Emma Watson at the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 premiere in London

When Emma Watson chopped her locks after she wrapped filming on the Harry Potter franchise, I applauded her bravery. When I was young and impulsive, long hair would be chopped off at a whim. But, of course, several months later came the “what the hell did I do that for” sobs when the arduous grow in period began.

Of course, starlets have armies of people who keep growing out hair looking gorgeous for stuff like, oh, the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 international premiere, where the actress showed off a beautiful new bob, courtesy of Rodney Cutler, founder of Cutler Salon (with locations in NYC and Miami).

The deceptively simple style is a decidedly modern take on the famous bob of the celebrated silent film actress Louise Brooks. The retro style is modernized with interior layers and soft, sweepy bangs (a look for my own bangs that I am constantly striving for, but my soft and sweepy is decidedly not).

Hoping to steal some ideas for my own not sweepy bangs, I asked how this look was achieved. Here’s the skinny from the the hair  guru himself, Rodney Cutler!

• To achieve Emma’s look, I applied Redken Sheer Straight and Redken Root Lifter and then wrap blow dried the hair so that strands would appear naturally straight.
• I then gently flat ironed hair pieces from mid to the ends of the hair shaft, lightly flipping out the ends, and sprayed Redken Fashion Work 12 Hair Spray to ensure the style would hold up on the Red Carpet.
• Finally, I wanted to make sure her hair balanced the beautiful dress, so I backcombed the crown to give it just a touch of height, and finished off with Cutler Shine Tattoo.

The result is absolutely magical.

Here at BeautyOlogy, we love questions! So submit yours for our new feature Burning Beauty Question!

Oh make up brushes! How we adore you. Until you get dirty and funky and gross and we don’t know what to do with you anymore!

When you use a makeup brush, you are not only transmitting makeup onto your skin. The dead skin, dirt and bacteria from your skin also gets transmitted on the brush. So you definitely need to give it a good cleaning.

(PS, this dirt and bacteria then gets in your makeup if you dip the dirty brush into your new compact. So please stop sharing makeup. And stop using those nasty Sephora displays. I say this because I love you. xoxo)

If you aren’t experiencing major break outs, many experts agree that once a month is fine. I actually prefer twice a month, but I am kind of obsessive about sanitation.

Some makeup pros swear up and down that shampoo or soap will ruin the brush bristles, and recommend you wash brushes with a specific brush solution. My go-to method is baby shampoo, but I also have a kid at home and easy access. I wet the brush in warm water, add a dab of shampoo into my palm and gentle wash the brush, then rinse clean. I blot with a paper towel and reset the bristles. Then I lay the handle on the counter, with the brush head hanging off, to dry.

Ok, so that last part is awkward. But if you leave it upright to dry, water can get under the seam of the brush and ruin it. Laying it flat give you flat bristles on one side! Some actually blow dry their brushes, but I don’t have the patience to blow dry my hair, never mind my makeup brushes!

I soak my professional brushes in alcohol. Again, experts warn that this will damage the bristles, but I am more concerned about bacteria and contamination than the life expectancy of my tools. If you have bad acne, I do recommend using alcohol to be certain that the bacteria is not re-transmitted to your skin.

When I was working in the spa and talked to clients post-facial about home care, a number would inevitably say “you’re just trying to sell me something.”

Unfortunately, the “upsell” in the salon and spa setting has pretty much eclipsed the fact that I really, honestly don’t believe that Oil of Olay is good for your skin.

Of course, there will always be technicians trying to make an extra buck and pushing useless product on unsuspecting clients. So I get why people are wary.

But if you are on my facial table getting a treatment from me, I am going to suggest alternatives. And sometimes those alternatives are at the drug store, sometimes they are on my shelves.

In fact, the company that supplies my peels, PCA Skin, recommends that, for best results, their products are used pre-and-post peel. “Is that really necessary,” you groan, firing up your mental calculator to add up product costs.

Over the past five months, I conducted an experiment to see if using their product really was necessary. Over the course of three peels, I alternated between using their products prior to the peel and using non-PCA products prior.

Peel One
I used PCA’s products for 10 days prior to the peel. By the 2nd day post-peel, I was peeling. A lot. The peeling lasted almost two weeks. My the time it was done, my skin looked spectacular. I was impressed.

Peel Two
I did not use PCA’s products prior to applying the peel and just went for it. By the 2nd day, I could barely make out flaking. By the third, there was minimal peeling. It was all over in five days. And then I broke out. Interesting…

Peel Three
Once again, PCA products were used 10 days prior to the peel. Day two saw very light peeling, and by day three, my skin began to shed. And while it didn’t go for a full two weeks like the first peel, it did peel for about 10 days.

