T & C (aka: xXxTerra & Syndeee), along with all the Hollywire staff, would like to wish all of you readers the happiest of holidays! News is a little slow on Hollywire as we’re all enjoying holiday festivities with our friends and family–we hope you are doing the same.

Anyhow, we’ve had a great time hittin’ up Hollywood this year and look forward to even more growth for Hollywire in 2009. 

Happy Holidays! Cheers to you & the New Year!

Last Thursday night was the night of Michaels.  First stop was The Green Door in Hollywood for Michael Benz’s fashion show and second stop was Play, also in Hollywood, for Michael Copon’s intimate birthday bash.

We’d like to share some of the fashion photos with you, but The Green Door was so jam packed that we couldn’t manage to get any pics of the clothes.  However, we did get in some shots of some reality TV’ers.

Photo oppurtunities at Play were even worse because it was also a full house–wall to wall packed with industry peeps galore.  But, we did manage to get a picture of the back of Apl.de.ap’s head as he was wishing Michael Copon Happy Birthday!  Oh, and we couldn’t resist the temptation to get a shot of Michael’s four-girl entourage… looks like he’s one heck of a lady killer!

Now that it’s Emmy’s time, Hollywire wanted to know how the stars prepare for such grandly chic events. Instead of talking to the celebrities about their routines, we experienced it for ourselves.

Besides the outfit and shoes, what’s also super important to the ladies of Hollywood? The makeup!  So we consulted skincare and makeup artist to the stars, albie-g.

He invited us to his studio in Century City to give us a taste of the star treatment. His number one tip: hydration. Keeping the body and skin hydrated is key to great looking skin and having makeup look better on the face. Of course, moisturization should be a part of everyone’s daily routine, but within a week of the event, you need to make hydration a priority.

Let’s say your two days out from an event, you don’t want to get a facial because you may get some redness, but you’re skin really needs a boost. What do you do? He recommends a hydrating/moisturizing facial–your skin will get that dewy glow that all us girls wish we could have forever. He gave me one of his signature “Optimum Hydration” facials and my skin hasn’t glowed so bright or felt so soft since my Gerber years.

A few days later, I was back for makeup. Albie G filled us in on us some tricks of the trade. No matter what your skin tone, he says everyone needs black eyeshadow. It is key to smoking out the eye for an impactful evening look. But, before you start adding color to your lids, smooth foundation all over the face and concealer over the eye lids to create a clean palette as well as a base for the shadow to hold onto.
Another important trick before working on eye color is dabbing loose powder beneath the lower lashes to protect the under-eye area from fallen eyeshadow. Once you’ve applied all your shadow, gently blot away the excess powder and any eyeshadow should come away with it!
After all that prep, we were ready for the dramatic eye makeup.

Albie G’s next tip: dab, don’t rub the brush into the eye lid. Instead, lightly press your shadow onto your lids using good quality brushes. This way, you’ll get more color on the eye. Blend by dabbing and lightly stroking the shadow.

After the shadow, he added black eyeliner along the upper and lower lash lines with a powder liner and brush, then curled and added black mascara to the upper lashes. For a better lash curl, Albie G recommends starting at the base of the lashes, press and hold for a few seconds, then repeat at the tip of the lashes.

He made the finishing touches by brushing some loose powder over the forehead, nose, cheeks and chin to control shine, then he brushed blush over the cheeks and temples of the forehead. Last, but not least, he added lip color using a lip brush, followed by a tinted lip gloss.

A girl could get used to this kind of treatment… and we hadn’t even gotten to hair and wardrobe yet!

Many thanks to Albie G for squeezing Hollywire into his tight Emmy’s week schedule. Visit his website (www.albieg.com) for more about his fabulous skincare and makeup services.  You might also want to think about giving your friends and family the celeb-style treatment, too–Albie G has super cute gift certificates (see the Chinese Take-out box below!)  And seriously, EVERYONE has got to try the Optimal Hydration Facial! But, beware, you may become hooked!

Huntington Beach, CA was the place to be today if you are any of the following 1) Teen Fashionista, 2) Surfer, or 3) Jesse McCartney fan. It seemed like everyone in SoCal that fell in any of these 3 categories found there way to HB today for the US Open / Teen Vogue fashion show. Needless to say… it was crowded.

It wasn’t a typical lazy day at the beach as the whole place was buzzing by 2PM. Hordes of teenage girls were lined up for hours before the fashion show. (Reportedly there was a line before 10AM and the show didn’t start until 4 in the afternoon). The complacent chatter was periodically broken by sudden commotion and screaming as the crowd got glimpses of Jesse McCartney going in and out of the tents backstage.

Luckily, after about an hour of people watching, we were able to skip the crazy line and walk straight in to the VIP area to watch the fashion show.

Yeah for cold water and colorful lounge chairs. Teen Vogue spared no expense (haha) as the “furniture” was clearly from Ikea and the seats were turned over trash cans. Bonus points, however, for creativity and excellent use of vibrant colors.

