Fresh Styles for Long Hair

For centuries, long hair has been associated with radiant beauty. Just look back to the fairy tale of Rapunzel, whose long hair became the stuff of legend.
However, in today's world of trendy, stylish cuts, having long hair may seem boring, leaving people with a false impression that cutting it is the only way to liven up your style. Fortunately, there are many styles for long hair you can choose from depending upon the occasion, the time you have and the mood you are in.

Trying a New Style
When you're choosing a new style for your long hair, start by considering your facial features. If you have soft facial features, adding a lot of detail and volume around your face can overwhelm your look, so opt for styles that pull your hair away from your face. If you have bold, strong features, however, you may prefer some softness and wispy locks floating free around your face to soften your appearance.
If your body type is short and sturdy, find a style that adds height, but if you are built tall and thin, choose a style that is flatter on top with the bulk of the volume lower than the top of your head.
Finally, consider the occasion you are styling your hair for. An evening wedding will certainly call for a different look than a presentation before your board of directors, and a picnic at the beach requires an entirely different type of style. Don't be afraid to experiment and have a little fun. The best part of styling long hair is that everything is temporary. If you don't like a certain look, you can just start fresh.

Long Hair Looks
Braids. Maybe you don't mind a little fuss with your hair in the morning, but you just want it out of your way during the day. Whether your hair is just past your shoulders or you have really long hair, braids are a simple and ageless look. Other than the classic three-stranded braid, you can choose from braids such as the fish tail, for a fun, youthful look, and a French braid that adds a touch of elegance to a simple style.
When braiding your hair, you can achieve two different looks just by varying whether you braid over or under the center strand of the braid. By crossing the left and then the right strands over the centerpiece, you will create a braid that is inverted and lies flat against the curve of your head.

The three-strand over braid is the type of braid used in a French braid. To make a French braid, start at the top of your head near the center of your forehead, and grab a section of hair. Divide the section into three even pieces and cross the right-hand section over the center piece. Repeat with the left side. This is one complete braid. With each new crossover, grab some extra hair from the right and left sides accordingly as you work the braid down your head. It may take a little practice to keep the braid running evenly down the back of your head, but, once you get the hang of it, you can form a crisp French braid in just a couple of minutes.
The three-strand underbraid is created by crossing the outer sections of the hair underneath the center piece of the braid. This type of braid will stand up and away from your scalp, such as in cornrow type braids, those tiny little braids that are perfect for a day at the beach.

Styling Tools. By using styling tools, you can broaden your hair opportunities. Using a flat iron gives you a sleek, sexy look great for evening or daytime. Ceramic flat irons can tame even the wildest unruly bed-head.
Using a curling iron, you can either enhance your natural curls, or you can give even pin-straight hair a little curl. Curling irons come in many sizes depending on the size curl you desire. The use of an appliance such as a triple barrel can give you a beautiful wave.
However, save the heated styling tools for special occasions. You don't want to dry out long, healthy hair by using a straightening iron or a curling iron every day.
Follow basic long hair tips, such as keeping your hair clean and well-conditioned and getting a trim every six weeks or so to keep the ends from splitting and frizzing. Taking good care of your hair will keep it shiny, silky and ready for any style you like, from a simple ponytail to a French braid, cornrows or a gorgeous head of curls.

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The Best Haircut for Fine Hair

The best haircut for fine hair is one that prevents your strands from looking limp and stringy. Though most people look for volume enhancing hairstyles for fine hair, any cut that keeps your hair looking healthy will work.
If you have dry fine hair, stick with shorter styles that will keep the strands short enough that they don't get a chance to split. If you have oily fine hair, you can look for a longer cut, but be careful of styles that weigh your hair down. Heavy styles on oily fine hair just result in a flat and stringy look.

The Best Haircut for Fine Hair
The best length for fine hair is usually shoulder-length or shorter. This leaves enough length for your hair to have movement and style, but makes the strands short enough to retain body. Fine hair is extremely delicate, so avoid using harsh trimming techniques. Razor cuts, heavy feathering and thinning cuts look terrible on fine hair.

