Look gorgeous with these beauty quick fixes

Body image is something most people battle with. While some choose to go under the knife to get that perfect nose or pouty lips, it might not always be something you need to opt for. Apart from being expensive, painful and not to mention time consuming, going under the knife comes with its own set of complications. Recently a team of experts at Hairtrade has come up with seven non-surgical fixes for some of the most common body complaints. So to help you get that perfect look, Here is a step by step guide for quick, easy and cheap ways to achieve the look you want:

Fuller lips: Some women are lucky enough to have full lips but for the rest of them, instead of pumping them with collagen or botox, try a few make-up tricks. Before applying any make-up, brush across your lips with a toothbrush. It may sound odd, but in fact it increases the blood flow to your lips, making them appear plumper. To create a fuller look, use a lip pencil to outline your lips – this will help define your lips – and then fill them with your favourite lipstick.

Slimmer nose: Have you ever wished you had a slimmer, straighter nose? Instead of heading to see the nearest plastic surgeon, try contouring.

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By mixing a darker foundation with your natural colour you can create a slimmer shape. Apply a matt finish and then highlight other areas of your face like your cheeks or eyes and you will draw attention away from your nose. There are plenty of free guides to help you achieve the sort of look you’re after.

Flatter tummy: So liposuction or a tummy tuck may seem an easy way to shed the excess pounds – but no pain, no gain, so cut out all the treats and head down to the gym instead. But if you want to flaunt a flat tummy instantly, there is a cheat’s way to give you a helping hand – control undies. We’ve all worn them at some point and they are a must to give you a smooth, streamlined shape.

Longer, thicker hair: Your hair only grows around a centimetre a month, so if you’re trying to grow out a style or just want longer locks, it’s all about being patient. Unless, of course, you decide to try a wig or hair extensions. Good quality hair extensions or a well fitting wig can take you from a cropped style to luscious long locks in minutes. If you suffer from thinning hair, it’s certainly worth trying some of the hair growth shampoos, conditioners and leave in treatments which are available. These help stimulate and quicken hair growth.

Losing dark circles under your eyes: Dark circles and bags under your eyes are all part of aging – but it doesn’t mean we have to like or live with them. Getting enough sleep is a must, and cut down on the caffeine and booze. These can cause mild dehydration making the dark circles more obvious. Also try using a concealer a shade lighter than your norm.

Smoother skin: Skin peels are popular among women who want to remove fine lines, prevent aging and achieve clearer skin. But you can get similar results simply by making some dietary changes. Ditch the sugary treats and white carbs and replace them with wholegrain carbs like brown rice.

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How to Shop for Vintage Fashion Like a Pro: Langley Fox Hemingway Shares Tips from Los Angeles

There’s no shortage of well-dressed women in the world, but the ones who continuously catch our eye seem to have mastered the art of mixing vintage and secondhand pieces with current high street and designer labels. Each day this week, we’ll ask one of them to share their tips and tricks—from where to find the best Thai silk fisherman pants to how to avoid looking like a period actor. Today, Langley Fox Hemingway, the Los Angeles–based model and illustrator, talks the California flea market scene, Indiana Jones hats, and non-judgmental shopping.

What are your favorite vintage stores or flea markets?

I like the flea market on Melrose and Fairfax in Hollywood that happens every Sunday. I also enjoy Squaresville and Cherry Pick in Los Feliz, the Painted Bird, and Ragg Mopp in Silverlake, and every once in a while, the Rose Bowl flea market that happens monthly (though that one can be overwhelming, so I really have to be in the mood to search!).

Do you have any strategies when it comes to vintage shopping?

I can’t really go into normal stores to shop. I like that everything is one of a kind and things are a little weird—it makes it more unique. You generally have to try on and know that most items will have some damage or need a little alteration.

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How did you first get into vintage?

