If you've never gotten a little turned on by a really nice piece of steak, we probably wouldn't have much in common. However, that might all change once you see one Instagram post that has the internet swooning. This weekend, a Turkish chef named Nusret Gökçe posted a video of himself cutting and seasoning a beautiful Ottoman steak.
Though it really is just a cooking video, it somehow teeters on the border of NSFW because of Gökçe's sultry movements. The internet, of course, noticed this immediately, and now people from all corners of social media are commenting on the chef's over-the-top technique. He's even earned the hilarious nickname #SaltBae because of the sexy way he salts the beef. Before you roll your eyes and claim that the internet needs to take it down a notch, you should see Chef Gökçe's video for yourself.
Told you. Every part of this video is just too much. The chef's shades, his facial hair, the tight white tee hugging his toned and tan arms. He even has a man bun, for crying out loud. Perhaps the most alluring part of it all, though, is the tender loving care he shows to his meat.
Get yourself a man who treats you like the way #saltbae treats his meat
It's clear that #SaltBae's sultry method of seasoning has made him the subject of fantasies everywhere, which could be why people are trying to recreate his moves or put their own spins on them. Sadly, though, these just prove that there truly is only one #SaltBae.
There are some things in life that will always put a smile on your face: popsicles on a summer day, a garden filled with sunflowers, and Guerlain's classic Météorites. The centuries-old brand has been delivering different iterations of these pastel-colored orbs for decades — three, to be exact. And with a big birthday like that on the horizon, it's bound to come with a massive, celebratory launch. For its spring 2017 Happy Glow collection, the cosmetics company is giving its iconic powders — and the entire accompanying collection — a pink, unicorn-inspired makeover.
Our take: A colorful upgrade is always welcome. Of course, all of the products in the line — including those pearlized powders, lipsticks, a blush, and makeup brush — are gorgeous. But there's one product we can't stop thinking about: the Happy Glow Blush. At first glance, it looks nearly identical to a cushion compact (or crushed casings of colorful styrofoam), but it's actually dotted with three different shades of pink powder finely mixed together to deliver that lit-from-within glow.
The entire range is available now on Nordstrom and Guerlain's site, but hurry — it's going fast. Our guess is that all the unicorns out there are scooping it up. After all, it's practically colored with all the best things in life: rainbows, candy, and magic — duh.
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We marveled at the teaser trailer. We applauded the "Bae Watch" sweater. We were mostly disappointed by Zac Efron's nine carb-free days (c'mon Efron, can't we get past the "cheat day " concept already?). And now a new trailer is here to impress us with Efron and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's feats of strength as they hurtle down the beach — carrying refrigerators. Because, fitness. Or something.
What, your high school lifeguarding gig didn't involve trial by kitchen appliance? Well, that's probably because you were paddling around in Long Island Sound. Baywatch is the beachfront big leagues, folks — where realism is obviously key.
The movie's self-mockery is clearly its strong suit. At one point in the trailer, Efron's character complains, "I thought we were lifeguards. Everything that you guys are talking about sounds like a really entertaining, but far-fetched TV show." Well-played, Paramount.
"Why does she always look like she's running in slow-mo?" Alexandra Daddario asks her fellow lifeguard in a later clip.
"You see it too?" Jon Bass replies incredulously.
We don't know either, guys. It's just one of those eternal Baywatch mysteries. Check out the full trailer, below.
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We might as well just refer to Bravo as the Regina George of television because the network is proving to be both fabulous and evil.
The network easily tricked audiences into watching an episode of their latest reality show, Summer House, by weaving together the new cast with the existing stars of Vanderpump Rules. It was a smart move, because it wasn't until after the show wrapped that viewers realized they had just watched the premiere of a brand new show that had nothing to do with Pump.
Bravo-lover Chrissy Teigen fell victim to the clever casting manipulation (they orchestrated it as such to have a group of Pump people travel to Montauk, the setting of the new show, and hang out with the new cast). On Twitter, she wrote, "Bravo's seamless transition from pump rules into summer house tricked me into watching summer house and while I am not mad, I FEEL TRICKED."
Bravo's seamless transition from pump rules into summer house tricked me into watching summer house and while I am not mad, I FEEL TRICKED
Her followers, who also were unable to spot the transition from one show to another, pointed out that this is becoming a signature trait for the network — it's exactly what they did to introduce Vanderpump Rules as a spin-off from The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.
@chrissyteigen this is exactly what happened from RHOBH to Vanderpump Rules all those years ago!! It is AMAZING trickery!!
Have you ever walked into a restaurant, seen your reserved table being wiped down with a grimy-looking wet towel and immediately wanted to turn around and leave to go eat in the comfort of your own home? Your house may be dirty, but at least the germs there are yours and you know where all your rags have been. That instinct you have to run from the restaurant in fear may seem a little extreme, but it turns out it's actually pretty practical because there are a whole lot of germs on restaurant tables.
