Brand logo of Brand logo of Brand logo of Brand logo of Brand logo of
  •  
Advertisement
Home Page 5272

Six races, six faces: Celtic colouring – red hair and pale skin

Brand logo of Now to Love
Profile picture of Now to Love

Australia is known for its ethnic diversity. From Indigenous to blonde, Mediterranean, Asian, Celtic and dark-skinned, Australian multi-cultural beauty embraces all races, skin tones, hair and eye colouring and exudes a fresh and natural appeal, which reflects the vibrant, laid-back spirit of the country.

This striking combination of red hair and light-toned skin can look sensational when the right make-up shades have been chosen. Beth Mumm, Clinique Director of Product Development Worldwide, says to start with foundation choice and when in doubt opt for a neutral base, which is not too pink.

“To check the true color of a foundation, apply an opaque swatch of at least three colours as close to your skin tone as possible, directly to your jawbone,” she advises. “Check the colour in natural daylight to see which is closest to the actual skin tone.”

Blush basics

Apply blush last as this way you can assess at the combination of the lips and eyes and how much or how little you will need to complete the look. “Always match your blush with the colour of your lipstick,” says Beth. “To create a very natural look use either a light bronzer or a brownish blush – keep it happy, dewy and fresh – just stay within the neutral palette.”

Lip tricks

Best to keep in mind the overall look and to balance complement eye shadow and it’s advisable to keep one feature as focus. If your eye makeup is light you can get away with darker lips, however if your eyes are dramatic, think about keeping the tone of your lips more subtle.

Eye style

Beth comments, “For pale skin use browny pinks, soft orange, burnt amber and straight-up browns. Make sure to use colours that are not too vibrant. If you have blue eyes make sure not to use any red, but keep a nice neutral wash.”

Check out other cultural make-up looks here…

Your Say: What makeup colouring do you think looks good on women with fair-skin or red hair? Share your experiences and ideas below…

Profile picture of Now to Love
Now to Love

Related stories

Sign up for our newsletter

Newsletter conversion description. Get the latest in your inbox.

Disclaimer: By joining, you agree to our Privacy Policy & Terms of Use

Advertisement
Home Page 5272

Six races, six faces

Brand logo of Now to Love
Profile picture of Now to Love

Australia is known for its ethnic diversity. From Indigenous to blonde, Mediterranean, Asian, Celtic and dark-skinned, Australian multi-cultural beauty embraces all races, skin tones, hair and eye colouring and exudes a fresh and natural appeal, which reflects the vibrant, laid-back spirit of the country.

Knowing which make-up shades suit different skin tones, hair and eye colouring can be challenging. Here top make-up artists embrace Australia’s ethnic diversity and find mistake-proof multi-cultural make-up for everyone.

Profile picture of Now to Love
Now to Love

Related stories

Sign up for our newsletter

Newsletter conversion description. Get the latest in your inbox.

Disclaimer: By joining, you agree to our Privacy Policy & Terms of Use

Advertisement
Home Page 5272

Autumn Envy

Brand logo of Now to Love
Profile picture of Now to Love

You see them in every gardening magazine – page after page of autumn glories, trees in every shade of red, orange, purple, gold and yellow. But sadly in Australia you need ‘two jumpers and a pair of long Johns’ winters to really get great autumn foliage – and even then, the chances are that your water-loving birches, maples and oaks will have died of thirst in summer’s heat…

Luckily there are some great drought and heat hardy trees around that will give you brilliantly coloured leaves all summer as well as autumn. The ones below will grow in any climate. In cold districts they’ll give a display of quite different autumn colours; in warmer climates you will be rewarded with a longer leaf and flowering season instead.

Coloured-leaf plums:

These are one of my favourites – yummy fruit plus stunning foliage. But do be careful – if you want fruit make sure you have a fruiting cultivar – it’ll say if it’s a fruiting tree or strictly ornamental on the label. If you don’t want the work (and mess) of squishy plums in summer, only buy the ‘flowering’ varieties that do not set fruit.

Prunus nigra has the darkest purple leaves. P. cerasifera ‘Pissardii’ is deep red with a hint of purple too. Look out for the rare P. x blireana too, with rich coppery gold leaves. All have bright pink flowers and make a stunning spring display, as well as their summer glories.

