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LATFusa.com Hosts the 2nd Annual Hollywood Beauty Awards

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Photo (from left to right): Michelle Elyzabeth, Bernadine Anderson, Jane Fonda
Photo Credit: Paraplue Inc.

Beauty opens up almost as many doors as money does. It is power and a worldwide multi-billion dollar industry that will never die. Without makeup artists and hairstylists, our favorite stars, from musicians to A-list actors would not shine as bright as they do when they step onto the red carpet.

The Hollywood Beauty Awards 2016


Taking place during the same month as the Oscars and Grammys, two of the largest events in the entertainment industry, the Hollywood Beauty Awards (HBAs) turns the tables by celebrating those behind-the-scenes, rather than those in front of the camera.

For the second year, the HBAs, presented by LATFusa.com (LA TV FILM) will explore the careers and achievements of the hairstylists, makeup artists, and the red carpet photographers who shoot and craft the looks of the stars that shape the hottest makeup and hair trends.

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Photo (left to right): Pamela Price (Vice President of LATF and Michele Elyzabeth HBA Founder
Photo credit: Paraplue Inc.

"Although we know there is a void of recognition for the pros of the beauty industry, we are fighting hard to get major beauty companies to rally and support the cause. No one wakes up in the morning looking glamorous and desirable. We have to rely on the architects of beauty.
This is why we have created the Hollywood Beauty Awards," said HBA Creator, Michele Elyzabeth.

On Sunday February 21st, 2016 LATF USA will produce and host the 2nd Hollywood Beauty Awards at the iconic Avalon Hollywood. The annual black tie dinner gala, which benefits Children's Hospital Los Angeles, may very well be the "Oscars of Beauty."

"Each year, we celebrate artists of all backgrounds worldwide," Elyzabeth added.

In a world where award shows are expected to have 100% shock value and zero censorship, the HBAs strive to revive that classic Hollywood glamour that has since long disappeared.

This year the HBAs Have Added Some New Exciting Categories.

"Although few want to recognize publicly that they rely on beauty enhancement with regular visits to their plastic surgeon, it is a common practice in Hollywood. This is the reason why we are honoring one of the best doctors, Dr. Jason B. Diamond. The other category that we added this year is Fragrance of the Year. As Christian Dior so eloquently said, it is "the finishing touch to all couture creations." Coincidentally enough, this year, Sauvage, the latest Dior fragrance was among the five most popular men's fragrances in the world. We are delighted that Johnny Depp will be attending the HBAs to present this distinction to Pamela Baxter, the CEO/President of LVMH Perfumes & Cosmetics North America and Christian Dior Couture," Elyzabeth said.

Fusing the beauty and entertainment industry, the HBAs honor a Timeless Beauty and three New Beauties. This year, Melanie Griffith will accept, as well as Clare Bowen and Chaley Rose of ABC's "Nashville" and Mexican recording artist, Sofia Reyes.

The 2016 honorees are:


Outstanding Achievement In Hairstyling: Sterfon Demings - (Known for: 'Boyz N The Hood,' 'Monster's Ball'
(Halle Berry), 'Milk' (Sean Penn), 'Into The Wild' (Kristen Stewart), 'Bones' (Tamara Taylor).

Outstanding Achievement In Hairstyling: Kathryn Blondell - (Known for: 'Stay Away, Joe' (Elvis), 'HouseSitter' & 'Out-Of-Towners' (Goldie Hawn), 'Cast Away' (Tom Hanks), 'Aviator' (Cate Blanchett), Pers to Leonardo DiCaprio for 12 years including 'The Revenant.'

Outstanding Achievement In Makeup: Laini Thompson - (Known for: 'Jungle Fever,' 'Drop Zone,' 'The Fan' (Wesley Snipes), 'Bad Boys,' 'Men In Black' (Will Smith), 'Money Train' (Woody Harrelson), 'The Evidence' (Orlando Jones).)

Outstanding Achievement In Special Effects Makeup: Mike Smithson - (Known for: 'Austin Powers: the Spy Who Shagged Me' (Oscar nom), 'Fragments' (Forest Whitaker, Dakota Fanning), 'Lone Ranger' (Armie Hammer), 'Avatar.')

Outstanding Achievement In Photography: Norman Seeff - (Known for shooting: Rolling Stones, Andy Warhol, Patti Smith, Carly Simon, Fleetwood Mac, Ike and Tina Turner)

Three established nominees, specializing in creating celebrity looks on the red carpet and for editorial will compete in each honoree category.

Competing Nominees

Sterfon Demings Award For Hairstyling:

Tippi Shorter (Works with AVEDA, Alicia Keys, Kelly Rowland)
Kiyah Wright (Works with Tyra Banks, Ciara, Iggy Azalea)
Marcia Hamilton (Works with Jada Pinkett Smith, Taraji P. Henson, Pink!)

Kathryn Blondell Award For Hairstyling:

Giannandrea (Works with Macadamia Professional, Gwyneth Paltrow, Chrissy Teigen)
Riawna Capri (Works with Julianne Hough, Nina Dobrev, Emma Roberts)
Wendy Iles (Works with Heidi Klum, Marion Cotillard, Cate Blanchett)

Mike Smithson Award For Makeup:

Erik Soto (Works with Kat Von D, KVD Beauty, Sephora)
John Stapleton (Works with MAC, Kelly Osbourne, Margaret Cho)
Rachel Goodwin (Works with Chanel, Brie Larson, Diane Kruger)

Laini Thompson Award For Makeup:

Derrick Rutledge (Works with Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Kenya Moore)
Mylah Morales (Works with Rihanna, Tinashe, Keke Palmer)
Sheika Daley (Works with Nicki Minaj, Zendaya, LaLa Anthony)

Norman Seeff Award For Photography:

Eric Charbonneau (Shoots for AP/Invision, Warner Bros, Lionsgate, Twentieth Century Fox, etc.)
Jeff Kravitz (Shoots for Getty, MTV, Capitol Records, Disney, etc.)
Mario Anzuoni (Shoots for Reuters, Academy Awards, GRAMMYS, etc.)

Special Honoree Awards

The HBAs will remit a Special Recognition Award to Children's Hospital Los Angeles

Fragrance of the Year - Dior's Sauvage presented to Pamela Baxter (President/CEO Perfumes & Cosmetics Americas At LVMH, President Christian Dior Couture), pesented by Johnny Depp

Beauty Enhancement Award - Dr. Jason B. Diamond presented by Rebecca Gayheart Timeless Beauty Award - Melanie Griffith

New Beauty Awards - Clare Bowen ("Nashville"), Chaley Rose ("Nashville"), Sophia Reyes (Hit Mexican Pop Recording Artist)

Celebrity Presenters & Attendees: Orlando Jones ("Sleepy Hollow"), Tamara Taylor ("Bones"), Jackée ("227," "Sister, Sister"), Heidi Klum, Rick Baker (7-time Oscar winning Makeup Artist), Dr. Charles Elachi (Director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory), Rihanna, Jon Voight (Academy Award winner, "Ray Donovan"), Angie Harmon ("Rizzoli & Iles"), Kelly Rowland, Alex Meneses (NBC's "Telenovela"), Jose Moreno Brooks (NBC's "Telenovela"), Diana Maria Riva (NBC's "Telenovela"), Kelly Osbourne (Fashion Police), Eric Dane ("Grey's Anatomy"), Tippi Hedren, Nicole Williams (E!'s WAGS), Sophia Pierson (E!'s WAGS), Sam Palladio ("ABC's Nashville"), Amy Paffrath (VH-1's Dating Naked), Chastity Dotson ("Single Ladies").

www.HollywoodBeautyAwards.com
This article was originally published by Los Angeles Entertainment News.

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What Is Fashion Sense and Why Don't I Have Any?

