I partnered with Caress as a Fabulista to show women how fragrance can inspire them to live fabulously every day. All year long, I share my top style and beauty tips for looking and feeling fabulous on the brand’s facebook page – starting with fine fragrance. For me, fragrance is an essential part of any look because it sets the tone for my day, from how I feel to what I wear. The new Caress Tempting Whisper Fine Fragrance Elixir Body Wash has such alluring fragrances and has been inspiring me to wear so many hot trends this season from floral print dresses to bold pink accessories. With these tips, I want to inspire women to step outside of their comfort zone and flaunt their fabulous style confidently.
Q: What advice would you give your 22-year-old self?
I would tell my 22-year-old self to have fun because time flies. But to also think carefully before making decisions because at that age the decisions you make can definitely impact your life.
Q: What’s your fashion must-have of the moment?
My fashion must-have of the moment is a neon pump. It can either play up or play down an outfit. Everyone should have a pair!
When Crest approached me and asked if I wanted to attend this year’s Young Hollywood Awards my first reaction was “ohhhh fun!” My second reaction was “wait…am I too old to attend the Young Hollywood Awards?” I’m not gonna lie and say that I knew every nominee (cause I soooo didn’t) or that I even knew who every performer was (THAT was pretty funny), but I decided that if Ian Ziering can attend the Young Hollywood Awards, then so could I. In fact, he and Tara Reid actually accepted an award for “SharkNado,” true story, and I got a hilarious video of Tara thanking the fans for “Twittering”…nice one.
Anywho, the Crest-sponsored awards show actually had a lot of “older” stars that I was pretty excited to see, like Ian Somerhalder, who is just as hot in person, and Ms. Lauren Conrad, who’s gorgeous smile basically inspired me to finally commit to using Crest’s brand new 1 Hour Express Whitening kit. I DID try their previous version that took 2 hours for every use and yeah…I couldn’t get through it. For some reason, the minute someone tells me I can’t drink water for two hours, I immediately NEED that water. But one hour? THAT I can do, for sure.
Famous people like to hear the truth (ok, maybe most of the time)
Spend your time doing what you love and enjoy doing
A great hug is underrated
Some men DO really like cats
Be thankful and appreciate every moment
I struggled with whether or not to write something about Cory’s tragic passing; to say that his death came as a shock to me is a total understatement. Though I hadn’t spent time with him in over a year, at one point I did see him often and was always greeted with a smile and a GIGANTIC HUG. At the time, I would laugh about his hugs to our friends and jokingly refer to them as “borderline inappropriate” because they were those deep, close hugs where someone literally wraps their arms around you and your entire body, and they lasted just a tad too long (but hey, I wasn’t complaining). It’s kind of crazy to think how happy I’d be to have one of those hugs right now, and that’s just it. Cory was the kind of person who you instantly felt comfortable around and wanted to spill all of your secrets to. It’s kind of unreal to meet a person like that even once or twice in your life, which is why he’ll always have a special place in my heart. Cory’s laugh was contagious and it was very difficult to not smile and giggle when he was around. He was kind, giving, and compassionate toward others, which are qualities that are sometimes rare here in Hollywood.
Cory was also the kind of person who didn’t cut the line at the Empire State Building…I’ll never forget that one. He told me about how, when Glee first started airing, he was in New York and really wanted to go to the top of the iconic building…why not, right? He got into line and a guard came up to him and said “hey man, I know who you are…you don’t have to wait in line.” Cory politely declined. “What?!” I asked as he’s telling me this story. “I mean…lines suck.” He then told me “I don’t want to be THAT guy. I want to be treated just like everyone else…but THAT is when I knew things in my life were about to change…” He, of course, was referring to fame – a completely foreign and somewhat scary concept to him.
One of my favorite memories of Cory is kind of a silly one, but it’s important and meaningful to me. A few of us were hanging out by his pool and I told a funny story that kind of just fell flat (hey, it happens to everyone). I could tell that my face was turning a little red and I felt stupid. I looked around for some assistance and then I locked eyes with Cory. He smiled at me and said, “I TOTALLY get it.” It’s small but it’s one of the little things that good people do for others. THAT is the kind of person Cory Monteith was. He had his demons, he tried to fight them and, sadly, he lost, but I will always remember Cory for saving me from embarrassment and, of course, a few other things: our mutual hatred of country music, his Twitter obsession (FANS: he DID read all your tweets, by the way), our talks/his advice on what I want to do with my life and, lastly, the shockingly honest and vulnerable way he embraced his sobriety for so many years. For someone with that many demons, it couldn’t have been easy; I admire him for that.
