Blog Posts by Allure Daily Beauty Reporter

Photo via http://supermodels.nl/larastoneLara Stone is on the August cover of W, closed Chanel and opened Jean Paul Gaultier at the recent couture shows in Paris, and has appeared in ad campaigns including Givenchy and Jil Sander. And what sets her apart from the pack is her figure. British newspaper the Guardian wrote that Lara fluctuates between a size 4 and 6 (in American sizes). To the average woman, that's pretty thin. But for a model? Most of her peers are a waifish size 0, so she's way curvier than most-and photographer Bruce Weber and designers including Givenchy's Riccardo Tisci and Isabel Marant have praised her for it. In an interview last year, the Dutch model said, "It would be nice if I wasn't the only person with tits and an arse, but I am... I don't think I'm starting a trend." We say, time will tell.

Crave an hourglass figure? Read up on how rare that body type actually is.

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In a very 2001: A Space Odyssey turn, a Canadian graduate student has figured out a way to program a computer to evaluate human attractiveness and rate it on a scale from one to 10. The original input came from student volunteers who judged the hotness of photos of both men and women. When the computer program was asked to rate new photos, it had "learned" enough about what features add up to good-looking that its rankings were eerily close to what the human panel would have said. Hearing "you're hot" by software-better or worse than by a human?

Afraid of what your computer might say? Check out our insider's guide on how to touch up your makeup.


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You might think you'd be a lot cuter with Scarlett Johansson's perky little nose, but what if you found out after the schnoz job that it was completely out of whack with the rest of your face? (And it happens... many people are so unhappy with their rhinoplasty that there's a surgical subspecialty in "revision" nose jobs.) Luckily the odds of rhinoplasty regret have just been diminished a bit by online technology.

More plastic surgery news: Would you ever get surgery to look more like your sibling?

Face Touch Up, a program to show exactly what the result of a nose job would be, is now on the web for anyone who wants to take a crack at virtual surgery. It's a free, and it's fun (addictive, actually)-and who knows, it just may help you figure out if that new nose would look like a potato lump... or really make you look as good as Scarlett.

Too bad they haven't created programs like Face Touch Up for other body parts. These celebrities could use it to figure out which breast size is right

Whenever we have to flash ID, we feel a flash of mortification: Our driver's license photo is, putting it mildly, atrocious. But you know how it is at the DMV: You have one millisecond to pose for your photo-during which you permanently capture that tortured expression that can only come from waiting in line at the DMV. Shame we're not Paris Hilton, who reportedly went to the DMV yesterday in Santa Monica and had her picture taken five times in order to pick the best take. (She also got to skip the line.) What do you think-spoiled or smart? We think smart. After all, if she were truly acting spoiled, she would've brought her own lighting crew.

Don't think you can swing the Paris Hilton treatment for your next DMV date? Read up on Ni'Kita Wilson's tips that are scientifically proven to make you look photogenic.


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Matte nail polish seems to be popping up all over this summer, but we've never seen a beauty trend divide our office more. And thanks to the new Essie mattifying topcoat Matte About You-which makes any shiny shade dull-the debate has got even more heated. Some staffers are excited, and wearing it over black and purple shades for a tough-girl, rocker vibe. Others, well, they hate matte polish on a visceral level (several compared it to the "nails on a chalk board" feeling.) So where do you fall in this great debate? Are you mad about matte?

Trying to save money on manis and pedis? Make the job look professional with the 3 commandments of DIY pedis.

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Photo via www.breathlessVB.comSome songs make us laugh. Some songs make us cry. And some just make us want to get...spray tanned. Celebrity airbrush master Jimmy Jimmy Coco (the man responsible for Victoria Beckham's year-round glow) is singing the praises of safe tanning in a new tune called "Rock the Tan."

Want to rock your own tan? Check out how to get the best spray tan.

It's totally kitschy and very catchy, especially because 5 cents from every download on iTunes goes to support The Skin Cancer Foundation. In case you need more incentive to check it out, here's a sample lyric: "Everyone take off your clothes, I'm gonna show you how to pose." And seeing as he's a former Chippendale Dancer-and a total character-he knows what he's talking about. Go, Jimmy!

Related: Five safe ways to get a tan.

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Photo via www.mary-kateandashley.comTo want your boobs to be dead ringers for those of your sister is the ultimate in sibling rivalry. But Jo and Kerry Burton, two 34-year-old identical twins who co-own a beauty salon just outside London, have done exactly that, and more. Since they were 21, they have spent close to $100,000 on nose jobs, eyelifts, Botox, eyeliner tattoos, breast implants, and other beauty treatments, all calibrated to keep them clones of each other as they move through life.

Do you need Botox to be successful?

All their procedures were done simultaneously so there would be no risk of deviation from the Tweedledee and Tweedledum ideal. "We both had chickenpox together as children and we had the same hobbies, such as Brownies and dancing-and so our identical cosmetic surgery has followed on from that," Kerry explains. We're afraid to ask what they would do if one of them ever needs her gallbladder removed.

Is plastic surgery worth the risk? Read about a surgery mishap that resulted in a pair of leaking

At the height of the violence in Iraq a few years back, cosmetic surgeons were desperately needed to perform skin grafts or amputations on people who'd been disfigured. But in a (good? bad? we don't even know) sign of the times, the Los Angeles Times reports, surgeons in the country are now performing truly cosmetic procedures like nose jobs and Botox injections.

Would you ever perform self-surgery?

One surgeon told the paper that half of her patients are seeking cosmetic surgery, compared with less than a quarter a few years ago. And a commonly-cited reason? Marriage-both women and men that writer Caesar Ahmed spoke to feel their prospects are better after a nose job.

Surprised by that logic? Discuss whether you think you need Botox to be successful.

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