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Image Source: CreateHER Stock

I was really feeling my outfit today (I didn't have any hot sauce in my bag, but still...swag). I'm in college so my outfit usually consists of sweats/jeans and a t-shirt/hoodie. This is not my "well, I'm in college outfit." This is my "I have always worn this style" outfit. But, remember how I said I was feeling my outfit today, well...I was until I tried to "do it for the 'gram" and post my cute outfit of the day post. Fail. The lighting wasn't right, I couldn't get the right angle and then I realized that my outfit was quite..."normal." I had on skinny jeans, grey knitted sweater, checkered black and white cardigan and calf-high boots. Nothing out of the ordinary.

First mistake I made was scrolling through Instagram before posting my "feeling myself" outfit. I follow quite a few fashion bloggers and today, they all happened to have posted some really chic, cute outfits. So chic and cute that it made me ask myself, "what the heck is fashion sense?" which was then followed by "why don't I have any?" I like to shop for clothes. Sometimes. Whenever I go shopping I always tell myself that I am going to buy a new style of clothing or buy some more colorfully diverse items, yet I always find myself leaving with my usual style of clothing.

Fashion blogger, Niurka, of Fashion Styles defines fashion sense as "less of following trends and knowing more of what fits the unique "you" and what you're comfortable in. Being stylish in your true self." So, maybe I do have fashion sense... or, at least I have an idea of what it means. I find it hard to describe my sense of style and even harder to put into words "what fits the unique [me]."

Let us go back to my failed attempt at my Instagram post for a little bit. I'm not a fashion blogger nor have I ever tried to post a #OOTD picture on Instagram. Second mistake made. I would never be contemplating the idea of fashion sense if it was not for me trying to "do it for the 'gram!!!!" Nevertheless, I am happy that I tried because now I'm in deep thought on the topic of fashion sense.

Buki, of Style With Buki, interprets fashion sense as, "your knowledge of fashion and current trends and your ability to interpret that knowledge into your personal style." Trend...such a heavily connoted word. I am not a huge trend follower, but if something catches my eye and takes my money, welp. I love that Buki added the "ability to interpret that [trend] knowledge into your personal style." I personally don't think I have a "style." I wake up, see what is clean, and dress based on how I feel or what I have to do for the day.

The thing about trend is that it is like a boomerang. It comes back around. Taniqua, of Taniqua Russ, says that "trends fade away" and I agree, but they always find a way to become relevant again.

Social media allows trends to flourish in positive or negative light. Today, Instagram taught me that I can be inspired and motivated by what others may post, especially when it comes to fashion, but that doesn't mean that I need to imitate or mimic. I get inspiration and use it to make it work for me.

I think fashion sense is unique. Like anything else about a person. No two people will have the same idea of fashion sense. Dinesha, of She Has The Eye, believes that fashion sense is "knowing what works for you, speaks to you and expresses the message you specifically want to send through your outer appearance." Fashion sense is not just what you wear. It is how you wear it and how you feel when you wear it. My outfit today made me feel bold, classy and beautiful - maybe I do know what fashion sense is and sometimes it has to take the backburner to feeling nonchalant, being busy and having a heaping pile of dirty clothes. I had planned to post my outfit after writing this post, but I deleted the pictures. Really deleted them - I deleted them and then deleted them from the "deleted photos" album. Sigh, next time.

I do have fashion sense. I wear what I want to wear. Rather it is trendy or not, I wear what fits my personal style (whatever that may be) and I wear what makes me feel uniquely me.

I got a chance to ask a few fashion bloggers about their idea of fashion sense. Check out their awesomeness below.

Oby, Heart, Print & Style
When I think of the phrase 'fashion sense', what comes to mind is having that knack of knowing what's your style. And if you're able to incorporate the latest fashion trends to make it your 'own', then you definitely have that 'fashion sense'.

Victoria, The Budget Divaa
I would define fashion sense as having a grasp on who you are. Your fashion is just an outward expression of that person inside of you so I think it's all about owning the beautiful you inside & letting the world see what you're all about. Whether you're making a statement with vibrant pieces or cozy comfortable, true fashion sense is about having a voice & being heard.

Ashley, Fabellis
I believe fashion sense is knowing what looks work well together, fashion staples and how to dress your (or someone else's) body type.

Taniqua, Taniqua Russ
For me, fashion sense is knowing style (that lasts vs trends that fade away).. It's knowing how to mix and match colors and patterns, knowing what look is appropriate for different occasions, and knowing when to throw all of that out of the window. Ultimately, fashion is how you let the world know who you are without saying a word, so having a great sense of fashion is saying the right thing about yourself with your clothes.

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Model Who Lost Leg To Toxic Shock Syndrome Slays At Fashion Week

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Meet the new face of empowerment.


Last week, 28-year-old Lauren Wasser made her runway debut at New York City Fashion Week sporting a bold accessory -- her prosthetic leg.


Wasser -- along with transgender model, Isis King, and plus-size stunners, Sabina Karlsson and Denise Bidot -- walked in a show titled "Lumina" for the forward-thinking brand, Chromat.


"Great day with great people," Wasser wrote in an Instagram photo caption backstage at the show, which garnered over 500 likes and comments loaded with supportive kissy-faced emojis written by followers inspired by the Wasser’s fierceness.



Great day with good people. @Chromat #NYFW

A photo posted by Lauren Wasser (@theimpossiblemuse) on




Wasser’s road to the runway was an emotional one that includes a four-year detour sparked by the loss of her right leg to toxic shock syndrome.


At 24, Wasser, a tall, blonde and blue-eyed beauty was living a charmed life -- riding 30 miles on her bike by day and rubbing shoulders with Los Angeles’ elite by night. According to a profile in Vice, she had given up a full-ride basketball scholarship at a Division I school to pursue modeling -- a career that began when she appeared next to her model mother when she was 2 years old in Italian Vogue.



real life - @theimpossiblemuse ❤️ @fotofetish

A photo posted by Lauren Wasser (@theimpossiblemuse) on




It was the fall of 2012 when everything changed. Wasser showed up to a friend’s birthday party on Oct. 3 feeling sick. She had her period, but the pain had spiraled past cramps and lower-back pain. She was feeling flu-like symptoms and was struggling to stand upright.


"Everyone was like, 'Dude, you look horrible,'" she told Vice. Wasser decided to leave the party, drove home and fell asleep.


Aside from a few spotty moments, Wasser awoke from a several-day slumber in the hospital on the verge of death. Her organs were failing.


“They were telling [my mom] and my godfather to prepare for my funeral,” she told Today.




Wasser didn’t connect her pain to her period until an infectious disease specialist asked if she was wearing a tampon. She was, the tampon was rushed to a lab and tested. Wasser had toxic shock syndrome. The diagnosis surprised Wasser. She had changed her tampon three times the day she got sick -- in the morning, afternoon and again in the evening, Vice reported.


When HuffPost reached out for comment, a spokesperson from Kimberly-Clark, which owns Kotex, said:


"Kimberly-Clark does not comment regarding ongoing litigation. In regards to tampon usage, we encourage all consumers to thoroughly read the instructions and warnings that accompany tampon packaging and be diligent in using the product as directed.”


Many women are familiar with toxic shock syndrome, due to warning labels on the back of tampon boxes that warn customers to change their tampons every four to eight hours. The labels were placed on boxes back in the 1980s after 38 women died from toxic shock syndrome from tampons, according to the CDC.


But tampons aren’t the sole reason why someone develops toxic shock syndrome. According to the Mayo Clinic, men and children can also get toxic shock syndrome. What makes menstruating women more susceptible is if someone has staph bacteria (or Staphylococcus aureus) in their system and uses a tampon made out of synthetic materials rather than pure cotton, according to Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine. The combo can cause a bacterial infection or toxic shock syndrome.


Roughly 20 percent of the general population carries Staphylococcus aureus, according to the journal.



