Pucker up

So the papers have pipped me to the post believe it or not. I was hoping to bring you an article on women keeping old makeup. I’m terrible for it, because I hop from blusher to blusher – pot to pot. The only thing I am wary about is my mascara – my Nan has kept her mascara since before I was born – and she uses it every day! It’s a Max Factor block mascara with a big groove from where she’s swiped her brush over and over again for the last 20+ years!

How many times have you looked into a makeup bag and thought that all of it needs to be thrown out or come across some stuff that’s been in their since you were 17?

They are calling it a make-up ‘time bomb’ and it’s made up of clumpy mascara, discoloured lipstick and stubby eye pencils which can be a magnet for germs.

Beauty essentials such as foundation, concealer, blusher and even perfume have a ‘period after opening’ (who knew!?) indicator denoted by an open pot with a number for months of safe use.

EU guidelines which say brands have to state products shelf lives, only 89% of women are unaware of this information and don’t understand what the symbol means.

According to a recently study carried out by Debenhams, 68% of women only replace makeup and skincare when they run out – and judging by my Nan and her wartime rations – it can take a while!

I bet Rihanna doesn’t have to worry about putting old makeup on!

On set

Oh, and disgustingly three quarters of women NEVER wash their makeup brushes or sponges – but, this should be done at least once a week.

Sara Stern, director of cosmetics at Debenhams said: “British women are famously loyal to makeup brands and products, however, their reluctance to throw away old product is a risky business.

“We wouldn’t hesitate to chuck out mouldy or bacteria-ridden food and the same standards should apply to the lotions and potions and that we put on our skin. Beauty is timeless but unfortunately, products are not.”

How many times do you think you share your makeup with family and friends? According to the study, 60% of women share their makeup which immediately multiplies the risk of spreading infection.

Bevis Man, of the British Skin Foundation, said: “It’s not always obvious when make-up has passed its prime so it may not occur to people to replace their products.

“It is best to err on the side of caution and if a product looks or smells strange it is worth throwing it away.”

Debenhams spokeswoman Ruth Attridge said eye shadow products can be kept for up to 15 years – more than 10 times longer than they should be.

She said: “Because you may not use it very often and it takes a long time to use up women, particularly elderly ones, have it lying around in their bags for an incredible length of time – quite disgusting really.”

The average woman’s cosmetic bag was out of date by an average of four years. The most dangerous products are those which go around the eyes.

Old stock?

Here’s a list of cosmetic products and their use by date – (in reality, kept for)

Mascara: 4-6 months – 12 months

Highlighter: 6 months – 24 months

Concealer: 6-12 months – 24 months

Liquid Foundation: 12 months - 12 months

Eye shadow / blush: 18-24 months - 180 months

Eyebrow pencil: 18 months – 96 months

Cream Blush: 12 months - 24 months

Pressed / loose powder: 12 months - 18 months

Liquid Bronzer: 12 months - 36 months

Powder Bronzer: 30 months - 48 months

Lipstick / Lip Gloss: 12-24 months – 120 months

Eye / Lip liner: 18 months – 12 months

Perfume:  36 months - 96 months

Hand cream: 12-24 months - 6 months

Lip balm: 24 months – 12 months

By the way – my Nan is a legend and would like to add that it’s my fault that she didn’t receive a new one. She asked me to renew her mascara years ago she said…

How long have you held on to your favourite product? Which beauty essential has passed the test of time?

Source: The Telegraph

Having written a news story early last year about Myleene Klass fronting this Pantene Campaign, I couldn’t believe it when I read the Daily Mail story.

Before and after

Sophie Peppercorn, from Peterborough, saw the advert which featured the reality TV star/musician and concluded that it would be worth trying the brand for the first time.

According to the story, the admin assistant was ‘left distraught the first time she used the shampoo when clumps of hair came out in shower, leaving her with bald patches.’

The shampoo, which promises ‘healthy looking hair in ten days’, has left Sophie Peppercorn distraught.

“As I showered the bubbles from my hair I could feel alot of it in my hands,” she told the Daily Mail. “But it was only when I patted my hair dry with a towel and looked in the mirror, that I realised the extent of the hair damage. My hairline had receded several inches where my hair had broken off at the roots. Meanwhile, the rest of my hair was so damaged and frizzy it was breaking off in handfuls.”

