BellaSugar

Beauty Byte: Napoleon Perdis's Reality Show Debuts Monday Morning

BellaSugar — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 12:05:11 PST

Charismatic makeup artist to the stars, Napoleon Perdis, is everywhere these days. He's got a training academy in LA and his products can be found at ULTA, Target, Napoleon Perdis Stores, and select boutiques. Oh, and that's just in the United States.

The Australian native's next venture? A 10-episode reality program called Get Your Face On, where the now Hollywood-based Perdis is out to find his protégé amongst 12 contenders. “I’m going to be fair, but I’m going to be tough,” he said.

The show, which will run in a marathon-style format, starts Monday, Dec. 8 at - 7 a.m.?! Zoikes, that's early. Each hour-long episode will air throughout 10 consecutive weekdays, with the finale on Friday, Dec. 19 So, tell me - will you be up and alert with your morning joe to watch, or is it going to be TiVo all the way?

Photo courtesy of NapoleonPerdis.com

In Her Shoes: April Beyer, Matchmaker and Relationship Coach

Anna Monette Roberts — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 03:05:36 PST

In the spirit of Valentine's Day, April Beyer, expert relationship coach and matchmaker, gives SavvySugar an insider's look into her unique career. Helping men and women find lasting relationships for almost 14 years, she is the founder and president of Beyer & Company, a matchmaking and relationship consulting firm. She's frequently interviewed and has been seen on Dr. Phil, 20/20, and Good Morning America. Beyond her weekly clients, April writes on her blog, conducts seminars, and is working on a book to help women prepare for love and romance. April tells us what it's like to assist other people on their journey to finding love and happiness.

SavvySugar: Can you tell me about your career path and how your business has grown throughout the years?

April Beyer: I started out in the high-end matchmaking industry nearly 14 years ago. I had worked with a matchmaking company and was there for about six or seven years. I was responsible for many marriages there. In 2003, I decided to venture out on my own and start a relationship coaching and consulting business. Now, I still have my matchmaking company. I work with a handful of highly successful marriage-minded men. I am also a coach and a writer.

Now my passion is to help women better understand themselves first so then they can naturally attract the man of their dreams. I am a little bit more of a holistic dating and relationship coach, but I think of myself more as is a communication and authenticity coach. For me, it's not about teaching people dating skills, it is teaching them relationship skills.

Click here to read more about April.

20 Can't-Miss Backstage and Audience Grammys Pictures

Allie Merriam — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 10:55:47 PST

There was so much going down onstage at last night's Grammy Awards, it was easy to miss the stars mingling backstage and out in the audience. Adele was the evening's big winner with six statues, but it seems like Paul McCartney was the recipient of the most popular honor. He doled out kisses to wife Nancy Shevell, but other musicians were all about getting face time with Macca. See who else rubbed shoulders at the Grammys and make sure to weigh in with your thoughts on the show's fashions with our love it or hate it polls!

Kristen Stewart Talks Badass Fairy Tales, Bella Swan, and Her New Leading Man on Snow White Set Visit

Molly Goodson — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 10:01:00 PST

Last October, we were so excited to pay a visit to the set of Snow White and the Huntsman outside London. We got a sneak peek into the amazing world Kristen Stewart and her costars, including Chris Hemsworth, Sam Claflin, Charlize Theron, and more, inhabited while shooting the action-packed fairy-tale movie. We have tons to come from our day poking around the remarkable set and learning about everything from the costumes to the fight scenes. While we were there, we even got to see the aftermath of Kristen accidentally actually punching Chris Hemsworth in the face filming a scene. Check out our chat with Kristen and stay tuned for lots from the set:

Is there something you admire about Snow White?

Yes. It’s strange playing a character that you actually could never truly embody. Her spirit affects people. . . I can’t have Snow White’s effect on people. I can’t actually be completely selfless because nobody is. You can only really play a character like that in a fairy tale and play it with an awful load of integrity. She’s very fully formed, but very farfetched-from-the-reality-that-we-live-in type of person. She also is strong in a very different way than you’d expect. Strength, yeah, but also gusto. I mean, she’s strong. She can kick ass. It hurts very much to do so and so it’s not like you’re watching her go take down a kingdom. You’re not watching going, "Yeah! Kill him!" Really it’s more like you’re watching someone having to do something that doesn’t just go against your sensibilities or that you agree with. It’s gutting. It’s physically gutting, literally. A million reasons, but she’s special.

Do you like that she’s not like your prissy fairy tale?

Yeah, because that’s just a very surface, though she is prissy sometimes. That’s the other thing. It takes her the whole movie basically to become who I’m talking about now. I’m really sort of talking in retrospect. It’s strange. It’s a total identity movie. It’s all about not finding yourself, but actually just being OK with who you always have been and not being ashamed of being the only one who sees the light. It’s an enormous burden and she’s so stunted. She was put away when she was 7 years old and your mother and your father were killed basically right in front of you. We’re not doing the version of a fairy tale that wouldn’t deal with all of those things, where you just sort of skim over all those things, and it's like all of these things are actually really important to the characters. She literally bleeds for her land and her people, and that’s just such a cool concept for me because it’s other people caring about people. It’s very simple, but it’s so common. Every day all the time you see people not caring about each other, and this is just about that.

