The YSL Babydoll mascara commercial with Cara Delevingne is all kinds of famaze. [Elle]

Bright eyeliner underneath your peepers only is all the rage. Consider yourself dared to try it. [BellaSugar]

Liam Hemsworth shaved his beard, and we consider this news (also, hubba hubba). [Us]

This lady painted all 225 countries’ flags on her nails. Color us impressed. [TheGloss]

You probably already know that Greek yogurt is really good for your health (it’s also a really good substitute for sour cream, FYI). And now, we’re hearing that it’s great for your skin, too. Sephora is selling Korres Greek Yoghurt Advanced Nourishing Sleeping Facial, a night cream boasting Greek Yoghurt Concentrate as its main ingredient. It packs vitamins, minerals, and “two and a half times the protein content of regular yogurt,” meaning it’s super-nourishing. Since protein is already partly responsible for maintaining your skin’s strength and elasticity (after all, skin is made up of lots of proteins, like keratin, collagen, and elastin), delivering more of it can only help maintain its strength. So, Greek yogurt: super food and super face.

[via Nylon]

by Samantha Bennett

Ten summers ago I gave myself a horrific sunburn by putting on SPF 8 and falling asleep on the beach. And that’s the story of how I got boob freckles. Now I habitually coat myself in SPF 90.

But while I was out buying (hoarding, whatever) sunscreen just a few days ago, a fellow shopper casually remarked that anything higher than SPF 50 doesn’t work. Cut to her walking away like she didn’t just ruin a life, and me having a meltdown in aisle 5…

I’d always assumed that the higher the SPF, the safer my precious, still-supple complexion. It turns out, I knew very little about the product that I’d spent countless hours rubbing into my pores. And because, Internet friends, I care about your skincare and sunspots too, I’m about to spit some truth for ya.

Anything Over SPF 50 Might Not Work: TRUE

In 2011, the FDA proposed a regulation that requires any sunscreen higher than SPF 50 be rebranded as SPF 50+, as there’s not actually enough data to prove that any SPF higher than 50 can provide additional protection. Uhhh… not sure why no one told me before I spent my summers covered in SPF 100 while all my tan friends laughed at me. If you burn easily like I do, grab a sunscreen that’s SPF 50+. The FDA recommends you reapply every two hours—especially if you’re swimming or sweating—to reap the full benefits.

Try: Tried-and-true Banana Boat Ultra Defense.

Sunscreen Causes Breakouts: FALSE

If you’re worried that slathering on sunscreen may cause your skin to retaliate with a pimple or three, remember that it’s actually dried-out skin that’s the culprit. The sun beating on your unprotected face causes more long-term trouble than you’d think. When your skin’s dried out, the body automatically thinks it needs to produce more oil, which can cause clogged pores and prompt breakouts. If you’re nervous about the way your skin will react to sunscreen, use a formula that’s made for sensitive-skin.

Try: Noncomedogenic, paraben-free EltaMD products.

You Can Mix Sunscreen for a Stronger SPF: FALSE

What are you, a chemist? It’s impossible to mix two sunscreens together to make a stronger SPF. It’s like the time you spent months in that shady laboratory…er, your parents’ basement, trying to figure out how to bind Ryan Gosling and Ryan Reynolds together to create one superpowered Ryan. It just can’t be done. If you put on face lotion with SPF 15 and then sunscreen with SPF 30 later in the day, you’re not wearing SPF 45. What you are wearing is about an SPF 22—the average protection of the two products. For the best protection, opt for a broad spectrum sunscreen that protects against both UVA (long-wave) and UVB (short-wave) rays.

Try: Clinique Sun for Body and Face that’s gentle enough to wear under makeup, but strong enough to wear on the sand.

Or, avoid the sun altogether with a $25 airbrush tan in New York City, a $17 organic spray tan in Los Angeles, a $17 custom airbrush tan in Chicago, and a $24 airbrush tan in San Francisco.

Starry-eyed

Like changing a flat tire and fighting a horse-sized duck, taking a great selfie is one of those life skills you should learn before you need it. Get prepared for your close-up by making sure you have these simple directions memorized.

1. Pay homage to the selfie patron saint Rihanna and play “Pour it Up” to get in the mood. Then literally pour it up (see step two).

