Makeup Guru

Hollywood's sweetheart Taylor Swift has vamped up her look for a photoshot for Allure magazine.

A behind the scenes peek of the December issue shows the 20-year-old wearing lashings of blood-red lipstick, tausled hair and a Peter Soms dress.

Fresh off the release of her latest album, Speak Now, the Grammy-winning artist opened up about music, men and Kanye West in the accompanying interview.

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Wit and whimsy: Taylor Swift poses for her photo shoot for the December issue of Allure Magazine

Cover girl: Taylor Swift is pretty in floral prints on the cover of Allure Magazine

When reminded that in 2009 she told Allure that the artist she'd most like to work with was Kanye West, Swift said: 'I forgot about that! Oh, wow! That’s...wow, that’s eerie, isn’t it?”

Swift confessed her desire to work with West before last year's MTV Video Music Awards debacle when West leaped up on stage and pulled the microphone out of Swift's hands as she was accepting her award for Best Female Video for You Belong With Me.

West then said the audience that he felt Beyonce should have won the award for her song Single Ladies.
The pair have since smoothed over their differences.

Cover girl: Taylor Swift is pretty in floral prints on the cover of Allure Magazine

A pensive moment: Taylor lets the makeup artist work his magic

Swift was also happy to dish about another young musical sensation, Justin Bieber. 'He’s sweet and awesome, and it’s, like, fascinating how charismatic he is,' she said.  'So genuine, I’ll join his fan club.'

The 'Allure' of Taylor Swift: The Grammy winning musician reveals the opening lines to the poem she wrote as a nine-year-old, which won a national competition

Swift also confesses that she used to give terrible relationship advice saying: 'Like, the best way to get a guy to like you would be to actively ignore him.

'I was filled with advice! I’d tell my friends things like, Don’t accept that apology! That isn’t sincere! Or He hung out with his ex-girlfriend? Get rid of him.

'But love is never that simple. Now I’m finally getting the idea it’s the one thing I don’t need to have a strategy for. I can only write the material I know, which is what happens to me.'

She also revealed the opening lines to her award winnning poem, There's a Monster in my Closet. Swift's writing talents were discovered in fourth grade when she wrote the three page poem and won the national competition:

There’s a monster in my closet and I don’t know what to do/Have you ever seen him?/Has he ever pounced on you?”'

The Love Story singer also discussed her favourite perfumes. 'I'd put on Abercrombie 8 to remember when I was in ninth grade and had my first boyfriend, because he gave me that,' she said before revealing, 'The coolest girl in school wore Britney Spears' Fantasy, and I had to copy her.'

The inspiration for Swift's photo shoot for the magazine was the Cacharel fragrance ads by Sarah Moon in the late '70s.

'It's a made-up look with dark eyes, but it's still innocent,' said Allure creative director Paul Cavaco. 'Taylor has a sunny feeling to her.'

Swift arrived in Japan today to promote her Speak Now Album, and she'll appear on several Japanese television shows.

Click here to watch Taylor’s exclusive behind the scenes interview with Allure