Beauty

Plastic Surgery Trends (to Avoid!)

February 6, 2012 at 12:51 pm, by nykiaspradley

---

Beauty Confession: What Are Your Summer Beauty Pleasures?

January 30, 2012 at 5:48 pm, by nykiaspradley

Believe it or not, we are well into summer mode. When temps are in the 30s you kind of have to be, right? This time of year we’d give anything for the blissful days of bare legs and coral lips, but there has to be some trade off to living in NYC.

Being able to toss our hair up in a top knot without having to worry about fitting a knit hat over it, or showing off a super bright toe nail shade every other day are just a few of our best summer beauty moments.

What are your favorite summer beauty moments?

---

Get the Look: Rooney Mara at the “Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” NY Premiere

January 17, 2012 at 4:58 pm, by nykiaspradley

If you’ve seen the trailer for the much anticipated “Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” movie, you’re probably as shocked as us to know that the GORGEOUS woman in the above photo (Rooney Mara) is the actress who plays the movie’s rough and tough main character Lisbeth. The red carpet transformation was so drastic we had to find out how makeup artist Kate Lee did it. And as it turns out, the real magic lies in a little pink sponge called the beautyblender.

STEP 1 Use the beautyblender sponge to apply foundation. Rooney is wearing Chanel Perfection Lumiere foundation, a long lasting formula that highlights her nearly flawless complexion.

STEP 2 Then, using the round base of the sponge, add a cream blush to the apples of the cheeks to really accentuate cheekbones.

STEP 3 Swipe on a dark, matte red lipstick, and pat gently with a soft tissue.

STEP 4 Apply two-three coats of black mascara to the top outer lashes only.

---

5 Takeaways from Juice Cleansing

January 9, 2012 at 9:59 am, by nykiaspradley

I’ll admit it, I was definitely a bit nutso to embark on a three day juice cleanse at the height of holiday party happiness. But following a major OD on Thanksgiving yumminess, I needed a fresh start. There are tons of cleansing options out there, but Cooler Cleanse seemed like a good choice. It’s recommended that you sort of wean yourself off of meats and dairy in days leading up to the cleanse, and honestly that was one of the hardest parts of going through with the whole thing. But after it was all said and done there were definitely some lessons learned from the whole experience.

The juices actually taste good! Seriously, the thought of drinking kale juice was nauseating, but surprisingly when mixed with apple juice and some other good for you greens, it was pretty tasty. And Brazilian nut milk? Who knew?!
You don’t feel hungry. On the first morning of the cleanse all I could think about was a big bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich. Instead of giving in I just sipped away on my juices and by dinner I surprisingly wasn’t at all famished.

You’ll realize how much you overeat. Once the cleanse was done I had thought up what my first solid meal was going to be, but when I woke up, instead of feeling incredibly hungry I actually wasn’t. Apparently one of the more known benefits to juice cleansing is a curbed appetite. That right there is enough incentive to do it again.

Leave the work to someone else. It takes a lot of discipline and will power to get up prepare six juices everyday. Seriously, who wants to do that? Also factor in the creativity needed to think up juice combos that are filling and taste good. Uh yeah, I’ll pass on that. So when three days worth of fresh squeezed and packed meals were delivered to my door, I was totally sold. It was all numbered so that I knew the order that I should drink them in. It’s all pretty genius.

It’s a good jump start: The first question people asked when I finished was if I lost weight. I actually wasn’t doing it to lose weight so I didn’t weigh myself beforehand. I was more interesting in the skin cleaning benefits. I feel a lot better even though the outside results weren’t major. My waist felt  trim, but that was likely from the water weight that I shed in 3 those days.

-NS

---

How To Wear It: Hot Holiday Nails

December 19, 2011 at 4:14 pm, by nykiaspradley

Just because it’s the holidays doesn’t mean you have to paint little candy canes—or Santas…or reindeer—on each of your fingernails (unless you’re a 10-year-old). Here are a couple of grown-up ways to show-off your season’s greetings with lacquer.

