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M·A·C Glamour Daze Launching in November 2012!‏

Lauren Calaway

I chanced upon 24 year old model Lauren Calaway while reading an article on XinMsn – “10 models who defy convention“. Why would this title attract me? Because although some people call me a ‘model’, I almost always deny it and say that I’m simply one who wishes I were a supermodel, and that being photographed is more a hobby and passion or interest that anything that gives me income or commercial value.

Calaway is so gorgeous – even more so because given her height (1.58m), she knows it would be challenge being a model, just like how I realized it myself and know that I wouldn’t and couldn’t make a career out of it (By the way I’m 1.57m). The difference is that she’s far more beautiful than I am, and with her ambition and will, she has definitely made it as a “travelsize supermodel”.

Calaway, also an actress, fire dancer and musician, has landed numerous campaigns and magazine spreads and was even casted as a runway model for Oscar Fierro. She revealed in a Modelbee interview that she got into modeling by dating a photographer. And when I posted the mentioned article on Facebook, there was a comment on whether I would do the same. Oh well, maybe I would, but for now, I’m taken. Probably wouldn’t date someone just so he could make me a model. Probably I’d rather convert the current boy into a photographer since he’s quite into the hobby too!

I was so fascinated by Calaway that I actually Googled her and found her website. I love her site! It’s clean and there’s just enough room and pictures to speak about her life. Like on her About Me page. She’s so free spirited and does what she likes being the “rebel of the family”. I’m officially full of admiration for this bite sized but dynamic beauty ;)

I just can’t resist slapping this wonderful paragraph here, where she wrote about Becoming A Model. I think any girl who wants to be anything should read that. The kind of energy, conviction and drive….it’s AMAZING.

When I first started in this industry, I used to love to be behind the camera. I would do makeup/hair and wardrobe styling. Then I started to wonder why I wasn’t on the other side of the camera.  So I began contacting local photographers to work with so that I could build a portfolio and learn how to model. Most people would tell me the same thing,”You can’t be a model. You are too short.” However, I had already fallen in love with modeling and was determined to become a professional model.

​Eventually, I made my way to Los Angeles. Over and over again, I was rejected by agencies. They would tell me,”If you were 5’8” you would be a super model.” Well, unfortunately, I was far past hitting a growth spurt. Eventually, I became agency represented and started to book bigger jobs. At least once a day, someone will still tell me that I am too short to model. I think that I have officially proven them wrong. I have been agency represented and worked major campaigns.

If you have drive and determination, you can do anything. You have to believe in yourself before someone else will believe in you.

It’s apparent that she’s truly in love with modeling. Just looking at her pictures you could tell. I love modeling too – it’s capturing a kind of visual perfection, you can call it anything you like – an art, a mood, a beautiful moment. Lots of people have lots of opinions and perceptions of modeling but trust me that it’s beyond vanity and self obsession. To create a great photograph it takes not only a lot of focus and mental stimulation/motivation on the part of the model, the photographer needs to have the skills and to communicate with the model in more ways than one. I call it the “mutual understanding” or “lens talk”. The lighting, the angle, the timing, and everything else that happens just right before the “click” to indicate that the deed is done.

And I’ve not mentioned both the pre and post work for photoshoots, from outfit planning to venue and backdrop to the editing. But I truly enjoy it. The goal is very clear too, I just care about the final product, the final photograph.

With most photographers I’m just myself. I’ve heard of ‘arrogant’ models who put about airs around themselves, or those who don’t co-operate so well. But looking back at the ultimate goal, I think being comfortable around the photographer and being myself, small talk, relaxing, building rapport is important.

Calaway is super versatile and she looks great both for high fashion or lifestyle, or beauty. I like to see myself as flexible and versatile enough to carry off many looks too, oh well I’m still learning, and I hope I do get better :) It takes form to model well, and maybe right now it’s not quite there as it’s been awhile since my last shoot. I do miss it!

Love her eyes, her expression, her voluminous hair, her sharp yet delicate features, her petite yet stunning figure.