Sophie Peppercorn phoned the Pantene helpline and was offered a £5 Pantene voucher as compensation, obviously expecting her to buy another bottle.

Not from the same song sheet

A spokesman for Procter and Gamble, Pantene’s manufacturer, said: “Consumer safety is our number one priority. Pantene is completely safe to use and is the leading product on the market as voted by thousands of women who buy and use our product every day.”

 It seems not everyone is happy with Pantene, Sophie Peppercorn researched online and found that there were other people who had suffered the same problem. I have also been online and seen there are loads of people out there who support the claim, and equally those who are satisfied customers. Would you want to take the chance?

Sleeping beauty

Are we getting enough sleep? And, if we’re not is it making us fat?

Reports show that around 60 per cent of British adults are overweight or obese, and recent research has shown that it may not just be lack of exercise or over eating that is making us ‘Great Fat Britain’, but sleep deprivation.

How many times do you reply “knackered!” when someone asks “how are you?” Apparently, for women, this is the common reply.

Dr Shahrad Taheri, a consultant endocrinologist at Birmingham Heartlands Hospital said: “We have done a series of studies looking at weight and sleep, and studying the metabolic rate. We have discovered that people who sleep for significantly less than seven hours a night often end up being obese.”

Scientists say lack of sleep can double the chances of obesity!

People who sleep for fewer than four hours a night are 73 per cent more likely to gain excess weight, while restricting sleep can lead up to an extra 900 calories a day, from succumbing to cravings. On top of a normal diet – this could cause a weight gain of 2lb a week.

The research showed that participants, who had no significant weight problems before the study, gained weight as their sleeping time was shortened.

Dr Taheri said: “Lack of sleep seems to stimulate the hormones that regulate appetite. It leads to higher levels of ghrelin, a hormone that triggers appetite, and lower levels of leptin, that tells your body it’s full.”

But it looks as though this problem will increase, as in the past 50 years, the average night’s sleep has dropped from nine to seven hours.

Renee Zellwegger, famous for her role as Bridget Jones, is a famous insomniac who suffers from ‘on call effect’ – losing sleep because she’s so anxious about the next day.

A recent survey by the Vitality Show has revealed that over one in ten people are getting by on few than six hours sleep. Only 19 per cent of adults are sleeping beauties and enjoy a full eight hours a night. More than half of women in their 30s claim to be ‘tired all the time.’

Dr Taheri offers some advice on how to get a good night’s sleep. “We recommend no caffeine after 6pm, no exercise before bed, avoiding excess alcohol – and we’ve even discovered a link between watching TV in bed and obesity, because it increases the chance of disrupted sleep,” he says.

 To add insult to injury, a study from the European Sleep Research Society found that people who were deprived of sleep were also more likely to be rated as less attractive and with poorer skin tone.

 Jennifer Lopez, a mother of young twins (and likely-owner of a small army of helpers) is looking extremely delightful in recent pics. She is said to be getting a good eight hours of sleep a night, and doesn’t she look good for it?

Suri Cruise

What the hell is going on!? It was only a few months ago that I wrote about Tom Cruise’s daughter, Suri wearing heels. What’s the big deal – well, the fact that she’s three!!

 Actress, Katie Holmes, was seen taking little miss Suri Cruise into the cosmetics store Sephora in New York. Apparently, she was seen putting items into her basket – every kid does this right? But, I wonder if Katie Holmes actually bought them for her (or were given them for free…)

This all is highlighted in the same week that Katie Price aka Jordan was slammed by Peter Andre for having dressed up their daughter, Princess blah blah – (Princess Tiaamii) for her TV show. Their daughter was pictured with false eyelashes and they have now spread like wildfire on the internet – ending up in the hands of god-knows-who. Peter Andre said on GMTV this week: “If I’m to be honest, I’m absolutely disgusted and to me that’s the worst thing to be worried about. It’s a two-year-old girl and to me that’s disgusting.”

What’s the point in letting your kids do this? Surely they should have more to stimulate them than lipstick and a pair of heels. Admittedly these kids aren’t just anyone – they’re certainly not likely to be playing curby in the nearby cul-de-sac but, shouldn’t they be riding about on bikes in their back yards or playing with tea sets? Playing dress-up is absolutely fine if proposed by the child, but a child shouldn’t be then paraded around for all to see by their parents as if they were an accessory. If you’re a ‘celebrity’ you need to accept your role in society, and the impression that your choices can make on the stupid, I mean ‘easily influenced’ – at the end of the day, people will quickly jump on this bandwagon, and little girls will become even more fixated with what makes them ‘pretty’ so they can be a WAG or glamour model. Great.

