I Highly Recommend this regimen to everyone at any age.
Skin Care… this is the #1 beauty tip in my opinion. Cleanse and Moisturize morning and night!
The ANEW day creams have a SPF of 25, we all know that the sun is bad for our skin. Protecting it makes a huge difference year after year. I felt a difference in my skin in 2 days. And as I continue to use it, my skin looks better and feels softer, definitely smoother and of course makes me feel better overall. And it doesn’t have to take long! It really takes me just a few minutes and it's well worth it!!
The one thing that would make these creams perfect is a spatula, to apply the product. A spatula is not included but I picked up a dozen for $1.50 at my local beauty supply store. I prefer the spatula because it gives me better control over how much I use. Using the spatula also helps control contamination from the oils on your fingers ~ to the cream in your jar.
I thought this was a very fun shoot. This photo was taken almost a year ago (oh, the memories!), but I really like the dress, so I decided to post it. As for Ian, he did a great job with the image. :)
World Jewels is an online jewelry store. The store has the highest quality of diamond, gold, and silver from all over the world, and that is part of the reason why it is called "World Jewels". There is an amazing selection of engagement rings, bracelets, earrings, necklaces, watches, 18/14K gold, platinum, diamonds and much more.
I checked out their stuff, and it is so beautiful!
Leonisa is a high-end online lingerie, shapewear and swimwear store, that I found a little while ago. Although it is a "high-end" store, the prices are a lot lower than what you would pay at similar online stores.
My favorite items on their website are definitely their swimsuits. I'm always looking at bikinis and swimwear for shoots. I like Leonisa swimwear because it has unique designs, and beautiful colours.
Here are some photos of my favorite suits from Leonisa:
Above: This 2-piece swimsuit is absolutely stunning! It is definitely my favorite colour. I also like the pattern on it.
Above: Very interesting colour combination.
Above: Simple, and beautiful!
Above: Love the combination of blue and brown. Looks great!
What are some of your favorite suits? Do you have any favorite swimwear retailers? If yes, please post links in the comments below :)
Aviva
****Note: Images are from the Leonisa website*****
I am using this product daily morning and night. I love the unique two part system. It is an upper eye gel and an under eye cream.
Creams do not work when applied to your upper eye lid, the cream always manages to get inside your eye and that's irritating, also not good for your eye. The Clinical eye gel stays were you put it... while giving an instant eye lift.
Part two, the eye cream, visibly reduces under eye shadowing and puffiness. I am seeing a triple lift of my under brows, eye lids and under eye. With a regular price of $28 and an on sale price of $20, this is a very low price to pay when you see the results you receive from this product! If you want an instant eye lift without surgery, I definitely recommend this ANEW Clinical Eye Lift from AVON.
Stylebop is a designer fashion online retailer. The store features designers such as Calvin Klein, Dolce & Gabbana, Donna Karan, Hugo Boss, Tom Ford, Victoria Beckham, Derek Lam, Juicy Couture, Loewe. Ossie Clarke, Valentino, Woolrich, and many more!
While looking through Stylebop, I found some of my favorites. What do you think?
Here are some of my favorite dresses:
Above: This is an Alberta Ferretti embroidered silk dress. Although it is expensive, I cannot help but add it to my favorites. It is an amazing dress. I love the color, the embroidery around the neckline and chest, as well as the beautiful design. I think that this would be a great dress for wearing to a formal event!
Above: Blumarine Amber Ruffles And Jewelry Detailing Dress. I love this dress because it is form-fitting, which means that it will give you a nice, slim feminine silhouette. Also, I love the way the Swarovski brooch adds an element of interest and focus to the dress. It leads the eye to the waist, and would definitely look great on women who have an hourglass figure.
