Tyra’s Fiercely Real Teen Model Search

January 25, 2010 at 20:58 (Beauty, Couture & Controversy, Models, Tyra Banks)
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Tyra Banks really does seem to have the welfare of young women at heart. She has announced the launch of the Fiercely Real Teen Model Search contest that will feature ‘average sized’ young women aged from 13 to 19, between the heights of 5′ 9″ and 6′ 1″.

Tyra explains, “I’ve always felt it was my mission to expand the narrow perceptions of beauty; through America’s Next Top Model, True Beauty and The Tyra Show I challenge industry and universal standards by featuring and celebrating non-traditional beauty, and stressing that true beauty is both inside and out. Plus-sized tends to have a negative connotation and I want young girls to realize that what’s considered plus-sized is the average American woman. That woman is healthy, fit and beautiful. Adolescence is such an impressionable time in a young woman’s life, and I hope this contest helps teen girls discover their own beauty from the inside out.”

The only qualm we have with this is that the ”average American woman” is allegedly 5,4 and 164lbs and growing. So, when we tell young impressionable women that plus-size is who they are and who the rest of American society is, isn’t that promoting obesity? Shouldn’t we give them examples of women who are ”healthy and fit” of every height?

How can any woman feel beautiful with Supermodel thin and Plus-size obesity as options?

If you are interested however, click here for more information and here to enter.

We wish you luck but remember, be healthy. A beautiful body is one that should never be abused.

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Jessica Simpson Finally Doing Something Kinda Great

January 16, 2010 at 19:28 (Beauty, Health/Santé, Hollywood, Self)

We try not to talk about individuals who don’t illustrate what we envision as ‘positive role ideals’ for women’s self-esteem and self-image, issues that are very important to us. However, now and again there are those who surprise us, for example Jessica Simpson who in a surprising turn of events went off into the sunset and around the world to explore the definition of beauty as her weight gain became a point of interest for the media.

She left with friends Ken Paves and CaCee Cobb and met everyday women to understand views, traditions and practices of beauty in their countries. They travelled to Japan, Thailand, France, Brazil, Uganda, Morocco and India to examine these. Their journey will begin airing March 15 at 10pm in a VH1’s series called “The Price of Beauty.”

Jessica says, “Outward beauty is an easy thing to become obsessed with in our society, I haven’t always had an inner confidence. I haven’t always looked at my reflection and loved it, because there was always something I wanted to fix, because someone always looked better. This journey was about finding something that was beautiful inside of me and knowing that I own it. And it’s unique and rare.”

However, she did cite Paris as the most intimidating place to be as ”[she] had to walk a runway with all of these tall, skinny models.” The experience seems to have been quite scarring as she says “I almost puked, I was so nervous to walk out there and be judged, especially standing next to people who eat just salad.”

Interesting Jessica, most French women we know and we know A LOT love le food and cheese (for an odd but understandable reason). Models though…probably. Despite that little statement, we think this kinda inspiring even if it is coming from the person who said, ”is chicken salad tuna, tuna? or chicken?”

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Susan Boyle Loves The Boys And Botox!

January 14, 2010 at 19:34 (Beauty, Make-Over)


Oh tragedy! Did SuBo give into THE FAME?

She has allegedly taken a liking to botox? In her interview with Italian Grazia magazine, sources say yes!

“I haven’t changed from an ugly duckling to swan but I do try and take care of myself. I have a new hairdresser and have discovered Botox, as well as getting my teeth whitened. I’ve lost weight for my own self esteem. It’s all been very important. I have the closet of a star [now]. Before, I had to save and recycle clothes – for example, the outfit I wore on Britain’s Got Talent I had bought for my brother’s wedding.”

On the subject of the other sex, reports say Subo thinks, ”that would be nice. To be honest, I have had a few offers but at the moment I am just so busy. For the time being, I have my cat Pebbles to keep me company, he is the most reliable companion.”

Yet, Sony Music denies Subo having even spoken to Grazia and states that she’s never used Botox.

We don’t know if there’s any truth to these rumours but we don’t think she should botox it up!

Don’t give in to the Hollywood Beast Susan!

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Stem Cell Facelifts Au Lieu Of Going Under The Knife

January 10, 2010 at 18:03 (Angleterre, Beauty, Chèr, Couture & Controversy)

We wrote a few month ago about blood being re-injected into the face for a younger appearance. Unfortunately, we wrote this elsewhere before we opened this site.

However, now there is another way to avoid going under the knife as the world’s first stem-cell facelifts have begun being performed at the Harley Street Medical Clinic in London.

Like the amino-filled blood, it always requires being injected into the patient’s face. It takes about 5 hours to do requiring a simple local anaesthetic and works by taking fat and regenerative stem cells from the flabby parts on one’s body and injecting them into the face of the patient, which ”repairs and rejuvenates skin for up to 18 months”.

