Cosmetic frenzy in Boston

I was in Boston, US, last week when John was running the marathon there. I love US trips as a great opportunity to shop for cosmetics at lower than UK prices. I got off to a flying start on the plane, where I bought a Bobbi Brown Shimmering Lip Gloss Palette. Big mistake. The colours all look different in the palette, but when you apply them, you get the same result whichever colour you use. And not a great result either. Oh well.

Once in Boston, I made a beeline for Walgreen's and Sephora to search eagerly for stuff you can't get over here. In Sephora I found the Models Inc line, endorsed by Elle McPherson, which is darned difficult to buy in the UK, but it appeared they'd sold out of the miracle eye lifting serum. Damn. Moving on to Nars. I foolishly forgot to buy a new Multiple (my current one, two years old, I suddenly notice has nearly run out) but I did buy two dreamy cream eyeshadows, one in El Dorado (gold) and a double compact in Thebes. As I was queueing to pay, I was diverted by the dumper of small items they sell nea the check-out (similar to how children are tempted by sweets) and popped a Murad Exfoliating Fruit Enzyme Mask in my basket.

Meanwhile I didn't really find a Walgreens as such, but a similar store called JMB or something like that. I was hoping to buy the Crest stick-on teeth whitening strips, which they don't sell in the UK, but they were behind a sealed container with the legend "ask a staff member to help," and as there were no staff members around, I had to foregoe that one. I bought a few things which have mostly turned out to be useless. At least I didn't buy another nude lipstick. It seems to have become my mission in life to find a nude lipstick that flatters me. There must be one. I've accumulated several, and I still haven't found the right one.

Hurley's wedding goes pear shaped

Today's papers disclose that Elizabeth Hurley's father-in-law is fuming after being sidelined at her Indian wedding extravaganza. Vinod Nayar was not allowed to take the normal parental role in the ceremony; he was prevented by his son from taking photos at a cricket match, when the various D list celebrities were happy snapping away, and his gift of jewellery was shunned when Hurley wore instead an emerald necklace loaned by Arun's German mother, which his first wife had worn.

I must say I was quite surprised when I saw the Hello! magazine coverage because there were very few pictures of Arun's family. Now we know why. For the sake of their tawdy Hello deal (for which they got less than Wayne Rooney and Coleen) they squeezed out the family and squeezed in the D list, among them Trinny Woodall and Elton John's partner.

Hopefully these latest disclosures will sign the death knell for Hurley and Nayar, and will have a similar effect on their careers as "Cadburygate" did for Anthea Turner and Grant Bovey.