The Advice Sisters

"What Works" - HOLIDAY BEAUTY & GIFTS - A "Head-to-Toe" Review of The Hottest Beauty Products & Gifts to Give (or hope to get) This Year!

You've been invited to a big, holiday bash and realize that you've got nothing new to wear. You're heading out for the evening directly from work, with no chance to change. You've been busy all day have less than half an hour to get ready for that dinner date, but you need something to give you a pick-me-up, quick!

Absolutely nothing transforms your look (and your mood) faster and more dramatically (and for just a few dollars), than new makeup and fragrance, but how can you choose from a dizzying array of new products? To help you make your life easier & more fun, THE ADVICE SISTERS collected and selected the best beauty products and gifts to suit every budget and taste. We'll also give you some quick tips to help you easily create day and evening look that won't take much time. Best of all, most of the products suggested here can be purchased online, so you can avoid all those long lines at the stores.

What's heating up the holiday season? For an instant update think CONTRAST (very light or dramatically dark) and SHINE (super-frosty, gloss, and glitter).

BETTER & MORE BEAUTIFUL BODIES:Before you get dressed or put on your makeup, and there=s nothing better than a hot, bath or shower to relieve stress or get in the mood for a special event. Treat yourself or give friends gifts of scented body products. They cost very little but make you feel like a million!

Keep the spirit of the holidays with you all year long is The Body Shop's new Cranberry line of bath products with a tart, fruity scent even men will enjoy using. Cleverly packaged in beautiful amber glass bottles, they're perfect for gift-giving, or for an affordable treat for yourself. Infuse your bath with Cranberry Blooming Bath Oil - $15.00. There's also a Cranberry Body Scrub - $15.00 (buffed even stubborn areas like elbows and heels without feeling like I was sanding my body with Brillo!) Follow with Cranberry Body Butter $15.00 to moisturize your skin, or one of my favorite new products, The Body Shop's Cranberry Shimmer Scent-$15.00 which moisturizes while leaving a rainbow of tiny glitter flecks on your skin which twinkle like millions of tiny stars in the sunshine and especially under artificial lights. The glitter lasted for hours until I washed it off.

Other bath products worth a mention include Clinique's body care products in unbreakable shower-friendly tubes. Soft Polish Body Exfoliator-$16.50 mild, peach, slightly grainy, Skin Cushion Body Wash $16.50- pink mild and gentle Deep Comfort Body Moisture $16.50 - yellow and calming. There's also a "Refreshing" line of products (Instant Energy Body Wash Sparkle Skin Body Exfoliator, Cool Lustre Body Moisture- $16.50 each). For fun in the bath, try Tony & Tina's lavender-scented herbal "Confidence Boost" Bubble Bath & Shower Gel in a fun, funky bottle that even perks up the bathroom!

FASHION YOUR FABULOUS FACE:
Everyone knows that clean, healthy looking skin important. In cold climates, skin tends to dry out from indoor heating. Along with drinking lots of water and following a regular skin care regimen, most adults find that winter skin needs more moisture. Skin care is very personal and subjective and you should use the specific products and routine that works best for you, but here are some special products to help you handle winter, and the holidays:

If you've indulged a bit too much, have had too little sleep and too much stress, Beauti Control's Nourishing Eye Pads -$15.00 are great to help you relax after a stressful day, and to reduce puffiness and refresh tired eyes. They felt cool as cucumber slices, but without the feel of food on your face! One pad on each eye for 5 minute will make you look and feel instantly refreshed. For an added boost, store the pads in the refrigerator.

Prescriptives Flight Cream - $43.00 has become my new "can't do without" facial moisturizer. You can use it either as masque or treatment cream which instantly smooths the skin with a silky, not greasy, feel . Use your own moisturizer on top as well if you wish.

Moisturizer will help your skin and let your foundation slide on smoothly, but if your skin still isn't as good as you'd like it to be, try Prescriptives Illuminating Liquid Potion- $30.00 before you put on foundation and see how much better your skin can look. This revolutionary product refracts light to reduce uneven skin tone and ruddiness and optically produce a flawless complexion. Even though it's a bit pricey, a little goes a long way. I used it without foundation for a dewy, day time look, but when I used it under foundation my skin really did look appreciably more smooth and even. A good foundation to try is Prescriptives Invisible Finish Foundation.

