Blog Posts by Piper Weiss, Shine Staff

photo: Getty Images

Not long ago, Hawaiian Tropic was known for two things: tanning oil and beauty pageants. Those days are over.

On Tuesday, the brand announced the retirement of their famous bikini contests, first launched in 1983. That means no more oiled up fitness models in neon string bikinis competing for the title of Miss Hawaiian Tropic on beaches across the world.

What you really need to know about sunscreen

The reason? Women. “The bikini contest wasn’t resonating with our target female consumers,” Danielle Duncan, Hawaiian Tropic Brand Manager, tells Yahoo Shine. With women making up 70 percent of the brand's users, that was a problem. The solution, according to Duncan, was to reinvent product offerings "to appeal to today’s Hawaiian Tropic women.”  

That means saying goodbye to yesterday's Hawaiian Tropic women. Known as a slightly raunchier version of Miss Universe, the Tropic pageants rose to popularity in the '90s, but faded from a national spotlight in recent years. Since 2008, the

Read More »from Hawaiian Tropic Bikini Pageants Are Officially Over, Thankfully

SNL's Will Ferrell and Rachel Dratch as Lov-ahs. (SNL/NBC)Today is for lovers. Every year on April 23, Spain celebrates Lovers Day. It’s a lot like Valentine’s Day: roses are handed out, marriage proposals spike, and a national awareness of sexy time is promoted courtesy of a 15th Century Saint (in this case St. George) This year, some folks (slash publicists) are trying to import the holiday to the States, proclaiming today National Lovers Day right here in the U.S.

One problem: People really, really hate the word ‘lover’. To quote the late Liz Lemon, "that word bums me out unless it's between the words meat and pizza."

It's difficult to pinpoint what makes it sound so perverted-nails-on-a-chalkboard, but I’ll give it a try. First of all, it's a little too specific. If you’re referring to a lover in conversation, you’re daring the person you’re to talking to not to picture you having sex in a champagne glass-shaped bubble bath in the Poconos. There are other words to describe the person you've chosen to bed, so the decision to use feels a bit Read More »from It's National Lovers Day: Why does the word 'Lover' feel so wrong?

Remember this lady? She turned 39 on Wednesday.

(Getty Images)

Most people know her as Victoria Beckham, the unflinchingly serious high-fashion brand ambassador, designer, power mom, royal party guest, and U.K. national treasure.  But we still remember when she was just a girl named Posh. Let's have a memory walk, shall we?

Remember when butterflies were her favorite fashion accessories and those front two bangs were her favorite pieces of hair?

 

 And remember how she used to show her teeth when she smiled?

 

 She used to smile a lot. Sometimes, aggressively.

Remember how much she loved wearing rectangular librarian/raver glasses indoors?

And remember her spray-bleached denim bustiers? And remember how okay she was when David Beckham wore a sleeveless tuxedo shirt and wrapped his head in nylon? Proud even.

And remember this lip ring? Now you do. Happy Birthday Victoria Posh Spice Beckham. We miss you almost every day.Read More »from Happy Birthday Victoria Beckham! We remember when you were just Posh.

Nothing can stop "Bachelor" Sean Lowe from dancing (and tweeting about it.)

Some celebrities really stepped up in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombing, using their names and their expansive social networks to raise awareness and aid for a city in crisis. Ben Affleck, Mark Walhberg, Sophia Bush, and even Justin Bieber have taken a break from promoting their latest projects on Facebook and Twitter, in order to meditate on the tragedy. But for some stars, the break was short-lived.  Here's a collection of celebrity tweets posted soon after after they tweeted prayers for victims of the Boston bombing. 

Two hours after Kylie Jenner tweeted #pray4boston, she posted this:

Love this @joycebonelli makeup twitter.com/KylieJenner/st…

— Kylie Jenner (@KylieJenner) April 15, 2013

Last night, Candace Cameron Bure tweeted, "Im shocked to to hear about a bomb at the Boston Marathon and deaths confirmed. Praying..." An hour later, she took a moment away from praying to post this. 

Was having a moment & needed 2 hear kind words... And literally moments later, someone

Read More »from What celebrities tweeted right after their hearts went out to Boston

Cats are in trouble. After flying under the radar for years, they've finally become a fashion accessory. Just as Kim Kardashian has replaced Paris Hilton in 2013, Persian teacup kittens have replaced Pomeranians. It's a sea change of ridiculous celebrity trendsetting. No cat is safe.

Read More »from Cats Are the New Tiny Dogs. It's Official

To whom it may concern: Cher is fine. Following the news that former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher had died, a Twitter hashtag caught like wildfire and sparked a mini-fire drill for Cher fans. Early this morning, Baroness Thatcher was memorialized on social media without enough spaces. The hashtag #nowthatcherisdead mistakenly started a Cher death watch. You can understand the confusion. 

Here is why you shouldn't get your news from Twitter hashtags:

And this happens:

And pretty soon:

Enter Ricky Gervais, Cher's unofficial spokesperson, to set the record straight.

And that is how Twitter rumors start. No word from Cher this morning. Her most recent tweet came last night from Chaz's birthday party, so she's probably just sleeping in. Nobody panic. 

Read More »from Hey Twitter, Cher is not dead. So that's good.

"Vice" host Shane Smith. (Vice/HBO)

Vice co-founder Shane Smith says his controversial new HBO documentary series is "not traditional journalism." Let's get real: three white guys reporting on international politics is about as traditional as you can get. 

In the eight episodes of "Vice," premiering Friday on HBO, there will be blood, graphic violence, bullet-proof vests, and several pairs of sunglasses. There will not, however, be a single female correspondent, a source close to production confirmed to Yahoo! Shine. That's a pretty old-school decision for a show looking to smash the barriers of traditional journalism. 

Executive produced by Bill Maher with the help of consulting producer Fareed Zakaria (a "real-deal newsman's man" according to a Vice blogger), each episode sends "Vice guys" overseas for a glimpse at the characters behind countries in conflict. Smith interviews Afghanistan's child suicide bombers and literally toes the line of the Pakistani-Indian border. Duffy visits a make-shift arms manufacturer

Read More »from Vice's TV news show has no women reporters. How edgy is that?

They both sometimes wear black. (Getty Images) She's 23. He's 37. She's 5 foot 1. He's 6 foot 6. The first time they met at a party she said "You're huge." And he said "You're tiny." And so began the greatest love story of our time. No joke. Hayden Panettiere, "Nashville" star and Lifetime movie regular is very possibly engaged to Wladimir Klitschko, the Ukrainian professional heavyweight champion whose bloody head was once silk-screened onto an opponent's t-shirt. I probably wouldn't have set the two up on a blind date, but what do I know.
"We've been friends for five years - we've never not been close," Hayden says in latest issue of Glamour. These two crazy kids have been off-and-on for a couple of years, and now they're maybe going to marry and have kids and take more beach vacations like the one they've been tweeting about this week. So it works. Maybe it's because opposites attract (according a famous cat) or maybe it's because they really have more in common than we realize. For example: They both were human kids once.

Read More »from Hayden Panettiere and Her Giant, Maybe Fiancé Wladimir Klitschko Are Perfect Together