How To: Look Prettier in Pictures

Article from Allure

"Chin up" may be a good idea when it comes to facing a bad mood, but it's not the best plan when you're posing for a photograph. A new study published in the journal Evolutionary Psychology shows that the angle at which you hold your head may affect how you're perceived by the opposite sex. “For women, a slight downward tilt of the head simulates the view from above and is most feminine and most attractive,” Dr. Darren Burke told the MSNBC blog The Body Odd. For men, a slight backward tilt of the head is judged as most masculine, which can make the man more attractive.

Burke, senior psychology lecturer at the University of Newcastle in Ourimbah, New South Wales, Australia, and his co-author (and wife) Dr. Danielle Sulikowski looked at how the height difference between men and women would influence whether their features were seen as masculine or feminine. They were testing a theory that evolution would have selected features in women that were most feminine when viewed from slightly above — the view men typically have of them.

Next time you post for a picture, tilt your face down slightly and then look up at the camera. Is that your most flattering angle?

Tour Carrie & Big's Apartment from Sex & the City 2

I've already written about Carrie's place in the first SATC movie (link at bottom), but can we just talk about how fantastic her place is in the second one? I'm always inspired.. I hope they come out with more movies just to see the homes. (And clothes). I'd watch!

Here's a view of the apartment from the foyer. The wallpaper is Oiseau in Chocolate by Katie Ridder  available through Holland & Sherry in New York. Let's keep walking!

This little center area is just a walkway filled with bookcases and a beautiful bubble chandelier from

Lindsey Adelman. Hers is hand blown glass laced with 14-kt gold foil and gold murrine. See how to make your own version here!

Here's a view of their living room. How cool is that center coffee table? It's from Poltrona Frou. The two vintage armchairs are from Bergdorf Goodman. The sofa that took Carrie "a year and a half" to find is from Montauk Sofa.

Here's an alternate view of the room- and a better shot of the fantastic coffee table. The books you can see there include Walton Ford; Lewis Carroll; Tracey Chevelier; Sol Levitt, 100 Views; The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco; The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger; Poe & Fanny by John May; Voices of Time: A Life in Stories by Eduardo Galeano; All Yesterday's Parties: The Velvet Underground in Print 1966-71; and  Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence. 

One more alternative view. Here you can see better the floral window treatments. The pillow you see on the chair is the Paul Smith Birdie Blossom. The blue ottoman was from a custom-made for the movie Anne Kyyro Quinn piece.

Closer look at the windows and corner "nook" area, with Art Deco club chairs. Notice there are flowers on EVERY table!

And of course the kitchen, where Carrie spends no time cooking! Very modern and chic.

Here is a closer look at the walls over the counter in the kitchen. These are custom-made silver tiles from Heath Ceramics in Sausalito, California. "One of the few mid-century American potteries still in existence,"  says the set designer.

Take a step back from the kitchen and you have the formal dining room. The fabric on the chairs is "Belgravia" from Lee Jofa. And the table is a French 1940s mahogany piece from Alan Moss Studios in Manhattan. The chandelier is fabulous, it's from Property and is made up of oxidized metal discs.  I think that's my favorite piece in this room. The lighted bookshelves in the background are fun too.

Moving on to the bedroom. Still more floor-to-ceiling curtains and beautiful rugs. All rugs in Carrie and Big's apartment come from The Rug Company. 

A shot of their bed- with a cool modern headboard in Velvet Gate Tuxedo from Kravet and of course, lots of pillows with bedding from Anichini.

The other side of the bed- where there's a fold out desk that becomes the TV's stand. This is Thomas O'Brien's "Hallings Secretary".  The chair is also from Alan Moss, and the wall paper is Rococo Strip by Cole & Son.

Of course, the best part of all is going to be Carrie's closet. Much like the duo-toned cabinets in the kitchen, the woodwork here sets a his-and-her theme, with Carrie's on the right and Big's on the left.

Carrie in her closet, getting ready. Let's take a look at that shoe set up..

Be-a-u-tiful. The shoes in here include styles from Brian Atwood, Charlotte Olympia, Patricia Field (the SATC costume designer), Giuseppe Zanotti, Christian Louboutin, and of course Carrie's favorite- Manolo Blahnik.

Alternate view of the closet and a peak at some of Carrie's purses.

Zoom in to the back side of the closet and you get a glimpse of the bathroom..

With more flowers, makeup brushes and perfumes.