•  A bowl crop haircut had a masculine feel, but looks good on men or women with fine hair. The hair is cut in a short taper to about halfway up the back of the head. The remaining hair from the crown to the cut line is left long. The bangs are usually cut in line with the rest of the hair, but some extremely light layering is added. 
• A classic bob haircut is one of the most popular hairstyles for women with fine hair. The hair can be cut anywhere from shoulder to ear length. The hair can be left without bangs or layering if your fine hair is thick enough to hold some body. If your hair is thin, you want to add some light layering around the head to create a rounded shape. Depending on the exact style desired, your bob can be matched with any type of bangs.
• A Caesar haircut is a hot look for men with fine hair. The hair is cut short, only a few inches in length, in straight layers around the head. The bangs are cut short and blunt across the forehead. The look is worn flat, but you can add a little gel to the tips of the bangs to create downward spikes.
• A pixie haircut is popular for looking good and being easy to style if you have fine hair. Though the style is usually worn by women, some men can pull off the look as well. The hair is cut in choppy layers a few inches long around the head. The bangs are also cut short and close to the head. For a trendy twist, the bangs can be cut side swept and about cheek length.

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Instructions on Using a Tanning Bed for the First Time

The first time you use a tanning bed can be a little intimidating, and well it should be. Lying in a tanning bed is no safer than lying out in the sun, and exposure to a tanning bed's UV rays can lead to skin cancer and premature aging of the skin. With that said, there are several things you can do to limit damage to your skin, including following these instructions on using a tanning bed for the first time.

When done safely, tanning is a gradual process. It is important that you start slowly and work your way up gradually, preferably tanning no more than a few times per week. The first time you use a tanning bed, you should go for no longer than a few minutes. You never know how your skin is going to react, and going for too long could lead to severe sunburn. Tanning-bed operators should be trained to help you determine how long you should tan for, but don't count on this. It's better to be safe than sorry, so go at your own slow and steady pace, even if this takes longer or costs a bit more.

Most people prefer to tan in the nude to prevent tan lines, but you should tan in whatever you feel most comfortable in. You might choose to cover up more sensitive areas with a towel or wear your swimsuit or underwear. Also, just because you're trying to get a tan doesn't mean you should leave the sunscreen at home. Using a mid-level SPF is a good way to help prevent sunburn and gradually build your tan.

Protective eyewear is also vitally important, something first-time tanners may not know. Some tanning salons have eyewear you can borrow, but these days most businesses require you to buy your own. Fortunately, these cost no more than a few dollars, and are well worth every penny, as the intense UV rays of a tanning bed can seriously damage your eyes if they are left unprotected. Simply shutting your eyes won't work, as the UV rays can travel through the thin skin of your eyelids.

Another issue with tanning beds is getting an even tan. If you always lie on your back, your back side is going to get more tan than your front, because of the closer contact to the bulbs. You should alternate lying on your front and back or occasionally use a stand-up bed to even out your tan.

The operation of most tanning beds is pretty self-explanatory once you've seen a bed or two, but first-time tanners might be overwhelmed by these often space-aged looking machines. If this is the case for you, don't be afraid to ask lots of questions. Tanning salon operators should take extra time with customers who are using a tanning bed for the first time, walking them through the process and explaining how to use the bed. If the salon is too busy and the attendant isn't ready to give you his or her full attention, you might want to come back at another time or try another salon.

If you follow these instructions the first time you use a tanning bed, you should feel more comfortable and be less prone to sunburn. Remember that the tanning salon attendant is there to help you and don't be afraid to ask questions if you're unsure of something.

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How to Do Emo Hairstyles and Makeup

If you want to learn how to do emo hairstyles and makeup, remember to practice, experiment and have some fun. There are no rules for such looks, so you can have fun playing around with bright colors, different hair and makeup products and different haircuts or styles. Be creative and express yourself while maximizing or highlighting your best features.

