do things differently the next time. 

Looks From Books: Remake

This month for book club we read "Remake" by Ilima Todd.

A World Where Freedom Isn't a Choice.

Nine is the ninth female born in her batch of ten females and ten males. By design, her life in Freedom Province is without complications or consequences. However, such freedom comes with a price. the Prime Maker is determined to keep that price a secret from the new batches of citizens that are born, nurtured, and raised androgynously.

But Nine isn't like every other batcher. She harbors indecision and worries about her upcoming Remake Day - her seventeenth birthday, the age when batchers fly to the Remake facility and have the freedom to choose who and what they'll be.

When Nine discovers the truth about life outside of Freedom Province, including the secret plan of the Prime Maker, she is pulled between two worlds and two lives. Her decisions will test her courage, her heart, and her beliefs. Who can she trust? Who does she love? And most importantly, who will she decide to be?

Looks from Books: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Our book this month is 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne. Isn't the beach a perfect place for a photo shoot. This palette goes perfectly with the beach. You could also add accessories of any thing sea related. Some of our book club members came to book club with starfish bracelets in gold, real starfish barrettes and seahorse pendants. In the book Captain Nemo gets all he needs from the sea and is very inventive with the food and materials they used for everyday use. Luckily we don't have to do that and can wear these gorgeous clothes from our favorite designers.

Looks from Books: The Devil in the White City

For book club with Delicious Reads this month we read the stunning non fiction novel, "The Devil in the White City" by Erik larson.

Looks From Books: My Life in France

This past month at Delicious Reads we have been reading, My LIfe in France, a book about Julia Child's Life and career as a chef. 

Julia Child singlehandedly created a new approach to American cuisine with her cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking and her television show The French Chef, but as she reveals in this bestselling memoir, she was not always a master chef. Indeed, when she first arrived in France in 1948 with her husband, Paul, who was to work for the USIS, she spoke no French and knew nothing about the country itself.

Valentines Day Style

Valentines Day doesn't always have to be dresses and skirts and loads of girly flair - sometimes it can be your favorite pair of faux leather leggings, your new favorites screen print tee

Looks From Books: Remembrandt by Robin King

This month in Delicious Reads we read Remembrandt, a novel by one of our very own book club members, the lovely and incredibly talented, Robin King. 

Robin is an accomplished author, mother of 5, wife and a wonderful friend. She is funny, vibrant and amazing - just like this novel. 

Looks from Books: The Eye of Minds

This month at Delicious Reads we read The Eye of Minds by James Dashner which is a story about a wildly advanced video game where everything looks and feels real. The story centers around Michael, a video game pro and his two best friends Bryson and Sarah. They are hackers and high level players recruited to solve a mystery inside the video game world.

Mockingjay Photo Shoot: Capitol Look {Part 2 }

PANEM TODAY,

PANEM TOMORROW,

PANEM FOREVER.

The Capitol of Panem is a technologically advanced, utopian city where the nation's most wealthy and powerful live. 

An outrageous sense of style and fashion are very important to the wealthy citizens of the Capitol. It is common for them to tattoo and dye their bodies in extravagant bright colors, as well as undergo plastic surgery to alter their appearances.  Capitol residents frequently wear wigs in a multitude of colors.

Here is our interpretation of a girl from the Capitol...

District citizens view the people of the Capitol as alien, but here at Delicious Reads we LOVE them because they set our imaginations on fire!

I have a story for this Capital Gal. May I share it? Oh thank you! lol 

This is a girl that came from the slums of the capital. A girl that wanted to fit in with the ritzy, over styled, zany Capital crowd. The women that would walk around in a "half in reality" kind of way. Not a care in the world, no wrinkles from stress. No matter what she did, she didn't seem to be quite right. She didn't say the right thing, do the right thing, love the same things or wear anything that came close to the women she so desperately wanted to be.
She began to watch closely to see where these women went to get their hair done, where they received their injections for face mutations and mood alterations and where they went to shop for clothing. After a few months, she finally had it! A long list of the places she too would visit. The shop keepers were only to happy to hear about her desire for change. She was so eager in the makeup shop that the woman called her a tigress and proceeded to add various tiger like stripe marks. Her contouring was injected into the hollows of her cheeks which resulted in bruising (hence the purples and pinks), but she didn't care, she was on her way! They permanently removed her brows and gave her markings that would make her unique...just like the rest of the crowd. She went and had her hair done where they spent hours concocting the most delicious colors and curls. The dress maker constructed the glitz and glamour she had been hoping for.
The last and most important shop she entered would seal her fate. A woman sat on a lone chair, surrounded by bottles and bottles of brightly colored liquids. The air was thick as all the different perfumes mixed from each container and hung like a cloud above the woman's head. She giggled every now and then which unsettled our capital hopeful but not enough to back down. She had come this far and was determined to finish. The woman held out a wine glass full of a blue liquid that she promised would make all of her dreams come true. As long as she had a ready supply, she would not only fit in (since everyone else drank fluids from this shop) but she would no longer worry about anything. Nothing.
She drank.
The cool liquid quickly became warm as it slid down her throat and coated her insides like thick maple syrup. Slowly, her cares left. But with them left her passion, her ideals, her happiness at seeing the sunset, her life. She was as light as a cloud, giggling over silliness. She walked differently, spoke differently and felt differently about everything. She finally fit in and the drones all around her welcomed her with open arms and mutilated faces. It was worth it right? To lose herself completely? She fit in.

