The Ultimate Beauty Guide

Through all of our handy beauty products, we enhance and improve upon our features that we were born with, and play up the ones that we wish had a bit more prominence. So that saying “fake it until you make it” can really ring true in the beauty world – if you want fuller lips, make them; bolder brows, create them; and a contoured jawline, contour it! In this column we’ll teach you the tips and tricks to tweaking your features and “faking it” until you “make it.”

We all can’t help but still be dreaming about the bronzy summer look we had a few months back. If you feel like now that winter is around the corner and every time you look in the mirror you see a ghost, you are not alone. With some easy tips and tricks we will have you back to that warmer, summertime glow in no time!

Contouring: This is probably the most important step to achieve a summer glow. You have to select a bronzer with not a ton of shimmer and follow the natural hollows of your cheekbones, but make sure to blend the bronzer as you go – no one wants severe bronzer lines!

Temples: You’re going to want to brush the same bronzer you used on your cheekbones and sweep a small bit up to the top of your temples. Be sure to blend this into the hairline and you will see an all over warmer feel begin to appear. Take whatever is left on the brush and dust it over your nose for a finishing touch.

Blush: Your best bet is to stick with a more coral based blush tone, to partner up with the bronzy feel. This will make you think about a tropical vacation that you’re due to take.

Highlight: Again we don’t want to use a product that is super shimmery, but instead of using a white, go for a more golden toned product. This will reflect in the light and make you feel like a summer goddess.

Lip Product: Use a color that is in the lighter pink range of hues. If you use a dark color, this will make your paleness more prominent, so you’ll want to compliment the bronze look you’re trying to create.

Eyes: Be sure to keep the eyes super simple and light. A drastic smokey eye or intense black liner could throw off the whole balance of your “summer glow.” Use a shimmery champagne-like color across the lids and some mascara and you’re set!

Summer is about baring skin and showing off the beautiful (fake) summer tan you have. But in order to look good baring that skin, you need to take some time to ready your skin and reverse the signs of neglect you showed your skin during fall, winter and spring.

Knock of each step on my skin care tips for glowing skin and you'll be ready to pull out your favorite summer dress in no time flat.


1. Exfoliate Your Body. It's so very important to exfoliate your skin. Your body sheds skin cells at an amazing rate every minute of every day. If you don't get rid of them, they'll just sitting on your skin making you look dull and dry. No matter how much lotion you use, you're never going to have glowing skin if you don't exfoliate. Grab a body scrub and hit the shower. Gently rub your exfoliator in circular movements on your entire body from the shoulders down (you'll want a facial exfoliator for your face and neck) and rinse clean. Continue to do this 2-3 times a week for year-round beautiful skin.

• Product Pick: Aquolina Pink Sugar Body Scrub, is a fun summer scrub with hints of raspberry, orange and lily of the valley.

2. Shave the Right Way. I won't ask for a show of hands; you know who you are. In the winter, what is the point of keeping your legs religiously shaved daily when you know your legs will never see the light of day? Those lazy days of winter are over. Find a good razor that won't cause razor burn. I'm a fan of Gilette's Mach 3. When picking out a shaving cream, don't choose the $1.00 men's cream; a shaving lotion is much better for your skin as it will hydrate and help ward off nicks and cuts. In a pinch? Use your conditioner for a moisturizing shaving cream.


3. Get a Safe Summer Glow. You have so many choices when it comes to adding a little summer tint to your skin, and the tanning bed shouldn't be one of them. Using a sunless tanner will give your skin a beautiful start to summer. Even if you're not a fan of sunless tanners all over your body, you can happily use them on your face. If you alternate your facial moisturizer with one that builds a bit of color, you'll have a healthy glow that will make it look as though you just spent the weekend on the beach. Most facial tanners build color gradually, by alternating with your regular moisturizer, you'll never get too dark.