2. The perfect selfie is all the easier to achieve when facial muscles are relaxed, so pour yourself a drink. Tip: Avoid wine mouth by sticking to clear liquors or using a funnel.

3. After you apply primer, foundation, and concealer for that #justwokeup #nomakeup shot, highlight your upper cheeks and the bridge of your nose with a serum of sloth tears (Kristen Bell swears by it, probably!).  

4. Get your facial expressions down. Practice pursing your lips with a bowl of spaghetti! Perfect your spontaneous smile by asking a coworker to tickle you!

5. Next, get your smize right. Any subscriber to the school of Tyra can tell you that “smiling with your eyes” is imperative for any iPhone portrait. To achieve the perfect sultry squint, lock yourself in a room with a gassy stranger.

6. Position a box fan diagonally in front of your face for extra tousled-hair drama. Aim for a midpoint squarely between “is there a draft in here?” and “weather reporter in a hurricane.”

7. The right prop can add the illusion of spontaneity to your selfie. Try looking bored next to a jar of artisanal honey or acting caught off-guard by your own hair.

8. Find your light source. Natural sunlight is optimal for accentuating your best features and hiding an imperfect complexion, under-eye circles, or hickies. If it’s too late in the day, at least you have that emergency jar of fireflies in your purse, right?

9.  Hold your camera or iPhone (not your iPad—never your iPad) slightly above eye level at a 45-degree angle to create a defined jawline. Use a protractor if necessary! A steady hand is essential for this, so we hope you haven’t been drinking this whole time.

10. Snap away, pick the shot in which your cleavage looks most casual yet stunning, and select the proper filter. Post to social media immediately. #selfie

[image by Mitchell Grafton]

She’s already Eyebrow Queen and basically the Jennifer Lawrence of modeling, and now Cara Delevingne is officially an advocate for skin cancer awareness. The 20-year-old British model recently posed for a T-shirt benefiting the Marc Jacobs’ “Protect the Skin You’re In” campaign.  Much like predecessors Naomi Campbell, Victoria Beckham, Heidi Klum, Chloe Sevigny, Brandon Boyd (of Incubus fame), and Mr. Jacobs himself, she did so in the buff. And while we don’t recommend stripping down to show your support (not in public, at least), we do advocate raising awareness for the fight. Seems like a T-shirt is a good start.

[via Beauty High]

by Casey Cline

Last weekend, my roommate Lindsay and I finished the New Jersey Marathon. We were “up and running” (the theme of this year’s race) at 5:15am, though we’d both been tossing and turning since much earlier than that. After quickly changing, we were packed up and in the car, eating peanut butter-and-banana bagels by 6am.

Lindsay’s uncle dropped us off and we made our way to the start just as the half marathon kicked off at 7. With time to kill, we stretched and quietly judged a few runners who were jogging around the parking lot. Some people opt for a warm-up run, but Lindsay and I are not those people. We also debated, at length, whether we should put on our sweatshirts. Though the forecast had predicted a high of around 60 degrees, the weather was in the 40s with hovering clouds and wind. Finally, we decided against sweatshirts and made our way into our corral, which coincidentally, is when the sun finally came out.

First, the National Anthem was sung by a man running his 100th marathon. His 100th marathon. Then “Sweet Caroline” played over the speakers and we observed a 20-second silence for Boston. Before we knew it, a bugle sounded “First Call,” Springsteen’s “Born to Run” blared, and we were off.

As you know, I hate the beginning of any run. But Sunday was different. Maybe it was the adrenaline and thrill of being in a crowd of equally-insane people, or the two Advil I took that morning, or the pounds of spaghetti I ate the night before, but those first few miles flew by, and surprisingly, I felt fine. It wasn’t until around miles 10-13 that I started to really get tired and felt a sharp pain in my leg.

Two weeks prior to the marathon, I’d done a 21-mile training run, and did something—what, I don’t know—to my ankle. I iced it, Icy Hot-ed it, and even stopped running altogether the week before the race, but come Sunday morning, I could still feel it. My lack of medical training told me my best plan of action was to simply put the pain out of my mind, and it seemed to work, at least until that first stabbing pain. Thankfully, that only happened a few more times, but there was constant a dull ache. I could also feel blisters forming on my feet, but had no choice but to just keep running.

