Cheryl Cole - because she’s worth it

Watch out Kate Moss - Cheryl Cole is right behind you. The Girls Aloud singer and X Factor judge has just been given a global advertising deal with L'Oreal, making her the first British woman to sign up to the 'Because you're worth it' campaign since Moss in 1998.

Cole (left) now joins the ranks of some of the world's most beautiful and well-known women: Penelope Cruz, Jennifer Aniston, Beyoncé, Eva Longoria and Slumdog actress Freida Pinto are all used by the Paris-based cosmetics company to promote their beauty products.

The 25-year-old from Newcastle will initially appear in a TV campaign for a new L'Oreal range, Elvive Full Restore 5, being launched in Britain next month.

It is the first time the company has launched a stand-alone range specifically for the British market. With the latest series of X Factor just started on ITV, it means Cole will be seen on screen in the ad breaks for the hugely popular talent show in which she appears as a judge alongside Simon Cowell, Dannii Minogue and Louis Walsh.

"The company is very international and we have a lot of US signings and we felt we were missing a UK celebrity," said Gayle Tait, general manager of L'Oréal Paris. "We researched a number of options but Cheryl just tested so well with the UK public. We sign on personality as much as anything."

Cole's appeal is that woman and men like her equally, if for different reasons: she becomes a L'Oreal face after easily winning the 'sexiest woman in the world' poll among FHM readers. As the magazine's editors commented, "At this rate of nationwide domination, it can only be a matter of time before the country converts en masse to a new religion: Cherylanity."

Meanwhile, Moss, who was also 25 when she first did her first L'Oreal campaign, has just launched her latest range of clothes for Topshop. In a set of black and white photos taken to market the new line (above right), her sultry look involves wearing laddered tights. Hot - but not very L'Oreal.