I'm a huge fan of my vitamin-A anti-aging regimen. Either I'm using the $20 tube of Retin-A I picked up in Mexico OTC this winter or I'm slathering on the uber-moisturizing Renova samples my dermatologist gave me. But now that I'm summering in the Hamptons like a fancy pants person, what to do? Vitamin A makes skin super-sensitive to sun but I don't want to go without for a couple months.

Then I stumbled upon an interview with skin expert Susan Perry on a Website for single women (http://singlemindedwomen.com). Perry is based in San Francisco and recommends switching to Vitamin C-based products in summer. Vitamin C helps prevent wrinkles and offers sun protection, according to Perry. I have an entire jar of Trish McEvoy's Vitamin-C cream (buy it online) that I plan to use this summer, but she recommends the pricier SkinCeuticals C E Ferulic (shop for prices online). It's still cheaper than your average Renova prescription here in the States.

If your deoderant doesn't seem to be working in the summer heat, consider how you're applying it. Never apply deodorant right out of the shower when your skin is moist and warm. The wetness somehow deactivates the active ingredient in deodorants, so it's best to wait until your skin is completely dry.

I'm in the Hamptons this weekend (yes, I am being a fancy pants this summer), and I went to the beach for the first time yesterday completely unprepared since I have never been a beach person and don't know how to be a beach person.

Picture this: Me, pale white and dressed in a bikini and black sundress (very classy, but BLACK). I have a beach bag with sunglasses (which I had sat on so they were askew) and 30 SPF sunscreen for my body and 60 SPF for my face. I have a beach towel and a picnic tablecloth that I use as a beach blanket (very posh, I know). That's it. I forgot the floppy hat, the beach chair and the umbrella. I was stuck under the hot sun for hours with little protection and no car (I'd bummed a ride with friends). And did I mention I am on Retin-A products which means I'm not supposed to expose my face to the sun?

So did I burn to a crisp? No, thank God. Turns out religiously slathering oneself with sunscreen does the trick. I somehow tanned and my face stayed white (thank you, La-Roche Posay). Sunscreen saved my weekend.

Now that summer has finally come to New York City, people's feet are out in all their glory, usually clad in gladiator sandals which I am SO NOT A FAN OF (go ahead and ream me out in the comments section, I have tough skin). Since the toes are on display, I will remind everyone to:

1. Please, please, please do not grow out your toenails so that they are long enough for you to scratch a mosquito bite on the back of your leg.
   
   
2. Use a pumice stone on your heels -- scaly feet are gross.
   
   
3. Do not pick at your bare feet in front of another person. No matter how comfortable you are in someone's presence (I don't care if you were at a friend's side as she gave birth), your friend/sister/mother/husband does not want to watch you dig between your toes and glide your fingernail under your toenail and then roll up the nasty bits and them drop them on her Peshawar carpets. I'm just sayin'.

I was in London on a business trip recently and I noticed the hair trend of the moment was long, straightened hair. I think the women were hoping for sleek, but what they ended up with was flat and lifeless, which is what tends to happen when you grow thin hair long and then straighten it with a flat iron. Few of these styles had any body to them.

I don't know if British women have thin hair in general (there are a lot of natural blondes there, and individual blonde hair is thinner than dark hair) or if their hairstylists are thinning their hair out with razors, but what these styles were lacking is a good, old-fashioned beauty keyword, "body."

To add body to thin hair you can do the following:

1. If you were born with super thin, wispy hair, don't grow it longer than your shoulders. The longer the hair, the more lifeless it becomes.
   
   
2. If your individual hair strands are thin, but you have a lot of hair, you can grow hair long, just ask your stylist to cut in long layers. Layers add body. But make sure the stylist doesn't thin hair too much.
   
   
3. Invest in a good thickening, volumizing spray or mousse. But a little will go a long way. Too much product will also weigh hair down.
   
   
4. Let hair air dry. Most hair has natural wave to it. If you let hair airdry, the natural wave will add body. Scrunch hair as it dries for added wave.
   
   
5. Consider hair extensions. Not all hair extensions are a major investment. You can get a few clip-on extensions for extra body.

Today, Farrah Fawcett died after a 3-year battle with cancer. We take this time to remember her over the years in this photo gallery.

I use my index finger all the time in the name of beauty. After applying eyeliner to my bottom lid, I always smudge it so it looks less harsh. You can use your finger to apply a sweep of eyeshadow on your lids (I once wrote not to do this, but I've since changed my mind), you can use your finger to apply cream blush on the apples of cheeks and lipstick looks super natural when applied with a finger, rather than perfectly in the lines.

I like to apply Dr. Hauschka's lip balm, then apply a bright red lipstick with my finger. The balm melts onto my lips in the most fantastic way, but I hate the lack of color. The red adds just the right amount of pop without looking too fake and perfect. Lips are left moist and sexy.

An acquaintance told me she met an elderly woman in NYC who looked much, much younger than her 80 years. My friend was enthralled by her and wanted to know the secret to looking so fabulous. In the course of conversation, the woman (named Ruth) told my friend she'd moved from Europe in the 30s to escape the Nazis and ended up in Manhattan where she became a writer. Her expertise? How to look young naturally. In fact, she claimed to have written the first book on natural beauty which was a success in the 70s.

So what was the secret to Ruth's youthful looks? The secret, according to Ruth, was that after she made all the money on the first book, she spent some of the proceeds on an eyelift.

The latest in celebrity body oddities is Megan Fox's weird thumb. Apparently the Web is all abuzz over Fox's strange, flat-yet-wide-and-strangely-small thumb, which a doctor has identified as a possible "clubbed thumb." Here's the picture (see the thumb, over there, to the left). Decide for yourself.

Not content with Megan Fox's weird thumb? Here are other body mysteries of celebs:
Is model Karolina Kurkova missing her belly button?
What's up with Lisa Rinna's puffy lips?

Could you imagine taking semi-nude or fully nude photos of yourself when heavily pregnant? It's actually a big trend among new mothers right now (remember when Demi Moore posed pregnant and nude?) and more and more new moms are duffing their clothes and posing for photographers.

Jennifer Loomis is a well-known pregnancy photographer (and a friend of mine) based between Seattle, San Francisco and New York. Her new book, Portraits of Pregnancy, 50 pregnant women (one famous) who posed for Jennifer. Each one tells her sometimes heartbreaking stories of pregnancy and motherhood. Many of the women have battled infertility, some have had miscarriages, yet all the stories have a liberating message in them. The women range from age 16 to age 54 and are of all ethnicities and backgrounds. Because the stories are so inspirational, "Portraits of Pregnancy" is my favorite gift for newly pregnant friends and new parents. At only $25, it also makes a great coffee table book.

Buy Portraits of Pregnancy online.