Above: Paule Ka Indigo 3/4 Sleeve Jersey Dress. I love this dress because it is very classy, elegant, and well-designed. I like how it accentuates the waist, and is loose on the bottom. It looks great and it is not too "dressy"
Above: Jitrois Black Leather Stretch Dress. Personally, I like the colour black. It goes with pretty much everything. The thing that I like most about this dress is that it is slimming, gorgeous, elegant and sexy. It would look great with ankle boots and a black handbag.
Above: Michael Stars Royal Dolman Jersey Dress. I like it because it is fairly inexpensive for a designer dress and this type of blue is definitely my favorite colour. You can wear it with leggings or skinny jeans, as well as accessorize for that very stylish look.
Earlier this month, I interviewed New York photographer Markus Klinko. In his interview, Markus stated that he and Indrani (his creative partner) shot Daphne Guinness for The London Sunday Times.
Daphne Guinnes is a beautiful fashionista/couture collector from London. She is the heiress of the Guinness Beer fortune. She is well known for her couture clothing collection, and for being a prominent fashion icon.
When Markus told me about the collaboration with Daphne Guinness, I knew right away that they were going to come up with something great. Markus & Indrani are well-known for their iconic celebrity images and spectacular photo spreads in the world's biggest magazines. (You can read more about Markus & Indrani on their WEBSITE)
Why do I love the image above? First, the image is perfectly composed with Daphne's face right at the point of interest (rule of thirds). Second, the subtleness of the Gothic architecture makes this such a great choice of location, that it's very hard not to keep staring at the photo. I definitely love the choice of wardrobe, which is incredible, especially because of the way it leads the viewer to the main point of interest in the shot. The lighting is perfect and even throughout the whole image.
Why do I love the image above? First off, the concept is cool and very interesting. Although I am not a big fan of snakes, I think that the snake adds an element of uniqueness in the shot. As usual, the image is perfectly composed and evenly lit. I love her outfit in this shot as well.
Above: Directed by Indrani is a short, ~one minute film, called A Tribute to the Spirit of Alexander McQueen starring Daphne Guinness. It features fashions of Alexander McQueen, Genghis Khan, Gareth Pugh, Philip Treacy, New York Vintage, Bess and Fred Leighton.
Are you graduating hight school this year? Do you have a special occasion coming up?
Looking for ideas of what to wear?
A few years ago, when I was graduating high school, I bought my grad dress at PromGirl.comThe dress arrived looking exactly like it looked in the photo and it took a few weeks to get here (which is normal).
Here are a couple of photos of me wearing that same dress that I wore to my graduation.
In addition to gorgeous dresses, PromGirl.com carries shoes, accessories, cosmetics, handbags, and much more! I also think that the prices are PromGirl.com are not expensive. There are definitely some dresses that will cost more than $700, but there is no reason why you can't spend less and still look great.
Anthony Gordon is an amazingly talented celebrity, fashion, commercial, editorial, TV, film, and beauty make-up artist based in Los Angeles, California. Above: Fashion Week Ad 2010
Anthony has done make-up for countless print ads, TV/films, commercials and lookbooks. In addition, his work has been in Cosmo U.K., Bullet, Moda FG, Rolling Stone, Lucky, O.K., Fight Sport, Angeleno, Elsevier,Flaunt, Jimon, The New Cinema, Nylon, 160g, WNWN, The Advocate, and California Fashion Apperal news.
With his talent beyond measure, it is not surprising that he has worked with notables such as Ashlee Simpson, Aubrey Dollar, Balthazar Getty, Biz Stone, Cameron Richardson, Casey Affleck, Dan Ackroyd, Dan Butler, David Lee Roth, David La Chapelle, Ed Begley Jr., Eduardo Cruz, Flava Flav, Floyd Mayweather, Frank Gorshen, Gene Simmons, Grant Show, Julia Stiles, Henry Rollins, Hugh Heffner, Kirt Russel, Jessica Lowndes, Jodie Foster, Jo Frost, Kathy Ireland, Kevin Sorbo, Larry King, Lori Loughlin, Laura San Giacomo, Lee Majors, Leslie Ann Warren, Luke Wilson, Melani B ( Scary Spice ), Michelle Lee, Michelle Phillips, Mischa Barton, Nanette Fabre, Richard Burgi, Sally Kirkland, Susan Walters, Taraji Henson, and Tony Hawk.