Eyes
Emo makeup is all about drama. The eyes are most commonly the main focus. This means that you can throw out all of the rules fashion and women's magazines have told you in the past. Intensity is everything for emo looks. Thus, take the time to line your eyes with a heavy or thick eyeliner. Choose colors that are sure to get your eyes noticed: black, green, blue and brown eyeliners are most popular. Add to this eye makeup by applying eyeshadow in fun colors. Either match the color of the shadow so that it complements your eyes or so that it matches your outfit.

Lips and Cheeks
The lips and cheeks of emo looks are either bare or bright depending on the preferences of the wearer. Though the eyes are normally the focus of emo makeup looks, the mouth can be equally bright: it's not uncommon to find emo kids with bright pinks, blues and even green lipstick.

Hairstyles
These haircuts are often asymmetrical: the edgier the better. Sharply cut layers and asymmetrical bangs are common pieces of the emo look. The hair is often straightened to highlight the razor-like ends and layers of these looks. The more shape there is to the hair, the better: These looks are about individuality.

Hair Color
Emo hair styles are often darkly colored with bright streaks or stripes. Since breaking rules is a major piece of this culture, it is common to find folks with black hair colored with bright pinks, greens and blues. Having fun with hair color is a major part of this world. Thus, consider all colors of the rainbow before dyeing your hair. Anything most certainly goes when it comes to emo hairstyles.

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Elegant French Braid Hairstyles

 

French braid hairstyles are timeless. They are well-suited for any occasion, from a day at the beach to a black tie affair. Once you've mastered the basic French braid hair style, you can then start experimenting with other looks to find the one that perfectly fits your personality, hair type and engagement. The following includes some basic information about different elegant French braid hairstyles.

To make both basic and complex French braids, you take sections of hair from both sides of the head and add to the braid as you weave. This braid is more complex than a simple three-strand braid. To begin, you would start with a small ponytail made where you would like the braid to begin. From here, you begin braiding, adding a bit more hair as you go.
Different French braid styles have different effects or looks. For example, if you add a lot of hair as you go, your braid will end up thicker, and if you use small sections of hair, the braid will be thinner. You can go for a tight French braid or a looser braid accented by loose strands of hair.
Another elegant French braid hairstyle is to have two French braids on each side of your head. This way, as you braid, you can weave the individual braids so that they meet and can then be woven together.

If you want a look that's a bit dressier, you should try an updo French braid style. To do this, you turn the tail of your braid underneath the woven plaits and then pin it so it can't be seen.
You should take the time to experiment with the accessories you use to complete your French braid look. For example, you can weave in ribbon along with your hair for a unique look. Another great idea is to use combs to give a French braid a refined finish.

http://www.life123.com/beauty/hairstyles-hair-care/braids/french-braid-hairstyles.shtml

Erase Those Dark Circles Under Your Eyes

 

Whether those dark circles under your eyes are caused by lack of sleep, lack of hydration or lack of hereditary luck, you can combat them with the same methods. You'll need to experiment with concealers, creams and formulas to find out what works best for you, but here are a few guidelines to get you started.

First, be sure to moisturize your under eye area-often the skin here can be dry and flaky. You can use a standard facial lotion or you could invest in a specially formulated cream in the hopes that it will benefit your dark circles. Any staffer at a beauty store or cosmetics counter can help you locate a cream for this problem, but you may want to look for ones that contain Vitamin K or a combination of Vitamin K and Vitamin A (Retinol)-studies have found these ingredients to be effective in minimizing dark circles over time. You might also want to prime your skin with a cream containing a hint of shimmer. Many undereye creams have this anyway, given that the sparkle will help reflect light and cause your undereye circles to appear lighter.

For a quick fix, cover up your raccoon eyes during your daily makeup routine. Apply a concealer to your undereyes before you apply foundation. You can't just use any concealer though: you should choose one that will counteract the color of your circles. A good rule is to use one that's a shade lighter than your foundation. If your under eye area has a blue or grey hue, select a yellow-based concealer; if the circles have a brownish appearance, go for a light blue or mauve-toned concealer. Even though you might think choosing a light or white-colored concealer would make your circles lighter, such a technique will draw attention to your undereyes.