A recent video from Buzz60 lays out all the most germ-ridden spots in a restaurant, and it kind of has us thinking, wow, I really didn't want to know that. But, knowledge is power, people, which means, knowing where the germs lie when you go out to eat will help you take steps to avoid them.
So where are the germiest spots in a restaurant? You better believe tables made the list. The video explains that those towels the restaurant workers use to wipe down the tables are often not left in the disinfectant liquid long enough, which means germs are spread from table to table. Other germ carriers are the forks, spoons, and knives you're eating with. Gross, I know. Utensils are often placed right on the dirty table which means they become contaminated too. To avoid this one, the video suggests always asking for a fresh set when you're seated. It may seem like a high maintenance request, but it could prevent the spread of germs.
Watch Buzz60's video below to get the full list of dirty restaurant spots. Hopefully, it doesn't put you off your favorite diner or bistro.
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There are almost as many things to know about semen as there are individual sperm inside of it.
Sure, we often talk about semen in the context of the reproductive process, but not everyone having sex is doing so with the goal of pregnancy. There's a whole world of semen beyond fertilization, and if you find yourself in frequent contact with it, you might have some questions. Where does it come from? What does it say about a person's health? Is it actually okay to swallow it?
To answer these questions, we spoke to Philip Werthman, MD, urologist and director of the Center for Male Reproductive Medicine and Vasectomy Reversal in Los Angeles, and Jen Caudle, MD, family physician and assistant professor at Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine in Stratford, NJ. They helped break down all of the important facts about semen (like what exactly it even is), as well as dispel some common myths.
Ahead, 13 facts you need to know about semen.
The gap between what we learned in sex ed and what we're learning through sexual experience is big — way too big. So we're helping to connect those dots by talking about the realities of sex, from how it's done to how to make sure it's consensual, safe, healthy, and pleasurable all at once. Check out more, here.
Semen is a mixture of a few different things
"Semen is a mixture of a number of things — one of the things in semen is sperm," says Dr. Caudle.
The sperm is contained in a white fluid called seminal fluid that's released by the prostate glands and seminal vesicles. Semen is a combination of both this fluid and sperm.
People aren’t born with semen.
While people can be born with male genitalia, the accompanying semen doesn't come in until puberty.
"That’s when hormones are released and the testicles produce testosterone," Dr. Caudle explains. "And when the boy starts developing testosterone, that’s when we get all these, what we call secondary sex characteristics, voices get lower, they get hair, they get tall, they get masculine, all that kind of stuff. But in addition to that, he starts producing sperm."
An ejaculation can contain up to 500 million sperm.
But Dr. Caudle reminds us that it only takes one for pregnancy to occur.
How does this happen? After ejaculation, the semen is deposited in the vagina. The sperm swim up the cervix and into the uterus, where they "hang out" until ovulation. If they match with an egg, then pregnancy has occurred.
And if pregnancy isn't your desired result, make sure you pick the best contraception for you and your partner.
Pre-ejaculate contains sperm.
Not only does pre-ejaculate, or pre-cum, contain sperm, but a person isn't able to tell when they're producing it, unlike ejaculation.
"That’s why we always, as physicians, say not to rely on the pull-out method to not get pregnant," Dr. Caudle warns. "Because you actually have pre-cum, which is a little bit of sperm leaking out, that can get a woman pregnant."
Semen is digested the same way as food.
People can choose to swallow semen, either during oral sex or otherwise. When that happens, it passes through our bodies in the same way as food.
"In terms of digestion, it makes me think of how we digest other things that go into our body," says Dr. Caudle. "I think a lot of how safe sperm digestion is probably depends on the people and what conditions they may or may not have."
Meaning: If you have a sensitive stomach, treat semen as you would any other food and proceed with caution.
STIs can be transmitted through semen.
"Yes, you can get STDs through semen," says Dr. Caudle. More specifically, the CDC reports that HIV, chlamydia, and gonorrhea bacterias are carried in bodily fluids like semen.
But semen is not the only way STIs are transmitted.
While semen can contain bacteria that transmits STIs, semen isn't required to facilitate the spread.
"You can also get [STIs] from blood, or vaginal fluids or other fluids," says Dr. Caudle. "But you don’t actually have to ejaculate to give or get [STIs]... Skin-to-skin contact can sometimes do it for things like herpes and genital warts."
STIs can also be contracted from oral or anal sex.
There is (sort of) such a thing as unhealthy semen.
While there aren't too many issues with semen that manifest physically, there are certain cases in which you can tell something is wrong just by looking at it.
" It is possible for a male to have blood in his sperm," says Dr. Caudle. "It’s called hematospermia, where they have a little bit of blood in the ejaculate, and that’s something that needs to be looked into."
There could be a number of causes for blood in semen. Usually, it's due to an infection or inflammation of the prostate, urethra, epididymis, vas deferens, or the seminal vesicles. Blood in semen can also be due to vigorous sexual activity, some kind of blockage, or, less commonly, a tumor. As always, it's best to ask your doctor if you notice anything.