• Product Picks - Clarins: Self Tanning Instant Gel

4. Don't Forget Your Feet. Winter boots have long since been packed away; it's sandal season ladies. Either go and get a pedicure (try a beauty school if cost is a factor), or give yourself an at-home pedicure. You scrub off the dead dry skin to reveal your sandal ready feet. Nothing is worse than seeing dull dry feet inside cute sandals. It doesn't have to be a big ordeal. Keep a foot scrub and file in your shower and scrub your feet a few times a week. You'll notice a big difference in the softness of your feet.

• Product Pick - Bliss: Foot Patrol uses salicylic acid to exfoliate, which will leave your skin super smooth.

5. Find a New Bold Summer Polish. Buy a bold new polish for your toes. Toe nails can be painted a much bolder color than you would usually put on your fingernails. Pick out something that screams summer. Polish tends to stay on your toes much longer than your hands because you don't abuse your toe nails like you do your finger nails. Apply a clear base coat, two applications of color and a clear top coat to protect. Go barefoot or put on your flip-flops for at least a couple hours to make sure your polish won't dent.

• Product Pick - Nars: Orgasm is a great color to go with bronze, summer skin.

You’re probably looking all confused right now, asking yourself “How the is it possible to do something so simple incorrectly?” But brushing your hair after you wash it can be extremely damaging if you’re not using the right tools. Wet hair is very fragile and it’s easier for breakage to occur during this time frame—especially with a big ol’ bristly paddle brush. Taking the time to careful brush your hair is essential if you want healthy, gorgeous hair (and if you want to make your haircut last longer!). So here's some tips on how to properly brush your hair, what tools to use and some detangle product recommendations. Trust us, you’ll notice the difference once you start brushing the right way!



If you are adamant on using a brush, we just discovered The Wet Brush ($8.98). It has adaptive flexibility technology and eliminates all tugging, tearing, pulling and ripping, so you can use this miracle brush fresh out of the shower on your wet hair. Seriously, it makes brushing your hair SO much easier.


It’s best to blow-dry your hair before brushing, if possible. If you’re prone to tangles, try misting Carol’s Daughter Tui Moisturizing Leave-In Conditioner ($13.30) in your hair after towel drying. It will help fortify your strands so they’re less likely to break while detangling.



Try your best to avoid using a hair brush until your hair is completely dry, and choose a brush that has the fewest teeth possible. A great solution is this new Goody TangleFix Gentle Detangling Brush ($25). It contains flexible bristles that get through tough tangles with ease, and makes for a great post-gym brush too.


Instead of attacking your wet hair with a giant brush, opt for a wide-toothed comb like The Body Shop Detangling Comb ($7). The teeth on a wide-toothed comb are set further apart than a brush and slip through hair easily, which won’t cause breakage. You should also always comb your hair starting at the bottom half first.


To help get rid of tangles, try this Aveda Dry Remedy Moisturizing Conditioner ($33.79). It softens and adds moisturizes, leaving your hair easy to brush through when you’re ready to start styling.


This Shu Uemura Art Of Hair Essence Absolue Oil-in-Cream ($50.30) is seriously the best stuff ever. I apply this to my hair after towel drying, and it instantly smoothes and makes my hair easy to comb through. It also fights humidity and frizz.

Whenever we’re faced with a hair problem whether it be static, grease, limpness we tend to switch our shampoos, styling products, even the way we blow dry or straighten our hair. But the real trick may be changing how you brush your hair. Although brushing our hair is as natural as washing our hands or pouring a cup of coffee in the morning, it’s not as straightforward as you would believe. Find out what you’re doing wrong and change your ways.


1. Brushing from the root to the tip. Starting at the root and pulling the hair down to the tip pulls the hair out of the follicle, snapping it. Instead, work your way up by starting to comb a few inches up from the bottom, taking out tangles, then moving up a few inches, removing more tangles and working up to the root in these small sections.


2. Brushing when wet. The hair fibers get filled with moisture, causing them to stretch. Because the strands are now weaker, breakage is much more common. Allow your hair to air dry before detangling.


