freckles

• Justin Bieber celebrated 2013 with a new tattoo — I'm Not Obsessed
• Be fresh-faced for the new year. Show off your freckles like Noora Lapi — Oracle Fox
• Oooh, clever! How to use your mascara as an eyeliner — The Beauty Department
• Isn't it Iconic: Marilyn Monroe and Chanel No. 5 — InStyle
• Beyoncé let her 'fro shine for New Year's Eve in Las Vegas — Just Jared
• Zooey Deschanel is a beehived beauty on the Feb cover of US Glamour — Styleite
• Think pink! A paint-splashed 'do, created by Joshua Barrett — Fashion Gone Rogue

Natural redheads are known for their fair skin and, yes, burn more easily, but new research shows that the melanin found in people with red hair is also linked to the development of melanoma — even without sun exposure. A study published in the online journal Nature found that redheads produce a different type of melanin than those with darker skin and hair called pheomelanin. Researchers found that this type of melanin in mice led to melanoma development even before they were exposed to UV light.

"There is something about the redhead genetic background that is behaving in a carcinogenic fashion, independent of UV," David Fisher, the cancer biologist who led the study, told Nature. The study shows that pheomelanin itself is a cancer-causing agent. But researchers say that the sun is still a driving force in the development of skin cancers in redheads, despite this genetic discovery. The bottom line: Redheads should be even more keenly aware of changes in their skin, freckles, and moles. Make sure you have a dermatologist regularly check out your skin, and be proactive in keeping your skin protected.

• Freckles (faux or real) are big news for Spring — Beauty Counter Blog
• The best street-style manicures from London Fashion Week — FabSugar UK
• Katherine Heigl goes brunette in One For the Money — Daily Mail
• An insight into the not-so-secret world of men's hair transplants — Telegraph UK
• Be part of the Guinness world record attempt to file and polish the most number of nails in eight hours — Shop Til You Drop
• Napoleon Perdis recommends applying mascara first, not last — InStyle

It's hard not to love a cover that has Penélope Cruz on. The Spanish señorita has one of those faces that the camera loves — drinking in her chocolate almond eyes, bold brows and full lips. But it was her spattering of pretty freckles in June's US Vogue, shot by Mario Testino, that caught our eye. It's so rare to actually see a magazine cover with freckles that haven't been airbrushed out and we're hoping that with celebrities such as Leighton Meester, Rachel Bilson, Sienna Miller, Lily Cole and Emma Watson all proudly flaunting their freckles that everybody will start following suit. There's something so pretty about them, we think. Faux freckles may also take off soon, too — we did see them at the Chloé A/W 2011 show after all and all you need for a sun-kissed spattering is a brown lip pencil. Do you like Penélope's freckles?

Here at Sugar HQ, we love freckles. We spend countless hours trying to get our girlfriends to stop covering them up and embrace them for the unique beauty that they add to their face. And it always helps when we see gorgeous celebs like Leighton Meester, Rachel Bilson, Sienna Miller, Lily Cole and Emma Watson flaunting their freckles. The Parisian catwalks have also joined the campaign to encourage us all to sport a spattering of freckles by featuring them in the makeup palette at the Chloé A/W 2011 show. It was all Charlotte Tilbury's wonderful work, who created the sun-kissed spattering using MAC Lip Pencil in Hodge Podge. Interestingly the lip colour used in the show was called Freckletone! Do you have freckles? Do you love them or loathe them? Think you'll ever rock faux freckles?

Makeup Director Linda Jefferyes looked to Brigitte Bardot and Catherine Deneuve for inspiration at Anna & Boy. The look was super, super cute. There were pastels on the eyes (coral, blue or pink) and lots and lots of lashes. Linda also used Dip Down gel eyeliner to add a spattering of freckles across the models' cheeks and noses. That was picked because it dries, so it wouldn't slip if the models got hot under the catwalk lights. There were two looks for the nails: a mint green (Brights by OPI collection's Gargantuan Green Grape) and a sky blue from the new OPI Shrek Collection called What's With The Cattitude and it was all finished off with '50s-style swimming caps on some of the models. LOVE.

Keep reading . . .

It's clearer than ever that tanning beds are dangerous, but that apparently isn't stopping the people who are most vulnerable to skin cancer from using them—at least in the UK. The British Association of Dermatologists conducted a study and found that redheads and other pale, freckled people were the most likely to use tanning beds, even though they're at a much, much higher risk of developing skin cancer already. So in lieu of prematurely ageing yourself and damaging your skin, slather on wide-spectrum sunscreen and stick with the self-tanner instead.