If you don’t know where to start when picking out a beauty regimen, the aisles of CVS and Sephora can be an overdose of sparkle and shine. But even if you’re a serious cosmetic aficionado, sometimes it’s hard to separate the trash from the treasures. That’s why we’re obsessed with Beautyfix, the one stop shop that lets you customize your cosmetic choices based on your skin and beauty needs.

For a flat fee of $50, Beautyfix allows you to pick and choose products from a diverse list constructed by the company’s beauty panel, which is made up of a group of makeup artists, hairdressers, dermatologists, and others pros in the field of looking good. Some of our favorite picks include Redpoint Kabuki and eye shadows brushes, and the iQ Derma Hydrating Gel Mask, an icy, soothing treatment best enjoyed in a luxurious bubble bath. Some products are full size, while others may arrive in smaller portions, so keep your eyes on the products’ weight to make sure you’re getting the most bang for your buck. Either way, ten products and amazing member benefits for $50? That definitely satisfies our craving.

For more information, visit www.beautyfix.com.

With the 40th anniversary of Earth Day on the horizon, it’s time to start thinking about your environmental impact on the world. While this definitely means recycling, public transportation, and turning down the air conditioner, there are other aspects to sustainability. Many of the skincare products available in drugstores eschew quality ingredients for cheaper price tags. And while we’re fans of bargains, we’re also concerned about what we put on our bodies. Organic refers to not only what’s inside your products, but how they are made. This means not only natural products free of parabens, but refraining from testing products on animals. Avalon Organics Lavender Collection tows the line between luxurious and conscientious with its certified organic lavender and ingredients like babassu oil, beta glucan, and glycerin.

If you’re a lavender lover like us, the Nourishing Lavender Shampoo will send you into olfactory overload. Without being too fruity or floral like many others, the lavender shampoo gives us bounce and shine that made friends ask “What did you do different to your hair?” The corresponding Nourishing Lavender Conditioner works to restore hair strength with those delectable vitamins and minerals we mentioned above. A universally friendly pair, it doesn’t matter what thickness or texture you have. If you love lavender, this is the way the go.

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At over $20 a pop, department store nail lacquers are pricey enough to obliterate our weekly grocery budget. Essie and OPI? Buh-bye vodka martinis, hello free glass of water. So in the mission to achieve the perfect budget-friendly manicure, we’ve discovered Wet n’ Wild MegaLast Nail Color.

We know what you’re thinking…Wet n’ Wild? As in, prime makeup product applied circa 1997 while obsessing over Dawson Leery and Joey Potter’s love affair? Yes, that’s the one, but it’s not for junior high school kids anymore. At $1.99 a bottle, MegaLast Nail Colors are recession friendly and cheap enough that you can load up on a variety of colors. But do they look as high quality as the top brands?

We’ve found that while one coat is far too sheer, two coats of any of the colors provides a professional-looking manicure. While claiming they last 5 days may be pushing it, we’ve had the same success with Wet n’ Wild’s MegaLast as much higher priced products, so we’re satisfied. Check out the color swatches below!

Under Your Spell: With the deep color of black cherries, we were instantly drawn to this shimmering burgundy and purple fusion for a night on the town

Through The Grapevine: A rich, muted berry-purple shade that that’s fun and flirty

Undercover: A muted pink that’s an ideal shade for serious work environments

Tropicalia: A neon-pink coral with a hint of orange that’s straight out of a 1980′s music video

Caught Red-Handed: The traditional va-va-voom cherry red

2% Milk: Appropriately titled, this peachy cream is straight from the dairy

Haze of Love: A deep, rich burgundy-purple that’s lighter and more muted than Under Your Spell

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After yet another blow-drying session, we realized our hair was starting to resemble a bale of hay. While we like to think we take pretty good care of our mane, everyday radicals like flat irons, pollution, and over-processing seen to rip the life out of it. So in a mission to banish the barnyard look for shiny and sophisticated locks, we decided we were in dire need of hair therapy. But here’s our issue: Whenever we use a deep moisturizer that hydrates our brittle, split ends, the rest of our hair turns out greasy. Enter: The Bumble and Bumble Mending Collection.

A 4 step series of shampoo, conditioner, masque, and leave-in cream complex, we saw immediate results in our hair’s quality after 1 use of each product.

Before

After

The shampoo and conditioner are pretty self-explanatory. If you’re looking to cut costs, consider bypassing the shampoo and splurging on one of the deep conditioning treatments. We absolutely noticed a healthy shine after using the conditioner, but in order to really repair our fried ends, we applied the hair masque and let it sit for about 10 minutes. The goal of the masque is to restore strength and increase elasticity, particularly in highly damaged hair that’s seen its share of over-processing and coloring. While the masque isn’t for daily use, it doesn’t need to be used in conjunction with the conditioner unless you’re looking to do some serious fixing of split ends and dried-out hair. We’d recommend this for frequent hair straighteners like ourselves!

The mending complex is a leave-in conditioner that serves as a barrier against everyday damage, such as endless blow drying, straightening, and pollution. Consider the damage you inflict on your hair by clamping it in a thousand degree flat iron. You wouldn’t shove your hand in an oven without a potholder on, would you? The mending complex is basically just that- a source of protection against the damage we inflict on our hair. It seals the cuticle, and gives you that bouncy, straight-out-of-the-salon hair.

The mending shampoo retails for $28. The mending conditioner retails for $31. The mending masque retails for $36. The mending complex retails for $33. For more information, visit www.bumbleandbumble.com.

Gone are the days when hair spray meant boatloads of AquaNet coating beehives and bouffants along the Jersey Shore. Sure, we still have Snooki to think about, but everyday women need a little something to hold their ‘dos in place too.

