Set it... and forget it!

I've long heard friends rave about the smooth finish a primer gives to your made-up face. But this one is new to me: a spray to put on after you've applied everything, called Invisible Finish. Evidently it's like hairspray for your face: your makeup doesn't budge, even if you sleep in it, you naughty girl. (No more raccoon eyes to give you away on the Walk of Shame!)

The idea of sleeping in makeup feels a bit dirty to me, but beauty loopholes are made for products like this. After all, sometimes you apply your makeup and magically have a face that looks so good you want to immortalize it for at least one more day. And $17 bucks (find it here on Amazon.com) is less than the price of professional application... oh, how easy it is to rationalize!

Best Beauty Blogs

Happy Friday! Just a quick shout-out about some of the other fantastic beauty blogs out there. Here's where I go to get inspired:

Style Bakery
The Girls in the Beauty Department
Jack and Hill
Makeup Bag

What are your favorite beauty sites?

Au Naturale

I eat as organically as possible. But when it comes to beauty products, most of the organic products I've tried (with a few exceptions--love Weleda and Avalon!) haven't wowed me. But lately I've resolved to become a more natural beauty, so to speak--after all, who needs more chemicals? First on my list of changes: healthier hair dye. I'm going to try out the much-hyped Grace Heaven salon in NYC, which uses herbal, non-toxic products that are so gentle, pregnant women can even safely color their locks. Have you tried non-toxic hair dye?

When In Doubt, Toss It Out ... Or Not?

Space is at a premium in my small NYC apartment, so I recently cleaned out my linen closet in an attempt to make more room. That meant I was forced to face all the beauty products I'd been holding onto. I was embarrassed to realized that some products were nearly five years old--like the Bobbi Brown blemish cover stick in a shade that matched my skin for one nanosecond during a very tan summer, and the Sebastian Dry Clean Only hair spray that never really did make my dirty hair look just-washed. It pained me, but anything that I hadn't used in six months went into the trash (with the exception of my Coco Chanel perfume, which I almost never wear, but can't bear to part with). Now, of course, I'm wondering if I'll regret discarding anything?