Posted by admin on Aug 28, 2010 in
beauty,
random 
Growing Up Skipper Doll
Barbie was my doll of choice when I was a little girl, blithely giving me a false impression of how my body would develop and a lifetime of insecurity. I’ve just discovered I got off lightly though, as were I ten years older I’d of had to contend with Growing Up Skipper. Skipper is commonly (well, in little girl circles) known as Barbie’s younger sister, and if you’re lucky you can have great fun making Barbie babysit her and generally act preachy and grown-uppy.
In 1975 Growing Up Skipper was released, a doll that would change the innocent face of Mattel forever, and give a whole new meaning to those awkward ‘I must, I must, I must increase my bust’ exercises. This is because when Skipper’s arm was rotated her torso would lengthen and breasts would appear on on her chest. Seriously.
The idea was that this was the doll that would ‘mature with you’, and the marketing referred to her as being ‘Two Dolls in One, Twice as Much Fun!’.
Read on for more pictures… Read more…
Tags: 1975 Skipper Doll, Adult Barbie Doll, Growing Up Ginger, Growing Up Skipper, Miss Bimbo, Stardoll Avatar
Posted by admin on Aug 2, 2010 in
beauty,
opinion,
style 
Society today places a hell of a lot of importance on the physical appearance. Airbrushing runs rampant in the media, celebrity bikini pictures are a surefire way of selling magazines, and everywhere the notion that attractiveness equals happiness is forced upon us- perhaps most obviously displayed in the TV show Next Top Model. As well as the ’slim is pretty’ line, we’re also fed the one that ‘it’s about being healthy and happy with who you are’. This one may seem more responsible, if it weren’t for the fact that this can be interpreted with many shades of grey.
Sure, it’s good to be healthy, eat well and cut down on saturated fats. The problem is that this lifestyle gets confused with the variety of conflicting messages we receive from varying sources. There’s a constant barrage of misinformation from people purporting to advocate this lifestyle, such as ’eat healthy breakfast cereals’ (to lose weight) or snack on high sugar cereal bars to stay trim, so it’s no wonder people are confused and anxious. In the last couple of years we’ve seen a huge rise in eating disorders amongst young people, with kids as young as five years old starting to become obsessed with their appearance and suffer from anorexia and bulimia.
Considering these statistics I think it’s very irresponsible for FitFlop to create footwear targeting the youth market, especially considering all their advertising features leggy looking models with impossibly slender thighs, the kind of images that will have impressionable tweens running to the mirror in tears. Read more…
Tags: FitFlop, FitFlops, FitFlops Kids, Fitness Shoes, MBT, Reebok EasyTone, Skechers Shape Ups
Posted by admin on May 11, 2010 in
beauty,
lists,
opinion 
I’ve been sitting on this post for a while for fear of offending any of my friends in the beauty PR world* but a recent rise in particularly impressive events has lead me to believe that a post like this could only be viewed as constructive. I’ve worked online for many years now in a variety of sectors, and whilst ‘meetups’ in other areas such as technology have been widely accepted for years now (probably due to the face that the web is a technological phenomenon) other sectors have been less than ready to accept the blogosphere as a reputable form of journalism. To ease confusion I will say that by blogs I encapsulate EVERYTHING from company run websites such as Cosmopolitan.com and Handbag.com to smaller sites such as www.Cultbeauty.co.uk, www.Kissandmakeup.tv and people who blog personally- every bit as professional, but not necessarily full time, such as British Beauty Blogger or Lipglossiping. To an extent one could even argue that those who blog personally are less restricted by advertising demands and the requirements of their companies, and are therefore either more honest or more in depth (due to no time constraints but that’s a whole other post.
Suffice to say, PR companies are now getting on board with bloggers and are hosting more and more events tailored specifically to this domain. I can’t applaud this more, it shows creativity, innovation and suggest that companies are embracing rather than being scared of new media. Just because you have an idea though, doesn’t always mean it’s implemented right, no matter how good the intention may have been. Here is my short guide on the things that companies are doing right and a couple of points on what they could do better.
