Julyne's Beauty Blog

Let's take a quick 10-second break from twirls and jumps and spins from last night's gymnastics competition and talk about the barrette art.

If you tuned into the bars competition last night you may have noticed the various colored barrettes sported by virtually every gymnast. There were white barrettes, red barrettes, heart-shaped barrettes, barrettes in a line across the top of the head like soldiers preparing for battle. Surely they are to keep the hair out of the face, but the barrettes were pretty funny.

Ok, that was fun, now back to NBC....

Photo: The Chinese women's gymnastics team celebrate during Day 5 of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games // Getty Images

In case you missed this shampoo trick for fine hair the first time I wrote about it last year, here it goes again:

Apply shampoo only to scalp and roots. Slather conditioner on the bottom two-thirds of hair, staying away from the scalp. Rinse hair of the shampoo and conditioner. The shampoo will work it's way down the hair, rinsing out the conditioner.

I saw these homemade beauty tricks in July's Cosmo magazine and had to share:

To give hair extra shine, try Victoria Secret model Selita Bank's avocado recipe. She mashes up half an avocado and applies it to hair like a mask. A few minutes later, rinse off. Banks, who is from the Cayman Islands, says women there use fresh produce on their hair and bodies all the time.

Anna Kournikova says women in her native country (Russia) boost fine hair by slathering on a mask made from dark bread soaked in beer.

For more homemade masks and beauty tricks, check out: Homemade Face Masks, 14 Recipes for 6 Different Face Types

If there is one thing I will swear to you, it's that I won't say a beauty product is amazing unless I sincerely believe it is amazing. And La Roche-Posay's Anthelios XL tinted creme sunscreen is amazing.

I found it while shopping at The Bathroom, my favorite NYC beauty boutique located in the West Village. I was skeptical because the bottle was somewhat small (50 ml) for the pricetag ($47), plus, I was afraid the tint would be too dark for my fair skin. Also, I have used La Roche-Posay's Anthelios XL lait version for years, but it casts a white, ghost-like pall over the face, which I hate. But a girl's gotta wear her sunscreen.

I bought the stuff and I've since bought another bottle and my friends are now going ga-ga for it as well. Here's why it's so fabulous:

• No annoying white cast on the face. Instead, the tint acts like a tinted foundation and gives the face just the right amount of color.
• SPF 50+. Dermatologists agree you need more than 30 SPF to protect the face from the sun. There's some debate over whether super high numbers can be trusted, but I have worn this religiously and have yet to sunburn.
• The bottle is small enough for a purse. Sunscreen must be reapplied throughout the day if you are out in the sun and this bottle fits perfectly in any purse. While I wish it was a little more product for the money, a few pea-sized dots will do you. It does go a long way.
• The product contains Mexoryl which, like Helioplex in Neutrogena products, protects against both UVA and UVB rays.
• I've read many dermatologists who say they use Anthelios XL, I hope they know about the tinted creme sunscreen.

Buy it at finer drugstores across the country, at The Bathroom or online.

Don't want to break the bank on this product? I recommend Eucerin Extra Protective Moisture SPF 30. Photo: Anthelios XL tinted creme courtesy Pricegrabber

My new haircut (missed it?) looks best when it's piece-y (thank you everyone for your kind comments, I know my picture on this Website makes me look like a sorority girl circa 1994. I blame the photographer who insisted on pouffing up the top). To get this look, I've been using Shu Uemura's Liquid Fabric. You spray it on before you blow or airdry and then a bit afterward. It gives hair great texture, which those of us with fine hair need. Spray and then finger-brush hair so it is "piece-y."

You can buy it at select salons (their Website has a salon locater tool) or get it off the Shu Website.

Some of my favorite finds on my About.com sister sites:

Sick of shaving but you don't want to splurge on a professional wax? Naomi Torres, About's Hair Removal Guide, shows you how to wax at home.

Hate your bad haircut? Kendra Aarhus, our Women's Hairstyles Guide, tells us how to cope.

Fall's just around the corner and our Makeup Guide Faith Lawless shows off the top Fall makeup collections.

Everyone is talking about the Ped Egg. My friend Dania and I were in Rite Aid and she spotted a pile of them and she couldn't believe she could buy them at Rite Aid, "I was going to buy one online this weekend!" she said. Then there were the two girls in the elevator talking about the Ped Egg (thank God the men in the elevator seemed oblivious). And today, I read in Marie Claire that Jin Soon Choi, manicurist to the stars, even recommends them.

I am the proud owner of a Ped Egg (see my blog post from May) and I have to say, it is everything it's hyped to be. My one warning is take it easy with the scrubbing and don't go overboard because you can remove too much skin. Buy them at department stores or online for about $10.

Photo: Pricegrabber

Here's a look at what's making beauty news today around the Web:

• There are reports out today that some women are having severe allergies to the dye used in henna tattooing. Warning: The picture within this MSNBC article is pretty disgusting.
• From the New York Times Skin Deep section: Lancome and Estee Lauder have both unveiled battery-operated mascara wands, which they claim better separate lashes with fewer lumps. Lancome is my absolute favorite mascara brand so I will HAVE to try this.
• Speaking of L'Oreal, was Beyonce's skin white-washed in a L'Oreal ad running in Elle and other magazines? Check out Yahoo's article and decide for yourself.

If you have super dry, coarse hair, Aveda has a new product on the market, Dry Remedy, created just for you. Aveda's one of my favorite brands, but I have oily hair so I wasn't going to touch this stuff with a 10-foot pole. Instead, I gave the Aveda Dry Remedy shampoo, conditioner and masque to a friend with coarse, curly hair. A couple weeks and a few shampoos later and she was hooked. She reports it's not too heavy, softened her curls and it's good for the environment. She particularly loved the masque.

Keep in mind that if your hair is fried, there's nothing short of a haircut that can save you. Conditioning masques are great for naturally dry hair, but can't do much for hair that's been overprocessed or is suffering from massive split ends.

Photo: Aveda's Dry Remedy Moisturizing Treatment Masque

This week's New York Magazine features the new "It" face that women of a certain age are flaunting all over New York, most likely thanks to a surgeon's touch. (Check out New York Magazine's "About-Face").

Madonna has it, Demi Moore has it, Michelle Pfeiffer has it and so can you for about $30,000 says writer Jonathan Van Meter. Van Meter has no idea what surgical procedures these women have endured, if any, but he does interview doctors inan effort to suss out their anti-aging secrets.

Apparently the new face lift is all about plumping up the face like a baby's. Gone are the tight, drawn face-lifts (think Faye Dunaway) and the poufy lips (think Meg Ryan) and in their place are "big, baby cheeks," a strong, straight nose, dewy skin and lips that are plumped just so.

More on anti-aging:

• Is your skin prematurely aging?
• Hollywood secrets to looking younger
• I tried Retin-A and loved it

Photo of Madonna on August 2, 2008, by Bill Pugliano/Getty Images