Over the long weekend, I was in the Hudson Valley looking at wedding locations and took the opportunity to pop into a Target to check out the store’s brand-new designer makeup collections in person. The good news: The stuff on display looked amazing (especially the Pixi by Petra eyeshadow palettes in zillions of yummy shades). The bad news: The shelves were completely empty. Alrighty then!

Most of the time, fake can be horrible. A bad spray-on tan, translation orange skin; streaky blonde highlights that look like no color ever found in nature; or fish lips so huge that only...

If I had a decent-sized bathtub, I would be one of those girls who lounges around in a bubble-filled tub, reading and eating bon-bons. But this is the real world and I have a real New York...

I can't pinpoint exactly when text messaging became a regular part of daily life but I do have proof that it's getting out of hand. Yup, I got one of those wacky press releases again. There's a new service called Smile Reminder that allows plastic surgeons, estheticians and dermatologists to text their clients to let them know it's time to come back in for a Botox touch-up. According to the release, the service "sends a friendly notice, reminding them that if they don't return soon, their wrinkles surely will."

I have found myself night after night chanting and screaming, "USA! USA! USA!" Staying up way past my bedtime to catch every nanosecond of the Olympics live instead of relying on the DVR (it's just not the same seeing it the day after!). As amazing as all of the athletes are, I can't help but be distracted by the hair and makeup choices of the gymnasts. I'm talking 1980s blue eyeshadow, glitter here, there and EVERYWHERE, scrunchies, and 800 non-matching clips dotted all over their heads. I know the shiny red spandex is required, but honestly, which Olympics are we in--Beijing or Moscow circa summer of 1980?

I was reading an interview with Brooke Shields--whose swirls of long brown hair always look gorgeous--in which she says she makes a blowout last five days!!! And that the dirtier her hair is, the better it looks. She said she touches up with dry shampoo when she's in the home stretch. I feel like I'm always hearing that from celebs. It doesn't work for me.

For those of you with less than long, flowing hair, you probably know that trying to create those amazing red carpet updos is tricky. I've had short hair my whole life because I just can't seem to get past that awkward middle stage to grow it out. Not that I ever try that hard--short hair is easy and fun!

But after a session with Pantene celebrity stylist, Danilo, I have changed my mind about short hair and updos.]]>Fri, 08 Aug 2008 16:45:56 -0700nospam@example.com (Girls in the Beauty Department, Glamour Magazine)http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/beauty/creating-a-glamorous-updo-even-if-you-have-short-hair-227153/#commentshttp://shine.yahoo.com/channel/beauty/creating-a-glamorous-updo-even-if-you-have-short-hair-227153/http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/beauty/what-s-your-beauty-strategy-if-you-sleep-too-late-225178/I was going through my Glamour mailbox, the one where I get your beauty questions (andrea@glamour.com...ask away, I'm especially looking for skincare questions today!), and came across this great one from "work2much" that I'd love to have you all weigh in on:

If you wake up late, should you do your make up and just put your hair up OR, style your hair and just wear minimal makeup?