Beauty Products Review

In her latest step-by-step makeup video, YouTube legend Lauren Luke explains how to make the most of blue eyes

Some female celebrities appear to have beaten the ageing process, as these pictures show

Homophobia and misogyny collide in one delightful beauty pageant car-crash, starring Perez Hilton and Miss California

It's hard to believe that the Miss USA beauty pageant – run by Donald Trump, hosted by Billy Bush of, yes, that Bush clan, and judged by, among others, the star-wannabe gossip blogger Perez Hilton – could have gotten any stupider than its intrinsic inanity, but when Hilton used the Q&A portion of the pageant to ask frontrunner and "sweet Christian girl" Carrie Prejean (Miss California) whether same-sex marriage should be legalized, her answer managed to plunge the proceedings to yet another nadir:

Well, I think it's great that Americans are able to choose one or the other, um, we live in a land that you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage, and – you know what? – in my country, and in my family, I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman, no offense to anybody out there, but that's how I was raised and that's how I think that it should be, between a man and a woman. Thank you.

Considering that beauty pageants have a 1950's Rosie-the-Riveter-who? sensibility about them, I suppose it shouldn't surprise anyone when a contestant holds political opinions from the same era. But such reasonable explanations would necessarily preclude a week's worth of Drama! and Scandal! and Recriminations! in turning the loser of a two-bit dog-and-pony show into the glamorous martyr of a sequin-drenched political circus.

Miss California, having promptly lost the pageant to Miss North Carolina, nee Kristen Dalton, after her disastrously bigoted answer, is now taking to the airwaves (Wow — the Billy Bush Show? What a coincidence!) to claim her sweet Christian answer cost her the crown"

It is a very touchy subject and [Perez Hilton] is a homosexual and I see where he was coming from and I see the audience would've wanted me to be more politically correct. But I was raised in a way that you can never compromise your beliefs and your opinions for anything.

Those beliefs presumably not including supporting basic equality for those darn touchy queers. 'Cuz that's not what God, who was testing her faith by having one of those darn touchy queers ask her the question, wants. The only reason God even makes gay people is to test the faith of sweet Christian heterosexuals - he doesn't put them here to live full lives of their own and fall in love and have families and get married. Duh!

And because this entire controversy just wouldn't be complete without one more heaping bucketful of calamitous idiocy, Perez Hilton helpfully explained that "she lost not because she doesn't believe in gay marriage; Miss California lost because she's a dumb bitch." It's amazing how frequently homophobia and misogyny arrive hand-in-hand at the same parties. And why wouldn't they arrive together at this one? After all, a beauty pageant is just porn for sweet Christian patriarchs.

That is, when they're not looking at actual porn. Just the way God intended.

Dressing up

It's a wrap

We wore scarves all winter, and we're not giving up yet. Patterned lightweight cotton scarves are the perfect way to look like you've made an effort

Story of O

This week, US channel HBO shows the new Grey Gardens film. It's inspired by the 1975 documentary about Big Edie and Little Edie Bouvier, and Jackie O's eccentric relatives still mesmerise 30 years on

Cream of the crop

Summer is almost here, so we're thinking about our flesh. We're putting our faith in Elemis Pro-Collagen Body Serum. There's lots of science on the packaging and it smells nice...

Dressing down

Stone the Crowe

He's so inescapably himself that Russell Crowe eclipses every role he takes. Even in the brilliant and gripping film version of State of Play. An annoyingly overwhelming actor

Toe toe much

We're all for comfort, but ugly shoes are out of control. This summer's offering - "the gumboot" - combines the Ugg and the Croc. Please just say no

Who's bad?

Looking at Michael Jackson's personal effects up for auction this month gives us the shivers. Who bought tickets for his O2 shows this summer? Can't you see something is terribly wrong?

In her latest step-by-step makeup video, YouTube legend Lauren Luke guides you through blush and contour

Lauren Luke on the secret of smoky Arabian Nights eyes

1 First apply a creamy base - I use a Mac frosted cream eye shadow - so anything on top looks more shimmery: Arabic-inspired eyes are all about shimmer. Then I apply a white pigment all over the eye up to the brow bone.

2 Now use a brush to blend a reddish-gold eye shadow from the outer corner of your eye along the crease and into the corner. Take it up to the brow bone, leaving only a gap for the frosted highlighter - we want as much colour as possible here.

3 Blend all along the upper and lower lid - I use a black Stila eyeliner pen - as close to the lash line as you can get it. For extra definition, run a black liquid liner along the upper lid.

4 Now add a lick of mascara and a final touch to your eyebrows - I use Bobbi Brown's stonewash palette. With an angled liner brush, run the powder through the eyebrow to fill in gaps and create a smooth line. Glamorous, square-shaped eyebrows are what we're after, as a nice frame for the eyes.

Watch all of Lauren Luke's video makeup tutorials