Thursday, 26 April 2012
Monday, 23 April 2012
I know, I know, I haven't done a Make-up in Film in a while, and this one is very long overdue, but blogging has been a bit "on the back bench" recently, but I really wanted to share this week's Make-up in Film, just because it impressed me quite a great deal.
So, let me introduce....
When I first heard that they were going to be making a film about Alfred Hitchcock, I really couldn't imagine who could possibly play him.
With classic thrillers such as The Birds, Psycho and Rear Window amongst others amongst his array of achievements, it is hard to find many Directors who are quite as iconic as Hitchcock himself, and any film lover, even if they are not a fan of his films, will have an immense appreciation for the man that is perhaps even more iconic than his films. And the fact that he was an Englishman who truly managed to conquer the Hollywood system (and wasn't an actor) is just so incredible.
And despite having died three years before I was even born (1980), I personally find him to be one of the most recognisable Directors of all time.
Historically, Hollywood has a habit of trying to cast actors that look a little like the real life person they will be playing. However, recent years have brought us films where actors have been chosen more on merit than appearance, as the use of prosthetics has become a popular choice. For a perfect example, we need only to look at Meryl Streep's Iron Lady. However, Leonardo DiCaprio wasn't really made to look very much like Howard Hughes, in The Aviator (in my opinion).
So, when I found out who would be playing the late, great Director of Thriller, I won't deny that I was a little surprised that it was Anthony Hopkins:
As an actor, Anthony Hopkins is definitely up there as one of the most respected, and it is always top class to find a British man being cast as an British man, especially when both of them are often mistaken as being American, because they have gained such credibility in Hollywood.
But, similar to Jim Broadbent in The Iron Lady, Anthony Hopkins isn't quite as "large" in the face, as Hitchcock was, and this is of course where the amazing prosthetics come into play:
Can you believe that this is the same man who played Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal, or Odin in the recent Thor film? It truly is amazing how much Hopkins looks like Hitchcock in this image.
As with The Hunger Games' Stanley Tucci, I always seem to have a strong appreciation for actors who don't only take on very different roles, but take on completely different appearances in their roles, and there is no denying that Hopkins is most definitely one of those actors.
But, it never fails to amaze me how incredible make-up artists and the individuals and teams that create these looks truly are, because they always do such a fantastic job, and this is a perfect example of it. Can you imagine if Star in their Eyes had these kinds of prosthetics? Now that could be interesting!
Thursday, 19 April 2012
Thursday, 12 April 2012
Monday, 9 April 2012
Morning Lovely Ladies (and Gents). Today is an exciting day in the land of Barefeet (which I am relishing now that the weather isn't quite so chilly!), because today celebrates the Two Year Anniversary since my wee fingers starting tapping away on my old PC and created the original blog (Kat's Beauty Reviews) which eventually would become Barefoot Girl.
Here's some cake to celebrate :P
Here's some cake to celebrate :P
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| How awesome would it be to have THIS as your Birthday Cake?? |
It's been an amazing journey. I'm still a relatively small blog, but I still love blogging just as much today as I did back then (perhaps more so), and I know that I wouldn't still be around if it wasn't for the support of the people who read and comment on my posts.
I don't run Giveaways very often (I'm not a huge fan of them), but I really did want to say thank you to all of you lovely, no incredible and beautiful people by running just a small giveaway.
The prizes aren't anything exciting (no MAC, or Urban Decay) but they're products that I think that you'll love as much as I do. But, to keep an air of suspense, I've decided to keep the prizes Top Secret (nope, I'm really not telling!)
For a chance to win these surprise goodies, you can enter using the Rafflecopter Form below. Ultimately, you'll need to be a follower of my blog (I am attempting to thank my followers after all) however, it doesn't matter if you've been following for two years, or two minutes, you are still welcome to enter.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Thanks again to everyone for your love, support and for just being plain beautiful over the past twenty four months :)
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Thanks again to everyone for your love, support and for just being plain beautiful over the past twenty four months :)
Saturday, 7 April 2012
I think that I have one of the worst body shapes, for women. I have small boobs, which I'm honestly quite happy with, but they never feel like they're in proportion with the fact that I have a big bum and wide hips. So, as I found out a while back, I'm officially a Pear-Shape. Effectively, I'd really like to have smaller hips and bum, rather than a larger cleavage, but Mother Nature probably isn't going to hand me that one any time soon.
