Advertisement
Home Page 5061

How to choose which colours suit you best

Colour matching

Wearing the perfect colours can revitalise your look and take years off your appearance, so define and refine your style with the knowledge of which colours suit you best.

If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by the vast choices of clothes available in the shops or by your own mishmash of a wardrobe then this is for you! Knowing which colours suit you best will help simplify and improve your clothing choices.

Before you set to work on discovering which colours suit you best, you must disregard your preconceived ideas about what your “favourite” colours are, because although you like them, they may not actually be flattering for you. The best colours will leave you looking healthy, vibrant and refreshed.

Deciding on the colours that are best for you is very simple. It just depends on your own colouring, which includes your eye and hair colour and skin tone.

In order to tell your skin tone you need to look at it under natural light, checking to see whether there is a hint of golden or rosiness. A hint of apricot or golden undertones means you’re “warm” toned, being slightly pink or rosy makes you “cool” toned.

Cool-toned people look best in blue-based colours; warm-toned people will look best in yellow-based colours.

  • Warm tones suit natural earth colours such as browns, bronzes and sage greens.

  • For pretty feminine summer shades try peach and apricot.

  • If you prefer reds, then try brick red, dark tomato or a burnt orange hue.

  • Earth greens like olive or jade enhance warm skin tones.

  • Clean ivory or oyster whites also enhance the warm skin tone type.

  • For your professional wardrobe, look for clothes in taupe or bright navy. Try brown and gold accessories for maximum impact.

Cool tones

  • Pure white is a great match for cool skin tones.

  • Bold raspberries, deep greens, royal blue, plum and pure black are also winners.

  • Cool-toned people can wear bright ruby red to great effect.

  • Cool skin tones can also be enhanced by soft pastel blues and pinks.

Within these ranges there will be colours that suit individuals best, depending on the combination of hair, eye and skin colour. Be analytical the next time you try coloured clothing on to help you decide what really looks best on you.

If you can’t be bothered to try everything on in order to sort through your wardrobe, you can just drape items over your shoulder and check how the colour looks next to your face.

Pay attention to what you are wearing when friends compliment you on your outfit — it’s likely that this colour is a good match for you.

If you don’t trust your own judgement or just want a second opinion, visit a department store make-up counter. Make-up artists are trained to spot which colours will suit people best. Ask them to consider your skin tone, hair colour and eye colour as they help you find the best colour pallet for you.

Related stories


Advertisement
Home Page 5061

Halle Berry says she considers daughter to be black

Halle Berry says she considers daughter to be black

After Halle Berry’s ex-partner Gabriel Aubry was accused of using the “N-word” during their bitter custody battle over their two-year-old, the actress says she considers her daughter Nahla to be “black”.

A number of unnamed sources told website TMZ the 34-year-old model used racial slurs against the actress.

The 44-year-old actor has opened up to Ebony magazine saying that she “feels her daughter is black”.

“I feel like she’s black. I’m black and I’m her mother and I believe in the one-drop theory,” she said.

The “one-drop theory” refers to the controversial racial classification of African-Americans that determined who is black in the US.

The former Bond girl, who has African-American heritage, says her daughter can decide her own race.

“What I think is that that’s something she’s going to have to decide,” she said.

“I’m not going to put a label on it. I had to decide for myself and that’s what she’s going to have to decide — how she identifies herself in the world.

“And I think, largely, that will be based on how the world identifies her. That’s how I identified myself. But I feel like she’s black.”

As a child Halle was raised by her mother and says she struggled to determine her own race.

“I identify as a black woman, but I’ve always had to embrace my mother and the white side of who I am, too,” she said.

“By choosing, I’ve often [wondered]: ‘Well, would that make her feel like I’m invalidating her by choosing to identify more with the black side of myself?'”

The actress, who pulled out of filming New Year’s Eve in New York last week to focus on the custody battle with Aubry says motherhood is her main focus.

“Being a mother is probably the most important thing in my life right now,” she said.

“Career is important, but nothing really supersedes my role as a mother. That’s the most important thing I’m going to do in this life at this point.”

Related stories


Advertisement
Home Page 5061

Is Liz Hurley crazy for dating Shane Warne?

