The holidays are the best time to get great beauty bundles for your best girlies, or - umm - yourself. What could be better than getting the best makeup brands at the best prices? Adding a little shimmer to your holiday look could never hurt, and these beauty kits will help you create the perfect look for the year to come. Even better, you can break them down and give the individual components out to lots of people (now that’s some smart shopping!).

Below are some of the best beauty bundle deals out there right now. I’d just wait until the lines die down at the mall (or stick to online shopping) to get these; you don’t want to end up like that Wal-mart employee.…

The Sephora Brand Ultimate Blockbuster: This amazing kit includes 84 eyesshadow colors (both cream and powder) and 60 lip glosses. Also included in this mega make-up kit are blushes, face powders, and brushes. Customer reviews rate the $50 kit at 4 stars, making it a great deal. While some reviewers complain about poor makeup quality, overall I find it hard to complain about such a diverse kit. While you may not find bright blue to be useful on a daily basis, I assure you it will come in handy one day for an 80s party.

Bare Escentuals: Bare Pleasures Kit- This kit includes 9 Bare Minerals eye shadows in neutral and bright tones. These shadows are blendable and easily layerable. They are also easy to convert into eye-liners with a touch of liner-sealant. If you’re an even bigger Bare Minerals fan, I would suggest checking out Nordstrom’s exclusive Bare Escentuals Ultimate Indulgence Collection. This collection is exclusive to Nordstrom and features 20 eye and face powders. These hues, ranging in color intensity, are a $200 value at only $75! That makes it quite easy to justify picking up one for a friend (and yourself.) Read More »

[Make-up is wonderful, but it can also be confusing. There are so many shades and colors and sheens and reasons to wear it that a girl can get completely lost attempting to find what fits her face best. What’s the best blush color for a redhead? How do you really put on lip-liner? Is there such a thing as too much eyeshadow?

In this weekly series, actress / model and fabulous CC blogger, Jen, will be using her make-up know how to teach us all how to look flawless in class, out at a party, or grabbing coffee with that cutie from Psych 101.]

Everyone is always talking about long, luxurious lashes, but how do we get em without getting clumps? And do we really have to spend $40 on a tube of mascara to get that sexy lash we covet? This week Jen gives her expert advice on the best mascaras on the market (in all price ranges) that are sure to get you lookin’ like a Cover Girl.

Like most ladies, the way my face looks is pretty important to me. I like to minimize bright red zits, reduce the black circles under my eyes after a long night at the ‘brary, and generally not look like a 45 year old woman at the ripe old age of 22.

And like most ladies I load up on every product that will keep my face looking fresh, clean and daaaamn good.

But according to a recent article in The New York Times, most ladies are pretty dumb for buying into all that facial cream mumbo jumbo.

No matter how smart we are, we all want to believe that a skin cream can fix all of our problems. Yes, even relationship issues. And it doesn’t hurt when the beauty companies throw scientific terms into the mix, furthering our beliefs that this product is different, and that one really will work!

But if what all the experts in this article say is true, we could get the same effect from a wash cloth and some basic soap that we would get from purchasing a $40 bottle of “rejuvinating night cream.” The same goes for all those “cellular level cleansers,” “biomolecular” eyecreams, and that “microsmoothing” face serum. Read More »

When I woke up this morning and looked in the mirror – at my blotchy skin, the dark circles under my eyes – I thanked God for my drawer filled with makeup. It’s amazing what a little concealer and black eyeliner can do for a girl. Sometimes even I can’t believe the daily before and after transformation to my face.

I almost feel bad for the men in the world who wake up every day and have to take that face out into the world. They don’t have the luxury of covering up that zit or the evidence of a late night out at the bar.

Until now, that is.

It has been rumored that Clinique will be adding to their Clinique M line; their products for men. Instead of their usual face scrubs and moisturizers to prevent problems, the newest additions will include products to cover problems.

Yes, ladies, Clinique is making male foundation! Read More »

I’ve heard it a million too many times: “Wear makeup so that it doesn’t LOOK like you’re wearing makeup!”

Too often, the advice is being given but no one is hanging around to do the instructing. Painting your face (and yes, I will stoop to this level) so that it looks natural is actually quite an artistic gift that one needs to work long and hard at honing.

It requires actually understanding the difference between your real lip color and candy apple red. It requires putting your purple eye shadow in detention until that glamorous-hipster-weekend party rolls along. (Or not so glamorous groupie rock show…either or). But if you can bear to face your day without these neon signs that scream “She might be UGLY under all of this!“, you’ll succeed in not only looking hotter than you actually do when you wake up, but also in fooling a whole lot of people that you’re ridiculously naturally gorgeous.

So here are some tips I’ve got for you. I do not bring them to you in vain. These tips have collected themselves in the beauty corner of my brain only after numerous glitter spills and eyeliner smears.

1. Mascara. You’ll need it. But lets keep it real, shall we? Your eyelashes aren’t blue. G et a color that makes sense for your natural complexion. If you’re one of those born blonde babes, try a light brown.

2. Concealer. Sometimes you simply have some stuff you wanna…ugh….CONCEAL. Dark circles. Pimples. Yeah, they’re the “real you”, but who needs to know? Try dabbing the makeup around the area you’re covering instead of wiping it in. Making sure you cover the area under your eyes can really lift them and make you seem way more awake than you probably are. Read More »

Thanksgiving break seems like a long and luxurious break from the crazy college world, but with all the people you have to see, shopping you have to do and family you have to spend time with, Thanksgiving turns into one exhausting escape. And, considering it has been months (or maybe even years) since you have last seen home people, looking your best is of utmost importance.

Which becomes especially hard after spending Wednesday evening sipping some cocktails.

We all know what looks back at us in the mirror after a night of drinking: black under eyes, blotchy skin, unsightly blemishes, hand stamps rubbed off on a cheek. Needless to say, it ain’t pretty, nor is it appropriate for the grand Thanksgiving dinner with family and friends.

Thanks to my recent entrance into the professional world, I have become quite talented at the morning-after-face-picker-upper. (Because no one needs to know that I spent the previous evening enjoying dollar beers and a battle to the top of the leader board of Erotic Photo Hunt.) Pair these must-have beauty items with a couple Advil and a giant Dunkin Donuts coffee and your family will never know just how much you enjoyed the biggest bar night of the year:
Read More »

My roommate is scared shitless by Carrot Top.

She won’t look at pictures of him, runs from the room if he happens to come on TV, and refuses to even say his name.

She won’t explain her fear, just whisperes that “him and a ventriloquist doll are two the scariest things you could ever see at the foot of your bed in the middle of the night.”

While my phobia is not as rampart as hers, I completely understand the fear.

The dude was weird looking even before he started on the ‘roids, but now that he’s jacked, he barely resembles a human.

Something is seriously wrong with his face, but it’s hard to tell what.

Did he get weird plastic surgery? Did the steroids melt his features a little?

Is he transitioning into a giant, muscular woman?

I hear he’s big in Vegas, which can only mean one of two things; A) people who are drunk and have lost all their money to slot machines go see him in an attempt to put themselves out of their misery, or B) they like freaks. Read More »

It’s Cinco de Mayo! What better time for beach and alcohol-inspired beauty products galore?

Lips:
Avon Glazewear Extreme has ultra high shine and is enriched with Vitamins A, C and E to moisturize lips…try Sangria to get a good Cinco de Mayo buzz going on your way to class.
Stila’s mixed up some special cocktail-inspired glosses for Cinco de Mayo. There are three different shades with names like Pina Colada, Spiced Rum and Daiquiri…and yes, they taste and smell as delicious as they sound. Read More »