Most of all I love her beauty, her determination, her positive attitude, and that personality.

The world is her oyster.

I’m your new fan, Lauren Calaway ;)

K-Pop’s eating up its ICE CREAM.

20 year old Kim Hyuna is a South Korean idol, singer, dancer, rapper, designer, model and a member of the Korean girl group 4Minute, under Cube Entertainment. She is also a former member of the popular girl group Wonder Girls.

She garnered loads of attention from the popular MTV Bubble-Pop (above) with its debatable catchy tune and allegedly racy content from the sexy dance moves and eye candy overload. As mentioned in my previous post on KARA (another Korean girl group), I was never taken in by the mass appeal of Kpop culture, except that I have to admit with all the commercial packaging and image branding and of course, plastic surgery, the idols do look darn good.

Is it surprising then, that the insanely popular/well known PSY of “Oppa Gangnam Style” has been happily collaborating with Hyuna and conveniently boosting each other’s popularity further? A match made in heaven.

Aren’t South Korean music videos all that kind of “style” – over-the-top, satirical, and obsessed  with wealth and material success?

For your information, in 2010, YouTube served up 2.3 billion views of K-pop videos.

Have been hearing nothing much more than gangnam style these days. On social media, shopping malls, schools, neighbourhood towns, everywhere. PSY’s style is indeed traveling and evolving into variants of its original ‘masterpiece’.

Sometimes I wonder if I should just ride the Korean wave and let it hit me and transform me but it’s not really working. I just tune in to popular hits on YouTube and soak in its sensationalism and that’s about it. Sure, I have some things to admire and even emulate (e.g. Korean fashion and makeup) but hell no way I’m going to wait at airports for the boy/girl band stars and scream my lungs out at $228 per ticket concerts as a hard core fan.

Hyuna’s Ice-Cream, for one, got me watching it till the end because of her fascinating wardrobe. I wasn’t impressed by her pouts and saunters trying to seduce the camera. In fact, for a lot of Kpop MVs I have a problem finish watching the videos. It’s that uninteresting to me. Somehow I tend to look at them in a very different perspective, sort of like taking a backseat, analyzing them element by element instead of being blindly awestruck by the kind of excitement and emotive admiration it tries to instil in you.

Dance moves – checked. They’ve got it and flaunted it. I give my nod.

Makeup and fashion – Yes, amazing. If I were a star I’d lust after their wardrobe too. Such impressive modern and chic designs. Pretty much have their own character too. Applause.

Korean dramas are good too. I’ll watch them if I have the time.

Meanwhile I’ll just sit by and watch the world continue to gawk at Kpop’s speed and success at capturing hearts with the next pretty face, perfectly choreographed dance routine, calculated camera effects and jaw dropping wardrobe and costume extravagance.

Lap it up, guys.

Yes let’s do it! Thanks Michelle Phan, you’re really awesome ;)

Adv: LOVEMORE Wine Yeast Whitening Mask Sheets & Sexy Look Rejuvenating Duo Lifting Mask

Is there really a secret to beautiful skin?

Ever since I got back my pimple-less skin, I’ve never been more hardworking trying to maintain its current condition, with the help of religious daily cleansing and putting on Love More/Sexy Look masks twice a week!

Introducing Love More’s Wine Yeast Whitening Mask Sheet

Wine Yeast Whitening Mask Sheet

100% natural, 100% skin-fit and 100% good for you! Choose this mask for a whitening effect and youthful complexion! The fine silk mask fits like a glove for your skin to drink up all the essence!

Loofah & Aloe Vera Hydrating Mask Sheet

Choose this mask to give your skin a boost of deep hydration!

Pearl Barley & Milk Smoothing Mask Sheet 

Choose this mask to get baby-soft skin!

Mountain Tea Polyphenols Moisturizing Mask Sheet 

Choose this mask to keep your skin moist all day long!

