Maybelline’s made a calendar.

The girls wear clothes in this one, but they also wear some spectacularly elaborate makeup. V Magazine’s partnered with the make-up brand—which, by the way, really is pulling out all the fashion forward stops—for a contest in which you can win a copy of the calendar and a year’s supply of V (courtesy of Lafayette? Ok, too much True Blood.)

Anyway, in this behind-the-scenes video you can watch Erin Wasson look particularly cat-like, Julia Stegner illustrate walls and Kemp Muhl straddle a tube of mascara. Punches of neon give the video, and calendar, a super 80s vibe. Is that what we’ll see on the runways?

All that buzz was right (as usual), MAC’s officially out at the tents, marking the first major SS10 Fashion Week announcement, and Maybelline’s officially in.

This season, one of two left at Bryant Park before IMG pitches its tents uptown at Lincoln Center, will be orchestrated by Maybelline’s global makeup artist, Charlotte Willer. She’ll lead the backstage teams for all the shows at the tents which, this season, includes Erin Wasson x RVCA.

We told you last week about MAC Cosmetics possible decision to abandon their role as the official makeup sponsor of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in favor of doing their own series of shows at Milk Studios.

We speculated that this void would likely be filled by one of the mass market brands, not always associated with directional fashion, or makeup. Turns out we were right. The current buzz is that Maybelline will indeed be that brand.

Sounds like Milk Studios is going to become one of our most-visited locations come September and New York Fashion Week.

WWD reports this morning that MAC, the usual cosmetics sponsor in the tents, is negotiating to sponsor shows at Milk instead.

This is an interesting development as MAC makeup teams typically create looks for more than 60 shows during any given season. And they bring the best key artists in the business with them.

Milk is a great venue and one that has hosted many a fashion event, and show, in the past. It will be interesting to see who jumps ship from the tents and goes with MAC. Will it simply be smaller designers? Or will any of the bigs head to Milk too.

This is Emily DiDonato.

You may recognize her from the Spring 09 Guess ads, or maybe from her many editorials. If you’re not familiar with her yet, you will be: As of Friday, she’s the new Maybelline girl.

She’s seventeen, from New York, signed with Request, and we seriously think she has what it takes to compete with the Gisele’s of the world.

Stay tuned on this girl’s career.

Friday night, I was on a JetBlue flight to Fort Lauderdale, headed to Key West for a friend’s wedding.

About half way into my Munch Mix and Coke, one of the flight attendants handed me a tube of Maybelline’s Great Lash. I said, “What’s this?” He said, “A gift” and continued to hand out mascara to all the female passengers.

I’m not Great Lash’s greatest fan, but it was free, so thank you. But here’s what’s weird:

The flight attendants never came around with any gifts for the males, and I kept wondering to myself, “But what about the cross-dressers? The guys who wear mascara anyway? The 13-year old girls who probably wear Great Lash but don’t get the free tubes from the flight attendants who think they’re too young? And, the fact that this is really kind of sexist?”

Such was my Friday night. And I still haven’t opened the mascara.

I justify the $24 price tag of Dior Show Black Out mascara because it’s the only beauty product I buy regularly.

I don’t even remember to put moisturizer on every morning which means I probably buy it once a year (I know, I know). But I can’t remember the last time I left the house, or even my room, without coats of Dior on my lashes. It is, unfortunately, an obsession.

So when Natalie told me that Maybelline’s newest mascara, The Colossal, allegedly rivaled my favorite Dior, while costing less than $8, I just laughed. I’ve tried dozens of mascaras and nothing comes close to giving me the volume, length and mini-clumps, (no, I don’t like perfect separation) like Dior.

But I just tried the Maybelline - and it pains me to say this after six years of paying $24 every few months - but it works. It works like Dior.

I don’t know how many coats I used, because I usually just move the wand around until my eyelashes look sufficiently fake, but I didn’t swipe on anymore than I normally do.

The main difference is that The Colossal’s waterproof - and Dior Show Blackout isn’t. (Regular Dior Show comes in waterproof, but the Blackout version does not). Waterproof mascara scares me, but most people like it better which might make it an advantage.

I’m addicted to Dior’s mascara, but if my current tube runs out before I get a new one, my lashes will be reassured by the neon yellow tube tucked into my vanity.