Scotland's No1 Male Barbie - Snog, Marry, Avoid? - BBC Three

In the pursuit of 'natural beauty', 2 years ago the BBC devised a programme called 'Snog, Marry, Avoid', which has subsequently garnered cult viewing.  It presents itself as the world's first make under show, which sees POD - Personal Overhaul Device - transform OTT girls and boys into natural beauties. Before and after each make under, the public votes as to whether they would rather snog, marry or avoid POD's willing victims. While the 'victims' are often ridiculed for their excessive use of make up and dress sense, I think it is time such inventiveness was applauded and rewarded. Seen in this context, natural is definitely overrated.

It's make up, but not as you know it.

Could there be a better way to promote cosmetics? No? I thought not.

Yasmina Alaoui & Marco Guerra

"Artist Yasmina Alaoui and photographer Marco Guerra love to tantalize their audience. In their life-sized photographic series "one thousand and one dreams", statuesque bodies apear frozen in time, covered from head to toe in meticulously detailed, contemporary Arabic Henna patters. Captivated by the realism and sculptural quality of each human form, the viewer becomes lost in an illusion."

Acidolatte

Found at Opera Gallery via Acidollate

Hans Haveron - An ideas man rather than an artist

“Beauty is the moment when you raise your head” – Serge Lutens

Via Coilhouse

Keep on flashing those eyes at me

In LED Eyelashes, Soomi Park created a set of artificial eyelashes attached with LED lights. As part of her DigitalVeil project, Park tried to project Korean's obsession to big eyes, and how this fetishism is interpreted into excessive plastic surgery done on the eyes among Korean women. The Digital Veil project engages with the increasing fascination and banalization of plastic surgery not only in Korea but also in many countries around the world.

"I really thought the obsession with big eyes can be represented through media design, because both yearning for bigger eyes and projecting the look through lights can be done by distorting the representation and creating new images. The LED Eyelashes have a mercury sensor that controls the light on the face. When wearing the LED eyelashes, you look embellished as if you were wearing a piece of fashion jewelry. It was really pretty and models who wore them and viewers who watched them wanted it!"

"Media fashion design products like the Veil and the Eyelashes actually represent people's deepest inner desire in a way the desire can be externalized through design in a less serious manner. The desire of wanting to have bigger eyes and to get plastic surgery targets to deform their original figures, and in my view, people are excessively obsessed with the deformation, to a degree that can be called fetishism. My interactive media and fashion design piece does not disfigure people's appearance and is hopefully less damaging to the body, but it generates the similar effect."

Via We Make Money Not Art and Coilhouse

Hair Wars

Well I guess I should have known better, but it seems that the origin of many of the extreme styles seen on the catwalks today had precursors in the form of Hair Wars.  Competitions which began in the mid 1980's arose from traditional Africa American beauty parlours, where in a world of braids and weaves no style is considered too extreme.  Photographer David Yellen discovered Hair Wars in 1984 and toured the country, photographing stylists and their creations.  In the book Hair Wars it is evident that Yellen has captured the unconventional beauty and authenticity each stylist brings to the hair.

"I’m essentially attracted to anything that’s a unique subculture—cultural moments that are phasing out. That’s what makes humans unique and I think it’s important to preserve these things. If you take pictures, people will notice them—or at least talk about them."

David Yellen

The Hair Wars phenomena became so big it was even featured in America's Next Top Model, Cycle 7 as seen below.

Via Coilhouse