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February 29 Ladies - it's time to propose!When one of my schoolteachers tried to explain that we have 365 plus one quarter days a year, I couldn’t get my head around it. How does that work? Does anyone remember having seen an extra mini day, about six hours long, secretly happen during the four years in between each leap year? Weird. Well apparently, February 29, which is also known as bissextile day (that’s bissextile) happens to keep the calendar year synchronised with the astronomical year. Now do keep up: it’s because the four seasons that take place here on earth, and the astronomical events that occur in the solar system out there, don’t synchronise to exactly the number of full days. There is actually an extra six hours in the solar year. This means that if every year had 365 days and there were no leap years, the calendar would drift over time, and Christmas Day could end up being in the middle of the British summertime, or somesuch. By occasionally inserting an additional day into the year, the drift can be corrected. A year which is not a leap year, fact fans, is called a common year. And a person born on February 29 is called a leapling. Sweet! But did you know that years which are divisible by 100 are not leap years – unless they are also divisible by 400, in which case they are? Confused? So are we. So enough of the science lesson. February 29 is also traditionally the day when women propose to men. This tradition apparently dates back to a law in 1288 when Queen Margaret of Scotland declared that fines should be levied if a marriage proposal was refused by a man. Naturally being a bit wary of this one, the men decided that law should only really exist on February 29, to narrow the odds a bit. But what we really want to know is, ladies – have you proposed, or are you planning to propose to your man on February 29? And men, would you like to be proposed to by a woman? Tell all!
February 27 Bubbly airheadsLook at this, it's the Nubrella - which is apparently the world's first hands-free brolly. Designed by Andy Kaufman, it promises never to turn inside out in high winds, is worn on the shoulders and opens at the touch of a button.
Kaufman spent six years developing the bubble-shaped contraption after watching shoppers struggling with normal brollies on wet and windy days. Made from nylon, with aluminium alloy ribs and a clear polyurethane cover, the nubrella will sell for around £30.
While it might take most of us back to the days of the mini-umbrella that was once strapped to the head as hat in the Eighties, Kaufman says people shouldn't be put off by its odd appearance. "When you're outdoors and it's a miserable day, guess what? Not many people will be looking at you. They'll be trying to get from A to B," he said.
And speaking of the six years it took to develop the contraption, he added: "If I knew back then how difficult it was going to be I probably never would have pursued this. At times it has felt like climbing a mountain on roller blades."
February 21 Magic tightsWhat's this, tights that can magically mend themselves when you snag them? This could be a girl's dream come true!
A new material has been invented at the Industrial Physics and Chemistry Higher Educational Institution in Paris, which can repair itself after rips. When it is torn, the fabric's 'sticky edges' are simply pushed together and given time to bond. After 15 minutes, the join is as good as new. Well, if that means no more having to dash to M&S at lunchtime to buy a spare pair of nylons, or carrying around emergency stockings at the bottom of the handbag, that's brilliant news.
According to the Daily Mail, Ludwik Leibler, who lead the French research team behind the magic new material, says: "We have only just begun to think of what can be done. Stockings are a very good idea. It could also be used in glass vases so they don't break when your children knock them over - it could make the glass bouncy."