Coloured-leaf crab apples:

There are quite a few crab apples with copper, purple or red leaves. They all have fabulous spring flowers too, as well as hard decorative small fruit, from cherry size to glowing red yellow or multicoloured fruit the size of a small egg.

Crab apples are surprisingly drought tolerant once established – one of the hardiest trees you can grow. Birds adore both blossom and fruit, and you might even be inspired to make crab apple jelly – a lovely translucent thing you’ll never find in supermarkets.

Smoke Bush (Cotinus spp):

I adore smoke bush. Take everything I say about them with a grain of salt, because I admit my bias. But how can you not passionately love a tree that gives you rich purple, red or scarlet shaded leaves, a haze of red flowers – just like coloured smoke – all summer and into autumn, plus, in colder climates, a briliant change of colour each autumn. Even the trunks are beautiful being bare and shapely in winter.

My real adoration though comes from their hardiness. I have six smoke bushes now, some put in during the horror summer of 2003 when it didn’t really rain for eleven and a half months with gale-force bush fire winds. And not one of the little darlings turned up its toes, even with no watering from me (we had none to give them) and when even grevilleas were dying.

Smoke bush tolerates full baking sun or light shade; they cope with any soil, cold, frost, drought, heat… the only problem is the occasional too heavy panicle of blooms after rain, that can droop down till a branch breaks. But even that is pretty rare. The same panicles also make for stunning flower arrangements.

Smoke bushes can be pruned into a hedge, but are really best allowed to grow to their full 2 to 3 metre height by themselves. Look for Cotinus ‘Grace’ with it’s purple leaves and soft powdery bloom over them. Cotinus coggygria ‘Velvet Cloak’ is a darker richer purple producing rich red autumn colours. Cotinus c. ‘Golden Spirit’ is a brilliant yellow to rich gold, depending on how much sunlight it gets.

There are other smoke bushes too, green leafed or green shaded with a tinge of red. And all are simply magic. Who needs autumnal oaks and maples when you have brilliant hardy smokebush, crabs or plums in your garden?

Profile picture of Now to Love
Now to Love

Related stories

Sign up for our newsletter

Newsletter conversion description. Get the latest in your inbox.

Disclaimer: By joining, you agree to our Privacy Policy & Terms of Use

Advertisement
Home Page 5272

*Still Alice*

Brand logo of Now to Love
Profile picture of Now to Love
Still Alice by Lisa Genova

Exclusive extract from The Australian Women’s Weekly Great Read, March issue Still Alice (Simon and Schuster) by Lisa Genova.

“John?”

Alice waited, suspended in the front hallway, holding the handle of her suitcase. Harvard Magazine lay on the top of a pile of unclaimed mail strewn on the floor in front of her. The clock in the living room ticked and the refrigerator hummered. A warm, sunny late afternoon at her back, the air inside felt chilly, dim, and stale.

Uninhabited.

She picked up the mail and walked into the kitchen, her suitcase of wheels accompanying her like a loyal pet. Her flight had been delayed, and she was late getting in, even according to the microwave. He’d had a whole day, a whole Saturday, to work.

The red voicemail light on the answering machine stared her down, unblinking. She checked the refrigerator. No note on the door. Nothing.

Still clutching the handle of her suitcase, she stood in the dark kitchen and watched several minutes advance on the microwave. The disappointed but forgiving voice in her head faded to a whisper as the volume of a more primal one began to build and spread out. She thought about calling him, bu the expanding voice rejected the suggestion outright and refused all excuses. She thought about deciding not to care, but the voice, now seeping down her body, echoing in her belly, vibrating in each of her fingertips, was too powerful and pervasive to ignore.

Why did it bother her so much? He was in the middle of an experiment and couldn’t leave it to come home. She’d certainly been in his shoes innumerable times. This was who they were. The voice called her a stupid fool. She spotted her running shoes on the floor next to the back door. A run would make her feel better. That was what she needed.

Ideally she ran every day. For many years now, she treated running like eating and sleeping, as a vital daily necessity, and she’d been known to squeeze in a jog at midnight or in the middle of a blinding snowstorm. But she’d neglected this basic need over the last several months. She’d been so busy. As she laced her shoes, she told herself she hadn’t bothered bringing them with her to California because she’d knows she wouldn’t have the time. In truth, she’d simply forgotten to pack them.

