This year we saw a lot of very gorgeous beauty trends, from minimal faces, byzantine gold shadows, and crazy patterned nails, to high tech, organic, and even oxygen infused skin care products. But the biggest beauty trend of 2010 was in an area that has been previously starved for attention.

It all started last year, when this ad for Schick Quattro's ultra kitschy 'Mow the Lawn' commercial made it acceptable to talk publicly about pubic grooming using cheesy entendres that are so thinly veiled they may as well be single.



But this year, the trend really exploded. It all began with a word that is, depending on your point of view, either brilliant or buffoonish: Vajazzling. Personally, as a fan of Swarovski, show tunes and camp so high it gives you nose bleeds, I think it's wonderful. But what exactly is it? Pretty much exactly what it sounds like - it's encrusting your mound of venus (freshly waxed of course) with crystals. 



Of course, this raised some hard questions, questions Gawker was not afraid to answer. Questions such as "What if my hair starts growing back?" "Then you've got a big itchy crystal mess," they explained. 

Next came something that rendered regrowth less problematic. It's a practise strippers, biker molls and the terminally tasteless have been aware of for a while  - tattoos, either temporary or permanent, that grace the mons pubis. This year the art got given a catchy name  - Vattooing (or twattooing if you want to get vulgar), and a bunch of  viral videos to rival vajazzling followed. 



Of course, after two major news stories about the wacky ways to bring some colour to your cooter, parodies were sure to follow:



Then, the trend went totally mainstream, with one of the most bizarre informercials I've ever seen in my life:



Tajazzling! It's like a snuggie for your snatch… Ahem, I mean a 'Confidence boosting three step system'. 

Then came another proposal from Gawker (who seem to be the main ones driving the media frenzy for fanny related frivolity), Korean vaginal steam baths! These actually sound kind of nice. 

"It's a simple, relaxing treatment," says Neil, who hopes it will help her become pregnant. "You can imagine people doing this in the forest somewhere," report the Los Angeles Times.

But, perhaps my favourite trend to emerge from all this is the bushy backlash. Like many ladies who are declaring au natural to be the new landing strip, take a cue from Abbey Lee in Chanel fur for iD and decorate your lady bits with the tawny tinsel god gave you. 

That being said, if you're personally curious about the practice, Brazilian Butterfly offers a vajazzling service. Last hoorah for New Years Eve, anyone?