Blog Posts by Allure Daily Beauty Reporter

Photo courtesy of jessicaennis.netRenee Trilivas, Allure magazine

Track and field star Jessica Ennis, currently in training for the London 2012 Olympics, recently admitted that she always competes in a full face of makeup. While this sounds like a typical trip to Pilates class for a Kardashian, I have to admit that I found it a little surprising for a serious athlete-but then again, I've never had millions of people worldwide watch me exert myself on TV. And Ennis's explanation of her race ritual to The Daily Mail certainly makes sense: "I definitely think if I feel I look good, it makes me feel more confident," she told the London paper.

See more: Find the Best Haircut for Your Face Shape

Her story also made me wonder exactly what effect makeup could have on your complexion if you are really sweating up a storm. "Wearing makeup while working out can hinder some of the natural ways your skin adjusts to exertion, like sweating and dilating pores," says New York City dermatologist Erin Gilbert. "This can be a disaster

Heather Muir, Allure magazine

Funny story: I booked my first Brazilian of the season tonight (TMI?). And I'm totally prepared for my waxer, Nawina, to scold me for my hiatus (I wax in the summer; shave in the winter). But then she'll do her thing (I'll wince, sweat, and pray for it to be over) and I'll be a happy camper (with a smooth bikini area that I don't have to do a darn thing to for over a month). So as I was thinking about how for a good 10 minutes, I'll be hurting tonight, I laughed when I came across an article in The New York Times about how men (of all kinds-gay, straight, conservative, liberal) are also participating in the service.

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Personally, I prefer my guy "neat" but not waxed down there (good thing-I couldn't pay him to do it anyway). But the trend is interesting (and so is the article's photo). The story says that some men swallow Advil or drink a glass of wine before waxing (two things I never do-who has time?) but a few

Sophia Panych, Allure magazine

Spring is in the air, and the days are growing longer. If you're like me, you've started looking in the mirror and wondering why Casper the Friendly Ghost is staring back at you. After the winter months of indoor confinement, and battling several flus, I look really, really pale-and not in the Downton Abbey porcelain complexion sort of way. To put a little glow back in my face, I've begun using a self-tanner. It works well and, as you know, it's the healthy way to get some color.

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Feeling on the sallow side? Here are a few of my favorite self-tanners, plus a few selects from my colleagues.

Dr. Dennis Gross Alpha Beta Glow Pads. From the day Dr. Gross launched these puppies, the Allure team has been using them to wipe their fake tans on. Skeptical at first, I actually didn't try them until last week, and, yes, they changed my life. There's no greasiness, no stench, no realizing you missed the entire right

Catherine Q. O'Neill, Allure magazine

Unless you're one of the celebrities who can spend thousands of dollars dressing "minimal chic" at Coachella this weekend-the truth is, you probably already spent your savings on the festival pass alone (have you seen the lineup?). But that doesn't mean you still can't look the part. Here, our beauty must-haves for a two-week romp in the dessert:

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Bright Mascara
When you're crushed up against a barrier dancing to Girl Talk, the last thing you want to be worried about is smudgy eye makeup. To steal a trick from the fall runways, after applying your waterproof mascara, use a brush to tap colored eyeshadow onto lashes. This will look bold and unique-and is more likely to last through a mosh pit than a perfectly executed smoky eye.

Colored Hair Streaks
If you're not ready to take the plunge with permanent streaks, try temporary color with hair extensions or wash-out products. We love Kevin Murphy Color Bug

Photo courtesy of claritin.comElizabeth Siegel, Allure magazine

During a recent appointment with the people from Arm & Hammer, I met Travis Stork, co-host of The Doctors and a faculty physician of emergency medicine at Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville. (Ok, there's another reason you might recognize his name: he was on season 8 of The Bachelor!) He had a lot of tips on how to prevent the annoying experience of seasonal allergies.

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Vacuum more. "A lot of people get sniffles when they get home and aren't sure why," says Stork. That's because dust mites and pet dander get trapped in carpets.

Switch up your shower routine. Instead of shampooing in the morning, "wash your hair when you get home," says Stork. You'll remove allergens like pollutants and dust that can stick to the hair and aggravate allergies.

See more: Find the Best Haircut for Your Face Shape

Add salt. Fluid builds up in your nasal passages, causing painful swelling. Sodium chloride draws out water to

Photo courtesy of Girl ModelSophia Panych, Allure magazine

Stripping down to your skivvies at a moment's notice, never-ending fittings that go on long into the night, and no carbs-ever-are all par for the course when it comes to modeling. But when the girls are unworldly barely-teenagers plucked from far-flung locales, do they really know what they are getting into?

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The new documentary Girl Model hopes to help us get a clearer view inside the international modeling industry-it debuted at the SXSW Festival and will be showing at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival in North Carolina on April 12-15. Shot by Ashley Sabin and David Redmon, the film follows a model scout seeking fresh faces for the Japanese market and 13-year-old Nadya Vall, a Siberian girl from a poor family. Vall is handed a contract while riding a train in Russia promising $8,000 and the possibility of becoming a model (her living expenses would be deducted from the advance). Unable to read the

Photo courtesy of Adam Nemser/startraksphoto.comElizabeth Siegel, Allure magazine

Hey, Olivia Wilde you look pretty great as a blonde! The actress, who dyed her hair for her upcoming flick, Rush, is inspiring some of us around the office to lighten up. You in? Before any of us reach for bleach, I though I'd check in with Sharon Dorram of Sharon Dorram Color at Sally Hershberger in New York City, who made it clear that going from brunette to beachy blonde requires more than just making an appointment.

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Here's what you need to know:

If you have gold highlights, then lucky you. Unless you want to go blonde. "Some brown has so much gold in it, that it will lift through a lot of shades of gold before it goes blonde," says Dorram. That makes it really tricky to get the color right without damaging the hair. So you'll need to do a test run first: Bleach a small section of hair underneath-if it lifts easily to blonde, you can go lighter without frying your strands.

See more: Find the Best Haircut

Catherine Q. O'Neill, Allure magazine

For the last six months, my nails have been hiding under a rotation of neon, sparkly, and otherwise totally-not-work-appropriate polishes (I was, um, "testing" them). But just the other day, my editor walked in with a gorgeous nude manicure and I was taken aback. Her hands looked long and slender-like a mannequin's-and it was so strikingly different than the rainbow colors I was used to seeing on other beauty editors. I decided: time for a color breather.

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But when I got to the nail salon, I couldn't find a single nude polish. I dug through piles of green and orange until I finally had to approach the man working at the front. "Do you have any nude shades?" I asked him shyly. He nodded, and quietly led me past the manicurists as if I were entering the adult section of a bookstore. There they were, untouched and unsorted in the back corner. Some were actually dusty.

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