@cassblackbird ... You are awesome!

A photo posted by Lauren Wasser (@theimpossiblemuse) on




Due to complications, she had to have her right leg below her knee amputated.


"I literally was laying there, thinking my life was over. That I would never be accepted again, I could never model again. No one would look at me the same," Wasser told Today.


After the amputation, Wasser was in pain and contemplating suicide. But through support from her family and girlfriend, photographer, Jennifer Rovero, who took hundreds of pictures of Wasser, as sort of a photo therapy, as she recovered, she slowly regained control of her life.



Killing ittttttt

A photo posted by Lauren Wasser (@theimpossiblemuse) on




Wasser is now suing Kotex, the brand that created the tampon that caused her illness, and in 2015 Mic reported that she appeared in a Nike campaign for Nordstrom.



#fbf images that changed my life... @fotofetish

A photo posted by Lauren Wasser (@theimpossiblemuse) on




"I'm more beautiful than I've ever been because I've experienced so many things, and I can relate to so many different people," Wasser told Today. "And you know, it's just made me a better person."


 


Also on HuffPost:


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Celebrity Hairstylist Jen Atkin Helps North West With Her Elsa Look

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Life as North West means dressing up as Elsa from "Frozen" and having your mom's celebrity hairstylist friend help with your look. 


The 2-year-old was the star of Jen Atkin's Instagram account on Monday. In an adorable shot, little Nori stands beside a sink dressed in a blue Elsa costume while Atkin hairsprays her high bun in place. 


"Final touchups on 'Elsa' while she studies her part in 'Frozen,'" Atkin wrote. 



Final touchups on "Elsa" while she studies her part in Frozen ❄️ #North #ILoveThisLittleBunny #MyEasiestClient

A photo posted by Celebrity Hairstylist (@jenatkinhair) on




 


Also on HuffPost: 


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How To Organize Your Closet In 12 Easy Steps

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Clutter is rarely this glamorous. Experts explain their simple strategies for sorting all your things--and why being organized is so deeply satisfying.

By Liana Schaffner, Allure

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Photo: @LAURENCARUSO_/INSTAGRAM

Just consider: The word "lose" is wedged right in the middle of "closet." The subliminal message practically gives us permission to ignore all the stuff we stash behind a door. It's easy to assign the same out-of-sight, out-of-mind logic to drawers and cabinets, as if their contents exist in another dimension--a black hole where chaos reigns. But nope. Storage areas aren't just a part of your living space; they can function as extensions of your psyche. "Clutter has an emotional impact," says Beverly Hills organizer Linda Koopersmith, whose clients include Khloé Kardashian and Sofia Vergara. "Once we get things in order, there's this palpable sense of relief."

That could explain why obsessive neatness has become a new, almost therapeutic phenomenon. Hypnotic images of precisely arranged objects--call them "org porn"--dominate Instagram and Pinterest. And Marie Kondo, the woman who took the decluttering trend to a new level of austerity (and the top of the New York Times best-seller list) with The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up (Ten Speed Press), has a new book on the topic, Spark Joy. There are plenty of ways to declutter--and you've got nothing to lose except, perhaps, some (emotional) baggage.

If cleanliness is next to godliness, then professional organizers are near deities. Some of the best in the field spill (well, tidily set forth) their favorite tricks.

Sweep clean. "Start by taking everything out of your closet and drawers," says Washington, D.C., organizer Alejandra Costello. Decide right then whether it belongs in the "keep" or "donate" pile. "It should be a quick decision," says Costello. "If you're really conflicted over something, chances are you won't miss it."

Pair like with like. "Grouping similar items together--all your long-sleeved shirts in one place, your pants in another--is essential to finding what you need," says New York City organizing expert Molly Rain, who works with editors and fashion insiders. Once you've sorted your clothes into categories, organize each group by color.

Switch to skinny hangers. "I work with designers and models who have tons of clothes, and getting everything to fit on a rack is a real issue," says Rain, who likes Joy Mangano Huggable Hangers. "Changing to thin hangers instantly saves a third of the space--a third. In New York City, that's huge."

Everything has its place. In her new book, Kondo suggests placing anything made of a "fluttery material" and fabrics that are quick to wrinkle on hangers. But if something is "soft and pliable," she writes, then you know "it contains air." So, she explains, the best way to reduce its volume is to fold it.

Related: 6 Genius Tips For Decluttering Your Vanity

File it away. Every organizer on earth (well, all the ones we spoke to) recommends storing folded clothes in a vertical position, like files lined up in a drawer, instead of stacked in columns. (Just fold them as usual, then flip the pile so it stands up--spring-loaded drawer dividers, like ones from the Container Store, will help.) This method makes every single item visible, conserves space, and prevents pieces from getting stranded on the bottom.

Keep one messy drawer. It's fine to have one drawer for miscellaneous things, according to New York City organizer Juli Oliver. "It takes a little pressure off, knowing that you don't have to organize down to the last lost button."

Go over your underwear. Lingerie drawers fall into disarray because they contain a variety of shapes and materials. To help keep undergarments under control, Kondo suggests arranging your drawer with light items in front, tapering to dark in back. "When you line your underwear up like this, your drawer will look like a box of sweets," she writes.

Stack your bras. Bras are the fitted sheets of lingerie--there's no easy way to fold them. So don't. The best way to avoid an unholy tangle is to tuck the straps inside the cups and line them up in a drawer, one propped lightly against the other.

Sort your shoes. One way to arrange them is with each pair side by side, with one toe facing out and the other facing in. By nesting insteps together in this fashion, you save several inches of space, says Koopersmith.

Take a seat. If you have a walk-in closet, place a chair or a bench inside--not a stool, not a stepladder, but a stylish upholstered seat. "It makes the space inviting," says Koopersmith.

Light it up. "A naked lightbulb is depressing," says Koopersmith. "It's like your clothes are in a jail cell." An elegant light fixture transforms even cramped quarters.

Save something. You've tossed out so much stuff that your drawers are anemic. Congratulations? Not quite. "This is a booby trap," writes Kondo, who sees too much drawer space as an invitation to accumulate more. "The rule of thumb is 90 percent," she advises. Fill your drawers to the point that they look full (but not engorged).


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Why Boston's MFA Will Be Watching Neil Lane on The Red Carpet

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Q&A with the Curator of Jewelry at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston and Hollywood's Red Carpet Jeweler, Neil Lane
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By Heidi Legg

Hollywood is awash in glitter, glamour, and experimentation this week as stylists, designers, and jewelers clamor for influence on the Red Carpet at the Academy Awards. Back in Boston, February doldrums have set in with sub-zero temperatures leaving the pale northeast native scavenging for morsels of color in salt-stained boots and tired winter coats that shed feathers. Where could there possibly be a crossover?

In an unusual pairing of scholarly study and Hollywood performance, Emily Stoehrer, the Rita J. Kaplan and Susan B. Kaplan Curator of Jewelry at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston will watch closely this week as her dissertation subject, jeweler to the stars Neil Lane, adorns everyone from Madonna to Jennifer Lawrence on the Red Carpet. Yes, he is the same celebrity who appears on the Bachelor with designer engagement rings and who lent his name to Kay Jewelers to supply the masses. Yet, Stoehrer takes pause on what she says is a dual legacy of collector and marketing genius, and narrows in on the one legacy she covets and labels as a magnificent collection with some of the most important pieces from the 20th Century. I sat down with the two of them, separately, to discover how this Hollywood jeweler to the stars built his collection and how he has caught the stern eye of one of the great institutions long run by Boston Brahmin blue-blood elite.

Neil, this is our most glamorous interview yet.

N: It is, for me.

Thank you for making the time.

N: I'll do anything. No, we're not busy. No, we're really not. We only have 350 pieces of jewelry out for the Academy Awards.