Finally, remember that you can always create a diversion. Draw attention up and away from your undereyes-line the upper lash line only with a dark brown or black pencil. Then cover your eye lid with a shimmering eye shadow that'll brighten your face.

 http://www.life123.com/beauty/cosmetics/makeup/hiding-dark-undereye-circles.shtml

Oscars 2013: the 'torture' behind red-carpet glamour

Starvation diets, liposuction, armpit Botox and anti-anxiety medication are all part of awards-ceremony preparation for many stars, whose beauty routines now go far beyond spray tans and manicures

 

'The red-carpet regime is brutal,' says one beautician. Photograph: Chris Carlson/AP

The Oscars red carpet is often referred to by the celebrity press as the most powerful catwalk in the world. It is the gilded stage for which haute couture dresses are made; bright lights fall on film stars dressed by the world's most accomplished designers in some of the most expensive items of clothing ever made.
But for many of the nominees, what goes on in the run-up to Oscar Sunday involves weeks of hunger, sacrifice and last-minute liposuction. "It is brutal," British facialist Nichola Joss told the New York Times this week, of the pressure of the high-definition closeup on Hollywood actors. "You can see a hair follicle. You can see a pimple before it is a pimple."
Hollywood insiders talk of actors who plot their beauty treatments at different points around Los Angeles in a bid to lose photographers between pedicure appointments and derma-filler treatments. Anti-anxiety pills such as Xanax are said to be widely used by nominees.
"The entire city stops normal activity and the Oscars take over; the atmosphere is surprisingly serious," says gossip columnist Dean Piper, who is in LA to cover the Oscars. "Most of the A-list have been through the St Tropez tanning suite at the Four Seasons by now, so their skin colour can settle for Sunday. But I'm seeing stylists whooshing around town in their Range Rovers, pulling gowns from boutiques where they are being altered, and the nail bars are heaving. The actresses I've seen at 'lunch' are simply pushing leaves around their plate."
High-definition photography and the prevalence of social media means that actors now face having the minute details of every angle of their body and face appear in hundreds of photos online. As a result, the stakes for red-carpet glamour have never been higher.
"You know it's the Oscars because suddenly everyone is on the cayenne and lemon juice diet, and talking about appointments with their facialist, podiatrist, personal trainer, stylist, dietitian, hairdresser and teams from the big fashion houses like Valentino or Dior," says one well-known Hollywood stylist.
 

Picture perfect: Kate Winslet, Jennifer Lawrence and Julianne Moore on the red carpet. Photograph: Stefania D'Alessandro/ Stuart Wilson/Getty Images/Getty Images/ Rex Features/NBCU Photobank "Hell, darling. That is what is going on in Hollywood right now," says stylist Cheryl Konteh, who has dressed a number of A-list stars, including Kate Winslet, for awards ceremonies. "Those poor actresses will have been on a diet-and-exercise regime since nomination day, all with the aim of looking perfect in their chosen dress. They have to look their healthiest possible. There is no way around it. Skin has to glow, legs and body must be toned."
Julianne Moore has said that as soon as she learned she had been nominated for a Golden Globe, she had to start "training" fast. "It's so unfair. They [the Golden Globes] fall just 13 days after the end of the Christmas holidays. Realistically, you only stop eating and drinking too much on 1 January, and I was certainly no exception," Moore told the Sunday Times. "I did … this juice thing. I've never done one before, but I was desperate."
A small army of plastic surgeons, facialists, personal trainers and cosmetologists, such as New York-based Tracie Martyn, whose signature treatment is called The Red Carpet Facial, will decamp to LA for the Oscars.

A popular surgical treatment actors resort to before the red carpet is last-minute liposuction on "problematic" areas of fat, such as the area just under the shoulder blade which may bulge over the top of a strapless dress. Underarm botox is another extreme-sounding but common trick used to prevent sweating on the night.

