Lacquer Up this Winter 2010!

So, every 2 weeks I find myself at a small Nail Spa, in Crows Nest. It's become habitual and almost always has been for me, as a woman. It could either be the way in which I have grown up.... having a mother, who is the epitome of all things feminine and beautiful so it is just natural for me to always look after myself and my body and that means - manicures & pedicures.

After asking a few guys what they think of a woman with manicured nails, most men said as much as it doesn't bother them... a woman with manicured nails always comes of as one who "looks after herself." As Sydney creeps into the start of winter, nail polish choices change and I usually keep the summery, bright colours to rest. So, if you're wondering what to paint your nails throughout winter and need a few tips as I know how confusing it can be standing in front of a wall submerged in different nail lacquer bottles and you're thinking "hmmmmmmm, wonder if that will look nice on me?" Meanwhile, the lady manicuring your nails is reinforcing the pressure as she wants to get started on your nails so you settle for a colour under pressure. Now, even though these aren't life
altering or even remotely important decisions.... which woman doesn't love pampering herself and having a set of beautifully manicured nails?

The Winter Choice 2010 -

According to an artile published on the HubPages, titled Fall and Winter Nail Polish Colors states that, "Winter nail polish colors embody contrasts and boldness." So, a choice of colours one can go for are as follows.....

Sparkle Up - anything with glitter and sparkle is always great for winter as it is close to the festive season of snowflakes, christmas and holiday lights!
Silver & Opal - these two colours suit all different skin tones and are commonly winter colours that match with everything!
Winter Blues - A festive yet very suitable for winter, nail colour that even I am longing to try! I think it looks so arty yet beautiful especially on fair skin!


Never go back with Black - the most common colour that never ceases to run out of fashion is good ol' black. Either summer or winter, this colour always looks great and matches with absolutely everything! You can mix it up a little bit though, either a pure black, or a charcoal silver-ish black which is available in the OPI range and most other nail polish brands!

Red & Pink - Bright red and a pastel 'bubblegum' pink make great winter colours if you want to add some colour to your nails in winter!

Classic French - You can never go wrong with the classic french manicure, it looks beautiful and classy in summer, autumn, spring or winter and matches everything! The french manicure is still my favourite and the one I resort to if I really can't decide on a colour. If you have beautiful natural nails then you're lucky or else, french looks fab on gel nails!

The most trustworthy nail polish brands I rely on are Sally Hansen & OPI.

So go on and pamper yourself at the nearest nail spa near you!

- By Simran Sagar

The no pants rule!

What has happened to pants? They seem to have vanished into thin air. If we look closely around we will see leotards, teeny-tiny shorts and whole lot of lace stocking. Now don’t get me wrong I love all fashion and I do wear stockings and shorts but seriously would you wear these with no pants? Or skirts or some form of clothing that hides your cha cha. These form of clothing are all pretending to be pants! And there are not. Pants are pants! This new breed of outerwear is really just undies masquerading as fashion. Suddenly flashing the same amount of flesh as you would in the privacy of your own home has become cool. And not just on the dance floor, on the street, at the office and even on the red carpet.

This probably started with French vogue, who printed an issue of vogue declaring that a fashion revolution was to be upheld – declaring the no pants rule! All type of pants were out – jeans, trousers etc. French vogue dedicated an entire issue on how a small piece of fabric was now “in!” Call me old fashion but how can any one be comfortable in a small amount of fabric below the bellybutton and then be brave enough to step out in public? It was French feminism, as they declared it time for women to liberate their legs from those pesky things called pants. Sometimes fashion magazines throw out a crazy, ugly trend to see if it will catch on, and see whether or not there are brave or stupid people out there willing to try something new! The world is full of stupid people. And when it comes down to fashion, there’s definitely the crazies out there. By going pantless it requires a certain kind of crazy.

Defenders of the this trend will most likely say that Sienna Miller’s black opaque tights worn with matching knickers were genius! And earlier this year Katy Perry went for coffee in lace stockings and a leotard. I call this crazy but they call it cool, I mean come on people do you really want to see cameltoe casually strolling down the road. I think not! Interestingly enough the French are responsible for this so-called trend but the whole bloody sans pantalon wave, French women haven’t adopted it into their own wardrobes, they preferred to leave it to the Aussies and Yanks!

-By Severine Duval

"Life is short, have an affair".......... umm, really?

