Mineralised Beauty

Paris Hilton wears it. So does little sister, Nicky. Sandra Bullock, Julia Roberts and Jennifer Love Hewitt love it and Madonna? Positively swears by it. Given celebrities’ exposure to heavy film makeup, paparazzi flashes, chemical peels and that tough-to-take St Tropez sun, it’s not surprising they’re flocking to mineral makeup, the latest buzz in skin care. Made from finely milled natural minerals like titanium dioxide and zinc, mineral makeup is being touted as not only better than commercially-made products, but healthier too; its mineral content acts as a built-in waterproof SPF, and is anti-inflammatory,

Posted in Beauty on 01/29/2010 - 0 Comments

Slush Puppies

They’re bulky and colourful, made from neoprene, look like gumboots and are unlikely to prance down the Milan catwalk anytime soon.

Yet Bogs Boots—sturdy but funky three-season kicks made by an Oregon company of the same name—are literally walking out of shops, from Queen St West in Toronto to St Laurent in Montréal. Off street level, even the fashionistas at Chatelaine magazine recently gave them the nod, cooing that “while the name may sound a bit gloomy, these boots made of neoprene wetsuit material are anything but glum.”

Posted in Fashion on 11/05/2009 - 0 Comments

The Battle of the Bulge

It was an embarrassing moment that could have happened to anyone.

For Heather Thompson, it became a career.The Yummie Tummie has a body shaping panel that pulls in 'muffin tops'

The moment occurred a few years ago when Thompson, a gorgeous, talented and marvelously likeable designer for celebrity labels launched by Beyoncé, Jennifer Lopez and P Diddy, was dressing for a New York night out when her husband wandered into their bedroom.

“What the hell is that?” he burst out, astonished at the sight of his post-baby wife struggling to get into an ugly girdle-like garment that looked like it had been designed by NASA.

“I yelled, ‘Get out! Get out!’ and kicked the door closed,” she says, chuckling. “When I was ready and walked out he laughed and said, ‘I’ve seen both of our kids born. And I never want to see that thing again’.”

Posted in Fashion on 11/05/2009 - 0 Comments

Getting that natural look the natural way

Scanning the ingredients on my $50 skin cream recently, I was struck by two things: the printing was so tiny, I needed a magnifying glass, and the list of chemicals was so long it required a better grade than I got in high school chemistry to decipher.

Touted as containing the "natural extracts" of some rare but undoubtedly worthy plant, the stuff was laden with an A-to-Z compendium of unpronounceable compounds.

What were they?

An hour of investigation later, I had answers -- and more than a few questions. If propylene glycol, used in everything from cosmetics and toothpaste to paintballs, causes a reaction in four per cent of the population and may be linked to birth defects, why was I putting it on my face?

Ditto parabens and DMDM hydantoin, both of which are preservatives, the latter an antimicrobial formaldehyde slow-releaser.

While various authorities have deemed these ingredients and other chemicals safe for human consumption, here in Canada's capital we're not buying it.

What we are buying are internationally recognized, all-natural, organic beauty products, designed and manufactured locally by in-our-own-backyard companies.

From Hawkesbury biochemist Karen Clark, who developed her organic Green Beaver line after watching her baby son drink bath bubbles, to former fashion writer Melissa Shabinsky's edgy Revolution Organics, it appears that O-Town is thinking globally and acting locally.

Posted in Beauty on 08/21/2009 - 0 Comments

From Guyliner to Manscara

I admit it: I like guys in makeup.

Not just any guy, though. I'm a sucker for those sexy, bird-flipping bad boy rock stars in their skinny jeans, smudged kohl eyeliner and just-rolled-out-of-bed hair. Think Billie Joe Armstrong from Green Day or Good Charlotte twins Benji and Joel Madden. Better yet, picture a deliciously sinuous Scott Weiland from the Stone Temple Pilots, for whom I've always nursed a distant crush.

But my guy in makeup? Well, why not. According to Jane McKay, senior makeup artist with M.A.C Cosmetics, he wouldn't be alone.

"There is a trend emerging from the rock world that's filtering to the street," says McKay. "When you look at people like Adam Lambert from American Idol, he's androgynous and willing to wear makeup and shows men that other men look quite good.

