Blog Posts by Allure Daily Beauty Reporter

AllureJoan Kron


Spring is almost here and all across America women are squeezing into skin-tight, colored jeans and thinking, "If only I could be one size smaller." Well, come September, a new fat-reduction machine will be available to help fulfill that wish-and this one may actually work. The Czech-made Vanquish device uses so called focused-field radio frequency to zap fat without ever touching the patient's body. Only a handful of the devices will initially be available, which means the line for appointments could be longer than a queue for Justin Bieber tickets.

Oh no, not another fat buster, you say. In the last 35 years, entrepreneurs have introduced a cavalcade of technologies to reduce fat, each with its own drawbacks. First came liposuction: It requires anesthesia and surgery and sometimes leaves patients with uneven results and weeks of bruising. Then there was ultrasound: A technician moves a hand piece over the body to deliver deep-diving sound waves that destroy fat below

Courtesy of Getty ImagesLinda Wells


My favorite places to shop in Paris (besides Céline, Pierre Hardy, Louboutin, Azzedine Alaïa, and E.Dehillerin, for pots and pans) are the pharmacies. Just the sight of the neon green cross that identifies them makes me salivate. They're small and clinical, and something about them makes everything inside seem more powerful and important. Many of these products are sold now in the U.S., but they're often cheaper at French pharmacies. Here's what's on my shopping list this week:

Embryolisse Laid-Crème Concentré. This looks like a toothpaste tube and holds a face cream of almost perfect consistency. It moisturizes really well, works under makeup, and smells slightly floral and feminine. It doesn't contain SPF or a single anti-aging ingredient, so I layer it over those.

See more: Top 21 Drugstore Beauty Bargains

La Roche-Posay Anthelios 50 Mineral Ultra Light Sunscreen Fluid. This sunscreen used to be available only in Europe, and I'd stock up on every trip. I still

CN Digital StudioShannon Ray


Shannon Ray was the winner of the 2012 Allure Beauty Blogger Awards and is now contributing to the Daily Beauty Reporter.

This weekend is Daylight Savings Time, which means that yo' butt's going to be getting one less hour of sleep. For me, that means looking exactly an hour less presentable to the world. Or you can use these time-saving beauty tips and hit the snooze button until your little heart is content. I'm a lazy b, so I know ALL the tricks to continually perpetuate the laziness while still living my life (somewhat) normally. Taking forever to get ready when you could be saving a ton of time? Not on my watch.

See more: Top 21 Drugstore Beauty Bargains

Bang, bang, bang. There are those times in life when just washing and styling your hair seems like so friggin' much. But walking around looking like a Johnny Depp hair twin only works for, well, Johnny Depp. Luckily, there is a fast (and easy) remedy for this conundrum. First, wash just your bang area (or

Courtesy of Getty ImagesAlexandra Owens





Yes, you read that right. The same microbe that causes inflamed, impossible to get rid of acne may also be the secret to eliminating it. New research from UCLA has revealed that Propionibacterium acnes, the common acne bacteria found in pores, comes in many different varieties-and the strains specific to your skin may determine whether you're prone to pimples or not.

See more: Top 21 Drugstore Beauty Bargains

It seems not all forms of the bacteria are bad. Researchers collected samples from the noses of 101 participants, half of whom suffered from acne and half who didn't. The bacteria was present in both skin groups, but after the genomes of 66 different strains were mapped, some interesting results emerged. Certain variants, including ones with increased resistance to tetracycline, an antibiotic commonly prescribed for acne, were more prevalent in acne sufferers, while other strains lived predominantly in the pores of people with healthy skin.

See

Elizabeth Siegel



There's a certain free-spirited quality to long hair-and it looks like that fact hasn't slipped by the North Koreans. Word's gotten out that their famously secretive government has issued a list of 28 state-sanctioned haircuts for men and women, as reported by the U.K.'s Telegraph-and none goes past the collarbone. The approved cuts have been deemed the "most comfortable" styles that also protect against the "corrupting effects of capitalism," reports New York's Daily News. Think of the worst hairdo your least-favorite grade school teacher had, and it's probably on the list of the 18 options for women.

See more: Top 21 Drugstore Beauty Bargains

(Apparently, middle-parted, feathered bangs are supereasy and socialist.) Single women are instructed to keep their hair shorter than married women, and guys are prohibited from growing their hair longer than two inches-unless you're "older," in which you case you can get away with a full three. The good

Courtesy of Getty ImagesMadaline Donnelly



The beautiful Michelle Williams has been in the news lately for two things: a sad split (from funnyman/everyone's favorite puppeteer Jason Segel) and, fittingly, a new hairstyle. And we just got a good look at how she's already pulling off the latter (above), which is no small feat: After rocking her now trademark blonde pixie for roughly six years, Williams says she's ready to go long again. Calling the growing-out phase "hard on your self-esteem," she told E! News, "I'm happy to not have anything looming [work-wise]-I'm really working on growing my hair out."

See more: Top 21 Drugstore Beauty Bargains

While I've never grown out a pixie personally (or even bangs for that matter), I hear where she's coming from and imagine it's a total drag. Sort of like the beauty equivalent of those half-winter half-spring mornings where you stand in front of your closet wondering what to wear forever, only to settle on some weird combo that leaves you

Courtesy of ClairolAlexandra Owens



Adweek recently paid homage to an iconic Miss Clairol ad-you know the one, showing a perfect blonde smiling slyly with the text, "Does she...or doesn't she? Hair color so natural only her hairdresser knows for sure." That message resonated in 1956, when hair color was considered classified information. But the idea seems so unbelievable today. I mean, even besides regular women sharing their hair-color tricks, you've got Katie Couric joking about dyeing her hair and sporting a gray wig on national television, Rihanna Instagramming her ever-changing styles, and the list goes on.

See more: The 10 Commandments of Mascara

But let's remember that despite the fact that hair-color secrecy seems so nutty now, it's not like every person's beauty habits are an open book. Think about it: Celebrities still refuse to comment on what they were doing at that plastic surgeon's office, and I don't know anyone who volunteers the name of the person who waxes their

Allure, Madaline Donnelly


On any given day, when you're a young woman in New York City, a good night's sleep can be a pretty tall order. Between the perpetual FOMO, the need to fit in one more episode of Downton Abbey, and the occasional drunken college acapella group belting Rihanna at 4:30 A.M. outside your window (true story), times are tough-and tired. But the fact is, beauty sleep is a real thing (a lack of it can not only cause dark circles, but some studies also link sleep loss to weight gain and, in the long run, an increased risk of heart disease and high blood pressure). Lately, an app called Sleep Cycle has been making the have-you-heard-about-this rounds of my sleep-deprived friends.

See more: The 10 Commandments of Mascara

Basically, you open the app, set a 30-minute wake-up window on its alarm clock, and tuck your phone under your bed's fitted sheet when you hit the hay. Throughout the night, the app monitors your sleep patterns and wakes you up when you're sleeping most