Deenie writes: “What feels soft like velvet, is made by a team of scientists, and has the ability to make your skin glow like the light inside your refrigerator?  A robotic youth-granting puppy?  Nay!  It’s MLab, a super-effective line of anti-aging skin-care products. Until now, the line’s only been sold in the prestigious White Hall at Harrod’s in London (those wily Brits, they’ve got amazing skincare, the royals and tea at the Ritz on their side?  Time to catch up!) but it’s launched just this week in the US.  Phew.

With clinically active ingredients from 45% to 75%, MLab is Not Kidding Around with your collagen, people.  It’s suitable for all skin-types and has products from cleansers to serums to body creams.  (So what if I have the ass of a 25-year-old?  I want the ass of a 21 year old!)  The anti-aging cream has the highest amount of clinically active ingredients and goes for $260 a pop–expensive, but let’s face it, you can’t put a price on Botox-free fabulousness.  (Don’t worry, the rest of the line is cheaper.)  The formula combines peptides and antioxidants and is crazy hydrating, reducing fine lines, increasing elasticity, and making skin look luminous.  And luckily you don’t have be an AARP member to see the benefits: I’m mid-twenties, and my skin is already looking better!”

With the eruption of publicity over her engagement and possible pregnancy, Ashlee Simpson’s been in the “news” recently—at the same time that her new album just dropped, too!  What a coincidence!  I like Ashlee as a blonde (the dark hair look she rocked when she burst out a few years ago was too messy and goth for her features, in my opinion), but I think she looks fabulous as a redhead.  The shade feels very Mary-Jane Watson to me, and not only flatters her complexion, but makes her eyes look veddy veddy blue.  Most importantly?  It’s just fun…and sometimes a whimsical change does a world of good, no matter what anybody else thinks!

Photos from People.com

In a world of mega-beauty conglomerates, it’s nice to support the little guy.  (I feel like Ubiquitous Movie Announcer Dude should have been booming that line, movie-trailer-style.  “IN A WORLD OF MEGA-BEAUTY CONGLOMERATES…”  Okay, sorry, Jolie needs a nap.)  Anyhow, if you’re a fan of homemade, handcrafted, love-and-care-infused body products–no animal testing, yay!–check out the soaps from Luv4Country, which come in a plethora of yummy flavors like A Patch of Sunshine, Gentleman Caller, Butterbaby, and Daze of Wine and Roses.  Lather, rinse, repeat…even better, do it in the bath with a glass of vino and some Sufjan blaring on the iPod speakers.  Ahh.

My favorite future Queen has been out of the spotlight recently, making brief appearances at various posh horse races and ski resorts (as you do), but otherwise keeping out of photographers’ vision.  Until a few days ago!  Prince William was presented with his RAF pilot wings, and there was Kate by his side, looking every inch a prospective royal.  Judging by the way The Firm continually includes Kate (all these invites for a non-fiancee is still quite a big deal), not to mention the Cheshire Cat grin permanently fixed on her face, I’d say she knows something we don’t, no?  Can’t wait to find out what it might be…. (::Rubs hands together gleefully::)

Photo by Michael Dunlea in the DailyMail

I am loving the genius behind CARGO PlantLove Botanical Lipsticks.  Sure, sure, the shades are pretty and were designed by beautiful celebrities (Lindsay Lohan!  Angie Harmon!  Evangeline Lily!), and the formula is infused with meadowfoam seed oil, jojoba and shea butter, and the lipstick feels nice and totally glam.  Whatever, CARGO, you designed an awesome lipstick.  Good for you.  For the first time ever, I want to focus on the packaging!  Not only are the tubes to-die-for gorgeous (I mean, just look at them), but they’re made from biodegradable corn (an abundant, renewable resource), and the carton itself is made from flower paper embedded with flower seeds.  So, you can actually plant the boxes…and flowers will grow.  Maybe I’ve had too much coffee today, or maybe I’m turning into a hippie, but I think this is about the coolest thing ever.  Bonus: CARGO is donating two dollars from every sale to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital.  So much love.

Crazy McAdams in Argentina argues that pretty people should be required to pay a beauty tax.  Why?  He says, “Good looking people have an unfair advantage.  It’s easier for them to find jobs; they’re paid more and find partners more easily.  In a true democracy, beautiful and ugly people should be given equal opportunities.  So I think we should tax the beautiful, a kind of compensation for the ugly ducklings.”  In related news, I think I should get tax benefits for sucking at math, for being saddled with chubalicious thighs from birth, and for not being blessed with Mariah Carey’s eight-octave range.  It’s just not fair!

Kate Hudson was in London last night for the UK premiere of Fool’s Gold, looking cute and fresh and glamorous (despite the unfortunate green dress-turquoise carpet mashup). While the gorgeous John Galliano gown is nonetheless a little J-Lo-circa-Bennifer, I admire any kind of fashion risk, and there’s no denying how pretty Kate looks.  (I’m telling you, the self-tanner + smoky eye combination never goes wrong!)  However, what’s particularly interesting to me is the side-by-side comparison the Daily Mail accompanies with the blue carpet photos of “publicity Kate” versus “real Kate” in the same bikini.  Oh-ho!  What’s that?  Insta-cleavage?  Mais oui.  Photoshopping strikes again–heaven forbid we allow a gorgeous actress to appear in pictures as God made her.  I mean, who wants to see that?

There are few celebrities Jolie gets breathless about, but, Sienna Miller, you are one of them.  After a brief moment (okay, two years) of overexposure, you wisely chose to lay low, pulling the ol’ Jessica Simpson-hat-trick of suddenly dropping off the face of the earth and making me confused about why the hell I missed you so much.  (I mean, please, you’re no Mandy Moore…and yet I cannot deny the girl crush is alive and well.)  Sienna, allow me to confess: there was a moment there when I disliked you.  Too chipper, too flighty, too “I made Jude Law my bitch and what of it?”  And yet, there’s something intangible: a joie-de-vivre…an addiction to eyeliner and weird hats…a love for Spike from Notting Hill…a down-to-earth quality implying that your night is only finished once you have danced on the bar, damn it!  When I was downing French Martinis this week at my favorite watering hole, I sensed you before I saw you; the garden was immediately full of energy.  I turned, and there you were: a laughing vision in red ankle boots with white hair aflame (girlfriend is blonde).   You made a promenade of the gardens, English gentleman walker by your side, and then disappeared into the night.  Where will you be next?  When will our paths cross again?  Are you seriously going to marry Spike from Notting Hill?  La Sienna reveals nothing.  And my mysterious fascination continues.