Is Liz Hurley crazy for dating Shane Warne?

Getty Images

Eight weeks after a video of Liz Hurley and Shane Warne kissing made headlines around the world, the British actress is on her way to Australia. Hurley will reportedly touch down in Melbourne later this week to spend some time with the cricketer.

Warne has been busily redecorating his home ahead of Hurley’s visit, and can’t wait to show her around his native country, Sydney’s Daily Telegraph reported.

Hurley and Warne had been exchanging flirtatious messages on social networking site Twitter for months before they were caught kissing in December. Soon after news of their romance emerged, Hurley announced she had separated from her husband, Arun Nayar, several months beforehand, while Warne confirmed he had once again split from his former wife, Simone Callahan.

Related: Shane Warne admits rendezvous with Liz Hurley in Los Angeles

Hurley and Warne have been photographed together several times since their first public kiss, including two occasions in which they were seen going into a hotel together. Their romance reportedly encountered trouble when Warne was caught sending text messages to another woman, but is now said to be back on track.

The couple met up in Los Angeles last month, and have been happily discussing Hurley’s Australian trip on Twitter for the past few weeks. “If you haven’t lined up koalas and kangaroos for my next trip I shall be desolate,” Hurley tweeted to Warne.

The actress has been researching her trip to Australia thoroughly, updating her fans every time she learns something new. “In the bath, reading Bill Bryson’s In a Sunburned Country,” she wrote late last month. “Am now scared of funnel-web spiders, box jellyfish, blue-ringed octopus[es], paralysis ticks [and] stonefish. All lethal. Gulp.”

She has also spent time teasing Warne about her relationship with her new pet parrot Ping Pong writing: “Ping Pong just mumbled her first words! High excitement. She has a very deep, alarmingly manly voice. No need for jealousy SW, she’s not getting any cuddles or kisses!”

Your say: Do you think Liz Hurley is crazy for romancing Shane Warne? Would you date a man like him? Do you have any advice for Liz? Share your thoughts with us below.

Video: Shane Warne caught kissing Liz Hurley

Related stories


Advertisement
Home Page 5061

Bad lifestyles blamed for increasing breast cancer rates

'Successful' women more likely to get breast cancer

Thinkstock

Obesity, alcohol and putting off becoming a mother have been blamed for an increase in the number of women diagnosed with breast cancer.

Figures released by Cancer Research UK last week showed that one in eight British women will develop breast cancer in their lifetime. In 2008, 47,700 women were diagnosed with the disease, which is double the number recorded 30 years ago.

Related: Secret weapon against cancer

Doctors have blamed the rise in cancer rates on obesity, increased alcohol consumption and the growing trend for delaying motherhood. Hormone replacement therapy is also believed to play a part.

“There are several lifestyle factors such as alcohol, weight and activity which increase the risk,” Dr Kat Arney, from Cancer Research UK, told the UK’s Daily Mail. “It is also linked to a woman’s reproductive history. If a woman starts having children earlier in life she is less at risk. A woman who does not start having children until her thirties will only have one, maybe two.”

The latest Australian figures from the National Breast and Ovarian Cancer Centre show that one in nine women will be diagnosed with breast cancer before the age of 85. In 2006, 12,614 women developed the disease, compared to just 5289 in 1982.

The centre predicts that the number of new breast cancer cases among women in Australia will be 22 percent higher by 2015, which suggests we are following the British trend.

Related: The UK is leading the fight against breast cancer

A 2009 report by the World Cancer Research Fund found that more than 40 percent of breast cancer cases could be prevented if women exercised regularly and consumed no more than one standard drink per day.

Your say: Are you worried about getting breast cancer? Do these statistics make you want to stop drinking alcohol and start exercising more? Share your thoughts with us below.

Video: Reducing the risk of breast cancer

Related stories


Advertisement
Home Page 5061

In bloom: Edible Flowers

Thinkstock

Flowers are not an ingredient we typically include in our cooking, but many herbs and plants produce blossoms that are edible and make a stylish and delicious addition to common recipes.