The material, which is ready for commercial use, can even be broken down with heat and easily recycled. We say come on Pretty Polly, start buying by the batch load. February 19 Get partying for charityCLIC Sargent, the UK’s leading children’s cancer charity, is launching a glamorous new event for party-loving people this month. A drinks and canapé reception will feature lashings of champagne, wine and beer as well as fine Indian fare from Café Lazeez. And apart from being given a splendid goody bag to take home, guests will also be given the chance to win prizes donated by Ralph Lauren, Paul Smith, and skincare brands Keihl’s and Rodial. Music will be provided by Dan Healy, DJ of the Year 2007 Sam Young and infamous beatboxer, Beatbox Fozzy. Kiss 100’s DJ Neev will also be supplying tracks for the evening, which will be hosted by a mystery celebrity guest. Rouge Noir is set to be a great night out and is guaranteed to attract a host of glamorous guests, all wanting to help the many hundreds of families CLIC Sargent aids and supports. Organisers are hoping to raise over £10,000 for CLIC Sargent’s Youth Services, which makes care and advice available to people in their early twenties who are suffering from, or affected by Cancer. Rouge Noir takes place at L’Equipe Anglaise, 21-23 Duke Street, London on February 28th, 8pm-late. Tickets cost £50. Contact Rosie Lightfoot on 020 8752 2893 or email rosie.lightfoot@clicsargent.org.uk to find out more. Every day in the UK, 10 children and young people are diagnosed with cancer or leukaemia. CLIC Sargent acts as a lifeline keeping families together when the unimaginable happens. It provides clinical, psychosocial, emotional and financial care and support to them and their families. February 18 This week's beauty newsBafta beauties For the eighth consecutive year Lancome was the official beauty partner for The British Academy Film Awards. But you don't have to be a film star to get the red carpet look. To celebrate the collaboration, Lancome has created an all-star eye make-up range, The BAFTA Collection 2008, featuring Crayon Khol, £14; Sourcil Design, £14, Hypnose Onyx, £19.50, and The Bafta Palette, £30.50. Available now from Lancome counters nationwide. Get healthy in style Put a spring in your step at The Vitality Show 2008. Experience the latest health, beauty and well-being innovations all under one roof at Olympia, in Kensington, London, from March 27 to 30. Tickets cost £17 on the door or £14 in advance. For more information visit www.thevitalityshow.co.uk or call 0844 415 4416. The big seaweed detox Detox spa treatments are another way to give your body a boost, or treat yourself following your heavenly New Year health regimes! Check out the Elemis Cellutox Aroma Spa Ocean Wrap, £60, available at Felbridge Hotel's Chakra Spa (www.felbridgehotel.co.uk). This seaweed wrap treatment will detoxify and deep cleanse the body inside and out. Excellent for improving the dimpled appearance of cellulite and reducing fluid retention. The treatment is also available nationwide. Call 01278 727830 or visit www.elemis.com for your nearest spa or salon.
February 15 Vivienne Westwood at London Fashion WeekVivienne Westwood’s catwalk extravaganza took place in London last night and it was possibly one of the most star-spangled affairs of London Fashion Week.
Kelly Osbourne arrived, looking absolutely tiny. It amazes me how different people can look in real life compared to how you perceive them to be in magazines and on television. I would say she’s somewhere between a size 8 or 10, and she looked slinky in a floor-length sexy red number with matching pillar box lipstick. David Walliams, Sophie Ellis Bextor, Erin O’Connor and Lily Allen were also at the bash, alongside Jodie and Jemma Kidd. Since the circus-themed show was being sponsored by (my favourite liqueur) Disaronno Amaretto, we supped cocktails of the stuff before entering the triangular-shaped runway. I couldn’t believe my luck to have secured a seat behind Mr Walliams and the Kidd sisters. As the lights went down, a whirlitzer of a tune kicked in, combining old-fashioned fairground music with fast pumping beats and the excitement was palpable. Vivienne and Gareth Pugh are the hot ones to watch this week, and true to form, Vivienne didn’t disappoint. The first of her models entered the catwalk with a huge placard which read: “Fair trial my arse. Justice for the prisoners of Guantanamo Bay.” Vivienne was clearly using her platform to get her voice across. On the make-up side, some of the models wore tiny little French moustaches, delicately drawn to curl over the lips, and there was lashings, and lashings, of long crimped hair on show. Girls, to be hot to trot this autumn/winter – start growing your crowning glories now! Ray Winston’s daughter Jaime walked the runway, alongside Daisy Lowe, who had the most miniscule of dresses on and had to keep pulling it down to spare her dignity! Playful soft cowboy and clown hats were shown alongside tartan jumpsuits, wrap dresses and huge pink ponchos. The vibe was fun, fancy dress and colourful for Vivienne’s autumn/winter collection and she rightly deserved her standing ovation at the show’s finale.
One lovely thing about Valentine's DayJust as I had finished deriding Valentine's Day as a money-making exercise which only adds stress to relationships, a delivery was made to our office which made us all feel a bit better.
The tasty mixture of vanilla and chocolate cakes were topped with the most delicious icing and we also got to try one of their signature cakes, the red velvet. We hate to be London-centric, so we apologise for that, but if you are ever in London, tea and cake at Hummingbird should be up there on the list of tourist attractions with Big Ben and the London Eye. Hummingbird have another bakery in Notting Hill, and you can sit in both and have a cup of tea while you enjoy their cakes. Ross, and a couple of our other colleagues, are regular visitors and say they are great places to sit and soak up some atmosphere while enjoying excellent food. They even deliver for special occasions, so their delivery made up for any lack of flowers in our office yesterday. Almost.
As you can see from our pictures, the MSN UK team loved them and they didn't last very long!