I often complain that one of my biggest gripes about trying to clothe myself, as a plus size girl, is finding dresses and tops that fit my smaller cleavage (something that I don't think companies will ever manage!), but my second biggest gripe is finding jeans to fit me perfectly. I don't think that I have ever own a pair of jeans that were even close to a good fit, for a variety of reasons:
1. Jeans tend to be "hipsters", which means that they are designed to sit on the hips. However, when you naturally have large, they never sit comfortably on the hips, instead they tend to fall down, and it's impossible to wear a pair of jeans without a good belt. And even then, sometimes a belt doesn't always help.
2. As I also have short legs, I have trouble getting the right length of jeans that also fits around the waist, because apparently if you're fat, you don't have short legs!!
3. I've also found that jeans that fit me around the hips often don't fit me around my thighs either, they're either far too tight or far too baggy.
Thus, for a long time I have felt that a change in the way women's clothes are "sized" has been overdue, because women are not black-and-white when it comes to size. Everyone who is a Size 14, for example, does not have the same proportions between their boobs and their hips as other women.
You might remember that a while ago, I blogged about Evans' attempts to help women to determine what their shape is:
A campaign that helped me to determined that I'm a pear-shape. Anyway, this long ramble is leading to an email that I received this morning from Evans, relating to my Pear Shape. I thought that it was great that Evans had emailed me relating specifically to the body shape that they'd helped me to find out, because it's nice to know that they appear to be keen to help women like me to find the perfect clothes for our body shapes, as it seems to be getting more and more difficult. And I'm really intrigued, because Evans are slowly creeping up in my estimations of them.
Basically, Evans have created what they think is the perfect jeans for the pear shape:
The most important factors here, for me, are most definitely the fact that they fit higher on the waistline, so hopefully they wouldn't fall down so much on me. But, I'm also glad to see that they've taken note of the smaller waistline, in comparison to the hips, as the body naturally narrows from the hips up to the cleavage, and hopefully there won't be any gaping in that area, that would also encouraging them to fall down.
Although it isn't mentioned on the image above, I was keen to see if they will be stocking these jeans in other leg lengths, and I was over the moon to discover that they offer Short Length jeans (as well as Long Length for the taller plus sized lady too!).
Nevertheless, I did have one thing that I wanted to question: In the email that I received relating to these jeans, the email actually started by telling me about their 2 for £30 Jeans, and yet when I was looking at these Pear Shaped jeans, there was no mention (that I could see) relating to this offer, which seems incredibly misleading.
Here's a screen grab of the email, so see what you think:
It's not until you look at the image really closely, that you notice the little noe, that is very similar in colour to the background (so, if you are colour-blind like my other half, you really are screwed), that states the pear shaped jeans are not in the offer. So, I definitely find this to be misleading.
Whilst browsing the clothes for Pear Shapes, I was very impressed with some of the tops that they recommended for the body shape, but unfortunately, the prices are still proving to be incredibly steep, in my opinion. £29.50 for a top very similar to one that I picked up for more than half that amount, from one of their biggest competitors? Hmmm...!
Needless to say, I am impressed overall with the effort that Evans have gone to, in order to create clothes that fit body shape, rather than size, however, I do think that they need to put a little more effort into how much they charge. Okay, so the clothes are nice, but when they're charging more for the same as another company that is selling them a great deal cheaper, well I think they're making a mistake. I also think that they need to be clearer as to what is included in their "offers", as they could potentially be misleading.
Unfortunately, with my Project No Jeans this summer, I probably won't be picking any of these jeans up for the time being anyway. But, it's still interesting to know that they're there for when Autumn comes around...maybe!
I often complain that one of my biggest gripes about trying to clothe myself, as a plus size girl, is finding dresses and tops that fit my smaller cleavage (something that I don't think companies will ever manage!), but my second biggest gripe is finding jeans to fit me perfectly. I don't think that I have ever own a pair of jeans that were even close to a good fit, for a variety of reasons:
1. Jeans tend to be "hipsters", which means that they are designed to sit on the hips. However, when you naturally have large, they never sit comfortably on the hips, instead they tend to fall down, and it's impossible to wear a pair of jeans without a good belt. And even then, sometimes a belt doesn't always help.
2. As I also have short legs, I have trouble getting the right length of jeans that also fits around the waist, because apparently if you're fat, you don't have short legs!!
