Cosmetics

You MULTI-TASK all day -- text and drive, talk and type, drink water infused with vitamins. So why shouldn't your makeup do double-duty too? A new generation of foundations aims to do just that, promising more than an even skin tone and a dewy finish. Fortified with ingredients usually reserved for skin care products, these foundations say they can diminish fine lines and wrinkles, treat acne, firm the skin -- even help reverse aging.

Some people who received injections of dermal wrinkle fillers suffered "serious and unexpected" side effects, such as the loss of control facial muscles, disfigurement and rare life-threatening allergic reactions, U.S. regulators said Friday. There were 930 reports of side effects of all types from January 2003 to Sept. 20 of this year for products made by various companies, according to a Food and Drug Administration staff review. The reports came from the U.S. and elsewhere.

Some shampoos and other bath products still contain traces of a cancer-causing petrochemical that federal health officials have expressed concerns about for more than 20 years, according to test results announced Thursday by environmental activists.

PROTEINS from a glacier. Extracts from rice. Eye cream from white peonies. Face-firming Activators. Swiss Cellular De-Agers. Chanel. La Prairie. Creme de la Mer. Dr. Jessica Wu. Dr. Nicholas Perricone. Dr. Sebagh. Drs. Rodan & Fields. Wander among the cosmetic counters at your local department store and you might think that you've been transported to some Swiss sanitarium. White-coated doctors step out from behind exotic botanicals. European nameplates compete with pharmaceutical trademarks.

SORTING through the confusing landscape of ointments, creams and solutions found at the cosmetics counter doesn't require an advanced degree. Common sense and a little product awareness go a long way. Read the label and the literature. Here's a list of what to look for. Retinoids and retinols: Retinoids are vitamin A derivatives that are available by prescription only, such as Retin-A and Renova. They're the only substances proven to soften fine lines and wrinkles.

JUST when you're finally able to score a bottle of Chanel's Black Satin, white is the new black. The spring runways (think Behnaz Sarafpour and Phillip Lim) were alight with creamy opaque white nails. Why white? Why now? It's retro-modern, elegant, goes well with a nice tan, and is the best thing to go with pearls since ... well, pearls.

A San Fernando Valley nail polish maker that is a major supplier to salons across the country said that it had removed the chemical toluene from its products. The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics had asked OPI Products Inc. to remove toluene, formaldehyde and dibutyl phthalate, or DBP, from its products. In a letter to an activist group, OPI also said it had stopped using DBP and was looking for alternatives to formaldehyde.

JUST like that, a fashion shift hits that suddenly looks right to the eye. Or in this case, looks right boldly lined with a fat black crayon across the lid of the eye. Pop phenom Amy Winehouse, she of the smoky soul songs and monstrous raven beehive, appears to also be moving many a young thing, from L.A. to London, to reach for the inkiest of black liquid eyeliner.

A beauty season already indelibly defined by a strong eye is being underscored to more dramatic effect thanks to a couple of queens -- as in Brit designer Alexander McQueen and the muse for his fall collection, Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra. For his fall runway presentation, which took place in February in Paris, McQueen provided artist Charlotte Tilbury with film stills of Taylor in all her Hollywood-Egyptian glory from the 1963 cinematic epic.