Disclaimer:"Take the doctor home with you" shouldn't be interpreted in a promiscuous, "voulez vous coucher avec moi" way.

In a perfect world we’d all have a Hollywood dermatologist taking care of our skin, leaving us with a complexion that looks like it benefited from a good dose of Vogue-retouching. Luckily, Dr. Frederic Brandt, dermatologist extraordinaire has come up with yet another ingenious way to take home his dermatological expertise with you, without going to his Miami clinic for a $500/30-minute consultation. It’s called Dr. Brandt Pores No More Vacuum Cleanser ($80) -a pore de-clogging mask that instantly rids skin of unsightly blackheads & whiteheads. (more…)

Never mind that scientists haven’t developed a vaccine for swine flu, at least we’re assured that the medical minds at Allergan (the makers of Botox) are hard at work developing a miracle eyelash fertilizer. Enter Latisse, the first FDA-approved treatment for hypotrichosis- a condition where one suffers from having inadequate lashes, which begs the question, “Do we really need a medical term for LASH ENVY?”

(more…)

When I first applied a mint green shade on my finger nails, approximately three months ago, my dear significant other commented that I looked “sick”, or even more endearingly, “dead”. How sweet.

But now I can rub it in his face and say “I told you so!”, thanks to megabrand Chanel’s endorsement in the form of their newest nail polish in a cool, jade green hue. I was, apparently, three months ahead of the game. (Smug look.)

The jade lacquer featured prominently in their Fall/Winter ‘09 show and had caused quite a bit of a tizzy in the blogosphere. Known for creating cult colours that subsequently sell out like hotcakes, or in our local context, Mellben Seafood’s crab noodles, Chanel knows how best to market its probably top-selling items — make it limited edition. Yes, like the previous navy blue and black varnish (both of which went on to create a global craze), this one’s only for the selected few. So get yourself on the waiting list if you’re as hardcore as the rest of the fashionphiles worldwide — I’ve already made my call.

I’ve discovered lately a penchant for charred, smouldering, burnt scents. There’s something heady about a fragrance that’s reminiscent of burning smoke. Not in the olfactory sense of incense, cigarettes and cigars (although I am partial to the smell of the latter, I know alot of people crinkle up noses at cheroots and cubans). There’s been a trendy use of Tobacco as a note in fragrances for a while now, mostly men’s fragrances as befitting the somewhat masculine gender of the ingredient. While socially understood to be masculine, Tobacco/charred notes need not be genderized. Scent blog ISmellThereforeIam has a great posting on Sonama Scent Studio’s Tabac Aurea on how the fragrance makes the writer feel like she’s  Bette Davis <Insert soundtrack: Kim Carnes’ Bette Davis Eyes> (Such an old-world idol and such a good song to greet the day!).

My current personal favourites for smoldering smoke fragrances are A.P.C Bougie no.3 Toumbac candles and C.B Burning Leaves.

A.P.C Bougie no.3 Toumbac

A.P.C Bougie Toumbac scented candle is a slightly masculine tobacco-based note with a rich and deep earthy finish. Scented candles are an affordable luxury that I’m a fiend for. I’ve a huge thing for scents and if being greeted by a lush smouldering scent on entering a room is a fanciful indulgence… well, I’m happy to burn away money. The scent that wafts from A.P.C Bougie Toumbac is just the right amount of complexity to interest without smothering you. A.P.C candles burn for 50hrs and is also available in Fleur d’Oranger (a musky-sweet citrus of orange blossom) and Cologne (a sharp arbor musk).

Available at Front Row | 5 ann siang road

C.B I Hate Perfume - Burning Leaves

Christopher Brosius is a perfumery artist who captures experience in a scent. That isn’t just marketing/P.R dribble. He truely has. Fittingly so, when you take a whiff of Memory of Kindness and Mr Hulot’s Holiday… you are transported. These are scents evokative of someone else’s experience, in notes that you recognise via a stream of fleeting scented images; someone else’s experience but strangely familiar. Burning Leaves is simply described as a “the smoke of burning maple leaves”. The scent is a tribute to his childhood memories of raking and burning autumn leaves with his father: “..I love watching them crinkle up in the flames while the smoke swirled up my nose and made me sneeze.”. It is an evokative perfume that unleases a lush, smoldering note of raw smoke: not so much charred as caramelized.

Here is C.B who hates perfume, but has managed to bottle the smell of life and memory. Love.

Available at Asylum | 22 ann siang road

The April edition of French Elle had eight models and actresses on the cover, in minimal makeup, and absolutely no re-touching done to them. Yes, that means, wrinkles, crow’s feet, open pores, blackheads, pimples, acne scars, blotchy skin, you know, all the regular stuff that appears on our faces, appear in all its glory on the cover. On those famous faces who usually look nothing less than flawless.

Sophie Marceau

Eva Herzigova

Monica Belluci

Source: Fashionologie

What. A. Revolutionary. Move. Or is it?

There are 2 camps of thought. The first, an increasing voice that is adamant about showing beauty in its most natural form. Peter Lindberg, who shot the French Elle covers, relates in an article by The New York Times how he feels that “for years now it (re-touching) has taken a much too big part in how women are being visually defined today. Heartless retouching should not be the chosen tool to represent women in the beginning of this century.”

Dennis Freedman, creative director of W, is of the opposing school of thought. He makes the point about fashion magazine existing basically as an escape from reality, and wonders if this trend would be one that continues.

I personally feel that it is possible to strike a balance here. I agree with Freedman, that magazines take the reader on an escapist journey into a fantastical world, one that doesn’t need to make sense. Who can afford all the clothes that are featured anyway, or live in the apartments that are shown? Magazines, particularly fashion magazines, have an intrinsic emotional bond with the reader; it should provide relief from today’s world, which, is not a pretty one. Do I really want to open up a magazine and have gaunt, tired faces staring back at me? I see enough of that on the streets, every day, do I need to pay $XX amount to see more? Look at the French Elle covers. Do they look appealing to you? I like my models to look perfect, that’s their job anyway. And I already know that Monica Belluci and Sophie Merceau have lines around their eyes and forehead and the occasional breakout, they’re human. Albeit naturally beautiful.

Of course, re-touching should also not be done to an extreme degree. If Anna Wintour really decides to put singer Adele on the cover, I hope she looks like Adele, and not a Victoria Beckham clone. And it’s not really necessary to alter the facial features of the cover girl to such a large extent that she doesn’t even look like herself - case in point.

But please, go ahead and erase that pimple. Hey, I do it myself, on myself, on Photoshop, before I upload the picture onto Facebook anyway.

Yes, even hair.

That’s such a great casual look.

While these ones below are professionally tailored by Toni&Guy.

The wardrobe already has both, no reason why the hair shouldn’t too.

(more…)