Emily Stoehrer from the blue-blood bastion of Boston's MFA is studying your work from a scholarly angle. What do you think of this?

N: Isn't this crazy? Emily decides to do her thesis on me and she says, 'you did this and that by yourself and you don't have any backing. You didn't have any money. How did you do this?' If I had been schlepping around in Paris at four o'clock in the morning at the flea markets in the bitter cold because I thought I was going to be rich and famous - are you crazy?

But I loved it. I was fascinated by this stuff, going to Kovel's Antiques to understand what the hell I had found. 'Oh look, there's a mark on the bottom.' I didn't know things had been marked on the bottom. I had the best time. You have to understand before I got serious about business, I was the most carefree happy guy in the world. I was going out to the Bowery with other artists and I was garbage picking. I was painting. I was exhibiting. I didn't have to worry about my art being sold because I was making money at the flea market selling vintage posters.

How did you originally start collecting vintage jewels?

N: I started collecting things people threw out on the street. They weren't even called 'collectibles.' There was no name for it because it was mostly junk and, as a little kid, I was fascinated by it. I was fascinated by my neighborhood, by the old people and the old houses. When I started college, it became a hobby. I was painting and drawing at art school and I started selling all these things I'd found at the flea market. When I made enough money, the first thing I did was go to Paris. That's where I learned Western Art, where I discovered the whole world of Paris and the whole world of the Art Nouveau. I started collecting very, very slowly and carefully because I didn't have the means to collect.

With the jewelry, I was still in my aesthetic stage and I was looking for interesting things. I wasn't necessarily looking for platinum and diamonds. I wouldn't have understood it. I was still more aesthetically involved in Art Nouveau and the nuance of lines. In London, I learned about Merle Bennett and Liberty & Company and Archibald & Knox. It was lots of bits of silver with little blue enamels and little vases and cigarette cases that were fifty dollars to 100 pounds. In Paris I would go around to the antique shops and look around for little bits of gold Art Nouveau. If I told you how I developed my eye, it was because I didn't have any money.

It sounds like the famous 10,000-hour rule coined by Malcolm Gladwell.

N: It was a process. If I saw something at a flea market, let's say a two-handle vase and it was $100, I didn't buy it because I wasn't sure. Then I went on to the next booth twenty feet away and I saw something similar and that was also $100, and I kept seeing something similar. Before I'd spent $100, I really needed to teach myself about what I was buying. Let's say a couple hours later I saw something for $300 and it had three handles instead of two handles - that's how I taught myself. I kept on looking and looking and looking and looking before I spent the money.

I didn't have a teacher. I didn't really have a mentor. I studied at the Art Students League and I studied with some well known artists, but in jewelry, I had no mentor. I learned by looking and then I bought books. I bought every book that ever came out on jewelry whether it was fifty dollars, thirty-five dollars, or seventy dollars. That's something I did that other people didn't. I absorbed the images. I didn't have a clue coming from Brooklyn what a piece of jewelry with a maker's mark on it meant. I didn't know anything like that. I learned and learned and learned. What you said about the 10,000 hours, I think I probably put fifty billion hours in it.

Emily, why did you decide to study Neil Lane?

E: I first met Neil six years ago as he prepared to give a lecture on his collection at the MFA when I was a curatorial research fellow there. I was the assistant to Yvonne Markowitz who was then the jewelry curator. After that, he and I would talk on the phone and he'd ask me for my opinion.

How did you come to do your thesis on his work?

E: Yvonne had known Neil forever. They had gone to jewelry camp together in Orono, Maine, which was started by Ruth and Dr. Joe Sataloff in 1979, who was very fond of and friendly with Yvonne. Years later, in 2012, when I was choosing my dissertation topic, he came up in conversation. The conversation was around how he had this amazing collection and that he was doing this really interesting thing in Hollywood and on the red carpet creating an interest in vintage jewels. At the same time, the average consumer of red carpet images doesn't necessarily know they're seeing vintage jewelry. They have to dig a little bit to realize that what he's showing as the Neil Lane collection is actually, oftentimes, very historic.

When you met, Neil had already been in LA a long time. When do you see his work and the red carpet intersect?

E: Jewelry was really becoming more and more prominent on the red carpet and I didn't know why. It was interesting in my research to explore this, which brought me to LA and led me to significant research into the Jewelers Circular Keystone (JCK), an industry periodical like Women's Wear Daily. Basically in the 1990s a group called the Diamond Information Center decided that Hollywood would be a good place to disseminate jewelry as a way to get Americans to want to wear more diamond jewelry. They arrive on the scene and one of the few jewelers was Neil Lane with his small booth in an antique center. The Diamond Information Center really helped him to access that world.

He was also showing something totally different. I interviewed stylist Rachel Zoe - the biggest - and she talked about how Neil's jewels often were appealing to her clients because they were different and bold. I think that because there was this commercialism creeping into Hollywood, vintage jewelry or fashion also offered an 'other.' It was something that seemed somehow not commercial and something where you could be one of a kind and unique because the jewels were one of a kind. At the time of my thesis, Neil was already working for Kay Jewelers and Jared, and many people knew him for those mainstream commercial ventures. Even today, people don't necessarily know the many layers that he's working on nor about his work as an artist.

Once people started buying your work, did you know you were becoming a movement in Hollywood?

N: Oh, my God. No. No. If you had said to me years ago that one day you're going to be in Hollywood designing jewels, not only selling them to the most famous people in the world, the most beautiful, and being involved in red carpets and being with Kay Jewelers and designing rings for America, I would've probably said, 'you're crazy. You're nuts. I don't want to do that.'

Early on you worked with Madonna. How did that come to be?


N: Madonna has probably been my biggest muse. I have worked with Madonna for probably eighteen years. I created the giant M for her for the Gap campaign. Again, it was collaboration. She wasn't going to just give me this gig for the Gap thing. She really wanted to see if I could handle it and she had every jeweler in the world on the trailer sets. But I kept on coming up with more jewels and more designs and more jewels. She was the first one to take jeans upscale and she did it with Missy Elliott for Gap.

The Saturday before the shoot, I had these two diamond necklaces on her neck and she was looking in the mirror at the studio. It was like kismet. She said, 'I need something. Something's missing' and I think it was her - I give her the credit -- 'it needs a giant M' and that night I kept the workshop open and we made a giant diamond M. That became such a huge rage and she wore her M everywhere afterward.

Are all the stones Neil uses vintage?

E: Sometimes. That's really how he got started and I've been interested in the Hollywood red carpet story of his career. Celebrities would either be drawn to old stones or old settings and he would sometimes make a ring around a stone that he was given or had found for them, or find a stone for a ring that they had. Or he designed one inspired by things that he had in his shop. For him, it's always been a mix of old and new and the complexity of it is what I think defines him.

N: When I did start to design jewelry, I was actually using old stones. Living in Paris, that was my aesthetic. I didn't have a contemporary design because I'm living in the contemporary but my aesthetic was something from the past. When I stated to design, the word 'vintage' didn't exist out here, Heidi. I started using it but it didn't really exist. Now it has a meaning but it didn't before. No one really can define vintage. If you ask someone who's twenty-one what vintage is - 'I don't know. It looks old and it's cool.'

I first came to Hollywood with a bag of antique jewelry and I started working with a lot of young people in Hollywood. Red carpets weren't as popular and they certainly didn't have so many starlets. They didn't have Netflix or all these content players. The biggest movie stars when I came here were Barbra Streisand and Goldie Hawn. And Goldie Hawn used to bring her daughter Kate as a little girl to my little counter to try on jewelry. When Kate got engaged for the first time to Chris Robinson, her ring came from me.

