Why Do Beautiful Rich Actresses Want to 'Curate' Our Lives?

Celebrity culture is so ingrained in our lives now that finding inspiration from our favourite actors, musicians and socialites is second nature. We're always being taught how to 'get the look' from the red carpet or 'steal her style' as our fave model gets papped.

But increasingly celebrities seem to think that they shouldn't just being setting an example by doing - instead, they've started to give us advice for life. Which is a bit rich, given that they're, well, very rich.

Blake Lively, she of the Goddess face, 'endless' legs and Hollywood hunk hubby, is the latest genetically gifted, financially minted Hollywood star to bestow us with lifestyle advice so we can attempt to recreate ourselves in her image.

Except for most of us, Blake Lively is not an achievable goal.

Lively is launching a 'lifestyle and e-commerce' site on July 23. It's been in the works for a while and the actress has said that: “The main element of it is that it’s about storytelling, and it’s about living a very one-of-a-kind, curated life, and how to achieve that.”

We're not 100 per cent sure what she's talking about either to be honest, but like Gwyneth Paltrow and the infamous Goop before her, will Lively's site simply be a window into 'how the other half live'?

Goop is infamous for promoting accessories that sell for hundreds dollars, unaffordable foodstuffs guaranteed to give you an A-lister complexion (usually only available on a waiting list) and outfits that will bankrupt us if we try to recreate them.

It's unashamedly commercialist, suggesting that we too can have the perfect life if we just buy all the things. And it ignores Paltrow's own hypocrisy, dipping into spiritualist ideas that eschew possessions, while suggesting hundreds of pounds is a sensible amount to pay for a bangle (singular).

It's hard not to feel that these stars have got caught up in their own hype, and in realising they're God's gift to the worlds of fashion, interior design and food, it's their duty to pass on what they've discovered (mostly by it being gifted to them, despite the millions they can command each film).

Wouldn't it be better to read the blog of a real interior designer for inspiration? Or a stylist or designer who is actually behind the red-carpet looks? And perhaps a real nutritionist is a better bet than a Hollywood starlet who eats - or doesn't eat - what is carefully put in front of her by an expert.

With the rise of lifestyle blogs and YouTube stars advising us how to do everything from creating Alexa Chung-style eyeliner flicks to what foods to eat, you'd be forgiven to thinking we're a bunch of simpletons unable to tell our ankles from our elbows.

But do we really need to be spoon fed ideas to live a life in perfect aesthetics? Perhaps instead of reading about how to do it, we need to get on with the business of living. The people really nailing it don't have time to curate your life, they're too busy enjoying their own.

Sure, if her wedding design is anything to go by, Lively's site will be beautiful, and her recommendations certainly something we'll consciously or not aspire to. But is this a path we want to go down? Couldn't our actresses just be actresses instead of bastions of how to live as well?

I'd rather take my inspiration from ordinary women who make it work while dealing with the problems non-celebs have to manage - lack of cash, ever-rising rents, long working hours, a lack of Ryan Reynoldses on the dating scene and tackling the dilemma of getting enough sleep versus getting enough exercise.

Now if someone could curate that life for me I'd be most grateful.

Some down-to earth lifestyle blogs that are more on our level:

For career advice:

Get Bullish

For healthy eating:

My Healthy Dish
Wholeheartedly Healthy
Deliciously Ella

For style:

The Man Repeller
Essie Button

For the soul:

Yoga Girl

For photography

Bless The Weather

For travel

Bacon Is Magic

[Gluten-free: Gwyneth's on-trend new diet or a genuine health benefit?]
[Poppy Delevingne vs Blake Lively]