And of course, as always, I beelined it towards the buffet (very classy, might I add!). After successfully stuffing my face full of chips and finger sandwiches, we sat down to enjoy the show.

Here’s the first public sighting of Mr. McCartney on stage as he starts off the show. By the way chicas, Ryan Sheckler showed up today riding around in a black Escalade. Not sure where he snuck off to, but there was definitely a Sheckler sighting!

The runway show had a sports theme. All the models came out carrying either a ball or some sort of sporting paraphernalia like a baseball bat or tennis racket. Someone commented they were so bored of seeing models carrying golf clubs they would rather hit themselves over the head than continue to watch more of the same old continue down the runway. And more of the same it was… oh, so uninspiring…conjure up memories of Heidiwood for anyone?

At least the food and ambiance received great marks. Overall, it was a solid event, even though the fashion show was a little redundant (I think the main offense is almost no one would ever perform sporting activities in the outfits they presented. Well… maybe Paris Hilton). I have to give them points for keeping everything organized in the midst of pure teenage carnage chaos though.

Last night I met up with Claudia Jordan and her girls from her radio show (The Claudian Jordan Show on Foxxhole/Sirius Radio every Monday night) to hit up the red carpet in support of her buddy Eddie Murphy’s new film, Meet Dave. There was a ton of press from all over the world snapping pics and getting interviews of various celebs including Gabrielle Union, Scott Caan, Tim Duncan, Claudia Jordan, Elizabeth Banks, & more. I was there during the whole ordeal capturing the behind the scenes experience…..

Unfortunately Eddie Murphy failed to show at the premiere–which is pretty rare. I mean how often does the star of the film just not show up to their own movie premiere? That’s not the most brilliant marketing plan. And, you should know, all the press peeps were pissed because no comment or explanation was immediately offered up to explain his absence.

Anyhow, in Meet Dave, which is a children’s sci-fi adventure, he plays not just the lead role, but actually two lead roles. So, does that mean we should give him twice the grief for being a no-show?

Perhaps he was too busy to show because is currently working on another film–a comedy-drama called A Thousand Words. It is being reported that producer David T. Friendly told People magazine, “He’s not here because he’s doing a movie and shooting - he goes back-to-back-to-back.”

“Eddie, he’ll never admit it, but he loves to work. And I think work keeps him happy.”

Claudia Jordan on the carpet with her girls from her radio show & me–Travis from hollywire.com

Claudia can’t go anywhere without stopping to appreciate her fans…

She seriously is one of the friendliest Hollywoodies you’ll ever meet….

Claudia & the girls….

Claudia & the girls with Scott Caan…

Overall, even with the no-show of the movie star himself, it was still an awesome night.

While on a crazed hunger-induced search for a pancake place on Melrose Blvd. on Monday morning at about 10:30ish, I was lucky enough to spot Johnny “The wind beneath my wings and implants in my calves” Drama, a.k.a. Kevin Dillon of Entourage, shooting a scene for the series’ upcoming fifth season. The scenes were shot at Earth Cafe in Hollywood.

Although the LAPD were guarding Dillon’s side of the street like hawks, I got a semi-good glimpse of Drama in what appeared to be some sort of pow wow lunch meeting that the Entourage boys know how to do best. He was looking overly-tanned yet toned like always.

For those NOT in the know, Kevin Dillon, real-life brother of Matt Dillon, plays the brother of “Aquaman” star Vincent Chase (played by Adrian Grenier).

Thanks to the 100-day-long writers strike that killed this past TV season last November, this is the first summer in many “Entourage” fans have to suffer through the heat of summer without HBO’s half hour comedy but thankfully, they now look on schedule to return with new episodes in September.

Summer just started for UCLA students (Screw you, quarter system!), but I can’t wait for fall to see what the new season has planned after the fourth season’s cliff hanging finale when Vinnie’s new film “Medellin” crashed and burned at Cannes.

A few of us got together for the Sex and the City Premiere on Friday night…we enjoyed some wine, mojitos and appetizers at Cafe TuTuTango down in the OC before going to see the movie.

Let me tell ya–the atmosphere in the restaurant and bar was unbelievable. I wish I’d thought ahead to take some pictures– just imagine, the largest conglomeration of excited women ever! I think we saw maybe 3 or 4 guys in the restaurant and the bar was off the hook, brimming with women. All you single guys should have planned wisely and been at that bar!

Anyhow, we had two SATC addicts in our crew and two girls who had only seen a couple of SATC shows here and there. Literally, these two girls knew virtually nothing about the show or the characters–they didn’t even know who “Big” was! So, after seeing the movie, what was the verdict? Loved it! Both the SATC followers and the SATC newbies felt the movie was worth the $12 ticket. So, even if you’re not a SATC follower, go see the movie–it’s one of the best chic-flicks so far this season.

Welcome to Hollywire.com your inside guide to hollywood!