The Pop Shizzle…

With Christmas only around the corner (well, three-and-a-half months away) you can bet every celeb worth their salt is going to want to spruik one product or another be it an album, film or fragrance. Last night Cristiano Ronaldo unveiled his debut fragrance Legacy at a huge party in Madrid where leggy models and fabulous nobodies rubbed shoulders to be the first to experience the soccer star’s manly scent. Said Ronaldo, “I once heard that you should spray fragrance where you want to be kissed.” Well he must have spritzed his from head to toe given the number of models whose hands and lips were all over him…

Singing/rap starlet Ariana Grande has got grand plans to break into vertical branding, with the release this weekend of her signature scent Ari by Ariana Grande. The Focus On Me singer took to her social media accounts to titillate fans with new snaps of her alluding to the fragrance’s pending release: “…….. i’m excited……….. lil bit” went the tagline – excessive ellipses to accentuate all the excitement………. of course. The scent itself features notes of crisp pear, pink grapefruit, raspberry and…..….. marshmallow.

Rimmel spokesmodel Kate Moss has pared back her look for the brand’s latest line of lipsticks – opting for nude shades only, thank you. Inspired by her own timeless sense of style, the Nude Collection by Kate Moss offers subtle pinks, apricots and beiges, and a couple of richer toffee tones thrown in for good measure.

Tech giant Apple and haute label Hermès have joined forces to deliver a posh collection of Apple watches in stainless steel with finely crafted leather bands in distinctive styles by Hermès. To show you the true poshness of such a collaboration, the ‘Single Tour’ watch, for example, comes in “fauve” Barenia leather, “noir box” leather and “capucine Swift” leather. We’ll save you having to Google those words by letting you know they mean “tawny in design”, “big, black and boxy” and “coffee-coloured”, respectively. Oh, and that the watches start at AUD$1,700 apiece.

Upscale water manufacturers, Evian (well, they cost more than your average bottled water) has teamed up with designer Alexander Wang to unveil a “limited edition” bottle that’s pretty much just a few black and white stripes wrapped around clear glass. Nobody’s saying what Wang got paid to design something that could well have been done in his sleep, but you won’t be able to get your hands on a bottle until next year.

From a non-alcoholic beverage to an alcoholic one, makers of fine whiskey, Glenfiddich are proud to announce the finalists for their Australian Artist in Residence Contest. It’s the first time the contest has been opened to Australian residents who were welcome to use any array of mediums which include print, photography, animation, performance and installation. The seven finalists are Cameron Robbins, Deb Mansfield, Joan Ross, Liam Benson, Luke Storrier, Marc Standing, Troy Emery, whose works will be displayed at a Glenfiddich pop-up bar at the Sydney Contemporary Art Fair from September 10.

This week, Cream received three packages in the post via FedEx from California. The label read ‘Dreamworks Animation’ and the stickers on the side looked like neon-coloured meteorites. Lo-and-behold they were actually silhouettes of Troll Doll hairdos, and inside were variously decorated Troll Dolls with an invitation for us to “Style, Shoot, Post!” In other words, you can expect a huge wave of Troll Doll mania taking over Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter in the next few weeks with the aim of (we’re guessing) promoting a new movie by Dreamworks and Co.

To subjects with just-as-wild hairdos (well, in the ’80s at least), Duran Duran are back in fine form, having released a new album today entitled Paper Gods. We love what we’ve heard so far of the record – and what we see of the album cover, which is basically a homage to iconic imagery of Duran’s past. Speaking of digging into the archives, one clever Duran fan – Andy Golub – has published a big book of poster art which chronicles the band’s halcyon days, from early club promotions to bigger gigs on the world stage. Beautiful Colors: The Posters of Duran Duran is now available in hardcover from Amazon.com.

Yet to reach such international pop status, we reckon model-come-singer Didier Cohen has got a promising pop career ahead of him just the same. Just landed on our desk this week (well, a download in our inbox) is Cohen’s new single Skyline through Sony Music. Starting off with a shimmery vibe and building to a thumping drop, it’s sure to be a massive hit this summer. But why the lad is covering three-quarters of his face on the single sleeve in this age of online vanity is beyond us. Pretty looks in the pop arena never hurt to sell a record, boy…

ABC iview has announced that the ninth series of Doctor Who will be fast-tracked direct from the UK, with the first episode premiering on iview on Sunday 20 September at 5.30am AEST. Each fast-tracked episode will be available to watch on ABC iview early on Sunday mornings as well as throughout the day, before it is broadcast on ABC at 7.40pm. We can hear fans gasping from out of space.

Local spunk-rat Liam Hemsworth will return to Australia this October to celebrate the release of the new comedy-drama The Dressmaker, alongside co-stars Judy Davis, Hugo Weaving and Sarah Snook. The Australian premiere of the film will be held on Sunday 18 October at Village Cinemas Crown in Melbourne where the cast will be joined on the red carpet by a host of local lovelies. Shot entirely in Victoria, The Dressmaker is about a girl who returns to her small town in rural Australia armed with a sewing machine to transform the style of the women around her and to exact sweet revenge on those who once did her wrong. Now that’s some serious shade, grrrrrrl.

And finally, the singer of the next James Bond theme song has been announced. None other than modern crooner Sam Smith will be heard in the opening sequence of Spectre (and across Radio Land and the world wide web from now until then). His song Writing’s On The Wall might well be described as typically Bond but also very Now given the fact that Smith’s Stay With Me collaborator Jimmy Napes and production buddies Disclosure all had a hand in the track.  Antonino Tati