A semen analysis involves more than just sperm count.
When it comes to analyzing an individual person's semen, there's a lot to consider. According to Resolve: The National Infertility Association, in addition to sperm count, doctors also study the sperm's mobility, forward progression or velocity, its size and shape, the total volume produced, and its ability to go from a gel consistency at the time of ejaculation to a more liquid state.
There’s no single “healthy” sperm count.
A person's sperm count is simply the number of sperm present per ejaculate.
" It’s a moving target," Dr. Werthman said after I asked for a specific number. "Because every time the World Health Organization redoes its criteria, it keeps lowering and lowering and lowering it."
Resolve listed a normal sperm count as being anything from 40 million to 300 million per milliliter of ejaculate. Dr. Werthman puts the average for a healthy 20- or 30-year-old at 60 million.
In fact, a person's sperm count changes every time it’s analyzed.
"The semen analysis is inconsistent," Dr. Werthman says. "They go up and down over the course of the year. So you can have one day where you have a count of a million, and then four months later you can have a count of 70 million."
A lot of this has to do with what's going on inside the body and the overall health of the patient. Something like having the flu can reduce sperm count drastically. There are also some environments and substances to avoid if someone is looking to raise or maintain their count.
"We know that sitting in hot tubs, heat, is bad for sperm," says Dr. Werthman. "We know that smoking’s terrible for sperm, we know that excessive drinking is terrible for sperm, marijuana is bad for sperm. So if anyone is doing those things. it may reduce their fertility potential."
Male fertility is analyzed through a number of things, and sperm count is only one factor.
"Semen analysis is a reasonable screening test, but in and of itself, it’s not that meaningful," says Dr. Werthman.
A more important indicator of fertility is a person's history of trying to conceive.
"Have they been trying to conceive, or have they not been trying to conceive? How long have they been trying to conceive? Those kinds of things," says Dr. Werthman. "The other thing semen analysis doesn’t tell us is whether the sperm will work or not. You can have a perfectly normal semen analysis, all the parameters are fine, and not be able to get somebody pregnant. And you can have an abnormal semen analysis and be able to get someone pregnant."
Sometimes, people can have trouble ejaculating.
Inability to ejaculate is uncommon, and is usually indicative of a health issue, like a blockage or something neurological. It's important to call your doctor if you're having an issue that concerns you.
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In case you still had any doubt that the presidential election has had an effect on reproductive rights, Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood, says that the organization has seen a large increase in women seeking Planned Parenthood services since the election.
On Monday, Richards appeared on CNN International with Christiane Amanpour to discuss the state of reproductive rights in the U.S. During the interview, Richards told Amanpour that more women than ever seem to be showing concern over losing access to reproductive health services.
"We’ve had a 900% increase in women trying to get into Planned Parenthood to get an IUD because they are desperately concerned that they might lose their access to health care and they know that Planned Parenthood is the place that can provide it," Richards explained.
Richards also told Amanpour that defunding Planned Parenthood could be detrimental to the health and well-being of the millions of people who rely on the organization for health services.
“What we’re talking about now in fact and what Paul Ryan, Speaker Ryan, said the other day, is now they will end access to Planned Parenthood preventive care,” she said.
Richards, who said she plans to attend the Women's March, also told Amanpour that despite how hopeless things may seem, it's important for those concerned to continue to fight for the rights you believe in.
"I think what is important is that women and men who are concerned about the future of women’s rights and women’s health in the U.S., that they make their voices heard in whatever way, whether they march, or whether they call their member of Congress, or call their Senators,” she said.
If you'll recall, the results of the election had many onlookers wondering whether or not they needed to get an IUD as early as the following day. So while it's not necessarily a surprise that Planned Parenthood has seen an increase demands for IUDs since the election, it just reiterates what's at stake when it comes to reproductive rights and health care.
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Supernatural star Jensen Ackles welcomed two early Christmas presents last month. Ackles' wife, model-actress Danneel Harris, gave birth to twins on December 2. At the time, all the new parents revealed were the names: daughter Arrow Rhodes and son Zeppelin Bram. The couple has kept the cuties under wraps until now — and the long wait was 100% worth it.
Ackles posted an sweet family picture to Instagram this week. It's our first glance at the fraternal twins, and, as expected, they're ridiculously adorable. The photo features Ackles feeding both babies, one bottle in each hand. Also in the pic are his wife and the couple's first child, 3-year-old daughter, Justice Jay.
Tattoos aren’t for the faint of heart. Not only because they can be painful, but also because, sometimes, they are hard to cover up. And, while the tides are beginning to turn, big or highly-visible designs are often still considered a mark of rebellion, leading plenty of celebrities into the arms of delicate or hidden ink. Grimes — the Canadian singer-songwriter — is not one of them.
She revealed a brand-new tattoo via Instagram today, and it's bigger and bolder than we could have imagined. Better still, it's like a true work of art.
