We haven’t heard or seen much of Emma Watson since she began “studying abroad” at Oxford University last fall. After much consternation and name-calling (on my part), I was so happy to see her go back to school and avoid the pitfalls of becoming a child-star-turned-party-girl (see: Lindsay Lohan). I was also happy to Emma go back to school because it’s given me a chance to miss her. These are our first photos of Emma since the UK premiere of My Week With Marilyn last November, and at that point, Emma had already “disappeared” for several months too. This is smart – only make one appearance every few months. Let people miss you. Let your red carpet appearances become an “event”. This is the path that Emma Roberts should be following – but she isn’t.

Anyway, Emma was the hostess of a Lancome-sponsored pre-BAFTA event in England yesterday. Emma is one of the faces of Lancome, a decision I wasn’t happy with, but whatever. This is maybe the best Emma has ever looked, right? I’m not imagining things? This red-pink Valentino dress is perfect – sexy, young, girly, feminine and not saccharine. There’s a peek-a-boo effect with the lace that adds an interesting dimension, and I’m pretty sure I’m seeing the shadow of a nipple. Is that trashy? Or does it add some mystique? I kind of like it – it’s not overt, like she’s falling out of her dress or something. She just needs some nip-tape. Overall, I think this dress and Emma are a perfect fit together – small-busted girls get to wear all of the CUTE stuff, damn it.

I also love that her lipstick doesn’t perfectly match the dress too – it complements the dress, but it’s not too matchy-matchy. And how great is it that she’s growing out her Bieber hair?

Photos courtesy of WENN.

TC Candler has posted its 22nd Annual Independent Critics List of the 100 Most Beautiful Faces, and the list is rather surprising. Neither Angelina Jolie nor Jennifer Aniston have qualified for the list, which purports to not focus solely upon aesthetic beauty but also upon “grace, elegance, class, poise, joy, promise, hope…” After a presumably careful qualification process on an international basis, the list has settled upon Emma Watson in 1st place. Yes, Emma is very, very pretty in a very youthful way, but I can’t think of any reason why she’d be considered the “most beautiful face” in the world, nor is she “one of the finest talents of this current generation” in the acting department.

The rest of the list — which includes Rihanna, Marion Cotillard, and Amber Heard in the top 10 as well as Lily Collins at #18 — can be seen in its entirety here. Of course, the rankings are subjective, but it seems odd that Mila Kunis has made the list … at #100. Doesn’t this list seem a bit backwards?

In other list-related news, Ask Men has published its annual “Most Desirable” rankings, and the irrepressibly saucy Sofia Vergara scored the top position. Somehow, this cheesecake list sounds a hell of a lot more well-reasoned than one would expect and explains its top pick as follows:

When it comes to Colombian imports, none are more in demand than Sofia Vergara these days. The jaw-dropping Modern Family star is one of our favorite things about one of our favorite comedies. Vergara shows off the best cleavage on network TV, and we’ve never been more jealous of Ed O’Neill. But despite her obvious assets, Vergara’s also one very funny woman, lampooning stereotypes with her perfect timing. You don’t have to pretend to laugh at her jokes, even if you do have to make a concerted effort to pay attention to them. And though you’d never think it to look at her, Vergara is mother to a 20-year-old.

[From Ask Men]

Ask Men takes its list all the way down to #99, which is the slot reserved for Paz de la Huerta, who possibly should’ve qualified slightly higher due to the sheer quantity of nude scenes and photoshoots she’s participated within in the past year or so. Or maybe not. After all, crazy nude isn’t always a desirable thing. By the way, I’ve really missed Paz on the red carpet — she didn’t show up to support “Boardwalk Empire” at either the Golden Globes or the SAGs. Is this because her camp took away the alcohol, and now she is no longer Paz?

Photos courtesy of WENN

It’s funny how my opinion of Emma Watson has changed so much in the past month, once she actually went away from the public view and was actually enrolled in “a year abroad” at Oxford. All of a sudden, I was back to liking Emma, because she followed through on her promise to be a studious, industrious, type-A student, rather than a party girl who clubs with Harvey Weinstein and does sketchy, uncomfortable, dated Lancome ads. Anyway, last night Emma took a study break and attended the UK premiere of My Week With Marilyn. Michelle Williams wasn’t there, so Emma was the It Girl on the red carpet.