Source: Closer

This awful creature is back in the headlines again, for her weight loss. On one hand you want to commend someone who has worked hard to fight the flab and opt for a healthier lifestyle. But, on the other hand you want to give her a back hander for being such a troll.

Kerry Katona has had it all, and lost it all and she only has herself to blame. I’m not just talking about her yo-yo dieting, get fit quick schemes or her binge eating – I’m talking about her life.

The papers have reported that she is in an excessive amount of debt – she lost her Iceland contract (finally) and now – she’s lost the fat – again. But, how long will it last this time?

The TV personality, ex to Westlife star Bryan McFadden, has dropped from 10st 3lbs to 9st 3lbs and is back in a size 10 from a 12. Well good for her.  ‘How did she do it?’ I hear you ask. Well she spent two weeks at an army-style boot camp, and was subjected to 5.30am starts. Kerry was also put through 11 hours of exercise a day.

2008

Even on the way to the camp, she asked the driver to stop for food, she told Closer: “I even said to my driver: ‘Can we stop off in a service station so I can get a Big Mac and a Mars bar!” (Don’t think either of these brands will have this reality ‘star’ representing their name any time soon.)

I just don’t think it’s going to last – do you? Who has the ability to exercise for more than a couple of hours a day, a few times a week? I’m hoping for her sake that she keeps it off, if this is what’s going to make her happy. (I hardly think a size 12 can be classed as a fatty.) If she keeps away from her illegal substances, alcohol which undoubtedly leads to binge eating…then I think she stands a chance – but, will she be able to afford the gym membership?

Only six people in the UK have had the surgery. Claire Coleman, who went from a size 18 to a size 12 is one of them. She talked to the BBC and said:

“You just look at yourself, and you’re not comfortable with how you look. I train, I have trained for many years, but this is something you can’t change by training.” 

Although this procedure is new to the UK it is widely used in South Africa, and the polyester material which is put beneath the skin is already used on the NHS.

The Breform mesh

The treatment which costs £6000, and it is only available through private healthcare but there is a growing demand in the UK. According to the BBC report there are now 35 surgeons waiting to be trained for this procedure.

The new procedure uses a material called Breform, which has been used in reconstructive surgery for decades. It cannot be felt underneath the skin and offers permanent internal support.

Would you spend the money and get this pemanent lift?

These professionals look comical – almost like caricatures. I wonder how much these sportsmen and women earn? What happens when they want to give up – do they have to train at a slower pace before their bodies wither to jelly? Someone tell me what happens when body builders don’t do it anymore!

Where does he buy his clothes?

Look at the traps on that!

A smaller package...

No contest for Pammy

Packing more than Arnie in his glory days

JUST.PLAIN.SCARY

Not alot left to the imagination...

The oldest bodybuilder?

Along with it, it has launched its new advert – similar to the approach used for the women’s campaign. The brand was built upon the Campaign for Real Beauty concept. Across the media – we saw ‘real women’, who didn’t have absurdly wobbly and bobbly bits but weren’t stick thin statues either.

Unilever’s marketing director for home and personal care in the UK, Matt Close has said that 75 per cent of men find it difficult to identify with then men they see in adverts, and feel stereotyped and misrepresented; only three per cent strongly agree that they are realistically portrayed.

The target market for the new Dove line are guys who are comfortable with who they are, and where they’re at in their lives and don’t relate to the heavy emphasis on power, celebrity.

Colin Hession, managing director of Colin Hession Consulting, told Marketing Week: “At last it seems Unilever is having a proper go at building on the unique position it has created in the male grooming category with Axe {Lynx in the UK}. If it works, Axe users will no longer have to graduate to the opposition, Nivea Men, L’Oréal Men Expert or Gillette when they grow up.”

The advert, which was shown to a hundred million viewers in the US during the Superbowl at the weekend, is coming to the UK and will star real men. It pokes fun at the midlife male condition. The ad’s to the tune of The Lone Ranger theme with the message: “You’ve reached a stage where you feel at ease. You’ve come this far and it wasn’t a breeze. You can take on anything of course you can! Because you’re a MAN!”

