BellaSugar

Model of the Week: Karolina Kurkova

BellaSugar — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 12:21:22 PST

Welcome to the fifth installment of Model of the Week. I've written a five question interview that I have conducted with several models to share with you. The questions are both fun and beauty related and will always stay the same. To see the rest of the Model of the Week posts click here.

Here's a little history about Karolina Kurkova. She was born on February 28, 1984 in Decín, Czech Republic. She was discovered when an admiring friend sent some pictures of her to a modeling agency in Prague. She immediately booked a runway show, a commercial, an ad campaign and then traveled to Milan to explore the international world of fashion.

It was in Milan where she met Miuccia Prada who signed her to a Prada contract at the tender age of 15. She then met Vogue editors in NY, where she now lives.

Karolina has signed deals with: Yves Saint Laurent, Victoria's Secret, Tommy, Valentino, Ralph Lauren, Oscar de la Renta and Balenciaga.

She is one of the most renowned models in the world. In 2001, she graced the cover of Vogue and in 2002 she was granted the "Model of the Year" title at the 2002 VH1/Vogue Fashion Awards.

She is quite accustomed to fame though. Her Dad is Josef Kurka - a former star basketball player. There is a reason this beauty has become a shining star. She is sweet, down to earth, driven and extremely articulate. Best of luck to you Karolina!

To read the interview that was conducted at Victoria's Secret in NY on her birthday,

BELLA: What is your secret to beautiful skin and hair?
KK: I have a steam shower in my apartment, so I steam my face everyday. For my hair, I swear by Victoria's Secret So Sexy Nourishing Shampoo for Dry/Damaged Hair, $9.50, and Victoria's Secret So Sexy Nourishing Conditioner for Dry/Damaged hair, $9.50. It smells so good and it gives my thin hair a lot of volume.

BELLA: What is the one product you can't live without?
KK: Victoria's Secret Very Sexy Makeup - Perfect Lipstick in Whisper, $12. It's a pinkish brown color - I love it.

BELLA: What is your guilty pleasure?
KK: Sweets. I really like chocolate and One Lucky Duck RAW Ice Cream in chocolate, strawberry or vanilla. It's dairy free, made from cashews and coconut meat - so it doesn't upset my stomach and it tastes delicious.

BELLA: What is your favorite drugstore product?
KK: Zip lock bags. If I don't have them in my house, I go nuts. I like to be organized and those zip locks really keep me organized; especially when I travel. I keep my makeup, jewelry, lingerie...everything in them!

BELLA: Happiness is...
KK: Being healthy, being alive! I feel really lucky to have family and friends - so it makes me happy to spend my time with them.

View 8 Photos ›

Source

Model Liya Kebede Talks Minimal Makeup in Cannes

Allie Merriam — Thu, 24 May 2012 13:25:43 PDT

For model Liya Kebede, Cannes feels like magic. "It gets into you the minute you arrive here," she said this morning. "It's very glamorous, and I like that it's very international as well. You see all these different people from all over the world coming with their films, which is great." It's been a big year for Liya, who was named a L'Oréal Paris brand ambassador last June and is making forays into the film world. She's currently working on The Best Offer from Cinema Paradiso director Giuseppe Tornatore.

There's more to Liya than her stunning looks, though. She won a BellaSugar beauty award thanks to her philanthropic efforts. Her eponymous foundation is dedicated to improving maternal health, and she's created a clothing line, Lemlem, which helps support craftswomen in her native Ethiopia. Today, the supermodel talked about her various work endeavors and shared her best tips on beauty, the inside scoop on her own makeup routine, and more.

BellaSugar: It's pretty surreal here. Have you ever had an incredible Cannes moment?
Liya Kebede: I think you get it every time you get here. Last time, I ran into Woody Allen in the lobby. You can't believe it - it's just insane. There's so many of these great people and stars. At some point, you don't even react anymore. You get overstimulated. Every corner is some incredible person, or you go to a party and it's full of everybody. It's amazing. You just go, "I'm in Cannes!"

