Rebecca Suhrawardi Austin, a fashion writer from New York City, is a graduate and former Board Member of the Fashion Institute of Technology. Previously with the fashion departments of Interview Magazine and CosmoGirl!, Rebecca has worked with such talent as Nicole Kidman, Maya Angelou, Joss Stone and Jennifer Jason Leigh.
By now you’ve probably figured out I am exfoliation junkie – it’s my answer to everything. Sort of like the crazy dad in My Big Fat Greek Wedding who thought Windex could save the world, I feel the same way about exfoliation. In the movie, though, Windex actually did save the day, so maybe I am on to something with the exfoliation thing. Like when it comes to ingrown hairs from shaving. Whenever I see people with that issue, whether it’s a man on his face or a woman under her arms, I just want to pull them aside and say: exfoliate! So consider this post my pulling you aside.
I consider exfoliation mandatory: for the hands, for the face, for the feet – it just has to be. But if you suffer from ingrown hairs or simply want a close shave, then pre-shave exfoliation should be a part of your regimen – hands down, every time, no questions asked.
Like a fireworks display where you don’t know what is coming up next but you just know it’s going to be awesome, Justin Giunta is an explosive show of talent and color. Between designing his much-adored Subversive Jewelry line, painting fine art, and carrying the title of CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund finalist, Justin found a second to chat it up with me about everything, from where he finds inspiration to infinite pearls of wisdom. Read on about the design phenom who has got the fashion world’s knickers all in a twist.
As if we could not get enough, Givenchy confirmed last week the reports that have been floating around since January that Justin Timberlake will be the face of a brand new men’s fragrance set to launch this fall. He joins actress Liv Tyler, who is the currently the company’s female spokesmodel, in promoting the brand’s global image. Expect to hear the over-the-top sexy details of the launch released in June. I certainly won’t be crying a river to see Justin’s sex appeal all over the globe (insert swoon here). I can hardly wait!
What gives a spa the title of the best in the world? Stylehivers wanted to know, so I flew to Bangkok and checked myself into the Mandarin Oriental Hotel to find out. Why so far? Because no other spa has been so internationally talked about as being the most amazing on the planet, and The Robb Report (a magazine all about ultra-luxury) rated it as the best in the world for their 30th anniversary issue. Ratings-schmatings, I had to find out for myself what all the fuss was about and so begins the journey!
You know that girl you were insanely jealous of when you were like five because she was so much cuter than you? She had perfect little girl hair, the sweetest smile and those big doe eyes. Now that we’re all grown up and have come into our own beauty (thank goodness!) do we wonder what happened to that other, prettier girl? I still know my pretty girl, she is one of my BFs, and guess what? She is still super-cute! But while getting all dolled up for a fancy event, she gave it up how she still has those big doe eyes from when we were five. Read on, bees, to find out the secret!
Some of you are lucky ducks and have super-low maintenance skin. You just wash with a bar of Ivory soap once a day and call it done – and still manage to look like Anne Hathaway just the same. Blech! Others, like myself, are constantly fighting an uphill battle to try to keep our skin tame and glowing. So this post is about a little experiment I did involving face masks. I wasn’t using one but I felt like I needed to, so I picked one up slathered it on and now I am going to tell you all about it. Face masks can actually be sort of fun! Okay, maybe not the actual mask (unless you are using the Bioré self-warming mask, now those are neat) but what’s fun is what you can do in one. A hot bath is fab while masking, the heat makes it seep oh-so-deep for an oh-so-clean result. Yummy! Then you can go the slumber party route and slap one on while your BFFs are over and scare people when they come to the door. Whatever the case, have fun because a mask is actually really relaxing.
You have been told a zillion times not to wash your hair that often. But here’s something you may not have heard: when you wash it, don’t wash it all. That’s right, say bye-bye to that shampoo-and-hair mountain you make on top of your head, because that technique does major damage. So says Allison Burr, a Master Stylist in New York City formerly with Vidal Sassoon and mega-trendy Arrojo Studio, now embarking on opening her own salon called MINT. Allison has worked runway shows for New York Fashion Week, been featured on Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and also worked behind the scenes on TLC’s What Not To Wear, so she knows her stuff!