Emma’s outfit is Jason Wu, and I love it… on her. Very few actresses could make this work on a red carpet, in my opinion. On Emma, it looks adorable and chic. I think what’s really helping the whole look is that Emma is growing out her hair and it’s a pretty good stage right now. She no longer looks like she has a mullet, or that she goes to Justin Bieber’s barber. Plus, her makeup isn’t overdone – so overall, she looks young, adorable, occasion-appropriate and beautiful. Oxford is good for her. I hope she sticks with it.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

I’m eating my words, happily. Go ahead and tell me I’m full of it, that I’m a lying liar made of lies, soaking in a bath full of lies and eating lie tiramisu and drinking lie-filled Chardonnay. As it turns out, I was wrong about Emma Watson. And I’m thrilled that I was wrong about her. In the Spring of this year, Emma announced that she was going to be “taking a break” from university – she was finishing up her second year at Brown, and I believe that she didn’t complete her Spring semester, because she got work from Lancome and she went to shoot a movie. I was very suspicious of Emma’s decision to “take a break” because A) Her story kept changing and B) She seemed more concerned with partying and having fun, all while maintaining her “good, studious girl” persona.

Then, a few months ago, Emma’s story changed once again, and suddenly she was no longer taking a break, but she was “transferring” or doing a semester or a year abroad at Oxford. I was suspicious of that too, and I figured that we would eventually get an announcement that Emma had decided to “study abroad” too late, and that there was a paperwork mix-up and she never did enroll in Oxford. But I was wrong! Mea culpa. She’s actually at Oxford right now! She sent a message to her fans on her blog:

To Everyone who is starting a New School Year, (sorry those who have been at school for a while Oxford starts late)

Just to say have a great term and good luck with all your work.

You might not hear from me for a while because I will be really busy studying but I wanted to just say hi and bye : )

Hope you all like ‘My Week with Marilyn’ and i’ll keep you posted on ‘Perks’.

Love Emma xx

[From Emma’s Blog]

Should I eat sh-t some more? I’m sorry. All of you Emma-defenders were right! She’s a good girl. She’s studious. She takes her education seriously. I was wrong to question her. (Was I? Meh.)

Photos courtesy of WENN & Emma’s blog.

I’ve never heard of this British actor/ “entrepreneur”/ reality star Francis Boulle, but he gave some fabulously bitchy comments about his supposed ex girlfriend, Emma Watson, to Heat Magazine. Just to be clear, these comments make this douchey guy look bad, not Emma at all. (Although if she did actually date this guy it makes me seriously question her taste in men.) I did google “Francis Boulle Emma Watson” and it’s almost impossible to find any evidence that these two were dating. All the top results are for this story where Francis trashes Emma, and the only other tidbit I could find was this story where she was photographed in 2008 talking to Boulle at a party – along with two other guys. She later went out with a different guy she was seen with at that party and started dating some other rich guy a couple months later. So if she had anything going with Boulle beyond some flirtation at a party, there’s not much evidence of it and it doesn’t seem to be serious. According to Boulle he dumped Emma though, and it was because he didn’t want to be known just for being her boyfriend. As if he was ever known as that.

Emma Watson is probably glad she’s not dating actor Frances Boulle anymore after his thoughtless comments about their relationship.

Harry Potter star Emma Watson is at the top of everyone’s hot list right now — she’s in-demand as an actress and model, and we’re pretty sure every twenty-something guy out there wants to date her. Well, every guy except her ex-boyfriend.

“We had a bit of a thing a while back, but I have always been an ambitious person and I want to achieve my own notoriety for what I’ve done,” Made in Chelsea actor Francis Boulle told Heat magazine in their new issue. “That’s why I chose not to pursue it any longer, because I didn’t want to be the boyfriend of some child actress.”

Watson’s hardly “just a child actress.” Perhaps Boulle just came down with a case of the Foot-in-Mouth Disease going around Hollywood these days. However, he does have kind words for his one-time gal pal.

“We do share a lot of mutual friends and our paths cross from time to time. I actually really like Emma. She’s a really cool person,” he said. “She’s a very different person to who she is in the media. That’s what I liked about her — she’s very interesting.”

Watson is now dating actor Johnny Simmons – they met on the set of their new film The Perks Of Being A Wallflower — and she reportedly asked him to move in with her while she studies at Oxford University this year.

