Saving the earth, one beauty product at a time.Photo: Getty Images

MAKEUP
• Executives in the cosmetics industry are worried that Barack Obama may change the environmental policy to push for more regulations of certain chemicals. If he does, cosmetics companies would have to pay more for environmental-danger tests. Boo freaking hoo. [Cosmetics Business via Beauty Counter]

• Gray is overrated for the smoky eye, says David Hernandez, makeup artist for Make Up For Ever. Update a gray eye with raspberry, yellow, and blue-black hues while using the same smoky-eye techniques. Clever. [Beauty and the Blog]

FRAGRANCE
• Valentino's launching a new pink floral fragrance next month. Won't you let Valentino be your Valentine? [Now Smell This]

• A new British study reveals women are indeed attracted to men who wear Axe Body Spray. However, the reason is that the spray makes men feel more attractive and thus come across as more confident. Yeah, doesn't drinking do that too? [Gawker]

HAIR
• The barbershop Reamir & Co. continues to expand — so far they have seven locations in the five boroughs, with plans to open two more this spring. And they even have a new spokesperson, Japanese actor Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa. Now that's the kind of growth we like to see (ahem, economy). [WWD]

• Ted Gibson's hair line is now available at Target. Rejoice. [Spoiled Pretty]

Badgley Mischka, Spring 2009Photo: Imaxtree

Badgley Mischka plans to lower prices of their fall 2009 collection in hopes of selling more product. It's unclear how much they'll mark down their wares as they're still ironing out details. The chairman of Iconix Brand Group, Inc., which owns the label, told The Wall Street Journal, "We realize the world is different … People who are pretending that nothing’s going on are not thinking properly. We have to react and give the consumer great value for great fashion.” Floor-length gowns from the Badgley Mischka Platinum collection cost about $1,000 at Neiman Marcus. But that's different from the couture line, which would easily run you thousands more. So we'd say there's some wiggle room.

Badgley Mischka to Lower Prices [WSJ]

Whee!Photo: Courtesy of Max Azria

Last Fashion Week, Olympic gold medalist Nastia Liukin sat front row at Max Azria's show. Practically before she could backflip her way off the runway, the label asked her to star in the spring 2009 campaign. "The spring collection was inspired by movement and modern dance so she was perfect. It was meant to be, and the magic just sort of happened," said Max Azria creative director Lubov Azria. The ads will debut this month online, with no plans to run in print magazines because of budget.

This is Liukin's first fashion ad campaign as well as the first time Max Azria has used a well-known face. We're glad her Olympic fame still has a flame. We wonder which Olympians will sit front row at Fashion Week next month. Thom Browne, please invite Michael Phelps and make more magic happen.

Nastia Liukin for the Spring Max Azria campaign [ONTD]

While you're at it, feel free to swing by our house.
Mani-pedi time!Photo: Patrick McMullan

Not much has happened with the Project Runway lawsuits lately. We still don't know which network the show will wind up on or when the sixth season, which was shot in L.A., will make airwaves. But the production team is plowing ahead as scheduled. Tim Gunn told us at the Geoffrey Beene YMA Fashion Scholarship Dinner at the Marriot Marquis last night that Runway is scheduled to film at Fashion Week on Friday, February 20. "I'm making my home visits to the finalists starting on Sunday," Gunn added. "It's an incredible season. It really is. And I just want people to see it. And I want the designers on the show to get the exposure." Us too.

Obedient Sons & Daughters, Spring 2009.Photo: Imaxtree

Rising star label Obedient Sons & Daughters, designed by husband-and-wife team Swaim and Christina Hutson, is closing. The label's financial backer lacks the funds to grow the brand (join the club). “For the last year, we have continuously fought to maintain daily operations and have exhausted all alternatives and at this point we need to move on,” Swaim told Style.com.

Obedient Sons launched more than two years ago and the Hutsons were CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund finalists last year, so this loss stings. However, the Hutsons will show a brand-new collection at Fashion Week on February 14, the name of which we'll learn when show invitations go out. “This is a huge risk for us, but we feel that it takes us in the right direction," Christina said. It's like being single after a long relationship — scary, but before you know it, everyone wants a piece of you.

Obedient Sons & Daughters Shutters [Style.com]

Now wearable: Olivier Theyskens.Photo: Courtesy of Deer Dana

• Hart Schaffner Marx is launching a Capitol Collection this month based on the suits they made for Barack Obama. Quoth the company president: “From Henry Paulson to Barack Obama, the major figures in our collective conscious are dressing up. These people send a serious tone across America that looking professional is important again.” [WWD]

• Lanvin CEO Paul Deneve has left the label because of "diverging points of view" over the company's direction. And we're thisclose to Fashion Week. [British Vogue]

• Menswear labels think men will look for no-frills fashion in 2009, so expect the men's collections to play it safe later this month. Sad, because we loved last season's. [WWD]

• Justin Timberlake will be present at his William Rast show in the tents on February 14, but he won't perform. Lame. [WWD]

• We really want these T-shirts by Deer Dana with Purple editor Olivier Zahm's and Nina Ricci designer Olivier Theyskens's faces on them. [Pipeline/Refinery 29]

Michelle in Thakoon at the DNC.Photo: Getty Images

News flash: The American fashion industry is in trouble. Consumer confidence is at its lowest in decades, stores are closing rapidly, and it's hard to think of brands not laying people off or cost cutting. When Michelle Obama steps into the role of First Lady on January 20, how much can she help? The New York Times "Style" section devotes a lengthy article to this question, which many experts answered only vaguely. Vogue editor Hamish Bowles offered, “My perception is that she’s already had an extremely potent effect” on the business. Has she? Let's review:

Carolina HerreraPhoto: Getty Images

SKIN
• Ads for Estée Lauder's Tri-Aktiline Instant Deep Wrinkle Filler, which promised to make wrinkles "disappear instantly," have been ruled misleading and must be pulled. [Telegraph]

HAIR
• Carolina Herrera: "Long hair after 40 is out in my book as it looks too messy and too young. Women need to learn how to age gracefully." [Times UK]

• Philosophy's Falling in Love Shampoo and the Body Shop's Deep Sleep Mist are among those products designed specifically for people who shower at night. Because night showering is so different than morning showering. [Beauty Blogging Junkie]

MAKEUP
• As part of the big Hello Kitty for M.A.C Cosmetics launch in February, M.A.C invited designers like Catherine Malandrino, Charlotte Ronson, Blumarine, Elie Saab, Emanuel Ungaro, and more to design twenty couture pieces inspired by Hello Kitty to be auctioned off on M.A.C's Website February 5. [Beauty Anonymous]

• Fifteen-year-old Dakota Fanning wears very age-appropriate makeup. Kudos. [Beauty Counter/Style.com]