Flowers you can use

Arugula or rocket is commonly used in salads but the plant also produces small pale lavender or white flowers, which are tasty in salads. Keep in mind that once the plant flowers the leaves become bitter.

Related: 12 stealthy superfoods

French lavender (Lavandula dentata) is most commonly used for cooking. It has a strong flavour, so use sparingly. The flowers and leaves can be chopped finely and added to vanilla biscuits or ice-cream.

Rose petals and violets are beautiful edible garnishes for dessert cakes and tarts or salads that provide a delicate, sweet flavour.

Zucchini flowers can be coated in flour, breadcrumbs or a light batter and gently fried until golden.

Pineapple sage is a type of salvia. Its leaves have a distinct pineapple flavour and both leaves and flowers can be used in desserts, salads and drinks.

Nutrition

The nutrient content of edible flowers is unknown at present. However, it is likely that many edible flowers are a source of antioxidants such as anthocyanins. Anthocyanins give flowers, fruit and vegetables their red, pink, blue or purple colour.

Related: Research finds apples are a ‘nutritional powerhouse’

Which flowers are not edible?

It is important to carefully identify any flower before eating to ensure that it is not toxic. Also avoid using flowers from florists, commercial growers, or from the side of the road, as these may have been sprayed with pesticides.

Your say: Have you ever cooked with edible flowers? Do you think it is a good idea to bring blooms into the kitchen or should they stay in the garden?

This information is provided by the Sanitarium Nutrition Service.

Video: The truth about rice

Related stories


Advertisement
Home Page 5061

My Husband left me for ex HI 5 star

My Husband left me for ex HI 5 star

The wife of Charli Delaney’s lover tells Rose Fydler that her marriage was happy until the TV star entered the scene.

Tears well in Joanna Kirkpatrick’s sad blue eyes as she remembers what day it is. The Melbourne mother-of-two should be celebrating her eighth wedding anniversary this week, but instead she is nursing a broken heart, which she says is courtesy of ex Hi-5 star Charli Delaney.

“She’s the woman who stole my husband and wrecked my family,” a devastated Joanna reveals in a bombshell that is sure to tarnish the squeaky-clean image of the 30-year-old blonde radio host, so loved by Hi-5’s pint-sized fans during her decade in the group.

Despite gushing about her love life in the media last month, Charli remained tight-lipped about the identity of her new boyfriend. But as Joanna confirms, he is Justin Kirkpatrick, her 40-year-old husband and business partner, and the father of her sons, aged six and eight.

“Thanks to [the end of my marriage], 2010 was the year from hell and the pain is still raw for me,” sighs Joanna, 37, who weighed a mere 43kg by the time she separated from Justin in December.

The elegant Pilates instructor and sports science graduate – who co-owns popular natural therapies company The Liquid Crystals with her husband – had her suspicions for months and finally learned the truth by seeing lewd messages and raunchy photos texted to him by Charli.

“I had fought hard to keep Justin,” says Joanna, who believes they shared a happy marriage until Charli entered their lives. “We had a spiritual connection and a very physical relationship. He was a travelling husband, gone five days a week to teach our product range, but we made love before he went and when he returned, and we were a beautiful family unit. Our business is based on the purity of the love Justin and I have for one another and what we believe in. It’s taken us eight years of making sacrifices and working around the clock to build it into a success.

Related stories


Advertisement
Home Page 5061

Chrissie Swan: I’m pregnant at last!

Chrissie Swan: I'm pregnant at last!

The Circle host put on almost 50kg with her first pregnancy but this time round, she’s determined not to make the same mistakes..

Chrissie Swan started her Jenny Craig journey to make conceiving her much-longed-for second baby easier. The aim was to shift a bit of weight, get healthy and, fingers crossed, within a year she’d be on her way to welcoming a new addition to the family.

“And it’s worked!” Chrissie smiles. “I can’t believe how quickly it’s happened!” Advised by her doctor that it may take some time to fall pregnant, 37-year-old Chrissie went off the Pill late last year, not really thinking anything would happen too speedily.

“I started trying to calculate my cycle. I waited for the first day of my second period, and 28 days came and went,” she explains. “Then 30 days, 35 days, and I’m thinking, ‘Maybe I’ve got a long cycle!’ It got to 47 days, and I’m thinking, ‘This is very unusual…’” Clearly it was time for that pregnancy test.