Underpinning all this is the sense that there is something more at stake than winning the "best-dressed Oscar star" accolade in a magazine or blog. These preparations often come down to money. "If an actor has a good Oscars red carpet moment, it paves the way for lucrative advertising campaigns," says the Guardian's beauty columnist Sali Hughes.

And then, of course, they must act like it's all such effortless fun. "They may try to make out otherwise, but most actors will have chosen their dress over a month ago at the couture shows," says Konteh. "When you are working with a fashion house you just have to commit, you can't mess the designers around. Often it's about a working relationship. With a day to go before the Oscars, I would have worked out hair, makeup and jewellery. I would also have a Plan B outfit lined up, plus a possible change of clothes for a post-Oscar event, such as the parties held by Vanity Fair or Elton John."

In a moment of refreshing honesty, Jennifer Lawrence, nominated for best actress for her role in Silver Linings Playbook, summed up her experience of the red carpet as "torture". "I know that's a cliche," she told Vanity Fair, "but it's uncomfortable having to pose when people are shouting at you and the next day you just get slaughtered. You walk out there and go: 'Hate me!'"

http://www.theguardian.com/fashion/fashion-blog/2013/feb/22/oscars-2013-torture-red-carpet-glamour

The science behind stuffing your face at Christmas

 

Feeling full, psychology and how festive food and drink make a monster of your appetite

•  Christmas dinner: you might not feel as full as you think afterwards

The amount of food we can put away on Christmas day is as impressive as it is excessive. Chocolates and mince pies are fair game 24/7. Savoury nibbles are needed shortly after breakfast, to soak up the mid-morning livener. And then, shockingly soon after lunch and all its trimmings, as soon as someone breaks out the pickled onions, I'm off again. And so it continues.
One reason we can keep putting it away like this is a phenomenon called sensory specific satiety (SSS). We can have enough of one sort of food, but still have an appetite for something else. It lies at the root of the expression "pudding stomach". It is why the trend for small sharing plates is a restaurateur's dream and a slimmer's nightmare. It is why kids suddenly declare: "I don't like it," while eating a food they definitely like.

The wherefores

The thinking behind SSS is that because humans are omnivores, and we must eat a variety of foods to survive, we evolved this mechanism to keep us from sticking doggedly to our favourite food and consequently getting ill, and/or prematurely popping our clogs. Marion Hetheringon, professor of biospychology at the University of Leeds, describes the process nicely: "If I'm eating a food like pasta, it will taste good at the beginning. Then when I'm halfway through it doesn't taste quite as good – I might add some more sauce to make it taste better, or I might say I'm going to switch to salad now – I've had enough of the pasta." This happens subconsciously. In fact even people with amnesia who not only forget what they've just eaten, but have no idea whether they've eaten at all, still express SSS. Served repeated, identical meals, they will continue to eat them, but they find them increasingly unpleasant.

The override button

Adding the sauce in Hetherington's pasta example is an attempt to override SSS. While SSS happens automatically, we might consciously decide that we want to keep eating the food a little longer and enter into an internal tug of war. It seems that we can foil SSS pretty easily. One study back in the 1980s found that once people feel satiated from eating red Smarties, if presented with yellow Smarties (which taste and smell identical), they will suddenly get their appetite back. And more recently, Laurent Brondel at the European Centre for Taste Sciences in Dijon observed that simply introducing a condiment can be enough: "I gave subjects some french fries," he tells me, "and when they didn't want them any more, I put some ketchup near the french fries and then the subjects started eating them again." His team did the same with chocolate brownies, and introducing vanilla ice cream led to greater consumption (although, controversially, whipped cream did not).

Who sates most quickly?

