Sleek, slim, shiny. On the surface, these are just a few things you'll appreciate after plunking down $230 for the new Panasonic Lumix DMC-FP7 digital camera. Dig a little deeper into this stylish new tech toy, and you'll find advanced features that not only make your pictures look better, they make you look better.

Seriously.

Using built-in Beauty Retouch modes, this camera boasts the ability to tone down wrinkles, whiten your teeth and amp up rosy cheeks with just the touch of a button. But does it really work? We got one to play with for a hands-on review.

The DMC-FP7 is a solid choice for an ultra-slim, touch-screen camera. It fits easily into most bags and looks pretty, to boot. Though it enjoys a 16-megapixel resolution, don't let the high number fool you. Unless you plan to do major cropping or making poster-size enlargements, you shouldn't need more than 10 megapixels for a midrange, point and shoot camera. It also comes packed with a four-times zoom for those up-close-and-personal beauty shots, and a 3.5-inch LCD touchscreen to zip through your photo library, switch settings and turn on the included autofocus with a swipe of a finger. It's also where the magic begins when you're cheating, I mean, retouching your photos.

We've all seen perfect, Photoshopped actresses and wondered how we'd fare with some digital work. Panasonic tapped into that wonder of perfection -- as well as the social-media revolution -- by creating a camera that lets you change your appearance directly after taking a photo.

"(We) wanted to add creative features to the digital photography experience, allowing users to have some fun with their photos." says David Briganti, senior product manager for imaging at Panasonic. "Many photography settings need to be set prior to the photo being taken in order to see the changes, but with Beauty Retouch, these changes can be made after the photo was taken."

And of course, that image is also ready to go straight to Facebook or your fave dating site.

We concentrated on two modes: Esthetic, for clearing skin texture and whitening teeth, and Make-up, to add color options for foundation, eyes, and lips and cheeks. After you take a photo by simply pressing the large shutter button on top of the camera, touch the playback button on the LCD and the smiley-face icon in the lower right hand. An arrow will point to the face you want to "fix," and you simply swipe it to begin. You'll be taken to a close-up of that visage and given a choice of two mode icons in the top left corner. Once you choose one, you'll have three options, and each one will let you suggest the percentage of work you want to apply (20, 40, 60 or 80) by pressing the up and down arrows on the top right side of the screen. The first is Esthetic, and it's far and away the best feature. Start with clear skin, head to shine removal, and finish off with teeth-whitening. We suggest going either 60 or 80 percent for best results.

Next is the Make-Up Retouch where you'll have four choices: Foundation, Lip Color, Cheek Color and Eye Shadow. Instead of the percentages, this time you'll be asked to choose colors. We unilaterally skipped the foundation because it made everyone look chalky, no matter what shade we tried. The lips were fun to play with, offering pink, coral, red and buff tints. Rather than an opaque layer of lipstick, it was more like adding a subtle pigment, brightening up lips that already had lipstick or perking up a naked mouth. The cheeks allowed both shapes and shades, letting you choose where you apply the blush in the five peach-to-pink hues. The eyes trailed foundation as our least favorite feature. Shadow colors come in neon green, dark brown, light brown, midnight blue and a very odd, shocking purple. The browns were hard to notice, and the other colors looked like a child had a go at her mother's makeup drawer.

Once you're done, simply hit the OK button and you're taken to before-and-after screen shots so you can check out your work. Press OK again and voilà, a brand-new image will be saved along with the original.

The results can be jarring. Our subjects showed a huge change in skin tone, wrinkle removal and general smoothing of the skin, as well as a whiter set of choppers. The makeup was subtle if you used the right settings. Again, stay away from foundation and eye shadow. But both the cheeks and lips could add nice, restrained pigment.


The takeaway? Though other camera makers, like Sony, Olympus, Kodak and HP, promise to make you look tanner, thinner and smoother before you take a photo, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FP7 offers a fun and easy way to instantly upgrade your appearance after you take a shot.

You'll look younger, fresher and smoother, but keep it simple with the makeup. And shhh, nobody else has to know.

Click here for an easy, pretty look that even makeup novices can apply in five minutes flat!