On the day the peeling started to wane, Manly Man Husband asked me if I was wearing makeup, because my skin looked particularly radiant (or maybe he was just kissing my ass).

The Verdict
In the case of PCA and their peels, using their home care products prior to peeling made a significant difference in the peel result. The mix of active ingredients does prep the skin significantly so that the skin achieves fantastic results, without over-doing it.

I should also note that I used their recommended post-peel products each and every time. You should always follow the home care product advice you receive after a peel treatment; that’s imperative.

The home care product kits (pre and post) are automatically given out to my clients who book a PCA peel.  I don’t want clients worried that I am only trying to upsell them product. To ensure the best result, compliance is key.

Pilates guru Lisa Johnson helps sort out the "do I work out if I am sick" conundrum. Photo by lightkeeper/istockphoto.com

Good God I was sick last week. It was a simple cold, but it had me on my knees. By day two, I couldn’t even get out of bed to get the kid to the bus stop. (And thanks for the assist, Manly Man Husband!)

Since I have been on this work out kick for over six months, it felt really strange not to exercise. My energy was extraordinarily low and my body was all achy. Plus, I was pretty damn congested. Just the thought of cardio was laughable.

With cold and flu season just around the corner, I decided to ask Boston-based pilates guru Lisa Johnson, owner of Modern Pilates, for an assist for both me and my kick ass readers.

So, what’s the game plan for working out when you’re sick?

Lisa’s sage advice:

If it’s a cold and you don’t feel too bad it’s ok to do a workout.  Don’t expect it to be stellar.  Think of it more as a placeholder until you feel better.  Don’t do anything new or fancy and don’t try to push yourself too hard.  If you start to feel really lousy just quit for the day and go home and rest.

If you have the flu or you’re running a fever then by all means skip it.  Your body is fighting a pretty bad infection. You need to rest so your body can do what it needs to do.  Plus running a fever also means you could feel pretty light-headed and you don’t want to be lifting weights or running when you’re feeling dizzy.

In either scenario, please do everyone else a favor and stay out of the gym.  They are sweaty places with varying degrees of cleanliness and no matter how “careful” you think you’re being you’re really doing a disservice to your fellow members.  It’s only a workout or two, you won’t balloon up a dress size or lose 50% of your strength.  Just rest, recover and then go back at it!

I took Lisa’s advice. I dropped my training down from six days to four, and I kept it to one workout a day. I also stuck with weight training but didn’t push too hard and gave the cardio a break (cardio seems to wipe me out more). And while I feel some residual cold effects this week, I am indeed back at it!

Thanks, Lisa!

Check out this great news for yoga afficionados.

A study in the Journal of Sexuality reported that almost 75% of enrolled in a 12 week yoga program reported a more satisfying sex life at the end of the program.

What is it about yoga? Like any regular exercise program, the side effects are more energy and confidence, which certainly enhances romance.

Yoga also improves arterial blood flow, and studies point to this particular benefit for not only reducing the risk of heart disease, but  also enhancing sexuality.

Relaxation is also key. I have forced myself to do yoga once a week for the past 20 weeks and, I will admit that now I can get into the relaxation zone. Yoga reduces levels of cortisol, the stress hormone, which is beneficial all around (particular for the skin!). A relaxed body and mind simply improves sexual function.

These eight simple tips will help give you a more confident pluck. Photo by Martin-dm/istockphoto.com

The internet is full of tips on achieving the perfect brow. Rather than regurgitate the usual–measure from the tip of your nose diagonally to find your arch, etc–here are eight OTHER tips to help you achieve beautiful brows.

• Brush and trim your brows.

It’s tempting to just get plucking, but don’t skip this step. Brush the brows up first, and trim whatever is above the natural hairline. But don’t stop there!  Do the same brushing the brows down. Then smooth them out to their natural shape. You can use a small brow comb, but a clean (unused!) toothbrush will also do the trick. Make sure to use a small brow scissor, however. This is not something you can do with kitchen sheers!

• Use a slanted tweezer.

Don’t use a needle nose one. Once you get the hang of it, a slanted tweezer allows you to move quickly across the brow–pluck, pluck, pluck–without having to pick up the tweezer. This is a spectacular time saver.

• Witch hazel is your friend…

A pre-pluck swipe with witch hazel will ensure that you have a clean surface to work on, while not drying out your skin like straight up alcohol. I swipe before and after plucking.

• But DO alcohol swipe your tweezer.

Wipe down your tweezer before and after with 70% Isopropyl alcohol. It will kill any bacteria that’s festering on your implement!