These young starlets were reverting back to the 1950s, and jewelers like Harry Winston loved putting these big diamond necklaces on these girls. I could see something was wrong. Before that, you would see Armani, the king of the red carpets, with very simple jewelry like a diamond bracelet: a line bracelet, diamond studs, or a diamond bar broach. I'm not talking about Elizabeth Taylor but the young starlets. I started making diamond chains, Edwardian chains, and I made colorful earrings in a Renaissance style and a Victorian style and the people I was dealing with asked me, 'could we wear that? Could we borrow that?' At that time, I didn't understand anything about loaning jewelry. It's a long history.

When we look at Neil through his public persona, there is this dichotomy. As a curator of historic jewelry owned by royalty and major collectors, how do you deal with this?

E: It's been interesting to do this research and dive into the '90s and 2000s because you see that fashion does things first and then jewelry takes a few years to catch up. If we look ten years ago, we saw a lot of fashion designers doing capsule collections and putting their name along with Target or H & M in the same way Neil Lane put his name with Kay Jewelers and Jared. He's making his name available to a much larger audience because before that his brand was so exclusive. He still has that exclusivity in his own high-end designs, and in many ways the vintage jewels are his babies and what really inspires all of his other work.

What do you think Emily is capturing?

N: She's recognizing something in me that I don't really spend much time thinking about. What she's saying to me is 'Neil, do you realize that you have a profound effect on fashion and the jewelry industry? Do you realize that?' And I think she's wanted to chronicle it and try to understand it.

From my perspective, I might say, 'Okay, I see that. I see that my years in France, my years of studying vintage and the aesthetic and creating diamond rings have really altered the whole bridal scene in America.' I can see, yes, that my coming to Hollywood changed the aesthetic. People are more comfortable wearing color on the red carpet and wearing different things. Yes. But for me it's just my journey and someone talking about it is pleasant. As a human being, your whole life is captured in three seconds. Your brain can see everything in fifty seconds from the beginning. I see myself as a little boy in Brooklyn; I see him going to Paris; I see myself at the flea markets. It's all very quick. But it did take years and years and years to get here.

Emily, what will be Neil's legacy?

E: I believe he has a dual legacy. First, he has a legacy as a collector who lends his things to important museum exhibitions. We had some jewelry here last fall and he's lent more recently to an exhibition in Chicago. Then there is the legacy of commercial Jared and Kay Jewelers and the Bachelor where you actually see Neil Lane and you see some of his own designs.

For many people, they'll remember him that way and think of him as this celebrity jeweler and a celebrity in his own right with his appearances on TV. But for museum-goers, and someone interested in the history of jewelry, he's assembled this magnificent collection with some of the most important pieces from the 20th Century. These collector pieces have all kinds of tangible memories of Hollywood history or jewelry history and that's the story I'd like more people to know about.

You work at one of the most blue blood institutions in the country and yet, we are talking about Neil Lane and the Hollywood red carpet. Does this surprise you?

E: It's interesting. Boston is typically not a place where you see a lot of flashy jewels - except at the MFA. We're actually the first museum in the country to have a full time curator of jewelry, and that's thanks to Susan Kaplan who endowed my position in her family foundation. Susan has been really involved with the museum with her passion and love of jewelry for many years, and it's actually a conversation with her that led me to think about doing my dissertation on Neil's collection.

I think we're doing something really exciting and different in Boston. While Boston traditionally doesn't have this reputation for being interested in jewelry, I think that we've broken that stereotype here at the museum. People come here and they're almost immediately met with our jewelry gallery and it's become a real hot spot in the museum. I think people are really eager to see what we're collecting and what we're doing.

Neil, if any of your pieces go into a museum, which piece would you choose?

N: The things that I've done in America - I think the things I created for Madonna on all her stage shows and all the M's and the jewel that I created for her Rebel Heart Tour. I created an amazing jewel for her. I might give you a picture with that. I've never given that to anyone. The picture she used on her album is her face wrapped up in cords. You'll see it. It's white. I took that idea of wrapping it in cords with string and I took the rebel heart motif. I created a heart wrapped up in strings and diamonds and then I used celestial material. I used meteorite to create it so it would give it energy. It's called Rebel Heart.

Read the full interview with Neil Lane and Emily Stoehrer at TheEditorial.com and subscribe for free to read about new ideas every two weeks from Cambridge, America's Petri Dish.

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Queen Elizabeth II And Her Purple Hat Are Having The Best Day Ever

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You might be having a good Tuesday, but chances are it's not quite as good as the one Queen Elizabeth II is having.


For starters, today QEII is wearing this insanely fun purple hat.



Worn with a matching dress, pearl necklace and earrings, and a sparkly brooch, this look is just an all around good time.


Today, she also hung out with Boris Johnson, the mayor of London...



... Shook hands with some construction workers:



And even got to stand inside a new, unfinished rail station in central London.



But the real reason she's having the best day ever is because she did all of this to unveil a new rail line renamed in her honor. Naturally, it's marked purple. 



The line, aptly named "Elizabeth," will debut in 2018 in the new underground station currently under construction. 


Having a subway named after you, all while rocking an epic hat and simultaneously being all around the most adorable human on earth? Sorry, everyone else. The queen is officially having a better day than you.



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Adam Levine's Massive Back Tattoo Is A Mythological Work Of Art

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Adam Levine just got some serious fresh ink. 


The Maroon 5 frontman revealed a newly finished back piece -- which was six months in the making (!!!) -- on Instagram Monday. The tattoo, done by Bryan Randolph of Spider Murphy's Tattoo in California, shows a mythological scene with a mermaid in the center; she's holding a skull in her hands as a ship rides over the waves behind her. 


"Thanks @bryanrandolph for absolutely blowing my mind with this one! Woooo hooooo!!!!" the singer and "The Voice" coach captioned the photo. 



6 months in the making. Thanks @bryanrandolph for absolutely blowing my mind with this one! Woooo hooooo!!!!

A photo posted by Adam Levine (@adamlevine) on




The singer's supermodel wife, Behati Prinsloo, also shared a snap of her husband's fresh ink with the caption, "Some serious art happening between @bryanrandolph@milodecruz and @adamlevine☠." 



Some serious art happening between @bryanrandolph @milodecruz and @adamlevine ☠

A photo posted by Behati Prinsloo Levine (@behatiprinsloo) on




Levine shared a teaser image of his tattoo in the works about five months ago, giving fans "a clue" before revealing the whole thing.  



A clue...

A photo posted by Adam Levine (@adamlevine) on




What will he get next? 


 


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Attention: You're Being Scanned

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I call it the once-over. It's an art perfected by women of all ages. I've actually seen little girls as young as 3 doing it in the grocery store and at birthday parties. I don't know when we learn it, but we do. I've decided it's one of the few instincts left in human beings, as I have never personally seen an animal do this to another animal because dogs, as an example, have another way of checking each other out. The once-over is as I said, evidenced in very little girls and is buckled onto them as clearly as their shiny black Mary Janes. It's a quick flick of the eyes. Swipe -- it's done. Well guys do it too but somehow it's not the same, is it?

When you're the "scan-ee" on the receiving end, it's like an ultra fast, but vertical airport scanning experience. It's as if you had been blown through a metal detector or an x-ray machine at a speed (literally) of the blink of an eye. Nothing is quite as penetrating or quite as disarming when you're on the receiving end.

You can almost feel it.

2016-02-15-1455578354-7904087-photodune4439907beautifulwomancoversmouthwithhands.jpgMeanwhile, as the scan-er, your goal is to attain the most detailed level of examination without getting caught: You have to perform the scan so the victim doesn't see you doing it. But your target knows -- she feels it just as you feel it when it's done to you. So you try to pretend you're not, and she tries to pretend she's not. Sometimes, though, the worst thing happens. Your eyes lock on the other woman's eyes, your timing just right or just wrong, so that her down-and-up scan and your down-and-up scan coincide exactly, and you're both caught in the act. You each look away, sometimes blushing lightly, pretending you hadn't been doing what you were doing, although your arm might as well be shoulder length in the cookie jar. It's a time-honored contest -- a battle of speed and cunning. You try to take in as much as you can as quickly as you can before she sees you're looking. She's doing the same thing, and the game is afoot.