BellaSugar: And part of Cannes, is of course, getting made up and looking great, which you're quite familiar with, I'm sure. What's the best tip you've learned from the pros?
Liya Kebede: Less is more. If you're going do an eye thing, then don't do a lip thing. Try to find a balance about what you do. Also, nothing is necessarily specific - using a lip thing on your eye or cheeks is fine, and it works, and it's light. Play around! Nothing is so fixed.

For the rest of our chat with Liya, just read more

Bar Refaeli on Cheesy Pickup Lines and Her Teeth Fetish

Tara Block — Wed, 23 May 2012 11:56:00 PDT

She may be Maxim's hottest woman alive, but model Bar Refaeli told Conan O'Brien last night that men rarely approach her. But that may change after last night, since Bar told the talk show host that she'd go for a forward guy, even if he uses a cheesy pickup line on her. Other than boldness, Bar also admits she likes guys with good teeth. Who knew there was such a thing as a teeth fetish? Watch the funny interview now!

Find Out More About Virgin Olympian Lolo Jones

Tara Block — Tue, 22 May 2012 14:23:37 PDT

Track and field star Lolo Jones isn't an Olympic virgin, considering she competed in the 2008 games, but she is a virgin in the traditional sense. You might think that an almost-30-year-old virgin would not advertise the fact that she's never had sex, but Olympian Lori "Lolo" Jones isn't shy about her virginity. Later-in-life virgins have a new celebrity role model in 29-year-old Lolo, as she's been opening up in interviews and on Twitter about online dating difficulties and keeping her V-card until marriage. On HBO's Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel, the hurdle jumper said:

"This journey has been hard. It's the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. Harder than training for the Olympics. Harder than studying for college has been staying a virgin before marriage. I've been tempted. I've had guys tell me . . . 'Hey, you know, if you have sex, it'll help you run faster.' If you marry me, then yeah."

Keeping her virginity hasn't been the only hurdle Lolo has had to overcome. She grew up bouncing from school to school with a single mom who had to work multiple jobs to support her family, even living in a church basement at one point. After splitting from her family to pursue her track-and-field dreams, Lolo went on to excel in school and to become the accomplished Olympian she is today. Now, Lolo gives back to those in need with her charitable activities and involvement in Christian ministries. She definitely proves that you don't have to be having sex to be a strong, sexy woman to watch.

See more pics of Lolo in action and on the red carpet now!

The Top Self-Tanners For Your Face, Gowns at Cannes, and Victoria's Secret's Erin Heatherton: The Best of PopSugarTV This Week

Lindsay Miller — Sun, 20 May 2012 06:34:41 PDT

This week in PopSugarTV, Bella found the best self-tanners for your face and showed us how to get Charlize Theron's braided updo, while Fit brought us an interview with Victoria's Secret model Erin Heatherton on her exercise regimen and healthy habits. Fab took a look at some of the pastel gowns at the Cannes Film Festival, showed us how to wear high-waisted shorts for Summer, and shared an interview with Rachel Zoe on her Met Gala design. Check out all the videos in the links above and visit PopSugarTV for even more!

Link Time: Jenna Lyons Thinks Iris Apfel Should Revive Schiaparelli Brand

Marisa Tom — Fri, 18 May 2012 08:20:33 PDT

Jenna Lyons thinks Iris Apfel should revive Schiaparelli - Fashionista
Remembering the late Donna Summer and her fashion legacy - Styleite
Olivia shops for slick lucite accessories - Olivia Palermo
Women more apt to buy clothes shown on models their own size - The Frisky
Burberry wins its $100 million counterfeiting lawsuit - HuffPost Style
Celebrity man cleavage: not a trend to try at home - The Daily Beast
An interview with ballet costumer Caryn Wells - The Fashion Spot
Cassie rocked a wild Ferragamo look in Cannes - into it? - Red Carpet Fashion Awards
Four things Facebook's IPO means for fashion - Racked
The CFDA celebrates Chinese designer Uma Wang in NYC - Style.com
The best of Jennifer Lopez's American Idol style so far - The Cut

