Lancôme has been on a roll recently! After snapping up pretty woman Julia Roberts, and also cannily inking a deal with mesmerizing YouTube star Michelle Phan (have you seen her videos?! They’re addictive), Lancôme has just announced that Penelope Cruz will be coming on board as the latest celebrity face for iconic fragrance Trésor.

Penelope’s in excellent company.  The bombshells who have represented Trésor since it was created in 1990 include Kate Winslet, Inés Sastre and, of course, Isabella Rossellini, whose daughter Elettra Rossellini-Wiedemann is now the face of baby Trésor scent Trésor in Love.

Lancôme PR director Kerry Diamond (herself a former beauty editor, and author of the excellent The Lancome Blog!) is currently in Paris on the Penelope photo shoot, which is reportedly being helmed by Mario Testino. We can’t wait to see the finished results.

I also hear, by the by, that there’s some very exciting Lancôme mascara news to come soon–you all know how obsessed I am with Lancôme mascaras, which are, simply put, the best in the business–so stay tuned…!

Photo credit: Andrew H. Walker/Getty

Natalie Portman was a vision in red last night, stepping out at the New York City Ballet Spring Gala at Lincoln Center.

According to People.com, she’s dating a dancer named Benjamin Millepied, which is a pretty hilariously apt name for a ballet dancer.

So without getting all TMI (oops, it’s too late), I went to New York waxing emporium Completely Bare last week and had that service–you know, the one that Jennifer Love Hewitt talked about on George Lopez and which has been making the “Seriously?  Gross!” rounds.  (We also wrote about it on The Gloss.)

Let’s just cut to the chase: waxing is akin to medieval torture.  Why pour hot wax all over your nether regions when a razor will do the same job very nicely, thank you very much?  Of course, I’m–usually–blissfully ingrown-free.  Some of my friends over the years have been exceedingly prone to ingrowns, and in those cases, shaving is the real bitch.

Swarovski crystals on your mons aside, there are pros and cons to both waxing and shaving–so much so that I devoted an entire chapter to it in my book Beauty Confidential.  If you’re prone to ingrowns, are even slightly lazy, tend to have coarser hair, or simply feel like spending the money, then waxing is for you.  (Oh, yeah.  You have to have a SKY HIGH pain tolerance…or not be a giant baby.  Both necessities count me out.)

However, if you’re diligent about your shower upkeep, have finer hair, can’t afford regular trips to the salon, and/or genuinely can’t take the pain (see: giant baby, above), razors will be your best friend.

Either way, after you do your thing, consider applying some bikini bump treatment to the area, to prevent ingrowns.  Tend Skin works nicely, and I also like Bliss Ingrown Eliminating Pads.  (In a pinch, use a Clearasil pad, or something with salicylic acid.)  When waxing, pop an Advil an hour before treatment (and apply numbing LMX cream, if possible); if you’re shaving, don’t forget to go in the direction that hair grows, rather than against it.

Enough of that.  Let’s talk about puppies and rainbows instead.

Bonjour, my loves!  (Is anybody else totally inspired by our new columnist Mathilde?  I can’t be the only one looking for a little glamour française in my life!)  Exciting news on deck; it’s time to annouce the winner of the LiQWD hair care giveaway!

Drumroll, please…

The winner is @Lanieekat, who has won the entire LiQWD nanotechnology haircare line.  All of it.

Not too bad for a quick @LiQWD follow and 2 seconds of retweeting, eh?  I’ll be masterminding regular sponsored contests, so don’t forget to follow moi on Twitter @nadinejolie for your own chance to win goodies!  (Okay, I’m a big softie–I’ll always post them here, too.)

With Jordan Reid of Ramshackle Glam

I went to the launch party last night for MTV’s new show Hired, airing May 17th and produced by Noah Scheinmann and No Regrets Entertainment, the company who also optioned my book Beauty Confidential! 

While looking at No Regrets’ website to link back here, I saw that they have the sizzle up for the pilot episode of my show The Beauty Whisperer!  Check it out here (it’s about 5 minutes long; scroll to the right, after the Hired sizzle) and let me know what you think…

The party, meanwhile, was a blast; I ran into several old friends, including the hilarious Michael Malice, and finally met Jordan Reid, with whom I’ve been exchanging emails these past few weeks.  She is, I am happy to report: the bomb!  Love!  Check out her fabulous lifestyle site Ramshackle Glam and prepare to be dazzled by her.  (PS, for any fans of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, she is–literally–the original Sweet Dee.  How cool is that?)