Flatter Your Figure – Fab Frocks That Hide the Holiday Pounds

Most of us will gain a pound (or several) over the holiday season. Between parties with diet-unfriendly drinks and deliciously decadent treats, shopping days where the only running going on is the running of errands, and the baking of goodies for friends and neighbors (with subsequent licking of batter and sampling of cookies), some of your go-to cocktail attire might be a little more snug than sexy. It’s true — it happens to even the best of us.

However, just because you have a little extra, uhhh, insulation from the winter chill, you shouldn’t resign yourself to muumuus and oversized Christmas sweaters. No way! We have some dresses here that will disguise that tummy and hide the extra big bootie while still letting you be the prettiest girl at the party. Check out the gallery for ideas!

Festive Frocks to Hide Holiday Weight Gain

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Flatter Your Figure – Lingerie for All Ladies

Okay, before we even get started, we have to say that the most important thing you need when wearing lingerie is confidence. Whether you’re a size 2 or a size 18, it doesn’t matter what you’re wearing if you’re uncomfortable in it — in the famous words of RuPaul, you’d better work it, girl!

That being said, there are certain styles that are more flattering on certain body types, so if you’re looking for the right style for you, look no further — we’re here to help.

Check out the sexy stuff we’ve picked out for different figure challenges below, and be sure to let us know what your seduction secret is in the comments! Flatter Your Figure in Luxurious Lingerie

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FALL 2009 FASHION WEEK – Backstage Beauty at Anna Sui – Garren for L’Oreal

HAIR: Garren for L’OrealBEAUTY SNAPSHOT: Garren, who has styled the hair of everyone from Madonna to Nicole Kidman, even Audrey Hepburn, wanted to create a couple of looks for the Anna Sui show. He wanted it to be “rocker” but natural, because with the ornate clothes, flashy hats, feathers, and tiaras of the Anna Sui runway, if the hair were “too right, it would become a period piece.”

THE SCOOP: Garren dampened, conditioned with volumizing conditioner, and rinsed each model’s hair, and then allowed it to air dry. Then, with his hands and a leave-in tonic, he styled the models with short hair into boyish, chunky-in-the-front looks, and put middle parts on the models with longer hair. The models with natural waves (like the above) got finger-teased “like something she could have done on her own,” and the straight haired models were flat-ironed to give their hair more dimension.

GET THE LOOK: To get this look, you can use L’Oreal Nature’s Therapy Scalp Relief Leave-In Tonic and L’Oreal Vive Conditioner Volume-Infusing for Unmanageable Normal Hair. Backstage at Anna Sui

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SHOW: CHRIS BENZ

MAKEUP: DANIEL MARTIN FOR LANCÔME

HAIR: JOHN RUDANT FOR REDKEN

NAILS: DEBORAH LIPPMANN FOR LANCÔME

BEAUTY SNAPSHOT: Disco nap diva

GET THE LOOK – HAIR: Rudant used Redken Fabricate 03 Heat Active Texturizer on damp hair before blowdrying, then Hot Sets 22 Thermal Setting Mist before he curled the girls’ hair and pinned it up and under.

GET THE LOOK – MAKEUP: This dark and stormy eye can be achieved with a new Lancôme cream eye shadow in indigo that won’t launch until Fall ‘09, followed by Sensational Effects Eye Shadow Smooth Hold in The New Black, and Color Fever Gloss in Piha Black. Get the nude lip with L’Absolu Rouge in Rich Cashmere.

