Pictures of Charlotte Casiraghi – Modern Beauty

Charlotte Casiraghi, daughter of Princess Caroline of Hanover and Monaco, granddaughter of Grace Kelly, is growing up to be quite the beauty.

She is strikingly like her lovely mother, and sometimes when smiling, looks the picture of Grace Kelly but with brown hair.

At just 21 years old, she is emerging to be a role model of beauty and style.

Here are various photos I found around the Web:

Good genes run in the family.

Chanel – Secret Places

Go to chanel.com, click on Discover Chanel, then Discover Chanel Secret Places.

You’ll find 6 celebrity-hosted videos detailing places in Coco Chanel’s life, including a tour of her apartment on Rue Cambon with Jeanne Moreau and an interview with Karl Lagerfeld.

Stress Release – Use Your Five Senses

See – arrange colorful flowers, watch a movie, paint a picture, buy a coloring book and crayons, look through a kaleidoscope, look through a telescope, look through a microscope, look at the moon, wish on a star, gaze into a mirror, wear your glasses, read a book, explore an art exhibit, study your palm…

Hear – listen to music, read aloud, sing in your car, go to a concert, listen to a speech, go to a play, be in an audience, play the harmonica, whistle while you work, put on your iPod, listen to the ocean, put a seashell to your ear…

Taste – suck on a lollypop, suck your thumb, eat pudding, lick an ice cream cone, kiss someone, have a beer, drink a glass of wine, sip tea, eat a peach, take a deep breath by the ocean…

Touch – get a massage, give a massage, hug someone, get your hands dirty, knead dough, mold clay, dig in your garden, pet a cat, run your fingers through your hair, soak in a tub, wrap yourself in silk, bang a drum…

Smell – stop and smell the roses, bake cookies, chop onions, light a scented candle, light a fire, try aromatherapy, spill a little perfume that your mother wore onto a hanky and breathe in the memories…

6th Senses – explore even more ways to relax: meditate, dream, remember, think, plan, hope, fear, desire, marvel, learn, evoke, consider, try, commit, believe, ponder, justify, change.

Feel free to add your own ideas in the comments section.

Ten Super Healthy Foods

According to Men’s Health Magazine, these 10 superfoods should be part of your regular diet.

1. Beets – a sweet, tasty root vegetable, are full of folate and betaine, which are good for your arteries and help decrease your risk of heart disease. Be sure to eat them raw, not cooked or pickled in a jar. Try some in your salad.

Tip: Just be sure that when you go to the bathroom the next day, to remember that you ate beets. You are not bleeding to death. Beets have a way of, shall we say, adding color to your diet.

2. Cabbage – looks like lettuce, smells like feet, but it sure is tasty. Cabbage is also full of free-radical fighting enzymes that help reduce your risk of cancer. Try shredding it into a salad or enjoy as cole slaw.

3. Guava – a sweet tropical fruit with a high concentration of lycopene, an antioxidant that helps fight prostate cancer. It’s also full of potassium and fiber. You can eat every part of a guava fruit from the rind to the flesh, and even the seeds.

4. Swiss Chard – a leafy green vegetable with a slightly bitter flavor, is packed with lutein and zeaxanthin, which both fight to keep your eyes young and healthy. Chop Swiss chard and sauté in a little olive oil. Serve as a side dish with chicken or as an accompaniment to fish.

5. Cinnamon – an ancient spice, which comes in sticks or a ground powder, helps control your blood sugar, reduce bad cholesterol and increase your metabolism. Sprinkle into your morning latte or try some in your oatmeal. Sometimes, I put a little in tomato sauce on pasta night.

6. Purslane – long considered a weed by the FDA, purslane is actually a vegetable with high amounts of omega-3 fatty acids, an antioxidant that fights cancer. Mix it in with a leafy green salad. You can usually find it at Whole Foods or in Chinese markets.

7. Pomegranate Juice – a delicious and beautiful berry-colored juice full of vitamin C. It helps lower blood pressure and improve blood flow to the heart. Look for 100 percent pomegranate juice with no added sugars.

8. Goji Berries – a small, chewy fruit that tastes like a cross between cranberries and cherries. Jam-packed with antioxidants that may help people who are at risk of diabetes. Mix some goji berries into your yogurt or cereal.

9. Prunes – are dried plums and are full of antioxidants that help fight cancer. They are sweet and delicious. Eat them on their own or try cooking with them.