Their apartment is to DIE for. But I wouldn't expect anything less from Ms. Bradshaw :) Check out the post I did on Carrie's apartment makeover from the first movie here.

How To Pop A Pimple.

I'm going to begin this post by stating the obvious: don't pop pimples. You've heard it, I've heard it, that's the best advice they've got and still- that big date is coming up and you say- screw what's better for my skin, I want to look good. Understandable!

Let's first talk about why they recommend you leave it alone. The first reason given for why you shouldn't pop it is because it has the potential to cause scarring. This is more true of certain skin types than others. For example, darker tones and people with severe acne. My husband is pretty fair skinned and this is no motivation for him to stop- he says "I've never gotten a scar before, so that doesn't mean much to me." While some could argue that what he's saying is naive, it's also the mentality of most people who haven't experienced scarring. It's not much a concern!

So what else? Here's one thing that's guaranteed to happen: you're squeezing out a good amount of debris from the pimple, but what you don't realize is, you're not getting it all out. Ever. Think of it like a tube of toothpaste. If you squeeze from the middle, a lot comes out. But the stuff at the bottom doesn't. In fact, when you do this on your face, you are forcing much of the infection deeper down into your skin. This causes potential for worsening the pimple.. which is certainly not something you want. Even in the off chance that it doesn't worsen, it will take longer to completely heal up and go away- because you have caused your body a lot of trouble by interfering with its healing process.

See the illustration above to see what I mean: there is no way you can get in your skin deep enough to squeeze everything out from the bottom, where the hair follicle is. Most likely you will get a lot of the surface, forcing everything else deeper below.

So that's why you don't want to do it. Is that going to stop you? Maybe not. So if you must, you must. But take precautions and do it the right way.

The first step in popping a pimple properly is to make sure your hands and face are clean. Remember how you drive the infection deeper into your skin by forcing some out? The part of the pore that's open will get infested with whatever bacteria is left on your hands, fingernails, and face- one of the reasons a pimple can get worse after popping, or God forbid- spreading the infection causing more breakouts. Prevent this by being clean. Otherwise, don't touch your face!

Next, disinfect a needle or pin with rubbing alcohol. Gently prick the pimple's surface and cover your fingers with some tissue, and squeeze on the sides. (See pic below). If it is ready, the debris will come out easily, if it is not- do not force it. That is key in popping pimples the right way: only do it when it can be done without too much force. You have a much higher risk of damaging skin tissue by using too much force. This will most certainly take longer to heal up, and the main culprit in scarring.

Afterwards, treat the popped pimple with salicylic acid or benzoyl peroxide, like Clearsil's Popped Pimple Relief Pen.

DIY French Braid Side Bun

(photo via LoveMaegan.com)

Maegan has lots of helpful pictures and a video to help teach you how to do it yourself! I was so excited to find this... I tried it out myself and it looks great!

Product Review: Bliss No 'Zit' Sherlock Purifying Cleanser + Toner

Have you heard of the Bliss Spas? A favorite high-end spa of the stars, Bliss has locations in New York, LA, and Hollywood- to name a few. Bliss' facials are notorious for making the celebs glow before big events, and you can often open up a magazine to find someone else raving about them.

Not only are their spas luxurious, but so are their products. Bliss sells their own line of skincare available at your nearest Sephora or Ulta, and product junkies across the country agree- it's some of the best stuff you can get your hands on.

Naturally, I was super excited to try some of their products, as I had heard great things about it. I don't usually get many breakouts, but my face had started acting up within the last few weeks, and I had recently purchased "No 'Zit' Sherlock", so this was a good time to give it a try.

The smell initially was a bit medicinal- kind of like Vick's Vapo-Rub or a Hall's Cough Drop, mixed with some citrus-y scent. To be honest, I was a bit put off at first, but it wasn't unbearable.

The cleanser lathers up nicely and worked beautifully with my Clarisonic. My skin is a little bit on the dry side, and the cleanser-and-toner aspect didn't but it a bit. I always added some moisturizer after so my skin didn't feel to "tight" after washing, but I think it would really balance out oily skin quite well.

As far as breakouts were concerned, I was pleasantly surprised that after washing before bed, I woke up with my blemishes completely deflated and nearly half their size and redness. It only took a couple of days before they were completely gone, and regular upkeep has kept them away.

Overall I am very satisfied with this product, and highly recommend it!