This year, he did make-up for 5 Superbowl Commercials, although he pretty much always did one.
I feel very honoured that Anthony has given me some time to ask him a few questions about his career.
AVIVA: How long have you been doing make-up? ANTHONY GORDON: I've been in the business since 1980.
AVIVA:Have you always wanted to be a make-up artist, or did you want to do something else when you were younger? AG: When I was younger, I wanted to be an actor , dancer , or singer, but it wasn't till the late 70's , during the change from disco to nu wave, that I realized I had an ability to transform people through hair, makeup, and styling. I never looked back from there.
AVIVA: What is your favorite part of your job? AG: My favorite part of my job is working with others, I'm a huge people person. I love being able to create looks for actors, models, bands, working with directors creating the looks for their projects, and I love re-branding people, giving them a new vision on how they can better represent themselves through their look. It's an amazing, rewarding gift.
Image courtesy of Anthony Gordon (hair/make-up), copyright Michelle Ricks
AVIVA: What do you believe are your greatest accomplishments in the beauty industry (publications, magazines, etc)? AG: I can't say I have a single greatest accomplishment in this industry, I'm really proud of so many things I have had the privilege to be a part of in this industry, having the opportunity to work with some of our age's great artists like, John Landis, David La Chapelle, Peter Arnel, and being called back to work repeatedly for them, I think that is one of the most satisfying aspects of what we do, being called again and again to work, I think to my partial credit I have worked on many Golden Lion award winning campaigns. I'm very proud that when I have set goals in this industry I have been lucky enough or have had to opportunity to make them happen.
A few recent goals I had set for myself last year was to get my work in a major publications and now I'm working with David Leslie Anthony creating fashion stories for Cosmo UK, another goal I had that came true this last year was to become the first call for Director Bryan Buckley, no commercial director works harder or more and after 3 years of "checking in". I made his first call list and we have rocked out a ton of great ad campaigns, also I had really wanted to work with branding greats and my agency Next artists hooked me up with Peter Arnell, we just launched the GNC campaign, and he is calling me back for more. That makes me very proud.
AVIVA: What are the names of some artists that inspire you? AG: Some of the artists that inspire me , ugggggg! there are too many to list. But, first I would have to mention Andy Warhol. Why? Because Andy broke the rules, made us question: What is art?, Why is this important, or valid? I like artists that make us think: is this beautiful, interesting. I love seeing what choices artists make and what was their inspiration.
I love Artists like Kabuki, Pat Mcgrath, I love Billy B, not only for his work but for his humility and being just such a great unassuming guy (he was my neighbor for years before we both knew we were makeup artists, one day we were having breakfast and by chance it came out, "so ,,,, what do you do for a living?" Needless to say, I was a bit shocked when I found out my neighbor Billy, was in fact Billy B, ha ha ha !
Others that inspire me are artists like Roshar simply because of their style of work and I have to mention Jordan Liberty, for his drive and followthrough, there are so many qualities I admire in different artists.
AVIVA: What would you do if you won the lottery? AG: If I won the lottery, first I'd make my husband retire. I'd buy a place in NYC so I could easily work on both coasts (I'm not ready to retire ), buy a place in Hawaii, because that's the other place I like to call home and I lived in Hawaii for almost a decade and I'm really into surfing when not working. And probably buy a place in San Sebastian, Spain, my other home and where my family is from. I love travel and there are so many amazing places to live and spend time.
And, of course, buy lots of makeup!!!!