Sexy Look Rejuvenating Duo Lifting Mask (5pcs/box)

Revitalize and recharge your skin’s youthfulness! Enriched with bird’s nest and gold caviar to delay the aging process of your skin and repair damaged skin cell. With the innovative 3D ear hook design to firm and lift skin around cheek, chin and mouth area. Younger looking skin is just one mask away!

Indeed, after my masking I always feel super rejuvenated and I know that a mask the night before an important event (that “requires” looking good and fresh) will do wonders! I haven’t been disappointed! Like right now I’m exactly feeling the superb “springy” sensation in my skin. Going to sleep and waking up the next morning I know I’m ready to go in great condition!

enjoy your home luxe treatment, ladies!

Goodnight xoxo

Photoshoot @ Gardens by the Bay

Just a mini, casual shoot helping my gf Katie with her school project ;)

Will upload more when I receive the photos ;)

It was a really DIY shoot – hair, makeup and even the hand-made piece I was wearing was done up by Katie. She actually sewed 3 pieces of the fabric together to create this outfit! Isn’t it really unique? I remember attracting quite a few eyeballs swishing the sash around while shooting at the Gardens. The bottom part of the skirting was really long and you could just wear it like a pair of pants, didn’t look like an external piece at all. Talk about being creative with minimal resources!

Ahhhh I miss photoshoots! <3

Not feeling Brad Pitt’s Chanel No. 5 ad? This second video may change your mind

And the plot thickens. The saga of Chanel No. 5’s Brad Pitt campaign continues with a second edition of the commercial. The monologue from Monday’s ad—which is voiced by Pitt, the brand’s first male ambassador for the fragrance—remains the same only now the commercial is less about his brooding face and more about Chanel No. 5.

Playing into the “wherever I go, there you are” messaging, the commercial shows various Chanel-styled women (one even walks on water!) looking longingly into the distance. Probably thinking about Brad Pitt.

When the 30-second video cuts back to Pitt so he can say “inevitable,” it’s a strange combination—his face is still in black and white while the new cuts of women are bright and feel fairly futuristic.

First version. Not feeling it, right? The only thing that struck me was how forlorn and tired Pitt looked, though his deep, sexy voice remained.

“Plans disappear, dreams take over and every journey ends…” says a sad and scruffy Brad Pitt, with a soulful smile that still manages to go right into our hearts.

The commercial’s plotline is simple: Brad Pitt delivers a 30-second monologue directly to the camera and that’s it. Brad must take fragrances very seriously because the tone of the entire commercial is sombre and emotional. The Chanel No.5 bottle never even shares a frame with Brad Pitt, instead making a 2 second appearance at the end, before cutting back to Brad so he can finish it all off by saying “inevitable”.

The print campaign on the other hand is a bit more reasonable than the video because Brad Pitt doesn’t speak. The black and white ad features the same unkempt Brad Pitt, but now he stares at the Chanel perfume bottle looking curious and a little stunned.

After 91 years, Chanel has the recipe for perfume success locked down: Beautiful woman, timeless scent, timeless bottle. But while the formula for Chanel No. 5 itself will never change, Chanel is modifying their marketing with an interesting twist: Brad Pitt has signed on as the newest face of Chanel No. 5 face, making him the first man to represent a women’s fragrance.

The history behind Chanel No.5.

“It’s not a journey. Every journey ends, but we go on. The world turns and we turn with it. Plans disappear. Dreams take over. But wherever I go, there you are. My luck, my fate, my fortune. Chanel No. 5. Inevitable.”

http://www.fashionmagazine.com

New CROCS New You! PLUS FREE CROCS TO GIVEAWAY!

Crocs Singapore hosted a Crocs’ Fall Holiday 2012 Collection & New Crocs New You Contest cum bloggers’ event last month at Tampines Mall for bloggers to witness the launch of the new fall/winter 2012 collection! Though I was never a fan of Crocs initially, I was excited to be there because I’ve recently noticed that they now have ultra stylish shoes of different designs and for different occasions. I’ve always thought that Crocs are just those rubbery “crocodile mouth with holes in them” shoes good for rainy weather!

