August 21st, 2010
Fall has become my favorite season. The relief from high Summer temperatures. I have always loved Fall fashion. I love the change in light, the colors in the trees, the coolness in the air, and the overall celebration of change. Moving forward. New energy.
So, in my own personal celebration of this new energy, I decided to cut 4 inches off of my hair. My hair guru Cori Bardo confirms that is how much she cut but I feel liberated of much more. Nice clean ends for the change of the season. I also went more golden throughout instead of the usual drive towards toning down the Summer seasons natural highlights in my hair. This Fall I’m going with it……Going with the flow of Fall…..
xc
Posted in Inspiration, Musings, Uncategorized | No Comments »
August 21st, 2010
Chanel has had a really successful run with their nail color collections lately. Some of the best colored nails I see are dressed by Chanel nail colors. There is a palpable buzz around the internet that Chanel is about to be releasing a new collection- Chanel Les Khakis de Chanel Nail Collection. Comprised of Khaki Brun, Khaki Rose and Khaki Vert. I really love these shades….
Each color will be priced at $25 per a bottle and will be available at Chanel boutiques, Chanel counters, and online www.chanel.com starting September 10th.
xc
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August 13th, 2010
I recently saw photos of Julia Roberts at the NYC premiere of Eat, Pray, Love and I was struck by how lovely she looked. Then it hit me- she pretty much always looks “perfect”. Perfect meaning…..perfect for her. She just looks great. Pretty much always. Keep in mind….Julia Roberts is not a twenty something starlet….she is a beautiful 40 something actress and especially on this occasion- the red carpet for Eat, Pray, Love….she looked amazing. She wore a black, minimal, short suit by Stella McCartney, her hair is back to brown with golden highlights and she wore it in simple waves. Her makeup looked, well, “perfect”. As she is the face of Lancome- her Makeup Artist, Genevieve Herr, used mainly Lancome products on her ( aside from Laura Mercier Secret Concealer and Brightening Powder- which are two of my favorite kit staples, as well). Genevieve used Lancôme’s Teint Miracle Foundation for base, and gave her a light, black-plum smokey eye blended from the French Touch Color Design Quad from the Fall French Coquettes collection, Le Crayon Khôl in Black Ebony and finished her eyes with Définicils Precious Cells Mascara. Genevieve complemented the smokey eye by giving her a light pink lip color-Le Lipstique Lip Liner in Sheer Natural, Color Design Lipstick in Love It! & Juicy Tubes in Spring Fling. I think Genevieve does beautiful makeup and often when I notice gorgeous magazine cover work and go to check the credits….. it is Genevieve……
xc
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August 3rd, 2010
Our next city for The Victory Project is Chicago! The preview for The Victory Project Chicago is live on the MSN website- http://www.thevictoryproject.msn.com/
Meet the Chicago Ladies and join them as they embark upon their journeys of transformation. They are currently working on their Fitness and Nutrition with our Experts….those segments will be live on the site soon…..Style and Beauty will be next up for Aryn, Donielle, Jennifer and Meredith in the weeks to come…….Stay tuned!!
xc
Posted in Cosmetics, Fashion, Musings, On Set | No Comments »
July 26th, 2010
I have found the inspiration to start doing yoga consistently again! This is a big deal to me because I am not a gym person at all and yoga classes in Los Angeles ( I have found) can sometimes be highly political and really rather negative energetically. I am really sensitive to energy and I would find myself recoiling in horror watching people race to throw their mats down, practically knocking others out of their way, behaving really badly, and it was all just too much for me. Not a peaceful, spiritual environment- which is what I need to practice in public. Kind of the opposite of that, actually. I am a solitary type anyway, so I retreated to my mat at home. What happened next was LIFE and I found myself really distracted and undisciplined until it finally came to the point where my pretty blue yoga mat went untouched for way too long. Flash forward to finding this amazing yoga teacher in NYC named Tara Stiles. She has a studio called Strala Yoga and I have yet to make it there in person, but I have been devouring her videos online ( she has a book coming out August 2010 called Slim Calm Sexy) and I will tell you that her style and her teachings resonate with me to the point that I am on it full force again! I have been practicing twice daily at home and I can actually touch my toes again. You can watch her videos on Youtube, or purchase her video Yoga Anywhere. Visit her website for more information.
http://tarastiles.com/
*Tara Stiles
Tara- I love you- thank you for inspiring me to get my yoga practice going again. Cheers!
xc
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July 26th, 2010
The Violet floral water adventure had to be put on hold. I have been really busy working and entertaining friends from out of town so my quest to make my own Violet water is on hold for a while. In case you have more time on your hands than I do and would like to experiment in making your own Violet hydrosol- here you go:
2 large cups of Violets ( or any flower you’d like, really)
24 Ounces of distilled water
1/2 cup formulator’s alcohol ( I even hear of people using gin or brandy- up to you)
Place water and Violets in air tight glass container and allow to sit at room temperature for 2 weeks.
Strain the emulsion.
Place in refrigerator for 2 weeks.
Enjoy! Let me know how it goes 
xc
Posted in Cosmetics | 2 Comments »
July 19th, 2010
Newsweek Magazine has a really interesting article that points out a lot of things that we in the beauty biz ( particularly here in Hollywood) already know. It’s a good read- you can find the article here:
http://www.newsweek.com/2010/07/19/the-beauty-advantage.html
xc
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June 29th, 2010
Yesterday, I posted a link to a Summer Makeover story I took part in for TotalBeauty.com. At the website-there are photos of me doing makeup on 2 of the featured women. In one photo- I am applying individual lashes. A friend called me laughing yesterday and said- “You are hilarious- look at how you arrange the lashes and glue on your hand!” I hadn’t thought about it because, well, that’s just how I do it but after having it pointed out- I found it pretty amusing, myself.
It’s very true. I am a total creature of ritual. I can get into a really meditative state when I apply makeup- and I really go into the zone when I apply lashes. I focus my breathing, become very still so as to apply the lashes with the utmost precision….it’s like conducting an orchestra…of lashes…..and don’t get me started about musical inspirations for lash application. Yes, in my world there is such a thing.
xc
Posted in Cosmetics, Inspiration, Musings | No Comments »
June 28th, 2010
Some Summer Makeovers I recently did for TotalBeauty.com are up at the site…..
http://www.totalbeauty.com/content/gallery/summer-makeovers
xc
Posted in Cosmetics, Fashion | No Comments »
June 19th, 2010
I had an amazing time in Sedona Arizona shooting for Spa Magazine. The magazine just released some really fun behind the scenes shots on their website…….
http://www.spamagazine.com/spa-blogs/behind-scenes-dream-spa-makeover-photo-shoot-mii-amo
Posted in On Set | 1 Comment »
So, in my own personal celebration of this new energy, I decided to cut 4 inches off of my hair. My hair guru Cori Bardo confirms that is how much she cut but I feel liberated of much more. Nice clean ends for the change of the season. I also went more golden throughout instead of the usual drive towards toning down the Summer seasons natural highlights in my hair. This Fall I’m going with it……Going with the flow of Fall…..