Good things to Do.
Number One: Think about the Timing of The Event- and the Location
A meetup is all well and good, and a really nice way for the PR’s to get to know bloggers, and bloggers to meet each other in person. However many bloggers do NOT work full time and scheduling an event in the middle of the day means you’re automatically ruling out a majority of attendees. It’s a lovely plan, but you have to think realistically, and if it’s the bedroom bloggers you want to reach, and evening, or dare I say it-weekend- would be much more ideal. How are you planning for people who live out of town? Whilst major media outlets may be primarily based in London, for an event you’ll be bringing together from all over the country, so be prepared to offer travel expenses, or miss out on some high profile attendees
Number Two: Give them Images..of EVERYTHING!
Bloggers and web editors have one major thing in common- we work online. C’mon, that should be simple enough to figure out! So help us help you- give us IMAGES in JPEGs, CD’s, USB drives, we don’t mind, just give them to us NOW and don’t fill our bags with paper releases. Don’t promise to send us emails later, and then forget, hand us a USB stick with all the pics we could ever need. Make sure everything you say is there is ACTUALLY there, and if it’s not tell us why. If a product is an exclusive to someone, tell us why we don’t have the image, don’t let us run all the way home and then be infuriated when we load up our computer. Read more…
Tags: beauty blogger meetup, Beauty Bloggers, Beauty blogging
Posted by admin on May 3, 2010 in
beauty,
random,
style 
I love a good Japanese beauty gadget, as they have pioneered some of the strangest products in the world. The Beau Bust Roller is the latest in a long line up of uncomfortable looking products designed to help you increase your bust size. Forget about Wonderbra’s and chicken fillets, this is an electronic breast stimulator which is designed to be rolled across the boobs. This torturous looking device is designed to react with a gel used across the area, and together this machine is meant to promote growth and firmness.
Quite apart from thefact that the BODY DOESN’T WORK LIKE THAT, it looks like it would be pretty painful as well. I’m not sure how desperate you would have to be to invest in one of these, but it would have to be verging on insane, as not only is this unlikely to make any difference, it’s also pricey and fricking HUGE- you couldn’t just leave it lying around the room! Get it for $116 from the Japan Trend Shop.
Tags: Beau Bust Roller, increase bust size
Posted by admin on Apr 20, 2010 in
beauty,
lists,
news Summer is looming ominously/excitingly near, and many people are wondering how their pasty flabby skin will cope with all the extra scrutiny. Exercise is key in making sure you feel confident stripping off, and I’ve rounded up a selection of weird and wonderful ways to get fit and have fun. I really enjoy novelty in my exercise regime (why else would I have a pole in my living room?) so I’m excited to share with you a variety of *very* different ways to get into shape this year.
Shock Tactics
Gymbox, one of my all time favorite gyms has just released news of their latest class. Remember, these are the people who have previously brought the fitness world the WAG workout (you wear sunglasses and bend it like Beckham’s behind you) the Rave workout (performed to hard dance on mini trampolines whilst waving glow sticks) and Cheerleading, so you know a new class from them is going to be something special. This one has a couple of shocks up its sleeve.. literally. It’s a new take on circuit training as it utilises electrified balls, which you carry with you as you perform a circuit class. Read more…
Tags: 2010 fitness trends, fitness trends, Gymbox, Jugglefit, Juggling, Krankcycling, Shock Tactics Gymbox, TOGU, Tricking
Posted by admin on Mar 2, 2010 in
beauty,
lists,
travel Thailand is fondly referred to as the land of smiles, and three weeks travelling through its sunlit shores was enough to convince me that the smiles are genuine. Whenever you travel abroad there are always going to be areas set up for tourists, with people pushing to sell you their wares and persuade you that their shop/bar/museum is the best, but in Thailand they tend to take refusals with good grace and smiling faces.