• Use a black or white eye pencil to help guide you.

It’s hard to remember where that “perfect arch” measurement begins and ends. Sometimes I will mark it with a pencil, which helps not only give a visual of where I need to pluck, but also gives me a sense of what the brows will look like when  finished. I prefer using a white pencil (I find that darker pencils tend to mix too easily with my brow color, making it hard to see the lines). When finished, the lines can be wiped away with the witch hazel.

• Gently, gently, gently (and I mean gently!) pull your skin taught.

This will feel awkward at first, but use the thumb and index finger of your free hand to gently pull the skin around where you are plucking taught. Then pluck out the stray hairs in the direction of the hair growth. Hair slides out so much easier and it will minimize the pain. Just release and check after plucking a few hairs to make sure you are removing what you want to remove–tighter skin can shift the brows out of line at bit.

• Resist the temptation to go overboard.

Sometimes, I get into a groove with the plucking and it gets addictive. I could go on forever. And then I end up with brows that are way too thin. Be conservative. Brows that are too thin can make a face severe.  You don’t want to spend the next few weeks being asked why you are so angry.

• Move from brow to brow, but don’t worry about being “uniform.”

Just like one foot can be slightly bigger than the other, brows are not uniform in appearance, so don’t try to force them to look exactly alike. But do pluck a bit from one side, and then move to the other, to ensure that they are somewhat similar in shape and size.

I am in love with two curl-enhancing products from the TIGI Curlesque hair care collection.

My friends with pin-straight or crazy curly hair are always quick to point out how fantastic it is to have wavy hair. Theoretically, the waves enable me to wear hair that’s either curly OR straight, depending on my mood.

Since the grass is always greener, particularly when talking hair, I have coveted both the super straight and super curly variety. While I love the sleek, blown-out look, I don’t have much time to muss and fuss with blowing out my hair. And when I try to get the curl going,  I end up with the wavy-in-all-the-wrong-places look that often includes a bit of frizz.

With a little help from the tremendous Jonathan, co-owner of Blush Salon in the tony neighborhood of Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, I now have an easy, no fuss way to give my boring waves a little boost.

In freshly washed, still damp hair, apply about two pumps of Tigi Catwalk Curlesque Leave In Conditioner. Then, work about a half of a palm-full  of their TIGI Catwalk Curlesque Lightweight Mousse into the hair, concentrating on the middle and ends. Scrunch up the hair to get the curls to form and let it air dry.

According to Jonathan, the addition of the leave in conditioner prior to the mousse helps weigh the curls down slightly, giving them a beautiful, slightly elongated shape without frizzing or kinking them out.

The end result is soft, flowing curls.

I love the simplicity. The process adds only a fraction of time to my morning routine.

Dsiclosures: The TIGI links are Amazon Affiliate links. The TIGI products tested were purchased by me.

While the other moms wore Gucci sandals to the music recital, my feet were decked out in my fave skull sneakers. They may be slip-ons but they're not slippers!

Anyone who meets me now basically laughs their ass off that I once had the words “Fashion Editor” in a title (full title was Beauty and Fashion Editor). And while fashion was the least favorite part of my job, I always managed to look the part–slightly trendy and put together.

Then life exploded. Between my job, marriage and a kid, any cool hunting I managed to do in my 20s became simply an expensive pain in the ass in my 30s. Thus much of the decade has been spent in some form of yoga pants.

This really hit home when my kid asked me to attend her day camp music recital. But on one condition. I couldn’t wear my jammies.

Now, in fairness, I don’t wear my “jammies” to drop her off! I am in jeans and a T or tank, and yes some mornings I am in workout gear. But in her head, apparently, I am always in my jammies.

Guess it’s time to ditch the jammies and get a style overhaul.

Luckily, my friend Heather just launched a fantastic new site 365 Days of Style, a really cool online community that’s all style related. Not fashion. Style. Big diff.

Fashion is what designers drape over living clothes hangers. Fashion is what critics dissect, with the good stuff being so “in the moment.” Fashion is an art. And also an industry.

Style, on the other hand, is personal. Simply wearing clothes will definitely keep you from getting arrested for indecency. But style is unique to you and your personality. It allows you to feel comfortable in your own skin.

So my personality probably doesn’t scream yoga pants. At my most relaxed, I am pretty easy-going with a splash of whimsy! I’d love my style to reflect this.

Heather and the 365 crew has put together a fantastic, complete free resource to help me on my quest to add a little more style, and a little less jammie, into my appearance. Their 12 Simple Separates guide breaks down 12 closet essentials that, like magic, can transform into upwards of 80 separate outfits.