Even if you can't afford Chanel's designer dresses, you can get a designer original (and cover up your facial flaws) with Chanel's new Professional Concealer Duo with SPF 15 - $35.00. You'll feel glamorous and special just opening the compact with the signature double "C's" and will appreciate the generous double-concealers that you blend together to get just the perfect tone.

When it's time to take the makeup off, I particularly like Tony & Tina''s fun-but-seriously effective aromatherapy products. Quodos to their eye makeup remover, super-effective cleanser, and two-tone nail polish remover. Those with sensitive skin might try Beauti Control's Skin Equations Cleansers: Gentle Wash-$14.00, Calming Rinse-$15.00, and Relaxing Moisture-$16.0

MAKE AMAZING EYES!

Did you ever notice how someone's eyes show exactly what they're feeling? Whether yours are shining with excitement, or red with fatigue, a little eye makeup, properly placed can make accentuate your eyes and show them off to their best advantage. There are lots of products for the eyes. We've reviewed some traditional shadows, and some new products that you might want to try.

Beauti Control Stystems has a number of eye shadow tries with light, medium and dark shades in warm and cool tones. Unlike many eye shadow compacts, this one has a lid shadow much larger in size than the accent and liner shadows, so you don't run out so quickly. Another nice touch is that the compacts have mirrors large enough to actually use to apply makeup in a pinch!

For something new and really unique, The Body Shop offers 4 different duos of metallic eye crayons- $14.00 to brighten up day or evening. Packaged in small, plastic cases, they're perfect for toting to transform into party mode directly from work. They're a bit fragile, but ultra-soft crayons smoothed on easily and blended for a sheer light look or layered more heavily for dark drama. Amazingly, the color stayed put until I washed it off. These crayon kits make a fun stuffer for women of any age.

Another excellent new product to try is Chanel's "On-The-Double" Eye Crayon- $28.00 in 5 shade combos. It may seem a bit pricey but consider what you get: two products and a pencil sharpener...and a little goes a long way . Each double-sided pencil has a Kohl liner (the first I've ever been able to manage a perfect line with) and a creamy shadow, all in one, tote-able product!

Always a leader in fashionable makeup, MAC Eye shadow $12.00 - are affordable and come in dozens of beautiful colors. Sparkle and high frost are the watchwords when picking a new lid color for the holidays and MAC delivers with "Ice Box" an intense, frosty turquoise Ice Box to also wear as eyeliner is For a hint of sparkle that you can wear in daytime as well as night, try "Violet Dear" a light silvery lilac for entire lid.

Maybelline has come up an even less inexpensive way to make your eyes shine this holiday season. Expert Eyes Shadow Gloss-$4.00 is like a lipgloss for eyes. There's a powder shadow that works beautifully on it's own but takes on a new intensity and sheen when you apply the matching clear gloss over the color. I thought this would make my lids sticky and that the color wouldn't last, but I was wrong! Try "Pink Shine" for a subtle, light lid, or "Grey Glaze" for a dark, dramatic look (or as a liner).

More expensive doesn't always mean better. Prestige Cosmetics also has amazingly nice, inexpensive, easy-to-tote eye shadows in coordinated color palettes, cleverly contained in small round compacts. The Prestige Shadow Quads-$5.95 come in 8 color groupings with colors to shade, define, and highlight. The shadow brush on smoothly and last well. I particularly liked the pastels sahdes in the "Sea Breeze" group, a welecome change from drab neutrals. Try some, and perk up your eyes in a new way! Prestige has lots of beautiful single shadows as well, at penny-pinching prices.

Stila is one of my most favorite cosmetic lines. You can't help but feel special wearing their beautiful Eye Shadows-$14.00 in sophisticated colors that glide on smoothly and effortlessly, even if you're not expert with a makeup brush) For the holidays, a great color to try is "Rhumba," an intense, velvety, grey-purplish-blue that looks sheer and subtle if applied lightly, or you apply more layers to create the modern, smoky eye being featured in the fashion magazines. Rumba can also be used as an alternative to basic black, blue, brown or grey eye liners. Other fun colors to try include "Kitten," a super-frosty peachy-pink, and "Brava," a gold-flecked peachy-brown.

The Advice Sisters are also the authors of RECRUITING LOVE-Using The Business Skills You Have To Find The Love You Want. Click to learn how to buy RECRUITING LOVE and the "Making New Connections" audio series.

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