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Yay for the Bay! This is the last in this series featuring products from and around my stomping grounds — the San Francisco Bay Area. “Be relaxed,” it says. Jeez, my body oil is sooooo bossy… 😂 OKURRRR! I laugh every time I bust out this bottle of EO Essential Oils Body Oil in French Lavender , which is often, because I feel like it’s giving me tough love and telling me to chill-the-eff out, Karen. Funny thing is, after I shower and slather my legs and limbs from tip to toes with this $15 lavender-scented body oil, I actually...

Science’s war on art fraud In 2016 a team of scientists led by David Thurrowgood of the National Gallery of Victoria took a painting by French impressionist Edgar Degas to the Australian Synchrotron in order to solve a long-standing mystery.Art experts had previously noted that the artwork, Portrait de Femme (1876-1880) had been painted directly over a previous composition. Faint traces of the earlier work were visible but the piece was otherwise completely obscured – probably as the artist intended. Thurrowgood and the team at the Synchrotron, in the Melbourne suburb of Clayton, used high-definition X-ray fluorescence (XRF) to penetrate...

The comet Churyumov–Gerasimenko, certainly the images are far from showing a paradise. ESA’s comet-chasing Rosetta mission spent much of the second half of October orbiting Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko at less than 10 km from its surface. This selection of previously unpublished ‘beauty shots’, taken by Rosetta’s navigation camera, presents the varied and dramatic terrain of this mysterious world from this close orbit phase of the mission. (Images via Rosetta album from ESA’s Flickr)

Brace yourself: if you happen to see this jar sitting atop your dressing table, it means that any second now, your lady’s maid will magically materialize to dress you, gently brush every lock of hair into place, and pin a diamond tiara on your head. (Side note: I have watched an obscene amount of Downton Abbey over the past few days.) Only Charlotte Tilbury could turn a standard-issue makeup artist’s trick — applying a layer of rich moisturizer on your face before putting on your face paint — and turn it into a bonafide F.L.L. (that’s “Fancy Lady Lifestyle,” dahhhling),...

Do you ever skip loose powder because you don’t want to lug around an extra brush for touch-ups? If so, I feel you… Also, Urban Decay’s new $34 Ultimate Brush Off Setting Powder might be of interest. Bring your brush with ya It comes with a synthetic flat-top kabuki brush attached to the lid, which makes it easy to dust a little on whenever and wherever you want. It’s a demi-matte loose powder to set your makeup, blur pores and absorb oil and shine, and it’s available now at UD counters and online in five cruelty-free shades — Universal Translucent,...