AVIVA: Do you have any favorite skin care products that you use and would recommend to others? AG: My favorite skin care product right now is Lily B, all around, it is the best thing I've used that works amazingly well across the board, super simple, super clean and pure, I'm a huge fan!! You go Liz Bishop ( creator of Lily B )
AVIVA: Do you have any additional comments? AG: I once read a quote that has stuck with me and I find true for anything you want to achieve in life , it goes ........
“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; un-rewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent."
I would like to thank Anthony for the interview and the insight into his life. He has a lot going for him, and I am always excited to see what he will do next.
You can see more of his stunning work on his website by clicking HERE.
I wish Anthony all the best! He would be a dream to work with!
Markus Klinko is a very talented, extremely innovative celebrity photographer based in New York. He is creative partners with Indrani Pal-Chaudhuri. Together, they have created unique, iconic images that have great impact on the viewer.
In addition to photographic perfection, Markus Klinko and Indrani, along with fashion stylist GK Reid, are now the stars of Double Exposure, a syndicated TV docu-series which follows their work with celebrities such as Lady Gaga, Lindsay Lohan, Kim Kardashian, Dita Von Teese, stars of 90210 and Gossip Girl, supermodels Naomi Campbell, Mark Vanderloo, and Esquire's "2010 Sexiest Woman Alive", Sports' Illustrated cover model Brooklyn Decker, as well as well-known fashion designers, magazine editors, and other high-profile members of the fashion/show business industry. Although Double Exposure was initially produced by Bravo in the United States, it has been picked up literally all around the world.
Check out this clip!
The duo have been featured in E News! Access Hollywood, Extra, Inside Edition, Larry King Live, In Style, People, MTV, USA Today, New York Magazine, New York Post, Huffington Post, Winnipeg Free Press, Washington Post, OK! Life and Style, In Touch, Perez Hilton, Just Jared, OUT, Cosmopolitan, American Photo, Harper’s Bazaar, Slate, LA Times and many more.
Some of their celebrity subjects include Beyonce, Mariah Carey, Mary J Blige, Kate Winslet, Katie Holmes, Eva Mendes, Anne Hathaway, Will Smith, Elijah Wood, Alicia Keys, Britney Spears, Jennifer Lopez, Christina Aguilera, Keanu Reeves, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Val Kilmer, Serena Williams, Jay-Z, and Kanye West. Their commercial clients include Hugo Boss, Shiseido, L’Oreal Paris, Elizabeth Arden, Pepsi, Nike, Puma, Pantene, Baume-et-Mercier, Anna Sui, and De Beers.
Markus was born in Switzerland and had a great career as one of the world's top classical harp soloists. He traveled the world as a musician and released award-winning albums for EMI Classic. For his amazing musical talent, he received “Grand Prix du Disque”, which is the European equivalent of a Grammy.
I have been a huge fan of Markus' amazing work for a long time, and it is my honour to have been lucky enough to interview him for this feature. I am excited and delighted to share Markus' insights with you.
AVIVA: What photographers inspired you, or what inspires you as a photographer? MARKUS KLINKO: You know, there's really only one big name that comes to mind in terms of who inspired me a lot. It was definitely Helmut Newton. I think that his work, which is mainly from the 70's and from the 80's, is really amazing.Every photo that is taken by Newton that I look at is absolutely amazing. With contemporary photographers, I like a lot of people's work here and there, but it's all hit and miss...You know, I look at somebody's work and then I like this, but then I don't like something else. So I would say that Helmut Newton is unbelievable inspiration.
In your question, you're absolutely right to ask what else inspires us, and I have to say it's mainly not photography, it's mainly other things that inspire our photography, like movies, pop culture in general. For instance, we worked with Lady Gaga, and she's on the show, and I think that she is great inspiration. It's great to follow her career, and I love working with her.
It can also be paintings from the 15th century, so it's pretty random, and we can get inspired by a lot of different things. I mean I can meet a gorgeous girl and get very inspired. So it's not just one thing or the other.
