Photos: Courtesy of Kiss and Sula

With 2012 on the horizon, we found two new nail ideas to freshen up your fingertips in the new year:

Gaga-ify Your Nails: The fifth floor of Barneys department store in New York City has recently been transformed into Lady Gaga's Workshop—where you'll find everything from magnetic paper dolls of the lady herself to claw-shaped stockings fit for little monsters. Our favorite beauty find are these Kiss press-on nails—like the chain and studded set at left—designed by Gaga's personal nail artist, Naomi Yasuda. If you're daring enough to wear these press-ons for longer than a night, swap the sticker-style tabs for nail glue (included in the kit) and keep them on for up to a week. Plus, 25 percent of sales from all items in Gaga's Workshop will be donated to the Born This Way Foundation founded by Lady Gaga and her mother.

Paint and Peel Polish: Want to change your polish as often as you change your clothes? Try Sula's polish duos that peel off without breaking out the remover. Two coats of color has a shrink-wrap effect on nails and the clear top coat leaves an extra-shiny finish. Throw one of these pens in your purse or keep it in your top drawer to easily touch-up chips.

Would you try these? Have any new beauty finds you love?

Keep Reading
Paint each nail a different color (and still look like an adult)
Lady Gaga's ferocious fashion

Photo: Courtesy of Sephora

When the season of giving rolls around I always feel like the runner that missed the gun at the beginning of the shopping marathon. In other words, I'm still standing empty handed at the starting line while everyone else took off sometime around Thanksgiving. In an effort to catch up, I came across these three festive and affordable beauty gifts that are guaranteed to put a smile on any woman's face (and save you from looking like a slacker).

Mini Shopping Bag Makeup Palette: No time to wrap? Hang this tote-shaped compact (at left) filled with nine eyeshadows, four lip glosses and a flattering shade of pinky-peach blush on any makeup junkie's Christmas tree. $15, Sephora.com

Nutcracker Soaps: Skip the fruitcake and bring this boxed set of five soaps to your holiday hostess.They may look like toys, but the sophisticated burnt orange, clove, and balsam fir scent is all grown up. $22, GiannaRose.com

Birchbox Subscription: Instead of a generic gift card, give the beauty lover in your life something original (and a whole lot more glamorous). Each month your mom/aunt/niece will receive a box brimming with high-end tools, makeup, hair, and skincare samples. She'll find her new beauty favorites without splurging on the full-sized product and cluttering up her cabinets with jars of half-used wrinkle cream. $30 for 3 months, Birchbox.com

Have any other last-minute gift ideas?

Keep Reading
18 gifts to get at the drugstore
9 beauty stocking stuffers under a buck

Photo: Courtesy of Exude

Lipstick has had a cult following since...well...forever, but the same fundamental problems have existed since the very beginning. The bullet quickly transforms from a sharp, perfect slant to a dull, rounded nub in just a few uses—making application less precise. Gloss is always an option, but getting the last quarter out at the bottom of the tube with the wand is usually impossible. Exude's new line, however, is checking off those cosmetic quandaries one-by-one. The plastic applicator retains it's shape no matter how many times you reapply. Plus, you can release as much or as little of the moisturizing, mint-scented color as you want by clicking the bottom of the tube clockwise. If you've over-clicked, turning the base in the opposite direction sucks the product back inside so that you never waste a drop. For a more satiny look, opt for one of the nine crème shades. If you love shine, try the five gloss shades that range from red to clear.

$29, ExudeLipstick.com

Keep Reading
6 ways to hide the signs of holiday stress
A lipstick that feels like a gloss

Photo: Courtesy of T3

The hot roller set that was passed down to me by my mother was nestled inside an enormous plastic case (which would start to melt at the corners if I left the rollers plugged in too long). It was also a pain to have around—too big to jam under the sink, too ugly to leave on the countertop. Eventually I gave up on my dreams of perfect waves. But I recently discovered T3's Voluminous Hot Rollers ($99), which warm up to 250 degrees Fahrenheit in three minutes. A dot on top of each roller changes from red to white to let you know when its aluminum core is fully heated and ready to use. Plus, the heat-resistant, faceted edges prevent burnt fingers. And a soft carrying case and detachable cord make for easy storage. Now I don't have to wield a curling iron or fire up my blowdryer to get the bouncy look I crave. Hot roller heaven!

Read More
5 best new hairstyling products—and their humble origins
Lazy woman's guide to fabulous hair

Photo: Thinkstock

Food editor Lynn Andriani recently came over to my desk with her favorite lipstick in hand (or at least what was left of it). The label was entirely rubbed off and the bullet worn down to a nub. Desperate for a replacement, she asked if I recognized this not too bright, not too sheer shade of pearly pink. Without any visible clues—aside from the stub of remaining color—I was on the verge of breaking the news that not even a beauty junky like myself could point her down the right aisle at Sephora or the drugstore. That is until I came across Giella, a company that custom blends everything from lipstick to nail polish to foundation [via Birchbox.com]. All you have to do is mail in your discontinued or mystery makeup and they'll send back an exact match. (It's essentially the cosmetic version of cloning). No more cursing those limited edition shades. No more pleading with the salesperson at the makeup counter. No more disappointment. Now, if only replacing all beloved things in life was this easy.



Read More
5 products beauty editors wear down to a nub
This month's best beauty buys

Photo: Thinkstock

The long-running campaign to eradicate wrinkles has taken a new, sci-fi turn. LaVív, an injectable wrinkle filler made from your own skin tissue, has been approved by the FDA for the treatment of smile lines. The procedure requires removing small pieces of skin from behind the ear with a circular blade called a punch; the skin is then shipped to a lab where the fibroblasts (collagen-making cells) are multiplied and frozen until you're ready to have them injected back into your face. Three injection sessions (three to six weeks apart) are necessary, and results last six months.