When starting from her house on Poplar Street, she invariably followed the same route – down Massachusetts avenue, through Harvard Square to Memorial Drive, along the Charles River to the Harvard Bridge over by MIT, and back, a little over five miles, a forty-five minute round trip. She had long been attracted to the idea of running in the Boston marathon but each year decided that she realistically didn’t have the time to train for that kind of distance. Maybe some day she would. In excellent physical condition for a woman her age, she imagined running well into her sixties.

Clustered pedestrian traffic on the sidewalks and intermittent negotiations with car traffic in intersections littered the first part of her run down Massachusetts Avenue and through Harvard Square. It was crowded and ripe with anticipation at that time of day on a Saturday, with crowds forming and milling around on street corners waiting for walk signals, outside restaurants waiting for tables, in movie theatres lines waiting for tickets, and in double-parked cars, waiting for an unlikely opening in a metered space. The first ten minutes of her run required a good deal of conscious external concentration to navigate through it all, but once she crossed Memorial Drive to the Charles Rover, she was free to run in full stride and completely in the zone.

A comfortable and cloudless evening invited a lot of activity along the Charles, yet it felt less congested than the streets of Cambridge. Despite a steady stream of joggers, dogs and their owners, walkers, rollerbladers, cyclists, and women pushing babies in jogger strollers, like an experienced driver on a regularly traveled stretch of road, Alice only retained a vague sense for what went on around her now. As she ran along the river, she became mindful of nothing but the sounds of her Nikes hitting the pavement in syncopated rhythm with the pace of her breath, She didn’t replay her argument with Lydia. She didn’t acknowledge her growling stomach, She didn’t think about John. She just ran.

Profile picture of Now to Love
Now to Love

Related stories

Sign up for our newsletter

Newsletter conversion description. Get the latest in your inbox.

Disclaimer: By joining, you agree to our Privacy Policy & Terms of Use

Advertisement
Home Page 5272

Natalie B — dancing to the top!

Brand logo of Now to Love
Profile picture of Now to Love

Natalie Bassingthwaighte, actor, author, dancer, singer, songwriter and host of Network Ten’s reality show So You Think You Can Dance, explains to Larry Writer why she was born to perform.

Check out beautiful Natalie throughout her career here.

No one who’s been up until 2.30am has any right to be this bouncy. Yet now, just seven hours after finishing a promo for So You Think You Can Dance, Natalie Bassingthwaighte bustles in, a diminutive black-clad dynamo clutching a soy latte and a piece of wholemeal toast.

She executes a balletic high kick, lets out a “Whooo!”, and tells her manager, Mark Byrne, that, of course, she would be honoured to present the Best Television Drama award at Saturday night’s AFI Awards and hopes there can be a ticket for her boyfriend, Cameron McGlinchey. “My day,” the 33-year-old assures The Weekly, as Mark runs through her schedule, “will only get busier.”

When Natalie met ace US pop producer Jimmy Harry last year to plan her new solo album, he asked her which recording star she wanted to emulate. “I said, ‘Emulate? I don’t want to emulate anybody. I want to be me.’ ‘Okay,’ he said, ‘then who are you?’ “

Good question. Natalie wasn’t exactly sure then and, today, chatting about her myriad brilliant careers, she still ponders the conundrum. “The best I can come up with is I’m hardworking, lucky, ambitious and have the resilience to bounce back from rejection.” Typically, she fails to mention her prodigious talent.

Natalie’s done — and is doing — it all. She is the bubbly, heart-on-the-sleeve host of Network Ten’s reality show So You Think You Can Dance, is releasing her first solo album this month, is ambassador for Garnier hair products (“I’m like the Australian Sarah Jessica Parker!”) and is about to be seen in the Australian horror movie, Prey.

She was Izzy Hoyland, the schemer you love to hate, in Neighbours, has starred in hit musicals, was the frontwoman for APRA-winning dance/pop act Rogue Traders, last year sang the national anthem at the Beijing Olympics, football grand finals and cricket internationals, and co-wrote a book of advice for teenage girls. Some CV.

“All my wildest dreams have come true,” Natalie bubbles, then, tucking her Bikram yoga-toned legs underneath her on the lounge, grows a little pensive. “Maybe I do spread myself too thin,” she admits. “I’m my own worst enemy. I can’t say no to a new challenge and, suddenly, I’m doing 10 things at once and that means pressure because I’m a perfectionist. Trouble is, I love it all. Performing gives me such joy.”

Check out beautiful Natalie throughout her career here.

