Blog Posts by Allure Daily Beauty Reporter

The latest beauty pageant news is making us (thankfully) forget all about Carrie Prejean: A pageant planned for Cambodian landmine victims has been canceled. Similar pageants have been held in Angola, the organization says it's designed to celebrate "true beauty" and "female and disabled pride and empowerment," and the contest winners were to receive custom-made prosthetic limbs. But the Cambodian government decided it would be offensive to those with disabilities. Check out the photos on the official website and let us know what you think-is the pageant offensive or empowering?

The Cambodian pageant isn't a rare case. Here's another pageant about inner beauty.

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Photo via www.siennaweb.comSienna Miller recently told an MSN Singapore reporter, "I wash my face with shampoo and I've got bad skin because of it." We think her skin looks great, but that shampoo thing? Sounds like something to avoid. To be certain, we asked New York City dermatologist Heidi Waldorf. "Bad idea," Waldorf says. "Shampoo generally has a higher level of detergents and fewer moisturizing ingredients than cleansers, so it can strip the skin of important lipids and proteins." Instead, Waldorf recommends washing with a non-soap cleanser like CeraVe Lotion Cleanser. Give it a try, Sienna!

Want more recommendations for perfect skin? Here's our insider's guide for how to get a great facial.

On a budget? How to get skin treatments on the cheap.

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There are plenty of reasons we love summer, but it does present one beauty challenge: how to keep your hair decent. For starters, check out some of the prettiest ways to style your hair-and learn some of our favorite products for preventing bad hair days.

"I live for No Frizz by Living Proof Straight Making Styling Cream. My hair balloons up like a mushroom cloud at the first sign of humidity, and this is the only product that keeps the frizz at bay. I apply a giant blob of it before I blow-dry, and my hair really stays smooth and shiny all day." -Kristin Perrotta, Editorial Projects Director

Still having frizz control issues? Read up on hair tips from the man who created frizz ease.

"To protect my color from the sun-which can turn my blonde highlights a scary shade of orange-I mist Fekkai Beachcomber Leave-In Conditioner through my damp hair before heading to the beach or pool. It has UV filters to shield hair from the sun, but it's lightweight enough that even someone with

Photo via www.torispelling.orgWe chatted with Tori Spelling at Macy's Herald Square in NYC-she was there to help celebrity makeup artist Mally Roncal kick off a program to teach women how to use Q-tips to avoid makeup meltdowns. With Spelling's years in showbiz, we figured she knows her way around a makeup bag. Here's what she shared:

And now... Q-tip boxes get a makeover serve many more purposes than ear cleaning.

Allure: It's hot and rainy outside, and your makeup still looks great. What is your summer-proof makeup secret?

TS: During the summer, you have to rethink your regime. I don't usually wear foundation in the summer. I wear concealer under my eyes, especially if I'm tired from being up all night with the kids. Clé de Peau is my favorite, it's the one thing I'll splurge on. And I wear tinted moisturizer.

Need more summer advice? Check out our 14 summer fashion and beauty essentials.

Allure: When you're not with a makeup artist, what tricks do you use?

TS: I was the girl with a gazillion and one

Imagine that you're in your cubicle, getting ready for a meeting where you hope you'll encounter that cute guy from accounting, and you spritz a little fragrance on your pulse points... and the next thing you know, vast swaths of the building are being evacuated. That apparently happened to some poor woman in Ft. Worth, Texas, where 34 co-workers were hospitalized and more than 100 others treated and released.

To prevent sending your coworkers (or anyone!) to the hospital, learn how to apply your perfume properly. Check out our insider's guide on how to apply fragrance.

Firefighters, who initially assumed it was a gas leak, now speculate that a few people may have had a bad reaction to her fragrance and the rest were suffering from group hysteria. But anyone who lived through the eighties and suffered Giorgio-On-the-Elevator Syndrome has to empathize. The first rule of fragrance is that someone ought to be close enough to kiss you before they can detect the scent. Agree?

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It's no secret that celebrities love Pilates. And while the regimen certainly targets the muscles, it isn't known for having a huge cardio (i.e. weight-loss) element. Now Equinox gym has teamed up with Pilates guru Brooke Siler, who has trained Madonna and Rachel Weisz, to create a new class called Siler-Centric Pilates. We took the class-it was on a mat, not Pilates equipment, and started off with some core-centric moves. Then we did jumping jacks, pushups, and mountain climbers to get our heart pumping before heading back to the mat for classic Pilates moves like the 100 (where you pump your hands 100 times.) Says Siler of the class, "they're in depth, full body movements meant to completely reshape your body." The class is available at select New York City locations now, and in Dallas and San Francisco in the next two months.

Too hard to get to the gym? Here are 3 sans gym recessionista workout moves that we swear by!


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Just in case you needed another reason to stay away from the tanning bed: the International Agency for Research on Cancer (part of the World Health Organization) has confirmed that they cause cancer-and, in fact, classified them with arsenic, mustard gas, hepatitis B, and tobacco in the top cancer risk category. Not convinced? They also released research that shows that you're 75 percent more likely to get skin cancer if you use tanning beds before you're 30. Will this information keep you from hitting the tanning bed?

Totally freaked out? Don't worry- check out our top five self-tanners to get a cancer free glow.

Related: How to get the best spray tan.

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Photo via www.dailymail.co.ukWe've always rolled our eyes at those prissy women who are afraid to work out because, God forbid, they might develop actual muscles. But enough is enough when your arms start to look like rubber bands wrapped around a turkey neck...which is pretty much the case at the moment with that notorious gym bunny Madonna, as seen in some photos in the Daily Mail. Her erstwhile boytoy A-Rod has copped to steroid use to pump himself up into a home run machine, but Madonna looks like she's shriveling, not bulking, from all her rigorous personal training. Most women her age fight the problem of underarm jiggle.

Looking for an easy way to rid of that flabby jiggle without looking quite as muscular as Madonna? Check out our quick fix- sans gym!

In her case, we see biceps, we see triceps and we see veins, but what appears to be missing is a layer of subcutaneous fat. And while the rest of her is faboo for fifty, these arms look scarily old. What do you think-would you want these babies sticking out