Jennifer Connelly

Jennifer Connelly, Academy Award winning actress and wife of Paul Bettany, has just been confirmed as the new spokesperson and face of Shiseido!

Jennifer, who actually worked for the brand in the 80’s, is set to be the ace of Shiseido’s Future Solution LX skincare line and will be the spokesperson for the brand in 88 countries as it celebrates its 140^th anniversary this year.

“I’ve had a long relationship with Shiseido – I worked with them in the Eighties on an ad campaign, and have been using their products ever since,” the actress told WWD. “It’s nice to reconnect with them after so many years.”

The campaign has already been shot and will be released in Autumn this year.

Anyone else remember her in Labyrinth with David Bowie??

David Bowie and Jennifer Connelly in Labyrinth

Stella McCartney

To celebrate the launch of her new fragrance, L.I.L.Y, Stella McCartney will make an exclusive appearance at Selfridges Oxford Street TONIGHT (8th February)!

The first 100 people to purchase a 50 ml (£60) or 75 ml (£76) bottle of the fragrance tomorrow will get to meet Stella and have their parfum bottle signed by the designer between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m.

Stella said L.I.L.Y stands for “Linda, I Love You” and was her father’s nickname for her mother. The earthy yet seductive fragrance incorporates the smells of spring, including lily of the valley, moss and truffles.

Stella McCartney's new fragrance, L.I.L.Y

The worldwide launch of L.I.L.Y. is exclusive to Selfridges and available nationwide starting 15th February.

Will you wait in line to see the famed designer?

Prada Candy GWP

Prada Candy fan? Starting on 5th March, if you purchase the 80 ml Eau de Parfum, priced at £71, you can get a free gift with purchase featuring Prada‘s latest fragrance and cute bag!

The gift includes a 75 ml Prada Candy lotion and a stylish custom made pouch, both adorned with the Prada emblem.

Want to expand your Prada Candy collection? The new Prada ancillaries are also now available, including the luxury Prada Candy body scrub, lotion and shower gel.

The limited edition Prada Candy gift is exclusive to Selfridges for £71 from 5th March.

Hershesons Valentine's Day

Who needs chocolate when you can have a fabulous blow-dry?

This Valentine’s Day, Hershesons is offering gift vouchers for one, three or six free blowdrys.

The vouchers come in a pastel pink with phrases like “You’re so worth it,” and “I can’t wait to see how gorgeous you look,” and range in price from £24 for one to £144 for six.

Might we suggest printing this out or bookmarking this page for you partner… they might just get the gist.

Buy them at Hershesons Blow Dry Bars or on the Hershesons website…

Keeping Up With BATD 2012

We’re back and all blonde again for this year’s first Keeping Up With BATD and we’ve got some amazing products in for review this week.

As our offices is bulging with new makeup launches, we’re keeping it focused on makeup for eyes and lips only for the first video of the year and we’ve pulled in some amazing new products from Urban Decay, Topshop, L’Oreal, MAC and Neal’s Yard.

All you have to do is watch the video and see what we think about each!

Stockists:

Topshop’s Sisters of The New Moon Lash Catcher Mascara, £10 – www.topshop.com

17 Peep Show, £6.29 -www.boots.com

L’Oreal Telescopic False Lash – £7.99 – www.superdrug.com

L’Oreal Super Liner Gel Intenza, RRP £8.99

Topshop Lip Marker, £8 – www.topshop.com

Urban Decay Pocket Rocket, £13 - www.debenhams.com

Miss Piggy 360 Lashes, £10 – www.maccosmetics.co.uk

Neal’s Yard Remedies Pressed Eyeshadows, £11.50 – from Feb 2012 www.nealsyardremedies.com

Urban Decay 24/7 Eyeliners, £13 - www.debenhams.com

Chanel Love Letters

Chanel have become well known for their amazing short animations (remember the amazing Chanel Robots and the Shade Parade?!) and it looks like they’re up to no good again for Valentine’s Day.

We’ve got our hands on two teasers for the latest additions to the CHANEL Makeup Confidential film roster and it looks like this one’s for Valentine’s Day. ‘Love Letters’, created by the Creative Director of CHANEL makeup, Peter Philips, hints at a similar set up to Robots and Shade Parade with the makeup animated into a countdown and other romantic images.

The full length film comes out on Thursday 9th February at www.chanel-makeup-confidential.chanel.com

To see what we mean check out the two teasers below:

Karine Jackson's salon

You might have heard that our Deputy Editor Emma was planning on going back blonde having died her hair red last year… Well she’s done it with the help of the amazing Karine Jackson and you can see what she thought of her experience below…

By Emma Skipper

Ever since I head home for Christmas and got a righteous telling off from my parents for going red-head, I’ve been thinking of going back to my original blonde roots (yes I’m a full grown adult but I also wanted my Christmas presents so you’ll forgive me for not wanting to rock the boat too much). My blonding roots made me look grey against the red and the condition of my hair was pretty abysmal as well, so I decided to head down to Karine Jackson in Covent Garden to sort out my messed up locks and go back blonde. In my previous post you will see that Karine prescribed me a number of products from Organic Colour Systems Aqua Boost range to make sure that my hair was is a better condition to take the dye when the time came to colour it. Well, I used the Aqua boost range for over a week and really noticed a difference, the range is really brilliant for dry, lack-lustre hair.

