Celebrity magazines have been delivering the "hot mama" trend for a while now, featuring glammed-up, pregnant celeb moms-to-be (bump watch, anyone?) toting their bellies with the pride once reserved for their oversized YSL Muse bags. But this doesn't just apply to the uber-famous. With friends and family anxiously awaiting the digital transmission of photos within hours of labor, New York women are preparing for the big D-Day with the grooming gusto once reserved for their wedding nights.

That means manis/pedis, pre-labor blowouts and even Brazilian bikini waxes administered days -- if not hours -- before giving birth. Pre-delivery primping might sound superficial, but it also makes sense. After all, women feel more vulnerable if they're not looking their best. And when you're lying on a delivery table in excruciating pain while your nether regions are examined by a doctor you may have never met, well, that's about as vulnerable as it gets.

A few weeks ago, Jonice Padilha -- co-owner of the waxing emporium J. Sisters -- gave a Brazilian bikini wax to a woman who was already in labor. "She was dilating, but not too much," says Padilha. "But she knew that she was going straight to the hospital afterward."

....buying lipstick echoes a theory once proposed by Leonard Lauder, the chairman of Estee Lauder Companies. After the terrorist attacks of 2001 deflated the economy, Mr. Lauder noticed that his company was selling more lipstick than usual. He hypothesized that lipstick purchases are a way to gauge the economy. When it's shaky, he said, sales increase as women boost their mood with inexpensive lipstick purchases instead of $500 slingbacks.

Beauty brands remain true believers in the theory, even though in the last few years the lipstick market has fallen on hard times as its glistening cousin, lip gloss, has had robust sales. With the specter of another recession, brands like Clinique and DuWop Cosmetics are preparing for a big year in lip color, for two reasons.

First, they would like to see a return to lipstick, which usually costs slightly more than gloss. Second, the companies believe that in down times women will continue to splurge on lip lacquer even as they make do with last season's dress. But do economists, and not just companies that need to move a lot of lip color, believe that lipstick sales could skyrocket as the economy tanks? And what's the draw of lipstick in particular for women worried about having to pay as much for gas as they would a handbag? Not only is the lipstick theory plausible, "it's perfectly consistent with all kinds of economic theory," said Richard DeKaser, the chief economist with National City Corporation, a financial holding company and bank in Cleveland.

Three sorts of products sell robustly during tough times, said Lou Crandall, the chief economist at Wrightson ICAP, an independent research firm. The first is what economists call traditional inferior goods, what people have to buy when they can no longer afford their favorites. If you're a salmon lover eating tuna casserole, you're chewing on inferior goods. Lipsticks aren't inferior goods, economists say, but they could be small indulgences, an inexpensive treat meant to substitute for a bigger-ticket item. Or lipsticks could also be morale boosters, like Charlie Chaplin films were during the Depression. A warm shade that perfectly matches your skin tone might make you forget how far your 401(k) has tanked.

But some dermatologists say that slathering on shiny lip glosses can actually increase your risk of developing skin cancer. Of course, wearing any lip product without SPF doesn’t exactly shield the thin skin from sun damage. But the slick, shiny nature of the gloss could be making the sun’s UV rays hit harder, some experts say.

“These lip glosses can make more of the light rays penetrate directly through the skin instead of getting reflected off of the skin’s surface,” says Dr. Christine Brown, a dermatologist at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas. (You're covered, however, if you wear lip gloss with SPF.)

At worst, say some dermatologists, the resulting sun damage can lead to potentially fatal forms of skin cancer. An estimated 3,500 new cases of skin cancer of the lips are diagnosed each year, and 90 percent of those cancers are squamous cell carcinoma. While that form of cancer isn't usually particularly serious, it can be more aggressive on the lips than on other parts of the skin. If left untreated, it can cause disfigurement, and in very few cases, it can spread to other organs and become deadly.

Thursday afternoon, Evelyn and Leonard Lauder, held a private luncheon at Le Cirque 2000 to honor Elizabeth Hurley�s 13 years as a Lauder spokeswoman. "It's been a lovefest since the beginning," said Evelyn Lauder, who gave Hurley a gold Cartier Love bracelet. "Elizabeth resonates with everyone -- especially the consumers. They say she is the kind of person they would want as a friend." Hurley will appear in two Est�e Lauder brand ads later this year: for the new Sensuous fragrance, due out in July, and for Perfectionist, which the company is releasing with an updated formula, also in July.