Steal Skincare Tips from Megan Fox

Megan Fox is notorious for looking flawless, but her skin in the past has been anything but! She struggles from acne scars, enlarged pores, and breakouts. Being under the spotlight has caused Megan to be obsessed with skincare- and it shows. She uses makeup to hide any imperfections, but she has an extensive routine to keep that face glowing and healthy.

Let's be realistic here. I'm not going to claim Megan uses things you can find in your kitchen when she can afford the top skincare experts in the country. In fact, Megan has her own personal esthetician that visits her three or four times a week, in the comfort of her own home. She also treats herself to frequent spa visits and facials- a favorite being Sonya Dakar's Diamond Peel Treatment running $725 a session. But that doesn't mean she doesn't have an array of products that are available to the rest of us!

Megan has been seen picking up the Bliss Pore-fector Gadget Kit  at the Bliss Spa. The kit includes Bliss's Detoxifying Facial Toner, and  Steep-Clean 15-Minute Facial Mask, as well as an ultra-sonic spatula (which I wrote about here) that extracts blackheads and whiteheads.

She has also spoken a lot about using organic and all-natural products, including the Eminence Organic Biodynamic Skincare Line.

For moisture and sun protection, Megan loves Mindi Walters Vitamin C Complex with SPF 15. She is quoted on the site saying, "this is the only product with SPF that does not irritate my skin, I absolutely LOVE it!"

Another favorite is Laura Mercier Secret Brightening Powder, known to brighten up dull complexion and keep skin looking refreshed and healthy.

Along with organic skincare products, Megan is very into healthy eating such as organic fruits and vegetables to boost antioxidants and fight damage from free-radicals in the environment.

How To: Make Your Manicure Last Longer!

1. Keep your nails short. Nail polish chips faster on longer nails. Because natural nails are flexible, the longer the nail, the more bendable they are. This puts stress on your polish and makes it prone to chipping.

2. Wait until each coat is fully dry. Just because your nail polish is dry enough to not smudge when you touch it, does not mean it is dry. Adding another coat on top of polish that isn't fully dry makes it exponentially more prone to smudging. It takes 2 hours or more for one coat to be complete.

3. Apply a top coat the next day. You don't want to layer on too much nail polish, but one top coat will only do so much. By adding another one the next day, whether you went to a salon or did it yourself, will even further protect the color.

4. Choose a lighter color. Because darker colors are more pigmented, it doesn't stick as well to the nail as lighter colors do. You have better staying power with a lighter polish.


5. Rough up your nails. Nail polish doesn't bond to smooth nails as well as it does to rougher ones. Lightly file the top of the nail to rough up the surface a little.. after a coat or two of polish, you won't be able to tell that they're not perfectly smooth, and your color will stay much longer.


6. Push back your cuticles. Polish doesn't stick well to the skin, so any excess cuticle on the nail is going to allow your polish to peel faster. Chanel's top manicure expert Tom Bachik suggests pushing back your cuticle in the shower to avoid cutting your cuticle later (which still works, but is more dangerous if you were to cut too much off). "Put a little conditioner on a wash rag, and simply push back your cuticle while your skin's nice and soft."

7. Don't soak your nails. Your nails absorb a lot of of water, and temporarily expand them. Then you put your polish on top, and once the water evaporates out, they shrink down to size and cause tiny breaking points that stress the polish. They'll look nice for a few days but be prone to chipping.

8. Bring your own polish. Salons are known to add thinners to their nail polishes to make them last longer. This weakens the chemicals that make the polish stay on, and you're better off bringing your own in.


9. Don't layer on the color. "One of the things about darker polish," says Bachik, "is that it actually has a higher pigment content, so if you add more layers.. it will end up with a tendency to peel."

10. Use acetone nail polish remover. Bachik says: "the acetone [removers] are much more effective. They break up the color, and they evaporate off the skin very quickly, so they're not on your for a long period of time." Even if you don't have nail polish on, swipe some on your nails to remove the oils that will inhibit the polish from sticking as well to the nail.

11. Don't use cheap polish. The chemistry in cheaper polishes make them weaker and not last as long. Brands like Essie and OPI have beautiful colors and are worth the money!

12. Use a base coat. Base coats and top coats are meant to do different things. A 2-in-1 product seems to be the smarter and cheaper option, but it isn't effective. Bachik explains, "Topcoats and basecoats are engineered to do such different things. A basecoat works like double-stick tape, attatching well to both the nail bed and the color. A toppcoat sticks well to only polish- but has a much harder density."