Exclusive! Grazia Bahrain launch

Since the launch of Grazia Middle East five years ago, it has become the highest-selling fashion magazine in the region.

After five years of distributing Grazia Middle East in Bahrain weekly, it was discovered that the fashion industry in Bahrain was fast developing and therefore required its own exclusive edition.

The brand-spanking new Bahrain edition will be monthly and will carry more pages and feature a more luxurious skew.

Says Kerrie Simon, editor of both editions: "The team that puts Grazia Middle East together every week has also conceptualised, planned and now created Grazia Bahrain for that growing market.

"As the weekly edition goes into every country in the Middle East with the exception of Saudi, we noticed a growing local market in Bahrain. As a result, we've ceased distributing Grazia Middle East in the Kingdom and have created for them their very own piece of the Grazia magic.

"Grazia Bahrain is a monthly magazine, and as such is much heavier in its content. It's not simply an extension of the weekly edition, but an entirely new product. It carries more pages, both international and local features, fashion shoots, celebrity interviews and mind-blowing beauty.

"Grazia is the Kingdom of Bahrain's first international magazine and we're so proud to be expanding on the success of Grazia Middle East and seeing the brand grow so successfully and rapidly within the region."

This piece of magazine gorgeousness will be on-sale from this Tuesday. Save me a copy, Kerrie.

Jennifer Aniston on Chelsea Lately on E!

It's really hard not to love Jennifer Aniston in this interview with one of my TV heroes, Chelsea Handler, on her show Chelsea Lately.

This is the second time Aniston has appeared on the show. This time, it's to talk about her movie The Switch. The banter and girl-talk is so adorable and fun, and the best part is watching the two dissect the "stoopid" rumours the walking headline (that'd be Aniston) generates.

Watch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0hnbyvftC4

Jennifer Aniston as Barbra Streisand

The September 2010 edition of US Harper's Bazaar features Jennifer Aniston getting a Barbra Streisand makeover.

Looks like Aniston's strong Greek nose serves her well - her likeness to Streisand is striking. Check out how similar the two stars look. Aniston pays homage to Streisand's roles in A Star is Born and Funny Girl. Gorgeous.

Guest blogger: Mia Freedman on "The clean freak vs the messy pig. A story of domestic hell."

Never has a column resonated so much with me as this one. As I read my Sunday papers and came across Mia Freedman's column in the Sun-Herald 'Sunday Life' magazine I sat there, newspaper sections strewn everywhere, mouth agape.

This is a story about a messy pig versus a clean freak. They live together. Maybe they have children (cough, maybe even twins... perhaps). But the clean freak is not the wifey. Oh no, it is Mr OCD, I-will-move-anything-I-want-and-may-even-throw-it-out-husband.

Okay, so I am not talking about the column anymore; I am talking about my husband and I. I read parts of the column to said hubby. He didn't even flinch. He knew I was talking about him and I.

My friend sent around a fun chain email last week about lessons men need to be taught. It included points about men not changing toilet rolls, and men leaving socks on the floor and wet towels in bathroom, and dishes in the sink.

No. No. And no. Does not happen in this house. Ever. Hubby is neat and tidy, sometimes annoyingly so. His way of living creates an environment where the other half cannot slip. Cannot leave a spoon in the sink. To his credit, he never huffs and puffs about it, never makes a scene, but sometimes, when the tiny pile of papers in the garage need to be rifled through and dumped in the recycle bin, it's an all out war. I am not even kidding.

And hello, it's not like I am messy. Okay, so I hoard magazines. And I am emotionally attached to certain things. And certain clothes. But I don't leave shit everywhere. Ask my friends, they'll tell you.

The good thing is that living with someone who is an opposite kinda makes you up your game and want to improve yourself. Likewise, I should hope I am helping hubby relax a little. Hope being the operative word.

I won't deny living with a clean freak has huge benefits. Before you know it, that job you hate? Done. There is lots to love about that. Hubby makes my life so much easier in so many ways. He helps free up my time to write, and spend time with the kids, and do all the nice stuff in life. I adore that. And, may I add, he never cooks. Only I do. Not sure what relevance that has here, but perhaps I am keen to let you know that yes, I am still a domestic goddess. Just not a fully fledged, Bree-from-'Desperate Housewives' freak. Thank the Lord.

Here is the column by Mia. Have a read and I would love to hear if you can see yourself in this piece.

"Listen carefully. Can you hear the sound of fighting across our wide brown land? These are not disputes about politics or religion. Nor are they about asylum seekers or immigration or whether the burqa should be banned.

The arguments you can hear are about leaving teabags in the sink. And dropping wet towels on the bed. About a new bottle of milk being opened before the last one is finished. And leaving lights on when you leave a room. Not replacing toilet rolls when they run out. And the right way to stack the dishwasher and squeeze a toothpaste tube. They’re about putting whites in with colours. And leaving doors open and toilet seats up. About not wiping up toast crumbs AND LEAVING THE CEREAL BOX OPEN SO THE SULTANA BRAN GOES STALE, DAMN YOU.