When she's not at Lauder, Hurley has a host of other things keeping her busy. She continues to design and market her Elizabeth Hurley Beach collection of swimwear (a trademark fight with California-based sportswear brand Hurley International notwithstanding) and has just designed a lower-priced swimwear line for Spanish retailer Mango. Hurley will appear in advertising for the collection, Elizabeth Hurley for Mango, due out next month.

Facials, bikini waxes, mani/pedis and blowouts have long been de rigueur Rittenhouse and Main Line beauty regimens — but nowadays, the "women" getting these luxe spa treatments have yet to reach puberty.

Over the past few years, we've seen a tidal wave of this rising luxury-class culture -- you've seen it in these pages, manifested in reports of $80,000 "push presents," lavish condo buildings sprouting up like beanstalks, and weekends spent stockpiling couture with on-call personal ­shoppers. But just when we thought this consumerist takeover couldn't get any worse, here comes the trend's newest tributary: The kids of the pampered are being taken along for the ride, without a backward glance at the childhood left behind.

"I've actually been joking that I'm going to write a book called Where Has All the Pubic Hair Gone?" Janice Hillman, a doctor in the Penn Health System at Radnor who specializes in adolescent medicine, tells me. "It's such a rarity to find it these days in 10- and 12-year-old girls, and older girls. I need to check for it at that age -- it's an indicator of puberty and development, how much there is, where it's growing. And now, I need to ask girls, if it's not there, 'Do you wax? Do you shave?' Because so many of them do."

Today, apparently, is National No Make-up Day. Not in my house it isn't. Aside from the fact that my colleagues have done nothing to deserve the sight of me without my under-eye concealer, it is a ludicrous concept. You may as well have a National No Shoe-Wearing Day, or a National No Shouting on the Today Programme Day. Inconceivable, not to say inadvisable.

According to the organisers, we need it because we women are too dependent on make-up. Damn right we are -- just as we're dependent on breathing. There is absolutely nothing wrong with giving Mother Nature's work a little touch-up now and then.

Promising to "Redeem your reputation and more," the product line included a "virtuous vanilla"-flavored lip balm and a "Get Tight with Christ" hand and body cream, as well as bags and other items sold by British retailer Topshop and produced by Blue Q, The Straits Times said.

Wing Tai Retail, which manages Topshop in the city-state, removed the range late last month after receiving complaints, the newspaper said. "These products trivialize Jesus Christ and Christianity," it quoted Nick Chui, 27, one of the complainants, as saying. "There are also sexual innuendoes in the messages and the way Jesus is portrayed in these products." On the packaging of one of the products, Jesus, wearing a bright white robe, looks heavenward while a blonde, heavily made-up woman with an arm draped across his shoulder gazes dreamily at his face.

"Why would anyone use religious figures to promote vanity products? It's very disrespectful and distasteful," the report quoted 24-year-old accountant Grace Ong, also Catholic, as saying.

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Christians make up about 15 percent of multicultural Singapore's population of 4.5 million people. About half of Singaporeans are Buddhist, Muslims account for another 15 percent, and Hindus around 5 percent.

Color cosmetics is such a strong category right now, with market researcher The NPD Group reporting makeup leading the prestige beauty category for the first three quarters of this year -- and enjoying a 5 percent increase in sales from last year. Growth will continue, Wells says, as fashion also delves into candy and sherbet shades for spring.

She expects women will be drawn to noticeable, not neutral, hues, including red matte lips and more color on the eye than we're used to seeing. "The colors sound intimidating -- purple, orange, a peachy-yellow -- but they will look really good. It'll be a sheer hint that gives you warmth," she says. If you do go with the more pigmented eye shadows, Wells recommends a delicate rose color on the cheeks and lips. If you wear the bright red lips, tone down the eye makeup. "You don't want a lot of color on the rest of your face; that would be clownish."