“But it was negative!” Chrissie laughs. “So I thought, ‘It must be the Pill’.” A week and another pregnancy test later, things were still no clearer.

“Then, finally, there was a really faint line on the strip and I thought, ‘Oh my goodness’,” Chrissie chuckles. It was really happening – and Chrissie and her partner Chris, aka Chippie, hadn’t even had time to prepare.

Related stories


Advertisement
Home Page 5061

Giaan Rooney: I’m engaged!

Chrissie Swan: I'm pregnant at last!

The Olympic golden girl and her ‘country boy’ are set to wed.

Gorgeous Olympic gold medallist Giaan Rooney is on a high after her chopper pilot boyfriend Sam Levett proposed during a trip to Bali. And it’s no wonder – she’s been on quite a journey since meeting the country boy over a year ago. “Yep, it’s been quite a ride!” Giaan laughs.

She can say that again. While Giaan, 28, is going about her day in Melbourne, where she works as a presenter on Wide World Of Sports and Getaway, life’s ticking along at a very different pace for Sam, 27, who spends nine months of the year based in the Northern Territory flying helicopters.

It was soon after pairing up with Giaan – the couple got together in November 2009, on Giaan’s 27th birthday – that a road trip was planned to Sam’s family farm, outside Gundagai in NSW.

“We went up there to mark calves,” Sam says. “Marking calves literally means castrating and branding them. I put her straight in the yards with about 30 of my cousins – it was do or die!”

Apart from getting a bruise from a feisty calf, Giaan passed the test with flying colours. “I knew Sam was trying to see whether I would be able to cut the mustard. But I’m up for new experiences,” she says.

Related stories


Advertisement
Home Page 5061

Angelina Jolie super mum

Angelina Jolie super mum

Ange’s kids all see a different side to their famous mum.

With a dazzling smile always at the ready at every movie premiere or awards show, her hair and make-up immaculate, and a knockout designer gown on her impossibly slim frame, it’s clear Angelina Jolie has no intention of relinquishing her status as one of the world’s most glamorous women.

But behind the scenes at the homes she shares with Brad Pitt and their jet-setting tribe, the 35-year-old actress with the seemingly picture-perfect life is said to be anything but a control freak.

Ange encourages each member of her young family to express their individuality – even if that means life gets a little messy at times. “She gives the kids lots of freedom,” a friend tells US magazine OK!.

“Their house in France is covered with crayon and Magic Marker ink.”

The star is also often seen spending special time with just one of two of her youngsters. “She never wants one to feel neglected because they have a big family,” the friend continues.

Related stories


Advertisement
Home Page 5061

Liz Hurley in love: How Warnie won her heart

Liz Hurley in love: How Warnie won her heart

Warnie may be a little rough around the edges but that’s exactly what the beauty sees in him.

With his streaked hair, whitened teeth and stylish wardrobe, on the surface, Shane Warne is as much a “metrosexual” as Liz Hurley’s estranged husband, Arun Nayar.

But the comparisons between gentle Arun and roguish Warnie stop there – and it appears that’s exactly why Liz has fallen head over heels for him. As Liz, 45, and Shane’s affair intensifies, their very public courtship has many women wondering what Liz sees in the cricket superstar.

Friends fear she could be having a “midlife crisis” as she’s still reeling over the collapse of her marriage, and is also worried about her career, which has stalled after the failure of her latest venture – the much-hyped reality show about her organic farm.

“Elizabeth thought there would be a bidding war for her series, but it’s had a lukewarm response,” a friend of Liz tells UK magazine Closer. “No one wants to be judgemental, but she doesn’t seem to be thinking straight when it comes to Shane.”

But, midlife crisis or not, there’s no doubt Liz and Shane share an animal magnetism, first flaunting their romance in London and LA and now rumoured to be planning a rendezvous in Australia. “At our shoot she asked one of our Aussie assistants what New Year was like in Australia and whether there was a cricket match on at that time of year,” a reporter wrote after interviewing Liz for British magazine She.

Related stories


Advertisement