Lipstick as an economic indicator.

When the economy tanks, women appear to buy more lipsticks as they scrimp on traditional big-ticket items, a theory posited by Leonard Lauder, chairman of the Estee Lauder companies. From the New York Times:

After the terrorist attacks of 2001 deflated the economy, Mr. Lauder noticed that his company was selling more lipstick than usual. He hypothesized that lipstick purchases are a way to gauge the economy. When it’s shaky, he said, sales increase as women boost their mood with inexpensive lipstick purchases instead of $500 slingbacks.

Beauty brands remain true believers in the theory, even though in the last few years the lipstick market has fallen on hard times as its glistening cousin, lip gloss, has had robust sales.

With the specter of another recession, brands like Clinique and DuWop Cosmetics are preparing for a big year in lip color, for two reasons.

First, they would like to see a return to lipstick, which usually costs slightly more than gloss. Second, the companies believe that in down times women will continue to splurge on lip lacquer even as they make do with last season’s dress.

In the light of a global rise in food and gas costs, are you making or do you plan to make any changes to your beauty consumption habits? Please share in comments!

Cure for acne found?

Well, that's the headline, but the media is sensationalist like that. Scientists, however, seem to have made a significant breakthrough in acne treatment research. The drug, SMT D002 is currently in pill form but plans are underway to make it a topical cream:

Researchers believe it could become as effective a treatment as retinoic acid - a form of vitamin A - which is currently used to treat moderate to severe cases.

However, Roaccutane, the most widely used formulation of retinoic acid, has been linked to suicides among acne sufferers.

SMT D002 produced no significant side-effects when volunteers took it in pill form. Around three in every 10 patients taking retinoic acid do not respond to the drug, leaving many sufferers without an effective treatment.

While I often moan about my skin, I'm incredibly grateful that I don't suffer from chronic cystic acne, although I did come very close about three years ago. Strangers literally stopped me in the streets to recommend the services of their facialists and doctors. This is one development I'm going to be keeping an eye on.

My Beautiful Mommy

A plastic surgeon in Florida has penned a children's book to help explain the effects of plastic surgery to young 'uns:

"My Beautiful Mommy" is aimed at kids ages four to seven and features a plastic surgeon named Dr. Michael (a musclebound superhero type) and a girl whose mother gets a tummy tuck, a nose job and breast implants. Before her surgery the mom explains that she is getting a smaller tummy: "You see, as I got older, my body stretched and I couldn't fit into my clothes anymore. Dr. Michael is going to help fix that and make me feel better." Mom comes home looking like a slightly bruised Barbie doll with demure bandages on her nose and around her waist.

The text doesn't mention the breast augmentation, but the illustrations intentionally show Mom's breasts to be fuller and higher. "I tried to skirt that issue in the text itself," says Salzhauer. "The tummy lends itself to an easy explanation to the children: extra skin and can't fit into your clothes. The breasts might be a stretch for a six-year-old."

The book doesn't explain exactly why the mother is redoing her nose post-pregnancy. Nonetheless, Mom reassures her little girl that the new nose won't just look "different, my dear—prettier!"

I love how the surgeon has made himself to be some chiselled Greek god in the book.

I won't judge women who resort to plastic surgery -- it's a personal choice, albeit one that requires a certain amount of risk and quite a lot of money. But I do wonder about the message mothers who frequently undergo plastic surgery send to their daughters. It is one thing to have the odd nip and tuck when you're middle-aged and saggy, quite another when you're swapping implants every five years. You could end up with a daughter who wants a boob job for her thirteenth birthday.

Moisture is the essence of wetness, and wetness is the essence of beauty

g33kchic and I believe in the power of water. We each consume about two litres of water a day, excluding coffee and soda, and we've both witnessed the salubrious effects of our H2O habit on our health. There are many people who are sceptical about this, and indeed, two doctors have published an article in the American Journal of Nephrology debunking the need to drink 8 glasses of water a day. Every health benefit a rise in water intake is supposed to incur, like lessening headaches or flushing out toxins, is "clinically insignificant".

I do not dispute the results of the study, and without carrying out a scientific trial of my own, I cannot. In fact, I agree with the doctors that the eight-glasses-a-day stipulation is rather baseless, and it is kind of silly to parrot the need for so much water without knowing why. In my personal experience, however, when I drink less than two litres of water a day (roughly eight mugs) regardless of thirst -- the benchmark for drinking water according to experts -- I wake up with a sore throat and parched lips the next morning. After all these years of making a concerted effort to drink more water, I'll share with you a couple of things I've learnt about water consumption:

1. Water is good for your skin BUT it won't cure acne. Zits are caused by bacteria that are immune to anything except nuclear weaponry (mine, at least). Water plumps out skin cells and fine lines. That's it. Look, at least you didn't pay $200 for an ounce, okay?

2. Drinking lots of water may prevent you from catching that nasty cold spreading through the office like wildfire. I only have anecdotal evidence for this, I'm afraid. But I've never caught a cold from my co-workers, and neither have most of my fellow water drinkers.

3. Drinking lots of water will dilute the colour and smell of your pee. I have been that person at the doctor's who takes your jar of pee to be tested. I will judge you if you hand me a jar of foul-smelling neon yellow liquid. If you're going to be vain, be vain about your pee, too.

4. Tap water is just as good as mineral water and much less expensive. I am partial to certain mineral water brands, but I've yet to find a glass of boiled or filtered tap water that tastes offensive. Tap is easier on the environment and your wallet. All waters are fat-free, sugar-free, carb-free and possess zero calories, in case you didn't know. It's such a flexible beverage it can be used across ALL DIETS.

So, forget the myths and the mythbusters. Find out for yourself what your optimum water intake is -- drink two litres or eight glasses a day for two weeks and see if you feel any different from when you drink a glass as needed. For the readers, does drinking more water have any tangible effects on your health and beauty?

Little Miss Supermodel.

A Barbie girl in a Barbie world.

I received my first facial cleanser when I was eleven years old, plucked my eyebrows and waxed my legs for the first time when I was eighteen. My first facial came a year later, and I was a working adult when I got my first professional manicure. In contrast, Philadelphia magazine reports that girls as young as 10 are getting bikini waxes and microdermabrasion treatments. While the article focuses on a small sub-set of girls, I am deeply disturbed by the complicity of the aestheticians and mothers. In the article, several salon owners now have mothers sign waiver forms before their daughters are waxed, but I maintain that they should stand their ground and refuse service to these insane women.

The image above is from the 2001 HBO documentary Living Dolls: The Making of a Child Beauty Queen, which follows young Swan Brooner (pic) and her mother as they hit the children beauty pageant circuit in the American south. You can view this in nine parts on Youtube by clicking on this link.

Can you do without makeup?

March 27 was National No Make-Up Day in the United Kingdom (and also Stylish Sister of Shryh's birthday. Send her belated birthday presents of designer bags and the next It accessory!). Now, humans sleep a third of their life away; I will spend another third prowling the aisles of drugstores, swatching lipgloss shades on the back of my hands, stalking limited edition makeup and scrutinizing FOTDs posted to one of the thirty-nine beauty forums I belong to. Yet I don't wear that much makeup. I schlump around at home with a bare and shiny face, but I absolutely cannot leave the house without pencilled-in eyebrows, mascara-ed lashes and a smidgen of gloss at the very least. Do you think you can go without makeup... on a work day?