Blog Posts by Allure Daily Beauty Reporter

Joan Kron, Allure magazine

Baseball fans count RBIs. Financiers watch the Dow. I follow cosmetic surgery stats. And yesterday, the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery released its numbers for 2011. Fans of the various Housewives of Wherever, those infomercials for lip and breast enhancement, might be surprised that cosmetic surgery procedures rose by only 1 percent last year. There were actually small declines in facelifts (down 0.9 percent) and breast augmentations (0.4 percent). But minimally invasive procedures like laser peels, wrinkle fillers and frown relaxers rose by 3.0 percent, with the biggest increase in injections of Botox and Dysport, the neurotoxins that relax facial muscles temporarily.

Related: The 10 Commandments of Mascara

The business of stopping time marches on: There were more than 4 million toxin procedures in 2011, an increase of 7.5 percent over 2010. But more interesting than the sheer volume of toxin treatments is the revelation about who is

Read More »from Botox: Does it Really Take a Doctor?

By Alexandra Owens, Allure magazine

Sharing is a beautiful thing. Trading makeup tips, giving hairstylist recommendations, and borrowing inspiration from the latest red carpet craze are all great ways to-well-share the love. But when it comes to swapping my actual makeup, I'm admittedly a bit anti-social.

Related: The 10 Commandments of Mascara

E. coli, staph, and strep bacteria have all been found in shared department store makeup testers, and while swapping a wand with a girl who's like a sister to me isn't exactly the same thing as exposing my eyes, mouth, and skin to a city full of strangers, it still makes me cringe. So much so that I've even lied to one of my best friends, telling her I don't have lip balm, because the idea of sharing an applicator grossed me out (only to hoard it covertly in a stall later).

Related: Find the Best Haircut for Your Face Shape

Am I the only one? What's your threshold for swapping makeup?

More from Allure:

The 11 Hottest Read More »from Do You Swap Makeup (and Germs)?

WWD/Steve EichnerBy Alexandra Owens, Allure magazine

Jennifer Aniston may look like the girl next door-but she reportedly doesn't spend like her. The Daily Mail claims that the actress, 43, drops $8,000 a month, or a whopping $141,037 a year, to maintain her gorgeous, yet low-key look. Her no-expenses-spared routine reportedly includes $450 neck ointment by Euoko, $350 Mila Moursi Rejuvenating Serum, $600 haircuts from Chris McMillan, and $900 worth of yoga sessions (each week!) with Mandy Ingber.

Related: Find the Best Haircut for Your Face Shape

Now, we're not 100 percent sold on this breakdown of Jen's beauty budget (receipts, anyone?), but we're certain that we don't have anywhere near that kind of disposable income. However, we do know when to splurge-and when to save. (Hint: although we love our high-end mascaras, we're all about drugstore wands, especially since you're meant to replace them every few months.)

Here are five inexpensive products every woman should pick up-they'd only cost

Read More »from Jennifer Aniston's $8K Monthly Beauty Budget

By Sophia Panych, Allure magazine


Now that I'm aware that sleeping on your side can cause wrinkles, I've been wondering what other daily activities we're engaging in that-unbeknownst to us-are making us look more Shar Pei-like.

One of my favorite blogs, The Beauty Brains, recently reposted a news item with dermatologist Jessica Wu. In addition to addressing the wrinkle-causing effects of sleeping sideways, she discussed how gum chewing and straw-sucking might just be sapping the youth right out of your face.

Related: Find the Best Haircut for Your Face Shape

Before spitting out my Orbit and pouring my Diet Coke into a wine glass, I wanted to see if other docs reached the same conclusions. According to Wu, gum smacking can lead to bulking up of the muscles around your jaw, contributing to a "jowl-y look" and "can contribute to wrinkles on the upper lip." I asked New Orleans dermatologist Mary Lupo for her opinion: "The lines around your mouth are more likely to

Read More »from Is Chewing Gum Giving You Wrinkles?

Fairchild ArchiveBy Elizabeth Siegel, Allure magazine

Colored mascara has always had pretty tacky associations. But the electric blue lashes at Stella McCartney's fall show last week in Paris were actually pretty gorgeous. "[Stella] said, 'I love when girls wear colored mascara,'" explained makeup artist Pat McGrath backstage. The striking purple-cobalt shade they came up with was fun and youthful and made the models' eyes look bigger and brighter than ever. Still, it's colored mascara-a look that takes some serious guts to pull off off the runway. A few tips from the pros:

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Choose the right color: Knowing what doesn't look good is just as important as what does.
-Blue flatters everyone-and after a big night, it really does make the whites of your eyes look whiter. At Stella McCartney, McGrath painted vibrant pigment over black mascara. In real life, go for two (plus) coats of Dior DiorShow in Azure Blue.

Purple really only works for green

Read More »from How to Wear Bright Mascara

By Kate Sullivan, Allure magazine


Sorry, new study out of University of Hertfordshire, I'm calling bull on this one. Not their methodology-just the results. The British school's new data suggests that how a woman dresses is indicative of her emotions. Okay, sure. In fact, of course. Findings such as 57 percent of the women wearing a baggy top when depressed, versus 2 percent doing so when feeling happy and being 10 times more likely to wear a favorite dress when happy hardly feel like news. But here's where the study lost me: More than half of the women surveyed said they wear jeans when depressed and a third would wear jeans when happy. Therefore, the researchers have labelled jeans this depressing article of clothing. "Jeans don't look great on everyone," says professor Karen Pine, who conducted the study. "They are often poorly cut and badly fitting. Jeans can signal that the wearer hasn't bothered with their appearance. People who are depressed often lose interest in how

Read More »from Do Jeans Equal Depression?

Modern Bride/George Chinsee By Alexandra Owens, Allure magazine


Plenty of us spend hours straightening, spraying, and blowing out before stepping foot outside. And according to a new survey, all of that primping isn't purely for vanity's sake-a bad hair day can actually affect our mood.

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In a poll of 2,000 women, participants averaged three bad hairs days a week-and reported feeling depressed for about 1 and a half hours when their locks woke up on the wrong side of the bed. And when it's bad, it's terrible: 12 percent of women have cancelled a date, 12 percent have rearranged an outing with their friends, and nine percent wouldn't go to a party with a messy 'do.

Related: Find the Best Haircut for Your Face Shape

I've had my share of bad hair days, and believe me, they always happen at the most inconvenient times. But I think some of these ladies (especially the more than one in 20 who have called in sick to work due to unruly strands) need a little Read More »from Can Bad Hair Ruin Your Day?

By Catherine Q. O'Neill, Allure magazine

When I turned 18, I was dead set on getting a tattoo. I had the brilliant idea of spelling out a Greek word on my side, but thankfully my older sister (who'd had her own experience with bilingual ink) stepped in. "Wait two years," she told me. "If you still want it after that time, get it." Sure enough, two years passed and I couldn't believe I'd ever considered a four-inch tattoo (in a language I don't even speak, by the way). My sister wasn't so lucky: It took her multiple, painful laser surgeries to remove the two Japanese symbols on her back and neck. But according to an Oxygen media poll conducted by Lightspeed Research, we're not the only girls piqued by the idea.

Related: The Best Beauty Products Under $9

59 percent of tattoos in the United States belong to women, with 68 percent attributing beauty to their motivation for getting inked-as opposed to cultural, religious, or loyalty reasons (guess we've

Read More »from Women Get More Tattoos Than Men