FALL 2009 FASHION WEEK – Backstage Beauty at Chris Benz

THE SCOOP: Daniel Martin, lead makeup artist for the Benz show, was unbelievably calm, cool and collected amid the backstage antics. As for the inspiration for the makeup, “she’s an uptown girl, circa early 80’s, gone downtown for a night out at the clubs.” The eyes were the focus-Martin used a midnight blue-black shadow flecked with sparkle over the whole lid and underneath the eye, followed by a black gloss on top, rubbed in with his fingers, making it appear a bit “slept in.” There were multiple coats of mascara, “the clumpier the better,” said Martin. And the skin was matte and the lips were given a coat of nude lipstick (yes, another nude lip!). John Rudant gave the girls faux bobs, continuing the morning after theme with curls pinned and tucked under, looking a little mussed. He coined the ‘do “deconstructed.” As for the nails, Deborah Lippmann’s team painted three different shades of polish (royal blue, muted gold, and bright red) on girls, depending on their outfit.

GET THE LOOK – NAILS: The three colors used at the Benz show are all part of the Lancôme Fall ‘09 color collection so stay tuned for those!

Charm Bracelets Grow Up

It's time to fess up: We've become obsessed with charm bracelets. We love the idea of a fully customizable piece of jewelry that you can build on as the years go on. Isn't that more romantic than a cookie-cutter bracelet? Imagine giving (or getting) one on Valentine's day, and adding charms as your relationship grows -- through new jobs, births, and the countless celebrations to come. It beats a box of chocolates by a mile!

However, most of the charm bracelets we've seen are decidedly targeted to a younger woman -- they look better on the wrist of a tween on her way to English class than on us. But then we saw the Pandora bracelet; finally there's a charm bracelet worthy of a woman!

Pandora Bracelet
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MAKEUP: Kristin Gallegos
HAIR: David Colvin for Arrojo
SNAPSHOT: Gothic Avengers

THE SCOOP: For her debut collection, Katie Gallagher, an alum of RISD, Anna Sui and ThreeAsFour, went goth and glamorous with a line of all black clothing. Skin was pale, and eyes were blocked out with black cream shadow from lash lines to brow bones. “It’s not so spring, which makes it refreshing,” said Gallegos. The hair was center-parted and slicked back into a tight chignon to put the focus squarely on the clothing.

GET THE LOOK – MAKEUP: Gallegos used Laura Mercier Secret Camouflage only where it was needed to perfect the skin, topped off with Le Metier de Beaute Loose Powder for a matte finish. To black out the eyes, she used Make Up For Ever Grease Paint with Le Metier de Beaute Eye Shadow in Noir patted on top. M.A.C. Lipstick in Bing was rubbed on the center of the bottom lip, punctuating the goth look.

GET THE LOOK – HAIR: “To keep the focus on the clothing, we kept that hair pretty natural looking,” said Colvin. “Like they did it themselves.” Colvin worked Arrojo Detangling Foam into wet hair and blew dry for rough texture, then he used lots of Arrojo Hair Gel to part hair in the center and slick back into a low, tight bun.

Backstage Beauty at Katie Gallagher

Vampire weekend? Hair was slick and makeup was dark and delicious at Katie Gallagher. Photo: Laura Kenney
					
					

						

							

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vblj Digital music suffering from entrepreneur dra
					
					

						03rd April 2010 by admin 					
					

						
“What the music industry never encouraged or even allowed was building an ecosystem around its product,” Pakman said.
For his part, MySpace Music President Courtney Holt said he thinks a big part of his opportunity is in providing new tools for music artists, building on MySpace’s existing strength of helping connect musicians with their fans.
“There are not a lot of entrepreneurs involved in this space,” said David Pakman, a music industry veteran and now venture capitalist at Venrock Associates.
Digital music suffering from entrepreneur drain

Those two services both have an application programming interface that allows anyone with an idea to connect to their service using generic terms. That, Pakman, said, is missing in music.

Pakman agreed that such influencers are a key factor. “Bloggers are the music critics (of today),” Pakman said.

“There are people at MySpace that curate music that have audiences that would rival terrestrial radio,” Holt said. “I’m trying to figure out how I can give them more power.”

He also wants to make more of the “social music leaders” on MySpace.

Dear Mr. Abreu (an ;apology) - Halos Heaven