To add insult to injury, it was around this time that the marathon route doubled back—there was a turnaround at mile 19, so while I huffed and puffed through my 13th mile, some shirtless freakshow was passing me as he breezed through his 23rd. I was encouraged only when I realized this meant I could see all the faces of the hardcore runners as they passed—and they looked just as miserable as I felt.

That false sense of justice only lasted so long, and if it hadn’t been for all the spectators, volunteers, and aid stations, I don’t know how much farther I would have made it. Tables were stationed about every mile to mile-and-a-half, with volunteers handing out small cups of Gatorade and water. I slowed down and took a cup of each at every single station. I was also pretty liberal with my GU energy gels, downing half a packet every 45 minutes. This, and my carb-heavy dinner the night before, helped me avoid hitting the dreaded wall, when your glycogen (fancy word for energy) levels drop and your body responds with severe fatigue and an overwhelming urge to curl up in a sweaty ball and cry.

I’d hit the wall before on one of my longer training runs, and kept waiting for it to come between miles 15-20, but it never did. And as soon as I hit mile 20, I could feel the end was near. I never exactly caught a second wind, but running is as mental a game as it is physical, and with only six miles left, I knew that I’d be knocking run a marathon off my bucket list. Granted, those last six miles seemed to stretch out into forever, but spectators were out in full force, cheering me on the whole way.

From the very beginning, people lined the streets, shouted into bullhorns, played drums, and held up signs which ran the whole gamut—from personalized to “Go, Stranger, Go!” As solitary as a long training run can be, this was about as team effort as you can get. Any time I felt like stopping, there would be another person applauding me from their driveway or offering up a beer (I declined).

When I hit mile 24, I slowed down until Lindsay caught up with me. We’d separated at mile 13, but had agreed we would cross the finish line together. As we made our way down the boardwalk into the final stretch, we saw our two roommates and their boyfriends, along with a couple more close friends and our dogs. They screamed and shouted, waved their signs (“Your next marathon will be Arrested Development!”), and showed off their shirts (“Team 6Beyoncé”—what we call our apartment). It was the final push we needed to pick up our pace, and we ran as hard as we could, crossing together in 5:01:25.

I’ve run 303.2 miles since I started training on Christmas Eve. It may have been fewer than what my plan called for, but it’s also more than I’ve ever run in my life. And I’m so proud of it.

Um, did this plant get Juvederm or what?! [Frisky]

All the studded, pointed, and neon nails from the Met Gala for your viewing pleasure. [PopSugar]

Can you tell the difference between a $28 and a $600 haircut? Most ladies can’t. [Mommyish]

Kate Moss got naked in a self-tanner ad. NSFW but will definitely make you want a tan. [TheGloss]

Just when we thought Jennifer Lawrence couldn’t get any cooler… she goes and photobombs Sarah Jessica Parker. [Vulture]

With Mother’s Day just around the corner, we’ve been reflecting on some of the wisdom our own moms have shared with us over the years. Things like “treat others like you’d like to be treated” and “marry a doctor.” And of course, their tried-and-true beauty secrets. Here, Lifebooker’s editorial team shares what our moms taught us about beauty:

My beautiful mother, like her mother before, preaches the benefits of cod liver oil. (Or, as we pronounce it in our native Long Island tongue, cod livah awyl.) I’ve been taking a teaspoon of Carlson’s lemon-flavored oil every morning since I was a kid. I’m so used to the taste, I just chug it from the bottle (I’m a delicate flower), but mom suggests beginners mix it with a bit of orange juice to mask the taste of…well, cod liver oil. Carlson’s has high amounts of Omega-3 fatty acids and triglycerides, which is not only good for my heart and high cholesterol, but makes my hair and nails grow like weeds. Seriously, my colorist is in awe of how often she has to trim my hair and fill in my roots. That Leslie Bennett, she sure is one smart lady. - Samantha

My mom and I always joke that her style icon is Peggy Bundy from Married… with Children. When I was growing up, I didn’t think she looked like what I thought a mom should look like: she favored high heels over flats, bright lipstick over lip balm, generous cleavage over pretty much anything, and she kept her hair in long curls well into her 50’s. She always did her own thing, and that inspired me to be bold with my own beauty choices. Some were successful (pixie cut), and some were questionable (bronze lipstick), but they were always me. - Diana