Babies and young people have exhibited greater SSS in studies. Brondel says that infants, between weaning and two years of age (after which hedonic and external influences take hold), will choose all the foods they need from a variety put in front of them – they won't simply eat the one food that tastes the best. "This is a period of diversification, during which they are very sensitive to their internal nutritional state and needs," he adds.
"Children tend to show sensory specific satiety quite strongly," says Hetherington, and therefore forcing them to finish something they don't want could be detrimental. "If parents are trying to override internal signals, the child will become more used to environmental signals to determine how much they eat, rather than their own internal signals of hunger and satiety." Obviously this is all "within reason" – if, say, there's a purple jelly rabbit on the table, it might not be SSS that's putting the kids off their broccoli.
Much of the work on SSS has involved eating disorders. "Patients with anorexia show it very strongly," says Hetherington, "whereas people with bulimia show it quite weakly." But no one knows whether the inflated or decreased SSS are symptoms or causes of these conditions.

A thoroughly modern malaise

Just as our innate preference for sweet things served us brilliantly in driving us to seek out energy-giving foods back in the good old days before we were surrounded by cheap sweets, SSS also somewhat backfires in the modern world. With such a wide variety of easily accessible food, and with restaurants offering as many courses as you want, SSS makes overeating pleasurable.

The trouble with turkey leftovers

When you have to eat a certain food every day, no matter how much you like it, long-term SSS can set in. "There's also a long-term phenomenon called monotony," says Hetherington, "which is different to SSS but means that by day three, you are not going to fancy turkey again." On the plus side, if there are only leftovers on offer, you will probably eat less for a few days. Perhaps, to speculate wildly, the combined effects of SSS and monotony are what makes it nearly impossible to fashion the turkey into something that tastes delicious in the immediate aftermath of Christmas, no matter how you dress it up. Have you ever truly succeeded in this task?

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2013/dec/17/stomach-christmas-feeling-full-food-and-drink-appetite

Eating alone: there's no shame in a table for one

More and more of us live on our own, so why should we feel embarassed about being the lone diner?

 

 

Dining alone is shedding its stigma Photograph: Alamy

Even though around a third of us live alone these days, the image of the lone diner is still quite sad. Think Bridget Jones eating pickle straight from the jar with a spoon, or the business traveller on a table for two with only an iPad, or worse, paperwork, for company. It's not exactly aspirational.
Aside from the perceived tragedy of the lonely diner, it's not easy cooking for one either. Unless you're super-organised and cook in batches to eat at leisure, making food or ordering in for one person can be quite wasteful.
But the opportunity presented by the number of people who live (and, by implication, eat) alone is an entrepreneur's dream. Social designers, restaurateurs, and app-builders have been busy finding creative ways to tackle lack of dinner partners, wasted leftovers, and even how single eaters are perceived by culture. Could these make eating for one more palatable?

Tables for one

It might be that you're loud and proud about eating out alone. Taking the shame out of the experience is the idea behind Eenmaal in Amsterdam, a recurrent pop-up restaurant, with only tables for one. While communal tables make it easy to eat a meal alone without looking like you've been stood up by your date and help restaurants to save a cover on a table for two, they don't tackle the perception that eating alone is weird or uncomfortable. Creator, social designer Marina Van Goor, doesn't think it's either of those things. "If you sit at a communal table you're expected to chat and talk, and I wanted people to have the choice to do so or not. Through EENMAAL I wanted to break the perception that eating out alone isn't very attractive. Solitary dining can actually be an inspiring experience, because you get a chance to disconnect for a while in our hyper-connected world."

Global supper clubs

If you do prefer your food with company, the still-trendy supper club movement lends itself perfectly, since the intention is to share good food with interesting strangers. Finding a supper club in a strange city when you're away with work can be easier said than done, however. So, after being scooped up by a Greek local and taken home for dinner while travelling, Guy Michlin set up EatWith. It's a global supper club listing site, a little like the food version of AirB&B, where locals can invite travellers to tea. The site has 400 dinner hosts in 23 different countries who offer a homecooked-from-scratch meal for a fee. Guests register to join them for food and get a taste of local culture as well as local cooking. "Food is a wonderful way to create stronger connections between people," says Michlin. "This is exactly what we're doing and why the EatWith movement is proving so popular across the world."

