BlackBook

A lot happened at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's annual Costume Institute gala last night. The exhibit's "Punk: Chaos to Couture" theme inspired starlets, songstresses and socialites, to really go for it and sport daring get-ups and beauty looks. Oh, and as expected, Kim Kardashian indeed graced the red carpet with her presence in a custom Givenchy by Riccardo Tisci floral thing that has quickly spawned it's own "Bitch stole my look!" moment with a sofa. (Social media is fun.) But more than anything, attendees expressed their inner punkdom through crazy hairstyles that ranged from brilliantly bold to major mistakes. Let's revisit these looks, shall we? Starting with tamest (when Anne Hathaway going blonde is tame, things must be getting wild) to zaniest. 

Sure, the Grammy's were all about all that singing stuff, but let's get to the shallow basics: people looked hot. Most notably, Rihanna, JLo, and Katy Perry. How did they look classic, glowy, and dollface? Well, I'm glad you asked... here's BlackBook's resident makeup artist Leah Bennett - whose work has graced the runways of London and New York - to give you the step-by-step on the trends.

Washington, DC woke up this morning with one collectively epic hangover. Let’s face it: a five-day-long celebration is kind of overkill. Yes, there were fancy dresses, open bars, and VIPs (Beyonce! Jay Z! John Legend! Some guy from Gossip Girl, maybe!) and enough parties to crush any notions that this is anything like prom.

The category for Best Original Song is always a bit of a mess. The songs are rarely judged on how they good they sound; the importance, of course, is how the song fits into the film for which it was written. This year's nominees are representative of the usual fare. There's the popular choice (Adele's "Skyfall," which will likely win, as it should), the new song for the big-budget musical adaptation (the unnecessary "Suddenly" from Les Misérables), and then there are the forgettable tunes (I didn't even know what Chasing Ice was before today, much less the song from it). It's a shame, really, because there were plenty of good tracks included in the list of 75 eligible songs. Here are a few that probably will have a longer shelf life than "Lullaby for Pi."

One the one hand you have to hand it to Katy Perry that her pursuit of piles and piles of money seems limitless. She manages to have a thriving pop music career and brand herself up the wazoo. (As opposed to, say, Jessica Simpson, whose shoewear line is better than any of her singles.) But on the other hand, the cross-marketing is getting a bit much, Katy.

You have to admit that Bonnie Raitt's song I Can't Make You Love Me is the world's perfect breakup song. So I'm pleased to report that Katy Perry's cover is actually very, very good. (And, given its a live performance, less slit-wrists-inducing than the Bon Iver cover.)

It’s a cool September evening in New York City, and the first thing Ellie Goulding sees when her van hits Manhattan’s Lower East Side is the Economy Candy shop on Rivington Street. She’s scheduled for an interview with ArjanWrites at the Hotel On Rivington as part of his HP series, but not before she stocks up on bags of candy. She promptly tweets about the experience and even adds the photo to Instagram. It’s that level of human interaction that makes Ellie Goulding such an accessible pop superstar. She’s also pretty damn talented.

Today Pop Chips not only adds a few more flavors to their “healthy” brand of air-popped corn chips, but they have also launched a new campaign featuring pop star Katy Perry. Why is this important? It’s not, but it’s damn funny.

The insurers for Katy Perry's tour have warned the singer to ditch her spinning peppermint bra for something a little less dangerous. "I keep being told the insurers are worried I will injure my neck," the pop tart explained to the UK's Sun newspaper. "They want a new bra designed that will not allow hair to be caught up."

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