For the discerning appraisal of our Álainn or Appalling readers this week is RTÉ’s peripatetic pretty lady, Kathryn Thomas. The tantalizing Mzz Thomas has trekked far from her native Blockbog Road, County Carlow, at the helm of RTÉ travel show No Frontiers. But Thomas has definitely not been the sluggish sun-lounger type

It must be pretty sweet for Mariska these days; finally she’s known for her work and not her mother. Jayne Mansfield, right, was a sex-bomb actress in the 1950’s and 1960’s. She was only 34 when she died in a car crash in 1967, with her three kids in the back seat. Mariska was just three so probably has no memory of the woman who would over-shadow her early acting career.

The AfterEllen one is flattering. I think those girls take more of a 3-D picture before they decide they like somebody.

There are very few female movie stars who are known by their first names; Meryl, Angelina, Jodie, Julia and Charlize are just a few. All but one of these ladies are also considered box-office gold, guaranteed bums-on-seats no matter what the film. Charlize is on her way though and she’s doing it the hard way – in spite of, not because of, her looks.

Emily Blunt is not perfect. Oh she has perfectly pout, peckable lips, a body to die for and eyes you could lose yourself in, but ladies she dated the one and thank god the only Michael Buble. Now, I’m not saying the crooner is as boring as an auditor’s Christmas Party, but he ain’t winning any personality prizes.

Meryl Streep can do anything, be anyone and become anything and we’ll believe her. She is, undoubtedly, one of (if not the) best actress working in Hollywood and she rocks those blue glasses she wears.

Columbia’s second-biggest export Shakira just as addictive as the first, and has amassed a huge fortune over a lifetime of performing. She’s not just a pretty face and impossible abs, though, this is one serious lady.

Lisa Hannigan is one of those love-her or hate-her musicians. Depending on your outlook she either has the voice of a siren, stroking your heart-strings and evoking a sigh. Or she sounds like a banshee.

Milla Jovovich may have been a model (she started modelling at the tender ags of 9) but, when she decided to make the leap to the big screen, she shirked the usual glamour roles. Instead she opted to play one outcast after another.

Wizard of weird, queen of quirk, princess of the peculiar, Tori Amos could not be more diametrically opposed to the modern female music ‘artist’. She has an embarrassment of talent, couldn’t give a fiddler’s fart about celebrity and wouldn’t be seen dead on a reality TV show. Actually maybe dead…she might get a kick out of that.

Eliza has been simmering under the radar for years now, chewing the scenery in anything by Joss Whedon she can get her hands on. Over the past couple of years, however, her stars seems to have been on the rise with the success of Doll House in the US.

Imagine. It’s been 15 years since Sandy stole the show from Keanu in Speed. Since then, the girl everyone wishes lived next door has made a name for herself as that thing that’s gold in Hollywood – a bankable star.

Now around the same time, as fate would have it, Robin Antin was looking to expand her burlesque troupe, The Pussycat Dolls, into a music group. In 2003, Nicole joined and MTV hasn’t been the same since.

Beth Ditto has been causing eyebrows to raise and brows to furrow since her arrival on the music scene in 2001. She is the ultimate Riot Grrl for the 21st century, unapologetically sexy, fiercely intelligent, well-informed and opinionated. Plus she’s too talented for the mainstream to ignore.

With her new show starting this week, we felt it the perfect time to highlight the force of nature that is Miriam O’Callaghan. In her 49 years on the planet, Miriam has had two husbands, eight children and has hassled more than her fair share of politicians.

megan-fox-marilyn-monroe-tattooLet’s be honest it seems that there’s not really much going on between Megan Fox’s ears, lovely and all as they are. However, Transformers 2 is out, and Megan has quite the following so it’s up to you to decide -Alainn or Appalling?

Wicklow-born (well Kilcoole, so us Dubs call her one of us) Elaine has been woking her lámha to the bone over the past few years, making a real impact on the film industry here, in the UK and, now, in the States.