Skinny Fat - Ideal Body Weight Will Not Make You Immune!

Your dress size just may be luring you into a false sense of security when it comes to this subject.

Skinny fat seems to be a contradictory term, after all its what’s on the inside that counts - Right? Well, being thin doesn’t mean you're healthy! And this skinny girl, is here to tell  you that just because you are close to your ideal body weight does not mean that you aren't suffering from skinny fat ... models included! 

What is skinny fat? Although not scientifically defined, here are some urban dictionary quotes to help you understand this concept:

“Skinny fat is a self induced syndrome where an individual is fairly close to their healthy weight, or even at their healthy weight, but they have little if any muscle definition. The sufferer generally doesn’t exercise regularly or is a habitual on and off again exerciser. The sufferer also generally doesn’t follow any type of healthy nutrition plan, rather they eat anything and everything they want.”

“This term is used when a person is thin, yet does not eat healthy or take care of themselves. They think they don’t need to watch the junk they eat because they are thin. They can be more unhealthy then an overweight person.”

And finally for the visual we have all seen (Yikes) too many times:

“Skinny-fat girls usually wear clothes that are TOO small for their 'not so skinny' bodies. A skinny-fat girl usually may wear a pair of low-rise jeans that are WAY too tight causing her fat to spill out of the top of her pants.”

Primarily associated with the female gender is another pesky problem of fat distribution called cellulite. According to a study by Neutrogena, 70 percent of women have cellulite. Improving your diet and exercise is a perfect way to start repairing this uneven skin appearance. If your tummy, butt and thighs are flaccid and subcutaneous fat is layered on top of those muscles, it will contribute to the hail damage you see there. Losing weight and Resistance training or Pilates is a definite must for minimizing the appearance of cellulite.

When it comes to being fit, experts say there is no short cut! (By the way, save your money because cellulite creams don’t work.) If you want to be healthy you need to incorporate weight bearing exercises into a low fat diet and go for the burn!

Halloween Tutorials - Best Makeup Videos for that Spooky-Sexy Vibe!

Halloween brings out the kid in all of us but gone are the days when a sheet with two eye holes or the face painted cat whisker/nose combo will get you much notice. The Wicked Witch of the West even needed a green face and warts to get her scare on. Here are some of my favorite makeup tutorial videos that can help inspire any girl to rock a Halloween Bash.

Costumes require a mesmerizing look to complete their effect so you'll need to decide if it's going to be a Good Witch, Bad Witch or Mistress of the Night kind of Halloween. Adding the oompf with makeup will guarantee a boost from your normal yawn worthy idea to that lasting, searing impression. Bewitch your friends and arm yourself with a little tube of Latex from Party City to re-create X-Men's blue Mystique above and become a little more creative this year for a bloody-good finish!

Me? I am going as a BEE this year ... just trying to decide if it will be a QUEEN Bee, Honey Bee or KILLER Bee. Yep, the costume stays the same - the difference will be made with the makeup!

TO stay in the know and learn a model's secrets to looking your best Every Day ... check out my new book Face This: Real advice from Real Models!

Lesson #2: Flattering Angles- Tips on How to Take Your Best, Most Gorgeous Photos Ever!

Models and photographers both know that angles are what will make your photos look Shelltacular, whoops, Spectacular! An angle can illuminate, confuse, disorientate, and can turn a boring photo into an emotionally powered shot full of drama! 

My book, Face This, will give you all the tricks to creating the right look and angle for yourself in front of anyone’s camera for perfect photos every time, but what you can do when YOU are the photographer, to make interesting pictures involving angles? Here is your monthly, get-better, photography tip!

EYE-LEVEL. The traditional way most of us take our pictures and view people is head-on, eyes straight forward, at about shoulder level. It conveys reality and represents the moment just as we remember it ... beautiful, but ordinary. Since digital photography is FREE why not change it up a bit with a little more creativity?

LOW-ANGLE.  This  photo is created by the photographer crouching down and angling the lens upward.  These photos convey superiority & power. It can have the added benefit of creating height for the subject by exaggeration. If your angle is strong enough, you can get cool photos with just bright blue sky or trees as a backdrop, eliminating an otherwise distracting background.

HIGH-ANGLE. This is when you elevate your camera over your subject. It tends to make your subject seem smaller, at times almost swallowed up by their surroundings, making them feel more approachable and less intimidating.

CLOSE-UP. This is the classic way to get your best ever photographs of children. Many times it involves laying on the ground, with no angle at all, and using a zoom or getting really close. This technique magnifies a subject and creates a very intimate image of significance with the background just a blur.

Changing your perspective or the angle that you are taking your photo can change the feeling of your photos altogether, so get up on the chair, lay on your back, down on one knee, hover overhead and get in someone’s face for a photo that will be framed and cherished for years ahead!