[From Starpulse]

All the press for this guy’s “Made in Chelsea” reality show mentioned that he was “linked to Emma Watson.” He probably just called her a bunch of times and got shot down. I love how he calls her “some child actress” and then tries to backtrack by claiming she’s a “really cool person” and “interesting.” Emma really dodged a bullet with this one. Is he like the smarmy British version of The Situation? Or is a Spencer Pratt comparison more apt?

Emma is shown at the GQ Men of the Year Awards on 9/7/11. Francis is shown in July and August of this year. Credit: WENN.com

Honestly, I don’t even know where to begin here. Emma Watson covers the November issue of Elle UK (to promote her role in My Week With Marilyn, I think), and if I were either Emma or her people, I’d be very displeased with the results of this photoshoot. Of course, Emma had to know what she was getting into when she donned these horrific costumes, right? These aren’t mere outfits — they are indeed costumes. As shown above, the feathered monstrosity of the subscriber cover is, well, pretty inexplicable. Kaiser thinks, “She looks like Justin Bieber’s mouth-breathing sister.” And I’d like to add, “Who is also the most unlikely showgirl in all of Vegas.” Sigh. Yes, Emma has gone Bieber-esque once again.

Also, someone probably initially thought they had a brilliant idea when imagining these leather bunny ears, but the effect is clearly lost within the whole of the shoot:

Surprisingly though, the interview turned out quite unlike the editorial shoot. Emma seems to have recently gained some perspective and is no longer complaining about her oppressive fame. In fact, she’s realized that she doesn’t have it so bad at all:

On Lowered Expectations For Child Stars: Sometimes I feel as though everyone’s waiting with baited breath for the three of us from Harry Potter to do something that will perpetuate the child-star stereotype. I don’t know if I’m the least likely person to go off the rails, but I don’t see any need to. It’s not on my agenda. There are too many other things I want to do.

On Robert Pattinson’s Fame: I can’t even imagine what that kind of fame must be like. So many people must wish they were in his position and think that he has the best life, but actually … there are prices you pay. Don’t interpret that from my perspective; it’s not so bad for me. I’m not in Rob’s position, I dont have people screaming and crying and clawing at me. I’m so grateful for that.

On Alcohol: I’m not that much of a lightweight. My dad’s great hobby is wine, so it’s always been part of our family life. For someone so little, I don’t get drunk very easily. It’s quite a good talent. I’m not challenging anyone to a competition though!

On Her Lancome Gig: I think the thing that’s really fun about make-up is how you can carry it around in a tiny bag and it can completely transform the way that you feel, and makes you feel like a different person or a different character. Anything that makes you feel beautiful or better about yourself is pretty amazing. I’m definitely really enjoying doing make-up. Those are really all of the reasons I wanted to work with Lancome is because they seemed really collaborative and I can get really, really involved. I would hate to have to promote something or have to talk about something if it wasn’t something that I genuinely thought was great. So the perfume was my choice. I absolutely love it.

On Her Style: When I’m away from photo shoots, I tend to be very low key. I tend to wear either navy blue or gray or white. So wearing all this bright pink and fluorescent colors is fun. It’s like dress up. I love the ’50s. I love Marilyn Monroe with her big red lips and that incredible cat eye, it’s amazing. The ’60s … Edie Sedgwick, I love.

[From Elle UK]

Well, the fascination with Edie Sedgwick might explain the pixie cut that Emma eagerly took on after the filming portion of her Harry Potter contract was fulfilled. I can’t tell though … is she growing the ‘do out or just going for the shagged look at this point?

Also, I love how the Harry Potter kids are all speaking out (see Daniel Radcliffe’s recent quotes) with much empathy in regards to Robert Pattinson, who appeared in a few of their movies and has since gone on to, uh, eclipse the Potter level of fame many times over. The worst is far from over for Sparkles too, for he’s gonna have a rough couple of months while promoting Breaking Dawn, and everyone knows it.

Here’s the rest of the horrible Elle UK spread. Poor Emma.

