The daily digest of Twin Cities culture | Secrets of the City

Did any of ya'all see the done-up harlot modeling the "natural" look on the back page of the Signature section in yesterday's Star Tribune? Hmpf! Here I'd been thinking I was rocking the natural all along--for some ten years now, ever since I gave up on foundation, back in college, when I figured how poorly it stood up against my bike commute. Of course, I was wearing drug store varieties--cheap Cover Girl and Maybelline stuff. In any case, it's disappointing to know that achieving the natural look will require hauling back out the powder, and then smearing on rose-colored blush and lipstick. Oh, and I see that natural girls don't get to wear eyeliner. But gobs of black mascara is okay. Does the natural look require freckles? And will Sephora be carrying freckle appliques this fresh, new season? (And do they carry those nibble appliques? That's a sort of natural look too, right?) The natural look: isn't that what casper-white Keira Knightly and Scarlett Johansson were doing on the cover of Vanity Fair last month, while that uber-icky Tom Ford whiffed 'em over? Ew!