Tattoo artist Delphine Noiztoy penned the ink in a brush stroke-like manner, starting from the musician's mid thigh to the top of her foot. The piece covers almost the entirety of the front part of her leg — giving serious abstract vibes — and reads “тихо,” which roughly translates to "quietly" or "softly" in Russian. A beautiful contradiction given its size, indeed.
A video posted by Delphine Noiztoy (@delphinenoiztoy) on
This is not the first tattoo for Grimes, either. Just nine weeks ago, she posted an intricate, middle-finger design that determined to “make this hand happen.” Though the artist is no stranger to body ink, this newest one is easily her boldest yet — and it's inspiring us all to think long and hard about that piece we’ve been stewing on.
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Eric Kennemer, husband of former 16 & Pregnant star Myranda Trevino Kennemer, has been hospitalized after a car accident.
Kennemer is in critical condition and is being treated at the Memorial Hermann hospital in Houston, Texas, according to Us Weekly. The magazine also reports that another person died in the car crash.
In a Facebook post Monday, Trevino Kennemer asked God to send her husband home from the hospital.
"Please God, give Eric the strength to become well again," Trevino Kennemer wrote. "And please give me the strength to be strong for both of our wonderful children you have blessed us with, as well as him. Please let him come home soon. His children need him very much. And so do I."
The couple have two children together, daughters Kaylee and Rylee, and they have been married since 2013. They starred on 16 & Pregnant in 2012.
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It's no secret that Kylie Jenner is the ultimate trendsetter. Just count how many times her famous lip kits have sold out.
However, the 19-year-old isn't merely influencing the beauty world: According to a new study from Genius, she holds sway over our musical tastes as well.
The idea that Jenner has as much influence over a song's popularity as radio airplay might sound insane, but Genius has the receipts. It all comes down to the reality star's Snapchat stories.
It seems that people really wants to know what songs Jenner is lip syncing to in her many videos, which leads to exposure for the often up-and-coming artists. Genius found that when Jenner played a song in the background of her Snap story, the track got a significant bump in their Genius lyric searches — sometimes as much as a 194,200% increase, in the case of Ramriddlz's "Hey Mr. RamRod."
Genius calls the phenomenon "The Kylie Bump," and it makes perfect sense. Jenner is a social media superstar, with over 83 million Instagram followers to date. (While we don't know the younger Jenner's numbers on Snapchat, all evidence points to them being fantastic.)
Perhaps the weirdest part of the Kylie Bump is that, in this case, she's not trying to promote anything. Follow Jenner on Instagram and you'll see that she's paid for her promotions of vitamins, jewelry, even teeth-whitening kits. These Snap stories, on the other hand? That's just Kylie being Kylie. If her videos help launch the career of music newbies, well, that's just another perk of being a Jenner.
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This article was originally published on March 30, 2016.
Cultural traditions have a funny way of becoming widely adopted, without actually being understood. The idea of wearing a white wedding gown, for example, has only been around for about 160 years, when Queen Victoria opted for a cream lace look for her 1840 wedding. Before that, brides wore dresses that spanned across the entire color spectrum, mostly choosing from whatever was already hanging in their closet. And if you ask us, we prefer that approach a whole lot more.
So, if you're not into that whole "white gown" thing, who cares! So many of today's brides are looking beyond the pristine princess dress and are turning to indie labels, interesting cuts (and colors), and other non-traditional takes on what you wear when you say "I do." Ahead, we’ve rounded up 24 options, from a colorful embellished number to the ecru jumpsuit your heart has been searching for.
Fashion-forward women, look no further: The pieces here are the furthest thing from being classically "bridal" — in the best way possible, of course.
Lily Ashwell Gia Dlip Dress, $250, available at Lily Ashwell.
Roksanda Strapless Cotton and Silk-blend Dress, $3,155, available at Net-A-Porter.
Weathermen don't always get the best rap, but you would expect that at least their own family members would take their predictions as gospel.
Turns out that wasn't the case for Chris Holcomb, the Chief Meteorologist at WXIA-TV in Atlanta, GA. Last week, Holcomb received a text message from his 18-year-old daughter Claire, in which the teenager challenged her dad's forecast because an app s aid there was no snow on the way.
In response, Holcomb proceeded to send her what might be the most hilariously savage text of 2017 (so far).
"Thank you," he wrote. "Maybe your weather app will pay for your college."
After dropping the metaphorical mic, Holcomb tweeted out a screenshot of the exchange, which obviously went viral.
"Even people who have no idea who I am are thinking this is one of the funniest tweets they've seen,' he told the NBC affiliate where he works. "It may also tap in to the perception that 'weathermen are always wrong,' since a meteorologist's daughter was referring to her iPhone app to get the weather."
In the end, Claire was right: It didn't end up snowing as much as her dad predicted. And what did she think of her dad's text?
"She thought it was funny," he said. "That's just a typical banter that we have."
