Blog Posts by Allure Daily Beauty Reporter

Heather Muir, Allure magazine

Sometimes, even a diligent beauty editor gets caught out there with a big, honking zit on her chin-and without her tools of the trade. Yesterday, I commiserated about my situation with celebrity facialist Mamie McDonald (clients include Iman, Naomi Campbell, and Angela Bassett), and she told three no-frills fixes to try anytime a pimple pops up while you're at your dude's product-barren apartment:

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1) Hydrogen Peroxide Solution. "Soak a cotton swab in it and dab the pimple-it'll kill the bacteria," says McDonald.

2) Baking Soda. "This is good for when you've got a problem area, and not just one zit," she says. "Mix it with distilled water-it doesn't really form a paste; it's runny-and swipe it over the region with a cotton ball, then leave it on overnight-it'll take down the redness."

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3) Aspirin. "Crush up one tablet and mix it with water to form a thick

Catherine Q. O'Neill, Allure magazine

Some people spend their whole lives planning what they'll say to Leonardo DiCaprio when they meet him ("marry me" is what pops into my head). But Jeanette Ostergard, the Emmy-award-winning makeup artist for The Ellen DeGeneres Show, had less than 30 seconds to prepare.

"You never know who's going to walk in. They'll open the door and say Lionel Richie is coming in, or Eva Longoria is here," she said. "When Leonardo DiCaprio was on, we just tried to get him out of the room as soon as possible!'"

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Ostergard, who has been with the show since 2003, has made up nearly every celebrity in the business-except Sophia Grace and Rosie. "They get their hair styled, but that's it," she said (we had to ask). Here are her tips for making the rest of the stars look good- even when she has less than 15 minutes to get Biebs on stage.

Avoid Shimmer
You won't find anything glittery or iridescent in Ostergard's kit. "On HD it

Photo courtesy of Ron Jaffe/AMCElizabeth Siegel, Allure magazine

Forget Mad Men's plot…let's talk about that eye makeup!

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I already have my next Halloween costume picked out-and it's going to involve the eye makeup that Jessica Paré (as Megan Draper) wore to Don's birthday party on Mad Men. (Yes, I plan backwards based on the makeup I want to wear. And no, I'm not so vain as to think I could actually go as her.) I fell in love with the '60s trick of drawing black liner through the crease when Julianne Moore wore it in A Single Man (not that much looks bad on her).

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I was excited to see the graphic look pop up on runways (most recently at Altuzarra, below, and Phillip Lim). And Sunday night, the mod style made Paré's eyes look cat-ier than ever. So even though my boyfriend commented on how weird he thought her makeup looked when she came on screen, I'm going to start practicing stat. Whose camp are you in?


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Photo courtesy of ConairSophia Panych, Allure magazine

Spring's crop of newfangled curling irons don't look anything like the traditional barrel sitting in your bathroom right now-as a matter of fact, their scary shapes look like they'd make the styling process even harder. But once I tried them, I was hooked-the new bells and whistles make curling hair a breeze, and most importantly, create amazing waves. Here are some of the best:

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Conair You Spiral. The raised ridge swirling around the length of this iron (above) makes it look like a fancy electric drill, but it's there to create loose, natural-looking curls. As you wrap your hair around the barrel, strands slip into the spaces between the ridges so hair isn't wrapped over itself. That means you're hitting each section evenly from root to tip and all curls are well-shaped, since every strand touches the iron directly.

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Goody Wave Creator. This clampless iron

Photo courtesy of Frank Ockenfels/AMCPatrick Rogers, Allure magazine

I don't just enjoy watching Mad Men, which returns to TV on March 25, I wish tobe one. That's not really going to happen, since I don't drink bourbon, don't smoke and, lastly, don't have the looks and talent.

But I do have a long comb and a new pot of pomade, which is all I will need, according to Hollywood men's groomer Diana Schmidtke, to jump aboard one of several style trends the hit AMC series has launched -the return of the gentleman's side part. All the male characters on the show have them, even if their hairline is receding, and lately a ruler-straight line of flesh has been visible on the heads of Bradley Cooper, Ryan Gosling, and the guys who work at GQ.

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My turn.

Schmidtke, who has worked with Jon Hamm and George Clooney, says the trick is to get a tail comb, the kind hairstylists use to apply highlights in a salon. There's no magic involved: You grasp it like an ice

Kate Sullivan, Allure magazine

I'm weird about my eyebrows. I have at least three sets of tweezers in my home, all tucked away near different mirrors, at-the ready for a quick touch-up if I spot something awry. My most eccentric beauty habit is certainly the fact that I pluck strays every night as part of my regular ready-for-bed routine. But I don't over-pluck, I swear. My eyebrows are in fact massive. Not Lily Collins-level (though hers look amazeballs). Mine are more Cindy Crawford-style. (If you haven't already, check out her interview and pics in the April issue.) And yes, I realize that comparing my thick and naturally-arched brows with those of a supermodel sounds incredibly vain. I don't care. I am self-conscious in other ways, but I completely own my over-the-top love for my eyebrows. They are great. They are probably better than yours. Come on. Let me have this.

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Perhaps it won't surprise you to learn that thick

Photo courtesy of LionsgateCatherine Q. O'Neill, Allure magazine

It's the morning of The Hunger Games and New York City is buzzing with more energy than the Capitol of Panem. People are camped outside theaters, cramming the last few chapters on the subway, and wearing their hair in intricate braids (guilty). One of my friends, who shall remain nameless, even took the day off of work to prepare. "I have to get a blowout and a mani," she told me.

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If you're one of the millions of people heading to the film tonight, why not make it extra special and dress up as your favorite character? We talked to Katniss's prep team-we mean, her makeup artist Ve Neill-for the breakdown on each of her looks. Whether you choose to wear fake blood or fake lashes is up to you.

Chariot Ride
When Katniss is first introduced to Panem, she turns heads with an incredible flaming dress. But if you look closely, her eyes are the real scene-stealer. Neill applied M.A.C. Eyeshadow in

Courtesy of Sony PicturesCatherine Q. O'Neill, Allure magazine

There are certain things that you shouldn't share on a first date-like the fact that you booked a $65 blowout for casual drinks and already have the names of your first two children picked out. Oh, and that you secretly collect Spider-Man paraphernalia. (If you didn't know there was a dash in Spider-Man, you should probably just stop reading this now.)

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Since my first comic book purchase at age 12-a 1977 The Amazing Spider-Man, in mint condition-I've been totally addicted to anything involving spandex, super powers, or a cult following. Since that time, I've been to 25 midnight showings and waited in line wearing everything from Princess Leia buns to Harry Potter forehead scars. So when OPI announced that they were coming out with an Amazing Spider-Man nail polish collection, can you guess who was the first person to take "Your Web or Mine" to their manicurist? This girl.

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