February 14 Valentine's Shmalentine'sDoes anyone else hate Valentine's day, or is it just me, the other half, all my mates and every one of my colleagues I've spoken to so far?
Already this morning I can count: two ridiculous drunken arguments between two friends and their other halves from last night, a burst balloon, tears, a panic over whether to send a romantic breakfast or flowers, disappointment that one isn't able to see their other half today because of work, an anti-Valentine's party, a fear that restaurants will be filled with smug couples, a worry about what kind of present would be right because it's a new relationship, disappointment because no flowers have arrived yet, a hatred of being surrounded by flowers and chocolates and feeling like "a sad singleton who smells of cat's wee and desperation", I could go on...
The main gist of all this seems to be that if you're a couple of some time together, you don't like being pressurised into being 'forced' to be romantic, because it defeats the point. If you're a relatively new couple, you don't know what's the right gesture and whether you'll make a fool of yourself, and if you're (god forbid) not currently in a relationship, you feel like some kind of failure.
I know all the history of St Valentine and all that but honestly, this really has to be one of the worst ways big card/flower/chocolate businesses can make money out of our feelings. Hmph.
February 13 It's bloomin fashion madness!Naturally, during London Fashion Week, you'd expect us Fashion & Beauty Eds to be busy, but when that's coupled with The Baftas, the The Elle Style Awards and meeting the lovely Myleene Klass for coffee, well you might imagine our eyes are positively bulging from the overdoses of Diet Coke and espressos that have been necessary for survival.
Tomorrow I'm off to Vivienne Westwood's show and after-party at London Fashion Week (oh yes), which I'll definitely be reporting back by Friday.
But meanwhile, I just had to share this little gem: The Sartorialiast Blogspot. Put simply, it's all run by a New Yorker who worked in the fashion industry for 15 years and always felt there was a disconnection between what he was selling in the showroom and what he was seeing real people (really cool people) wearing in real life.
These are beautiful pictures of ordinary people with their own individual sense of style, from 18 to 108 (well, nearly), they look fabulous and are all stunningly shot. Who needs models when you can have this? Just brilliant. Visit The Sartorialist and take a look.
 (Image taken from The Sartorialist website)
February 06 Monthly MailbagHello, Thank you to everyone who's been posting here on the Life & Style Fashion & Beauty Blog. Here’s where we take a look back at what you’ve been saying over the last month.
Quite a few of our readers commented on Channel 4’s new Supersize vs Superskinny programme, where an overweight person lives with an underweight person for one week and they exchange diets.
One reader commented: “I'm so pleased to hear that somebody else watched Supersize vs Superskinny on Monday and agreed with me! I sat there the whole way through complaining to my husband that in order to address the weight and health (and also psychological problems) that both women had, they should be prescribing a balanced diet which included key nutrients to combat the problems. Both diets were, in effect, greatly lacking in vital nutrients and vitamins, but this problem was not addressed.” While Yasmin Smith, a very slim model who appeared on the second show, said: “I would like to point out that the show did spend eight months sending me to Doctors, Pyscologists etc and it was very thorough. We all were given a new healthy eating plan which we had the opportunity to go through with a highly qualified nutritionist and were also given constant help after the show from all the specialists. Sadly, there is a lot of editing. We filmed every day for nearly 24 hours while in the house, it was exhausting!! So you can imagine how much has been cut.” Meanwhile, an anonymous reader added: “As an anorexic, I find all the information in the media on how to lose weight quite distressing, whereas there is never any information on how to maintain a healthy weight or eat healthily. Instead everything is geared around the issue of weight loss and becoming thin. However, after watching Supersize vs Superskinny not only did I realise just how scary skinniness looks, but also the long-term importance of proper eating. “It sounds ridiculous that a television programme would have such an effect, particularly on someone like me, but weirdly enough it has. I know I am bound to come into a lot of criticism for placing such an emphasis on a television programme but I ate a sandwich this weekend for the first time in over a year, and I personally believe that if something can do that for me, I am not one to criticise it. I just would like to thank the makers of the show and encourage other networks to create shows that are similar in format, focussing on health and wellbeing rather than weight.” This month, we also took a look at an article in The Sun about Women’s Wardrobe Malfunctions and said that we felt women can often reveal a little *too much* by wearing extremely short skirts or knicker-sized hotpants. Many of you agreed. “That is a very good point!” said one reader. “It is really gross when people are waking around and you can see their bums!” While another added: “Whatever happened to leaving something to the imagination? In many other countries men prefer the allure of a woman who is smartly dressed. Figure hugging clothing is allowed but what is the point of letting everything hang out!”