Calling all goddesses - Fun Birthday Party Ideas with Girlfriends!

Along the transitions in my life, I have been empowered by many great goddesses that have surrounded me in a protective bubble of love, harmony, unity and wondrous kindness. This year for my birthday I called out to my ethereal friends and their demi-gods, to merge these energies to celebrate my birthday and nourish my soul with laughter at a local Hookah lounge.

I asked my girlfriends to come dressed in whatever made them feel goddess-like, flowers in their hair, glitter, draping chiffon … time to play dress up! I selected goddess names for each, framed as a keepsake

 and requested that if they wanted to extend gifts that they be hand made from the heart. I received a wondrous poem, art, and jelly! We were nourished with hummus, entertained by exotic belly dancers and enticed by the pineapple hookah!

Birthdays. Love em or hate em … they are inevitable. Why is it that we dread celebrating or wait until the milestone big-0 to commemorate them? It’s normal to feel reluctant about a change in your chronological age, but I encourage all of you to put away your expectations that you should be checking off a list of accomplishments. Life unfolds for us in such awe-inspiring ways and if you are too caught up in a scheduled path you may miss it!

Birthdays are good for you! A study published last year in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, showed that people get happier as they get older! Have you stopped celebrating your birthdays? How old would you be if you could decide your own age? Personally, I think you have to be over 40 to finally be REALLY happy! I read about a woman in Florida who celebrated her 100^th birthday on a treadmill … She said she “feels good after exercise!”

Here are a few ideas:

• An around the world party
• High tea
• Gratitude party
• Diva Safari ~ night on the town!
• Karaoke room
• SPA Shindig
• Street shopping ~ Walk down a quirky street for a trip down memory lane. Try on outrageous hats, check out an old bookstore, bargain shop at a vintage/resale store, visit a wine bar or funky bistro!

This is what I know:  One bite of birthday cake is never enough, I am the only one like me in the world and I want to live my life from the inside out, celebrating with the people I love most every year – at dinner with my kids, on a long weekend getaway with my husband or throwing a goddess party ... Singing happy birthday every year, right on key!

I would love to hear your birthday ideas!

XOXO 
from the 47 year old celestial brunette!

Wrinkled Elbows - How to Fix them at any Age without Botox!

As if there isn't enough to think about when we age ... but one dead giveaway that we often forget to pay attention to, because we don't see it when we glance in a mirror ... wrinkled elbows!

Our elbows are one of the first places to show aging. The skin is thicker and darker there due to dry skin, constantly leaning our weight on them, and leaving them unprotected from the sun’s harmful rays. My photographer friend says that even children need retouching for discoloration in this area!You have to have a little extra skin around the elbow or you wouldn't be able to bend it, but wrinkly elbows do not mean you're old - seen in this photo snapped at the MTV Video Music Awards recently, of 30 year old celebutante, Kim Kardashian.

                                       

Photo credit HuffPost

I did a fitness shoot last week and made sure I was not giving my photographer extra work in photoshop fighting with my elbow wrinkles. How? By cheating every photo a bit with a slight bend in my elbow. A modeling rule in posing is “if it bends, bend it.”And the best place to apply that rule is for your elbow! Never lock up the joint here, or you will have wrinkly elbows AND an awkward, unflattering pose! 

photo credit HuffPost

From the front, Kim gets it right with the bent skinny arm on the hip trick! Often photographers soften celebrity photos, but obviously not always. 


Regardless, “you cannot walk into the room with photoshop” so here are some things to try for better results in your pictures and in real life:

1. Exfoliate! Exfoliate! Exfoliate! ~ You want to make your skin glow again by removing all the piled up, dead, dry skin on your elbow that is making it discolored by using a scrub, loofah, or nubby washcloth in the shower.
2. Lighten 
   • Try cutting a lemon in half and sinking your elbows into them for about 10-15 minutes to lighten the skin.
   • Fade dark spots by using an over the counter hydroquinone to treat hyperpigmentation.
   • When self tanning don't forget to moisturize your elbows first so that the color is not over- aborbed into the elbow
3.  Elbow Grease 
   • Vaseline, olive oil, shea butter, anti-aging creams!
   • I use a product called AmLactin I  buy at Costco for $18, a steal compared to other stores. It contains an alpha hydroxy acid, a naturally occurring skin humectant to relieve stubborn dry, rough skin. (Works great for feet too)
4. Sunscreen
   •  SPF 15 or higher every day or you will sabatoge all the effort above because the sun promotes darkening and drying.

Guess who these elbows belong to? Hint: People Magazine's Sexiest Man Alive cover boy, Brad Pitt used to rub elbows with her. Proof positive that not even a star is not immune to the wrinkled elbow of age.

photo credit TMZ