To everybody who posted your biggest beauty question: thank you!  It took me a few days to weed through them all and take notes (I’m currently working on edits for Confessions), so now I have a loooong list of future posts and items to research.  (The best deodorant that won’t leave marks?  Beats me!  I’ve tried scores over the years, and I’ve never found one that actually works — including Degree Ultra Clear, which says it’s Little Black Dress approved…but it’s not.  Degree, you lie!)  In honor of the ‘fro I’m rocking today, let’s tackle frizz first.

You don’t have to spend oodles of money on an effective anti-frizz product, nor do you have to so thoroughly weigh down hair with shine serum that it becomes a grease ball.  The trick in banishing frizz is to combat it when your hair is wet, not damp or dry; this will make a huge difference in the sleekness (and lightness) of the finished look.  My personal favorite is Phytodefrisant (apply a quarter-sized dollop) but at $26, it’s not as cheap as, say, John Frieda Frizz-Ease Serum (roughly $9) or Neutrogena Triple Moisture Healing Shine Serum (about $7.50), both excellent alternatives. 

- Rub the serum in the palms of your hand and over fingers, then work it through your combed-out strands, starting at the bottom; this ensures the most product will deposit on parched ends, and the least amount on your roots. 
- If you plan on airdrying hair, scrunch a dime-sized amount of hydrating cream (see below) on the lower-half of hair and then keep your hands off!  (Handling leads to frizzilation.)  The areas near your roots don’t need any hydrating or glossing cream, unless superdamaged or coarse.
- To blowdry hair smooth, I like to blast my bangs first (away with thee, wavy bits!), then pull up the top half of hair from my ears up, beginning in the back and underneath, and working my way forward and toward the crown.  (Play around and do whatever works for you; what’s truly important is working in small chunks to get hair bone-dry.  For those that have cowlicks, I strongly recommend drying those areas ASAP!)
- Remove every last bit of moisture.  Even slight dampness will lead to later frizz on drier, less healthy strands. 
- Finish with a dime-sized amount of glossing or hydrating cream, combing it through hair with fingers, avoiding roots, and making sure to swipe the underside and random back bits of your ‘do.  Two of my all-time favorites are Fekkai Glossing Cream and John Frieda Secret Weapon Flawless Finishing Cream. 
- Dedicated frizz-fighters can use a flatiron to quickly lock in straightness, but make this the exception, not the rule, as heatstyling will dry out hair over time…which leads to frizz!  Ahh, the cruel irony.

Out of nowhere, my complexion has exploded in breakouts; I suddenly resemble a thirteen-year-old boy.  Pinpointing the cause of zits is always difficult, particularly when you’re a beauty gal who regularly switches up her routine and enjoys “experimenting” with products.  (Substitute the word “experimenting” for the phrase “being stupid” and then we’re in business.)  Could it be the samples of antioxidant infused, anti-aging Vivite?  (But the skincare rep said it wouldn’t flare up my skin!)  The hint-of-color-plus-SPF Neutrogena Color Boosting Sunblock SPF 30?  (Um, the bottle says non-comedogenic.)  The two days when I ran out of cleanser and was using whatever I scrounged up in D. and A.’s cabinets?  (So why isn’t their skin breaking out?)  Or maybe it’s that good ol’ standby: stress.  Whatever the reason, I’ve been fighting back with military precision: first up, thirty seconds of careful washing twice daily with my beloved Neutrogena Oil-Free Acne Wash.  At night, I apply Clean and Clear Persagel 10, which contains 10% benzoyl peroxide.  In the morning, I apply Bare Escentuals Rare Minerals Blemish Therapy, an invisible, sulfur-based treatment, followed by the peptide-packed, one-of-the-few-products-that-definitely-does-not-make-me-break-out In An Instant Instant Firming Serum.  Finally, I’ve been blasting myself once a day with the ThermaClear Acne Treatment Device, a handheld bacteria-killing badass that is very quickly making a difference.  Of course, all this complexion warfare is leading to dryness, but my skin and I are negotiating a fragile treaty whereby it understands that if it stops looking like a pizza, I will stop infusing it with benzoyl peroxide and sulfur.  Alors, then everybody wins. 

J. writes:

Hi! You kindly answered questions for me before about my hair care, and the advice was great! The Bumble & bumble Thickening Spray you recommended is a miracle product, I’m convinced. It was worth the splurge, especially considering the rest of the products you recommended weren’t expensive. So, I’m hoping I can get away with asking another question of you… I live in Florida, too, and have fair, freckly skin. I’d love to find a high SPF sunblock that goes on well under makeup and isn’t greasy. I will break out if it’s too oily or if it aggravates my somewhat sensitive skin (Coppertone and I are mortal enemies). I’m willing to invest somewhat if I have to, although drug store price is preferable, but this is my face, after all… Thanks!!!