3. Detangling with a paddle brush. A paddle brush is too harsh to detangle, whether dry or wet. You want to use a wide-tooth comb, but first apply a detangling product. Use a spray for fine hair, a lotion for medium thickness and a cream for thick or coarse hair. The hair will then be slippery and the comb will go right through.


4. Brushing too much. If you’ve seen any old movies or TV shows, you may remember women sitting in the front of the mirror counting every brush stroke until they reached 100. However, over brushing can actually cause more breakage. Instead, focus on the quality of the brushing, not the number of strokes. Eliminate the knots and you’re done.

5. Using the wrong brush. It may also be the equipment you’re using that’s the problem. Natural boar bristle brushes are much gentler on hair than brushes made with synthetic bristles, and they’re better at distributing your hair’s natural oils through the mid-lengths and ends.


6. Using dirty brushes. Just like you should wash your makeup brushes, you should also wash your hair brush once a week. The bristles get clogged up from stray hairs as well as excess product build-up. Just think — when you use your brush on freshly clean hair the next day, you’re actually applying the product residue from the day before.

To wash, first remove any hair caught in the bristles and then run the brush under warm water. Add shampoo or hand wash and work it into the bristles, creating a foam. Then rinse the brush off completely and set on a towel to dry.

7. Causing static with your brush. Brushing too often can also cause static from the friction. Before brushing, spritz hairspray on the brush to control flyways. You can also rub a few drops of hair oil between your fingertips and run through the hair.

Still in the pursuit of healthy, shiny, commercial-worthy hair? It’s actually not that hard to get, but many women are often sabotaged by some common hair care mistakes. Scarily, a lot of hairstylists still advocate some these bad mane moves, but we have the real scoop from Emily Overton, Pantene Principal Scientist and member of their Healthy Hair Science Squad. She spends her days scrutinizing how hair behaves in different environments and reacts to all sorts of ingredients, so we know she has the lowdown on the best strategies to care for your locks.

Mistake # 1: Conditioning only the ends.


Many of us have been told to apply conditioner only to lower half of our hair, especially if it’s fine and limp. The thinking is that a conditioner will weigh it down. But, in reality, fine hair is very fragile and needs the extra support of a daily conditioner. “Hair is weakest when it’s wet, and can stretch up to 30% more, which makes it prone to breakage,” explains Overton. The solution is to use a light conditioner from roots to tips that moisturizes and strengthens hair without weighing it down. ($3.99) makes hair feel soft, strong and full of body.

Mistake # 2: Not using a heat-protective styling aid.


Women need to protect their hair before using a blow dryer, flat iron or curling iron for two reasons. First, using a hot tool causes friction, which damages cuticle cells and causes breakage. Furthermore, the heat can burn you hair, making it feel dry and brittle. A conditioning heat protective spray coats your hair so the hot tool will glide over it without causing friction. It also acts like an insulator, preventing your strands from burning.

Mistake # 3: Skipping weekly deep conditioning treatments.


“Women aren’t using a daily conditioner properly, so it’s important to use a weekly deep treatment to help compensate for that and maintain healthy, shiny hair,” says Overton. The surface of a hair strand is made up of overlapping hair cuticles, similar to how tiles are layered on a roof. When hair is damaged, these tiny cuticles get lifted up or broken off, which causes frizz, breakage and dullness. A deep conditioning treatment will help fill in any holes and repair roughed up patches so hair is soft, shiny and manageable. ($15.95) works instantly to strengthen and soften hair.

Mistake # 4: Towel-drying in a rushed, rough manner.


No matter how fast you need to get ready, frantically rubbing your hair with a towel won’t speed up drying time, and could actually cause a bad hair day. “Your hair is weakest when wet, so if you rub it harshly, you’ll rough up the hair cuticles and cause frizz and breakage,” explains Overton. The solution: First, spritz detangling spray all over, then squeeze out water using a soft, super-absorbent towel. ($3.99). It contains micro-conditioners that silken and separate strands to help prevent breakage. Combing your hair out will be a cinch!