Your say: What do you think of Natalie? Tell us below…

Profile picture of Now to Love
Now to Love

Related stories

Sign up for our newsletter

Newsletter conversion description. Get the latest in your inbox.

Disclaimer: By joining, you agree to our Privacy Policy & Terms of Use

Advertisement
Home Page 5272

Magda’s amazing journey

Brand logo of Now to Love
Profile picture of Now to Love

Funny girl Magda Szubanski has lost a staggering 26 kilograms in a year. As Wendy Squires discovers, the much-loved star of Kath & Kim is now shrinking at the rate of a kilogram a week, and she has gained a whole new, more positive perspective on life.

The Weekly and Jenny Craig give you the chance to meet Magda Szubanski backstage at Guys and Dolls! Click here to enter

Check out amazing Magda throughout her career here.

The mercury is hitting 43°C and Melbourne is in meltdown. Air-conditioners labouring at full blast have exhausted the power grid and much of the city’s famous shopping stretch of Chapel Street is without electricity. Finding a cafe cool enough to sit in means walking several blocks through the oppressive haze, something Magda Szubanski admits she would have found near-impossible only a year ago, when she weighed 121 kilograms.

“Imagine if I was still carrying all that extra fat in this weather!” she says, her cherubic face breaking into a broad smile at the thought. “It would be unbearable. My muscles used to be like these big guy [tent] ropes holding up this massive amount of weight. It was terrible.”

Barely recognisable from the last time she sat down to talk with The Weekly, only four-and-a-half months ago, after joining weight-loss company Jenny Craig, today, Magda is 16 kilos lighter and a whole lot happier as she takes a seat in the city’s famous Caffé e Cucina, where handsome Italian waiters hover ready to flirt with the attractive blonde in their midst. Cheekbones that weren’t noticeable just weeks ago have suddenly appeared, along with a jawline that gives her pretty face more definition. Her shorts are now so big they’re almost falling off and her shirt is so loose she could practically fit in another person. Her hair, her skin, her eyes are all glowing with good health.

She is a new person and she knows it.

“I feel unbelievable,” the 47-year-old exclaims, “and I’m so proud of myself. My mum is really proud, too, although she told me last night that I’m not allowed to get up myself about it.”

The truth is that Magda has every right to be both proud and up herself. In the past year, the comedian, actress and writer has lost a massive 26 kilos, literally saving her own life in the process. Yet it’s joining Jenny Craig 16 weeks ago that Magda credits as the real key to her phenomenal success. Since following their plan, Magda has passed the halfway mark to her goal weight of 85 kilos, her weight when she first hit our TV screens as Pixie-Anne Wheatley on Fast Forward in the late 1980s.

“It’s the small things I’m noticing, such as going upstairs,” she explains. “I don’t even have to think about it now — I just do it. When I get to the top I think, ‘My God, I’ve just walked up stairs!’, whereas before I would stand at the bottom as if they were Mt Everest and go, ‘Oh, my God — how am I going to do this?’ “

Check out some great fashion tips for larger ladies from the AWW fashion team here.

Check out amazing Magda throughout her career here.

Your say: Have you lost weight recently? Tell us your experience and send your message to Magda below…

Profile picture of Now to Love
Now to Love

Related stories

Sign up for our newsletter

Newsletter conversion description. Get the latest in your inbox.

Disclaimer: By joining, you agree to our Privacy Policy & Terms of Use

Advertisement
Home Page 5272

Sonia Kruger’s shock divorce

Brand logo of Woman's Day
Profile picture of Now to Love

Career pressure and too much time apart cause the collapse of the TV favourite’s marriage…

Sonia Kruger seemed to have it all — fame, a successful career and a happy home life. So it came as a shock to friends and fans alike that her six-year marriage to international banker James Davies had fallen apart.

“I can confirm that they are no longer together,” Sonia’s agent Mark Klemens told Sydney’s Sunday Telegraph. Quick to point out that no third party was involved, Mark cited their successful careers and time spent apart for the split.

The matter was “deeply personal”, Mark told Woman’s Day, adding that Sonia had no further comment to make.

As one of television’s most polished and professional stars, the forever upbeat Sonia never let show the true extent to which her marriage was in trouble.

But while fans across the nation were stunned to learn of her private pain, insiders say the marriage between the Dancing With The Stars co-host and her husband had been slowly disintegrating for the better part of a year.