These are the big issues of domestic life and they’re tearing happy households apart. It doesn’t matter whether you live with your spouse, friend, defacto, children, parents or flatmate, there are always petty home dramas that niggle. Chief among them are issues of tidiness because it’s statistically impossible for everyone in a house to share the same mess threshold.

There’s something about living with other people that calibrates your tidiness against each other and assigns one person the role of Clean Freak (aka The Nag) and someone else the role of Messy Pig (aka The Nagged).

Notice how both terms are pejorative? This is because each party sees the other as abnormal, tiresome and a big fat punish.

It’s a widely held misconception that clean freaks are female. Wrong. I live with a Domestic God and I don’t say that to brag. It’s hell. My husband may not be able to bake but he is a very tidy guy. Organised too. I am neither tidy nor organised domestically and this causes many problems. For him. But for me too. May I please speak up on behalf of messy people and state it’s not fun to be constantly told how to be less messy.

I am often baffled by this turn of events because honestly, I used to be the tidy one. In past lives with past boyfriends and flatmates, I have done plenty of bitching about wet towels and carelessly strewn teabags. Plenty. Similarly, my husband has been the messy one in his past.

So how did we get here?"

To read the rest of this piece, go here.

Thanks to Mia for permission to reproduce this excerpt.

Emmy Awards - 2010 coverage on E!

Ah, awards season is about to commence and I confess... I unashamedly love awards shows.

The sea of gorgeous dresses and penguin suits; the fake tan, hair, faces and banter. Heaven.

As per usual, E! is bringing live coverage from the red carpet at the 2010 Primetime Emmy Awards on Monday, August 30.

While I may not pay attention to every word - I can't tell you who won last year and who is nominated this year - I really enjoy the mindless small talk on the red carpet, especially watching the lovely Giuliana Rancic's various ways to ask celebs "how they got that rockin' bod". Watch it - and start counting.

Co-host Ryan Seacrest is also adept at the PR-skewed banter, and Catt Sadler and Kristen Dos Santos provide additional fashion-obsessed commentary. The highlight will be funny bloke Ross Mathews. If you haven't seen this lovable nutter before - he files mad reports for US talk show host Jay Leno - watch it just for him.

This year, joining the hosts are two of my fave panellists from E!'s Chelsea Lately - Loni Love and Guy Branum - who will add their brand of hilarity to the day.

US Project Runway winner Christian Siriano will give a first-time look at his new line of shoes, and reality junkies will know who I am talking about when I refer to Lo Bosworth and Stephanie Pratt - they will be transformed into 60s-style starlets. See? The Hills does score you important gigs.

The 'Countdown to the Red Carpet: The 2010 Primetime Emmy Awards' kicks off from 8am on E! and 20 cameras - including the 'Glam Cam 360', 'Limo Cam' and 'Fashion Cam' - will capture every possible angle. Maybe some we didn't expect...

There will also be a one hour 'Fashion Police' with host Joan Rivers, which premieres on Wednesday, September 1 at 8.30pm on E!

E! is available on FOXTEL, OPTUS and AUSTAR on Channel 121.

Foil nails... the latest in nail art

Brace yourself beauty junkies... nail foils are now available in Australia following its boom in the nail art industry throughout Europe and USA.

Already seen on the fingers and toes of Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, and Beyonce, the Blizx Nail Foils concept is now available in Australia.

Blixz Nail Foils are extremely thin foils applied directly to the nail with instant results. No need to wait for nail polish to dry and no top coat required - Blixz Nail Foils give you flash-o-rama fingers and toes and lasts up to two weeks for fingernails; four weeks for toes.

Blixz Nail Foils are available in take home kits and becoming available in nail salons, and are a time saving and less costly alternative to traditional nail art.

Blixz take home packs are $15.99 and in salon Blixz are $35-$40.

See http://www.blixz.com.au/ for more info and to see the 100+ colours and designs.

Food Wine Sleep - iPhone app

FOOD WINE SLEEP – the go-to website for everything in restaurants, bars, and hotels in Australia – has announced the up-and-coming launch of the FWS guide iPhone app in September 2010, which will be free to download.

This will be the first Australian iPhone app that will allow searches for restaurants, bars and hotels all around Australia.

That means that searches can be done 24/7, 365 days of the year and that includes making reservations and submitting customer reviews from the very palm of your hand. The people at Food Wine Sleep say it has been designed to “make life on the go easy and fun for busy people who love to dine out, socialise and travel.”

You can search by:
- Name
- Location
- What's around you using the GPS feature

You can also make guaranteed restaurant reservations as well as interact with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and email features. Plus, you can search for special offers in your area.

What’s not to love!

Click here to register your interest and the Food Wine Sleep team will let you know when it’s ready! http://foodwinesleep.com.au/iphone.php

Whatcha waiting for? I’m signing up now… this little tool will soon be indispensable.