The best beauty secret my mom passed down to me is not so much a secret, as it is words of wisdom: “keep it simple, stupid” (except my mom would never call me stupid because she loves me too much, and I happen to be a genius). When I wanted to spice up my 4th grade bowl cut, who’s the one who told me to “put the Elmer’s Glue DOWN”? Mom. When I wanted to bleach my hair like Eminem in the 7th grade, who said “just take off the Insane Clown Posse makeup first”? Mom. And when I thought my hair was too greasy and that I needed a different shampoo, who told me “that’s conditioner, sweetie”? You got it, Mom. I am a classic jeans and a t-shirt kind of guy, and I owe it all to the woman who told me that an Aladdin-style vest paired with Umbro shorts and Tevas was just “a little too much.” - Tim

Growing up, I regarded my mom as the female archetype of beauty. So when she came home one day when I was five with her long, blonde princess locks shorn off into a pixie cut, I immediately started crying. That’s not really the effect you’re going for when you commit to going full Hathaway, but she was unfazed. Eventually, she grew it out into a Princess Diana shag (seen above), but her hair choices never had anything to do with what anyone else thought. Lesson learned: What you look like doesn’t matter, as long as you’re being true to yourself. Which is probably why I dipped my hair in turquoise Manic Panic dye last week. - Eva

My mom has used Pond’s Cold Cream to remove her makeup for as long as I can remember, and I’m pretty sure my grandmother used it, too. So naturally, when I started wearing makeup (and realized how you take it off is just as important as how you put it on), I picked up some Pond’s of my own. I’m pretty sure if it can survive the epic fights we had when I was in middle school, it can outlive anything. - Casey

If you’re anything like us, you’ll be celebrating the opening of The Great Gatsby tomorrow by drinking Gin Rickeys and shouting, “It’s the bees knees!” whenever possible. Also, by dolling up in dandy ‘20s style. For the latter, we’ve got four tutorials to help you unleash your inner Daisy Buchanan.

 The Garbo Brow

The goods: Primer, foundation, and concealer, plus a quality brow pencil (like Rimmel’s Professional Eyebrow Pencil) in a dark shade.

The lowdown: The ‘20s were all about The Brow—a relatively thin line (by today’s Cara Delevingne standards, at least), penciled in with the precision of a lockpicker. First, create the perfect backdrop with a paper-moon complexion. Then you’ll trace along your natural brows, accentuating the arch and elongating the outer rim to the very corner of your peepers. Get the step-by-step directions here.

Level of difficulty: Those Claudette Colbert brows are yours…as long as you’ve got a decent attention span and a steady hand (so hold off on the mint juleps).

Cupid’s Bow Lip

The goods: Heavy cream concealer, red lip liner, and a dramatic shade of burgundy lipstick (we like Bobbi Brown’s Rich Lip Color in Crimson).

The lowdown: The ‘20s lip was smaller, cuter, and rounder than your average 2013 pout. After you apply a concealer base to hold your lipstick in place, use your lip liner to exaggerate your cupid’s bow and bring the outer edges of your mouth in closer—creating that teeny tiny Betty Boop kisser. Then fill it in with a rich red lip color, the shade favored by flappers like Zelda Fitzgerald. Fast forward to 7:20 in this tutorial to get to the good stuff.

Level of difficulty: This one requires your fine motor skills to be in top form… so do not attempt this wine-mouth pout with actual wine mouth.

Faux Bob

The goods: Just bobby pins and hair ties—so, pretty much exactly what’s floating at the bottom of your purse.

The lowdown: The ultimate feminist statement, bobs were a blunt (pun intended) response to stuffy Edwardian attitudes. Ladies even lined up around the block giddy to shear their long locks back in the day. If you’re not ready to commit to a new short ‘do, it’s easy to fake it. Just pin up the bottom section of your hair, tie a loose pony, tuck the ends up and under, and voila! Jordan Baker (and Karlie Kloss) have got nothing on you.

Level of difficulty: You can probably do this halfway through a bottle of hooch.

Finger Waves

The goods: Duckbill clips, pin curl clips, tail and flat combs, and a good styling gel, like Bed Head’s Manipulator.

