Writing

Category

Book Review: The Power of Glamour

You'd think that after working in the fashion, beauty, and entertainment industries for ages, I'd have a lot to say about the subject of...

Painted Ladies: Madame X

  To us in the 21st century, masterworks in painting convey a classicism and elegance that seem nonexistent in the modern world. But in the...

The “Yoga Body”

We see them everywhere: some are serene, blissful, meditating in drugstore fliers. Others - lithe visions of feminine happiness, stretching in yogurt and maxi...

Do Facial Expressions Rule Emotions? My One-Woman Experiment in the Field, Plus How Botox Could Help Depression

How do our faces convey emotion? Conventional thinking tells us that we smile because something made us happy, or we frown because we're annoyed...

Beauty Archetypes: Whores

Whore! It may be the lowest insult that can be hurled at a woman. Yet prostitution and promiscuity thrive as archetypes in beauty and...

Makeovers in the Movies: Miss Congeniality

There's a special genre of movie makeover: the Tomboy Makeover. Smart, goofy, and somewhat grimy, the Tomboy has lived her early life free from the...

Beautiful People: Way Bandy

To call him a beauty pioneer is no overstatement: Way Bandy was the first superstar makeup artist. And for photographic makeup techniques, you could...

Beautiful People: Jane Iredale

Working as a makeup artist, I'm familiar with the extremes of what can be put on a face. Plastic glitter, sequins, acrylic paint, theatrical...

Makeovers in the Movies: My Fair Lady

Every makeover holds some small promise of a new life - as we try a new hairstyle or outfit we might hope for renewed...

Beauty Archetypes: Witches

  What is it about Witches? We can't get enough of them. For women they speak to our fantasies of glamour and power, even as...

My Writing

What is Looking Young Anyway?

As a makeup artist, I get lots of questions from people on how to look younger. Maybe it comes in the form of "How...

Book Review: Erotic Capital

We all know people who get by on their looks. For women, that has often been the only way to get ahead. But when...

Inside Beauty: 7 Reasons Why Models are so Skinny

As a makeup artist, I get a lot of questions about models from my non-industry friends. And most of these have to do with...