Running, smudged mascara seems to be the biggest thing right now.
So who’s responsible for this?

1. Lauren Conrad. MTV has been playing specials on The Hills all weekend and I’ve been forced to watched poor LC crying her eyes out while talking to Audrina over and over again. I knew Lauren wore a lot of eye makeup, but wow. Good thing she’s now the spokesperson for mark. (new cosmetics line by Avon)

2. Duffy. I love LOVE her video for Warwick Avenue because it it reminds me of Radiohead’s No Surprises and because the girl just looks so beautiful when she cries and mascara is smudged below those pretty eyes.

3. Sad, pretty girls in general. They’re simply irresistible.

4. Those damn vibrating mascara wands

I met my darling friend Brooke for dinner tonight, which turned into a sleepover - her flight home was canceled and my house looked better than her previous 5th-floor-walk-up option - which was a pleasant surprise.

Brooke is one of those girls that I wished lived in Manhattan - she’s a super cute, ridiculously hardworking, extremely talented stylist and fashion editor who has a thing for funny hats and visors.

Earlier this evening, we sat in my apartment watching Californication (which I love love love), and for some reason I mentioned the vibrating mascaras and she mentioned Viktor & Rolf for shu uemura.

I don’t keep up on makeup trends as well as perhaps I should, but Viktor & Rolf are one of my favorite designing duos, and I felt silly for not knowing about their collaboration with uemura. I fell in love with V&R a few years ago …their fall ‘06 collection is drop-dead gorgeous and the show itself was simply breathtaking; in my opinion it is everything a good show should be: super stylish, super chic, super theatrical - see the video here

I also loved what they did for H&M, but really, who didn’t?

Anyway, their lash couture collection features three different lashes and they are all over-the-top, totally dramatic, absolutely stunning, and for just $95 a set, you can get in on a little couture action…

I’m all for vibrators - I even have one of those vibrating toothbrushes - but vibrating mascara?

Today, the NYT ran an article called ‘The Great Mascara Duel’ all about the two new super-hot selling vibrating mascaras from Estée Lauder (TurboLash, $30) and Lancôme (Ôscillation, $34). Supposedly an electronic mascara wand is better at separating and evenly coating lashes, but it seems a little silly to me. When I put on mascara I do it differently depending on how I want my lashes to fan and I feel this might just annoy me.

Anyway, there has always been a great debate over the best mascaras and I’ve never been a big fan of the ones from either Estée Lauder and Lancôme. If you insist on buying higher-end mascara, go with YSL…even though it doesn’t vibrate, it’s guaranteed to make others flustered and feel jittery inside. (image from Dior Fall 08, style.com)