The infidelity stories never really come to an end do they? These sad stories of men cheating on their wives, or boyfriends cheating on their girlfriends, or vice versa get so glamourized in Hollywood!

But, what's really caught my eye while reading through Samantha's Brett's Column in the Sydney Morning Herald is learning of a website www.ashleymadison.com where the website's slogan, shockingly and very clearly reads, "Life is short, have an affair."......... Ummm, say what? I know back in the day when I was in school there were all sorts of sayings such as "life is short, make the most of every moment" etc, etc. But "life is short, have an affair" screams out controversy loud and clear.

So, firstly a little introduction to the Ashley Madison website, it was created by Noel Biderman in 2000. It is a website that grants a space for either married or simply dating men and women who are keen to fulfil their sexual needs elsewhere, because in other words they want to have the best of both worlds and are afraid to lose their partner. So, what's the solution for people like this? A website that grants that space to meet others, as the secret will always be kept safe between two cheating spouses. You can only imagine, that the response to a website such as this, falls under the negative category as it accuses "... Biderman of breaking up relationships and destroying famillies while making money of it" states an online article by Godwin (2009). Biderman is basically trying to say that marriages continue to fail nowadays due to the pressures of sex and monogamy. It's beyond my imagination that someone would genuinely think a solution to this is creating a portal for people to come together to make cheating emotionally or physically easier, without being caught out. It's literally gaining pleasure and $$ over another person's grief..... sounds pretty ridiculous and worrying to me.

It's websites like this, along with the portrayal of cheating scandals in the media and TV shows that glamourize cheating on a partner as something "exciting" "refreshing" and "new". What happened to good ol' values and trust being one of the most important factors in a relationship? When trust has been eroded, what is left? A broken heart and insecurities that one has to deal with for a long, long time.

In this online article on NewsBlaze, Biderman lastly states "For so many people, they love their spouses. Not everyone wants to leave their spouses. In the end, I'm providing an outlet." However, isn't there other safer outlets that life provides to deal with sexual or emotional issues in a relationship? I think a website like this, takes being open-minded to a whole new level and it's a little disturbing.

An interview in Time, quoted Mira Kirshenbaum who said "I really thought that affairs were fatal for relationships but they're not..." and "... many, many people are able to use the affair as a wake-up call and end up so much happier with a relationship that gives them what they need, instead of being on automatic and pretending that everything's okay." This applies, if both parties carry qualities of genuinely apologizing (the cheater) and forgiving (the cheatee). Now having read this, there are mixed feelings because I have seen this little theory work out between a couple. At the same time, I could never forgive someone for breaching my trust as those lessons have been learnt through some hardships encountered in the dating game along the past few years. There are couples on the other hand, where one cheats and apologizes as he/she waks up and realizes it's not worth it, and the other forgives, because they have a big heart. But, my question is..... how do you look your cheating partner in the eye? How can you love someone who has deliberately gone behind your back and found emotional support or physical affection in a woman/man that replaced YOU for those brief minutes or hours?

After reading about this Ashley Madison website, I honestly feel.... are all moral values in our society being eradicated one-by-one? There are wars and religious debates that have the world in a fix..... and are important matters. How do people find the time to strip human behaviour further by granting a platform for cheating partners?

- By Simran Sagar

Eat for your age!

So were in our 20s before we know it 30s and then the dreaded 40s so what can we do to stay somewhat young and healthy? Dietitian Zoe Nicholson shows us how to shake up our eating patterns to suit our age! Your wellbeing can take a back seat as climbing the career ladder and socialising become top priority! " Bone density is still increasing during your early 20s and adequate calcium is vital to obtaning peak bone mass". says Dietitian Zoe Nicholson She suggests two-to-three low mass fats serves of dairy per day, plus sardines and thinned salmon with bones- all good sources of calcium. Iron is also vital, and while lean red meat is best to ward off a deficiency, eat lentils and lots of green leafy vegies too!