What are we looking for?
We take in fabrics, nail color, skirt length, stocking runs (if they're wearing any), unbuttoned buttons, falling hems, fashion statements, style gaffes. We look for hair length, hairdos, and grey hairs. We look at jewelry and accessories: hats, scarves, belts, glasses, shoes and purses. We look to see if they match or not, and try to see if they're name brands or rip-offs. We are curious and catty all at the same time. The problem is, sometimes you don't know whether she's looking because you look good, or because you look horrible. "Did I wear the wrong thing?" always runs through your panicked mind. You look down to make sure you have the same color shoes on. (Been there. Done that. They weren't.)

Looking at what people are wearing is fun. We do it unconsciously. Sometimes it's mean, mostly it's a game, and in some circles it means war. It's all of those things. Just don't get caught. It's embarrassing.

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Her Product Inspired 'Oprah's Favorite Things,' But A Business Mistake Cost Her Everything

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In 1996, Oprah fell in love with a pair of pajamas.


She wore them frequently around her own house during the day, she gave them away to countless friends as gifts and she couldn't stop raving about the soft comfort of this unique sleepwear. Other people simply had to know about these PJs, Oprah thought, and soon enough, "Oprah's Favorite Things" was born.



One pair of pajamas inspired "Oprah's Favorite Things," which has been going strong now for nearly 25 years. The woman behind those PJs, however, didn't have her own storybook ending.


Karen Neuburger, a former fashion industry executive, created the very first set of PJs for herself after the birth of her second child. Friends became fans, then Oprah became one, and the pajamas' popularity took off. By 2004, Karen's business -- KN Karen Neuburger -- was reportedly worth $100 million.


You'd think that selling all those pajamas would have turned Karen into a millionaire herself, but as she revealed to "Oprah: Where Are They Now?" recently, that wasn't the case.



Things began to go downhill after Karen received a particularly large order that she knew she'd have trouble filling herself.


"I got a big order -- a single order -- for about $400,000. That was way over my capacity," she says. "I went to a friend who I had worked for, and he had everything I needed. He had a big warehouse, he had a big business at the time. So, he was willing to make a deal."


That deal, however, ended up being Karen's professional unraveling.


"He became my partner, but he was adamant that he have controlling stocks," she continues. "In other words, he owned more of the company than I owned."



I started off badly, and it did nothing but get worse.



Desperate to fulfill her order at the time, Karen agreed… despite not having a clear understanding of what she was signing. 


"What I didn't pay enough attention to is anything that had to do with legal matters -- boards, the stocks and shareholders -- I didn't understand any of that," she now admits.


Rather than reviewing the documents with her own lawyer, Karen made the million-dollar mistake of using the other's side's lawyer instead.


"I did not bring my lawyer. I used his lawyer," she says of her business partner. "He made his corporate lawyer available to me for documents. So, I started off badly, and it did nothing but get worse."



In 2009, Karen lost KN Karen Neuburger to her business partner after a two-year legal battle. She no longer retains any ownership over the company or the use of her name in business. Effectively, Karen Neuburger cannot use her own name in business ever again.


"I can call myself Karen Neuburger, but for a business? I cannot use it for business," she says.


In 2011, Karen's business partner sold KN Karen Neuburger to an Iranian company called Delta Galil. Although Karen has worked as a consultant for Delta Galil in the past and retains a positive relationship with the company, she received no money when a pair of KN pajamas are sold.


In the video below, Karen speaks out about her grief over losing the rights to her name and opens up about the latest business venture she is a part of. Though she tells Oprah that she is happy now, Karen adds that some of the grief of her experience hasn't gone away.


"This is hard for me, still," Karen admits. "This was my baby, and it was good."





"Oprah: Where Are They Now?" airs Saturdays at 10 p.m. ET on OWN.


Related:How a little girl's lemonade stand turned into her multimillion-dollar legacy


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Miss Piggy Schools Us On The Art Of Taking Selfies (And Just About Everything Else)

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Miss Piggy needs no introduction. The matriarch of The Muppets has been a bona fide superstar since she took Hollywood by storm in the '70s.





These days she's been busy filming ABC's "The Muppets," which chronicles her soaring career as the host of the talk show "Up Late with Miss Piggy." And when she's not chit-chatting with A-list celebrities, she's acting as a muse to a host of fashion designers like Marc Jacobs, Zac Posen and Christian Louboutin. 


And although Miss Piggy is sadly no longer romantically involved with Kermit (fingers crossed they get back together soon), her single status hasn't affected her awesomeness. There is just a je ne sais quoi about this pig that we can't get enough of. 


We caught up with Miss Piggy to chat about her personal style, why getting a full night's sleep is so important and how to take the perfect selfie. 


HuffPost: Where do you shop for clothes that flatter your body shape?  


Miss Piggy: I mostly work with designers who create clothes especially for moi. But when I do go shopping, the staff always knows that if they want to sell me anything they had better start flattering me and my body shape the moment I walk in the store.


Who are your favorite designers?


Oh, I adore -- and I’m creative muse -- to so many designers! There’s Vivienne Westwood, Zac Posen, Marc Jacobs, Christian Louboutin, Jeremy Scott, Jason Wu, to name just a few who’ve been inspired by moi. And I’m especially fond of a brand new designer whom I’ve just discovered. His name is Uncle Deadly, and he’s my wardrobe supervisor/dresser on “Up Late with Miss Piggy." He’s planning to launch his own line of haute couture -- Uncle By Deadly. Trust moi, it’s the next big thing! 



What word of advice would you give to women who are not as confident as you are when getting dressed?


Love yourself. Naturally, I have it easy because I have me to love. But you’re pretty good too. I know you work hard to be the best possible you; if someone doesn’t appreciate that, who needs them? As it says in the song: “The greatest love of all / Is easy to achieve / Learning to love yourself / Is the greatest love of all” (FYI: I also believe “the children are our future” but since that has nothing to do with your question, I left that part of the song out.) 


What has been your favorite red carpet moment?


Well, I learned so much about the red carpet from my dear friend, the late Joan Rivers! She was fearless. And so, I dedicate my favorite red carpet moment to her. Recently I was at a major awards show. Who can remember which? All I recall is that it involved statues, stars and endless speeches. And as I was strutting and posing, the unthinkable happened: my dress ripped and my derriere was visible.  At first I was devastated, but then I thought WWJRD (What Would Joan Rivers Do) -- and I decided to embrace the moment and make it work!  The result: #UnveilTheTail



What are your thoughts about contouring? 


I love contouring. I’ve always believed in highlighting my best features by any means possible. Since I have so many “best” features, it can be difficult to decide which to highlight. But it’s well worth the effort -- especially if, like moi, you have your own team of stylists, make-up artists and special effects experts. 


Do you wear fake lashes, or are those your natural ones?


There is nothing natural about any part of me, especially my lashes. Everything’s been remodeled, reconditioned, upgraded and embellished.  



How do you figure out how to style your hair, especially considering your pronounced ears?


I’m not sure what you mean by “pronounced” ears? If you mean “perfect," then I couldn’t agree more. But if that’s some kind of code for “honking big ears”…well! How’d you like your hair styled with a weedwacker?  … Oh, you meant “perfect”! I thought so. How do I style it? I have no idea. I wake up, my beauty team surrounds me and about an hour later -- voila, it’s moi!


Sleep is so important. How much beauty sleep to you get every night?


I get 12 hours of sleep during the night, and then take a one-hour nap just before I go on stage for “Up Late with Miss Piggy." And if my guest is boring, I sometimes catch a few winks while they’re jabbering away.





Any must-have beauty products?


There is only one must-have beauty product: a mirror.  Everything else is just smoke, mirrors and spackle.


