The Pretty Price Check: Your Friday round-up of how much we paid for beauty this week.

• 4.5-9 lbs: The average weight gain you’ll see if you quit smoking. Which is enough to have French women clinging to their Marlboros. (Or whatever fancy French brand of cigarettes they smoke there.) Bleh. (Via Jezebel.)

• $700: How much this writer spent on eyelash extensions. Hey, she got two-and-a-half months of glory out of them, before starting to look like “a bad drag queen.”

• 26 percent of tanners who filled out a survey using criteria for alcohol abuse qualified as “addicted” to their UV exposure. I feel like this whole “tanning is addictive” thing is so not news. And yet we keep hearing news about it. So I feel compelled to tell you about it. Because skin damage/cancer continues to be a key way we’re paying for pretty round here. (Via BellaSugar.)*

Must Read: Elizabeth Kissling’s insightful post over on Re:Cycling about the decline in diaphragm use. Hint — it has a lot to do with the increase in Pill sales:

But nearly four of every ten women who use contraceptives are not satisfied with their method, and I hear frequently from young women that they’re pressured at college health centers and physicians’ offices to choose hormonal methods, usually the Pill, over barrier methods such as condoms and diaphragms. Even after negative experiences with the Pill, women are often encouraged to try another brand rather than another method.

*Oh WAIT and on the subject of tanning: (Since I very much hope you are not addicted to it and in fact, protect your skin at least most of the time.) Check out Enviroblog’s Sunscreen Hall of Shame to make sure you’re not wasting your money and skin cells on something that doesn’t do sh*t. Good. You can also get a list of their top-rated sunscreens here. Now go enjoy your sunny summer weekend!

[Photo: “Women Smoking a Cigarette in the Sun.” While being French (Or not). Via Flickr.]