Blog Posts by Allure Daily Beauty Reporter

There are plenty of reasons why Mondays are our least favorite days of the week. But the extra tiredness you're feeling today? You don't have to feel it tomorrow. We asked sleep experts the best ways to make sure the rest of our week gets off to a more restful start.

• Eat a small snack like a scoop of light ice cream with berries or a rice cake with a teaspoon of peanut butter one to two hours before going to bed. New York City nutritionist Joy Bauer says this will trigger your brain to produce the calming neurotransmitter serotonin.
  
  Sleep your way to better skin.

• Kill the lights-including digital clocks, blackberries, computers, and televisions, says Sara Mednick, author of Take a Nap! Change Your Life (Workman Publishing). Blinking light can disturb slumber, and a clock will remind you of how much time you're tossing and turning. "Even a little light can decrease melatonin levels, making it difficult to fall back to sleep," says Mednick.
• Replace your regular

This Saturday, Gina Brooke, who's the artistic director of Shu Uemura and a celebrity makeup artist, will be at Barneys New York-and then she heads off on tour with Madonna. At the store, Brooke will be giving one-on-one consultations to those who sign up in advance. Or, in her own words, "I'll be doing the same thing I do with celebrities for everyday women." (That means customized makeup palettes and skin type and skin tone evaluations.) We spoke to Brooke about how she keeps Madonna's skin in shape on and off tour. Her secrets:

1) Before every single makeup application, Brooke puts an iced Shu Uemura Depsea Moisture Replenishing mask on Madonna's face for fifteen minutes. "It hydrates, calms, and de-puffs, prepping the skin beautifully."

2) For everyday makeup, Brooke doesn't use foundation. Instead, she prefers a medium to full coverage concealer stick called Nobara, to be launched by Shu Uemura this fall, mixed with their Phyto Black Lift moisturizer. "The Nobara stick is so

We warned you that sheer tops meant breasts were going to enjoy a "fashion moment," if you will, and we subsequently noticed Hollywood's obsession with nipples of late... all of which makes the following news timely, -ish. In the U.K., where Marks & Spencer sells a bra every two seconds, it seems only fitting (har har) that there would be a new museum exhibit called "Undercover - The Evolution of Underwear." According to The Daily Mail, the London Fashion and Textile Museum installation "explores the relationship between fashion, women, their bodies, and how they show off or disguise their assets."

Insider's guide: how to buy a bra that fits!

And there's a whole lot to talk about when bras are concerned. Even though the first incarnation wasn't patented until 1915, the bra has experienced a multifarious evolution. The 1920s and '30s saw boyish fashions and therefore more, uh, suppressive underwear reigned. That's in stark contrast to the curvy hourglass figures ushered in by Dior's

Okay, we get it Adam Lambert, you're gay. It's a shocking revelation. Now can we talk makeup already? Nestled in between speculations about those crazy Twilight kids' romance and Kate Gosselin's "revenge bikini body," we came across an item regarding Glambert's beauty regimen in OK! this week. We're not too surprised to find out that his favorite polish is OPI's Black Onyx, but it was amusing to read that he relies on not one but two different guyliners: He wears Me By Mezhgan's Define Me Eye Liner for his, ahem, conservative day look, and saves M.A.C.'s Eye Kohl in Smolder for more dramatic moments like, oh say, performing on Idol.

He might want to try Superdrug's guyliner also.

His beauty philosophy? "I love the '80s hair-metal thing when people were comfortable in their own skin," he told the tab. "I want to get back to that." Hm... sounds a tad contradictory, but no matter. Now we can assume that big ol' hair of his will only continue to soar to new heights.

Inside Gossip Girl's

New York City dermatologist Patricia Wexler may be famously tight-lipped about her A-list patients (let's just say there are a number of Oscar and Grammy winners among them), but she's not shy when it comes to speaking her mind.... even when her mind is lovin' tan skin (!!!!).

Tanning without damage.

Over lunch at Milos, the good skin doctor shockingly admitted that she thinks most people look better with a little color-though she's obviously against getting a tan the old-fashioned way. Her favorite way to fake a glow? Estée Lauder Bronze Goddess self-tanners for face and body (she thinks the color is really believable), and Per-fékt Body Perfection Gel, a temporary body bronzer she swears doesn't rub off on clothes.

5 more safe ways to fake a tan.

-- Victoria Kirby, Beauty Editor

image via www.esteelauder.com

More from Allure's Daily Beauty Reporter:

• 5 weight-loss tips you've never heard before
• Eating more of these foods will help you shed pounds
• Junk food

You don't have to dig deep into your pockets for a flawless manicure (especially when your nails are wet!). The money-saving tips in Allure's June "Cheap Tricks" story (read more here) will keep your nails in tip-top condition for longer, allowing you more time between salon visits.

Coat check. A topcoat will help preserve your polish on day one-but it also works on day three and beyond. Add a thin layer a few days after your manicure to extend the life of your polish.

Check out celebrity manicurist Deborah Lippman's favorite product recommendations for nails.

Get buff. All polish chips eventually. If you're into the natural look, try skipping polish and asking the manicurist just to use a nail buffer instead. The high shine keeps nails looking natural and well-groomed for weeks.

Thin out. Doing your own manicure at home is the cheapest way to go-but a goopy application takes longer to dry and looks sloppy. Wipe one side of the brush against the neck of the bottle before

Crash diets are often as unappealing as they are ill-advised--think cabbage soup. They usually just make you lose water weight and muscle mass-and, the thinking went, make you put the weight back on, plus more, when you stop. But research from Tufts University has found that if the daily calories of a diet don't go below 1,200 calories for women, crash diets are as successful as a slower weight-loss plans over the course of a year.

Learn about which of your favorite foods and drinks have less calories then you might think.

"Healthy crash diets actually do as well for long-term success as slow diets, and, for some people, can actually work better," says Susan Roberts, professor of nutrition and psychiatry at Tufts. Of course, the key is not making "health crash diet" an oxymoron-1,200 calories, people!

More interesting and new diet facts at Allure.com!

-- Daisy Shaw, Editorial Assistant

image via David Cook

More from Allure's Daily Beauty Reporter:

• 5 weight-loss tips you've

During the peak of eggs-frying-on-the-sidewalk summer heat, us oily skin types suddenly have a serious problem on our hands. Luckily, the beauty gods invented mattifiers, and one of these favorites is definitely going to help solve your ordeal. And don't forget to check out our 7 expert tips for 24/7 shine-free skin!

Dr. Brandt Pores No More Pore Refiner, $45

If you're a fan of skin that looks both matte and flawless (and frankly, who isn't?), then it's worth the cash to use this smoothing, flaxseed-infused, oil-absorbing gem.

Urban Decay De-Slick Mattifying Powder, $29
The phrase "Don't leave home without it," springs to mind when I think about essential this new-ish product is (to me, anyway). Just replace your regular translucent powder with this mirrored compact, and you can easily dab away oil slicks.

See which Urban Decay is one of Blake Lively's favorite.

MAC Prep + Prime Skin Refined Zone, $19.50
Prepare to have your mind blown, (ok, from a mattifying product