Smith – the emcee for the evening

Saw many familiar faces there, including omy and DealPrimo bloggers Maybeline, Joey and William. Peggy Heng and Holly Jean were present too!

Aren’t you amazed at the variety of colours Crocs shoes have?

And we can’t miss out TV Star Oli Pettigrew, ambassador of the New Crocs New You (NCNY) campaign! He’s really friendly and bubbly in person! Most importantly, he’s a Crocs fan (must be because of his kids!) and supporter of the NCNY contest!

Colour my rubber – works, doesn’t it?

New collection! Love the range of colours and casual styles good for informal occasions. Can’t be in heels 24/7 right?

And I picked my pair (every blogger is entitled to a free pair of Crocs to participate in a mini contest) from this collection! Guess which colour I chose?

With an extra $100 cold hard cash vouchers to spend in the mall, we had half an hour to capture scenes that mimic the NCNY contest, and upload them onto Crocs Singapore’s facebook page. Pettigrew will then pick the winning photos!

His 3 favourite entries get to win another $100 vouchers each! Too enticing!

Carrie, Rachie and myself went off to take pictures of different places in the mall with our new Crocs on! Above, I was just having fun “playing” with the toy-catching machine…

(Yes I chose pink of course! Totally screamed at me to pick them!)

Another one at TimeZone!

The chosen pair hehehehehee! It wasn’t the most comfortable (new shoes and I don’t believe in biting them to make them more wearable) but I like the design best!

I really like these too!

Stylish Carrie – thanks for the photo!

Rachie and I – I love her pair too! It’s so Chanel classic – black & white!

Camwhoring time! :P

The entertaining Smith ;) The little blue Croc can’t get enough of him too :P

Having a lot of fun indeed, I almost thought the red monster was alive the way Carrie was handling it. Woot!

And of course we can’t miss a shot with Oli!

Carrie is super hilarious as she tries Oppa Gangnam style at Prize Stage!

Here are the winners with Oli!

Joey’s entry! Wow she actually put the pair of Crocs strategically *there* and bra worn outside! Salute!

And there’s Smith proposing to Nadnut with a pair of Crocs! She looked like she was going to agree!

Above 2 images credits to Holly Jean.sg.

And after all that hype and excitement, Oli was hired as one of Crocs’ cashier (yeah right of course I’m joking)! Let’s play Pretend, shall we?

Group photo with all bloggers

And here’s the fun part –  check out the New Crocs New You website! There, Oli gives you recommendations for the perfect Crocs footwear to fit your daily needs! You not only receive great fashion advice and styling tips from Oli himself, but stand a chance to win a host of prizes through an interactive video! How cool is that!

Go on – Take a virtual stroll through a simulated day in Crocs of your choice, and you will find yourself in the running to win a three day, two night stay at the Datai, Langkawi. Heading out for a cuppa or jetting off across the globe, there is a pair of Crocs for every occasion, guaranteed.

You may even win yourself a weekend getway for 2 at the Capella Singapore in the lucky draw! There are also 10 pairs of Crocs up for grabs! Try your luck and see if you could win your very own pair of pretty, comfy Crocs! :)

A treat for all my readers – 2x CROCS GIVEWAY!

Who wins? : 2 freaking lucky winners!

 2 lucky readers who comment on this post will each win a FREE pair of Crocs, ANY PAIR of YOUR CHOICE + $50 CROCS Vouchers!

Simply comment on this post with your Name, Email Address and this phrase “I love CROCS!” to qualify ;)

Note: Comments may be screened and I’ll be picking the two lucky babes/hunks. Results will be announced by 1st November 2012.

Good luck and have fun with CROCS! :)

xoxo

Melissa Jane

***

Update:

Announcement of *WINNERS* for the CROCS GIVEAWAY

Congratulations to Teresa Chong and Jess Koh for each winning a PAIR OF CROCS (of your choice) + $50 CROCS Voucers!!! I love your responses and hope you’ll enjoy shopping for your favourite CROCS!

I’ll be emailing the both of you separately regarding your prizes by 3rd November. Please let me know if you have not received the email(s) from me by then!