While styling a photo shoot for Christopher Fischer (uber-yummy designer cashmere), I got one of the best (and cheapest) beauty tips I heard in a long time from the company’s Retail Director, Joni Fischer. Not really sure how the convo came up, something about dry lips, but she broke out with some A+D diaper rash ointment from her purse, claiming it is THE mind-blowing cure for severe skin dehydration. Baby butt crème? Really?
How do Jennifer Aniston, Keira Knightley and Natalie Portman keep their perfect complexions? Genetics are only part of the answer. And a cocktail of products only go so far. But the real secret to consistently clear skin comes from the deep-down clean that only regular medical facials provide. Something that looks NOTHING like the pretty picture here! Never heard of a medical facial? Well, that’s why I’m here. It’s time to ditch the idea that facials are a relaxing pastime and start embracing the astonishing, long-term benefits of this form of consistent, aesthetic attention.
Your brows are your brows right? Wrong. They can be trendsetters, just like shoes, bags and haircuts. As we saw this fall at shows like Proenza Schouler, Vera Wang, and Zac Posen the big, bushy brow was the anchor of the beauty. A strong brow is a part of a total look, so it is fun to plan your style for a night or day around it. Admittedly, it is tough to change your brow shape at the whim of a designer, though with a little makeup and minor (minor!) tweezing it can be a lot of fun to try.
I saw a commercial for this face scrubber that washes your face with sonic waves. Could this be true? I had to sit down because I almost lost my breath. The same people who invented the Sonicare Toothbrush made this thing called the Clarisonic, so in my mind it already had serious street cred. Being the skin junkie that I am, I lusted for it and bookmarked the item in my head. Lo and behold, an anonymous package arrives in my name two weeks later, and what is inside but the same face washer I was lusting after! It was from mom, of course, because only she would know I would die for something like this.
You know you are not the only one whose body needs to get winterized, your man gets dry and crackly too. So the question is, how to get him to take care of that wintry mix without making him feel like too girly? The answer: turn it into a team activity. Hot oil baths and deep conditioning head massages can turn your winter man into something smooth and sexy in no time, and transform a cold winter night into a night to remember. How? Just follow these easy steps.
007 proved to be the year of the Posh-bot, with A-Z list celebs mimicking her now infamous pob, which Posh concocted all by her lonesome. The Spicester did it by combining a graduated bob with textured layers in front, and voila now she is today’s Jennifer Aniston! How did it all happen? Let’s travel back in time and DNA-map the pob cloning. The first time a pob reared its head on a head other than Mrs. David Beckham was on Mrs. Tom Cruise back in June, when the two were bosom buddies in Paris for last season’s shows. Fine. Then came Rihanna. Okay, pob gaining traction. When celebutants Paris Hilton and Kim Stewart ditched their scraggly, long extensions in favor of the angular bob, the pob had officially arrived!
We are well into the fall/winter season of fashion and beauty, and when we started out with the new trends way back in September we saw red lips everywhere from Gucci to Valentino a la homage to Veronica Lake. Lancome couldn’t even handle the onslaught that came with the limited edition red lipstick simply called Behnaz, which has reported to sell on EBay for upwards of $100. But designers sent us mixed messages, as the polar opposite of the scarlet mouth, the nude lip, presided at big-time shows like Carolina Herrera, Derek Lam and Marc Jacobs. Let’s ride the crimson tide and see which lip trends our favorite celebs decided to follow, or not, this year.
It’s winter and it’s freezing, so why on earth should you be thinking about summer hotness? Because being covered from head to toe as you are, its a great time to try new treatments and hide the evidence. Like waxing. Yes, it sounds horrid, pulling hair out by its roots. But let me tell you, I wish someone had turned me on to it sooner – like at puberty. It would have saved me years of the expensive, messy annoyance of shaving. So read on waxing virgins, and let’s walk through the do’s and don’ts of the world of waxing, especially as it pertains to the chilly weather. (We bet you $100 Mrs. Claus waxes in wintertime.)
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