…and as my pal Julia put it, “Jesus take the wheel.”

Because I don’t know if the world is ready for that.

Read all about it here.

Now here’s a Valentine’s Day treat to get excited about! All of this is yours free with a minimum $28.50 purchase at the Macy’s Lancome counter.

I’m a big believer in only buying makeup counter products (i.e. Estee Lauder, Clinique, Lancome, etc.) when there is a free gift involved. After all, the cost of those free gifts are probably being billed into the regular products that you’re buying, so why not get what you’re paying for?

The gift items are a collection of Lancome’s best sellers: Tresor perfume, Definicils mascara, Bi-Facil, Renergie Microlift R.A.R.E. face and eye cream, Color Design eye shadow quad and lipstick.

The Definicils mascara is definitely a reason to get this set. I’ve yet to find such a good all-around mascara (and trust me, I’ve been trying).

The Bi-Facil, on the other hand, seems to have lots of devoted fans, but I don’t get the hype. It’s a little too oily for my taste. I’d much prefer to go with The Body Shop on eye makeup remover.

Offer ends February 24.  Happy Valentine’s Day my lovelies!

Yesterday, I had the chance to stop by the Boots booth in the Bryant Park tents at Fashion Week. What drew me there? The chance to preview the No7 Protect and Perfect Moisturizing Body Serum (pictured below) — the companion to Boots’ #1 selling product in the U.S., No7 Restore and Renew Beauty Serum. The Body Serum will be available in stores starting March 2008.

Also being previewed were the Protect and Perfect Day Cream (available starting September 2008), Protect and Perfect Night Cream (available starting September 2008) and Protect and Perfect Eye Cream (available starting April 2008).

I love hearing how global companies morph themselves between countries. So as I was chatting with Boots District Manager, DeAnna Federico, about the brand, I asked her how it’s perceived in its UK homeland versus how it’s perceived in the U.S. She said that in the UK, it’s more of a prestige brand, especially the No7 line, similar to how Estee Lauder or Clinique are positioned and sold here (i.e. at a department store counter with a salesperson).

This struck me as very interesting given the fact that it’s positioned a notch below in the U.S., straddling the line between prestige and mass. Honestly, I think they’ve played it smart in the U.S. They’ve made themselves accessible to middle Americans by being stocked in mass market retailers like Target and CVS. At the same time, they’ve still kept their upmarket appeal by leveraging the brand’s British heritage and by partnering with a retailer like Target that is perceived as cool no matter what economic/social demographic you fall into.

When I saw this, I immediately thought: now this is the way you do it.

I’m usually all for the natural beauty, but there’s something about the girl who tries. Nails perfectly painted, lips meticulously drawn on, face beautifully powdered. A total woman and totally unapologetic about it. Love it love it love it.

I’m feeling the soft colors (both on the face and on the clothes) juxtaposed against the perfect hair that looks sculpted yet soft.

The clothes were all exclusively designed by John Galliano for Dior. From left to right: Emily Blunt, Amy Adams, Jessica Biel, Anne Hathaway, Alice Braga, Ellen Page, Zoe Saldana, Elizabeth Banks, Ginnifer Goodwin and America Ferrera.

Not to encourage impulse shopping, but Cake Beauty is having a major sale on a bunch of their products — and it ends tomorrow, January 31! So stock up now.

I’ve had great experiences with Cake Beauty products, including their hair powder, hand creme, hand buffer and body scrub. (Yes, I think saying that I like Cake Beauty is a bit of an understatement.)

So snatch it up while you can! There’s also free shipping on orders over $75.

‘Natural’ has become a huge buzzword in the beauty care industry over the past decade or so, as the green movement has taken hold, and consumers are becoming more savvy as to what they are putting on and in their bodies.

If you’re confused as to what it means for a beauty/personal care product to be labeled ‘natural,’ join the club. In large part, this confusion is due to the fact that the FDA, which regulates cosmetics, has no standard guidelines for the use of terms such as ‘natural’ and ‘organic’ in marketing lingo. The result is that companies use the terms at liberty, sometimes designating as natural a product that contains a single natural derivative and a load of chemical ingredients.

This sure doesn’t help a girl rest easy at night, so it’s nice to see Chief Marketing Officer of Burt’s Bees, Mike Indursky, lobbying Congress for a bill that would develop an industry standard for the term ‘natural’.

The company has joined forces with the National Products Association to create the Natural Standard, requiring that in order for products to be labeled ‘natural,’ they must be at least 95% natural, meaning they are free of parabens, synthetic preservatives, sulfates, animal products or anything suspected of potential human health risks.

It’s about time! Conveniently, this will help Burt’s Bees weed out some of their competition, as companies are bound to drop their natural labels should this bill go into effect.

Self interest aside, though, this will be a huge step forward in the beauty industry. As it stands now, it feels like a big looting raid on the part of many companies, grabbing customers where they can with their so-called natural products, laughing all the way to the bank because the police have their backs turned. I will be quite relieved when a standard is set into place, and consumers know what it is they’re up against. I like to be well-informed, as you all know.

If you want to sign up and support Burt’s Bees, check out this page on their website.

It sounds like ULTA is moving up in the world! They have just added and are adding a whole new roster of beauty brands to their list of offerings, including many that are quite high-end. Very interesting — trying to give Sephora a run for their money perhaps?

The following are the companies that will be joining the ranks at ULTA:

STILA: available January 1^st

Dermalogica: January 1^st

DDF: available February 14^th

LORAC: available March 1^st

Bloom: available March 1^st

Paula Dorf: available March 1^st

I finally got my copy of Allure in the mail.  You know, the one with Britney Spears on the cover. Pictorials were disappointing. As in, there were two. All of which I’d already seen on the internet anyway. (But there are more pictures at allure.com/go/britney if you’re interested.)

The accompanying article, I’ll have to say, was superb. I was especially curious to read the interview that Brit skipped out on four separate times before the journalist finally gave up. I wanted to know how Allure was going to cover their asses on this one. I mean, the poor lady had very little to go on, and so the article consisted of her four-day scurry around the city of L.A. in search of Britney. But she handled the piece with grace and humor, and in the end, made me feel the sadness that has become Ms. Spears. Definitely worth a read.

Who else plans to be watching?

Do I really need to write a review on these?

These gorgeous new Fall Fantasy eye and cheek palettes from Stila could make me look like Krusty the Clown, and I’d still go buy them for the beautiful packaging.