Hi J!  Sensitive, oily skin and sunscreen may seem like mortal enemies, but in fact, there are several options (yes, even at the drugstore!) that will keep you damage-free without clogging all your pores, becoming mask-like and turning your face into an oil-slick.  One of the best drugstore brands across the board is Neutrogena, and depending on how much protection you’re looking for you could either choose the Neutrogena Ultra-Sheer Dry Touch Sunblock SPF 30 (great for beach days and ski vacations) orNeutrogena Healthy Defense Daily Moisturizer SPF 30 (good for everyday). I’m a huge fan of both, because they work (read: no freckles or sunburn!) without causing breakouts.  Hope that helps!

Thanks to TheMakeupGirl for inviting me to post my top tips for winter skin on her site!

If you’re like me, every year as the weather turns nippy, you go like clockwork through the same routine: throw the tank tops in a drawer to get all musty until spring, pull out the winter sweaters you bought last October and which now all have holes in the armpits, and dig out from the back of the hall closet coats which now seem depressingly out-of-date.  (Holidays around the corner?  Coat shopping time!  Nevermind you already have five in storage.)  Changing your skincare routine is similarly necessary; harsh elements like cold, wind and snow are going to wreck havoc on even the sturdiest complexions, and will age you more than you realize.  Here are a few simple tips to make sure your peaches-and-cream cheeks (hey, a girl can dream, can’t she?) stay that way until April.

- Just because it’s winter and there’s less sun in the sky doesn’t mean you can forgo the sunscreen!  Use a product with at least SPF15 everyday.

- Make sure your day or night cream has antioxidants in it; this will help protect your skin against damage from the wind and cold.  One of my favorite sunscreen/antioxidant combos is Neutrogena Anti-Oxidant Age Reverse Day Lotion SPF20

- If your skin is particularly dry, switch to an emollient cleanser, such as Cetaphil, or an oil-based cleanser, such as Shu Uemura High Performance Balancing Cleansing Oil (The Shu cleansing oil is, paradoxically, great for acne-prone skin, as it won’t strip skin of moisture, which can cause oil glands to go into overdrive and get clogged.)

Read more here!

Many of my beauty blogging brethren went to New York City this weekend for Fashion Week.  Rather than schlep my ass all the way out there to spend five minutes interviewing various harried, sweating makeup artists as they paint foundation on girls named Natalia and Agyness, I flew to San Francisco for the first stop on my college book tour!  (Don’t worry, my fearless interns Traci and Bess are backstage digging dirt, for those of you who are into that thing.)  The event–at UC Berkeley–was a bit nervewracking, as I was speaking to eighty fiercely intelligent young women who also seemed more than a little well-versed on the ins-and-outs of how to be gorgeous.  (”What if they hate me?” I fretted to my friend R.  “And then my mind will go blank, and I’ll begin sweating, and then of course I won’t be able to stop stuttering, and before I know it, they’ll be whispering and jeering and throwing tomatoes at me!”  “I doubt they’ll have tomatoes,” was her reassuring response.)  Thankfully, the event went off without a hitch, and the ladies in the audience seemed to enjoy it as much as I did.  After explaining who the hell I was—and why the hell I was qualified to be speaking about beauty!—I read several pages from Beauty Confidential, and then answered their questions.  Here, a few of their queries:

“What’s your favorite mascara?” (Answer: Lancome Definicils, although I also sang the praises of Max Factor Lash Perfection)
“Can you recommend a good eye makeup remover?” (Answer: Lancome, once again!  Their Bifacil is tops.  I mentioned that Neutrogena Oil Free Eye Makeup Remover is a good drugstore alternative)
“Do eyelash curlers really make a difference?” (Answer: Absolutely, as long as you pick a good one.  Eyelash curlers are one category where you do very much get what you pay for.  If it’s not Shu Uemura or Shiseido, don’t bother) 
“What’s your favorite foundation?” (Answer: No surprise here–Bare Escentuals Bare Minerals, of course.  With SPF15, weightless, flawless coverage…you know the drill by now, don’t you?) 
“How often do you wash your hair?” (Answer: Twice a week.  Gross!  No…not really.  Yes, I obviously bathe daily, but unless you have extremely oily hair or are a fitness nut, you can get away with washing your hair every other day…or even every two days.  My schedule: wash ‘n wear days 1&2, then pigtails days 3&4.  In the interim, hair powder works wonders, and keeps your ends from getting dried out!  For you gym rats, wash and shampoo as normal on day 1, then simply rinse with water on day 2)