Kate Winslet is known for lashing out against magazines that Photoshop her body, and now another British beauty’s retouchings have people feeling uncomfortable.

The images of Twiggy’s smooth face in recent Olay Definity (an anti-aging cream) advertisements have moved members of the Parliament to call for action, which we learned about thanks to our friends over at Jezebel.

The Liberal Democrats in Parliament want to ban Photoshopping completely on advertisements aimed at children (those under sixteen), and place disclaimers stating how much Photoshopping was used on all other ads. The politicians who suggested these changes are hoping that this could boost young adults’—specifically girls’—self-esteem, or more accurately, lessen the negative comparison a young girl could make between her body and the perfectly sleek and slim body of a model in a magazine.

Major magazines have major closets - one filled with shoes, one with bags, one with clothes and one positively overflowing with beauty products.

Those beauty products get cleared out with major sales, up to four times a year with the proceeds going to charity, and I used to run them. I’d get an almost sick thrill from watching which items the editorial staff attacked. It could be the ugliest shade of bright orange lipstick, but if NARS ran its way down the side in bright white letters or interlocking C’s sat at the bottom, I’d place all my money on a Manolo beat-down.

The interns and I watched with eyes agog as usually composed women dived across tables for YSL foundation two shades darker than their skin, while less expensive but still amazing brands languished on the table.

Sure, everyone has their favorite brand, but there’s a fine line between brand loyalty and snobbery. I may be addicted to Kiehl’s, but I won’t ignore the recently launched Olay products on my desk. In fact, some of my favorite new products come straight from Duane Reade: Bioré Skin Preservation, L’Oréal Double Extend Beauty Tubes Mascara and Aveeno’s Nourish shampoos and conditioners.

There are plenty of brands that have earned their reputations by producing both efficacious and innovative products, there are also a lot of brands that create less than great products that ride the fashionable celebrities-love-it wave which defeats the purpose of any product.

When you’re shopping for products is it about the brand or do you actually research the product behind the label? Furthermore, are you loyal to one company or is your medicine cabinet home to every brand under the sun?

—MEGAN MCINTYRE

Checking out the Beauty Flash spread in next month’s W makes us think of the ongoing conversation we’ve been having with friends for years- beauty products that actually work.

It’s no secret that advertising drives a lot of what’s found in magazines, and that publications with a luxury perspective tend to showcase the glitziest and rarest of the newest crop of whatever, no matter if they work or not.

Products by Clinique, Estee Lauder, Revlon, La Prairie and the like make it into high-end glossies every month, but everybody knows they’re a huge waste of hard-earned cash. Ask any beauty editor what she washes her face with every morning, and you’re like to hear some combination of Neutrogena and Olay.

Readers don’t hear about great products like Cetaphil because they don’t seem to advertise, and the packaging is less than persuasive.

So do you really need that new La Mer Cleansing Foam “fortified with precious jade and pearl powders” for $65? We think (know) not.

How do you inform your beauty product purchases? And have you ever splurged on something because a favorite magazine told you to?