When do you feel the most beautiful?


At night. When there is full moon outside and I’m perfectly backlit by klieg lights and a couple of baby spotlights. When you’re a star, you leave nothing to chance. 


Finally -- you're a selfie queenWhat's the key to taking the perfect selfie? Teach us your ways.


Make sure I’m in it. And, of course, use a professional photographer. I’ve got the fabulous Annie Leibovitz on a retainer to take all my selfies. What that girl can do with a cell phone and a selfie-stick is breathtaking!





 


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5 Ways To Look Good Even When The Weather Outside Is Super Gross

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The weather has been pretty unpredictable these past few weeks in the Northeast. One day we are layering with sweaters, fleece-lined tights and winter boots in order to brave freezing temps. Three days later we are stripping down to just a light coat and Converse sneakers because it's unseasonably warm outside. Naturally, this makes it extremely difficult to always look pulled together.


With bad weather on the way, we turned to street style stars for much-needed inspiration. Below are five simple tricks to avoid looking like a hot mess when it's raining, snowing or hailing outside.



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20 Bobby Pin Hacks That'll Make Your Life A Whole Lot Easier

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At the bottom of every woman's purse you can find a few things: A loose tampon, a half-finished lip balm and of course, bobby pins.


For some reason, women seem to amass tons of bobby pins, but these little gadgets usually prove to be more or less futile. Thanks to our friends at Cosmopolitan.com, we now know how to put them to good use. 


The video above shows 20 life-changing bobby pin hacks that you're going to want to memorize. Between coating your bobby pin in dry shampoo (so it stays in place) to flipping them upside-down for a better grip, these tricks are total game changers. 


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11 Ways To Feel Beautiful That Will Cost Absolutely Nothing

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Beauty is big business -- which means as we continue to fill our cabinets with lotions, potions and products, we're depleting our wallets of more and more money. 


While buying a tube of lipstick or mascara isn't going to break the bank, we need to remind ourselves that sometimes the things that make us feel the most beautiful don't always come in a bottle. 


Our editor-in-chief Arianna Huffington certainly agrees. Her number one beauty tip is getting plenty of sleep. 


"The most important beauty decision of my day is getting eight hours of sleep. It changes how I feel and how I look. And in fact, modern science backs me up."


"For example, a study in UK tested the effects of sleep deprivation on a group of 30 women. Their skin was analyzed and photographed after they slept for eight hours and then again after sleeping six hours for five nights in a row. Fine lines and wrinkles increased by 45 percent, blemishes went up by 13 percent and redness increased by 8 percent," Arianna explained. "In other words, we wear our lack of sleep on our faces. Who needs Botox, just get eight hours of sleep!"


To that end, here are 11 more ways to feel beautiful -- free of charge.  


1. Call your mom or your best friend for a good catch-up.





2. Get super dressed up for a casual lunch or dinner.  





 


3. Dance in the mirror before leaving the house each morning.





4. Make sure to laugh (real belly laughs) as much as possible.





5. Wear your hair in a style that you usually only wear for special occasions. 





6. Commit random acts of kindness. 





7. Go for a run or walk and admire nature's beauty.





8. Compliment yourself or write yourself a love note. 





9. Watch a movie that makes you smile. ("The First Wives Club" is always on that list.)





10. Take a few selfies, whether you share them on social media or not. 





11. Wear your best underthings under your everyday clothes. 








 


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Tommy Hilfiger Is Now Offering Clothes For Kids With Disabilities

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Fashion designer and mom of three Mindy Scheier has advocated tirelessly for more adaptive clothing for kids with disabilities like her son Oliver who has muscular dystrophy. This week, she achieved a major milestone with a special new line from Tommy Hilfiger.


Today, the global brand unveiled the new Tommy Hilfiger adaptive clothing line for kids -- a collaboration with Scheier's nonprofit Runway of Dreams. According to the brand's website, the line is "a very special collection addressing the challenges the differently-abled community faces each day when getting dressed."



The new clothes feature velcro and magnet closures from MagnaReady, an adaptive clothing brand founded by a designer whose husband has Parkinson's disease. The pants feature closures on the legs and fly and also allow for waist and length adjustability. 


According to the Tommy Hilfiger website, the new line features 22 pieces in sizes spanning from four to 18 for girls and four to 20 for boys. "Every detail was considered, so the clothing is not only functional but looks exactly the same as the TH Kids collection." Scheier states in the Q&A portion of the site, adding, "They also cost the same price, which is an amazing thing." 



The tagline for the collection is "because every kid deserves a great pair of jeans" -- a nod to the experience that inspired Scheier to launch Runway of Dreams. 


When Oliver was 8 years old, he asked his mom if he could start wearing jeans like his friends did, but because he wears leg braces, traditional jeans just weren't an option. Scheier tried to make it work by altering a pair of jeans to go over the braces, but she had to go to Oliver's school at lunch time to help him take off the pants to use the bathroom. Ultimately, the mom understood the pressing need for more substantive change for kids with disabilities who struggle with clothing every day. 


Fast forward a few years and thanks to Scheier's work, the Tommy Hilfiger adaptive line features skinny and straight leg styles of jeans, as well as jeggings to address different kids' needs and abilities.



Mom and HuffPost blogger Ellen Seidman, whose son Max has cerebral palsy, had the opportunity to sample the collection before its release and shared a glowing review on her website. Despite the many hurdles her son has overcome -- like learning to feed himself, hold a cup and twist a doorknob -- he is still not able to dress himself without help.


"When your fingers don't do what you want them to do, buttons, snaps and even zippers can be tough to manipulate," she wrote. "Your child is frustrated by this lack of independence. Therapists at his school put fabric loops on sweatpants so he can pull them up and down, but have no suggestions for how he can put on his own shirts."


But the new Tommy Hilfiger line can help change that. "Clothes like these will be a game-changer for our kids,"Seidman continued. "Not only will they have more autonomy, they'll better fit in with their peers, given that the clothes have the usual cool, crisp Tommy style."


The mom told The Huffington Post, "Max may have special needs, but his desire to look cool is totally typical."


As for Mindy Scheier, she has no plans to rest on her laurels. As she told Seidman, "My dream is that there's adaptive mainstream clothing for every person out there whether you're shopping at Walmart or Saks Fifth Avenue."


Keep up the life-changing work!


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North West Shows It’s Never Too Early To Contour When You're A Kardashian

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Kim Kardashian may be the queen of contouring, but North West is right there behind her ready to take the throne. 


The reality TV star's makeup artist, Mario Dedivanovic, uploaded a photo of the 2-year-old on his Instagram last week, showing her face covered in contour makeup. Little North was just trying to accentuate her cheekbones, obviously. 


"When #North steals your contour palette ... omg," Dedivanovic captioned the pic, adding a row of weary face emojis. 



When #North steals your contour palette omg

A photo posted by Mario Dedivanovic (@makeupbymario) on




We'd say her first attempt was pretty good (and so adorable) for a 2-year-old. 


Also on HuffPost: 



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VH1 Is Rebooting 'America's Next Top Model' Because 22 Cycles Just Wasn't Enough

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"America's Next Top Best Friend" is back! Oh wait ...





Sorry, when an opportunity for a Jade GIF presents itself, we rise to the occasion. #Guilty


The reality TV show that introduced words like "smize," "booty tooch," "dreckitude" and "pot ledom" into our cultural lexicon, as well as instilling unhealthy body standards and career aspirations in your middle-school self, is officially back in business.


VH1 announced on Tuesday that the network is reviving "America's Next Top Model" for 14 new episodes, according to Variety. Tyra Banks will remain involved with the production, ditching her hosting duties to executive produce full time -- yes, that means you'll have to memorize the cadence of an entirely new elimination speech. 