10. Pumpkin Seeds – tiny seeds from the inside of a pumpkin can be roasted and eaten whole. They are full of magnesium, an important mineral for daily health. They make a great snack for the office or while watching TV.

Read the full story at menshealth.com.

How To Color Your Hair At Home

Step-by-step instructions for livening up your hair at home.

Is it true that blondes have more fun? Do redheads really have fiery personalities? Find out by changing your hair color at home. It’s easy to do and much less expensive than going to a salon. But the more you know about home color, the better your results.

First, ask yourself some questions to narrow down your selections:

Is This a Permanent Relationship?
What kind of results do you want? Are you going lighter or darker? Do you need to cover gray? Are you trying to update your look or jazz up a dull shade? The answers to these questions will help you choose your formula: permanent, demi-permanent or semi-permanent.

Confused? Don’t be. Grace Magazine is here to help.

Choosing Your New Look
According to New-York-based color expert Rita Hazan, who works on big name stars like Jessica Simpson, Jennifer Lopez and Brooke Shields, “the most important factor is your personality”.

Hazan, who was recently featured on the Hollywood Hair episode of the Oprah Winfrey Show, says, “you don’t want your hair to ‘wear’ you—you want to have hair that complements your skin, your eyes—hair that really reflects who you are.”

Look in the mirror, not at your hair, but at your skin tone. Are you a warm or a cool? If you have golden or peachy tones in your skin, you are warm. You probably look lovely in clothes in the gold, copper and brown family.

If you have rosy cheeks or skin with pink undertones, you are cool. You look fantastic in blues, grays, purples and pinks.

Next, look at your hair. What is your starting shade? It doesn’t matter if it is natural or color-treated. Find your current color by looking at hair swatches in the beauty aisle or find charts online. Narrowing down your present shade will lead you to your new color.

It is best to stay within one or two shades from your starting color. If you are medium brown, it would be easy for you to try light brown or dark brown. It could be tricky to try to go blonde.

Now, warm and cool come in to play. Say you have dark blonde hair and you wish to go lighter. Your skin tone is fair and rosy. You would be best to choose a cool tone, such as champagne blonde.

Here’s another example. You have light brown hair and peachy skin. You want to add life to your do. Try an auburn shade. It’s in the brown family, has a warm undertone and is within two shades of your starting color.

Level of Commitment
How long do you want the results to last? If you are trying to mix it up and go a little rock and roll, you may want to choose a semi-permanent shade that will wash out in about 8 shampoos. If you are going lighter, you will have to choose a permanent color. If you are blending away grays, you could use a demi-permanent color that lasts about 28 shampoos. But if you have more than 40% gray, a permanent kit would work best.

Getting Ready
Here are the tools you will need:

• Protective clothing – a button-down smock will shield you from drips and you won’t have to pull it over your wet head when it is time to rinse.
• Claw-like clips to separate sections of hair.
• Latex gloves – these should be included in your home hair color kit

Optional equipment:

• You may want to use a brush to paint on the solution and really saturate the strands.
• If you have long hair you may want to have two kits ready. You don’t want to run out in the middle of the process.

Preparation
Start with clean dry hair that has no product in it (no conditioner, no styling gels or mousses). It’s best if you wash your hair the day before so your natural oils will protect your scalp.

Brush or comb out tangles, then divide hair into 4 sections. Part down the middle from forehead to neck, then across at the crown. Twist and secure each section with a clip.

Put on gloves and mix the ingredients according to the directions.

Time to Color
Squeeze color along the parts and rub in with your gloved finger.

Do one section at a time. Starting with the back, release one clip. Put a line of color along your hairline. Then repeat by working through thin sections of hair until the whole area is saturated. Twist back into the clip and repeat with each of the remaining sections.

Go around your hairline to make sure you get all the little wisps.

Remove any color that may have gotten on your forehead or neck or any exposed skin. You can use soap and water, or you can find color remover at a beauty supply store.

Discard the remainder of the product by rinsing out the bottles.

Wait for the magic to happen. Color will usually take within 20-30 minutes. Stubborn gray can take up to 45 minutes. Most mixtures will stop working after an hour.

Note: Don’t be alarmed if the product on your hair does not look like your intended color. Oftentimes, the formula will appear darker or even a strange color like purple.

Rinse according to the instructions. Some brands instruct you to add a little water to your hair and work into a lather, then rinse. Some just tell you to rinse. Be careful not to get any in your eyes. Keep at it until the water runs clear.

