What's going on in beauty this week, from head to toe.
From Head...
The littlest fringe of all: Baby wig! You can call them "baby bangs" all you want, but we know what's really going on.
British ad-retouching guidelines: The regulating bodies of British advertising issued a specific set of guidelines aimed at reducing false claims made through imagery. Not okay: Using lash inserts in a photo shoot for eye makeup, retouching photos to add hair shine for a hair-shine-product ad. Okay: Airbrushing out blemishes, using makeup. Frankly, I'm less concerned about ads than I am about the airbrush imperatives for us non-professionals, like this school portrait agency that airbrushed pics without consulting students.
Are more professional women going sans makeup? This Financial Times piece claims so, though whether Cherie Blair being photographed on occasion without makeup hardly seems like a trend piece. Plus, as the article itself points out, "no-makeup makeup" is often a get-out-of-double-bind-free card for professional women—maybe Blair was wearing tasteful moisturizer?
Find your favorite discontinued products: Nice MyDaily piece on how to track down, say, THE WORLD'S MOST MAGICAL CONCEALER THAT PRESCRIPTIVES STOPPED MAKING BEFORE THE ENTIRE LINE SHUT DOWN COMPLETELY EXCEPT FOR A CRUDDY WEBSITE THAT DOESN'T HAVE THE ONE AND ONLY PERFECT CONCEALER IN EXISTENCE, but enough about me. I would add in a tip that my beauty editor pal passed on to me: Find out what the parent company is and look at other items in their product family—chances are they used the same chemist in all lines and the colors and some formulas will match somewhere, assuming you were using a product from a major line. (Via Beauty Schooled.)
Pixie cut: Every D&D lady's dream: surgically altered elf ears. I wonder if they ever rumble with custom-filed fang peeps?
...to Toe...
Sweet file of mine: Help launch Devo/Gun 'n' Roses/Weezer/Paramore drummer Josh Freese's solo project by contributing $7,500 to it, and he'll get a pedicure with you.
Ocean State blues: Rhode Island is considering a 6% tax on beauty services. Combine this with the "tan tax" that's a part of the health care reform bill and it's getting mighty pricey out there...
Brunch beauty: The perfect skin care treatment to go with the new bacon perfume from Farginnay? Maple syrup.
On forgiveness: Health blogger Cameo Morningstar offers up solid tips on breaking the eat-repent-repeat cycle of overeating—as she points out, flexibility is key. Maybe a body-loving yoga class is the remedy...or maybe a quiet day of reflection. Either way, check out her concrete tips.
The dropping of Kirstie Alley: Ragen Chastain at Dances With Fat takes down the "fat lady falling!" snickers surrounding Kirstie Alley's Dancing With the Stars routine. An excellent illumination of the codes we attach to different body sizes.
Pretty pretty Poland: Brief but interesting profile of a Polish chemist who clandestinely started her cosmetics company in the Communist era. At article's end, she notes that there's still a lingering bias against Polish products, despite the country's legacy of major beauty names (Helena Rubenstein, Max Factor).
Ooh la la! Former L'Oréal head facing accusations of creating a cosmetics "gray market" for nations in post-Communist flux. Again.
And you thought the Brazilian blowout was bad: BellaSugar's roundup of 10 worst beauty products ever, including Aqua Tofana, an arsenic face powder for wannabe-widows who received special instructions from its creator on how best to use it. (Some might call the chewing gum bobby pin they featured the next day the 11th worst beauty product, but I find it charming. For someone else.)
From Head...
The littlest fringe of all: Baby wig! You can call them "baby bangs" all you want, but we know what's really going on.
British ad-retouching guidelines: The regulating bodies of British advertising issued a specific set of guidelines aimed at reducing false claims made through imagery. Not okay: Using lash inserts in a photo shoot for eye makeup, retouching photos to add hair shine for a hair-shine-product ad. Okay: Airbrushing out blemishes, using makeup. Frankly, I'm less concerned about ads than I am about the airbrush imperatives for us non-professionals, like this school portrait agency that airbrushed pics without consulting students.
Are more professional women going sans makeup? This Financial Times piece claims so, though whether Cherie Blair being photographed on occasion without makeup hardly seems like a trend piece. Plus, as the article itself points out, "no-makeup makeup" is often a get-out-of-double-bind-free card for professional women—maybe Blair was wearing tasteful moisturizer?
Find your favorite discontinued products: Nice MyDaily piece on how to track down, say, THE WORLD'S MOST MAGICAL CONCEALER THAT PRESCRIPTIVES STOPPED MAKING BEFORE THE ENTIRE LINE SHUT DOWN COMPLETELY EXCEPT FOR A CRUDDY WEBSITE THAT DOESN'T HAVE THE ONE AND ONLY PERFECT CONCEALER IN EXISTENCE, but enough about me. I would add in a tip that my beauty editor pal passed on to me: Find out what the parent company is and look at other items in their product family—chances are they used the same chemist in all lines and the colors and some formulas will match somewhere, assuming you were using a product from a major line. (Via Beauty Schooled.)
Pixie cut: Every D&D lady's dream: surgically altered elf ears. I wonder if they ever rumble with custom-filed fang peeps?
...to Toe...
Sweet file of mine: Help launch Devo/Gun 'n' Roses/Weezer/Paramore drummer Josh Freese's solo project by contributing $7,500 to it, and he'll get a pedicure with you.
...and Everything in Between
Baaaaad news for Australian cosmetics? With the outsourcing of sheep's wool (75% of the country's haul is now being sent to China for processing) comes the outsourcing of the wool's grease, or lanolin, a major player in many cosmetics. "For me, lanolin is the hero of a product," says the inventor of LanoLips balm. (I tried to figure out how to make the "o" in hero a heart but couldn't figure it out.) Ocean State blues: Rhode Island is considering a 6% tax on beauty services. Combine this with the "tan tax" that's a part of the health care reform bill and it's getting mighty pricey out there...
On forgiveness: Health blogger Cameo Morningstar offers up solid tips on breaking the eat-repent-repeat cycle of overeating—as she points out, flexibility is key. Maybe a body-loving yoga class is the remedy...or maybe a quiet day of reflection. Either way, check out her concrete tips.
The dropping of Kirstie Alley: Ragen Chastain at Dances With Fat takes down the "fat lady falling!" snickers surrounding Kirstie Alley's Dancing With the Stars routine. An excellent illumination of the codes we attach to different body sizes.
Pretty pretty Poland: Brief but interesting profile of a Polish chemist who clandestinely started her cosmetics company in the Communist era. At article's end, she notes that there's still a lingering bias against Polish products, despite the country's legacy of major beauty names (Helena Rubenstein, Max Factor).
Ooh la la! Former L'Oréal head facing accusations of creating a cosmetics "gray market" for nations in post-Communist flux. Again.
And you thought the Brazilian blowout was bad: BellaSugar's roundup of 10 worst beauty products ever, including Aqua Tofana, an arsenic face powder for wannabe-widows who received special instructions from its creator on how best to use it. (Some might call the chewing gum bobby pin they featured the next day the 11th worst beauty product, but I find it charming. For someone else.)