Courtesy of Anna Sheffield for TargetAdvertisement - Continue Reading BelowNew York jewelry designer Anna Sheffield (whose sculptural pieces have been shown on the runways of Marc Jacobs and Phillip Lim) debuts Anna Sheffield for Target, a sterling silver collection that includes gold- and rose-gold-plated multilayered chains (above) and her "Beloved" bracelet (below). Pieces cost $20–$80 and are available now.

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​Dear Abs,

Is this it? I know that's what you're thinking, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't have the same fear. I remember those Core Fusion classes where you dutifully held plank pose for minutes at a time. I still own that pink Halston bikini and someday, (someday soon!) I promise you will wear it again. I won't patronize you with the Gift-of-Life hogwash. You got screwed.  Just know, when you gaze wistfully at the new mommies in US Weekly, they all had plastic surgery! (except for Kate Middleton?). PS: I did write to StriVectin™ to ask for a refund.
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***

Dear Butt,

My husband and Amy Schumer think you're awesome, so that's something.

***

Dear Breasts,

It's been a looooong two years. I was pretty devastated when I read that article saying formula is just as good as breastmilk. If our daughter goes to Harvard, I swear you'll get all the credit.

***

Dear Arms,

You are so badasssss! In fact, I wonder on almost a daily basis whether or not I should buy a leather Harley Davidson vest just to show you off. I'm sorry you can no longer slip into the holes of my Façonnable dress shirts, but it's a small price to pay for being able to toss a 30 lb bundle of joy into the back seat of a car. Keep rocking it.

***

Dear Back,

The MRI came back normal and the doctor says try harder to lift with your legs. Sorry you're in so much pain. This too shall pass (in a couple of years).

***

Dear Hands,

Ignore those little brown spots (I am using a good Retinol cream!) And please don't worry about the knuckle wrinkles.  They make you look distinguished. Lady-like! Seriously, I want to thank you for changing thousands of stinky diapers these past two years. That's a lot of shit to deal with. 

 ***

Dear Vagina,

I HATE YOU. I HATE YOU. I HATE YOU. I HATE YOU. I HATE YOU. I HATE YOU. I HATE YOU. I HATE YOU. I HATE YOU. I HATE YOU. I HATE YOU. I HATE YOU. I HATE YOU. I HATE YOU. I HATE YOU.

Srsly, WTF? I thought we would have this peeing thing squared away by now. I did my kegels! I did them on the subway! In the shower! AT THE OFFICE! Apparently the French have women squeeze on a dildo immediately after giving birth (who knew). Last month I found myself in the waiting room of a urologist on the Upper East Side, surrounded by geriatric men, only to learn from the doctor that a certain amount of drippage is normal.

Go fuck yourself.

Julia Cheiffetz is an Executive Editor at HarperCollins Publishers

Elena Seibert Elena SeibertPhoto: Elena Seibert
Advertisement - Continue Reading BelowIf the screenwriter and novelist Delia Ephron's new collection of essays, Sister, Mother, Husband, Dog, had a mission statement, it might be, "All siblings have different parents." The book is filled with emotionally honest stories about her famous older sister-slash-collaborator, the universally beloved writer and director Nora Ephron, and their tart, difficult, alcoholic mother, Phoebe, who was also a screenwriter. It has shorter, less poignant, but still amusing stories about bad hair days, perfect pets, and Jewish book festivals.
More From ELLEEphron writes most lyrically about finding her way as the younger, less-heralded part of the Nora-Delia screenwriting duo (they worked on, among others, This is My Life, Sleepless in Seattle and You've Got Mail together). "We are sisters, collaborators, writer-children of writer-parents who collaborated. How am I not her? How did I find my way when she took up so much space?" Ephron doesn't sound churlish when she asks these questions, she sounds searching and true. Anyone with siblings has to contend with the roles they play in their own families, and the complex brew of jealousy and pride at their siblings' achievements.
We spoke with Ephron about Nora, the intimacy of sisters (Delia is the second of four Ephron girls; Nora was the oldest), and about how difficult it is to write about your mother, even when she tells you that everything is copy.

You are straightforward about your complex relationship with Nora in the book's first essay "Losing Nora." It wasn't sugarcoated. Were the essays about her difficult to write so soon after her death?

Well, I think the whole point of writing this way, which is personal, is to be as honest as you can about the complexity of it all. And at the same time, my relationship with my sister is about love, and it wasn't difficult to write in the sense that it was comforting to me. Sisterhood is something that I've thought about my whole life, and it was such a complex, complicated thing. There's a kind of intimacy to our relationship, and sisterhood is always difficult. I wanted to get at it. I never like it when things are pretty pictures.
My sister was the greatest. She was a fantastic sister, a mentor. We had enormous fun together, as well as creative fun. It was a way to be with Nora, to write the piece. It was really comforting. I didn't know which direction I was facing in the months just after her death.