Somebody get this guy a Father Of The Year award, stat.
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Ivory Aquino, who will star in the highly anticipated ABC series When We Rise, came out publicly as transgender at the Television Critics Association conference Tuesday, according to People. In the show, she plays a transgender character named Cecilia Chung, but the casting director at the time did not know that the Filipino actress was trans. Aquino, 26, informed the higher-ups after the fact.
"I wrote them a note saying, ‘Thank you for having me. It would be an honor to be part of the project,’” she told People exclusively. “And I inserted in there, ‘I just want to make sure that you know that I’m trans.’"
When Dustin Lance Black — the writer of the mini series — watched Aquino's audition, he did not know she was in fact trans. According to the actress, Black was initially unhappy that casting had sent him a cisgendered person for the role. After she was cast, the Milk writer reached out to tell her himself.
Aquino recounted, "[Black] said he loved what I did, but was a little pissed at casting because he was very committed to having a transgender actress play the role and had asked them to send him tapes of transgender actresses."
This casting choice is an important one — too often, transgender characters are played by cisgendered actors. (Not sure this is true? We have a whole list of trans characters, most of whom weren't played by trans actors.)
When We Rise chronicles the gay rights movement in the 1960s. It also stars Guy Pearce, Mary-Louise Parker, Carrie Preston, and Michael Kenneth Williams. This is Aquino's first major television role.
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There was no rose ceremony on last night’s episode of the Bachelor to secure the fate of 21 women for next week. But the mansion is still down one girl.
The woman Nick sent packing is actually the one who knows him more intimately than any of the other contestants. Liz and Nick met at the wedding of Jade Roper and Tanner Tolbert (a Bachelor couple that actually worked out), where they had a one night stand. Unfortunately, their prior relationship did not give Liz a leg up in the competition. Nick unexpectedly sent Liz packing yesterday. His reasoning says more about his character that it does about hers.
After their one-night stand, Nick asked Liz for her number and she declined. If Liz preferred to keep it moving on the drunk, mumbling dude she met at a wedding, none of us blame her. She decided to give Nick a second chance after seeing him on Bachelor in Paradise, but Nick couldn’t get over her rejection. He thought Liz was shady for not reaching out to him, even though he didn’t reach out to her, either. And when Liz tried to explain that she chose to compete on this season of the show to build some in-person rapport with Nick, he wasn't sold.
Liz was destined to fail because #MasculinitySoFragile.
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Most people may equate January with self-imposed Netflix hibernation, but let's be real: We all have events to attend. Whether it's a winter wedding, a fancy dinner, or a BFF's birthday bash, why not pull out all the stops (especially when 90% of your month is likely spent wearing turtlenecks and boots). But before you whip out all your glittery, body-con, high-slit, low-backed pieces (hey, who doesn't love dressing up every now and then?), you might want to go bra shopping, first.
"I advise women to go shopping for underwear before they buy clothes," Lori Kaplan of New York City's BraTenders told Refinery29. "That way, they see what's available in their size. Then, they know what they can wear on top." A good bra, as we've written about, can change everything from your posture to the way a certain article of clothing sits on you.
Good bras are also pretty basic — straps that hold up your cups and a band that supports you. "Your bra should be in the same place as it is in the front, parallel to the floor,"Kaplan warns. "The underwire is snug under your armpits, the bridge of the bra flush against your sternum. There should be nothing bulging or spilling."
To avoid that bulging and spilling, however, bras require some sort of strap or support. So what do you do if you want to pull off a look like Kendall Jenner's birthday dress? How do you quell any concerns about nip slips? Ahead, Kaplan, as well as Iris Clarke of wedding boutique Iris Lingerie, are here to help us figure out exactly what to wear under all of our fancy dresses.
The Off-The-Shoulder
The summery trend has made its way into fall and winter dressing, which means we'll probably be seeing this neckline everywhere come New Year's Eve. Luckily, the proper undergarments are actually pretty straightforward — if you get the right fit.
Photo: Matt Baron/BEI/Shutterstock.
According to Kaplan, the key to looking and feeling great in an off-the-shoulder dress is a good strapless bra. "It should fit well," Kaplan says. "The back should be in line with the front, and the front should be snug around the rib cage."
If it's the right size, Kaplan says it should stay in place all night — without you having to pull up your bra every five seconds.
Ongossamer Mesh Push-up Strapless Bra, $44, available at Journelle.
Luckily, brands have become progressively more size-inclusive, which amounts to strapless bras in larger sizes that still provide support.
"They finally came up with a J-cup strapless bras," says Iris Clarke of Brooklyn's Iris Lingerie, "which is important, because strapless bras don't fit the same way as regular bras. You want the bra to hold you."
Curvy Kate Luxe Biscotti Strapless Bra, $75, available at Bare Necessitie s.
Spaghetti straps and a low back might be subtly sexy, but they're also a pain in the ass when it comes to finding the right undergarments.
