Beauty Icons and Girl Crushes of 2011

Every other day there seems to be a headline or article slating female celebrities for what they wear and what they weigh. And I'm sick of it! So unlike the Daily Mail or Dan Wootton or any other bitchy journalist out there, I do not intend to end 2011 on a negative note with a run down on who could have done or looked better. Instead I plan to support the sisterhood and celebrate my biggest beauty icons of this year. Because whether you're a big fan of them, or not at all, at least we can probably all agree that 2011 would have been a much uglier place without them.

 Caggie Dunlop

 

The rise of "structured reality TV shows" this year meant a new introduction to how the other half live in Chelsea and suddenly we saw a refreshing change from the foundation layered, surgery loving Essex girls that we know (and love) and became entranced by the bushy haired, natural beauty that was Caggie Dunlop, star of Made in Chelsea. Her bluntly cut shoulder-length locks always look the epitome of health and with her botox-bypassed skin and just a tiny flick of mascara, it suddenly became cool to be natural. It's easy to see why Spencer's gone so doolally for her... 

Mila Kunis

Although she's been in the background doing the voice of Meg in Family Guy for years, when she swanned onto our screen - quite literally in the Black Swan - in 2011, she stole the show. Whether she was wearing sequins at the MTV awards (and grabbing Justin Timberlake's balls) or rocking Elie Saab Couture at the Oscars, she was the subject of a massive portion of my beauty envy this year. The glossy mirror-shine hair, her kohl lined eyes and enviable figure made her top my beauty list. Her charm, innocence and sexiness made her the subject of every guys fanasy. It takes one hell of a woman to make both guys and girls fall for them but Mila's managed it. 

Cheryl Cole

When Cheryl's brown Bambi eyes first graced our televsion screens on the X Factor back in 2008, sales of false eyelashes shot through the roof and we all wanted WAGtastic hair blowdry's. Not since Victoria Beckham had a member of a girlband caused a such a beauty earthquake - suddenly whatever Cheryl had, we had to have it too. When she dyed her hair red, L'Oreal's Mahognany Red dye flew off the shelves. When she wore a pair of stripey Wolford tights, the website crashed with incoming orders. And earlier this year, despite her unceremonious axe from the US X Factor and some saying her time in the limelight was over, when she sliced half her hair off and bleached it blonde she still made the front page of every newspaper and website proving that Cheryl's power is still as strong in 2011 as it was a few years ago. She may not always get it right but whether you want to admit it or not, those eyelashes you stick on at the weekend are probably because of her influence. And although she may have been in hiding for the majority of this year when she has surfaced, she's done it with some serious style and her head held high. 

Blake Lively

The perfectly tousled blonde locks, the endless legs, access to the Gossip Girl wardrobe and currently sharing a bed with Ryan Reynolds... in theory we should all hate Blake Lively a hell of a lot. But I can't as I'm too busy wishing I was her. This is a girl who can get away with breaking the fashion rule of "legs or boobs, never both" but who can blame her when she has the body of a supermodel? And although some people may have something to say about the fact that she seems to have a new man on her arm every other week (past suitors include Gossip Girl style Penn Badgeley and Leonard DiCaprio) I know that if I looked like her I'd be doing the exact same thing.