You'll have to excuse us if we're panting a little this morning. It's not the summer weather -- it's Salma Hayek's topless photo in Allure magazine. Whew! Have you seen it yet?
Okay, so let's be honest -- Hayek isn't shy about sharing her cleavage, and in this photo we're not seeing that much more than we've seen before. Hayek herself describes the photo as "very elegant, it doesn't look vulgar," and we agree.
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What we do think is so hot about the photo is Hayek's confidence -- and knowing she's the one calling the shots. In Allure's behind-the-scenes video, she admits she was feeling nervous about the shoot, both because of her jet lag and because photographer Patrick Demarchelier has a certain reputation.
"He always tries to do the minimum clothes possible!" Hayek says. But she maintained her own boundaries around him and only showed what she wanted to. "I kept my pants on, though!"
This isn't to say Hayek wasn't stepping a bit out of her comfort zone. "I was very nervous and I think I look very uncomfortable in the beginning," the actress says. "I still felt a little bit naked, but in the end it looked really nice."
Nice? I'm not sure that's how I'd describe that gleam in Hayek's eye. Did you notice how she's looking into a mirror in this photo? She's meeting her own gaze, maybe feeling her own sensual power. That's another thing that gives this photo such a charge. The look she gives herself is more naked that the body we see.
Check it out for yourself -- Allure posted a cropped version on Instagram just to tease us for the whole thing.
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And here's Hayek talking about this shoot and some of her iconic red carpet moments.
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Image via allure/Instagram