Mistake # 5: Tearing through knots with a brush.


Patience is a virtue, and when it comes to knots, it’s also a true hair savior. While we all want to rush through brushing our hair, if it is prone to knots, you need to take the extra time to gently coax them smooth, otherwise you risk snapping your strands. The trick is to brush your hair from the ends up. This way you’ll gently undo all of your knots before you gain the full momentum of running the brush down your hair from roots to tips. If you have a real nasty knot, use a wide-tooth comb to gently undo it from bottom to top. ($2.69). Also, prevention is best. Use a daily conditioner and your hair will be

As we all know, Valentine’s Day is swiftly approaching. So, you know, all that aside (because you don’t need us to tell you that the Superbowl of Date Nights is almost upon us) but let’s just say you’re planning a date night on that night – or any other night. What you’ll wear is super important, but the foundation of your whole look is touchable, soft, glowing skin.

In the dead of winter, this can be no small feat to accomplish, particularly when racing between blast furnace heat and arctic winds. We’re here to help. Here are some of the best essentials to give you skin that’s silky smooth and so luminous your date will swear you travel with your own lighting crew. Check out our favorites for glowing date night skin.


A great night starts with a good night before. This primer contains a blend of botanical boosters and Vitamin A to set up a smooth canvas for the next night's date makeup. Which, coincidentally, means you'll use less makeup overall.

Elizabeth Arden Visible Difference Good Morning Retexturizing Primer, $31.82



Date night skin is hydrated skin, so lock in moisture right out of the shower with a gorgeous lotion that contains cocoa and shea butters for silky-smooth skin that will last all night.

Suave Skin Solutions Smoothing Body Lotion with Cocoa Butter with Shea, $8,


We all know that the best kind of date night makeup is the one that makes you look like you're not really wearing anything at all. Get them thinking in the naked direction with this cosmetics palette of the same name that can be used to create a flushed, healthy glow that's bound to get you noticed.

Urban Decay Naked Flushed Palette, $30


With a name like Endless Kiss, this body wash makes - and delivers on - all sorts of romantic inclinations. Packed with an oh-so-dreamy combination of skin-softening ingredients and an intoxicating, come-hither aroma of sandalwood and vanilla, it's gives you incredibly soft skin that's guaranteed to deliver.

Caress Endless Kiss Silkening Body Wash, $22.50


Protect your skin with a cream that's packed with skin-softening and illuminating minerals that help give your face an added glow. The added bonus of SPF 15 ensures your glow will last a long, long time.

Pond's Luminous Moisture Day Lotion with SPF 15, $6.49


Glowing skin gets a little help from a gorgeous body oil packed with Monoi de Tahiti oil in its purest state for amazingly hydrated skin that looks lit from within. The light tiare fragrance is light and natural, which means it won't compete with your favorite come-and-get-it fragrance, but it's so good you might just wear it on its own.

NARS Monoi Body Glow II, $59


Date night is the perfect time to show a little skin, so make sure yours is glowing above and below the neckline. These super-smart peel pads exfoliate gently with alpha-hydroxy acids and leaves behind a subtle-yet-noticeable glow thanks to a healthy dose of Vitamin D. Oh, and with regular use, they can also minimize the need for shaving, which comes in oh-so handy on those last-minute date nights.

Dr. Dennis Gross Skincare Alpha Beta Glow Pads for Body with Active Vitamin D, $45


Puffy eyes can wreck even the best date night look, so apply these eye therapy patches, packed with ceramides, essential oils, and peptides, while you're getting ready to diminish dark circles and puffiness. In 30 minutes, you're good to go and each patch is reusable for up to three times...in case you're out late and need to use them again tomorrow morning. No judgments here.