So when we got our paws on a bottle of Suave Weather Protection 365 Humidity Defying Hairspray, we immediately imagined clouds of hairspray with a toxic smell. While we were pleasantly surprised that Suave didn’t have a gassy odor like many drug store brands, I wanted it to have a tad bit more staying power like products from John Frieda or Pantene Pro-V. Humidity-defying is great, but alas, my hair did not stay in place as long as I wanted it to.

The product retails for $3.99 in your local drugstore. For more information, visit www.suave.com.

If exfoliating is a cult, we are definitely the leader. In fact, we’ve been known to use everything from coffee grinds to brown sugar in order to slough off dead skin and clear out clogged pores. So when we got our paws on a bottle of Lierac Paris Micro-Abrasion Stimulating Smoothing Cream, we hopped in the shower to give it a test run. Despite being referred to as a face cream, Lierac’s Micro-Abrasion is really a face scrub that is rinsed off after massaging gently for two minutes.

Composed of alumina crystals for deep exfoliating (heavier scrubs can’t light a candle to these), Lierac’s smoothing cream is specifically designed for dull skin that’s lost its luster due to everyday life. We lathered it on after a thorough cleansing, and loved how smooth our face felt afterwards. If your pores are a problem like ours, we bet you’ll feel the same.

For more information, visit www.lierac-usa.com. Micro-Abrasion retails for $38 per 2.25 oz bottle.

Have you ever taken your dog for a walk, and realized that their hair is in better shape than yours? Well if you’re starting to feel jealousy towards your Golden Retriever, that’s a deal-breaker, ladies! For men and women with chronically dry hair, all the moisturizing and conditioning in the world doesn’t seem to give hair that glossy shine we crave. But all hope is not gone, folks; maybe you just need a deep hydrating treatment to repair the breakage from endless hair dryers, flat irons, and blazing sun rays.

The Bumble and Bumble Quenching Collection reaches deep to repair the cuticles of your hair with a blend of wheat proteins and pro-vitamins that basically glue the hair’s cuticle back into place. Hydration is restored, and your hair finds the strength to shine on.

We tested out the line on our victim, Christine, whose thick hair had lost its shine under the weight of her split ends. This photo is of Christine’s wavy locks before using the Quenching Collection.

Christine immediately felt her hair rehydrating while showering. The Quenching Shampoo is a gentle cleanser for all types of hair, while the conditioner instantly smoothes cuticles and packs in the vitamins that have been depleted by over-processing. Christine was particularly impressed with the conditioner’s ability to detangle. After conditioning, she applied the Quenching Masque, which is an intensive, therapeutic moisturizer that only needs to be applied once a week. After letting it sit for 10 minutes and then rinsing, hair is replenished and strengthened. Christine immediately noticed a difference after rinsing out the masque, and commented that her hair felt “very moisturized.”

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Pull one too many late nights at the office? Or rowdy evenings slugging margaritas in your local watering hole? Then you’re probably familiar with the ever-present doom that is dark under-eye circles. In order to feign a solid 8 hours of sleep, a moisturizing eye cream is the vital first step to protecting the delicate skin around your eyes.

We’ve been using Vichy LiftActiv Retinol HA Eyes for over a week, and our sore lids are feeling soft and hydrated from the second we close our eyes until we wake up in the morning. A combination of wrinkle fighters Retinol and Adenosine, LiftActiv is designed to treat all types of wrinkles for women with sensitive skin who want to avoid needles. While Vichy claims to permanently reverse wrinkles in a month using the Retinol LiftActiv, our twenty-something eyes aren’t exactly ridden with wrinkles and crow’s feet yet. But we definitely have enjoyed the extra dose of moisture for our baby blues. Retail price? $39.50.

For more information on the Liftactiv Retinol HA Eyes (or on anything Vichy, for that matter), visit www.vichyusa.com.

WANTED: a natural, not too sweet and syrupy body mist. Must not remind one of winter. Pretty bottle a must. Sensuous scent a plus, but must accompany sass and attitude.

In the depth of winter, heavy, musky scents seem to rule the shelves of the beauty counter. But what if you’re looking for a rich, winter scent that doesn’t have a price tag that rivals Chanel No. 5?

Shopping mall standby Bath and Body Works has you covered with their new Aromatherapy Sandalwood Fig Body Mist. Rather than the sweet, floral scents that used to dominate Bath and Body Works scents like Sun Ripened Raspberry and Country Apple, this sensuous spray maintains a natural sandalwood scent for the woman who is confident, or at least needs a little confidence boost. While it claims to have pheromones to really boost sensuality, we’ll settle for the luscious scent and reasonable price tag ($15 per 4oz bottle).

After a hectic day at the office, there’s nothing we look forward to more than collapsing into a bed of warm, flannel sheets. For that extra guarantee that we’ll pass out in a perfect slumber, we’ve taken to spraying our sheets with various scented linen sprays. But that got us wondering if we were spending our nights asleep in a bed full of harsh chemicals that just happen to smell good.

Enter: California Baby’s I Love You Baby Spritzer, an all-natural, organic mist that combines sweet orange, French lavender, and ylang ylang. We’ve created a habit of giving sheets a heavy spritzing before bed, or even spraying our face and neck after moisturizing or applying makeup. Perfect just in time for Valentine’s Day, California Baby also has an I Love You Bubble Bath, Massage Oil, and an adorable Teddy Tote for your little one. But these products can be enjoyed by luxury-addicts of all ages, so don’t avoid giving yourself a chance to warm up and moisturize this Valentine’s Day.
The I Love You Spritzer retails for $13.49. For more information on California Baby, visit www.californiababy.com.