If you finish reading this post and take away even just ONE insight on Cory, I ask you to take this: please don’t remember him for being another victim of “Hollywood, fame and fortune.” One, because that was his worst nightmare and two, because Cory isn’t a victim at all. Cory achieved almost everything he ever wanted out of life and, as sad as I am that he passed at such a young age, I at least take some comfort in that fact. Rest in peace, Cory. You will be desperately missed.
To make a donation in Cory’s honor, you can visit Project Limelight, a charity that he supported for many years.
I can’t pretend that I actually want to show off my stomach (ever) but when I saw this photo of Rihanna in London, my eyes popped out of my head. To say that Ri Ri has a hot bod is simply an understatement, she has the innate ability to put on literally anything and just look AMAZING in it- so not fair. The best part about this outfit is that it’s pretty much effortless and you can pull it together using basic wardrobe staples (e.g. boyfriend jeans, metallic heels) and, ok, you might have to buy the sequin crop top…
Chrissy Teigen is one of those people you truly want to be best friends with…or at least, I do. If you’re not already following her on Twitter, you should be, cause let me tell you- she is hilarious. And with that said, it was no surprise that we had literally the funniest interview ever and it was truly hard narrowing it down to only three questions!
Q: What advice would you give your 22-year-old self?
A: Don’t be so worried…at 22 I felt so lost. What am I gonna do with my career? Am I gonna have a career? I never just stopped and took the moments in, so I would tell myself not to be so worried.
Q: What made you decide to partner with Gillette Venus?
A: They’re just such a wonderful company; honestly, it’s great to see a company being so interactive with women. I’m a girl’s girl. It’s cool to be with a brand that really appreciates and empowers women- I love it. We’ve partnered up with Step Up Women’s Network and we’ve done this thing called “Step Up and Step Out” and for every step taken on our blue carpet, Gillette Venus donated $1 to Step Up Women’s Network. It’s great seeing how quickly something good can be done, via social media, with just a hash tag (#StepUp).
Q: Speaking of social media (Chrissy’s tweets are infamous), what was the one tweet that everyone just freaked out over?
A: Oh, so many come to mind. I’ll say anything tweeting from award shows…some people have some hard-core fans. So never upset…the fans. (lots of laughter after this) To note, Chrissy is a self-proclaimed member of “the bey-hive,” which is apparently Beyonce fans.
You know when you meet someone and you just instantly want to become their best friend? Ross Mathews is one of those people. I am beyond excited that his first book is available now (!) and I’m even more excited to read it. The book party, held at Sunset Marquis in Hollywood, was intimate and amazing. Ross referred to the party as his “book mitvah” and Jay Leno and Chelsea Handler each gave a speech, basically reinforcing what everyone already knows: Ross Mathews is amazing and one to watch in Hollywood. Make sure you also keep an eye out for his new show on E!, which will be called “Hello Ross.”
I don’t usually feature too many men’s products on here but since John Krasinski is definitively one of my celeb crushes, I had to share his beauty (or grooming, I suppose) secret from getting ready for The Met Gala. Aside from being one of the most gorgeous couples there (Emily Blunt in Carolina Herrera), John’s hair stylist, Ashley Streicher, dished on how she created John’s red-carpet look. “John and I both loved the subtle clean fragrance in the ZIRH products we used, they made him feel clean and like we weren’t layering on heavy products…”
Here’s the breakdown of how “The Office” star gets red-carpet ready:
Earlier in the day, Ashley prepped John’s skin with ZIRH CLEAN Face Wash, a simple non- drying gel formula.
Next, she applied ZIRH Platinum R2 REVOLUTION to calm any redness.
ZIRH Platinum AGE DEFENSE Environmental Response Cream was used as his moisturizer and acted like a great barrier for the light makeup used for the day. It protected John’s skin, but still kept it moisturized.
After lightly cleansing with the CLEAN mild face wash again later in the day, Ashley applied ZIRH Platinum REVIVE Under Eye Complex to smooth out the eye area and relax any puffiness.
The eye cream was followed by the lightweight but silky ZIRH Platinum TOTAL RECHARGE Face Serum that recharged his skin making it look healthy and attractive, without a built up feeling of a heavy moisturizer. It gave a perfect smooth base for his skin, making it almost seem tightened.
John’s new bearded look was the perfect accessory to his beautifully built Tom Ford suit! The ZIRH Platinum TOTAL RECHARGE Face Serum helped coiff and smooth the beard while still leaving it clean looking!