Talika Eye Therapy Patch + Case, $67


The best thing about date night (at least in our opinion) is the opportunity to break out your most awesome lingerie, so why not primp and prime the night in a gorgeous bubble bath from one of the finest purveyors of the sexy stuff? Skin softening ingredients will give you glowing skin that's touchable and best-bra ready.

Agent Provocateur Bubble Luscious Bathing Bubble Wash, $54


Soothe date-night nerves - and exfoliate dry skin - with a gorgeous mineral soak that doubles as a body scrub. Anti-aging properties help with a youthful glow, the scent will help you unwax before tackling the ultimate question: what you're going to wear.

Calgon Ageless Bath Mineral Scrub and Soak, $14.99


Getting a good night's sleep before your big date ensures glowing skin (and a pretty good disposition) that night. Be sure to apply this amazing Vitamin C-packed nighttime treatment that smoothes and soothes for spotlight-worthy skin the next day.

Korres Wild Rose + Vitamin C Advanced Brightening Sleeping Facial, $59.99

With a change of the season coming our way, not just our latte orders are in for something new (pumpkin everything, of course). Dry skin is more common than not during cooler weather, and considering you’ll be best prepared if you know how to handle what comes your way, below are 10 things no one ever tells you about dry skin.


1. Exfoliating is actually really good: It may sound strange that using scrubs and exfoliants will help dry skin, but this is a key factor in getting your skin to look smooth and hydrated. You should be exfoliating once or twice a week, then moisturizing your skin immediately afterwards. If you’re into DIY beauty products, make your own scrub by adding extra virgin coconut oil mixed with salt or sugar on your freshly cleansed skin (face and body). Use a warm, wet washcloth to wash away and follow up with a body butter for maximum benefits.


2. Use a humidifier: The moisture in the air is actually good for skin. If you live in a low-humidity climate or you are around furnaces in the winter, invest in a humidifier. Your skin needs more than 30 percent humidity to stay properly moisturized. A room heated by a furnace can have as little as 10 percent moisture. Consider sleeping with a humidifier in your bedroom and keep doors closed so the moist air doesn’t escape the room.


3. Avoid drying soaps: Soaps can be drying, so stick with a creamy moisturizing cleanser that contains glycerin or petrolatum for the face and body. Also, skip the bubbles in bubble baths (which can contain harsh foaming ingredients) and opt for bath oils or oatmeal scrubs, which are great for soothing dry, itchy skin.


4. Put an end to steaming hot showers: Yes, they feel amazing for the time being, but they’re actually doing more harm than good. Hot water robs skin of moisture causing dry skin, so it’s best to shower in lukewarm water. If you can’t bear this rule (we know it’s easier said than done), try to keep your showers short and only shower once per day. The lukewarm water rule also applies to hand washing, ladies.


5. Moisturize as soon as you come out of the shower: Hands, feet, face and body, make sure to get it all. It’s important to moisturize as soon as you get out of the shower to seal in hydration immediately.


6. Have you taken your fish oil pill this morning?: People who take a fish oil pill every morning have more moisturized skin, hair and nails. Due to the high Omega-3s found in the supplement, you’re given an all over glowing and hydrated appearance.


7. Be aware of your tap water: Especially if you have extremely sensitive skin, consider avoiding rinsing your face with tap water, which can contain harsh minerals that are especially drying to the skin. Instead use a cold cream like Pond’s to cleanse your face or use bottled spring water if you’re really feeling fancy.


8. Change foundations according to what your skin tells you: With the change in seasons and skin, you should also change up your beauty regimen. Instead of the powdered foundations, opt for silkier formulas. The same rule applies with blush, and you can replace your powder with a cream. This will help to moisturize skin and keep dry skin from popping up.


9. Drink more water than you want: Really push to drink more water throughout the day. This flushes out your entire body and makes your skin plump and hydrated! Hydrating your body from within is the best way to look smooth and silky on the outside.


10. Beware of perfumes: Some scents can be truly irritating and drying to your skin, take notice of how your skin reacts when wearing a certain scent and switch to a fragrance-free formula immediately.