Even in happier times Sonia made no secret of the strain her successful career put on her relationship. She even once went so far as to say she and her husband were “married singles”.

Profile picture of Now to Love
Now to Love

Related stories

Sign up for our newsletter

Newsletter conversion description. Get the latest in your inbox.

Disclaimer: By joining, you agree to our Privacy Policy & Terms of Use

Advertisement
Home Page 5272

Melissa Tkautz ties the knot

Brand logo of Woman's Day
Profile picture of Now to Love

Former E Street star turned pop singer Melissa Tkautz weds her long-time love…

No scriptwriter could dream up a more romantic scene than when actress Melissa Tkautz wed partner of almost five years, Kwesi Nicholas, in an intimate ceremony.

Arriving at the sandstone Cardinal Cerretti Chapel in Sydney’s beachside suburb of Manly, the 35-year-old bride was stunning in a strapless designer dress that drew gasps from the 100 guests assembled on the stairs.

Clutching a bouquet of roses, the blonde starlet was thrilled to be tying the knot with Kwesi, her “gorgeous” beau with whom she is “very much in love”.

Melissa, whose risqué pop songs Sexy (Is The Word) and Read My Lips had success on the Australian charts, said “I do” in a traditional and emotional Catholic ceremony.

“Melissa looked amazing in her couture dress,” her agent, Stephen Bennett, said. “Many guests had tears in their eyes during the service.”

Profile picture of Now to Love
Now to Love

Related stories

Sign up for our newsletter

Newsletter conversion description. Get the latest in your inbox.

Disclaimer: By joining, you agree to our Privacy Policy & Terms of Use

Advertisement
Home Page 5272

Jennifer Aniston spills the beans on her men

Brand logo of Woman's Day
Profile picture of Now to Love

The once tight-lipped actress is celebrating her landmark birthday by revealing all about her loves…

Turning the big 4-0 has given notoriously shy actress Jennifer Aniston a new lease on life — and she’s marking the occasion with a string of revelations on the men in her life, including ex-husband Brad Pitt.

Facing middle age with hope and expectation, the happy-at-last star has shared her dreams of having a family with rocker John Mayer, her heartbreak over her divorce from Brad and her love for Vince Vaughn.

She says her painful split with Brad — who has achieved his dream of children with Angelina Jolie — has made her the woman she is today.

“My split with Brad was the hardest thing I ever went through, but it made me strong, superhuman,” she says. “Now I’m turning 40 I’m very excited. When they say that youth is wasted on the young, it’s so true. Oh, my God, what I wish I’d known when I was 30!”

Finally feeling able to speak freely about Brad, the star says she has no regrets about the failed marriage. The couple broke up amid claims she didn’t want to have kids — something she denies — and speculation that Brad cheated with Ange.

Profile picture of Now to Love
Now to Love

Related stories

Sign up for our newsletter

Newsletter conversion description. Get the latest in your inbox.

Disclaimer: By joining, you agree to our Privacy Policy & Terms of Use

Advertisement
Home Page 5272

Lisa and David Campbell: Our baby plans

Brand logo of Woman's Day
Profile picture of Now to Love

By Phillip Koch

Pictures: Nick Hudson

Love has healed David’s family wounds, now he and his bride are ready for a brood of their own…

Newlywed singer David Campbell has a twinkle in his eye as he starts to rib his wife Lisa about her vow not to rush into motherhood. He laughs at her protests and jokes she is a mere heartbeat away from maternity.

“You are only going to get broodier,” he warns Lisa, who is glowing with happiness at the prospect of one day being a mum. David has yearned for children ever since finding out as a boy that he was the secret love child of rock star Jimmy Barnes.

The couple tied the knot in what was billed the “rock wedding of the year” in Sydney last November. Now, three months later, babies are a hot topic of conversation — with Lisa reluctantly admitting she might actually be cluckier than wannabe-dad David.

“One of the first compliments you gave me, when we had only been together a week, was when you told me I would be a good mother,” she reminds David, who swept her off her feet almost from their first date.

“I don’t think it was love at first sight, but it was a definite attraction, and since that day [when mutual friend Magda Szubanski introduced the couple] we have been together.”

Profile picture of Now to Love
Now to Love

Related stories

Sign up for our newsletter

Newsletter conversion description. Get the latest in your inbox.

Disclaimer: By joining, you agree to our Privacy Policy & Terms of Use

Advertisement