Photos courtesy of Elle UK and the Fashion Spot

It’s not that I’m disagreeing with Emma Watson when she talks about wearing “too much” makeup. She’s right – all too often, she does wear too much for someone so young, someone with presumably good skin and strong features that don‘t need a lot of extra stuff. No, what I’m trying to point out is that Emma is wrong to think that her makeup issues are the BIGGEST “beauty faux pas”. No, Emma. That would be your hair, at least in my opinion. That hair makes you look like Justin Bieber, and I never get tired of making that comparison. Emma Watson and The Bieb could be sisters. Or brothers? Anyway, here are Emma’s thoughts on beauty – keep in mind that she’s the newest face of one of the largest beauty/cosmetics/fragrance companies in the world:

From chopping off her hair into a short pixie in 2010 to rocking dramatic Black Swan-inspired eye makeup at this year’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 premiere, Emma Watson is no stranger to experimenting with her look.

But even the gorgeous Brit, who always appears polished and chic, admits that even she’s prone to a makeup mishap from time to time.

“Wearing too much makeup has been my biggest beauty faux-pas,” she told Britain’s Hello! magazine. “I truly, truly believe that beauty is something that comes from within. You can only really look beautiful if you feel beautiful on the inside. It shows through your face, the way you move and the way you hold yourself.”

Watson goes on to admit that despite her down-to-earth approach to outer beauty, she still covets cosmetics.

“The funny thing about me is that I do have a lot of products — I’ve always loved makeup and its ability to transform you,” she said. “But I don’t actually wear a lot of it, so there is an irony that I own so much of it but wear so little. But I do love beauty products.”

And besides skipping the layers of makeup, Watson’s other live-by beauty rules are: “Don’t over-pluck your eyebrows and always take your makeup off before you got to bed!”

[From Us Weekly]

Don’t you love it when 21 year olds deign to give women beauty advice? No offense to Emma and the brigade of teenagers trying to sell me crap, but I would much rather hear beauty advice from women who are older than me and look younger than me. Women like… Monica Bellucci, or Julianne Moore, just off the top of my head. Still, it’s always good advice when you tell girls to take off their makeup at night. As for over-tweezing… it’s weird because I would love to tweeze the hell out of Emma’s brows. Right? She might need to rethink that rule.

As for her whole “I wear too much makeup but you should still buy Lancome stuff, please” message – I guess it makes some kind of sense. Some women just love to buy lots of beauty products, even if they don’t get around to using the stuff. I’m that way about shampoo and soap, honestly. I have stacks of soap and shampoos that I buy because I like the smell and I want to try them all out… eventually.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

These are new photos from last night’s GQ UK Men of the Year ceremony. I was hoping for some new photos of David Gandy, but he’s gone really downmarket lately with his relationship with that famewhore girl-bander, so we just have a handful of good celebrities to gawk at. Emma Watson was one of the biggest names there. She wore this Alexander McQueen tartan tutu that I dislike. Emma has a nice figure, but she really doesn’t have the legs to pull this off.

By the way, should we talk about how awful Emma’s Lancome commercial is? It’s TERRIBLE. It’s dated and it goes on forever and it’s just…awful. And Emma looks like Justin Bieber. Full stop. Not “looks like Justin Bieber… in certain light” or “…with that bangs trauma mullet.” She just looks like Justin Bieber, full-on.

Horrible. Okay, more photos from the GQ event!

Charlize Theron in Roland Mouret. I think Charlize looks fierce and everything, but those pants look very much like a beloved pair of Old Navy sweatpants that I wear all of the time. Basically, I really, really want these pants.

Hugh Laurie, looking… Housey. I guess House has a salt-and-pepper beard this season.

More Benedict Cumberbatch!!! He’s everywhere these days. And though he’s an odd duck, I find him incredibly attractive. It’s that too-tall, self-effacing Englishman thing. Plus, you know, the ginger.

Kelly Brook’s breasts were also at the event. Dear God, her body. If I had that body, I could rule the world.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Remember last year when Emma Watson complained about how she couldn’t find a boyfriend because the so-called “fame wall” intimidated would-be suitors? Well, Emma has conquered that obstacle, for she’s gotten herself a new man, who just so happens to be one of her co-stars in The Perks of Being a Wallflower. His name is Johnny Simmons, and he’s also a rising actor in his own right with The Conspirator and Hotel for Dogs under his belt as well as the upcoming (dubious) 21 Jump Street remake.

