A-LIST: Scented Secrets for the Season

Finding the right fragrance for the holidays requires a strong constitution. One foot in a department store, and a salesperson hovers over your shoulder trying to sell you the most expensive item on the counter. Or, worse yet, spritzing you in an nasal ambush. If you attempt to test a few on your search, you create a concoction that obliterates your ability to sniff a clear winner. You leave smelling like you took a bath in perfume and with a headache to boot. Let these picks make your search for the perfect holiday scent short and sweet.


1. Miss Dior Cherie ($68 for 1.7 oz lordandtaylor.com): This scent reminds me of being wrapped up in a cashmere sweater by the fire or laughing at a holiday party. The floral and musky scent, which makes it flirty sexy. Though it runs the risk of being overpowering, one spray is enough to last the evening.


2. DKNY Delicious Night ($58 for 1.7 oz macys.com): Less sweet and more spice, this scent is an ideal garnish for your New Years Eve. It includes blackberry and ginger, which create a tangy scent. Perfect for a woman in platforms or pumps, a slinky dress with an attitude to match.


3. Maybe Baby ($48 3.4 oz benefitcosmetics.com): This floral scent is subtle, as if you just put on lotion or clean laundry. It smells light like rose water, with hints of water blossoms and apricot. Perfect for a date or a just an evening with drinks, this scent does the flirting for you.


4. Pure Vanilla from Lavanila Laboratories ($56 for 1.7 oz lavanila.com): Remember as a kid making cookies when it came to measure the vanilla, and it smelled so delicious that you took a taste (only to find it bitter). This perfume delivers the same experience, capturing the scent of gingerbread houses and holiday baking (minus the bitter finish).


5. Thierry Mugler Angel ($72 0.8 oz nordstrom.com): This perfume offers a woodsy scent with a hint of honey and chocolate, which gives it a feminine profile. This playful perfume makes a great everyday scent. One user from Sephora.com commented, “It gives you confidence when you enter a room and people want to know what you are wearing.”

OBSESSION: The BeneFit of Glamour

As a mature 12-year-old, I skipped over CoverGirl and went straight to BeneFit. The San Francisco based company was my favorite babysitting-money splurge, and it’s stuck with me throughout the years. Not only did I buy the sparkly eye shadows and lip gloss, I frequently bought products for fixing under-eye circles I didn’t have, lip plumper I didn’t need, and cake eyeliner that I never wore. Those years of research paid off, and I consider myself the unofficial, number-one tester for BeneFit products. Here are my favorites, some new and some old:


1. Dr. Feelgood ($28 Benefitcosmetics.com): This product has a lemony zing and goes on clear. It’s meant to give you a smooth palate to work with when putting on foundation or bronzer and the rest of your makeup. Think airbrush in a tin. Of course, in middle school I didn’t need to worry about fine lines or large pores, but today I use it under my bronzer every time.


2. Some Kind-A Gorgeous ($28 Benefitcosmetics.com): My roommate introduced this newer product to me last Christmas. I’ve never been one for heavy makeup so this silky, smooth faux foundation offers just a bit of coverage. It comes in two shades, but it is so translucent that it matches just about any skin tone. It’s also great to cover a red blemish or for under-eye circles.


3. That Gal ($28 Benefitcosmetics.com): During my internship this summer, I got a peek at the Allure magazine beauty closet and got to keep this product. It became an instant favorite, especially in summertime when I wear less makeup. The bottom half clicks, and the pink shimmer product comes out the top. Swipe on places where the sun hits your face i.e. cheek bones, forehead, chin. Rub in for a simple glow.


4. Brow Zings ($30 benefitcosmetics.com): I never listened to my mother when she talked to me about my eyebrows. She always said they were too thin. Now I realize that the ‘80s Madonna unibrow may be better than underwhelming wisps. This product fills in brows to make them look as full and as fleshed out as your heart desires. It comes with a little set of tweezers to help you achieve the perfect arch.