The lowdown: This styling technique was used to add some extra oomph to the bob. You’ll shape your hair into delicaticate S-shaped waves with a comb, pinning and securing with durable hair wax (this step-by-step video explains it in detail). Just be careful it doesn’t get messed up from necking in the back of a yellow Packard… or you know, on your couch.

Level of difficulty: This one won’t be easy. But upstaging Carey Mulligan’s look in Vogue rarely is.

Did anyone else catch Katie Holmes caught offguard yawning at the beginning of her red carpet interview at the Met Gala?!! #busted

Call out sick tomorrow and spend the day getting all of your lewd Roger Sterling fantasies in while you still can—scientists may have found the cure for gray hair. Silver strands are caused by a buildup of hydrogen peroxide in hair follicles, which causes oxidative stress and slowly turns tresses white as time goes on (that’s also why hydrogen peroxide is used to achieve the perfect platinum blonde).

Young’uns are able to break down that peroxide with an enzyme called catalase, which our bodies slowly stop producing as we get older. But researchers recently fought Mother Nature, developing a topical serum that reverses oxidative stress in skin and eyelashes. Meaning, your Nice n’ Easy emergency cover-up dye could be obsolete in the near future…but so could silver foxes (NOOOOO).  [NBC]

Is that a vibrator in your pocket or are you just treating your wrinkles, fatigue, and cankles? Possibly both, if you were a lady in the 1900s…

BEAUTY FUN FACT:

Doctor-administered hysterical paroxysm (aka orgasm) proved to be so popular as a cure for ailments like “female hysteria” in the Victorian era and beyond that by the early 1900s, it was prescribed as a treatment for…well, pretty much everything.

Beauty shops used electrical vibrators on the face as sort of an old-timey Clarisonic, treating acne, blackheads, and wrinkles, but it’s the at-home uses that got really interesting. Vibrators promised to cure dandruff, firm the bust, slim the hips, “banish that tired, tense feeling,” and relieve everything from swollen feet to nervousness. It’s hard to say how many people actually used them for their advertised purpose, but it sure was a good excuse to keep an emergency vibrator in every room of the home. 

The jig was up by the late 1920s though, when the medical devices started popping up in porn films, being used for decidedly non-medical purposes. 

By now you’ve surely heard the hoopla surrounding Jon Hamm’s Jon Hamm. While we’re certainly not opposed to it, we like to live by the mantra that less is more. Less talk, that is. Aren’t things inherently cooler the less mainstream they are? We’ve compiled our favorite undervalued celebrity man parts. Hey, after all the “perfect woman” collages we’ve had to endure over the years, we deserve it!

Michael Fassbender’s Hair

Just because Prince Harry has cornered the hot-ginger market doesn’t mean he’s the only hot ginger in the market. Behold Michael Fassbender. Though he’s perhaps better known for his own headline-making bulge, the German-Irish actor represents redheads quite well. Plus, he’s got an Irish brogue to match.

Joel Kinnaman’s Eyes

On top of his magnificent jawline, Joel Kinnaman’s eyes are the best-kept secret in Hollywood. Any fan of AMC’s The Killing could lecture you on Detective Stephen Holder’s appeal, but who knew the man behind the facial hair was such a fox? You take your Jake Gyllenhaal blues; we’ll be over here hoarding these pools of honey for ourselves.

Eminem’s Hands

Sure, Marshall Mathers has offended who-knows-how-many people during his long career, but what’s really offensive is the lack of appreciation for his hands! There’s just something about the way they move when he raps. They’re big, and strong, and—considering how dirty his mouth is—it’s pleasantly surprising how clean his nails always seem to be. We’ll let your imagination take it from there.

Mehcad Brooks’ Torso

Look, there’s a time and place for Ryan Gosling GIFs (most times and most places), but we’re here to appreciated underrated parts, remember? And for that, we turn to Mehcad Brooks. Ever since he played Eggs in True Blood, breakfast hasn’t been the same. There’s just something about him that makes us wish he’d lasted a few more seasons. Oh, we know what it is: the eight-pack.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s Thighs

Clearly, an international soccer star would have statuesque thighs. And some afternoon Googling (we were on our lunch break!) reveals Cristiano Ronaldo’s not shy about showing them off. It’s no wonder—they’re a thing of beauty. Wonder if they got so toned from running through our minds all day?