3. I've also found that jeans that fit me around the hips often don't fit me around my thighs either, they're either far too tight or far too baggy.
Thus, for a long time I have felt that a change in the way women's clothes are "sized" has been overdue, because women are not black-and-white when it comes to size. Everyone who is a Size 14, for example, does not have the same proportions between their boobs and their hips as other women.
You might remember that a while ago, I blogged about Evans' attempts to help women to determine what their shape is:
A campaign that helped me to determined that I'm a pear-shape. Anyway, this long ramble is leading to an email that I received this morning from Evans, relating to my Pear Shape. I thought that it was great that Evans had emailed me relating specifically to the body shape that they'd helped me to find out, because it's nice to know that they appear to be keen to help women like me to find the perfect clothes for our body shapes, as it seems to be getting more and more difficult. And I'm really intrigued, because Evans are slowly creeping up in my estimations of them.
Basically, Evans have created what they think is the perfect jeans for the pear shape:
The most important factors here, for me, are most definitely the fact that they fit higher on the waistline, so hopefully they wouldn't fall down so much on me. But, I'm also glad to see that they've taken note of the smaller waistline, in comparison to the hips, as the body naturally narrows from the hips up to the cleavage, and hopefully there won't be any gaping in that area, that would also encouraging them to fall down.
Although it isn't mentioned on the image above, I was keen to see if they will be stocking these jeans in other leg lengths, and I was over the moon to discover that they offer Short Length jeans (as well as Long Length for the taller plus sized lady too!).
Nevertheless, I did have one thing that I wanted to question: In the email that I received relating to these jeans, the email actually started by telling me about their 2 for £30 Jeans, and yet when I was looking at these Pear Shaped jeans, there was no mention (that I could see) relating to this offer, which seems incredibly misleading.
Here's a screen grab of the email, so see what you think:
 |
| Does the "P.S." not imply that these jeans should be part of the 2 for £30 offer?? |
Whilst browsing the clothes for Pear Shapes, I was very impressed with some of the tops that they recommended for the body shape, but unfortunately, the prices are still proving to be incredibly steep, in my opinion. £29.50 for a top very similar to one that I picked up for more than half that amount, from one of their biggest competitors? Hmmm...!
Needless to say, I am impressed overall with the effort that Evans have gone to, in order to create clothes that fit body shape, rather than size, however, I do think that they need to put a little more effort into how much they charge. Okay, so the clothes are nice, but when they're charging more for the same as another company that is selling them a great deal cheaper, well I think they're making a mistake. I also think that they need to be clearer as to what is included in their "offers", as they could potentially be misleading.
Unfortunately, with my Project No Jeans this summer, I probably won't be picking any of these jeans up for the time being anyway. But, it's still interesting to know that they're there for when Autumn comes around...maybe!
What do you think of Evans' efforts to create clothes for body shape?
Is it enough?
Thursday, 5 April 2012
Tuesday, 3 April 2012
Over the weekend, I saw an advert on TV that really made me stop and think. In fact, the advert made me feel a little bit emotional. The advert was for Dove, and I don't think that I could possibly explain it to you, because this is a classic case of you have to see it for yourself:
The advert is part of Dove's Self-Esteem programme which is aiming to donate £250,000 into educating young people about self-esteem. And, personally, I think that the programme is an excellent idea.
I remember watching an Extreme Parenting programme with Super Nanny Jo Frost a while back, where she was talking to some very young Primary School age girls who were already far too aware of body image for my liking, to the point that they honestly (at that young age) believed that anyone who was "fat" would never find love. To know that we live in a world where thoughts like that are being planted so young is sad, and I honestly think that opinion and thought patterns need to change. Not only in attitudes towards ourselves, but also in attitudes towards each other.
Take this image of the stunning Jennifer Lawrence, that I used in a recent Makeup in Film post:
I really can't believe that we live in a world where someone who looks like this, with that amazingly curvy figure, that I would absolutely kill for, is being told, by the media (essentially male critics, I might add!) that she was "too fat" to play Katniss. For such an argument to have come to light, at all, is just ridiculous no matter how you choose to argue about it (too well fed for District 12 appears to be the main one, but we won't go into that one right here!). The point is that here is a beautiful young woman who is being criticised over something relating to the person that she is, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with how she looks.