Okay ladies as much as we dont wanna think about it will be heating our 30s soonish so Nicholson recommends:Many women in this age bracket find themselves juggling children, a career and house chores, which can be exhausting," says Nicholson. Her solutio? Boosting your carbohydrates and vitamin-B intake to lift energy levels. This means more wholegrain breads and cereals, beans, legymes and potatoes. Also, you should maintain your daily calcium intake with those two to three serves of dairy, plis sardines, or thinned salmons with bones and seeds

And before we know it were in our 40s!
"Calcium continues to be important due to rapid decrease in bone mass and because of lower oestrogen production." Says Nicholson. Continue with three serves of dairy and up your levels of vitamin D (a few minutes in the sunshine each day)to help with calcium absorption. If menopausal night sweats start, try eating more phytoestrogens (found in soy beans, legumes, tofu, oats and wholegrains.) As they may help soothe the symptoms and are beneficial regardless. So ladies bascially what Nicholson is saying watch out for our iron and calcium in our 20s so we can party the night away, boost up on our carbs and vitamin-B in our 30s so we can juggle those kids, our career and those dreaded house duties and finally when the big 40 comes along keep our calcium levels and vitamin D alive, all while trying to fight the dreaded menopausal symtptoms

Is it time to switch off?

Social networking hits a primal nerve for many of us. According to recent Nielsen poll, Australians are the biggest social media users in the world, with over 9.9 million of us regularly bleating our innermost’s to whoever’s out there listening. The survey illustrates that we spend, on average, six hours and 52 minutes each month sailing the social media seas- a full 43 minutes more than our nearest rivals in the U.S.

Face book is our preferred outlet, followed by MySpace and then Twitter. But what is all this web noise doing to our relationships and sense of self? Its hard to say- not that this has stop experts from saying it. Psychologists, media analysts and social commentators together have different opinions about the benefit or dangers of social media. In fact most will immediately post their hypotheses on their blogs or Twitter accounts via their Iphone. Some have argued the following; “It’s a poor substitute for real-life relationships!” “It’s a genius marketing platform and procrastinator’s dream.”

But when it comes down to it its simply another way to communicate. It does bring us closer together but at the same time is does drag us further apart. Most of us are comfortable with this form of communication. Now that its such a fixture in many of our lives, its important to assess our own use of social media to be sure it fits with out values and is doing each of us more good than harm. Social media would appear to be a harmless diversion, one that may strengthen our existing relationships. As psychologist Pamela Rutledge illustrates “when we contact people regularly, even though the contact may feel inferior to face-to-face for intimacy, the frequency creates a connection that facilitates face-to-face connections.”

Social media helps many who find it difficult to communicate. It helps those that are shy helps individuals to express themselves and builds networks.

It changes our lives, improves the way we do business, enhanced our relationships. But sometimes-social media sites reveal the saddest and ugliest sides of our characters. Here are five unsavoury examples I found in an issue of Madison May 2010, p. 70-73.

1. “A British mother jumps to her death from a fourth-floor balcony in Spain days before she due to give evidence against a former partner who was accused of assaulting her. She left a suicide note to her teenaged children on Facebook that read, “Please, I beg you, don’t hate me for letting you down now.” Her daughter spotted the message and replied. “Mum!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! mum…I love you u 2 much, Please don’t leave….!!!!!!!!!!!” Alexandra Carlton

2. Us mother tweeted details of her son’s death. Two-year-old Bryson feel into the family’s pool after a fence was left unlocked. 34minutes after the paramedics arrived to try and revive the boy. The mother further tweeted “Please pray like never before, my 2 year old feel in the pool” Five hours later as her son was pronounced dead. She tweeted “ Remembering my million dollar baby.” Critics have said that perhaps if she was paying as much attention to her son as she was twitter her son may have never died.

3. “After her IUD failed and she become pregnant 27-year-old mother to be Angie Jackson tweeted her abortion using the “abortion pill”, RU-486. “I’m doing this so other women know, “Hey, its not nearly as terrifying as I had myself worked up thinking it was.” She said. “It’s just not that bad”.” Alexandra Carlton

4. “Facebook was force to apologies after a number of tribute sites to murdered Queensland children were defaced. Memorials to trinity Bates, an eight-year-old girl murdered and a 12-year-old boy alleged stabbed to death by a classmate in Brisbane, were flooded with obscene messages and images of murder and pornography. Police have said perpetrators will be punished though at the time of writing no charges had been laid. “Alexandra Carlton

5. “Anyone using Gmail was automatically signed into Google’s social messaging service Google Buzz. Instantly, their email contact list was revealed to anyone who wanted to look at it. One woman reported that her abusive ex-husband was given access to sensitive information, Journalist sources were revealed and details of affairs were made public. Google had to apologise for its breach of privacy and announced it would make changed to the system.

So is it time to switch off?

- By Severine Duval