Cameron, Jennifer, and Brooklyn Talk Babies and More With Redbook

Allie Merriam — Mon, 07 May 2012 07:35:00 PDT

Cameron Diaz and Jennifer Lopez share the cover of June's Redbook. The girls posed alongside their What to Expect When You're Expecting leading ladies Brooklyn Decker, Elizabeth Banks, and Anna Kendrick. The parenthood themes of the movie were addressed in the accompanying interview, with J Lo sharing about her experiences after welcoming twins Max and Emme. Brooklyn spoke about her high hopes for husband Andy Roddick as a dad and Cameron touched on how she changed her life plans to accommodate her acting success. For more photos of Jennifer, Cameron, and Brooklyn, check out Redbook's June issue online, or when it hits newsstands on May 15. Here are highlights:

Cameron on expectations: "I thought I was going to be married and have two children by the time I was 21. I think I felt I had to model my life after my mother's. But then my career was starting to take off and there were still so many things I wanted to do. So that dream for me was shattered early on. After that I never put another time line on anything in my life."
Jennifer on the surprises of motherhood: "I remember after the babies were born, about seven to 10 days in, I was like, 'What is going on with me?' I felt sad and depressed and thought the babies didn't love me. I actually remember picking up the book [What to Expect When You're Expecting] to try to see what was happening to me, and it said how you have this huge hormonal drop about seven to 10 days after you give birth. It's called the 'baby blues.' But I just thought they didn't like me!"
Brooklyn on expectations for fatherhood: "I would hope I'm in a position where I have a guy who is going to be helping me all the way through - even when I'm moody and craving ice cream at 12 a.m. It didn't take me long to know that Andy was the guy I was going to marry, and [what kind of dad he'd be] absolutely went through my mind when making that decision."

Why Christy Turlington Isn't Celebrating Mother's Day

Kate Stahl — Wed, 02 May 2012 13:17:15 PDT

Did you know that a woman dies every 90 seconds from pregnancy complications and 90 percent of those deaths are preventable? It's serious stuff, and an issue that's become Christy Turlington's life passion. Today Turlington, supermodel, wife to Edward Burns, mom to Grace and Finn, and founder of Every Mother Counts, an advocacy group that's working to reduce the global maternal mortality rate, launched a new campaign called No Mothers Day. For the video above, Turlington enlisted the help of famous moms including Jennifer Connelly, Debra Messing, Ann Curry, Kelly Rutherford, and Blythe Danner, along with a host of real moms, to support the cause, which asks moms to "disappear" on Mother's Day. "This Mothers Day I am honoring all moms by going silent," Turlington told us. "The . . . public service announcement features moms encouraging other moms to join in solidarity by disappearing May 13, Mother’s Day. No Mothers Day is a powerful social issue campaign designed to raise awareness about the hundreds of thousands of girls and women around the world who die each year from complications related to pregnancy or childbirth."

Keep reading for the rest of our interview with the simply amazing Turlington

Why Pixar's First Leading Lady Merida Is the Bravest Princess of Them All

Tara Block — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 12:44:25 PDT

I recently attended a Pixar event at the animation film company's HQ for its upcoming Summer flick Brave. I was able to watch the first 30 minutes of the film, interview the director Mark Andrews and producer Katherine Sarafian, learn all about Scottish traditions, and even channel my inner Merida with archery lessons. Not only am I hooked on archery (pretty proud of my bull's-eye), I'm also hooked on Brave's heroine Princess Merida - Pixar's first leading lady! But don't let Merida's royal title fool you. As an adventurous girl in ancient Scotland who'd rather shoot arrows than get married, she's far from a typical Disney princess. Katherine and Mark both shared the ways she's breaking the princess mold and what makes her a great role model for us all. And as you'll see in the clip from the film below, the last thing Princess Merida wants is a Prince Charming.

Brave producer Katherine Sarafian agrees that the studio's latest project is especially exciting because it stars a girl. She asked me, "Who among us wouldn't want to give our daughters or sons a great cinema role model?" And not only is Merida a "powerhouse of a girl" with "fire and gusto and vigor" as Katherine describes her, she's also relatable, as she doesn't come with any special superpowers. "She just has great skills and she practices them," Katherine explains, "and she earned her skills by working hard and practicing and playing archery and playing sword fighting with her dad."