"The straps and the band of the bra are what supply the structure and support," Kaplan says. "If you take both those things away, well, gravity is still the strongest force in the universe." Luckily, with a moderately low back, you can still find some supporting options...
Photo: Matt Baron/BEI/Shutterstock.
For a strapless, yet supported, bra, bustiers might be your best bet, as the boning provides more support while allowing the back to go lower. "It won't go all the way down to the butt, but it's a very low back," Clarke says.
Le Mystere Soiree Bustier, $79, available at Le Mystere.
If you can wear straps with your dress, but have a plunging back line, you could buy an adjustable strap that lowers your bra line. Careful, though — this could also make the front of your bra ride up and "sometimes, the elastic cuts in," Kaplan says.
Fashion Forms Adjustable Low Back Bra Strap, $9, available at Macy's.
The Even Lower-Backed Dress
If you're showing off everything from your neck to the small of your back, it's likely that you won't be able to wear much shapewear — or you could go braless. But if you prefer some sort of support, you're going to have to stick to, well, stickies.
Photo: Matt Baron/BEI/Shutterstock.
Your first option? Constructing a bra out of tape. "Sometimes, women will wear two on each side for a little extra lift," Kaplan says. The only problem with this? Limited sizing — these adhesive bras usually only go up to a DD.
Fashion Forms Women's Ultimate Boost Adhesive Bra, $14.99, available at Target.
Then, there's the adhesive option, which is basically a bra that you stick on. This particular option goes up to a DDD.
Fashion Forms Go Bare Self-adhesive Backless Strapless Bra, $35, available at Net-A-Porter.
The Deep V
The opposite of the low-back plunge, the deep V dress shows off your décolletage — and requires much more than a push-up bra to pull off.
Photo: Debby Wong/REX/Shutterstock.
Luckily, bras have been created specifically to work with deep-V necklines. Case in point? The U-plunge bra, with seamless finishes and a deep neckline to hide under that dress.
Nordstrom Lingerie Convertible Plunge Bra, $28, available at Nordstrom.
High Slits
You could wear pantyhose under that high slit dress for some warmth this season, as Clarke recommends. But if you prefer to show your skin...
Photo: Matt Baron/BEI/Shutterstock.
You'll have to wear a thong. If it's a particularly unforgiving fabric, there are control thongs you could wear with a high slit, Kaplan says.
Spanx Undie-tectable Lac Thong, $24, available at Spanx.
Alternatively, a G-string can be nicely concealed. "You could hike the straps up to above the hips so you wouldn’t see a line," Kaplan says.
Cosabella Never Say Never Skimpie G-string, $22, available at Cosabella.
An Even- Higher Slit
Of course, none of that would work if your slit was cut to the waist for an extra leg-lengthening effect. This means securing a few key folds with fashion tape (for fear of a random gust of wind) and another form of adhesive...
Photo: David Fisher/REX/Shutterstock.
When you need a truly strapless panty, you could opt for a stick-on thong. "When we see models wearing dresses that's cut down to the butt crack, they're not wearing underwear," Kaplan says. But a stick-on thong? Potentially. One caveat: "You'll need to have a Brazilian [wax] while wearing it, or it would be murder to take off," Kaplan says.
Nasswalk Hush Strapless Adhesive Panties, $16.40, available at Amazon.
The Body-Con
The body-con dress is a classically chic, put-together dress — but it could also be potentially uncomfortable. The fabric could bunch at all the wrong places, cling to your skin when it's hot, and otherwise be a little bit too close for comfort.
Photo: Broadimage/REX/Shutterstock.
Enter: your mother's favorite slip. "Some dresses will cling, so that's when slips are good for you," Clarke says.
With tight dresses, however, seamless is key. If you're worried about lumps, side boob, or underwear lines, this might be exactly what you need.
Commando Two-Faced Tech Full Slip, $98, available at Commando.
Of course, you could also just go for a seamless bra and some laser-cut underwear. "A lot of underwear now is laser-cut, so there’s no elastic and it lays totally flat against the body," Kaplan says. "Most of them are hipster style."
With buying underwear, however, you need to have the right fit — lest you end up with visible panty lines when you don't want them. "Bikinis come up well under the belly button, so if there's a roll there that's not the right shape for you," Kaplan says. "You want something that is high-waisted."
If your underwear is bunching up or riding up, on the other hand, Kaplan suggests finding a size down, or opting for a stretchier fit that grips under your butt. "Full coverage would not be good for someone with a problem that something rides up," Kaplan says, "But I would say bikini or thong."
Third Love Seamless Cheeky, $16, available at Third Love.
Mermaid Dresses
Even tighter than a body-con dress, these gowns won't work with a slip, but might require some smoothing of your legs.
Photo: Chelsea Lauren/REX/Shutterstock.
This means opting for shapewear that goes down to your knees, which is great if you've got a tight skirt with just a hint of sheerness.
