I have a new TV addiction, and it is The Real Housewives of Orange County. I have always watched the series but for some reason, this season is even more interesting and addicitive. Maybe it is Lauri’s wedding or the fact that Jeana is separated, but I find the show so fascinating. As a beauty blogger, my main fascination involves the look of these women’s faces. If you go back to older episodes, Lauri looks so much better than she does now. She is so plumped and botoxed that her face has literally changed shape. The same goes for Vicki. I can understand the pressures to stay pretty, I live in NYC after all, but I don’t understand the need to try to defy aging with chemicals and fillers. I am all for using skin creams and makeup products to soften and de-crease aging skin but I don’t agree with serious face work. It just looks terrible and unnatural. Aging naturally is beautiful. I wish everyone felt that way. I am also fascinated with the O.C. style. Everything is so over the top. All the tops are cinched at the bust with rhinestones to showcase the perfect fake breasts. Chandelier earrings dust shoulders. Almost everyone is blonde, blonder, and blondest. It looks to me like American capitalist culture gone completely askew. But it does make for good TV.

The holiday season and January are exciting months for beauty because all of the companies launch new products during this time, hoping to capitalize on the “New Year, New You” makeover concept. I popped into Bed, Bath, and Beyond this week to look for something completely unrelated to beauty and ran smack into some great new products launches that I had to try and share with you. (B,B, and B has an amazing selection of beauty products. It is a secret favorite of mine!) 1) Almay TLC Long Wear Foundation- Almay is made by Revlon so you know the same longwear technology they created with their Colorstay program is in this new TLC line, but Almay is always hypoallergenic and perfect for sensitive, breakout-prone skin. I like the softness and smoothness of this product. It is not at all cakey like Colorstay.2) Revlon Color Creations Foundation- A “make your own shade” concept, the unique tube allows you to customize the perfect color by turning the lid from darker to lighter. It is a cool concept but I am not sure the foundation itself is right for me. It went on nicely, but didn’t have the staying power I need.3) Max Factor Designer Powders- I really have to love this line, mainly because makeup artist Pat McGrath consults for the brand and brings really terrific color combinations and formulations to the line. Max Factor is has fun products, and they are always innovating. I am LOVING their new powders that swirl together to create the absolute best shade and coverage.  I purchased the powder in medium and it almost has a gold tint to it. It is truly gorgeous on the skin.

As you may be able to tell from my posts, I love American drugstores. I can wander around one for an hour, finding new products to test. So, it stands to reason that I would love drugstores in Paris even more because, not only are they filled with the world’s most luxurious, sweet-smelling and expensive potions, but they are also loaded with beautiful French women– so you know the products work! When we are in France, I make a beeline to the Pharmacie Fouhety on the corner of Rue du Four and Rue Bonaparte in the 6th. One has to sort of steel themselves to the experience of the store because, at any given time of the day, it is absolutely wall-to-wall packed with women toting little shopping baskets and loading up on beauty products. Even with the dollar being weak, the prices for the French brands are pretty comparable to what they go for in the States at a place like Sephora, so I feel no guilt loading up on La Roche Posay, Avene, and Biotherm. (Their baby department was where I first fell in love with Mustela.) My ideal Saturday morning would be a nice long jog in the Jardin du Luxembourg, a tiny espresso, and a stop into the pharmacie for some good browsing.

Popped into CVS this morning for some water and new Sour Twizzlers (delicious) and came face to face with a Boots shelf-talker and their cultish anti-aging skincare line. If you don’t know Boots, it is the fabulous British cosmetics company/drugstore that has an absolute cult following across the pond. Target carries some of the Boots products in the States, but the prospect of a local CVS playing host to the Boots brand is thrilling! I will be staking out this store to see if additional products make there way onto the shelves. If so, I may have to officially pass the “Best Drugstore” crown to CVS on 6th Ave. and Carmine.

