Five for Friday: Dessert-Scented Beauty Products

It's been a bit of a stressful week, friends. And stress makes me want to EAT. But since I'd rather not mess with my bikini bod, I'm reaching for some deliciously-scented body goodies instead. Behold, five of my favorite dessert-scented products:

Laura Mercier Creme de Pistache Souffle Body Creme. Here's how I described it when I first tried it: "like the most decadent pistachio ice cream - it

Declutter Your Purse With Votre Vu

Votre Vu is a relatively new brand on my radar screen, but so far I'm really impressed with the products I've tried. The On Holiday body oil spray is absolutely delicous, and the product I'm about to tell you about is even better.

Duette Luxe Lip Balm and Hand Creme is ingenious, delicious, and just plain awesome.

This tube of sweetly-scented hand cream houses a pot of lip balm RIGHT THERE IN

Five for Friday: Lavender-Scented Beauty Products

If there's any scent that helps me de-stress after a long work week, it's lavender. In fact, I may get a jump on things and start running a Waving Not Drowning bath right this minute. Below, check out five of my favorite lavender-scented beauty goodies. What are your favorites?

C.O. Bigelow Lavender Peppermint Shampoo. I first tried this most excellent shampoo two years ago at the Soho Grand.

5 Summer Treats for Face, Body and Hair

Guess who's back? Friends, I know it's been months since I've posted anything. It's flaky, I know. Life has just been a little crazy and beauty mania hasn't been my biggest priority. But I'm happy to say that it's all been positive - job, family, friends and relationship are all excellent. It just took a while (ok, a LONG time) to adjust to traveling 5,000 miles back and forth (yes, I'm living

Five for Friday: Multitasking Beauty Superheroes

Everyone already knows that conditioner can double as shaving cream (another tip: mix with water in a spray bottle to keep crazy beach hair in check). Here are five more multitasking miracles that do everything from taming cowlicks to banishing nasty odors. What are your favorite beauty multitaskers?1. Anastasia Brow Gel. I cannot live without this! Beauty experts have proclaimed clear mascara as

Satin Hands, Courtesy of the Pink Cadillac

So. Let's talk about Mary Kay. I've gotten lots of earnest emails over the years from enthusiastic Mary Kay reps, offering to send me products or hoping I'll mention Mary Kay (and their name) on the blog. Generally, I politely decline, for two reasons:1. I just can't support some of Mary Kay's sales tactics. Mary Kay is multi-level marketing at its worst, and often leaves its reps worse off than

Meyer Mania

I've been slightly obsessed of late with Meyer lemons, those delicious little citrus fruits that smell wonderful and taste like a cross between a lemon and a mandarin orange.Our kitchen has been churning out Meyer lemonade, and even a tasty new cocktail we invented, the Meyer Mojito (white rum and mint, but replace the limes with Meyer lemons, and swap out some of the club soda and sugar for a

L'Occitane Shea Butter Hand Creams in 4 New Scents

L'Occitane's much beloved shea butter hand cream is now available in four delicious limited-edition scents. If you're a L'Occitane freak like me, it's pretty much guaranteed that you'll walk out of the store with at least one.Not to mention that you can also snap up Hand & Body Mousse cleanser and Ultra Rich Body Cream in each of these most excellent new scents.Rosebud is sweeter than your

Six Deep, Delicious Fall Nail Colors

You know Fall has truly arrived when you find yourself tired of your Ballet Slippers mani, instead craving something dark and rich. It happened to me this week, and I started digging around for some shades that would satisfy this nail lacquer lust. Here, six winners:1. Estee Lauder Pure Color in Black Amethyst Don't be fooled by the kiddie-looking grape hue of the bottle! This deep purple shade

The Palm Beach Mani: MAC Peaceable

Rock a retro Palm Beach vacation look this summer with this nail polish from MAC. Peaceable is a pearly, frosty pale golden beige, and is best paired with a tan, a bikini with fierce gold hardware (like this one), and a ridiculous beach caftan (like this one).Just watch it, though, ok? Because this particular polish, if styled incorrectly, puts you in serious danger of looking too much like a