I first got into it early in high school. I remember looking at older girls who bought vintage clothes and admiring them for their originality and way of combining things. I also have always been a big fan of old musicians and classic movie stars, which is now of course “vintage.”

What labels or eras are you constantly hunting for?

I don’t really look for brand names, just things I like that are cheap, such as dresses from the sixties and seventies, suede or leather jackets, brimmed hats, old T-shirts, leather boots or oxfords, any sort of original overall, or maybe just something really silly.

Do you collect any vintage items?

I collect a lot of hats—I love hats!

What’s on your current wish list?

I think I could definitely use some more good T-shirts now that summer is rolling around and maybe a little classic briefcase for a purse (my last one broke!).

What advice or tips would you offer to a vintage shopping novice?

Go into a vintage store when you feel good, you’re in the mood to browse and try on, and know that no one will negatively judge what you pick out as long as you don’t judge it. Oh, and don’t be afraid to be silly!

What’s your favorite vintage find?

Currently my favorite vintage item that I own is my vintage Indiana Jones hat that I got for $6. I like to wear it almost every day, and I decorated it with my grandfather’s pilot pins so it’s extra sentimental.

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Dior and I: seven things we've learned about Raf Simons

Dior and I, the documentary chronicling Raf Simons' debut haute couture collection, premiered at New York's Tribeca film festival last night. Shot in Paris shortly after Simons was appointed by the iconic French fashion house, director Frédéric Tcheng was given intimate access to the ateliers and beyond. Here are seven things we learned from the film.

He's not afraid of a fearsome challenge

A haute couture collection usually takes six to eight months to carefully hand-stitch together. Simons – who had never designed couture before – was given just eight weeks. The film shows the rookie retaining remarkable composure, remembering his manners and sending his hard-working seamstresses hand-written thank you notes. We fell a little bit in love with him, to be honest. Especially when he wore white shorts to work ("It's summer").

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He doesn't sketch designs; he prepares 'files'

At the newly modern, forward-thinking House of Dior – where, radically, he goes by "Raf", rather than "Monsieur Raf" – Simons creates chunky files of images and inspirations for his concepts. Each member of staff is handed a file, and everyone then sketches their ideas, creating around 200 for each prospective suit, dress or skirt.

Even Dior jumps to the demands of wealthy customers

Simons needs to see all the frocks-in-progress, but one of his two premieres (the heads of the atelier) is nowhere to be found. "Is she ill?" he asks. No, she's in New York. A regular client has demanded an immediate fitting; spending €350,000 a season on couture means your demands trump Dior's creative director's, it seems.

Fashion goes beyond the boundaries of language

Simons, 46, doesn't speak French – which does seem a little odd for a Belgian, non? But he muddles through valiantly in franglais, with the help of his "right hand", his adorably cheerful long-term assistant, Pieter Mulier, and his frequent invocation of the catch-all "sublime".

His floral displays put Elton John's posies to shame

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Inspired by Jeff Koons' giant flower puppy, Simons filled every high-ceilinged room of a Paris mansion with thick walls of fresh blooms for his first show. His aim, for it "to look like the fucking puppy in Versailles", took 1m flowers and the work of 50 florists to achieve. Even Anna Wintour is seen commenting on an obvious lack of budgetary constraints.

Simons is an innovator, not a disciple of New Look nostalgia.

"The past is not romantic to me," he says at one point. "The future is romantic to me." But his innovation is sometimes frustrated. He wants to try a technique called imprimé chaîne, to re-create the artist Sterling Ruby's modernist prints on fabric. But only four engravers in France know how to do it, and they're all busy, he's told. Less bothersome, however, is simply spray-painting his spin on the coveted, classic white Bar jacket, rather than wasting time making an actual black one at the last minute.

