AT the ripe age of 34, supermodel Carol Alt was desperate. “I was the definition of insanity,” she says. “Doing the same things over and over again expecting to get different results. I was barely eating anything and starting to gain weight. My skin was bad, my hair was dry, I had no energy, I was tired and moody.”
Following the lead of a close friend who ate a raw-food diet as part of an alternative cancer therapy, Alt immediately went 100 percent raw. “As a model, starving myself was the hardest thing I ever did, so this was easy,” Alt says. “Anything you eat cooked I can find raw – except popcorn.”
Soon enough, she began mixing her own lotions and cleansers from natural ingredients at home. “I gave up a lucrative contract with a skin-care company,” she says. “It was hard for me to sell it because I wasn’t using the skin care.”
The results she saw were brilliant. These days, Alt’s skin is so naturally flawless, she says, she doesn’t even wear foundation on television. And she’s bottled her skin-care secrets
for sale on HSN. (The products are available starting at $19.50 at HSN.com.)
“I found this amazing guy who’s pioneered a cold manufacturing process,” Alt explains. “Other companies may go out there and say their products are all-natural, but they’ve just taken something they found in nature, mixed it together and heated it to the point of chemical change. We are raw – beyond natural, beyond organic. We don’t heat-process it – we maintain the integrity of the vitamins, minerals and enzymes of the product.”
* Pistol power: Semi Precious Weapons frontman Justin Tranter (right) doesn’t just look and sound hot, he designs three – count ’em! – lines of aggressively cool jewelry: high-end Fetty, sold at Barneys; mid-range Fame, sold at Fred Segal and Karmaloop; and Precious Weapons, found at stores like Urban Outfitters and Hot Topic. Check out the man in the flesh at the Semi Precious Weapons’ Hell on High Heels show Saturday at 9 p.m. at Highline Ballroom. Tickets are $12 at highlineballroom.com.
* Lomo tech: Photography fiends, rejoice – Lomography, the cult camera manufacturer which specializes in re-creating
retro equipment and is best known for its inexpensive plastic merch, has just opened its first New York brick-and-mortar location (41 W. Eighth St., 212-529-4353). The shop/gallery space is wallpapered in snapshots and stocks all the hard-to-find cameras, film, deadstock, gadgets and tools any Lomo-obsessive’s little heart could wish for. We’re loving our new Diana F+, an all-plastic medium-format camera that comes in white, pink, black, and baby blue (from $95 to $105).
* Room service: Log onto
godiva.com ASAP and sign up for an appointment to check out the company’s Jonathan Adler-designed all-chocolate suite at the Bryant Park Hotel. A blend of
precious bordering on pervy – there’s a solid chocolate headboard, an entirely edible mosaic chocolate wall, a dining table made with truffle and chocolate inlay, life-size chocolate versions of Adler’s man and woman decanters, porcelain animals from his
Menagerie collection drizzled in the sweet stuff, and even an edible dark and white chocolate chess set – it’s a chocolate lover’s real-life Willy Wonka fantasy.
No. Really.
“It’s both decadent and insane,” admits Adler, who, lounging on his chocolate sofa, says his favorite confection was the chess set. “We’re a potter and a window dresser in one house, and sadly none of us has the brainpower to play chess. Our dog Liberace might have a better chance.”
The suite is open today only, with a contest winner (you can enter on the site, too) to be invited back to stay in the three-room chocolate suite for a weekend. Eating the furniture will be encouraged.
* Lip service: Lip-stamp your way to the perfect kisser. Apply your lipstick to one of 10 differently shaped sponge lips and then stamp the color onto your own. Or use the stamps to seal love letters and V-Day cards – that’s what we’re going to do. Get the kit for $25 at alconeco.com.
* Golden girl: Barbie’s turning 50! Everyone’s favorite plastic blonde celebrates her golden anniversary this year, but she doesn’t look a day over 17. Score the four limited-edition Barbie Loves Stila beauty cans ($40 each this Saturday exclusively at Sephora on Fifth Avenue) in “Ponytail Doll,” “Foxy Doll,” “Malibu Doll” and “Jewel Doll,” each filled with a
corresponding cheek, lip and eye color plus mascara.
* Eye spy: Keep evil at bay with Otrera’s Evil Eye scarf ($198 at otrera.com) – the silk-chiffon solution to the recession.