1. Revive Intensive Volumizing Serum - Price $600 per ounce
2. Sisley-Paris Sisleya Elixir - $390 for four 5 ml pumps or $582 per ounce
3. Cle de Peau Beaute La Creme - $475 per ounce
4. Dermagentics DNA Test and Custom Anti-Wrinkle Night Creme - $400 per ounce
5. Natura Bisse Inhibit-Dermafill - $385 per ounce
6. Kanebou Sensai Ex La Creme - $500 for 1.36 oz or $368
7. Dermalab Swissline Cell Shock 50% Pure Cellular Extract - $265 for eight 0.1 ounce pumps or $331 per ounce
8. Darphin Replenishing Anti-Wrinkle Serum - $310 for ten 0.1 ounce ampules or $310 per ounce
9. Valmont L'Elixir des Glaciers - $490 for 1.7 oz or $288 per ounce
10. N.V. Perricone M.D. Neuropeptide Facial Conformer - $570 for 2 oz or $285 per ounce
11. Orlane Hypnotherapy - $470 for 1.7 oz or $277 per ounce
12. AmorePacific Time Response Skin Renewal Creme - $400 for 1.7 oz or $235 per ounce
13. Guerlain Serenissima - $210 per ounce
14. Estee Lauder Re-Nutriv Ultimate Lifting Eye Creme - $100 per ounce

But the culture that gave birth to the rugged masculine ideal of the Marlboro Man may not be ready to reach for the blush brush just yet. A GQ survey in 2005 reported that "92 percent of men would not wear makeup even if it guaranteed them a more fulfilling sex life." U.S. sales figures seem to confirm the ongoing resistance to men's makeup. Tres Wilson, executive director of Clinique Global Treatment Marketing, said, "Clinique's Skin Supplies for Men M Cover [a concealer that debuted earlier this year] and Non-Streak Bronzer products sell very well in Europe, much more so than in the U.S."

Even in the metrosexual age, dabbing concealer on a blemish is seen as an emasculating activity. American ambivalence about men's makeup seems to run pretty deep, as GQ fashion editor Brian Coats can attest, "I just think it can be a scary thing for guys to wear makeup. I kind of understand that." Coats believes makeup on men is not a good idea for the general population. "A guy should look like a guy. I think in general, guys just look better natural."

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Many men prefer to keep their makeup desires on the down-low, and cosmetics companies are happy to oblige, employing discreet packaging and butch names. Take Jean Paul Gaultier's Brow and Lash Groomer: It is ingeniously designed to look like a pen. It's also mascara. 4VOO's impressive-sounding Confidence Corrector is a product better known as concealer.

Even the term "makeup" requires a makeover: The winning euphemism for men's makeup seems to be "enhancement." Jean Paul Gaultier refers to its line as "men's aesthetic enhancement." Sephora added a "complexion enhancers" category on its site a year ago, and Biotherm Homme's Power Bronze line of concealer and tinted gel is touted as "instant skin enhancement."

The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics randomly purchased more than 30 lipsticks in four cities and sent them to a lab for lead testing. More than half came back with levels of lead. "It's unconscionable that women should have to worry about lead in lipstick," said Stacy Malkan of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. The coalition's report found that 20 of the 33 lipsticks it sent to be tested contained lead. Higher levels were found in products made by L'Oreal, Cover Girl and Christian Dior.

Because there is no federal standard for lead in cosmetics, the advocacy group used the Food and Drug Administration's limits for lead in candy as a yardstick. "We want the companies to immediately reformulate their products to get the lead out and ... ultimately, really we need to change the laws and force these companies to be accountable to women's health," Malkan said. But the trade group representing the cosmetics industry said the report is nothing new and, not surprisingly, the findings are not cause for worry. "I think the levels are actually quite low - trace levels - really not something that would present a cause for concern," said John Bailey of the Cosmetic, Toiletry, and Fragrance Association.

Experts say pregnant women should be extra aware when it comes to lead-tainted products. "Lead is a proven neurotoxin. It can cause learning disabilities. It's also linked to miscarriage and infertility," Malkan said. Bailey advises that all pregnant women consult their physician before choosing their cosmetics. L'Oreal told ABC News that all its products are in compliance with FDA regulations and that it upholds the highest standards of safety for its customers. Proctor and Gamble, maker of Cover Girl, said that it stands behind the safety of its products and that all its products go through rigorous testing procedures.

"Because we had not received documentary evidence that Kate Moss was not wearing false lashes in the ads we concluded that the images of the eye lashes in the press and TV ads may have exaggerated the benefits of the product, and were likely to mislead consumers.

We told Rimmel not to repeat the ad in its present form. We advised them to include a disclaimer in future ads where post production techniques had been used to increase the effects of a product, or where false lashes had been used."