She learns to be a leader or she’s born a leader inside, do you think?

She’s definitely a born leader. I mean, it’s literally pumping through those veins, but it’s been taken from her. She’s been so stolen from.

To read the rest of the interview, including her thoughts on Bella vs. Snow White and what it was like to punch Chris just

read more. Is it helping you get into the character's mindset to wear those cool costumes? Absolutely. If you look down and something doesn’t feel like you would definitely be wearing it, or if you go to grab your knife and it flops around or - basically [Colleen Atwood] thinks about every detail. It’s so wearable. I also have puffy sleeves. Somehow she manages to make puffy sleeves look butch. I was always expecting to personally wind up in a - basically what I’m wearing underneath it, like that little blue dress, which is just thin and wispy. I was really happy that she’s got something heavy on - a bit of armor before she actually finds her own armor. How did you feel the first time you put on the armor? Did you feel more badass? Yeah. That’s the first thing you want to [pound your chest]. Also, my armor doesn’t have a huge top on it. All the guys, unfortunately, they [raise their arms] and they hit themselves in the head. I can run around in mine. Somehow the armor on the men - unless they’re on horseback and they look amazing, but there’s also something kind of dainty about it, too, like pointy toes. It fits a woman’s body better, I feel. I don’t know, the guys running around suddenly look like little toys - slightly feminine little toys. Both Snow White and Bella had traumatizing experiences in the woods - being led out to die or have her heart broken - compare those two experiences? Well, it’s funny. I think [Snow White] genuinely lacks that innate fear of death that we all have. She’s got a serious, fierce survival - not skills, but insights. But she isn’t afraid of anything. What’s harder is to have dreams and hopes that you lived your whole life sort of be just shattered in front of you. So I think probably it’s totally impossible to compare the two. And I know that doesn’t make sense, but I kind of can’t compare. Can you compare the movies in general? Are there similarities at all? Bella and Snow White both come to find that they’re leaders. I mean, that’s definitely a similarity. They’re different. They’re very, very, very, different people. Also, I guess in a very sort of righteous way as well it’s all very like - everyone’s telling them “no” and both of them I guess see the light. Both of them are sort of a little more intuitive and spiritually, for whatever reason, connected and their gut is always sort of dead right. What about working with Chris surprised you? Did you have any preconceptions of him? Before I met him, I was like, "gosh, so charming." You know what I mean? Like he’s so ridiculously, seemingly nice. Movie-star caliber nice. But he really actually just is. But then again, it’s strange working - cause I mean it’s not a secret. It was completely different part before. It was totally like a rethought. So when he came in it was like "Wow! This is f*cking interesting!" I mean, it was like they really elevated it. Chris is an amazing, nice guy and also [has] great instincts and he can roll with everything on set. He’s really relaxed, whereas I’m always like, "oh my god!" I use my anxiety to do this and he’s always sort of like - he’s a good energy for me. I really like working with him. You actually punched Chris filming a scene and gave him a black eye? It’s actually a very confidence building experience. I don’t like punching anyone. So, you know, when you dream and your hand just slides right down their face, it doesn’t do that in real life. It really works. God, that really made me feel horrible, though. I mean, like instantly hot tears and I was like "oops!" We were watching it. It looks - it’ll be in the movie. Favorite fairy tale as a kid? I honestly don’t - somebody asked this the other day. I wasn’t here til the end of fairy tales. I really liked The Jungle Book. I was obsessed with The Jungle Book. Chris said Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. He is obsessed with Lord of the Rings and he was always like humming Enya as we were trudging up the mountain. I was saying basically, "You should make a remake of Lord of the Rings. Why are you doing this? . . . We’re doing Snow White and the Huntsman, Chris!" Photos courtesy of Universal Pictures

Lil Links: Postpartum Sex Tips For New Dads

Rebecca M Gruber — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 05:32:50 PST

A dad's guide to postpregnancy sex - Parenting
5 things not to say to divorced moms - The Stir
Bobbi Kristina was Whitney Houston's pride and joy - Celebrity Baby Scoop
Lily Aldridge debuts her baby bump - Celebrity Baby Blog
3 simple exercise routines to get expectant mamas going in the morning - FitPregnancy
Mom gets fired for asking to pump at work - The Bump
Can you cheat at potty training? - Momformation
New Barbie wears your face on her stomach - Yahoo! Shine
7 creative birthday party ideas for under $7 per guest - LearnVest
Former Spice Girl Emma Bunton is inspired by her kids for a children's fashion line – Child Mode

How Carrie Underwood Gets Grammy-Ready

Sponsor — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 03:00:00 PST

Carrie Underwood, everyone's favorite Grammy-winning country singer and performer, has been using the suite of Olay deep cleansers to give her face a clean beyond what the eye (and cameras) can see.

To prep for last night's Grammy Awards, Carrie first used Olay Shine Control Lathering Cleanser to get a deep, down-to-the-pore cleansing to minimize shine. With all those flash bulbs on the red carpet, the last thing you want is a shiny forehead! Then she topped it off with Olay Complete Moisturizer, a lightweight, oil-free moisturizer for glowing, healthy-looking skin (and protection from UV light!).