LaVív is being called a custom-made, more natural approach to line filling (you're simply using your own skin cells, after all). But only one of a half-dozen dermatologists we spoke with is planning to offer it. Because LaVív is more invasive, time consuming, and expensive than the fillers already available—and hasn't been shown to last longer—doctors aren't that impressed.

Bottom Line: This concept could inspire a new generation of wrinkle fillers in the next several years, but for now it's a work in progress.

Keep Reading
How do women really feel about the way they look?
How to fight back against wrinkles
Beauty after 40: 5 mature beauty gurus tell all

Photo: Thinkstock

The photo essay site Pictory has a new story up about how it can be hard to be too beautiful. Written by me.

Ha! Boy, am I kidding. Unless pasty flesh, chronically unbrushed hair, and 2-kids-no-sleep-eye-bags have suddenly come into fashion, being just too beautiful is a problem I can only imagine. And let's be honest, it's a problem I'd be willing to deal with.

So why this topic for a photo essay, and why is it so fascinating? For one thing, hello, these images are just fun to look at. And as the site explains, one of reasons why they share these stories in the first place is "to help people understand what it’s like to be someone else. Day-to-day, the reality, not the fantasy. When you’re good-looking, any stranger can tell that you’ve been fortunate. What rarely comes up — for reasons of intimidation, jealousy, or just the fact that it’s not easy for people to talk about being beautiful — are the complications of that good fortune." 

No surprise that many of the beautiful people interviewed admit that their looks have opened doors for them. But what I found most affecting were the many young women who said that people assumed they were stupid or unfriendly because of their looks. I mean, I assumed they were stupid and unfriendly even as their quotes were urging me not to.  And here's the line that really got me: "So much of my personal value has been placed on what I look like. It’s sad. Looks don’t last. So as I age, will I lose my value?”
 
It would be strange, actually, now that I think of it, to be a young person just finding her way in the world, and to not have to figure out her place the way the rest of us do. Not only is she beautiful but she's a model, so her beauty is her profession, and not one likely to thrive as she ages. If she's not careful, she may well find herself at 50 or so with few marketable skills, her main "talent," in the eyes of many, faded away. Put that way, it does seem a bit dismal. Thank goodness for my baby weight and mismanaged eyebrows! Perhaps they played a more important part than I thought in helping me to find my way in the world.

Read More:
Oprah and Cybill Sheperd talk honestly about beauty and aging.
How different cultures define beauty.

Photo: Courtesy of Lip Smackers

Craving Thin Mints? This new lip balm collection from Lip Smackers might satisfy your sweet tooth—minus the calories. With five flavors scented like your favorite Girl Scout cookies—including buttery Trefoils and rich chocolate and peanut butter Tagalongs—keeping lips moisturized has never been so delectable. And at $1.75 each, you can afford to sample every kind.

Read More
A lipstick that feels like a gloss
This month's best beauty buys

Photo: Thinkstock

As if the scalp massage wasn't reason enough to go to the salon, researchers at Harvard's School of Public Health say that your hairstylist could potentially spot things other than split ends—like skin cancer. Since he/she gets a bird's eye view of your scalp, face, and neck (areas that are frequently exposed to UV rays and where more than 80 percent of the most common types of skin cancers occur, as reported by NPR.org) they could point out suspicious-looking moles or lesions that you may not even know are there or that your doctor might miss during a routine exam. Alan Geller, a senior lecturer at Harvard and co-author of the study, told NPR that most of the dermatologists he spoke with had melanoma cases referred to them by a hair professional and 37 percent of the 203 Houston-based hairdressers surveyed in the study checked their clients' scalps for anything abnormal without any formal training. Geller and his team are now educating Massachusetts-based stylists with the help of the Melanoma Foundation of New England on how to correctly identify the signs of skin cancer. And although I often prefer silence to salon small talk while I'm getting a trim, I hope that this becomes a nationwide initiative so that my hairdresser knows when it's imperative to speak up.

Do you think hairdressers should be trained on skin cancer as well as styling?

Read More
Health screenings: What to get from ages 19 to 91
The fake bake high

Inspired by the eye-opening effects false lashes had on Gayle King, O's Deputy Photo Director Christina Weber split a big box of them (left) with another staffer to see if she could achieve the same look at home. Following makeup artist Carmindy's instructions, Weber has been wearing false lashes to the office almost every day—and the results are surprisingly natural-looking. Although it took her two or three times to get the hang of it, she says allotting yourself plenty of time to apply (it used to take her up to 15 minutes, she's since narrowed it down to five) and wearing them consistently is key. "One eye is going to be easier to do than the other," she says, "But with practice it becomes less of an event to put them on." We asked Weber (our new resident lash pro) to give us three of her best tips:

• While Carmindy used black lashes on Gayle, Weber (who has light hair and fair skin) suggests brown for a more subtle effect. Her go-to's: Andrea Lashes in #53 and Ardell Demi Lashes in #110.

• Weber prefers black glue to clear. "It's easier to conceal any gaps along your lash line," she says.
  

• Don't peel your lashes off (or risk losing your natural ones). Instead, she dips a cotton ball in makeup remover and soaks each strip before gently taking it off. If you're careful you can re-use them same pair of false lashes more than once.
  

Have you ever tried false lashes? Do you have any tricks for applying?

Read More
Watch Lauren Luke apply false lashes
Try purple smoky eyes
How to curl stiff, straight eyelashes