You pry your eyes open as the blaring sound of your alarm clock echoes the throbbing in your head and wonder why your alarm is going off at such an ungodly hour on a Sunday when you suddenly realize, “Sh*t! Brunch with the ‘rents!”

You fling yourself out of bed as quickly as your hungover ass will let you, and as you glance at yourself in the mirror you realize that hangover is written all over your haggard face. You’ve got 10 minutes to pull yourself together and look fabulously fresh so that your folks don’t know the amount of liquor you consumed the night before (and don’t forget that greasy pizza at 2 a.m.). What do you do? Don’t fret - with a few products from Clinique, this feat is a lot easier than it sounds.

I’m personally a fan of Clinique because it’s non-comedogenic (which means it has ingredients that do not clog the pores or lead to breakouts), allergy tested and fragrance free. It’s the first skin care line developed by a dermatologist and has been using the same formulas since it was first released in 1968. I also love that it’s a more budget-friendly prestige line and offers up high-end products at much lower prices than many other upscale lines. Read More »

As soon as summer announces itself with its warm winds and bright, shiny mornings, I want to lay out and bake in the sun. Nothing feels quite like floating in a pool - book in one hand, ice cold beverage in the other - absorbing those delicious rays. And nothing looks quite as good with almost every article of summer clothing than some nice, tan legs.

I am fully aware that skin cancer is scary business and not worth the fake-baking/laying out for hours on end. I also have a pretty healthy fear of getting wrinkley in the future, so, to protect myself, I wear my sunscreen. But I recently realized that maybe sunscreen wasn’t enough, and getting my glow a different way may be a better option.

I started investigating.

My former roommate loved sprays, but I personally don’t trust myself with them. I am mildly OCD and need a lotion to ensure I’m not missing anything. I went on a quest to find the perfect lotion and came across a new product: Jergens Natural Glow Express. It looked just like the rest, except that it claimedto show results in 3 days. Conveniently, I was heading on vacation in 3 days, so I grabbed it. Read More »

Call me jaded or skeptical, but I firmly believe that being poor while young is a rite of passage. It is the seed that pushes us to grow in the future.

You know what else is a rite of passage while young? Wanting to be beautiful.

We don’t want to be beautiful in the way we wanted to in middle school. For example, I no longer believe that I will transform into Angelina Jolie one day. However, as you become older and more embracing of your natural features, you also become more interested in how exactly to highlight them and make what you were given work for you.

So lets talk skin. We all want clear and firm skin. Many of us already know that the answer to this is a regular face mask. However, did you know that you can make your own face masks with ingredients straight out of your kitchen?

That’s right. No wasting time at the drug store trying to figure out exactly what sort of classification of screwed up skin you have. And no wasting money on a mask you could make in a matter of minutes from crap you already have. On top of all of that…in my experience…I have found that these homemade masks actually work better than the ones I buy from the store. Go figure.

So here are some ideas for you: Read More »

Apparently, a lot of women suffer from low libido.

According to ABC News, hypoactive sexual desire disorder, which sounds very clinical but for the most part I’m pretty sure refers to a lowered sex drive caused by life (hormones, supplements, exhaustion), affects about one-third of American women. That’s a lot of headaches.

Deciding that it just isn’t fair women still get the short end of the stick (ha ha) when it comes to sexual desire later on in life, scientists have been busy developing a Viagra-like product called LibiGel. Although it’s still in the testing stage, LibiGel had a reportedly “283 percent increase of satisfying sexual encounters for the women taking the drug” in trials at 17 different institutions.

The gel comes in a pump bottle, and a small amount is rubbed into the skin of a woman’s upper arm. Over a period of 24 hours, “the gel’s testosterone seeps into her bloodstream, boosting her energy and libido.” Read More »

• This little gadget sounds kind of gross, but if it does what it says it does then, sign me up! I’ll start saving my $375 now! (New York Magazine)

• You may be Smarter Than a 5th Grader, but are you drunker than a 4th grader? (WGAL)

• Wow, if I ever spend so much time on the internet that my spouse feels obliged to do this…well, then I guess I deserve it. (orange.co.uk)

• Leave it to young college co-eds to ban together and locate the missing camera of a hot chick. Shocking, really. Thanks Facebook! (UK Dailymail)

• Drug dealer sells broccoli to undercover cops…because he didn’t have any actual weed. He couldn’t “just say no”? (themorningcall.com)

I have a confession to make now that summer is upon us and the sun is shining every day: When I am really tan, I feel a) skinnier b) more attractive and c) happier.

It’s true. And I’m sure that some of you girls will agree with me.

I have always known that it is not healthy to fake bake or lie out without sunscreen, but it’s just so hard to avoid the desire to be tan at this age.

With new studies coming out regularly on skin cancer risks and stories of girls our age contracting skin cancer (Britney Lietz, Miss Maryland 2006, who was diagnosed with melanoma at 20), I have really been forced to reconsider my tanning habits.

It also caused me to wonder about our parents who grew up in a time when the risks were generally unknown? Well, an article on msnbc.com describes some of the absurd lengths that people went to for a bronzed body that now basically seems like skin suicide. Read More »