Leonisa Invisible Rear Lift Shaper Short, $30, avaialble at Leonisa.
The Sheer Dress: Beginner Level
We're definitely expecting the naked dress to continue its red carpet reign next year, but if the bedazzled body-con option isn't your speed, a sheer frock in black is easily pulled off with any basic layering piece underneath.
Photo: Simone Comi/IPA/REX/Shutterstock.
A slip or a half-slip can do the trick: "It's the old-school way," Clarke says. "I always wear a half-slip with my linen dress in the summer."
Calvin Klein Half Slip, $27, available at Nordstrom.
For the more daring, a high-waisted brief lets a bit more show when you're decked out in a patterned, black-lace gown.
Hanro Vittoria High-Cut Bikini Briefs in Black, $40, available at Neiman Marcus.
The Sheer Dress: Intermediate Level
If you're going for an all-nude-underneath look, the first step is to find underwear that actually matches your skin tone.
Photo: Chelsea Lauren/REX/Shutterstock.
Luckily, Nubian Skin has a great variety of shades of "nude" — and super-smooth seams for a flawless finish. You could also go for shapewear or a sewn-in lining with material specifically chosen to match your skin tone.
Nubian Skin The Brief in Berry, available at Nubian Skin.
Of course, no one would blame you for wearing a chic bodysuit under a sheer dress, either. With it, you get the coverage of a bathing suit, but the structure of something Beyoncé would wear on-stage.
TC Fine Intimates Strapless Back Magic Bodybriefer, $89, available at Bloomingdale's.
The Sheer Dress: Advanced
If the design of the dress demands that you look pretty much nude underneath, it might be time to take out the stickies again. This does not mean tape, however.
"I would not advise using duct tape, since it's very rough on the skin," Kaplan says. "I do know Kim Kardashian did this whole thing with gaffer's tape, but that’s a lot of tape and a lot of pain taking it off."
Photo: Matt Baron/BEI/Shutterstock.
"If you can get away with fashion tape, that would be good," Clarke says. And yes, fashion tape and nipple covers do exist. However, this might not fly for larger cup sizes. "It takes more than a Band-Aid to hold up F and G cups," Kaplan says. You may have to go the route of sewing something into your dress if you can, or finding something custom-made.
Commando Top Hats Nipple Concealers, $36, available at Shopbop.
As for underwear? You could opt for the stick-on thong, but a sheer mesh version with clear straps could also work — an option typically reserved for theater necessities.
Viki Thong by Bra* Tenders, available at BraTenders.
The Draped, Micro-mini Dress
You know this dress — it's the one both Paris Hilton and Kendall Jenner wore on their birthdays — and it pretty much necessitates that undergarments are small, discreet, and never visible. So get your stick-on thong and...
Photo: Jim Smeal/BEI/Shutterstock.
...your Reveal Bra. "Reveal is good for things that are plunge-y in the front and have no back," Kaplan says. "They stick on around the nipple and pull the breasts up, but they only work for average-sized breasts, not for heavy breasts."
Don't even want that? Fashion tape to cover up your nipples might do the job sufficiently.
We're not 100% sure, but we have a very good guess as to what Kesha's favorite animal might be. This past Halloween, she dressed up like a narwhal. Then, a few days later, she got the animal tattooed on her arm. (Sure, she also got a smiley face inked on her finger the same day, but the somewhat mystical creature stands out.) Well, girl can't seem to get enough of ocean creatures, because today, she posted a photo of a new tat. And why, it's a neon orca.
She captioned the post, “Psychedelic whales are slowly covering my entire body." And though we dig minimal, dainty ink, we're quite fond of Kesha's colorful decision. A unique design for an even more unique artist.
Could it be a tribute to Tilikum, the orca at the center of the anti-SeaWorld documentary Blackfish, who just died in captivity this week? We're not sure, but we'd like to think so. Next up, we're hoping for a dolphin.
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Discriminating against beauty products based on the suggested retail price isn’t in our DNA. From drugstore steals to luxury splurges — and everything in between — we have more than enough room in our hearts (and medicine cabinets) to embrace beauty products from all over the price-point spectrum. But every once in a while, from a purely objective standpoint, we have to stop and wonder, “Does anybody really need that?”
In the case of the 24K gold face masks that have been popping up on celebrity faces all over social media, we're veering towards a hard no. Yes, the gilded sheets make for a pretty sweet Snapchat, and sure, they make you feel rich just by association, but the jury is out on whether they’re worth the price tag. Luckily anyone curious, beauty vlogger Farah Dhukai found a way to answer our many questions without dropping $300 on a single sheet mask. How? By taking the DIY route, of course.
Armed with nothing but pure 24K gold sheets and her favorite rosehip oil, Dhukai set out to recreate the buzzy treatment — and find out for herself whether it’s really worth it — without the astronomical cost. (Dhukai estimates the retail price of one mask to be around $75-100, with similar spa procedures going as high as $770.) Her version came out to around $6 per use, but she still wasn’t impressed with the results, even at a fraction of the usual cost.