You're also quite forthright about your mother's alcoholism.

Writing about my mother was a different sort of a problem. I had avoided writing about my mother [in the past]. My first novel, Hanging Up, is about a difficult parent, but it's about the relationship with my father. First novels are so autobiographical, but it's fictionalized enormously. The mother doesn't figure in it. She's sort of absent in Hanging Up. They're divorced in the book, which my parents were not. Photo: Courtesy of Delia Ephron
My mother was a remarkable example of success, but she was always an absolutely self-destructive and really difficult mother. [Like] her famous line about "taking notes." [On her deathbed, their mother told Nora, "Take notes," which is to say, even your mother's death is comedic fodder. Nora used the line in her novel Heartburn.] I realized you start to romanticize your parents in certain ways, and I didn't think it was healthy. I wanted to write about what it was like, for me, but not my sister, to be in that family, with my mother.

I hope this isn't an impertinent question, but I wonder, was it easier to write about your particular relationship with your mother after Nora was gone?

That's a painful question. It's possible I might not have taken the journey [of this book] to begin with [before Nora's death]. I started with the piece, the long piece, the first one in the book. I didn't really know what I was writing. Then I was trying out for the Jewish Book Council, so I needed to write something funny about that. Then I started writing about my 20s, and I knew what the book would be called. And that thing about "take notes," had gotten more romanticized. There's no question it was sticking in my second-child craw.

You collaborated with Nora on screenplays for so long. Do you feel her voice in your head when you write now?

I always knew when we started to collaborate that I needed to find my own voice, I write about that in the book. It was the first time I understood who I was and how I was different from her when I wrote "How to Eat Like a Child" [A short piece about children and food published in the New York Times Magazine, which became a book]. I needed to write books, and things that were my own. It was important for my creative life and my emotional life. I'm married to a writer, so he taught me how to write a screenplay. I had no idea how to do it. He was fabulous and all my girlfriends are writers and we all read each other's work.
Nora always loved my work. I remember showing her "How to Eat Like a Child," taking the magazine up to her apartment. "This is great," she said. She was just so loving.

In the essay about Nora, you say that in some ways it's easier to be intimate with friends. Can you speak more about that that?

We pored over our parents lives together, even though we don't see it the same ways. What I was really getting at was there are some things about yourself that you feel you can easily share with your best friend, but somehow siblings can be less…I can't speak in general, but for me, there are some things there were much easier to talk about with my best friend, than with Nora or Hallie or Amy. I felt judged sometimes. Siblings judge each other a lot.

You can also fall into old, negative patterns with your family. I always find I'm acting like I'm 15 again when I spend more than three days with my parents.

That's why people write movies and books about Thanksgiving. Because within a minute everyone's either acting like they used to when they were 15, or they're being treated like they haven't changed since they were 15. Family life is tricky that way.

Are you working on any new screenplays?

I have a television project with Meg Wolitzer. I can't tell you any of the details of that just now. A director just got onto one of my scripts—Ben Lewin, who directed The Sessions—it's about the romantic life of one of my friends, Susan. It's about a woman and three men. It's the story of her life over 25 years. How much life tries to take you down, but it's about a woman who refuses to go down. It's called Looking for You.