Get glitter happy

Not only is glitter polish festive, but it holds on a little longer and is forgiving with chips and smudges, says celebrity manicurist Beth Fricke.  If you can’t find a glitter polish in the color you love, try putting a coat of sparkle over your favorite hue (and don’t forget to seal the deal with a good topcoat).

Break it up

Swipe your nails in a traditional red and then top them with silver or gold shatter polish. “It will look like you have an ornament on every finger,” says Fricke.  Apply polish and let it dry completely for 10 minutes, and then apply the shatter. When it is shattered to your liking, apply a shiny topcoat.

---

How To: Buy Fragrance for Someone Else (Who Is Really, Really Hard to Shop For)

December 12, 2011 at 9:59 am, by nykiaspradley

 

It’s hard enough choosing a fragrance for yourself (do coffee beans work for you?!), let alone sniffing one out for your hard-to-shop-for mom/BFF/hubby/sister. But, according to Patti Kapla, resident fragrance expert at FragranceNet.com, there are a few ways to lead your nose in the right direction.

Be a snoop
Take a sneaky sniff at the scents already on his/her dresser, making a note of some names so that you can see what else these brands have to offer. “Look for similarities in the style of perfume and use this as your guide,” says Kapla.

Limit testing
Fragrances cycle through three stages of notes before they finally settle into their long-lasting aroma. That combined with your skin’s chemistry means the fragrance will smell differently as time goes on. Spraying yourself with numerous samples won’t accomplish anything. Kapla suggests sampling no more than two fragrances at a time.

Go with what’s tried and true
Still have no clue what fragrance to buy for someone else? Choose something with mass appeal, says Kapla. For guys that’s colognes like Acqua Di Gio (a fresh, aquatic scent), Cool Water by Davidoff (an intriguing blend of peppermint, rosemary), and Ralph Lauren Polo (a scent with masculine leather and tobacco notes).

Must-haves for women include Shalimar (the epitome of an exotic oriental fragrance), Yves Saint Laurent’s Opium (a bold and sensual blend of citrus, jasmine, vanilla and patchouli), and Thierry Mugler Angel (a fun, flirty gourmand fragrance).

---

Your Guide to Eco-Friendly Gift Giving This Season

December 5, 2011 at 10:05 am, by Lauren Piro

’Tis the season for, well, tons of stuff. Department store circulars crowd our mailboxes (and coupon codes flood our e-mail), the new totally-bigger-than-last-year’s TVs jut dangerously out of car trunks, and gift closets overflow with trinkets for the people you didn’t think to buy for anyway, but “shoot!” those neighborly jerks just brought over bottle of your favorite wine.

Ugh. There has to be a way to feel at least a little better about all of this.

I’m into the “going green” lifestyle, and I like to be pretty discerning about what I put in and on my body and around my home (case in point, after moving into my first grown-up New York City apartment this week, my Seventh Generation cleaning products, Dr. Bronner’s all-in-one soap and BPA-free water bottle were among the first things I unpacked). And because I care about how I live, if I’m going to add to my loved ones ever-growing inventory of stuff yet again this December, it would be great to give gifts with at least some earth-friendly redeeming qualities.

The folks at Origins, a beauty line that promotes its natural ingredients, agree, so they teamed up with eco-tastemakers to lend some easy, green ideas we can all try this holiday season. Their first video, with best-selling novelist Emily Giffin and eco-minded event planner April Trigg, offer the coolest green gifts you can give this year, many of which are made from awesome recycled or reclaimed materials. I especially love the salvaged tin ceiling photo frames April found—they’re perfect for your shabby chic sister.

Watch the video below for the rest of her picks (and get her handy where-to-buy-it list here) and head over to Origins.com with the special code GOODTOGLOW for a surprise at checkout. Want more tips on how to make your holiday a little more green? New videos will arrive each week on Origin’s Facebook page, including eco-chic holiday fashion with designer Vivienne Tam and green holiday decor with interior designer Robin Wilson.

---