Did you like it? That, my friends was a long winded story I had as I thought about making up our amazingly talented model Angie (who should be rocking ANTM btw). I used Kryolan brand prosthetic adhesive to erase Angie's brows (amazing tutorial here) then used face paint to create her new pink and white tiger-esque brows. I used MAC's "Fig 1" "Carbon" and "Passionate" to create the contouring. Two sets of Halloween lashes were used. Purple for the ridiculous element and black to bring some depth. Angie had a makeup palette that had butterflies on it. We clipped them off, thinking our capital girl could have had a fascination for them. Some she trapped in the netting of her skirt, some in her hair and because of the effects of the liquid she drinks one even stuck to the skin of her face (I used spirit gum). 

CREDIT:

Photography: Summer Nicole Photo

Makeup: Jen with Classy Cosmetics

Styling: Jacque with Looks for Lovlies

Model: Angie Terburg

Hope you enjoy!

Looks From Books: Shadow on the Crown

This month at Delicious Reads we are reading Shadow on the Crown by Patricia Bracewell. 

This historical fiction novel revolves around the life of a young 11th century queen and her journey into an arranged marriage to an older king, finding her place in this new kingdom and her forbidden love story. 

I decided to create a modern day royalty look using a faux fur shrug and tulle and lace midi skirt. Then I layered a statement ring, floral crown, studded gold heels and over the top necklace layering for some crowned jewelry level glam. 

Makeup by Classy Cosmetics // Hair by Emma's Parlour // Photography by Carmen Ottens

Shop My Look

Head to Looksforlovelies.com for more style and beauty

Love, Jacque

Looks from Books: Hedwig the Owl from the Harry Potter Series

 Jacque from Looks For Lovelies.com and Jen, a new contributor from ClassyCosmetics.blogspot.com are bringing you a brand new feature where we create a look from a book's character with styling by Jacque and Makeup by Jen and we couldn't be more excited!

Image Source

This month we are thrilled to share a look inspired from one of the most famous book series of all time... 

...Harry Potter.

 We decided to do a "nontraditional" Harry Potter Makeup by choosing to focus on one of the supporting characters,  Hedwig the owl. (Harry Pet.)

Image Source

We created this look by mixing textures and fabrics in shades of cream, gray, white and nude. We created a feather headband and necklace to bring in the look of feathers without overwhelming the palette. 

Photo by Niki Martins Photography

Jen created a dramatic eye look to mimic the shape of an owl's eye using a combination of black and brown shadows. Jen then create a metallic brow. Then we create a deconstructed fishtail braid to finish off the look. 

(Makeup details below)

Photo by Niki Martins Photography

Photo by Niki Martins Photography

Photo by Niki Martins Photography

GET THE LOOK:

EYES- Covergirl bombshell Shine shadow in "Gold Goddess" for the brow, and "Ice Queen" for the lid. MAC shadow in "Carbon", "Handwritten" and "Cork" for contouring.

LIPS- Lined with "Stripdown" by MAC and filled with NARS "Dolce Vita" gloss.

FACE- Loreal True Match in N1 & W3, contoured with Be Matte Bronzer in "Toasted Coconut."

BLUSH- "Glow" by Make-up Designory and highlighted by Becca "Opal."  

A big thank you to our gorgeous model Kara! 

XOXO 

Jacque and Jen 

Looks from Books: The Haunting of Hill House

This month for book club we read, The Haunting of Hill House, a spooky tale written in 1959 by Shirley Jackson about an old New England home where Eleanor, and other house guests who've experienced paranormal events come together and experience horror, mystery and torment from the house. The book is one of the first written in it's genre and was inspiration for Stephen King's works

Check out the spooky photos from our book club night! (coming)

 I decided to center my look around the scariest movie from my childhood, hands down, The Wizard of Oz. For this look I embraced black and white stripes and red shoes - all things that remind me of the Wicked Witches in the movie with a fashion twist. I am especially loving these red and nude studded flats from Forever Young Shoes which are currently available for around $30 in red, leopard, nude and black. They are comfy and chic, so definitely head on over and check them out. 

What spooky books are you reading this month, Lovelies? 

Love, Jacque

P.S. Head to Looks for Lovelies for more fashion and beauty! 

Shop This Look 

Red Studded Flats - c/o Forever Young Shoes

Looks from Books: Ruin & Rising

This month we are reading Ruin and Rising, the 3rd and final book in the Grisha Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo. You can see our epic photos from our Shadow and Bone book club last fall HERE.

This book revolves around a girl named Alina who must find the strength to defeat the Darkling by forming alliances and mending rivalries.

The Darkling rules Ravka from his shadow throne.


Now the nation's fate rests with a broken Sun Summoner, a disgraced tracker, and the shattered remnants of a once-great magical army.The time has come for the ultimate battle of good versus evil, which side will be left standing to rule all of Ravka?

The Look:

When we read the first book in this series, Shadow and Bone, we themed our evening and our attire around the books traditional Grisha colors of black, red, blue and purple. 

But for Ruin and Rising, we choose to celebrate the main character Alina and her Saint-hood status of being the "Sun Summoner."

As I mentioned, the white in the outfit represents Alina the sun summoner saint, and the House of Harlow necklace I paired with this outfit represents an important symbol in the book.

I found it interesting that Leigh is not only an amazing author but also a makeup artist and band member in Hollywood. She attended Yale and is from Jerusalem. She is definitely someone I would love to meet, a mix of brains, creativity and coolness. Amazing!!!! 

Love, Jacque

P.S. Head to LooksforLovelies.com to see more Fashion, Beauty and Style

Denim - J Brand via Nordstrom Rack (similar)

Blouse - Nordstrom Rack (similar)

Blazer - Nordstrom Rack (similar)

Necklace - House of Harlow 1960 via Rocksbox

Cuff - Windsor Store (similar)

Heels - MIA via Nordstrom Rack

Watch - Capri Watch

Sunnies - Nordstrom