As someone who loves makeup, fragrance, creams, lotions, serums, and really any and all products that make any sort of cosmetic claims, I envisioned my life with baby being all about covering my child in said products so that she smelled sweet and looked moisturized 24/7. Imagine my dismay when I delivered a child who was sensitive and allergic to most everything. I had planned on bathing her in Mustela products that have an amazing fragrance that can only be described a “French Baby.” I did this, initially, and her skin was so dry and scratchy, I knew the product line was not for her. After other tests, I arrived at California Baby products. At first, I was indifferent to the light lavender scent, but eventually it grew on me. Plus, the products are all natural and so gentle to her skin. The line is available at Whole Foods and is a little pricier than the drugstore baby product variety, but so well worth it for the sensitive babies of the world. Not to mention the fact that the bubble bath comes with a tiny wand so that bathtime is also bubble time. So fun!

It may be more than a shade or two of lipstick! One of the best things about having an office near 34th Street is the proximity to the massive Sephora on 34th and 7th. The other great thing about this Sephora? It opens EARLY, like before-work early! It is often my first stop off the subway on the way to work. This week, when I did my pre-work pop-in, I was witness to one of those “Only in New York” scenes. There were about 10 transvestites, who had clearly been up all night, using this Sephora as their very own makeup bag. They were taking over the mirror space and using heavy hands to apply full faces of makeup. Thick foundation, eyeshadow, liner, and coats and coats of lipstick and gloss were being applied. The store staff was well aware of what was going on and shooting each other furtive glances, but Sephora has a strict hands-off policy so no one made them stop their full face painting. I am totally guilty of trying on lipstick without cleaning the tube, but I guess you never really know where it has been!

I just checked my mailbox and was thrilled to find several monthly treats. My new Vogue and Allure magazines were there, as was a gorgeous beauty book from Barneys. It is lovely- and the new makeup lines they are carrying look terrific. (Especially Serge Lutens Beaute.) I never go to Barneys. It is relatively out of the way for me, anyway, but even when I am up on Madison, staring at the bright red awnings, I rarely go inside. There are a few reasons why this is the case. 1) The beautiful things on display are so ridiculously overpriced. 2) Their beauty department is really wonderful but absolutely not someplace you can simply browse through. The beauty team down there watch you like hawks and attack the moment you approach a counter. I like to play with makeup, try lipstick on my wrist, stick my fingers in eye shadow. I want to do this freely, without judgment by a person at the counter. I also want to do this without being sold a product. I have emerged from the beauty basement at Barneys with products I never really used. Examples include the Prada tinted moisturizer, a product that made me look shiny and I am convinced it broke me out, the lovely Chantecaille Papillion kit with colors that were all wrong for me. I was totally guilted into these purchases by over-eager people behind the counter, and I am so disappointed when I allow this to happen.

And the winner is… Walgreens on on 33rd and 5th Ave. in the Empire State building. How did this Walgreens win such a distinguished honor? Well, it has an entire basement level of beauty. The space is clean, bright, and in perfect order. All of the seasonal promotions are displayed on time, and I can count on them to maintain an excellent stock of all of my faves. They also have a terrific skincare and haircare section. My new drugstore favorite? Revlon’s Papparazi Pink lipstick. It looks like a shocking pink in the tube but glides on the perfect pastel.

It is a sad state of affairs when a majority of your paycheck is spent on beauty products. But so it goes for Beautybaby. I am a beauty fanatic. I read about it all, try it all, and buy it all! I don’t discriminate between drugstore beauty and high-end brands. I love them all. Nothing excites me more than when Maybelline or L’Oreal put out their new color story displays and direct me to purchase their repackaged eyeshadow quads and redesigned lip gloss tubes or when Sephora promotes their seasonal must-haves. I fall for all the claims, buy into all the promises and thrill at the chance to try the new products. I am P&G and L’Oreal’s dream consumer, and I love every minute of it.

Given the amount of research I do on my own, I feel it would unfair not to review products for all the other makeup junkies out there. I will consistently review all the new products I buy before I throw them in my jammed, crammed, and completely disorganized makeup drawers (read: makeup graveyard) and take them out of rotation for good.