Posted by admin on Mar 7, 2014 in
beauty,
lists,
news 
There is nothing today that we don’t commercialize in some way. We name children after cities and wine (seriously, people use London and Champagne as names for girls), watch movies full of product placement and have our school classes sponsored by Sprint and Coca Cola. The body is the last bastion of all this consumerism overload, and for some time now advertisers have been coming up with creative ways to let us brand ourselves here. Forget the ordinariness of tattooing brand names on your forehead (creepy, but soo last year) and meet some of the strange but temporary ways to get messages out there.
Beardvertising
What is it? Adverts placed in the beards of men, primarily hipsters that draw attention to the brand. These adverts can be clipped on.
Why? Well, when you have a beard everyone looks anyways, so why not commercialize on it? Now that’s “real Native Advertising.”
Who has bought into it? Brands like Dollar Shave Club.
How much can you make? They say they will pay $5 a day for you to wear a beard-board, but quite how they select you is unclear. It was popular last year, when the concept went viral, but though you can still submit an application online, it’s unclear if this is still running. The concept was created a by a marketing firm, but who says this couldn’t go bigger than that? Think Santa.. maybe.
Thighvertising
What is it? Commercializing the fine art of the female thigh. Why wear tights when you waste space where you could place an advert? Everyone looks at ladies legs, so why not make money off all those street creepers? Thighvertising is the temporary placement of adverts on women’s upper thighs.
Why? Duh, thighs = money. This is offered by Japanese firm Absolute Territory/ Zetta IPR, and they take girls aged 18+ who can show they have more than 20 social media connections. The women who get approved need to wear the sticker on their thigh for around 8 hours. Read more…
Tags: beardvertising, bodyvertising, eyeball adverts, New advertising, thighvertising
Posted by admin on Apr 19, 2013 in
beauty,
Strange events 
Hair Wars, the show where mainstream taste comes to die, and hair artistes let their freak flag fly. Hair Wars is an extremely unique event that celebrates hair creations. It’s held annually in Detroit, and attracts the elite of the world’s extreme hair stylists. It’s not a competition, it’s a platform for hairdressers to show their flair and funside. Each year has a different theme, and they have ranged from Car Show to Breast Cancer Awareness.
The Hair Wars show has deep roots in Detroit history, founded in 1985 as a gimmick to entertained the nightclub crowds. DJ David Humphries (colloquially called Hump the Grinder) wanted a playful element to his night spinning dics, and the hairstylists of the town loved the chance to parade their skillset to an enthusiastic crowd. Beauty school started adopting this idea to encourage students and Hair Entertainment moved into an industry of its own.
Big names in this world are classified as ‘hair entertainers’ and the designs they have serve a secondary artstsic purpose Over the years, the small Detroit show has expanded, and it now offers hair technique classes and sponsorships deals. Read more…
Tags: Detroit Hair Wars, Hair Art, Hair Wars
Posted by admin on Jan 16, 2013 in
beauty,
news,
technology,
Yum 
Weightloss products come in many weird and wonderful forms, but the latest inventions to hit the market takes the cake- literally, in some cases. They have to be seen to be believed, so enjoy the surreal thoughts that went into the creation of these unusual weightloss aids.
HapiLabs Weightloss Electronic HAPIfork
We all know that eating too fast isn’t ideal- think trapped wind, bulging waistbands and yogurt on your top (OK, that last one might be just me). Ideally we’d all slow down a little and chew our food properly.. or we could just invest in the brand new electronic HAPIfork to help us do this. The HAPIfork is designed to monitor your eating habits and its LED lights will glow if it thinks you’re eating too fast.
Details on your fork to mouth intake will stream via Bluetooth to the related app (or you can upload via USB) so you can be fully shamed when going onto your dashboard and seeing how quickly that Ben and Jerry’s got demolished. The HAPIfork (which can also be a HAPIspoon with the forthcoming adapter) measures fork mouthfuls per minute, intervals between servings and length of meal, and the plan is that you’ll eat more slowly, and that your whole life will be generally more HAPI. Sorry, that was too much of an easy pun. On the other hand, you could just work out, eat less, and save the fork money for a personal trainer. Up to you…
Price TBD from HapiLabs
The Reverse Feeding Tube : AspireAssist Aspiration Therapy System
Think of it as bulimia IN REVERSE and you’ll start to see why this is mind boggling. Created by the guy who invented the Segway- yes I don’t get the connection either– the AspireAssist Aspiration Therapy System is a feeding tube in reverse.
In REVERSE.