I was a complete newbie to the East and though I arrived armed with a Lonely Planet and heaps of advice from some great sources, till you experience it for yourself, everything else is just words on a piece of paper. Here are my top ten unmissable experiences that I strongly suggest you add to your itinerary.
Co Van Kessel Cycling Tour in Bangkok
Chinatown is a weird winding mess of crazy side streets, narrow alleys and men frying fish whilst juggling cans of condensed milk. It’s crammed to the rafters with all sorts of visitors, from locals doing their weekly shops to tourists trying to barter over jewellery. Add the sounds of motorbikes, mandolins and distant temple bells and you have a cacophony of colour and confusion. This was what I had to cycle through, manoeuvring my road bike in and out of people’s shopping bags, and the random escaped menageries that adorned the narrow paths. Bright colours, strange scents, it was strange to be whizzing past this vital thriving community on a bike, but my guide was insistent and we passed though this chaos to start exploring the hidden backstreets. Some roads were so narrow that both shoulders grazed the wall, whilst other paths meant near-fatal collisions with accelerating mopeds. Every forty minutes or so we stopped for water (provided) and there were many stops for pictures, which were happily taken by our guide. The tour of Bangkok involved two boat trips (depending which tour you opted for) and we took a ferry across the waterways to western Bangkok and spent an hour cycling through lush shrubbery.
It was humbling to view the variety of housing people lived in, from ramshackle shanty style buildings to palatial European marble houses, and seeing them built next to each other spoke volumes about the structure of society in Thailand. Lunch was held aboard a floating restaurant, a delicious mixture of rice with a variety of dishes, and there was fresh fruit for dessert. You couldn’t help but admire the guides dedication, as she spoke flawless English and had a huge wealth of knowledge on the surrounding area. ‘I did a degree in health and tourism’, she told us. ‘This is how I save for my training’. Read more…
Tags: Cycling in Bangkok, Damnoen Saduak, fish pedicure, Floating market Thailand, Gara Rufa, Renting mopeds in Thailand, Thailand, Tiger Temple, travelling
Posted by admin on Jan 31, 2010 in
Celebrity,
beauty,
lists My teenage days were spent wistfully perusing the counters at Boots, with barely enough money to scrape together the required 99p for a Collection 2000 lippie. I lived in lime green eyeshadow (oh the shame), sprayed Sun-In on my hair and had horrible encounters with the Silkymit and maxipads. Thankfully my beauty routine has progressed considerably (as has my budget) but there are still lessons to be learnt from the beauty blunders that occurred in those days of yore.
In fact many of the mishaps made when I was younger could now be considered cutting edge trends- and I’ll show you how to create them for yourself. Best of all, as they all pay homage to youthful errors, they’re pretty light on the bank balance.
Stripes of hair colour
I’m not sure if it was the fault of Geri Halliwell or the launch of all those coloured mascaras but I know that I desperately wanted to have streaks of purple and pink in my hair when I was young. I did try- but those mascara never worked that well, leaving the hair gritty and feeling rather lank. Once I was in my twenties hair streaks were strictly of the highlighted kind as pink shimmering sections weren’t really suitable for my career path. However, thanks to the likes of Ashley Olsen, Kate Moss and some of the recent catwalk shows, streaks are being taken more seriously, and in a sweet whimsical way. If you’re brave enough you could go for the colour block option seen on the runway at the Alexis Mabille show, but a more wearable look is simply adding streaks to the hair. La Moss went all the way and actually dyed in gray strands as highlights throughout, whilst Olsen’s take on this trend was more of a sugar plum fairy effect, with light wefts of baby blue and lilac. If you’re not brave enough to dye just yet, try clip-ins to give you more confidence, like these good quality ones from Hot Hair here. (only £2.95). Read more…
Tags: A/W 09, Ashley Olsen candy hair, Chanel Particuliere, Christopher Kane, Collection 2000, home hair dye, Impulse, Kate Moss grey hair, multicoloured nails, silkymitt