Tiny Treats: VS Mini Hand Sanitizers

Longtime readers will know that I have a major weakness for hand sanitizers (the alcohol-based ones, I should note, not the triclosan-based ones that supposedly contribute to the development of superbugs).Anyhow, yeah, obsessed. Especially with hand sanitizers that smell nice and come in wee little bottles that I can throw in all my purses and stash all around the house and office.Last year I

Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Pedi Pistol

Have you seen the commercials for the Pedi Pistol? This new pedicure tool looks to be from the same maker as the legendary Ped Egg. With five attachments for filing, buffing, smoothing, and the like, the Pistol seems like any other motorized pedicure tool.But its extra long handle makes the Pistol look like something you'd find at Home Depot. Seriously, are we going to start using Dremel tools on

Hand Cream for the Voting Booth

There are plenty of perks and advantages to living in NYC -- thousands of restaurants! cheap and frequent public transportation! arts! culture! anything you want, at any time!Except, that is, TARGET. If you're a Manhattanite without a car, as many are, you can't just duck out to Target to peruse the latest Go! International collection or get your fix of Archer Farms Salt & Vinegar chippies. It

Hand Creams are Movin' On Up

The Bath & Body Works obsession continues! This is ridiculous. These little side trips to B&BW started out as a Neiman Marcus avoidance strategy -- you know, just a quick fix to satisfy my beauty jones -- but the plan has started to backfire. I can now walk into the store and identify any new items within 5 seconds flat, anywhere in the store.New to the True Blue Spa line is Shea Cashmere, a

Irrational Thoughts About Sephora by OPI

More than a few of you have written in over the past weeks to ask my opinion on the new, much buzzed-about Sephora by OPI nail polishes.The reason I haven't discussed them is quite foolish, really.You see, there is a polish in that display that reminds me of a wretched, wretched candy. Which, in turn, reminds me of something else.This polish (not the one pictured here) is the exact same color as

Cheap Thrill: The Best Nail Buffer In the History of Mankind

A while back I blogged about my outlandish wrist surgery prep regime, which included a date with a bottle of self-tanner, and a serious encounter with a nail buffer.Recall this line: "My nails were so shiny that they looked like they were sporting two coats of clear polish (polish not being allowed, of course, since my hand was being operated on)."It's true! My nails SHONE, friends. And the

Shades of Autumn

I have a feeling that Fall might come early to NYC this year, friends. Can you feel it in the air? The nights are breezy and cool, almost sweater weather. And suddenly all those shades of summer are starting to feel a bit stale. My personal Fall transition started last week when I fell in love with Jampacked lipglass (that's always when I know Fall is coming, when I have an unexplained craving

Impulse Buying Strikes Again at Bath & Body Works

Sigh. So, as soon as I got my beauty mojo back, my computer up and BROKE. Like, blue-screen-of-death-broken. It's up and running today so, one more time, with feeling...I'm back!Over the weekend I popped into a Bath & Body Works to pick up a fresh tube of one of my new self-tanner obsessions, Glow & Steady from the True Blue Spa line. And then a display of Lilliputian bottles with blue orbs

Building a Better Manicure

When I posted about the manicure from hell, many of you wrote in with horror stories of your own...tales of cuticles under attack, bubbling polish, and even being mocked by the nail tech. But the worst ones were the stories of infections, blood, and unclean tools. Salon hygiene is a serious issue, friends. We all know that Paula Abdul lost a thumbnail to infection after a bad salon experience,

Why I Wore Self Tanner to My Surgery

You know, I never thought that breaking my wrist and having it surgically repaired could provide so much blog fodder! The whole ordeal happened over 8 months ago and there are still stories left to tell - especially the one about how I actually managed to break the bone. I'm still debating on that one. For now, here's one I hope you'll enjoy.The night before my surgery, the Pampered Mama took me