He's not afraid to cry … just to face his public

When the imprimé chaîne finally comes together, Simons gets more than a little misty-eyed; and backstage at the show, he's in urgent need of hanky. He almost fluffs his bow from nerves, and refuses to walk the full length of the runway, threatening to faint. To be fair, we see his point – with an uber-A-list front row of Jennifer Lawrence, Charlize Theron, Marion Cotillard, Harvey Weinstein, Grace Coddington and Marc Jacobs, we'd probably suffer a spot of stagefright too.

Viktor & Rolf Take You to the Candy Shop

At their couture comeback in January, Viktor & Rolf wrapped up the show with a surprise reveal of their spring fragrance launch. Above the catwalk appeared a supersized image of model Edita Vilkeviciute, shot by Inez & Vinoodh, wearing nothing but body paint, holding a bow-shaped bottle of Bonbon. “We liked that her skin was becoming clothing in a way,” said Viktor Horsting. “She’s nude but she’s not. She’s dressed in paint. Her skin becomes like a garment. It was a [conceptual] way of saying that perfume could be worn like a garment.” The body art alone took about twelve hours to apply. The couture collection likewise had blurred the lines between skin and clothes, with tattoo-like embellishments such as ruffles and bows hand-painted over flesh-tone latex dresses.

For their latest fragrance, V&R began with an icon from their own lexicon: the bow. “The thing is, a bow doesn’t smell,” noted Rolf Snoeren. “So we started thinking of candy wrappers and bonbons, because they are like bows. And they smell [good].”

To hit the right note, they began by literally raiding candy stores. Working alongside perfumers Serge Majoullier and Cécile Matton, the design duo brought every kind of candy they could get their hands on into the L’Oréal Paris headquarters. “That was a fun exercise. We tested chocolates, caramels—all kinds of sweets. But we immediately became addicted to a specific caramel note. The buttery note of caramel was very sexy,” said Snoeren. “Sweet but also sexy. Grown-up.”

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Once Viktor & Rolf zeroed in on their “couture” accord, Matton and Majoullier spun the original idea of candy into an olfactory ode to pleasure. “There are so many directions you could go,” observed Horsting. “We wanted something luxurious. The name might suggest girliness, but it had to be grown-up. It’s not a game of seduction. The attitude is more about being at ease, about self-indulgence and empowerment.”

Although the fragrance at first seems nearly edible, it is anything but facile. “It was important to not just create caramel-à-porter,” explained Matton. “We took the gourmandise aspect to the extreme.” Adds Majoullier, “The tricky thing about caramel is that you have to dress it up without concealing it.”

The perfumers went about addressing the challenge by declining to use patchouli, for one thing. Said Matton, “We were inspired by variations in texture. The caramel changes as the perfume evolves: It’s crackly on top, creamier at the heart, and more concentrated at the base. There’s a clothes-like structure—it’s a representation.”

Ultimately, the Bonbon caramel ventured into a more woody, sensual terrain, rounded out by a sprinkling of fruity notes to break up its richness. The fragrance opens with sparkling notes of mandarin and “Paradise peach,” warming into a sunny jasmine and orange blossom heart before settling into a gently overcooked woody amber base with notes of gaic and cedar.

“Bonbon is not for any one woman,” offered Horsting. “[It’s the same with] Flowerbomb, which had such fantastic reach. We don’t want to create limits.”

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Get That '90s-Beauty Vibe, in a Completely Non-Tragic Way

They (whoever the hell "they" are—Illuminati?) say that fashion and beauty trends are cyclical, and everything comes back after about 20 years. That means we're smack-dab in the middle of the '90s again. I've totally been there and done that, in middle and high school, and it was all terrifyingly terrible. With those feelings in mind, I've taken these boomeranged '90s beauty trends and given them a slightly modern tweak so I can avoid flashbacks of the most awkward time in my life. Now I will be able to continue living like a friggin' human being, for the most part, without having to listen to a Jock Jams compilation album on repeat.

