Hollywood stars wanting to look their best for Tinseltown's biggest night are being offered beauty treatments from the lavish to plain loony, such as $250,000 black diamond nail varnish and bird excrement facials.

The Academy Awards on Feb 24 are almost as much about fashion as they are about films, with the televised red carpet arrivals and ceremony drawing an estimated audience of one billion.

"It's the grand finale to the awards show season so celebrities pull out all the stops when it comes to fashion and beauty," said style expert Sam Saboura, a host on cable channel TLC. "They're willing to go to any extreme to perfect their look and make a statement on the red carpet."

In the past, ever-youthful actress Demi Moore, 50, has admitted to having leeches put on her skin to detoxify her blood.

This year, there's a twist on the use of injectable dermal fillers to smooth facial creases and plump up the skin. Enter the Vampire FaceLift, which mixes filler with the patient's own blood.

Blood, bird droppings

Plastic surgeon Paul Nassif, who offers the service in his Beverly Hills office, says this process involves removing blood from the patient, isolating certain components and then mixing it with a dermal filler to inject back into the skin.

"It's a one-two punch," Nassif said. "You get an immediate response from the filler, and the long-term benefit is new collagen formation, natural volume and healthier skin."

For the needle-averse, bird poop could be the answer to brighter skin. Shizuka New York Day Spa in Manhattan offers a Geisha Facial, an hour-long treatment that involves applying nightingale droppings in powder form to the skin.

The droppings, which salon owner Shizuka Bernstein imports from Japan, are said to contain natural enzymes that exfoliate the skin.

"There are so many drastic options to exfoliating the skin like chemical peels and microdermabrasion," Bernstein said. "But if you want a more natural approach, this will give you great results as well. Dead skin is removed, skin tone is brighter and you're left with a radiant look."

When it comes to hair, Santa Monica-based The Broot, an all-natural hair treatment bar, has a secret not-on-the-menu ingredient - bull testicles.

Owner Samira Asemanfar said her family had used it for generations, boiling testicles bought from a local butcher to extract a broth of protein and hormones that's added to treatments to strengthen and repair hair.

"Clients have told us their hair felt thicker, more repaired, more fortified. One client said her hair grew faster," said Asemanfar.

Beauty on loan

It's no secret that designer gowns and jewels are often borrowed for the red carpet. Many designers have some last-minute tricks for looking taller and slimmer for the photographers and TV crews at the Oscars.

Dresses from NUE by designer Shani Grosz all come with built-in compression fabric to make the wearer look a size smaller, reducing the need for figure-hugging, slimming undergarments.

If expense is not an issue, another way to stand out on the red carpet is to arrive with a manicured set of nails containing 267 carats of black diamonds.

Los Angeles' luxury jewelry designer Azature Pogosian has created a black nail polish containing small, full cut diamonds that he said "add a three dimensional sparkle".

Only one bottle exists, on sale at London's Selfridges department store for $250,000 since November. But Azature keeps samples for A-list celebrities, such as Britney Spears, who wore it in a fragrance advert.

"It makes women feel incredible," Azature said. "There is nothing wrong with making someone feel beautiful. We're not spending money on wars. We're not hurting anyone. We make a woman feel like a queen."

Reuters

(China Daily 02/19/2013 page10)