And we learned a sartorial lesson from Kim, who explained why some men like to wear their jeans so low-slung that you can see not only what pants they’re wearing, but the label, size and washing instructions to boot. “When you are arrested and put in prison, they take away your personal belongings watch, wallet etc. and belt. To show their support, your 'posse' on the outside take off their belts in order to remind themselves of their incarcerated buddies. (Goodness knows why they don't take off the wallet, watch or 'bling', but there you go.) Since baggy pants are in fashion, when you take off your belt your jeans fall down and voila, you have created a whole new fashion. Now copied worldwide by non-gansta peeps who probably have no idea where this tradition came from...” We’d always wondered why that was – thanks Kim! And finally, on the subject of Celebrity Perfumes, which we tried and tested in our Life & Style podcast, one reader said: “I know im a bloke, vut for me the best has to be Gwen Stefani's one... It does crazy things to me!” Oo’er! While another added: “I love Stella McCartney's peony scent with solid amber perfume. Gorgeous! A modern scent that is addictive to smell. Men are really attracted to it. But the best celeb perfume artist has to be Sarah Jessica Parker - her first scent Lovely, is a classic (it's my partner's favourite) and her new scent Covet is growing on me day by day. So, she has to be the best. I have one by Britney Spears which is Midnight Fantasy. A darker, well rounded scent, but the other scents by her are lacking.” Thanks to everyone who posted on our blog during the last month – keep them coming! (Except the abusive ones – be nice  )Nic February 05 Thongs for the memoryHas the bottom fallen out of the thong market? I have to say that if it has, it will be music to my ears. I know that thongs can help get rid of that *supposed crime*, the VPL (OMG – you mean, she’s wearing, KNICKERS?!!! How criminal), but I think that ever since girls decided to hoist their thongs above the waistbands of their jeans, it kind of killed the look. To me it looks plain uncomfortable and (dare I say it) far from sexy.
Sales of the G-string have reportedly plummeted to their lowest for five years, while big pants – or boy shorts – have dramatically increased in popularity. And while we might all want to thank Bridget Jones for this trend shift, we’re not necessarily talking about the pants that reach from your knee-caps to your rib cage. Instead we’re talking about something slightly more sexy: boy shorts. Boy shorts also get rid of the dreaded VPL and are not only more comfy (and dignified) they’re also more snugly around the derriere, offering extra support. Which, I guess, if you’re not blessed with Kate Moss’s physique, is another added bonus. The thong first arrived on the fashion scene in the late 1990s, when Gucci introduced it to one of their catwalk collections. Soon after, Posh revealed that Becks liked wearing his around the bedroom and a plethora of stars followed suit. But a backlash soon came after girls decided to show off their thongs on the nation’s high streets, wearing low-slung jeans to reveal their teensy underwear. Trinny Woodhall later labelled the look ‘disgusting’ while Elle Macpherson (who has a sassy underwear range of her own) said: ‘G-strings are uncomfortable, girls want real knickers now). In 2003, a third of all women’s knickers sold were G-strings. Today, that figure is down to just one eighth. On the other hand, sales of boy shorts have doubled in the last two years. I say it’s great news for women – not only for the comfort factor, but also because the builders bum look is never a good one – especially on a girl. A top beauty cream for £1.89?Some people (and I sometimes wish I could be one of them!) will splurge an absolute fortune on pots of moisturiser to keep their skin wrinkle free. But reports in the papers today have revealed the latest innovation to hit the beauty market costs just £1.89 from Aldi.
Enter Siana Moisturising Anti-Wrinkle Day Cream, to give the product its full title. It’s beaten Olay, Elemis and Helena Rubenstein to earn a reputation as one of the best anti-ageing products on the market. Two thousand volunteers blind-tested the cream and voted it one of the best complexion smoothers, with some adding it looked like they’d had a facial and others thinking it must be expensive. Meanwhile, Woman’s Own has said of the cream: ‘Beauty tongues are wagging because it’s so cheap and it really works’. Since word has spread, Aldi has gone from selling 290 jars a week at the beginning of the year to 20,000, with branches selling out across the UK. The Aldi cream contains enzyme Q10, which is often found in more expensive beauty creams and which it’s claimed mimics the body’s ability to protect against premature ageing. Visit Aldi's website here. |
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