Basically, the idea is that you scoff that McDonald’s SuperSize and wash it down with a large milkshake then use the AspireAssist Aspiration Therapy System to extract 30% of the food you’ve just chowed down on. The process isn’t particularly fun or dignified as it involves creating a small hole- or ‘port’ in your stomach where you can attach a pump to and then pump out the food you’ve just eaten. To start the process, a small tube is inserted into your tum, and 20 minutes after you’ve eaten you thread this tube through the SkinPort valve (also known as hole in your stomach) and remove the food into the toilet bowl. Read more…
Tags: AspireAssist Aspiration Therapy System, Chugay Tongue Implant, DietTube, HapiFork, TonguePatch
Posted by admin on Oct 23, 2012 in
beauty,
random 
Advertising is taken to a whole new level with these animal inspired hairstyles created by Mark Anthony Sumray. These hair designs were sculpted with the models natural hair and were created to promote Bench’s new range of hair styling products.
I’m not sure if someone looking at these intricate human hair sculptures of a gecko and a spider would immediately make one think, hey I wish I had a hairspray that wold let me recreate this, but these striking pictures do make you look, and thus achieve Bench’s first goal of gaining attention.
It’s an unusual choice of advert for Bench to run with, especially as Bench is a brand associated with fashion rather than beauty. I think Bench were probably trying to garner some new devotees with the Bench Fix line, tapping into the youth market aiming to be seen as edgy and stylish with these ads. The attention to detail is what grabs me, and I’m more intrigued in the process of creating the hairstyles than any information at all about the products.
It’s hard to decide whether I like the gecko or the spider best, but they do make me think of my all time favorite human hair artist Nagi Noda, who is well known for creating amazingly detailed hair sculptures. Her hair pieces looked like different animals- lions, tigers bears (oh my!) have taken up residence in the models hair and they’re made using real real human hair- simply wonderful to look at. Sadly Nagi Noda has passed away, but her legacy remains- captured forever in her striking images and unusual hair hats.
Check out some more of Nagi Noda’s work after the jump. Read more…
Tags: Bench Fix, HUman hair, Nagi Noda
Posted by admin on May 17, 2012 in
beauty,
geekery 
I’ve written about beautiful and creative eye makeup before on AlmostZara- notably the amazing Disney designs by Katie Alves, but I just stumbled across ANOTHER artist whose work definitely needs a closer look. Jangsara is the name of the creator (and model) of the featured Star Wars R2D2 eye makeup, and she’s not a trained makeup artist, just a passionate fan with super blending skills.
Her blog covers a gamut of beauty related topics from product reviews to swatches of new items, but it’s her tutorials that draw me in- and she’s a geek girl after my own heart. As well as the usual blending smokey eye stuff you get on so many blogs, she has a LARGE section dedicated to recreating makeup from all types of science fiction movies, including Star Wars and the many characters from the Avengers movies- Thor to Captain America! Read more…
Tags: geek makeup, Jangsara makeup, Star Wars makeup
Posted by admin on Apr 16, 2012 in
beauty,
lists 
The spa world is an ever changing beast, as beauty addicts are always on the lookout for the latest hot facial or relaxing treatment. Spas are getting more inventive to cater to their thrill seeking clientele, and spa menus nowadays offer far more than the traditional facial, massage and manicure combo. Some of the latest treatments to hit the spa scene offer rather esoteric beauty benefits, and some will increase your adrenaline just by looking at the photos! Here are some of the strange and wonderful spa treatments now available.
Tickle Therapy
Tickle therapy may sound like a kind of torture to those with sensitive skins, but the CosquilleArte spa in Spain believes this can have very therapeutic benefits. This isn’t tickling as you know it- rather than being tickled till you squirm, this therapy is all about soft fingertip like strokes, and is performed by two people so you get a 20 finger sensation. Fingers are gently traced around the body and often aided by feathers to provide a treatment that soothes and relaxes the senses. Isabel Aires, the creator of tickle therapy says it allows ‘customers to return to a state of childhood, recalling earlier stages of pleasure and play to move to a state of wellbeing and relaxation.’ Tempted? Sounds a lot better when she puts it like that… Read more…
Tags: chinese knife massage, Platza massage, Venik massage, watsu
Posted by admin on Apr 11, 2012 in
beauty,
geekery,
random 
If TV has taught us anything it’s that people love nostalgia and retro adverts fall right into the category. You might be able to get your fix of 1950’s adverts by watching the latest Mad Men series, but there’s so much more on offer than Don Draper’s nefarious designs.
The Vintage Ad Browser exists as a curation of amazing adverts from the last century and beyond, masterfully looked after by Philip Lessen who collects ads from all sources- scanned comic books, submissions, and more. Currently there are over 123,311 ads available to pour over, and all will bring you back to forgotten eras, from insanity in the 90’s to crazy alcohol and cigarette slogans from yesteryear. Some is offensive, a fair amount is sexist but above all it’s a priceless experience and you’ll find yourself wasting hours at work as you go through their archive. I’m very entertained by their Got Milk advert series (see above) as I never knew that Jackie Chan had been an advocate, and the celebs featured range from Elton John to Lauren Bacall and Britney Spears!
Here are a few of my favourite vintage ads- I’d love to know yours.
Gay Bob Doll in 1970- A rather racy toy! Read more…
Tags: Vintage Adverts
