December's Best Beauty Buys

Eye Opener

"My eyes disappear if I don't wear mascara," a blonde colleague lamented recently. "But it's impossible to find one that looks natural." Impossible, that is, until we slipped her Burberry's new Effortless Mascara in Midnight Blonde. First she raved about the color (a dark slate). Then she raved about the texture (thick enough to tint from root to tip, clump-free). And then she begged for three more tubes.

$28; Nordstrom.com