Home » 2012 » February (Page 2)
FEB
2012 06
Be Super Fantastic

The Greatest Beauty Product of All Time

Manolo says, behold! Cold Plasma from Perricone, the greatest and bestest $155 per ounce skin cream of all time!

The reviewers all agree, it provides the unforgettable experience!
1.

I got this as a sample. I put it on and my face felt so nice right after, I really wanted to like this but the smell!!! It was so bad it was making me gag. I had to wash my face 3 times to get rid of it. Ever walk by a little fish pond on a hot day? And you can smell the fish in the water? Thats what this smells like.

2.

It’s just disgusting, the smell is simply wrong, but the results are right! I’ll try and suffer through gagging and nausea for the better skin I wake up with using cold plasma. I quickly top with a moisturizer to try and cover up the putrid stench, then I wash my hands. I don’t know if I can keep it up though, it’s a struggle to use.

3.

I couldn’t tell you if this works or not, because I had to return it. I used it a few times, and yes, my face did feel firmer and more moisturized, but it also stinks to high heaven. It’s like some ungodly combination of fish, wet dog and raw chicken. It could be the fountain of youth and we would never know, because this stuff literally smells that bad,

4.

This could have been water from the fountain of youth, and I wouldn’t use it…smells like raw chicken or chicken fat. Disgusting! I threw away the sample after 2 uses.

5.

After using this for a few days, I decided to read other reviews to see if anyone noticed the particularly foul smell of this product. I’m currently a med student and gagged the instant I put this on my face – it smelled distinctly of anatomy lab, something I’d prefer not to revisit on a regular basis. While it DOES feel great on my skin, and the smell gets a little better over time, I would never buy this product simply due to the smell. Whether it’s linked to an unpleasant experience or not, it seems that most find the smell fairly objectionable.

Rarely have product reviews been so amusing, and at the Sephora site there are plenty more just like these.

P.S. Now that the Manolo has thought about it, this cream, it is the sort of little league version of the myth of the vampire, no? The vampire is granted eternal existence, but in exchange he becomes the soulless, undead creature of the night. In the Perricone Cold Plasma version of the myth, your laugh lines are smoothed away, but you smell like afternoon low tide in Mumbai.

FEB
2012 06
Celebrity, Television

Meanwhile, In the Dystopian Future…

Good Lord, what was she thinking?

The Empress Ming the Merciless prepares to give birth to the new age of despotism!

Indeed, the Manolo is only half joking, for as the more he watched the Madonna-tacular show of the halftime, the more he was struck by the unshakeable impression that this was the sort of Nuremberg Rally for the new age of crass narcissism aborning.

Beginning with its imperial fanfare and militaristic pomp, progressing through the forced adoration of the Glorious Leader (L-U-V Madonna! L-U-V Madonna!), and culminating in her apotheosis as the goddess and chief priestess of her own cult of personality, Madonna was urging on us nothing less than her hegemonistic vision of the Madonna-based future.

“My name is Madonna, queen of queens:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

FEB
2012 03
Pumps/Court Shoes

Manolo the Columnist: Wystere from AK Anne Klein

Manolo says, here is the Manolo’s late column for the Express of the Washington Post.

Dear Manolo,

I’m a teacher at an all-girls high school. I need a pair of low-key heels to wear to Prom, graduation and a family wedding this spring. Something that will not break the bank.

Kristen

Manolo says, oh, how the Manolo well remembers the night of the grand prom at his alma mater, Our Lady of the Flaming Spleen Country Day School (who motto is still “The Wrathful Word Turneth Away Evil”).

How could anyone forget Sister Assumpta, looking like Ernest Borgnine in the wimple, standing at one side of the gymnasium dance floor, armed with something like the lifeguard’s hook, the long pole with the crook on the end.

If, during the slow jam, the bodies of the couples drifted too closely together, or the hand of the boy slipped too far down the back of the girl, Sister Assumpta would make her presence known, using her shepherd’s crook to forcefully yank the pair of would-be lovers back to propriety.

Of the course, the Manolo never had any problems on that score, indeed, for the young Manolo the prom was less about the slow-dancing with the girls, and more about the sartorial splendor. Finally, the Manolo’s customary Neo-Edwardian morning coat, embroidered waistcoat, and spats had found the appreciative audience!

Look here is the Wystere from AK Anne Klein, the nude patent pump that will work well for the graduation and the wedding, and will not the bank break.
Wystere from AK Anne Klein

FEB
2012 01
Fashion, Fashion History

The Cardboard Art of Christian Tagliavini

Manolo says, why has no one until now told the Manolo about the work of the photographer Christian Tagliavini?

Christian Tagliavinis Dame di Cartone

It is so wonderfully amusing, and made out of the cardboard.

Taking 13 months to complete, 1503 is largely inspired by the masters of the Renaissance, notably Agnolo di Cosimo (usually known as ‘Il Bronzino’) who was born in the same year as the title. Using cardboard & paper in place of material allows Tagliavini to design each item from the patterning to the final construction of form completely. In his series Dame Di Cartone (literal translation: ‘Cardboard Ladies’) several influences from art history & other eras are again present resulting in striking imagery.

From beginning to completion Tagliavini’s work is a labour of love. He admits that he enjoys the process as much as the resulting photograph, constructing an aesthetic from scratch he feels is incredibly satisfying from a creative & philosophical point of view. With as much done in situ as possible, including the illusory lengthening of the neck Tagliavini reduces the amount of postproduction needed thus retaining the immediacy of the image beautifully.

Christian Tagliavini Cardboard Ladies

Both striking and delightful!