Not bad, right? Emma’s recently been photographed smooching the guy, who is admittedly pretty cute even though he doesn’t have much of a butt of which to speak. But hey, to each their own, right? At any rate, this week’s Star claims to have word from one of Emma’s friends that Johnny is very bad news because of his hidden, dark past. Get ready to roll your eyes on this one:

Emma Watson has plenty of experience battling bad guys in the wizarding world of Harry Potter. But now she’s locking lips with one of them in the real world — troubled new boyfriend Johnny Simmons — and their relationship is taking off.

The two looked like the perfect couple during an Aug. 7 PDA-fest in Santa Monica. But friends worry that her actor beau’s dark past could tear them apart. It turns out that johnny, 24, was arrested twice — in the same week!

On May 27, 2006, the Scott Pilgrim vs. the World star was busted for speeding through a Virginia town. And just two days later, the Alabama native found himself charged with underage possession of alcohol.

“Emma is incredibly smitten with Johnny,” a pal tells Star. “Unfortunately, she’s fallen for a guy who isn’t as clean-cut and straight-laced as he seems. Johnny is a typical Hollywood bad boy and player, and her friends are worried she will get hurt.”

But the 21-year-old actress doesn’t seem to see any faults in her new boyfriend and has become “completely consumed” by him, says the pal. “She’s even thinking about blowing off her studies and not returning to school. She wants to just travel with him instead.” Emma is scheduled to attend England’s University of Oxford this fall. But Johnny, who met the Harry Potter actress on the set of The Perks of Being a Wallflower, may not want to shift his priorities for his British babe.

“People think he’s usng her to raise his profile,” the friend explains, voicing concerns that all Johnny will do is hurt Emma. “All she has ever wanted was to fall desperately head over heels in love, and she feels like she’s finally found that. She won’t listen to her pals and is falling for all the sweet things he’s saying

[From Star, print edition, August 28, 2011]

So he was caught speeding in high school and then probably had a beer at a party. How scandalous! Now, is Johnny using Emma for more than just romantic purposes? That’s possible (although I hope it isn’t true) because if you Google his name, one of the first things that pops up is the fact that he’s been kissing Emma, but who knows what his true intentions are? As far as this business with Emma wanting to drop out of Oxford just for Johnny, well, let’s not go there this time, shall we? Emma’s a big girl, and she can make her own decisions. Contrary to what Emma herself seems to believe, she’s had boyfriends before, so I doubt she’d dump everything in the world just for this one guy who, interestingly enough at this point, has more hair on his head than she does.

Photos courtesy of WENN and Fame

Over the weekend, the world sent off one of the most beloved literary/cinematic franchises in grand style. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (which, just in case you’ve been living under a cyber rock, stars Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint) scored the best opening 3-day weekend of all time with an estimated domestic $168.6 million total, which captured the top domestic prize from The Dark Knight (whose previous winning total was $158.4 million); the movie also captured an additional foreign take of $307 million with a worldwide total $475.6 million. At the risk of sounding chintzy, these numbers are nothing less than magical.

Here are the records set thus far by Deathly Hallows: Part II: Biggest midnight-showing total of $43.5 million; biggest one-day opening day and Friday total with $92.1 million; and biggest international opening weekend of $307 million, which ousts the record set just earlier this summer by Pirates Of The Caribbean 4, which took in $260.4 million internationally during its opener. The only major record that Deathly Hallows: Part II didn’t break was the Saturday record of $51.3 million previously set by Spider-Man 3 — not that this slight omission matters in the grand scheme of things.

In terms of likewise comparisons, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II has already scored half of the worldwide $955 million total of Deathly Hallows: Part I, which kicked off with merely a $125 million domestic opening weekend, so I imagine that Part II still has many legs with which to stride in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, Transformers: Dark of the Moon held onto second place in its third week with $21.3 million (and a $302.8 million domestic total) while a couple of two-week holdovers — Horrible Bosses (with $17.6 million) and Zookeeper ($12.3 million ) — took third and fourth place, respectively speaking. In fifth place, Cars 2 added another $8.3 million in its fourth week (for a domestic total of $165.3 million).

Sadly, this weekend’s only other wide-release debut, Winnie The Pooh, took in only $8 million. This was a wonderfully touching movie, but Disney really chose a bad weekend with which to introduce the latest contribution to the Pooh franchise. In other words, attempting to compete against the last installment of the Harry Potter francise is a losing game, no matter how one looks the situation. Still, I suspect that Pooh will do quite well in the home video market.

Movie stills courtesy of AllMoviePhoto