Bosom buddies: skincare for the cure

First, the bad news: breast cancer is still the sixth leading cause of death for women in the U.S. Now, the good news: you can support research via an immense number of skincare, makeup, and beauty purchases. Remember when all you could do was a walkathon or buy a pink ribbon? (You've come a long way, boobie.) Read on to find some great products that make pink the new black:

Body Drench lotion: Nicknamed "Bosom Cream" for its post-mastectomy use as a scar-reducer, Body Drench will donate a portion of its proceeds during the month of October to the Cancer Institute of New Jersey.

5th Avenue Bath Company's exfoliating coffee scrub: Here's an eye-opener: a full 15% of proceeds will be donated to breastcancer.org. I'm calling this my guilt-free Latte Factor.

If you're a fan of Clinique's Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion -- and who isn't? -- you should know that $10 of the $35 purchase price goes straight to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. (Bonus: you get a darling pink ribbon charm and a Clinique "C" charm to gussy up your keychain.)

Put your money where your mouth is: YSL's Golden Gloss No. 27 (with real 24K gold!) makes your lips shiny-sweet. But here's another reason to kiss-kiss: 30% of your purchase goes to the National Breast Cancer Coalition Fund.

Remember, breast cancer awareness isn't about slapping a pink ribbon on a girly product. It's about curing a disease that affects all of us. To make every dollar count, go to Think Before You Pink's Critical Questions page so that you'll maximize donations and send them to real research.

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!