Blog Posts by The chicks at TotalBeauty.com

It's no secret that we're a society obsessed with youth. We sign up for baby Botox at the sign of our first wrinkle, plonk down our plastic at the dermatologist's office for that laser therapy insurance won't cover, and collectively spend an estimated $115.5 billion per year on anti-aging products.

So it's somewhat shocking that it took a 90-year-old fashionista to remind us that beauty isn't only reserved for the 25-year-olds: "We have an insane love affair for youth," says Iris Apfel, MAC Cosmetics' newest spokesperson. "Youth is lovely and wonderful, but … life doesn't stop when you're 30."

Related: 7 Beauty Mistakes That Make You Look Older Than You Are

Apfel may describe herself as a "geriatric starlet," but according to MAC, her face is selling just as much product as Gaga these days.

"I find it pitiful that people lie about their age. What's wrong with getting old? I think if you're lucky enough to get old, you should celebrate," says Apfel.

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Every four or so years, I get an itch to do something drastic.

In high school, I dyed my hair purple despite my parents' threats to throw me out of the house. After college, I said sayonara to a job offer and took off for a year-long backpacking trip through Europe.

And my craving for change is back again.

But now that I'm older, wiser, and far too broke for a self-indulgent trip around the world, I need to find a way to scratch my itch without doing anything too drastic. My answer: I'm going to get a pixie cut.

Related: Get the Best Bangs for Your Face Shape

OK, so I know what you're thinking. If I don't have a perfectly symmetrical face as pretty as Michelle Williams', Keira Knightley's, or Emma Watson's, a pixie is only going to make me look like a linebacker with lipstick on, right?

That's where you'd be wrong, my friend.

Vince Smith, owner of Vince Smith Hair Experience salon in New York City, says short-sheared girls actually look more feminine. "Wearing

I do my eye makeup the same way every day: beige shadow, black eyeliner, a few coats of mascara. Then, if I'm going out at night, I pile on a little more liner and mascara. And, if I'm feeling really adventurous, I'll add some dark gray eyeshadow to the equation to create a smoky eye. Sound familiar? I know I'm not alone in this "Groundhog Day: Makeup Edition" scenario.

Related: How to Apply Eyeliner: 10 Looks for Beginners and Pros

I want to try something new, but everywhere I turn there's another magazine article declaring that the smoky eye is the hot look this season. Again!? Isn't there ever anything exciting in the beauty world? Thousands of new products launch every year. Do we all just use them to create yet another version (new color, new technique) of the smoky eye?

In an attempt to put an end to this cycle of eye makeup monotony, I begged a few makeup artists for suggestions that were "anything but a smoky eye." And I got 5 stunning looks that are, dare

Pop quiz time: What's more disgusting than those women in the Guinness Book of World Records whose fingernails twirl around themselves like miscreant Cirque du Soleil contortionists? Answer: These fancy-pants toe claws that are currently featured in the pages of "Vogue."

We are talking "Vogue" magazine here, people, the bastion of all that's good and true in fashion! To be fair, these toenail beasts were featured in the Italian Vogue, and those Europeans are more "avant garde" than we simple Americans and all, but still.

Related: The Best and Worst Nail, Hair, and Makeup Trends of All Time

I don't about you, but I've watched my fair share of "America's Next Top Model" episodes and while the "Vogue" Italia editrix, Franca Sozani, clearly knows her way around a photo shoot and casting call, she must have had a poco too much vino with dinner the night the art director slipped this image by her. What other excuse is there?

While I've made my take on terrifying toe

Be honest -- you're judgy McJudgerson sometimes. That dude wearing a v-neck American Apparel t-shirt with thick-rimmed glasses? Uber-hipster. That chick in the hip-hugging, up-to-her-hoo-ha miniskirt? What a slu … you get the drift.

Even hairstyles say a lot about people. A woman wearing a ponytail is either headed to yoga or too lazy to do her hair. Long layers and wavy-curls? She wants to fit in with the popular crowd.

Related: 9 Easy Hairstyle Makeover Tricks

As I was doing some serious judging this morning, I had an epiphany: What's everyone else saying about my own long-and-straight-with-bangs style? So, in an effort to change things up and keep 'em guessing, I scoured runway pictures to find the latest hairstyles that don't veer too far off from my comfort hair zone, but give me a new, on-trend look.

What'd I find? These 5 gorgeous hairstyles that combine two hairstyles into one wearable, easy-to-copy look. Want to break your stereotype? Try one of these

While everybody else admired Angelina Jolie's leggy pose at the Oscars, I was glued to her lips. (Not literally. That would have been awkward. Also probably illegal.) Not that Angie's dress wasn't drop-dead gorgeous -- it was (and her leg was, too). It's just that her lips practically deserve their own Academy Award. They're that amazing.

Really, Angelina's bee-stung lips are the envy of women everywhere -- which is probably why so many of us try to emulate them. According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, there were more than 1,300,000 lip injections performed in 2011. That's a lot of Angelina wannabes -- and a lot of women going under the needle just to end up with nothing better than the overinflated trout pout you see in a scary amount of Facebook profile photos.

Related: 10 Plastic Surgery Mistakes No One Talks About

Duck lips aren't the ultimate goal for these women, of course. What they -- and I! -- really want are lush, natural-looking,

In the beauty world, over-tweezing is an unforgiveable sin.

Makeup artists always harp on the importance of having perfect brows -- and leaving it up to an expert to shape those brows. After all, your eyebrows frame your eyes, give definition to your face, you know the drill.

But, I didn't come to fully appreciate the importance of eyebrows until I saw pictures of celebrities with their brows Photoshopped off. Leave it to the playful, entrepreneurial spirit of the blogosphere to transform gorgeous celebrities into alien-like monsters.

Related: 7 Celebrity Hairstyles We'd Like to Make Over

Since bold brows are becoming more of a makeup rule than a trend, I decided to flex my own Photoshop skills and give some unsolicited eyebrow makeovers to the A-listers experts say need tweezer rehab the most. Here are my picks for the best celebrity brows right now -- and the ones who need some eyebrow love (you'll see how much better they look with the Photoshopped brows):

Whenever I see models strut down the runways with their impossibly long legs, wild hairstyles, and every shade of the rainbow on their eyes, I angrily shake my fist at my computer screen and curse my thunder thighs and wont for neutral makeup. But this season, there was less hand gesturing and more copying on my part.

Related: 7 New Updos Anyone Can Wear

Why? Because the latest runway looks are less bold and more natural, which not only makes them easy to copy, but also (amazingly!) flattering on non-models.

Don't believe me? I took my little Nikon to the streets to snap everyday women who not only wore the latest runway trends, but wore them well. See the 7 runway trends you need to steal now:

The Runway Trend: RED LIP AND PULLED-BACK HAIR

While both the hair and makeup at Marc by Marc Jacobs were simple and easy to wear, the combination of a deep side part and rich red lipstick might be too dramatic for some women.

THE REAL WAY

A sleek ponytail,