You could almost say life itself is inspiration for our photography, and we certainly don't want to shoot the same pictures someone else is shooting. That's another reason why we don't really follow trends, we create our own trends. Having our own TV show also helps, because, of course, so many more people are able to watch it.
AVIVA: Do you previsualize your photos or do you put all your components together as you go? MK: Again, the answer is not one or the other, it's really both. There is always a plan and a concept, but as we arrive on a shoot, or in a location, or a studio we are very open to the idea to adapt to opportunities and get more inspired from the celebrities or the designers we work with. It's really a mixture of the two. AVIVA: What achievement are you most proud of? MK: That I've had a career as a classical musician at first. I was actually a classical concert harpist and I recorded for EMI Classic and had a completely different life traveling the world, playing concerts, and making recordings. Seventeen years ago, due to a hand injury, I decided to become a photographer, to stop performing, and change careers completely. So I think that one of the things that I am the most proud of is that I equally love music and photography, and I'm very excited that I've been able to have great careers at both, which is a blessing. So now, to add the third dimension of television aspect... I'm very proud that I've been able to go from music to photography and now have a worldwide television show built out of that. I look forward to the next projects to equally be versatile and not repeat myself, and the new challenges that come along. We are now starting to direct videos and commercials as well; mainly Indrani is doing that, but it adds to our scope of what we are doing.
AVIVA: Could you tell me more about Double Exposure and what made you decide to star in the show with Indrani? MK: Double Exposure really is a comedy. People look at it as a reality show but it's a television drama. It's real and all the shoots that you see are real but then it's still television, so there is a little bit of self-parody in it. When we filmed this show, we wanted people to laugh and be entertained. We were definitely highlighting the drama, and it is definitely not meant to be taken seriously as a documentary; it's entertainment.
What happened over the years as we developed as photographers, we got asked a bunch of times to be on certain shows. Like when they started America's Next Top Model, they asked us to be the main photographer on the show, and we didn't feel it was right so we turned it down. As reality television culture developed, because 10 years ago there really was no good quality reality TV, but it developed and became so much better and more exciting. Over the years, as people saw us working together as a team, Indrani and myself, being an ex-couple, and being quite passionate about what we do, a lot of people started saying to us "You guys are like a walking reality show; you should have your own TV show". Little by little we started thinking that it is a good idea, and coincidentally Bravo executives were thinking of having a photography show, and they tried out a few big name photographers and they didn't find anybody quite right for TV, and one day we met them and it was kind of like a match made in heaven. So after months of negotiations back and forth, it was decided that Double Exposure was a go-ahead.
AVIVA: What is the most common trait that you see in new and up & coming models? MK: It's a good question. I would actually add another element to this whole model issue is that we have seen the era of the supermodels back in the 80s and 90s...We had Cindy Crawford, Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell and all those supermodels. Then, we seen a very long period of over 10 years where celebrities took over fashion completely. We seen many covers of magazines, and advertising campaigns, including cosmetics, all being done by celebrities, actresses, musicians, and for a long time models have almost disappeared from the first level of fashion exposure. I personally believe we are going to see a change again.I think that we are coming back into a phase now where models will be much more at the forefront again. I think that right now we have had several years where there were not many recognizable models; a girl would do one or two campaigns, or a cover or something, and their careers didn't last. I think that we are going to go back to the more iconic and more new stars popping out. Hopefully, they are not going to be as skinny, and as bony as some of the girls in the past. Personally, I'm a big critic of skinny, anorexic models on the runway. I think that girls should be feminine and have bodies, and have shape. I don't think that girls should be 6 feet tall and weight 80 lbs, to me it's really not that attractive.
