Is this the beginning of the end for the Brazilian?

2013 December 5. | Szerző: shannon

It’s a line that’s been touted in several breathless news reports in recent years, but a new survey indicates that women are casting aside the razors and wax strips and investing in a pair of trimming scissors, if anything – that’s right, the bush is back!

Those born after 1990 could be forgiven for thinking the Brazilian is and has always been the only choice for pubic hair maintenance. But a potentially harrowing conversation with their parents might convince them otherwise. In fact, this 32-year-old writer remembers being a young lad transfixed by an ill-gotten Penthouse pictorial featuring a woman bereft of pubic hair. The black-and-white images featuring such a stark lack of pubic hair were so rare the spread was passed off as edgy, experimental art.

And it appears, after several decades where this has become the norm, that we are currently experiencing a renaissance.

Online pharmacy UK Medix conducted a poll regarding the grooming habits of 1,870 women. An astonishing – if post-2000 porn would have us believe – 51 per cent of participants said that they do not “style or groom their pubic hair.” The best part? Forty-five per cent responded that they used to wax but could “no longer be bothered to keep up the grooming”. Preach.

The hysteria surrounding public discussion of women’s pubic hair and its maintenance – men seem free to grow as many grey, straggly hairs as they desire, no matter how many times the word ‘metrosexual’ is bandied about – hit fever pitch in April when Gwyneth Paltrow spoke of the attention she received after joking that she works a “’70s vibe” on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Appearing on the show again last week, Paltrow said the proliferation of news articles was such that her brother-in-law, Al Martin, had pleaded with her not kick-start a trend.

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“Apparently this was in a lot of newspapers,” she said. “I knew it had permeated when my brother in-law said to me like, ‘I hope you’re not going to, like, bring back big bush.'”

Martin might be one of a dwindling number of men who prefer their lovers sans hair, however; of the poll respondents 62 per cent revealed that their partner “prefers the natural look.”

The renewed push for bush received more attention last month when creative agency Mother London launched a crowd-sourced photographic series titled Project Bush. Their website described the campaign as “a call to action for women to stand up to the pressures of modern society and present their bushes in all their glory. Whether waxed or never tended, young, old, black, brown or white, we want to display London’s lady gardens in all their variety, and demonstrate the choice that many young women – particularly – may not realise they have when it comes to waxing.”

Rather than shame women who decide to go the full Monty, those behind the campaign say it’s about choice and that waxing has become so mainstream that many young women don’t even realise they have options. The project culminated in a major public exhibition that was intended to ignite debate.

“The women who were photographed came in for different reasons,” said Project Bush photographer Alisa Connan. “A very small percentage were completely comfortable with stripping off, the majority were nervous and then full of energy afterwards. And they all had different reasons – some were concerned about how the media portrays women in general, others were concerned about the world their daughters were growing up in. Most thought: ‘This is one small thing that we can do.'”

Mad Men Makeup: Lead Makeup Artist Lana Horochowski Shares Her Secrets

2013 November 5. | Szerző: shannon

Loving the makeup from Mad Men? The show is a fabulous beauty throwback to hair and makeup of days gone by. But with the retro makeup trend in full swing, we were delighted to get some additional insight on these old school styles directly from a pro. Lead Makeup Artist for Mad Men, Lana Horochowski, shared a few of her favorite looks and what it takes to create the time capsule magic for the hit TV show with BeautyPress. Read on to learn about her most beloved character, where she finds inspiration, and what beauty brands she uses. Click through the slideshow for a few of the images from this oh-so-chic era.

So Lana, what kind of brands do you use on the set of Mad Men?

We use KohGenDo a great Japanese line, NARS velvet matte lipsticks, Tom Ford, and MAC.

What kind of research did you do to get inspired to create 1960’s looks?

We ordered so many fashion and vintage magazines. Like when we had to prepare looks from 1968, I ordered the entire year of 1968 Vogue. I would observe the cosmetic advertisements. Those are the most telling of how women were wearing makeup at that time.

Just out of curiosity, who’s your favorite character from Mad Men and where does their cosmetic transformation come from?

Peggy is my favorite. Peggy comes from a religious family, she moved up in a man’s world really quickly. Peggy never learned how to put makeup on, so she’s learning. That’s why her makeup always looks a bit off. Like when I saw an advertisement from the time era for this makeup palette with various different colors, I thought Peggy would totally use all of these colors at once trying to look the best she can.

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So what’s it like getting everyone ready to film? How long does it take to apply the makeup on set before shooting?

For the girls, they’re usually done in an hour and a half to two hours. The guys are fast, 45 minutes and they are ready.

What’s your favorite look from the 1950’s?

There’s nothing more perfect than a matte red lip with a full brow. So clean, simple, and timeless.

Can you explain what goes behind Pete’s receding hairline?

Pete gets shaved every day, sometimes a couple times a day. Then we paint out the shadow that is still left on the head. His head gets shaved with an actual blade to get a really close shave. Whenever it’s time to shave Pete’s head we yell “SHAVING!” and everyone just clenches tight until we’re done. It takes around 40 minutes to get Pete’s shaved head perfect.