It’s not a great ad by Ogilvy. I agree with Claire Beale, when she says the brief is far too obvious, especially for a UK audience. But, it’s getting a message out there isn’t it? It’s saying that you don’t have to be a buffed-up Spartan to look good and feel great in this world. Surely, taking the light approach make it a pleasant intermission?

It must be noted – men just don’t care about the way that they are portrayed in the media as much as women. Just because they don’t relate to it doesn’t equate that they are disturbed by it. In actual fact, they don’t consider it to be as important as other factors. Unilever’s own research has found that only one per cent of men think that their physique is their most attractive asset – personality and humour are considered to be more important.

People who have an obsession about one or more bodily features, normally in the face, are likely to have a condition called body dysmorphic disorder.

It’s a mental illness which can lead to patients seeking plastic surgery procedures, and it is thought that between 1-2% of the population can suffer from it.

Dr Jamie Feusner, a psychiatrist at the University of California in Los Angeles said that sufferers often don’t seek treatment for their problems they just continue to think that they are ugly, and some can turn to multiple cosmetic surgeries.

His recent study has shown that people who suffer from this disorder have an abnormal brain function. This has been shown when it comes to looking at pictures of their own faces.

The study, published in the Archives of General Pyschiatry, shows that patients with BDD underutilise parts of the brain when seeing the face’s overall shape and size.

Jocelyn Wildenstein - The original catwoman

He said: “If you just see the pieces of your face, and not seeing how they fit into the whole, then it’s going to look distorted. That’s how we interpret the findings.”

Researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging to look at the brains of participants as they viewed photographs of their own faces.

The sample size was small, with only 17 patients with BDD and 16 healthy people participated.

Sabine Wilhelm, director of the BDD Clinic and Research Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital wasn’t involved in the study, but has said: “What we need to do in cognitive behavioral therapy treatment development is to really enhance efforts at teaching patients how to see the big picture.”

She said that people often turn to surgery to remove what the sufferer perceives as flaws i.e spots, scars, birthmarks etc. But, she says plastic surgery rarely solves the problem. She reports that 81% of BDD sufferers are dissatisfied with the results of cosmetic surgery.

This is really sad – but how many people in the ‘celeb’ world seem to have this problem? You all remember my story on Heidi from the Hills?  check this site out: http://allwomenstalk.com/20-celebrities-with-bad-plastic-surgery/

Source: CNN

Did anyone say Superficial?

With reality stars as ever-present role models for the younger generations, it’s not surprised that talentless TV personality Heidi Pratt (yes, too true) née Montag has hit the headlines of late.

She plays a central role – often scurrying around and sulking after her now-husband Spencer Pratt or bickering with one-time best friend Lauren Conrad.

The 23-year-old reality TV personality revealed she had spent a  nearly £20,000 in November on a head-to-toe body makeover, which included a brow lift, a second nose job, liposuction and breast augmentation, taking her from a C to an F cup.

Some critics insist she has a surgery addiction, even her co-stars have spoken out. Heidi’s co-star Audrina Patridge said: “Ten procedures in one day is a little too much.’”

Dr Frank Ryan, her plastic surgeon, has come forward to AccessHollywood.com. He said: “Clearly there are body image issues, self-worth issues. I’m sort of disturbed that no one referred her for those kinds of counselling before they put her under the knife.” 

People cover

Dr Ryan carried out Heidi’s boob and nose job (breast augmentation and rhinoplasty) in 2007.  In reference to her recent 10-surgery marathon, he said: “I really call it 30 surgeries because if we’re going to count Botox injections, we should count every single injection, and both breasts, not just individually, you know, so it’s two surgeries.”

Heidi Pratt has defended her decision, as she has had to keep up in the competitive industry she’s in – showbiz. Last month, Heidi released an album which was personally financed, according to reports –  Superficial sold less than 700 copies in its first week.

The TV personality has said: “If I were addicted, I would have had 10 plastic surgeries; I mean 10 times. I really had two different surgeries. I had one three years ago, then one where I had several procedures done at once weeks ago.”

Back in the day

She also said: “I plan to keep using surgery to make me as perfect as I can be.” So, you may not be addicted to surgery, but you definitely have a body-image issue. Hopefully someone around her is trying to talk sense to the girl, although rumour has it – she’s already planning another boob job, up to an H cup. Jeez!