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This update is not about makeup, but it’s about beauty, and definitely worth talking about.

Singer / actress, Jessica Simpson, has a new weekly television show called”Jessica Simpson’s The Price of Beauty” which premiered recently on Vh1. In it, Simpson travels the world with two friends – Ken Paves and Cacee Cobb – to look closely at people’s efforts to measure up to their society’s standard of beauty.

In the first episode, Simpson and company met a woman in Thailand, who had burned herself permanently as a result of her efforts to bleach her skin to make it look lighter. They also talk with a Paris-based model who starved herself to under 100 pounds (45 kilograms) in order to be thin.

Simpson herself has made headlines throughout her career, as persons speculate about her weight and looks. In 2009, she was under tremendous scrutiny by the tabloids, as they speculated that she had put on a lot of weight and was now fat. Her new show undoubtedly helps Simpson to turn the tables on questions about her own looks, and allows viewers to see a deeper side of her, even more-so than the person they may have seen on her old MTV reality show “Newlyweds”, with then-husband, Nick Lachey.

This new tv show is definitely worth catching. Tune in to see it on Vh1 if you can!

As the recession ends, the beauty products industry is one of the ‘unsuspecting’ sectors which have surprised analysts this earnings season, with better-than-expected results. Estee Lauder Co. is the latest to report results for its first quarter which trumped analysts’ estimates of US$0.34 per share, with a profit of US$140.7M or US$0.71 per share, up from US$51.1M or US$0.26 per share a year earlier.

Estee Lauder boasted higher earnings across all of its segments, which were helped by improved demand in Asia.

After swinging to a loss in its fourth quarter ended June 30, 2009, the bad news keeps coming in for The Estee Lauder Companies Inc. The beauty products company was added to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s “Conviction Sell” list earlier this week – on concerns that its shares are overvalued.

According to an analyst at Goldman Sachs, “Estee Lauder has overshot its fundamental value on optimism around the company’s restructuring plan and the potential for a return to solid sales growth as the economy recovers.” As a consequence, Estee Lauder’s share price fell 2.39% to close at US$ 38.73 on this news.

French cosmetics maker L’Oreal appears to be no different from other make up companies, as it posted a 14% fall in profits, as the recession hindered spending on non-essential items. Net income for the 6-month period ending June 30, 2009 fell to EUR 1.08B (US$ 1.5B) from EUR 1.26B a year ago.

L’Oreal, the maker of Armani makeup and Lancome scents stated that the decrease in earnings was primarily the result of shoppers switching to cheaper brands. This in turn affected the company’s operating margin at its luxury division, shrinking 7.7% to 11.9% of total sales.

It seems as though the ladies have chosen to cut back on cosmetics and fragrances as one of the “unnecessary luxuries” during this extended recession that the U.S. and the rest of the world is experiencing. Unfortunately, this move translates into weak sales for popular beauty-products maker Estee Lauder which swung into a loss for its fourth quarter.

Estee Lauder reported a loss of US$17.9 million, drastically down from a profit of US$120.2 million a year ago. The Company has stated that in addition to feeble demand, restructuring costs further depressed its bottom line.