Whether you believe in God, Mother Nature or your Gene Pool, every single one of us has been created differently, and I personally wouldn't want it any other way. We're unique no matter how fat, or thin we are, or even what colour our skin is. Our bodies are as different as our personal tastes, and we should strive to be whatever we were created to be. Some of us were made to have hour glass figures, whilst others were made to be apple or pear. We all have freckles and marks that are part of who we are, but they don't define us. Our actions are what define us, and I honestly hope that we can be the generation that encourages our children, and future children, to realise how beautiful they already are.
Note: I was not asked to write this post, and I am most certainly not being paid for it. Anyone who has read my Positive Beauty posts will know how passionate I am about endorsing anything that encourages girls, of all ages, to realise that they are beautiful, no matter what anyone tells them.
Monday, 2 April 2012
It seems incredibly weird to be writing a Makeup in Film post that doesn't relate to The Hunger Games films, but I can imagine that for a fair few of you it's probably a relief to be reading something else from me :) I've had this post lined up for quite some time, so I'm looking forward to finally sinking my teeth into this one!
So, here goes...
Snow White is probably one of the best-loved Princesses, thanks to the very successful 1939 Disney film, and thanks to that film, the character has become incredibly iconic figure with her immense beauty: her pale skin, jet black hair and her ruby red lips. The Disney depiction of Snow White was of course very close in keeping with the way the Brother's Grimm described her, in their original story:
"...who has skin white as snow, lips red as blood, and hair black as ebony."
I know that a lot of film lovers and fans have been complaining about all of the comparisons between the two upcoming takes on the Snow White story in "Mirror, Mirror" and "Snow White and the Huntsman", but I always find it interesting to take a look at how different people take something and interpret it in completely different ways.
For a really good example of how a film (in this case The Hunger Games) "might have been" if a different Director had taken it on, check out this awesome post in Entertainment Weekly.
It's interesting to see how alike both of the chosen actresses are (not only in their choice of outfits, perhaps!) both to each other but also to the original description of the Princess, with their dark hair and pale skin at least.
Daughter of Phil Collins, Lily takes the role in Mirror, Mirror and brings a sweet, innocent and feminine nature to the part. Whilst rising starlet and Twilight leading lady Kristen Stewart will play the role in Snow White and the Huntsman, offering a tougher tomboyish persona, taking the role down a completely different path.
The overall look for Collins' Snow White is very in keeping with the original idea for the character, not only in her beauty, but also in the "feel" of the character, with her sweetness and innocence. But, I think that the most important aspect of this Snow White is how she appears to embody a more traditional idea of what is beauty, with the pale skin, the strong eye brows and make up that draws the majority of attention towards the lips.
Quite often, when scanning through the various images of Lily Collins, for this specific film, I couldn't help but find myself comparing her to another, classic actress who was very well-known for her immense beauty, and who remains to be a popular role-model even today, almost twenty years following her death:
I don't know if it was intentional, when casting for this film, or even when the left picture was snapped, but both actresses possess a very English-Rose kind of beauty, epitomised by the pale skin, but they also both boast big brown eyes, wide-smiles and those incredible face-framing eyebrows, that are so often avoided in modern society, as women opt for thinner brows.
Kristen Stewart's Snow White, on the other hand, could not be any more different. Played by a well-known tom boy, it's no surprise that the character (from what we've seen so far) appears to also possess tomboyish personality traits hidden behind her not-quite-so-traditional beauty. Indeed, this Snow White comes across as being a lot more rough around the edges compared to Lily Collins' innocent look and style.
As a result, Stewart's Snow White appears to be darker and tougher than Collins' delicate and perhaps more whimsical character. This creates what feels like a more modern Snow White, whilst Collins seems more traditional as to what you'd expect.
For me, personally, having seen neither of the films, the way that both of the different Snow White's have been portrayed, in the way that they look and in various trailers and posters etc, I feel much more drawn to the tough-girl who doesn't need saving Snow White of Kristen Stewart, over the slightly more irritating Lily Collins. But that is probably more down to my preference for strong female protagonists who can fight their own battles, rather than needing to be saved. Of course, that isn't to say that Stewart's Snow White will be as tough as she looks, just as Collin's Snow White could kick ass for all I know, but in the ways that both characters have been portrayed so far, this is the visions of both that I've formed for myself.
Which Snow White look do you prefer?
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