Stem cells, found in fat can ”recognize damaged tissue and repair it.” Its use is already being implemented to replace faulty heart tissue and restore vision in damaged eyes.

Dr Aamar Khan says the stem-cell facelift differs from ‘traditional facelifts [because traditional facelifts] do not add volume to the face or change the tone of the skin. In the stem cell facelift the volume and structure of the face is restored to a younger balance.’

And patients of Dr. Khan couldn’t be more than happy as mother-in-law to Shane Richie, 58 year old Jackie Goddard, a previous bo-tax addict expressed

My skin was plumper and more radiant and will carry on improving over the next six to nine months. The fine lines have disappeared but the best thing was the fat had filled out the hollows under my eyes and my sunken cheek areas. I’m delighted with the results. It’s a very natural look. There are no tell-tale scars.

If you’re interested in a lesser invasive form of horror that is plastic surgery, the procedure costs a hefty £7500 (roughly $10000). For $10 000, we will KEEP our face. Thank you!

Which facelift would you prefer: None, traditional facelift, blood injection or stem cell?

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Kate Gosselin and Her $7000 Weave

January 9, 2010 at 20:21 (Beauty, Innovative Ideas, Make-Over, Self, TV News)

Ms. Katey was given a new makeover from Ted Gibson. The hair affair was filmed by TLC as part of Kate The Clean Slate where Kate takes the first steps in moving on after Jon Douche. Luckily, she didn’t have to pay a cent. Ted Gibson says that usually his haircuts are $950. For Kate “the color would have been about $500, and the extensions, which were great length extensions, would probably cost about $5000”.

7000 dollars for a hair cut and she didn’t seem so happy! Lucky Ingrate! Except it took about 20 hours to do, maybe she was tired?

Personally, we would have recommended that she shouldn’t have had so many layers put in and the dye job should have all been the same colour or highlighted better in that all colours match. There is also too much volume on top to sustain the hairstyle.

The good thing is that if this ever happens to you, it should grow out into a nice cut in a few months depending upon how fast your hair grows.

Hopefully the hair doesn’t deter Kate from having a clean slate but a make-over can sometimes be a great way of seeing the world differently especially if it does make you feel better about yourself!

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Chanel Proclaims Throw Away Your Lipgloss For Lipstick!

January 9, 2010 at 15:42 (Beauty, Coco Chanel, Cosmetics, Couture & Controversy, Johnny Depp, Vanessa Paradis)

Chanel is confident that 2010 is the year that lipstick will prevail over lipgloss as they launch their new lipstick line Rouge Coco de Chanel, which advertises a hydrating and long-lasting formulation, a quality lipgloss does not possess. The woman chosen as face of this campaign is none other than Vanessa Paradis, Johnny Depp’s love.

Chanel’s global cosmetic creative director Peter Philips complained “Women seem to have forgotten how to apply lipstick, we have a whole generation of lip-gloss girls. Now, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with lip gloss — but there is something so feminine about the act of applying lipstick. I want to make lipstick as easy to apply as lip gloss, and for a long-lasting formula to feel comfortable on the lips.”

We are not foreign to the shiny allure of the convenient lipgloss but we would not say its effect of making moist, kissable lips is unfeminine. Peter Philips also forgot to mention one thing, not everyone can pull off lipstick. It has the ability to make one look sexy and confident but can also be garish and more lady of the night than lady.

We would say that lipgloss is slightly tinted and has about the same colour as other lipglosses. We also would say that it is quickest little piece of magic to apply though it lasts only about a half-hour and you can feel just as sexy wearing it.  Lipstick however, bursts with versatility in its variation of colours and finishes (matter, lustre, whatever) it comes in. Even though it is a bit more time-consuming to put on, it can be a sophisticated statement highlighting a woman’s ‘coming of age’ or a bright, bold statement expressing confidence and certainty.

We have worn lipgloss more often than lipstick but before Chanel’s announcement, we were thinking along the same lines in that it is nice to wear. We think that from the act of applying it to the way in which we are perceived while wearing it can lend someone a sophisticated air they may not have had before and the comfortable contentment that they have come to terms with who they are as women.

We can’t forget lipgloss our dear saviour but lipstick is lovely

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Bobbi Brown’s ‘Pretty Powerful’ Campaign

January 8, 2010 at 15:46 (Beauty, Cosmetics, Couture & Controversy, Innovative Ideas, Lady Power!, Self)

Bobbi Brown went from make-up artist to cosmetic giant and wants you to feel like the woman you are. Pretty and Powerful!

“This past year with the economy becoming more challenging, I saw it as an opportunity to press the reset button and figure out what really makes sense to me. And I realized that all these women I know are so beautiful because of their confidence in what they know, and I want to celebrate that,” which is why she has launched the Pretty Powerful Campaign where she will show a range of looks in before and after pictures of friends who inspired her. ”Real women”

And the campaign starts next week where a multitude of photos with different looks will be shown from indie to retro to who knows!