Feeding your neighbours

Still, spending an evening with strangers isn't everyone's cup of tea. Some of us would actually prefer to dine alone and at home, but don't want to cook for one. If that's you, there's shareyourmeal.co.uk. Working from the premise that it's cheaper and easier to make food in bulk rather than in single person portion sizes, a group of neighbours in Utrecht in the Netherlands set up a WhatsApp group where they could share food if they cooked too much. From humble beginnings it's grown into a Europe-wide meal-sharing site.
Lovers of ladling out huge portions get to satisfy their urge to feed people by advertising what they're cooking. If you're nearby, you simply ask to have a portion, and go round with a container to collect it like takeaway. It's more inspiring than the singleton diet of late-night bowls of cereal, omelettes, and pasta-pesto (or is that just me?), and less wasteful than filling your fridge with food that will rot because you can't eat it all in time.

Meal sharing

But why would you buy food from your neighbour when you can just phone for pizza and have it delivered, you might ask? Unless you have a voracious appetite, even takeaway isn't really geared towards the lone eater. But now there's an app for that. Leftoverswap allows you to offer your uneaten takeaway to your neighbours for a small charge. After all, as their website says, '99% of us don't need a second helping of beef lo mein'. As long as you're not too squeamish about eating other people's cast-offs, it's one way to treat yourself on Friday night when you can't afford a full-blown takeaway. It minimises your food waste, and you get to feel good about sharing with your neighbours.
Are these good ideas? Could they help make the way all of us eat less wasteful, single or not? Or do they isolate singletons further from the joys of conviviality and communal eating?

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2013/dec/18/eating-alone-no-shame-lone-diner-table-takeaway

How to eat: Christmas dinner

Ditch the turkey, the cranberry sauce and the Christmas pudding … has Tony Naylor taken leave of his senses? This is his take on the perfect Christmas dinner – how do you eat yours?

Christmas dinner: sprouts good, turkey bad. Photograph: Alamy

Deck the halls with Blu-tacked tinsel! Hark to the sound of melting credit cards! Yes, it's what we're contractually obliged, by Noddy Holder, to refer to as Chriiiiiisssstttttmmmmmaaaaaas. Which, with a kind of dread inevitably, means that How to Eat is tackling Christmas dinner. Yes, the Word of Mouth series trying to establish the ideal forms of Britain's favourite dishes is going deep on turkey and its assorted trimmings. Below the line, please remember that this is the season of goodwill, which even includes those fools who love cranberry sauce. Yes, even them.

Meat

Turkey? Schmurkey! I've eaten organic bronze turkeys reared exclusively on truffles and Classic FM in free-roaming paddocks that look like the 13th fairway at St Andrews, and you know what? They taste OK. A gazillion times better than your average frozen high-street bird, but just OK. And this for something that costs 12 quid a kilo, and which the average home cook – on the sherry since 10am – could easily incinerate.
What are the alternatives? Not goose (too much of a divisive gamey, livery twang); not duck (it's duck); not partridge (Asda was all out); and not pork (ordinary Sunday lunch fodder). No, you want rib of beef. Wing rib is marginally cheaper than a posh turkey; prime rib is the ultimate. Whatever beef you can afford will offer a bigger bang for your buck than bland, boring turkey.

Trimmings

Of course, that's the theory. But most people won't eat beef this year, because most people have no say in the matter. What's that? Take control, you say? Buy Mum The Female Eunuch and tell her to put her feet up? Perhaps you are cold enough to withstand that look of bereavement in her eyes across the dinner table. I find it easier to put up with her turkey crown and limp carrots.
So, with turkey you need sprouts (small ones, shredded and fried with bacon); glazed carrots; roast potatoes and parsnips. All sorts of things make a nice addition, particularly creamy things such as cauliflower gratin or dauphinoise, and there many, many other things, from red cabbage to mangetout, that have no role to play whatsoever. However, those four vegetables are your core. Cook them diligently and you have the perfect vegetal yin to the real yang of the show: the pigs in blankets.
Christmas dinner is really all about the chipolatas and the stuffing. Your stuffing must have a sausagemeat base and it must be savoury. Chucking fruits and spices into the Christmas dinner mix is a bizarre historical hangover. Pork, sage and shallot, or chestnut and pancetta? They're stuffings. Apples, dates, apricot, ginger, prunes, cognac? They're masochistic.

