QUEEN LATIFAH HOSTS P&G BEAUTY & GROOMING AWARDS 2010 IN TORONTO (PICS & VIDEO)

Queen Latifah & Mr. Will-W.

All hail The Queen!  The Queen Latifah flew in from Los Angeles earlier today to host the P&G Beauty & Grooming Awards 2010, honouring outstanding Editorial and Creative talent in Canada.  The event held at The Carlu, brought together the who's who of Beauty, Fashion, Art and Design together with a panel of Experts choosing 13 winners in total.  

Playing host to an enthusiastic crowd, the Grammy, SAG and Golden Globe Award winner was oh-so-radiant, never without a smile and certainly without a lull.  Being the Face of CoverGirl Makeup, she admitted that her look could never be achieved without a team of Professionals and this evening was a tribute to those who dedicate themselves to the Art of Beauty.

Presenters tonight included handsome Photographer Glen Baxter of Fashion Television, who couldn't help but be a little smitten with Queen Latifah, telling her "It's such an honour to share the stage with you tonight".  Chatting with effervescent Television Personality/Singer Jully Black earlier in the evening, she too expressed nothing but excitement at meeting Queen Latifah earlier in the day during a run-through of the Show.  Canadian Fashion Designer Shawn Hewson told me, "Queen Latifah is Queen Latifah.  She's just got this wall of greatness surrounding her."    

Black, who was a Presenter tonight, brought the house down with her self-admittedly poor French, pronouncing the names of nominees and eventual winner of the Best Beauty of Fashion Blog (French) award with a knowing wink.  Even Queen Latifah had to ask the audience jokingly after, "Are you sure you still need me here?".

Watch the hilarity below:

NEW MUSIC: JULLY BLACK - RUNNING

I must say my friend Arjan Writes called it well earlier today on his blog when he posted the new video from Canada's very own soulful R&B songstress Jully Black. Black indeed is back up and "running" at full force again after her last effort Revival did very well domestically, due much to her big hit Seven Day Fool.

Black's new socially conscious single Running impacted Canadian radio late September and is getting a very respectable amount of airplay. Its infectious hand claps, plucking pizzicatos and of course those catchy backing vocals have me wanting to put this one on repeat. And to be honest I'm a bit of a snob when it comes to Canadian music, which is very much dominated by scruffy-faced/scraggly haired rockers. This means that Running really is that good for me to pay mind to it.

I've had the pleasure of partying with Black on a couple occasions and can say she's really cool and approachable. Here's a pic I got of her glamming it up for the cam just a couple weeks ago:

Jully Black's new album The Black Book is in stores November 24, 2009. Although it isn't the best date to release an album considering everyone and their mother has a new CD out then, I expect it still to be a good one. Give Running a listen below (courtesy of Universal Music Canada):