“The oil/serum is what gives you a glow/hydrated skin,” Dhukai wrote in her caption. “It looks cool on the ‘gram, but cool is as good as it gets.” We’re still holding out a sliver of hope that the real thing has magical skin-transforming properties, but you know what they say: Not all that glitters is gold.
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Let us all admit that La La Land is a divisive film. Even though it broke records Sunday night at the Golden Globes, the film is not universally adored.
The New Yorker published tworeviews of the Ryan Gosling vehicle, one of which approached scathing (for this, I give thanks to Richard Brody to giving a voice to the opposition.) Others have critiqued it for its lack of diversity, especially for a film that focuses so heavily on jazz music. Some have cried Manic Pixie Dream Boy on Gosling's portrayal of musician Sebastian.
These critiques have their own — very valid — arguments. But I take personal offense at the so-called movie musical, namely because it took the dreamy, romantic quality of a musical, slapped it atop two box office stars, and called it a day. La La Land enjoys the fruits of musical theater without sacrificing at its altar.
The film's main offense is in its casting. Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone are charming actors. Neither are singers. When Stone appeared in Cabaret on Broadway, little was said of the actress's voice. (In fact, The New York Times noted that Michelle Williams, who is also notably not a singer, had a better voice than Stone.) Gosling, who was once a member of The Mickey Mouse Club, does not share the vocal chops of his peers (like, say, Justin Timberlake.) In La La Land, Stone and Gosling are serviceable singers, but serviceable should not be acceptable in 2017.
The film claims to pay tribute to movie musicals of yore, but the performers don't match the multi-talented figures of old Hollywood. According to a profile in The Hollywood Reporter, Director Damien Chazelle cited Singin' in the Rain as inspiration for the 2016 darling. But Emma Stone is no Debbie Reynolds.
To boot, the two aren't dancers, either. (Ryan Gosling is also not really a piano player, but I won't get into that. Allegedly, he played his own pieces in the film, which, erm, sure.) When Stone accepted the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Comedy, she insinuated that, hey, all that toe-tapping was not easy.
"And [thanks to] Mandy Moore, our choreographer, for your brilliance, and your patience," Stone said. I'm sure patience was needed in this situation because — I'll say it again with feeling — Stone is not a dancer.
The film claims to be a modern day musical. Stone called this a "radical notion" in her speech. Chazelle called it "brazenly uncommercial," and The Hollywood Reporter declared the genre "extinct." Nothing about a musical is brazen or radical. (Actually, if you want to see something brazen and radical in the musical theater canon, look to Hamilton, which is sure to someday become a film.) What is insane about this particular musical is that it deigned to employ non-musical people but still herald itself a hero of musical theater.
To be clear, I am aware that the casting of Stone and Gosling was likely an effort to sell tickets. But to Chazelle, Hollywood, studio execs — whomever is listening — can we please find a way to sell musicals that isn't employing non-musical talent? There are hundreds of actors in the world who train specifically for this genre. Why can we not employ these people? There must be a way.
In late 2016, Kendall Jenner came under fire for pretending to be a ballerina in a photoshoot. Many protested that ballerinas strive their entire lives to be noticed. When Jenner so casually steps into a usually hard-earned role, it belittles the work of dancers. I argue that La La Land makes the same offense. Why is is that when Kendall Jenner dons ballet shoes and pretends to be a ballerina, we are allowed to take arms, but when Ryan Gosling warbles a few half-hearted notes, we rejoice?
La La Land touts itself as a love letter to movie musicals, but it fails to honor the memory of films like Singing In The Rain and West Side Story through its casting choices.
The city may be full of stars, but they can't execute a pirouette.
When Target employee Kimberly Davies Shipley found a floppy, well-worn stuffed bunny with a bow in its hair inside her Braintree, MA, store's lost-and-found bin last week, she couldn't bear to part with it. "When I saw the bunny, I just couldn't put it in the bag for donation," the 37-year-old mother of two told Today.com. "Thinking about my own kids losing a loved toy, I set it aside on my desk."
So Shipley set out to return the Jellycat to its owner. She posted a picture of it to a local moms' group on Facebook, and it's been shared thousands of times. "I would like to go home to my person!" says the sign the bunny's holding in the photo. But no one has come forward to claim the lost bunny yet.
Shipley's not giving up. "I've gotten great responses. Everyone at work is telling me how it has shown up on their [Facebook] newsfeed, which is awesome," she said. "Guests are approaching me, telling me that they have reposted the picture and asking if the bunny has found its owner."
As a mom, Shipley knows from experience how much kids can miss their stuffed animals. "My [5-year-old] daughter Arya in particular is very attached to her stuffed animals," she told Today. "She sleeps with a 'cuddle buddy' every night, and while she doesn't have just one, she cycles through a menagerie of very loved buddies." We hope the bunny and its person will reunite soon.
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