To everyone else, thank you for your kind support and overwhelming responses! Looking forward to more giveaways for all of you soon <3

Sincerely,

Melissa Jane

Have Youuuu Heard? Kristen Stewart’s fronting Balenciaga’s Florabotanica fragrance

In the advertising campaign for Balenciaga Florabotanica (from $90, at department stores and thebay.com), Kristen Stewart, the face of the dark floral fragrance, stands amid a minefield of ominously beautiful botanicals, inspired by the same vintage Pierre Frey wallpaper that influenced Nicolas Ghesquière’s Fall 2011 collection. Hovering near a stoic Stewart is what appears to be a Venus flytrap, angling to chomp down on her head.

“I think he’s fucking amazing,” Stewart says of Ghesquière, the house’s creative director and the man who wooed her to front its latest fragrance, perhaps with the promise that she wouldn’t have to pose on satin sheets—or smile. Though, on set, she would have been willing to cooperate if that had been the order of the day. “I was like, ‘Do you want me to stand a certain way to show the curves of the dress? Do you want me to model it up?’ By default, you sort of learn these things over the years, but they were like, ‘No, no, no, just stuff your hands in your pockets and just stand there.’”

Seated on a sofa in a suite in Paris’s Hôtel Le Bristol, the 22-year-old actress runs her hands through her tangled mane, flipping it back and forth. It’s the end of June, nearly a month before Stewart’s world is shaken up like a snow globe when a paparazzo snaps her mid-makeout with her married Snow White and the Huntsman director Rupert Sanders, devastating Twilight fans rooting for Bella and Edward in real life. She talks Aaron Sorkin-fast, her sentences punctuated with profanity that seems as involuntary as breathing. “I’m sorry, I think [swearing] kind of discredits everything you say,” she says in reference to her earlier F-bomb, which won’t be her last.

Stewart wears this Spring 2008 Balenciaga dress in the campaign

Much like her first script read with Robert Pattinson, which was arranged to see whether the pair had any chemistry (it was “electrifying,” director Catherine Hardwicke told Vanity Fair), Stewart felt a strong connection to Ghesquière right off the bat. The two met at a Bruce Weber Interview shoot when she was just 14 years old. “Sometimes you meet people and instantly recognize something in them, and you explore that friendship because you want to figure out what you recognized about them at that first second.” Like Stewart, and previous Balenciaga fragrance face Charlotte Gainsbourg (“she’s a fucking great actress, man”), Ghesquière doesn’t play the games expected in their respective industries. “The soul-sucking fashion side of things is so clearly not him, and that’s why I am attracted to him and his world,” says Stewart.

A detail of the pattern

Perfumers Olivier Polge and Jean-Christophe Hérault geared the scent to a younger perfume wearer—like, say, a Twihard—but instead of making it insipidly sweet, they imagined what an 18th-century garden of poisonous flowers would smell like. The predominant note is Turkish rose (edgier than the English variety), reinvented by way of amping up its green and spicy aspects. Stewart offers a perfume application tip. “If you wear it casually, wear it in the morning. Wear it when you haven’t showered. I know that sounds disgusting, but that’s the fucking sexiest thing.”

An exclusive behind-the-scenes video on the making of the Florabotanica ad campaign.

The video, which was shot by photographer Steven Meisel, features Kristen Stewart and Balenciaga’s creative director Nicolas Ghesquiere talking about their experience working with each other and on this project together. The Florabotanica advertisement is Kristen Stewart’s first major fragrance campaign and she discusses how proud she is of their collaboration, despite never having done anything like this before. She muses, “It’s an odd relationship that us actresses get to have with fashion. It’s not something I ever imagined myself fitting into.” Despite Kristen Stewart’s timid remarks about being the face of Balenciaga’s new perfume, Nicolas Ghesquiere assures us that “Right away, I thought she was a Balenciaga girl.”

http://www.fashionmagazine.com

MANGO: Your Biker Look + H.E. + PIXIE MARKET Highlights!