Getting beauty tips and advice on the go can be addicting -- just ask anyone who owns an iPhone or iPod Touch.

With the explosion of apps (short for applications) that can be easily downloaded and viewed anytime, anywhere with just a swipe of a finger. women have stumbled upon a new way of getting fun, useful information on beauty, style, fashion and just about anything else they might be interested in.

So what do you need to know before you hit the iTunes App Store? We've included our favorite beauty apps-some free, some paid, but all completely handy.

Love Vivienne Tam's East meets West designs?

Then you're going to love her new collaboration with Monster -- the creator of buzzy headphones like Dr. Dre's Beats and Lady Gaga's Heartbeats.

Forward thinking and indulging in her passion for combining technology and fashion, Tam previewed her new Butterfly in-ear headphones at the Vivienne Tam SoHo, NYC boutique.

The delicate, gold-brushed headphones, with matching wires that mirror her Spring 2010 collection, feature a red butterfly on one earpiece and a blue butterfly on the other.

They'll debut in early April for $200 with limited product distribution and will include a toggle that allows you to control and answer calls on an iPhone.

StyleList got a chance to talk to the tiny, red-clad clothier about her new product and her clothing, as well as what makes her tick.

StyleList: What was your inspiration?
Vivienne Tam: The easy answer is transformation, romance and freedom. I love the violin concerto "Butterfly Lovers" which was written in 1959 by Chinese composers, about ten years after the Communist takeover of China. And though this was the theme of my spring collection, I also used a cultural reference for my fall collection, as well.

The Chinese Zodiac was my direct inspiration, but you can see in the army jackets and use of the color green that I also wanted to talk about the environment -- sort of an "Avatar" story. China is a beautiful place but is being built-up and surrounded by high-rises and pollution. So it's also about going green.

SL: How does your design process work?
VT: I start with a theme, I look at what women care about and I need to know what is going on in the world. I never start anything without knowing what's happening out there, what the message is that I want to get out. And then I stay on those topics.

SL: What are your favorite colors and fabrics?
VT: I love China Red and Champagne Gold. Not too gold, a more muted, soft gold, which is the color of the wires on the headphones. In terms of fabrics, I adore silk, which is so soft on the skin and so luxurious. I also like to use natural fibers -- cotton.

SL: What is your favorite decade for fashion?
VT: I like a lot of different decades, but I especially admire the '20s, Art Deco, Chinese influence, Chinoiserie; anything that has an East/West crossover.

SL: What item can you not live without?
VT: This may be surprising, but I can't live without my HP mini PC, Butterfly headphones and other technology. I need it to create and I use it absolutely every day. I want things that are good quality but as a designer, I also want it to look beautiful.

SL: Which celebrities do you like to dress?
VT: I don't have a favorite because everyone adds her their individual character and their own touch to my designs. But recently we did dress Taylor Swift.

And don't miss our exclusive interview with designer Roland Mouret.

Sure, she nabbed a Best Supporting Actress award for her role as Lee Krasner in the 2000 biopic "Pollock," but even Marcia Gay Harden admits that the Oscars aren't really about acting.

"It's all about the dress," she told StyleList at the February 25 Meet the Oscars event in NYC.

And Marcia speaks from experience. From the moment she was nominated, she had an army of people itching to outfit her. "My father actually designed a dress -- and my father was an old military captain!"

Ultimately, Marcia opted for a retro crimson Randolph Duke ball gown. "I like a dress that's built," she said.

Speaking of built, you can ogle muscular Oscar in all his glory at the Meet the Oscars exhibit at The Shops at Columbus Circle (Time Warner Center, Level 2, 10 Columbus Circle) in NYC.

The free exhibit features Oscar history as well as the actual statuette to be presented to the Best Actress winner at the 82nd Annual Academy Awards on March 7.

Also on display: the mini golden guy given to Judy Garland for her performance in 1939's "The Wizard of Oz," and a Scientific and Technical Achievement Award of Merit Oscar awarded to the Eastman Kodak Company.

Before this year's big night, check out the beauty trends at the 2009 ceremony.