Chocolate Rain Nails

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Yes, I used a "Chocolate Rain" reference in 2014. I know not what I do. The bad mofos at Floss Gloss sent me a sample of Blood, Suede & Tears a while back, and I have never gotten around to using it until now. There's a reason for my madness: I have deep-seated issues with chocolate brown nail polish. It was my polish du jour (for every jour) in high school, so I'm almost still burned out on it. Like the Celine Dion Titanic song. They're both still filed under "too soon" in my brain.

But then I actually TRIED this polish, and it's pretty damn boss. I decided to top it off with my OPI Matte Top Coat to give it a more leathery look, and it looks zero percent like my high school nails, but still has a hint of that '90s vibe. IN YOUR FACE, 1998!

Brows to the Max

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OK, so maybe the '80s are the most known decade for big-ass brows, but I refuse to think about sperm-y eyebrows of the mid to late '90s. I can't. I'm talking those lush-to-death Linda Evangelista brows that just won't quit. Those things are bad boys for life. (You know Puffy's going to try to sue me now.)

The biggest, boldest brows are built in two steps. (And in a day. Take that, Rome!) First, create the shape of the brows you want with an eyebrow pencil that's a couple of shades lighter than your hair color. Because this is the part that really shows on your skin and doesn't stick to your hair, you don't want the pencil to be dark and superobvious. After you've penciled up, fill in the stencil you've created with a slightly darker-than-your-hair brow powder. Always follow the direction of the hair growth of your brows to keep them looking natural and non-tattoo-like. Viva la bushy brow!

Kate Moss-esque Zero-Effs Grunge Hair

The queen of '90s-I-don't-even-care-about-anything-I-just-happen-to-be-hot-and-my-boyfriend-is-Johnny-Depp hair is obviously Kate Moss. Kate's like, Wheeee! I just woke up this way! Next to Johnny mf-ing Depp in his sexy prime! I have quirky and adorable teeth! I kind of paved the way for Kirsten Dunst! I never got a thank-you letter for that, but I'll let it go! Frozen! Adele Dazim! Isn't my hair so damn recklessly fabulous?"

Here's the best thing about this '90s-hair resurgence: It's perfect for lazies. It really looks best with air-dried, messy hair, and this takes almost zero effort. And really, second-day hair works even better, if you can stand it. I usually can't do second-day hair sans chapeau (thanks, seven years of French), but I treated my slightly oily hair here with the Jonathan Dry Dirt spray (which I was given a sample of) to sop up a little grease and add some texture and volume. My non-blow-dried hair is as limp as the limpest noodle (insert your own dirty joke, freak-a-leeks), so I've been using Dry Dirt on the daily, and it's the perfect mix of texture with a teensy bit of hold. The cherry on the '90s-hair cake (that's disgusting) is a deep side part, so part it up. OK, where's Johnny Depp? Side note—how often do you think JD washes his hair? Twice a month, tops, I bet.

Gloom n' Doom Lips

Remember, like, seven paragraphs ago when I told you I was almost irreparably damaged in my beauty brain by my own brown-nail history? I pretty much felt the same way about dark lips, man. As you can see in exhibit A above, I really favored dark brown lips in my teenage years. So when the dark-lipped trend recently reared its beautifully monstrous head again, I had to find a way to flip the script to let the darkness back into my life, without feeling like I was participating in a horrible Freaky Friday–like experiment.

I achieved this by pretty much living and dying by this picture of Lily Collins when it comes to dark n' lovely lips. Instead of a brownish-based lip, I favor deep reddish burgundy, like Urban Decay Revolution Lipstick in Shame. For maximum impact, I keep the rest of my mug relatively on the down-low and let my lips do the talking. It's like my old-school brown-lip game with a new-school twist. As for my choker collection, it's been put out to pasture. Sorry, world, I'm not ready.