To end the night, Carrie used Olay 2-in-1 Daily Facial Cloths to exfoliate and cleanse her skin of oil, dirt, and all that red-carpet makeup.

Like Carrie, you can get red-carpet-ready starting and ending with Olay!

"The Daily Facials are awesome at taking off makeup - especially eye makeup. You often get products that are super oily, or just don't do the job, or that sting your eyes. I honestly couldn't live on my tour bus without them." - Carrie Underwood.

Don't Forget Uncle Sam When You're Counting Your Tips

Emily Co — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 00:15:22 PST

If you're in the service industry, a big chunk of your income may come from tips. But don't think you can get away with not filing taxes for them. Here are a couple of tips from the IRS:

Tips are taxed. Your tips will face federal income, Social Security, and Medicare taxes. You will also be taxed on nonmonetary tips like tickets, and gifts will be counted as income.
Include them on your tax return. Include your cash tips, tips added to credit card bills, and tips you split with co-workers when reporting gross income on your tax return. "Report your tips with your wages on Form 1040, line 7; Form 1040A, line 7; Form 1040EZ, line 1; Form 1040NR, line 8; or Form 1040NR-EZ, line 3."
Report to your employer. If you earn more than $20 in tips, you need to report this income to your boss. Your employer is required to withhold federal income, Social Security, and Medicare taxes. You don't have to report nonmonetary tips to your boss. If you don't report these tips to your employer, you will face a penalty.
Record your tips. Be organized and record your tip income. You can use Form 4070A, Employee's Daily Record of Tips, to record your tip income. To get the form, ask your employer or the IRS for Publication 1244, Employee's Daily Record of Tips and Report to Employer. Publication 1244 includes a year's supply of Form 4070A. Record nonmonetary tips separately and include that on your tax return. You can even keep a tip diary electronically by requesting access to an electronic system provided by your employer.
Watch the deadline. Turn in your monthly tip records with your employer by the 10th of the next month.
Don't include mandatory service charges: don't note down mandatory service charges in your tip diary as these are considered part of your wages, not tips.

Hit Me With Your Best Shot: Valentine's Day Camera Phone Tips

Kristy Korcz — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 12:02:10 PST

Amore is in the air, and if you plan on spending Feb. 14 with your current flame, you'll of course want to capture all the best moments as they happen. The good news is, with camera phones being as handy (and powerful) as they are, you probably don't need to tote around a full-featured digital in order to post an album's worth of mushy kissy-face pics on your various social networks.

Keep up your high photo standards no matter what the situation with these camera phone tips straight from professional photographer Perry Reichanadter. Have any of your own to add? Leave them in the comments or on our Facebook page!

Get close to your subject - Your camera phone probably won't have a macro setting, so be sure to get up close and personal with your beloved so he isn't drowned out by the surrounding action.
Clear the background - There's nothing worse than snapping a great pic of your BF, only to have something in the background distracting from his face. Make sure you steer clear of any street signs, bright lights, or "loud" objects, and keep your honey in focus.

See the rest of the tips after the jump.

The Vampire Diaries "Dangerous Liaisons": The Good, The Bad, and The Bloody

Shannon Vestal — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 07:52:08 PST

The original vampire family hosts a ball on this week's episode of The Vampire Diaries, and the whole town puts on their finest formal wear for the event of the supernatural season. Elena has two dates to the event, but it's her date to meet the original witch that gives us insight into what's in store for Klaus and his siblings.

Speaking of Klaus, we get some developments between him and Caroline that are sweet and promising (even if she's a bit cautious to date him because of his cruelty in the past and general bloodlust). There's also a hot hookup that I didn't see coming, so there's lots to talk about this week. To get to the good, the bad, and the bloody, just keep reading.

Fat-Proof Your Life

Health — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 04:06:06 PST

We are pumped to share one of our favorite stories from Health.com here on our site.

By Maridel Reyes

It's true that there are certain times in your life when extra poundage seems to appear out of nowhere . . . and settle on you. In fact, experts have honed in on the exact moments when you're most vulnerable to weight gain.

"Life transitions, having a baby, and going through menopause cause many women to pile on pounds," says Susan Albers, PsyD, author of But I Deserve This Chocolate!: The 50 Most Common Diet-Derailing Excuses and How to Outwit Them. "But with planning and prep, you can stay thin."

We asked top experts for their strategies to help you ward off weight creep - and even shed pounds - at these tricky stages. Solutions ahead.

Getting married

Heavier ever after? It can be the flip side of wedded bliss: "Six out of 10 of my clients come back heavier after the honeymoon," says celebrity fitness and wellness guru David Kirsch.

Health.com: 25 Diet-Busting Foods You Should Never Eat

Young newlyweds pack on an extra six to nine pounds in the five years after getting hitched compared to singletons, according to research from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. And most of that gain happens in the first year of marriage.

"Couples start to mirror each other's eating habits," explains Albers. "You might be matching him calorie for calorie without realizing it."

Learn how to keep the pounds down postmarriage and in the mommy years, after the break.