Apply plenty of conditioner. This should be included with your kit. Be sure to use the conditioner supplied with your kit instead of one of your own. It is specially formulated to follow up the color and restore hair’s pH balance. Leave on for a few minutes according to the instructions, then rinse.

Towel dry and comb through. Style as usual.

Look in the mirror at a vibrant and sexy new you.

Here are some product examples:

Permanent Color

Nice ‘n Easy by Clairol covers gray in your choice of 39 natural-looking shades and comes with a tube of fresh-scented moisturizing conditioner that will last until your next color treatment.

Preference by L’Oreal offers lasting color and gray coverage for up to 8 weeks. It comes with a color-vitalizing conditioner enhanced with vitamin E.

Demi-Permanent

Clairol Natural Instincts offers a gentler way to spice up your look and leaves your hair super shiny and soft. Clairol says your hair will be in better condition than before you colored.

ColorSpa Moisture Actif by L’Oreal gives you natural color in just 15 minutes. It’s calming formula works without ammonia. It does for your hair what a spa can do for your mind and body.

Semi-Permanent

Clairol Loving Care is a time-tested product for washing in lively color without ammonia or peroxide. You are ready to color again in just 6-8 shampoos.

L’Oreal Color Pulse is an easy-to-apply mousse that comes in 10 funky shades that wash out after 8-10 shampoos. So you can change your color as often as you change your mood.

How To Wear Gray

Gray is a wonderful transitional color between summer and winter.

Clothes in all shades of gray, from charcoal to dove to silver, can make up a sophisticated palate for fall.

Fashion gurus Trinny and Susannah of Britain’s What Not To Wear tell how to make gray a modern and refined choice for your wardrobe by finding the right shade of gray for your coloring and using tonal colors to break up the solidness of gray and bright accents to enhance the hue.

See their color chart:

All clothing and accessories shown are available at net-a-porter.com.

Chanel Face for Fall 2007

I’ve always taken my fall makeup cues from the Chanel collections. Their sophisticated color combinations are always up-to-the-minute cool.

Here are Chanel’s offerings for fall 2007:

Quadra Eye Shadow
Two limited-edition quadra shadows are offered. I can’t wait to try Garden Party and Sequoia also looks nice.

Chanel is definitely into green this year.

Eye Shadow Duo
Lotus-Cactus is a soft pink paired with an emerald green.

Soft Touch Eye Shadow
Jungle is a forest green single shadow.

Lips take on more color this season but keep a glossy finish.

Glossimer
Iris is a peachy pink that is sure to look good on all skin tones. I can’t wait to try Hibiscus, a plum shimmer.

Rouge Double Intensite Ultra Wear Lip Color
Rose Garnet is a delicious plum rose. Nude Topaz is a nude brown for all you warm, neutral lovers.

For full-on lipstick instead of gloss:

Rouge Hydrabase Crème Lipstick
Wild Tulip is a brown plum perfect for daytime and office wear.

Lotus Rouge is a pink plum for flirty times.

Lily Beige is a soft beige for when you need a little color but not too much.

Magnolia Rose is a deep rose for a sexy pout.

Aqualumiere Sheer Colour Lipshine with SPF 15

Key West is a coral brown for warm skin tones. Catalina is a deep plum that is super trendy.

Chanel cheeks are always soft.

Powder Blush
Narcisse is a light pink shade that will enhance the plums and roses of this fall collection.

You’ve Come A Long Way, Baby

WordPress celebrates its 2nd birthday. The baby becomes a toddler.

I can’t thank WordPress enough for getting me back into the habit of writing everyday. It’s helped my creativity, my stress levels, my work and more.

I remember checking my stats early on and being so excited that 10 people found my blog. Thousands and thousands of readers later, I’m still as excited as the first day I discovered you.

Thanks again.

Be a Fashion Editor

My favorite new online toy is Polyvore.

Browse among pages and pages of clothing and accessories and put together sets in the outfit editor. Or you can upload items from other Web sites and make them available to the Polyvore users.

It’s like fantasy shopping. Anything you see online, you can add to the inventory and link back to the store where you found it in case anybody wants to really buy it.

It’s like fashion editing a magazine layout.

I joined through my Facebook account. Facebook let’s you display your fashion sets on your profile.

Try it. It’s addictive.

I Like This Song

Sea Wolf performing You’re A Wolf