What really makes Merida someone little girls and adult women alike can relate to is that she's not perfect. At one point Merida's mom, Elinor, who's trying desperately to persuade her daughter to conform to her traditional role as a lady, says, "A princess strives for perfection." As women, we're constantly feeling that pressure to meet impossible expectations and aspire to society's ideal of who we should be and what we should be doing. But we rarely hit the mark. Katherine tells me, "I find her very relatable as someone who's coming of age and struggling with that central question of how can I really be seen for who I am in a world where there's an expectation of me that is incongruous to who I am?"

So why is such a relatable female lead so rare? Katherine tells me she's never understood why we haven't seen more strong female characters onscreen. With Brave, the filmmakers weren't trying to produce a story with a leading lady; it was the story, that happened to be about a girl, that got the project made. "If more filmmakers are developing ideas with great females at the center of the story, we should be able to take the world by storm," Katherine says.

The good news is with hits like The Hunger Games that are incredibly popular with both sexes, perhaps Brave is a part of a trend toward more female-driven films. Katherine points out that the box office figures have proven that people want to see girls and women lead stories. She adds, "I'm hoping people are realizing and studios realize that there is an audience, that this is half the population."

I found it interesting that Pixar (a subsidiary of Disney) would have its first female lead in a feature film be a princess, meaning, technically, Merida is a Disney princess. It appears that for a girl to be the lead in an animated movie she has to be princess. But both Katherine and director Mark Andrews insist the princess decision had nothing to do with the classic Disney princess archetype, but rather it was about a more exciting plot. "If you're a teenager and you make a stupid decision, maybe you get grounded," Katherine explains. "If you're royalty, your bad decision can have consequences that could cause a war in your kingdom. It was important that her decisions be tied to something much bigger than herself and her immediate family."

Why We're Crushing on The Conversation's Amanda de Cadenet

Tara Block — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 15:55:00 PDT

You may not know British TV personality and photographer Amanda de Cadenet yet, but we promise you she's someone you'd want to sit down and have a chat with. Which is exactly what she's doing with a plethora of high-profile women (many of whom are her friends) for her new show The Conversation With Amanda de Cadenet. Coproduced by Demi Moore and Amanda, The Conversation is a new Lifetime series premiering April 26 that features intimate, one-on-one interviews between Amanda and various female celebrities, politicians, and musicians on the issues women care about. It's also sprinkled with "real" women on the street answering similar questions.

This week we were lucky enough to chat with Amanda over the phone, and we can't wait to share her musings on her personal relationships and life challenges, her thoughts on hot topics like Fifty Shades of Grey, and what it was like interviewing some of today's most famous and influential women on the tough topics we all can relate to. But first off, who is Amanda de Cadenet and what makes her so cool? Here are six things to know:

Cool runs in the family. Her mom was a model and her dad is a race car driver.
She's a motorcycle mama! Her dad taught her how to ride when she was only 6 years old, and her favored mode of transportation today is her Ducati.
At only 14, she became the host of two TV shows in the UK: The Word and Breakfast.
After her TV gigs, she decided photography was her passion, and she became the youngest woman to shoot a Vogue cover. She's also shot for magazines like Rolling Stone and Vanity Fair, in addition to ad campaigns for Converse, Roxy, and Absolut.
She's got a thing for rockers! Her first husband was Duran Duran bassist John Taylor, and her current hubby is Strokes guitarist Nick Valensi.
The 39-year-old mom has 5-year-old twins with Nick and a 19-year-old daughter from her first marriage.

With many of these intimate discussions taking place on the couch in her own LA home, Amanda isn't afraid to get real about everything from sex positions to body image with such stars as Jane Fonda, Zoe Saldana, Sarah Silverman, Gwyneth Paltrow, Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus, Eva Longoria, Gabby Sidibe, and many more. And Amanda is proud of her ladies, telling us that they all make great role models. She said, "They're kind women. They're very compassionate. They're very down-to-earth, and they are truly women's women. You know how people say, 'She's not a women's woman'? These woman are."

Stay tuned for more of our interview with Amanda, and check out a preview of The Conversation below!

Photo courtesy of A&E Television Networks LLC