AVIVA: What do you believe they should be like? MK: I think that they should be curvy, and comfortable in their skin. I mean if somebody is skinny naturally that's one thing, but what I'm very much against is women starving themselves and being unnaturally anorexic, when it's not their body type. I'm looking at some of our favorite subjects that I've ever shot, like say Britney Spears, Eva Mendes, or even Lindsay Lohan, women with curves. I mean, especially Britney is a great example. She is not very tall, and her body type would never be accepted by a modeling agency, she could never be with a major fashion agency, but I find that body type so much more attractive. So I hope that the models of the future will be more sexier, rounder and not so anorexic.
AVIVA: What do you feel is the biggest challenge when setting up and working on a shoot? MK: It's so specific to each shoot. There is not really a rule; there are some shoots where the challenge is the time, another time it's to not go over budget, and yet another time it might be a celebrity who has a schedule that's very very tight, they come in for only an hour so we have to be ready exactly at the right time. I really think that there is not a single challenge that's the same, but there is never a shoot where there is no challenge. I would say it varies.
AVIVA: Do you have any funny/crazy/weird photoshoot experience that stands out to you and you would like to share? MK: I'd say that most of our photoshoots are fun and high-energy. I mean, there has been a lot of different fun moments. For instance, it was very fun when I shot Ciara; she's a great dancer, and at one point we were playing some Michael Jackson during the photoshoot, and she started to dance. I was behind the camera and I was dancing behind the camera a little bit too. Then she came and grabbed me and said "Let's dance"; we started doing this dance and it was so unexpected. Here I was dancing with Ciara, who is probably one of the world's best dancers, and it was 90 seconds of total fun.
Sometimes the funniest people on television or in the movies, when they are in a photoshoot, they are not funny at all. We had a shoot with Chris Rock, which was one of the most difficult shoots, because he doesn't really like to be photographed. I love him as a comedian and as an actor, he was really nice, but he just didn't like to be photographed in general.
Other people, like Keanu Reeves for instance, they are so easy. Keanu, to photograph him, is like effortless because he has such great angles, he's a tall guy, almost as tall as I am and I'm 6'4". Every frame looks great, we shot for a short time, and it was great. There is always something surprising for sure.
AVIVA: What are some of your upcoming projects/campaigns that we should be on the lookout for? MK: The problem with being a photographer is that we are not really allowed to talk about new things until they come out. One thing I can mention though, is that we have just shot Daphne Guinness. She is probably the world's number one fashionista, she is a very famous London socialite; she was the muse of Alexander McQueen, and Tom Ford, and she has personally developed an amazing collection of couture clothes. She is the heiress of the Guinness Beer fortune and we shot her for the London Sunday Times and that's going to come out really soon. That will be on our website as soon as it comes out, and it is one of the best photos we have ever done.
AVIVA: Who is your favorite musician? MK: Well, now I don't listen to classical music as much anymore; it's not that I lost interest. Classical music for me was the most fun when I was playing it myself. Just listening to classical music doesn't hold my interest as much these days. I am interested in pop and pop culture in general. I do love Lady Gaga very much, and I like a lot of the trends in new music, but I like rock as well, and some 80's bands, 80's metal bands. I like Whitesnake for instance. I have quite a broad spectrum of musical tastes. I love Sharde, and I like Spanish music as well. There is a beautiful Spanish album by Jennifer Lopez, we actually shot the cover for it. Spanish music is very romantic.
AVIVA: Would you be OK with a Proust Questionnaire? MK: I've never done one before, but yes we can try that.
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The Proust Questionnaire is a form of interview devised by Marcel Proust. A version of the Proust Questionnaire is used by James Lipton, the host of the TV program 'Inside the Actors Studio'. I thought it would be very cool to try this interview style on Mr. Klinko.
AVIVA: What is your favorite word? MK: Love
AVIVA: What is your least favorite word? MK: Hate
AVIVA: What is your favorite food? MK: Avocado
AVIVA: What is your least favorite food? MK: Snails
AVIVA: What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? MK: I would be a manager or a publicist
AVIVA: What profession would you not like to do? MK: I wouldn't want to be a soldier