5.Kitten ($26 benefitcosmetics.com): I literally was obsessed with this glitter-lovers product. I originally bought it because it reminded me of something you’d find on a movie star’s vanity, but ended up loving it. The classic kitten contains champaign glitter dust inside the pink poof. There are two other editions: Kitten goes to Paris and Kitten Shops NYC with silver and copper glitter respectively. It offers a subtle glow to chest, shoulders or back for a night on the town.

OBSESSION: Cocoa Butter Swivel Stick

In my bag you will find four things: my wallet, my house keys, my cell phone, and my swivel stick. Yes, it looks like a glue stick. And yes, it’s not very pretty. No matter. I cannot leave the house without this. I’m not one to carry makeup around in my bag for touch ups, and lip gloss drives me crazy when the wind blows and my hair gets stuck in the mess. Palmer’s is creamier than a normal chapstick and double the size (so you get more moisture for your money). It has a slightly sweet scent but without the taste so it works for both men and women. If you’re a girl who likes her color, this works as a moisturizing base for lipstick.

Cocoa butter is an extract from cocoa-tree beans and acts as a universal smoothing product. According to Palmer’s website, it remains solid at room temperature and melts at body temperature. One hint: perhaps because of its lackluster packaging, all of Palmer’s products reside on the bottom shelf at drugstores. ($3.29)

CRUSH: A Tan Fan’s Friend

When I arrived to school freshman year, loaded with graduation money, I decided to splurge on a $250 tanning package from Garbo’s that gave me 30 tanning sessions for the year. Throughout two semesters, I never ran out, and I cherished the warm bed to defrost from the Syracuse cold. But after reading story after story in Glamour, Self, and Cosmo, of young girls getting cancer from these heavenly beds, I decided to quit.

Since then, I have tried every product known to woman to make my skin look tan without the benefit of UV rays. Spray tanning: I turned orange. Gradual self tanners: smelled totally weird. Regular self tanners: left streaks on my legs and left my hands three times as bronzed as the rest of me. For a while I stuck to just bronzer, but caking too much on creates an oh-so-obvious appearance.

My roommate introduced me to Clarin’s instant tanning gel, and I found a way to conjure a faux tan without streaks or stink. This gel formula goes on clear and though it says it works within two hours, I found that it really works its magic overnight. After two applications on my face, I was noticeably tanner, but orange-free and without one streak. At $30, it was a cheap alternative to my previous habit. A few words of advice: Use an exfoliator to slough off dead skin so the product looks natural and stays on longer, and strive for even application.

HOW-TO: Pretty in Pinks

Mark the end of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month with limited edition beauty products whose proceeds help find a cure. Now, thanks to generous donations from several beauty companies, you can fuel important research and your love for all things pink with a few purchases that give back in a big way.

1. Paint it On. Polish-junkies covet OPI, and its exclusive nail lacquer for October lives up to that lust. In addition to donating $25,000 to Susan G. Komen for the Cure, OPI created a limited edition 2008 Pink of Hearts nail lacquer ($9) that offers the perfect transition pick from fall to winter. The cotton-candy colored polish boasts a light pink sheen, contains no dangerous chemicals such as DBP, or Formaldehyde, and is available at national salons and beauty stores such as Dillards, JCPenney, Regis, Trade Secret and Ulta.

2. Spritz to Save. Striving for a cure has never smelled so sweet than with Lacoste’s Touch of Pink fragrance ($52). The enticing blend of jasmine, violet, blood orange, sandalwood and vanilla offers a fresh take on feminine floral in an elegant pink bottle. This perfume is perfect fit for a flirty female on-the-go, and a portion of the proceeds from each 1.6 oz Eau de Toilette supports the Young Survivors Coalition.

3. Pamper your Pout. C.O. Bigelow the oldest apothecary in America is known for its old-school beauty product approach. The celebrity-shopping hotspot in the West Village donated $250,000 to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and teamed up with cartoonist and author Marisa Acocella Marchetto to create the Cancer Vixen Mentha Lip Tint in Pink Mint ($8) available at Bath and Body Works. The gloss is part of a limited edition collection benefiting breast cancer research, and delivers with an extra pop of color and peppermint oil to sooth those chapped lips.