Gravy and condiments

Gravy? Definitely. Otherwise that's one dry meal. Running out of gravy is a cardinal Christmas sin, second only to running out of booze. Condiments? Verboten! Theoretically, you could make a cranberry sauce that, spiked with orange and used sparingly, would provide a sharp counterpoint. But you won't. At the last minute, you'll grab a jar of something sickeningly sweet at the supermarket, better suited to a sponge cake. That's how they make £36bn out of us each Christmas. As for bread sauce, what is this? 1623? Made badly, it's like regurgitated rusk. Made properly, heady with cloves and nutmeg, it is another of those strange medieval flavours that has no place in the modern Christmas dinner.

Starters and dessert

To begin, something light that can be readied in advance: smoked salmon, pâté, soup. If you want to be flash, a zippy salad of dressed winter vegetables. The average Brit consumes 6,000 calories on Christmas Day. If you're looking to cut anywhere (and you'll have to prise that seventh Thornbridge Jaipur out of my cold, dead hand), cut Christmas pudding. That great, claggy lump of booze-sodden raisins is an endurance test. If you need a showstopper, one word: trifle. Better still, as your guests will be fit to burst, offer them cool, aerated relief – a bowl of ice cream.

When

3pm. It leaves just enough time for the nausea (from eating a selection box before 10.30am, topped up with three pints and a double brandy in the pub at midday) to subside, without interfering with the important business of the day – Corrie and EastEnders. Yet it still allows you to squeeze in a Christmas sandwich at about 10pm. This should include leftover turkey (look, it's been cooked, someone needs to eat it), ham, strong hard cheese and a little of that beer chutney someone thought was a better gift than actual beer (it wasn't).

A word on crackers

We're all suckers for the childish pleasure of pulling a cracker. And you can put that hat on for 10 minutes, if only to keep the peace. It won't kill you. But, please, do not spend big on upmarket crackers, hazardous candles, plastic yule logs and other overpriced table decoration tat. This year, Waitrose is selling six crackers for £40. No, that isn't a typo. As Robin Williams said of cocaine, when you're spending 40 quid on Christmas crackers, that's God's way of telling you you've got too much money.
So, Christmas dinner: how do you eat yours?

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2013/dec/18/how-to-eat-christmas-dinner

DIANA X MR.JERSEY FOR BENHAMMER

german lifestyle photographer andre josselin alias MR.JERSEYYY from cologne shot the wonderful model DIANA in this stunning series for a german photography and lifestyle blog. watch the whole series right here…

Creative fashion photography by Iain Crawford

Iain grew up in Africa and Malaysia and developed a passion for photography at an early age. On moving to London, he worked as an account handler for Saatchi & Saatchi but left to pursue his photographic career. After spending several years living and working in New York, he is now based back in London but continues to work internationally. Iain loves to capture images that have a strong graphic and textural quality, often searching out the graphical symmetry in chaos, while still maintaining the personality and emotion of the subject. His career has lead him to shoot campaigns for many of the world’s top brands and receive commissions from a host of top international magazines. Commenting on the ‘paint’ shoot, Iain says: ”I love the fusion between paint and model. The resulting shapes are as opulent as any piece of bespoke couture. The excitement and anticipation as we waited to see the next piece of unpredictable chaos was electric. There was something magical about how random chance materialised into beautiful images in front of our eyes.”

Our Favourite Winter Outfits for Work Chics

Winter is the hardest time of the year for deciding on what to wear for work. We always struggle with finding a balance between keeping warm and looking stylish. Blazers, tanks, skirts, skinny leggings, boots and scarves, all are the hottest pieces for this season but how to create different matches is the question. Here are our answers to clear your mind and load you with various inspirational ideas.