"We could not be more excited to bring back and breathe new life into one of the greatest unscripted franchises on television," Scott Koondel, chief licensing officer for CBS Corp., said in a statement. "VH1 is the perfect partner for this new endeavor and we hope this is the beginning of a long relationship."


The reinvented 23rd cycle will be set in New York and have an entirely new panel of judges (JADE 4 JUDGE 2016), in hopes of appealing to the next generation of "Top Model" fanatics. There's no premiere date at this time, but expect to be introduced to a new slate of models you'll never hear about again once the show is over sometime in 2016. 


"This is a homecoming for the series," Chris McCarthy, VH1's general manager said. "VH1 helped catapult the show to cultural icon status as the first cable network to air the show after it launched.” 


So, how are we all feeling?





Also on HuffPost:



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This Is Not Your Typical Weddings Q&A With Martha Stewart

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Martha Stewart may be known for prim and proper parties but she's definitely not above answering our unconventional wedding questions.


To pre-game or not to pre-game? Most embarrassing thing she's witnessed at a wedding? Martha answers those questions and more in the video above.


For more wedding talk with the queen of lifestyle, check out this Facebook Live chat and her new book. 


Also on HuffPost:


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What Is the Benefit of Goat Milk Soap?

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Most people buy large commercial brand soaps. It is convenient since it is found in any grocery or drug store. There are some downsides to using commercially-available soaps, especially if you tend to have dry skin.

Commercially mass-produced soaps usually contain synthetic additives, which acts as a detergent to remove dirt. These detergents add lather but can be drying to the skin. According to the FDA, "Today there are very few true soaps on the market. Most body cleansers, both liquid and solid, are actually synthetic detergent products. Detergent cleansers are popular because they make suds easily in water and don't form gummy deposits. Some of these detergent products are actually marketed as 'soap' but are not true soap according to the regulatory definition of the word."

Commercially mass-produced soaps usually contain fragrance. Fragrances are a broad term. According to the FDA, "FDA does not have the same legal authority to require allergen labeling for cosmetics as for food. So, if you are concerned about fragrance sensitivities, you may want to choose products that are fragrance free, and check the ingredient list carefully. If consumers have questions, they may choose to contact the manufacturer directly. "

Regulations do not require that individual fragrance ingredients be listed.

Soaps may also contain color additives that do not offer health benefits and may actually cause an allergy, although rare. The FDA requires certain color additives to be labeled on the product.

Antibacterial soaps can even contain harsher ingredients.

The FDA website states that "there currently is no evidence that over-the-counter (OTC) antibacterial soap products are any more effective at preventing illness than washing with plain soap and water."

The FDA also goes on to say that, "Moreover, antibacterial soap products contain chemical ingredients, such as triclosan and triclocarban, which may carry unnecessary risks given that their benefits are unproven."

EPA regulates the use of triclosan as a pesticide.

There is also concern for increased risk of bacterial resistance and hormone changes. The FDA states, "There are indications that certain ingredients in these soaps may contribute to bacterial resistance to antibiotics, and may have unanticipated hormonal effects that are of concern to FDA."

How is soap made?
Soap is made by mixing an acid and base together through a process referred to as saponification. In this case the acid is the oil and the base is the lye, a liquid such as water is also needed. Mixing these three components together will create both soap and glycerin. Some companies will remove the glycerin and use it in their other more costly products such as moisturizing lotions.

Goats milk soap can offer many benefits.

The milk itself contains alpha hydroxy acids which can help remove dead cells from the skin.

Goat milk has a high fat content which can help hydrate the skin.

Goat milk contains vitamins A and B2 which offers additional benefits to the skin.

Why use a handcrafted soap

Handcrafted products are made in small batches and usually contain natural ingredients. This is good for both our body and our environment.

Most hand crafted soaps will keep the glycerin within the soap rather than separating it out like most of the larger commercial companies do. This allows the soap to provide greater moisture which the skin benefits from.

Supporting small businesses can also help our economy to grow.

Below is a video chat I did with Elizabeth Sanders. She is the founder of Horse Peace Soaps who has been making goat soap and perfecting her formulation for 8 years.


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Cat With Blue Eyes And Natural Winged Eyeliner Takes Flawless Selfies

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I got out of bed for this?

A photo posted by Coby The Cat (@cobythecat) on




Move over, Frank Sinatra. There’s a new set of baby blues in town.


Meet Coby the cat, whose set of peepers has garnered 295,000 followers on Instagram and more than 4,500 on Facebook.


This cat even has natural winged eyeliner that puts Adele's game to shame.



I was told there would be tuna in bed...

A photo posted by Coby The Cat (@cobythecat) on





How's my cat eye? #fleek

A photo posted by Coby The Cat (@cobythecat) on





Mom, have you seen my backpack?

A photo posted by Coby The Cat (@cobythecat) on





When you accidentally open the front camera.

A photo posted by Coby The Cat (@cobythecat) on





Cuddles for Coby?

A photo posted by Coby The Cat (@cobythecat) on




Coby’s human, an art director named Rebecca (who would like her last name to remain anonymous), says when she first laid eyes on the white, fluffy British Shorthair, it was love at first sight.


“He fell asleep in my arms, and the rest is history!” Rebecca told HuffPost.



Feeling pretty in my ugly sweater

A photo posted by Coby The Cat (@cobythecat) on





Laundry duty

A photo posted by Coby The Cat (@cobythecat) on





MEOWL

A photo posted by Coby The Cat (@cobythecat) on





What a head scratcher.

A photo posted by Coby The Cat (@cobythecat) on





The Lion King #tbt #throwbackthursday

A photo posted by Coby The Cat (@cobythecat) on




According to Rebecca, Coby is extremely affectionate and playful. He enjoys tuna, chasing feathers and snuggling.


“He loves to follow me around and sleeps on my pillow every night,” she said.



I'm in a committed relationship with my bed.

A photo posted by Coby The Cat (@cobythecat) on





Caturday chic

A photo posted by Coby The Cat (@cobythecat) on







Pet me you will. #yoda

A photo posted by Coby The Cat (@cobythecat) on





Will you be my valentine?

A photo posted by Coby The Cat (@cobythecat) on




He's about to celebrate his first birthday in March, making him a Pisces, which is a water sign. The element isn’t just reflected in his baby blues -- it also may explain his love for all things H2O, Rebecca said. “Surprisingly, he loves playing in water,” she told HuffPost. This could explain why his Instagram account is flooded with pictures of him sitting in sinks and tubs.



Bathtub peekaboo!

A photo posted by Coby The Cat (@cobythecat) on





Please don't brush your teeth in my jacuzzi. #rude

A photo posted by Coby The Cat (@cobythecat) on





Bath time! #tbt

A photo posted by Coby The Cat (@cobythecat) on





How you look when you accidentally like a 42 week old pic

A photo posted by Coby The Cat (@cobythecat) on





He's behind me, isn't he??

A photo posted by Coby The Cat (@cobythecat) on




Cats with eye-catching eyes are becoming a social media phenomenon. Just last week, a Japanese tabby with evil eyes was introduced to the cat-crazy sect of the Internet and in January many went wild for Bum, a silly-looking cross-eyed cutie with worried eyes.


Who will be the next kitty with interesting eyes that’ll make the Internet let out a collective purr? We’re not sure, but if Coby is any indication, we want to see them meow!



There's a loose thread hanging from my office chair. Clear my schedule.

A photo posted by Coby The Cat (@cobythecat) on





I don't always meow repeatedly, but when I do it's at 4am and for no apparent reason. #mostinterestingcat

A photo posted by Coby The Cat (@cobythecat) on





When the catnip hits

A photo posted by Coby The Cat (@cobythecat) on





Is there more to life than catnaps?

A photo posted by Coby The Cat (@cobythecat) on





You had me at ear fluff.

A photo posted by Coby The Cat (@cobythecat) on




 Also on HuffPost:


 


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