On the left - my red hair. On the right my new 'Karine' strawberry blonde locks

Having prepped my hair pre-appointment, I head to the salon after work was met by the lovely Karine. I was immediately impressed with the sheer efficiency of the process, without any sacrifice to quality and attention to detail. Karine and her assistant already knew the colours we had gone for in my consultation so they got to work on a full head of highlights straight away. Within about 40 minutes my hair was completely covered in foils having applied the Organic Colour Systems dye (that used an oxidation process rather than ammonia to lighten the hair strands). The best thing about the dye is that it didn’t smell at all – and coming from a seasoned ’highlighterer’ that HATES the smell of ammonia, this was amazing! The foils were then heated gently for 25 mins and I was done. A full on wash, condition, treatment and tone (to make sure my roots weren’t über blonde as they were virgin hair) in the separate washing room downstairs (which was dark and so relaxing I actually fell asleep!) and I was ready for styling.

Karine Jackson - the go-to lady for Organic hair dye

I only wanted a quick trim and that’s exactly what Karine gave me. There was a complete respect that I wanted to retain my length, something which some ‘snip-happy’ (as Karine described them) hairdressers just can’t seem to adhere to and again, I was very impressed. She didn’t seem to chop much off but boy, did my hair look brilliant. The lightened colour retained some of the red, leaving me with a lovely light strawberry blonde and the ends looked clean and healthy. I honestly couldn’t recommend heading down and sorting your colour out with this maestro enough!!

I head in at 5.30pm and, having had a full head of highlights, wash and bowdry, was out by 7.15pm with the perfect head of highlighted hair. Really very impressive and I’d definitely recommend it to anyone who’s interested in Organic hair dye or for anyone looking for the perfect look for the impending and dreaded Valentine’s Day.

For more information, please visit www.karinejackson.co.uk

Karine Jackson
24 Litchfield Street
London
WC2H 9NJ

Blue Markus Lupfer palette

We’ve just seen the new Markus Lupfer (the amazing knitwear designer) collection for shu uemura and we’re in love. Not only does the collection have the cutest packaging, but the palette shades are to die for as well.

The limited edition collection includes pretty makeup palette (£10 for empty palette) that can be bought in three different variations; Pink, Blue, Mint. It also includes Eyelash Curlers (£20) and a black Gel Eyeliner (£20).

Markus Lupfer said of the collection: ‘It’s a dream come true for me to collaborate with shu uemura, I LOVE the colours and textures that shu uemura has to offers, and feel that both our brands have such a similar spirit…’

The limited edition collection will be available exclusively at Selfridges W1 London, Selfridges Trafford, shu uemura Boutique London and online at www.shuuemura.co.uk from February 2012.

Markus Lupfer pink palette

Markus Lupfer palette

Markus Lupfer Leopard palette

Markus Lupfer Mint palette

Markus Lupfer Curler box

Perfume Engraving via The Perfume Shop

Racking your brain for the perfect Valentine’s Day present? Try engraving your favourite fragrances with sweet nothings.

The gift idea, brought to you by The Perfume Shop, allows you to customise nearly any perfume or cologne bottle with the inscription of your choice.

Engraving costs as little as £5 depending on the amount of text needed and can be done at any local engravers. And because you choose both the scent and the sentence, your gift will be both personal and unique.

Engraved Bottle of Marc Jacobs Bang

So if you’re sick of flowers and chocolates, say something scented this Valentine’s Day.

To learn more or to purchase your favourite fragrances, visit The Perfume Shop website…

TRX Suspension Training

by Emma Parlons

Much like Spiderwoman, I love a mission.  Today’s mission was to discover whether TRX is just another exercise fad or a legitimate way to develop my core strength.  As a regular boot-camper, swimmer and runner, the idea of exercise was not about to put me off.  Nevertheless, I do find gym work-outs rather uninspiring places; the mass of blank faces, aggressive looking machines and the deafening noise of a highly irritating chart song.

Billed as the ‘spider-man yoga’, I sized up the TRX apparatus at my local Virgin Active.   What goes in the loops?  Will I be hanging myself or do my feet remain on the ground?  Either way, it looked like an archaic form of torture.  Just as I was backing away, I was cornered by one of those gym angels you have no chance of escaping.  Liz is exercise general manager of Virgin Active, Swiss Cottage, and formally introduced me to the TRX Suspension Trainer.

Randy Hetrick

In short, TRX is a workout system designed by US Navy Seal commander, Randy Hetrick as he and his team were desperate to work out while deployed on missions.  So much so, Hetrick’s first versions used parachute material and he sold hundreds of these to the troops serving in Afghanistan and Iraq. I was fascinated as to how effectively the workout could be but soon understood that, by using your own body weight, you are developing strength, balance, flexibility and core stability simultaneously.  There are literally hundreds of exercises you can do with this piece of equipment and it can be easily adapted to suit all shapes, sizes, ages and fitness levels.

After a number of gags such as ‘hanging out has never been so much fun’ and a little humming of the tune ‘in the navy’, it was time for me to step inside this tangle of straps, ropes and loops.  While Hetrick is clearly a genius, this is hard core (excuse the pun). Without engaging every muscle in your body, you sway and therefore dangle uncomfortably.  There is no way of skiving; making no coincidence that this workout is reputed to burn more calories in 45 minutes than you would in a spinning class.

As with so many of these new training disciplines, TRX has been embraced by LA.  David Beckham, Amber Valetta, Gwen Stefani, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ben Affleck and of course the real Spiderman, Tobey Maguire, are massive TRX-ers and, from what I hear, it will not be long before TRX Suspension classes will be at a gym near you.    Until then, put the nylon contraption in your pocket, run to the local park and hang from trees…

For more updates from Emma Parlons, visit www.lifeofyablon.wordpress.com

Or…. follow her on Twitter:@yablons