But make-up as part of feeling powerful? How will fans participate? Well, on the 19th, ”fans can submit videos beautifying with their favorite Bobbi Brown products, and then 30 finalists will be sent a Must-Haves Makeup Kit and the Color Strips Collection – a springy mosaic of pinks, purples and earth tones that will launch in March – to create a video on how the collection makes them feel Pretty Powerful.”

Chic!

If you don’t know James Bond make-upping, you can be a part of lady power by looking at the entries and voting on the final five finalists. For every vote, Brown has agreed to donate $1 to Dress for Success – a charity that provides underprivileged women with interview suits and guidance on starting a new career.

Powerful make-up is ”makeup that makes a woman feel confident, powerful and beautiful. Power is not shoulder pads, success or fame – it’s someone who feels comfortable in their skin.”

It’s good to feel good about yourself.

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Alice In Wonderland Make-Up

January 7, 2010 at 23:21 (Beauty, Cosmetics, Filmy Fun, Helena Bonham Carter, Johnny Depp)

Ahh, make-up is relatively the same after a while but they have a nice box!

If you are excited for Lewis Carroll’s book making its cinematic debut with the likes of Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter and pop-up books are super fun for you, you might want this.

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Drink Your Path To Beauty

January 7, 2010 at 18:59 (Américanoland, Asia, Beauty, Couture & Controversy, Food/Gastronomy, Health/Santé)

A slew of new drinkable products are popping up everywhere for the sake of beauty. According to Mintel, a market research firm “global food and drink product launches with a ‘beauty enhancing’ claim increased by a staggering 306 percent from 2005 to 2008,” in Europe and the United States while the Kline Group, another firm believe that the industry to grow from the $1.7 billion in 2007 to $2.2 billion by 2013.

The idea is so popular that in the restaurant Imperial Herbal in Singapore, restaurant-goers with dermatology problems speak with an herbalist, who creates ‘treatments’ that are to be added to their meals. In Japan, collagen, a protein found in connective tissues is added to yogurt drinks, dried fruits and other foods with the idea that consuming it will improve one’s skin. Nescafé has followed suit, hopping onto the collagen train while GliSODin Skin Nutrients is one of the new products in the US with cantaloupe extract high in superoxide dismutase (an antioxidant enzyme).

Dermatologist Francesca Fusco seems to agree that edible beauty products are good but added that “you can also get all of the benefits of this through a healthy diet and a good multivitamin.”

Collagen in food though has ‘‘nothing unique […] that makes it specifically useful for connective tissues’’, a cosmetic chemist at Pharmasol Corporation James Hammer said.

Healthy diet and good multivitamin or Beauty product for dinner?

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Sadie Frost On the Non-Airbrushed Train

January 6, 2010 at 14:27 (Artistry, Beauty, Couture & Controversy, Lady Power!, Models, Photoshop Happy, Picture In a Magazine, Self, Something To Think About)

Jude Law‘s ex-wife Sadie Frost posed nude sans photoshop for Grazia Magazine as a protest against the airbrush happy. Excluding two bruises on her leg, none of this photo has been retouched. The great thing about this picture is that Sadie Frost’s body resembles that of the ‘normal every-day’ people in comparison to this. She is also 40+ and has had 4 children.

Commendable!

Image Courtesy of Grazia Magazine

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Don’t Come A-Knocking ”Festive Fatties”

January 5, 2010 at 19:23 (A Bitter Truth, Beauty, Couture & Controversy, Health/Santé)

Danish site BeautifulPeople.com describes itself as the “largest network of attractive people in the world” with 550,000 members from 190 countries. In supposedly keeping with that ‘attractive’ credo, they have expelled more than 5,000 users from its site worldwide.

Why, in specific?

Because as Greg Hodge managing director of the site put it, “members who posted pictures of themselves during the holidays showed that they had “let themselves go”’. Holidays, [he cites Christmas and New Year more specifically] seem to do with only “over-eating, over-drinking and watching TV on the sofa.” Hodge attributes this as reasoning for the falling beauty standard that appears prevalent in the US, U.K and Canada today, where most of these “festive fatties” were turfed off the site from.

Seems like they went a little overboard.

But keep this in mind, the “prospective members must go through a 48-hour voting process, during which time existing members of the opposite sex decide whether they are “beautiful”‘. The site supports this in saying that it “does not define beauty [but] simply gives an accurate representation of what society’s ideal of beauty is.”

Ideal? IDEAL?! Unless you found a unicorn, let’s get serious. It means that beauty must be ‘box beauty’ where everyone must fit into a socially constructed view of what beauty should be.  Also, it was “vigilant members, who take pride in the standards demanded by the site, [who] called for action.”

A few pounds over the break isn’t always considered as something that detracts from someone’s beauty.

However, this issue runs deeper. It promotes box beauty while many are struggling to change and change and change this.

So, Say NO to BOX BEAUTY and YES to the Beautiful Healthy (we hope) You that you are

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