While fluffy magazine editor Richard David Story, of Departures, uses his editor's letter each month to pay favors to the lush resorts and jewelers whose procurement of services allow for his glossy editorial each issue, there are some fluffy magazine editors who see their intro copy as a chance to make a difference in the world. There is Vanity Fair's Graydon Carter, who pens his editor's letter to lambaste the Bush administration in print the way Keith Olbermann does it on the tele every night. This month GQ's Jim Nelson waited 136 pages to tell us how excited he gets about politics, and how excited he gets seeing other people excited about politics. (Okay, that's not exactly going to make a difference in the world, but at least he mentioned something other than clothing.) And at Allure, a magazine we do not read but assume to be stuffed with advice about choosing the right lip gloss color to match your scarf, editor-in-chief Linda Wells is now using her letter to readers to bring change in the environment. And Wells' efforts are, in some ways, more game-changing than even Graydon Carter's, because while he attacks the right-wing political machine, he's not exactly risking any particular advertiser. But this month Wells is going off on the very beauty companies who advertise in her magazine, for using excessive packaging to create the allure of luxury, all while creating excessive trash. It's like there's something meaningful in her words!

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JOSSIP FEATURE — Cosmetics companies gets a lot of shit, and rightly so, for teaching girls and women to hate their bodies by pushing unrealistic beauty ideals: skinny models with perfect skin and eyelashes that you can only obtain with their product. Cosmetics companies also get a lot of shit, also for good reason, by amplifying the image of "white beauty," making black, Hispanic, and Asian women all feel inadequate next to their Caucasian sisters. You only need to look at the latest controversy, just five weeks old, that L'oreal started when they so obviously lightened Beyonce Knowles' skin in a recent ad campaign — and then denied doing so, despite the most clear visual evidence.

But the cosmetics industry, we must admit, does do some good. They give women who might not otherwise have the self-confidence to go on a blind date or sit for a job interview the ability to do so. (Though we'll certainly accept the argument that the makeup counter also drives this lack of self-confidence, reminding women of their problem skin and that beauty mark they hate but can't afford to laser away.) A little eye shadow and some lipstick can make a woman feel beautiful, even when there's no man around she's trying to impress. And making a woman feel good about her femininity is not something we can completely shit on.

And neither, then, is a cosmetics company that takes the commonly accepted scarlet letters of the beauty industry — and doesn't just ignore them, but flaunts them positively.

We're talking about Cover Girl, the enormous division of Procter & Gamble, which doesn't care if its models are black or white, thin or skinny, or gay or straight. And unlike other cosmetic giants, when Cover Girl enlists these women to sell the brand, they're not interested in Photoshopping away their identities. Which leads us to believe: Might Cover Girl be the most progressive cosmetics company around?

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Just like Dove aired those inane mini-soap operas starring Alicia Keys earlier this year, another brand owned by Unilever, Pond’s, is airing soap opera-esque commercials to promote products in India. But unlike those boring Keys spots, the Pond’s ads, for a product called White Beauty, have sparked major protests.

White Beauty is certainly not the first skin lightening product with commercial that shocks us westerners, but the premise of the three-part soap opera ad — a man leaves a darker-skinned woman for a fair-skinned woman, causing the former girlfriend to lighten her skin to win him back — has a lot of people talking about color complexes in India. It helps that the three actors in the ads are big Bollywood stars.

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Megacorp Unileaver is fighting back against claims that its ads for Dove's "Real Beauty" campaign were retouched, despite what professional photo retoucher Pascal Dangin told The New Yorker. They're in full-court defense mode, which means, of course, they're issuing a statement with their side of things. It reads in part: "There was an understanding between Dove and Ms Leibovitz that the photos would not be retouched - the only actions taken were the removal of dust from the film and minor color correction." Not cellulite, freckles, fat rolls, hair stubble, vericose veins, or oily skin.

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Forget for a moment that Dove's entire "Real Beauty" initiative was a campaign that played off ladies' insecurities under the guise of celebrating women of all shapes and sizes.

Now there's new evidence the skincare company was taking customers for a ride: The photos of the "real" women in the advertisements were actually airbrushed to hell.

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If you read the Times' Thursday Styles piece today about beauty bloggers, you likely blotted your lips away from the article thinking anyone who starts a blog about make-up is in it for the free swag.

And, likely, you'd be right! We're nearly certain Glam.com, the self-proclaimed (but entirely inaccurate) No. 1 women's web destination, has constructed its entire business model off placing ads on these types of sites.

Except Times scribe Kayleen Schaefer didn't talk to the nobodies of beauty blogging. She talked to the established craftswomen of the biz, who long surpassed the notion that 300 words on Lancome scored you a free tube of eyeliner. Rather, it scored you bylines in major women's magazines, book deals, and a decent cheque from ad agencies.

Admittedly, we're a smidge biased here. Tia Williams, who was photographed for and featured prominently in the article, is the sister of Lauren Williams, who heads our Stereohyped blog. Tia also happens to be the co-author, with a little supermodel named Iman, of The Beauty of Color, successful It Chicks series novelist, former In Touch television face, and current senior editor at Fashion Week Daily. Does Williams, who reacted to the article here, really care about Victoria's Secret pajamas that much?

Schaefer's other sources include Nadine "Jolie in NYC" Haobsh, who turned her Ladies' Home Journal beauty editor spot, where she had closets full of swag, into a lucrative blogging gig and book deal, as well as the sometimes-grating Coutorture founder Julie Fredrickson, who, let's face it, isn't it the biz for the product; she sold her company to Sugar Publishing, publisher of PopSugar.com.

So while most upstart beauty blogs, and not necessarily including the ones Schaefer mentions, might be posting reviews with hopes of free purses and trips to Paris, the established set of lady scribes don't care how many MAC compacts are in that overnight tote. But next to their freelancing fees, consultancy gigs, book deal advance, and ad revenue, they're a nice bonus.

From the Daily Mail: "In a candid on set shot, stood next to septugenarian director Clint Eastwood, an extremely slender Angelina's intensely veiny arms look wrinklier than those belonging to the veteran actor."

Hear that people? Angie may have you completely beat in the face, body and overall looks department. But get a load of those "gnarled veiny hands" of hers! Fucking heinous. [Mollygood]

Two years ago, we wondered what the Jolie In NYC blogger would do after she was outed as Ladies Home Journal beauty editor Nadine Haobsh. We predicted a book deal, especially since her anon-blog all but guaranteed she would never get another job at a woman’s magazine.

Well, we must have publishing ESP, because Haobsh is back with a book, Beauty Confidential. And last night we had a dream about being too tired to work today, and now we are completely exhausted. Seriously, this is getting creepy.

If you want to feel guilty about putting your money toward food and rent instead of your appearance, then this is the book for you. One “beauty myth” to dispel yourself of: “A $25 cut looks the same as a $250 cut.” Was that even a myth?

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At nearly 33 years old (or, as it's pronounced in Hollywood, "middle aged") actress Eva Longoria's publicist has reportedly ordered her Jurassic client to adhere to a daily beauty and makeup regimen, and to "never, ever leave the house—not even to pick up a carton of milk from the local supermarket—without at least spending a minimum of 2-3 hours in the makeup chair."

For more on "Celebrities, who—like regular people—look less attractive without makeup" and other groundbreaking developments be sure to check out Flip.com, the dimwitted brainchild of Conde Nast.