Mind blowing, isn’t it?

And did I mention, it’s completely free? No opt in, no strings attached.

My favorite part of the guide is that it will help me edit out pieces of my existing wardrobe that just doesn’t “go” with anything. Nothing is more frustrating than a closet full of clothes that can’t be matched.

This will definitely cut down on the colorful language that echos from my closet when I have to pull myself together for a professional function.

Products containing lactic acid are a wonderful addition to your skin care arsenal. Photo by lisegagne/istockphoto.com

I admit it, up until about 45 minutes ago, my skin looked like crap.

An erratic schedule, a pile of commitments (including an overhaul of this blog) and a few new product trials meant that my skin was either getting the barest minimum attention or getting slathered with stuff that wasn’t really agreeing with it.

I was sick of looking at my craptastic skin in the mirror so today I forced myself to schedule my own appointment. I finally broke out a lactic acid peel that I have been meaning to try for a while. And while it’s Day 3 of summer, and I generally have a no-peel policy for the hotter months, I will be extra vigilant over the next few weeks on keeping my skin protected.

So, onto the lactic acid! Lactic acid is found naturally in the body, and it is found in the acid mantle of our skin (acid mantle is easiest thought of as our skin’s oil). Because it is a naturally occurring acid in the body, our skin accepts it much easier than any “foreign” acid (like, for example, salicylic or glycolic). It’s also very mild, and good for sensitive skin.

Lactic acid (derived from the sugars in milk) is a wonderful exfoliator and ultra moisturizing, and combined (as my peel was) with kojic acid, it helps with hyperpigmentation. It’s a tyronese inhibitor, which means it suppresses the tyronese enzyme that causes skin discoloration. In combination with the kojic acid (often sourced from mushrooms, soy or rice bran), which is a natural skin lightener, it helps to lighten hyperpigmentation from sun damage or from skin inflammation (such as acne) that leaves spots behind.

Result: My skin tone has evened out, and it looks and feels smoother and much more hydrated.

While you will get more pronounced results from a lactic peel, home care products with lactic acid can offer wonderful results. However, products containing lactic acid can be a bit hard to find because, for whatever reason, lactic acid just isn’t a terribly sexy AHA for the marketing types. It may not be sexy, but it’s damn effective.

Sign up for Product Junkie, our free weekly newsletter to get exclusive product reviews (including two lactic acid products I use in my treatment room), tips and giveaways. As a bonus for signing up, we’ll also send you our e-series 7 Skin Care Myths (that are keeping you from the skin you want)! Best of all? It’s absolutely free.

I so get the desire to de-goop. That little blackhead burrowed into your nose looks like it has taken over your entire face (but trust me, you are the only one who can really see it). That huge pimple on your chin is begging to be popped. Keeping your hands off your face? It’s. So. Hard.

The self-proclaimed Cosmetic’s Cop Paula Begoun has extraction advice for her readers posted over at her blog The Beauty Bunch. Paula doesn’t have much use for estheticians, and she believes that we all can DIY our pimple popping and blackhead squeezing.

And, hey, maybe we can! But her advice is wrong.

First, don’t use a comedone extractor. This is a tricky tool to master, and I have had extensive damage done to my skin by a trained esthetician using one of those suckers. You are way better off using the sides of your fingers (no nails, and fingers clean and wrapped in cotton or gauze pads, please!) or two Q-Tips.

With sufficient skin prep, blackheads often slip right out with the fingers and some light pressure. But skin prep is not, as Paula suggests, a little bit of a water based cleanser scrubbed with a washcloth around the area.

You need to soften the oil, which is done by using a highly alkaline solution left on the area for several minutes with steam applied. A face wash in tepid water means you will have to exert more pressure to pop those suckers out. That can lead to damage.

You need good magnification to see what you are doing and to follow the pore’s direction.

If you pop a pimple, make sure it is fully drained. If not, it will come back with a vengeance.

Never, ever EVER try to pop a pimple without a head on it. Period. Do not try to lance it to get the goop out. Leave it alone. You can scar (and I have the ice pick scars to prove it from my wandering teenage fingers).

When you are done, swab the area with witch hazel or tea tree oil. That stuff you just took out is bacteria, and without this step, it can spread all over your face.

Self-extracting is not something I recommend, but I am also realistic and know everyone gives it a go at least once in their lives.

Do you see an esthetician faithfully? For clients who see me regularly, I am happy to extract a pimple and give a quick high frequency between appointments if a pimple is making them crazy. Yours may very well have the same policy. It’s worth finding out.