Statement Jewellery

Indian jewellery designers are making their presence felt on the auction scene. Here’s taking a look at what’s going under the hammer:

CARAT COUNT

Up for bidding today at an auction by Sotheby’s will be the Spectacular Diamond Necklace by jeweller Nirav Modi. This one-of-a-kind creation, to be auctioned in Hong Kong, has a reserve price of Rs 50 crore. Modi, a well-regarded name on the auction circuit and known for his penchant for high-quality and high-value diamonds, is hoping to break some records. Mounted in platinum, with 17 Type IIa brilliant-cut diamonds, with D-IF colour clarity, “excellent” grading in cut, polish and symmetry and weighing 85.33 carats, this necklace promises to be quite the dazzler. “Rare and exceptional diamonds have always been at the heart of Nirav Modi creations. This jewel is another stellar example of this trait,” says Modi, in the concept note describing the neck piece that involved at least 300 man hours to create.

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JEWELS FOR A CAUSE

When jewellery designer Mira Gulati, founder and principal designer, Mirari, heard of Project Blossoming, she knew she had to be a part of it. The project is a philanthropic partnership by Gemfields, a leading supplier of coloured gemstones, with the NGO Nanhi Kali to support the cause of girl child education. Apart from Mirari, Gemfields has roped in nine leading jewellery designers to create collections that will be auctioned by Christie’s in Mumbai on June 6 to raise funds for Nanhi Kali. The line-up includes Amrapali (Jaipur), Hazoorilal (Delhi), Tibarumals Jewellers (Hyderabad), Talwarsons (Chandigarh), Moksh (Mumbai), Narayan Jewellers (Baroda), Lala Jugal Kishore Jewellers (Lucknow), Anmol Jewellers (Mumbai) and Abaran (Bangalore).

Inspired by the meaning of Nanhi Kali, Gulati, for instance, has created “Cherry Blossom”, a collection of a necklace and earrings. “Cherry blossom flowers, an important part of Japanese art and culture, mark the arrival of new beginnings and represent hope. Our contribution comes with a similar idea for the cause,” says Gulati.

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Plush keeps your handbags in shape

With Plush, luxury bags can now look and feel as beautiful as the day you bought it.

THE days of seeing your designer bags out-of-shape are finally over.

Have you noticed that despite storing it away carefully in its dustbag and stuffing to the brim with paper and tissue, it still emerges resembling a deflated parfait with wrinkles and scuffs?

These were the very thoughts that crossed the mind of entrepreneur and bag-lover Nazreem Musa, the managing director of Plush..

“I could see my mum’s vintage Chanel bags get increasingly scratched and bent out of shape over the years and I just thought it would be great if there was a way to help maintain these luxury bags’ shape and leather and so, the Plush pursepillow and chain wrap was created,” he said.

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Nazreem had already immersed himself in the family business with his mum when he first came to know about foam-wood-polyprophylene-steel.

“Watching this machine, in my mum’s company, create the foam used in mattresses, it dawned upon me that it would be great as a purse pillow.”

Available in five different measurements, the mini, petite, jumbo, maxi and grande, Nazreem said the best way to pick the appropriate plush pillow size is to choose a pillow that is one to two inches smaller than the bag.

As a point of reference, a mini would be for a wallet and would fit an Alexander McQueen clutch nicely. The dimensions of the petite would fit a Chanel medium flap bag while the jumbo would suit the Chanel Maxi and Jumbo bags. The maxi is better suited for the 35cm Hermes Birkin or Celine Phantom bag while the grande is meant for the 40cm Birkin. “

Even two pillows could be used if the bag is bigger or deeper. Otherwise, we are also open to custom orders,” said Nazreem.

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“There will be varying colours and materials in time to come but for now, I am using purple to start. I believe that even the inside of your bags need to be beautiful and well maintained and when spending thousands of dollars on a handbag, it should tally with how it is cared for.”

Adding further value to your precious accessories is the Plush chain wrap. This is a cover which can be wrapped around the chain or metal straps of handbags to prevent it from tangling or from scuffing the leather.