This blog is dedicated to my husband who sees my imperfections and doesn't mention them.
I love trying new beauty products. Place me in a Sephora or Ulta store and I feel I am in paradise. For hours I can pleasantly entertain myself looking at the plethora of different shampoos, facial washes, makeup and perfumes, envisioning myself as a size 0 with glowing clear skin, no split ends, and being stopped by every man in America asking “What’s that scent you are wearing? (Ok, maybe not EVERY man)
One of my downfalls , as my mother will readily tell you, is that I am a sucker for cool packaging and intriguing ingredients. That inclination has resulted in trying hundreds of different products over the years – good and bad. Some products I have used ever since I was in college and I would rather exit the house with no makeup and hairy arm pits then see my fav end up on the proverbial chopping block. Others I have readily discarded vowing never again to be duped by flowery ingredients which deliver zero results.
Because of my “beauty product love”, I probably have more knowledge roaming around in my head than Wikipedia. So I decided to start this blog to share my adventures with you on the quest for beauty, giving my recommendations and warnings so your money can be well spent. The subject matter may be a tad vain, but ultimately every woman has an innate desire to look and feel her best and there is nothing wrong with that. Happy reading, and if you don’t come for my daily blabberings at least drop by for my contest giveaways that I hope to do every other month.
One of my downfalls , as my mother will readily tell you, is that I am a sucker for cool packaging and intriguing ingredients. That inclination has resulted in trying hundreds of different products over the years – good and bad. Some products I have used ever since I was in college and I would rather exit the house with no makeup and hairy arm pits then see my fav end up on the proverbial chopping block. Others I have readily discarded vowing never again to be duped by flowery ingredients which deliver zero results.
Because of my “beauty product love”, I probably have more knowledge roaming around in my head than Wikipedia. So I decided to start this blog to share my adventures with you on the quest for beauty, giving my recommendations and warnings so your money can be well spent. The subject matter may be a tad vain, but ultimately every woman has an innate desire to look and feel her best and there is nothing wrong with that. Happy reading, and if you don’t come for my daily blabberings at least drop by for my contest giveaways that I hope to do every other month.
When my co-workers found out Kate Walsh from Private Practice was coming into the office to talk about her new fragrance collection, Boyfriend, almost everyone said the same thing: "She is so beautiful. And she seems so nice." I can confirm that it's all true. She looks great and she was funny and low-key, and even gamely drank a cup of our office coffee. (I offered her Starbucks, I swear). The Boyfriend collection, which goes on sale on HSN this week and will be in Sephora stores in February, was inspired by (you guessed it) an ex. Walsh says she realized that what she missed most was the scent her boyfriend left behind. "But you don't want to wear his cologne," she says. "You just want that feeling, that combination o excitement and security. It's cozy but still sexy." The result is woodsy and warm, but still feminine. Walsh also stars in a series of promotional films that she hopes will go viral. 
Mark Haub, a professor of human nutrition at Kansas State University, recently conducted a study that made us wonder if ice cream for dinner may not be such a bad idea after all. For 10 weeks, Haub ate a steady diet of Twinkies, Nutty Bars, powdered donuts, and Doritos (which he made sure to pop into his mouth every three hours). In cutting out all three balanced meals a day (only breaking his junk food binge for a daily multivitamin pill, a protein shake, and a can of green beans or a few celery sticks), Haub set out to discover whether food quality or sheer calorie counting is the secret of weight loss success. And the results? On his "convenience store diet," Haub shed 27 pounds in two months, and his body mass index decreased from 28.8 (overweight) to 24.9 (normal). Haub's "bad" cholesterol, or LDL, dropped 20 percent and his "good" cholesterol, or HDL, increased by 20 percent. He reduced his level of triglycerides, which are a form of fat, by 39 percent. 
Age is just a number—but for celebrities, it also has a big influence on their paychecks. Worried about age discrimination in Hollywood, The Writers Guild of America West is trying to convince super-popular movie database IMDB to let celebrities remove their birth dates from the site, so the public—and industry movers and shakers—won't know how old they are. (The Screen Actors Guild has also reportedly asked that the birthdates of non-mega-stars be removed.) 
As Milan fashion week wraps up, we couldn't resist bringing you the funniest, most bizarre moments we encountered backstage while in the trenches.
Most people don't look their best when they cry, thanks to weird facial contortions, a red, swollen nose, puffy red eyes...the list goes on and on. But last week when I knew I should have been caught up in the emotional journeys of all the people moving on or being cut in the American Idol eliminations, all I could focus on was how pretty a crier Jennifer Lopez is. The woman sent a few of her favorites packing, and looked like a gorgeous sad puppy for doing it. See for yourself here! And J.Lo wasn't alone in her beautiful sadness: contestants Pia Toscano (who could be Freida Pinto's twin) and Thia Megia (a 15-year-old who somehow always looks like she's being lit from within), also pretty-cried. And it's not just because they were attractive to begin with—lots of other pretty contestants turned into Shrek as they sobbed. 
Our March cover girl—Victoria Beckham—isn't the only Beckham wearing makeup these days. Yesterday, her steamy husband got done up for his own magazine shoot, and while there was zero guyliner involved (thank God), Stila makeup artist and male groomer Sarah Lucero got him camera-ready with a little bit of illuminator applied with a damp Beauty Blender. 
The recent occasion of Paris Hilton's 30th birthday got me thinking that if anyone's look doesn't age well, it's hers. Leaving aside the questionable antics, there's something a little sad about a woman in her fourth decade wearing pink minidresses and Hello Kitty accessories, batting her eyelashes at the paparazzi. It got me wondering: What other beauty looks have an expiration date? For me, it's letting my hair air dry. My hair is frizzy and unmanageable if I don't spend a little quality time with a blow-dryer and a round brush, and I hate how sloppy it looks. It's the beauty equivalent of wearing sweatpants—something I'm also definitely too old for. (Full disclosure: I'm 36.) I asked the rest of the Allure staff about the beauty looks they've retired:
As someone with hair that's naturally frizzy, half straight, and half corkscrew curls, I used to wage a daily battle with my hair. I try to not let bad hair days get me down by pulling it back into a tight ballerina bun and slapping on a glitzy headband instead of fighting with it. But for me, the ultimate hair day means beachy waves that don't get too straight and stringy, flat on top, or frizzy at the ends, so when I nail the styling (and luck out with the right weather), I'm happy all day long.