Thiemo SanderAdvertisement - Continue Reading BelowReady for some eye-opening news? According to a recent study by the University of Göttingen in Germany, the appearance of the skin on a woman's hands, chest, and arms has a huge impact on her perceived age. The 240 participants of the P&G-sponsored study judged women with dull, dry skin to be older than their actual age, and those with smooth, radiant skin to be up to 10 years younger. But here's the kicker: Those delicate areas are especially prone to visible signs of aging, such as sun damage, and a disparity between the conditions of the face and body can exaggerate the overall appearance of aging. So while it's important to put our best face forward, it's time to go full steam ahead with whole-body beauty routines, too. What does this mean? Daily sun protection and moisturization, of course, as well as looking for products that go beyond the basics and fight dullness, dryness, and lack of elasticity on all fronts. Thankfully, advances in skin care are making it as easy as one, two, three....
More From ELLE 1. RUB IT IN
Hydrated skin not only looks great (glowing, healthy, and even-toned), but it's stronger, more resilient, and better equipped to fend off irritation. Moisturizers contain two skin-saving components: Humectants, such as glycerin and hyaluronic acid, draw water from the air into the skin; and emollients, such as mineral oil and dimethicone, strengthen the lipid barrier, holding in moisture. To keep skin supple post-shower, use a body wash that contains hydrating ingredients, such as jojoba butter, or try an inshower body lotion.
2. CALM DOWN
If skin's lipid barrier is compromised and irritants slip through, the resulting inflammatory response
leads to redness, itching, and overall discomfort. Prevent this by using fragrance-free lotions with niacinamide, a skin-strengthening and protecting derivative of vitamin B3. To calm skin quickly, spot-treat
areas of concern with capillary-constricting cold compresses, which draw redness away from skin's surface, or pop OTC antihistamine, which blocks the same chemical that produces allergy symptoms.
3. SNACK SMART
Your diet doesn't just affect your waistline— it can also save your skin: Green tea's main freeradical-
fighting polyphenol EGCG not only protects collagen, it could help prevent skin cancer; wild salmon is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which aid skin's barrier-repair function; sweet potatoes are chock-full of antioxidant beta-carotene (synthesized as fine-linefighter vitamin A); blueberries' antioxidant content protects precious cells inside and out; and spinach's antioxidant lutein helps preserve your vision (less squinting equals fewer wrinkles).
4. HIT THE SACK
While you're fast asleep, your body is busy releasing hormones that boost cell turnover. Take advantage of this nightly skin-renewal window by applying age-fighting actives such as beta hydroxy acid and retinoids, both potent (but sunsensitizing) exfoliating wrinkle-erasers. It may sound tacky, but trade up to satin sheets if you want to realize your dream of sag-free skin: Over time, rubbing and reduced circulation caused by tossing and turning in rougher sheets can create more friction and break down collagen, leading to wrinkles.
5. BRUSH IT OFF
Dead skin cells? Yuck! Keep skin smooth and boost radiance with cell-sloughing exfoliation. A physical exfoliant, such as a scrub, a body wash with gentle beads, or a razor (when shaving, of course), buffs away debris, while alpha or beta hydroxy acids dissolve the bonds between cells, so the old cells easily wash away, revealing soft, glowing skin.
6. FIRM UP
Though age and sun damage can cause skin to lose elasticity over time, fighting back is getting easier:
Recent research shows that maintaining a healthy, moisturized epidermis will help prevent the breakdown of the skin's collagen and elastin infrastructure. Look for creams containing barrier-strengthening palmitoyl peptides and niacinamide, as well as caffeine, which can tighten skin on both the face and the body (see ya, cellulite!) by revving up circulation and hydration.
7. ERASE WRINKLES
The best way to banish wrinkles before they begin is to develop good habits, such as vetoing sunbathing and cigarettes, which trigger free radicals that damage DNA in cells. Regular application of retinol- or niacinamide-laced creams from head to toe will help thicken skin and boost collagen synthesis, and it's also important to keep hydrated with hyaluronicacid- rich moisturizers—if skin is thirsty, fine lines will be
more apparent. Ready to bring out the big guns? Inoffice procedures such as Thermage can rebuild collagen
from the inside out.
8. GET EVEN
Don't neglect skin below the neck: Brown spots on the chest and on the backs of the hands are red flags of aging just as much as when they appear on the face. Fade them away with products containing melanin-reducing niacinamide, glucosamine, and vitamin C, or visit the derm for an intense pulsed light treatment (IPL), which can quell overactive melanocytes, the pigment-producing cells in skin.
9. BRIGHTEN UP
Glowing skin can make you feel sexier and look a few pounds thinner, but avoid harmful rays. Selftanners add sun-free radiance to light-tomedium skin tones and reduce ashiness in darker tones. The active ingredient, DHA, reacts with the outer layer of skin cells, turning them brown. Scared of streaks? Use a daily lotion with a low dose of DHA for a gradual, subtle glow, or try a body wash or lotion with shimmer.
10. LOOK AHEAD
Protect your skin for a beautiful future. A full-on solar defense starts with broad-spectrum sunscreen that guards against both UVB and UVA rays by using a mix of physical blockers (titanium dioxide and zinc oxide) and chemical blockers (avobenzone/Parsol 1789). Make sunscreen the first step in your regimen; applying it to bare skin binds it to cells, boosting its efficacy.

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Sometimes, as ELLE Video Star Ralene McDonald notes, an updo can make all the difference in taking your look from day to night. But if you think you need Kate Winslet's hairstylist in order to be pin-up material, think again: With a hair tie, headband, and a few pins McDonald creates a chic updo in minutes. Click here for her tutorial on how to craft this party-ready, easy updo.
—Emily Hebert
Photo: Courtesy of Ralene McDonald
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We love the sheer genius of her breezy floral shift
Photo: Anne Ziegler

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Advertisement - Continue Reading BelowJuliet Jernigan, Associate Photo Editor, in Ann Demeulemeester lace-up sandal boots
Photo: Kelly Stuart
Click here for more from Ann Demeulemeester