"Men in eyeliner is not as bizarre as you'd think. In evolution, a lot of animals have a dark rim around their eye. It's just evolved from nature."

For weekend rock stars and the man in the street, however, subtlety is the key, McKay says. "It's not about adding colour. Guys don't wear blush. Man makeup is neutral, almost invisible, but it enhances."

Posted in Beauty on 06/30/2009 - 0 Comments

Eco-chic dress brews up praise

Danica Olders is first to admit she's a bit of a hoarder. A pack rat, if you will. From beer bottle caps, used airplane tickets and clothes tags to discarded bits of ribbon and those plastic tabs that close bread bags, society's trash is treasured fodder for this Ottawa woman's creativity. And it's getting her noticed in all the right places. At just 20, Olders was the sole second-year student from Halifax's Nova Scotia College of Art and Design invited to showcase her eco-chic wares at Atlantic Fashion Week this year, and the only young designer to "set off the weekend's only audience-wide applause" with her "solid, to-be-watched talent," gushed Fashion magazine. At the centre of the hoopla is the kind of eco-aware, slightly sardonic, yet eminently wearable dress fashionistas go giddy over: A shimmery, lavish 1920s-style sheath made entirely of flattened Stella, Keith's and Moosehead beer bottle caps.

Posted in Environment on 06/15/2009 - 0 Comments

Getting that natural look...the natural way

Scanning the ingredients on my $50 skin cream recently, I was struck by two things: the printing was so tiny, I needed a magnifying glass, and the list of chemicals was so long it required a better grade than I got in high school chemistry to decipher. Touted as containing the "natural extracts" of some rare but undoubtedly worthy plant, the stuff was laden with an A-to-Z compendium of unpronounceable compounds. What were they? An hour of investigation later, I had answers -- and more than a few questions. If propylene glycol, used in everything from cosmetics and toothpaste to paintballs, causes a reaction in four per cent of the population and may be linked to birth defects, why was I putting it on my face? Ditto parabens and DMDM hydantoin, both of which are preservatives, the latter an antimicrobial formaldehyde slow-releaser. While various authorities have deemed these ingredients and other chemicals safe for human consumption, here in Canada's capital we're not buying it.

Posted in Beauty on 06/15/2009 - 0 Comments

Heights of Fashion

"Is it too early in the season to wear these?"

My girlfriend Lauren's eyes widened in envy. "Oh," she gasped. "Oh, my!"

I guess not, I thought smugly. As shoes go, they're beauties -- dazzling crimson suede peep-toes by Colin Stuart, trimmed with black leather micro-piping and a slim ankle strap that gives them a vaguely '30s feel. I could wear a dress made from reusable Steve Madden shoe totes and these puppies would still turn heads.

But in the end, I didn't wear them to dinner that night. It wasn't the outfit. It wasn't that I needed a pedicure or that my legs were still sore from my morning run.

No, the thing that put the shoes back on the shelf was a simple calculation: the distance I'd have to walk from my car to the restaurant.

Why? The shoes are gorgeous. They're sexy. But they're also a ridiculous, ankle-snapping five

Posted in Fashion on 03/31/2009 - 0 Comments

Meet the Cutmen

Cutman (kut’mahn) mn: a person responsible for preventing and treating physical damage to a fighter during the breaks between rounds of full contact boxing, kickboxing or martial arts. Often an experienced former boxer, the cutman is therefore essential to the fighter, and can be a decisive factor in the outcome of the match. Jeff Tanguay. Mike Carpenter. Ian Cook. Sound familiar? They should be to anyone who’s paid attention to the Ottawa music scene in the past 20 years. Like the Cutmen they’re named for, Jeff, Mike and Ian are some of the most experienced performers in Ottawa and have the kind of time on the mat that young musicians dream about.

Posted in Music on 12/04/2008 - 0 Comments

Glam Up Your Gams!

“Darh-link,” Marlene Dietrich once purred, “the legs aren’t so beautiful, I just know what to do with them.” Words to live by—especially with this winter’s so-hot-it-hurts wildly patterned, rainbow-hued stockings, leggings and tights. They’re loud, they’re proud, but according to Fancy Sox manager Marie-Josee Oudaimy, they’re also a fashion hazard if you put the wrong foot first.

Posted in Lingerie on 12/04/2008 - 0 Comments