Image via PrestigeHK

Hmm...so hard to decide about Kate's latest Agent Provocateur endeavor. Here's the Prestige Hong Kong preview, and I dunno, isn't it a little colorful and '90s and um, skinny for AP? Do you love it or hate it? I just feel like that whole crazy body gloss moment is so tired...anyone?

They don't call it beauty rest for nothin'. Saryn Chorney takes to the streets to ask the chic ladies of SoHo what vials, potions, and bottles get the honored spot on the bedside table.

Image via Pangea Organics

Maybe it's all the organic herbal oils and extracts that do it for us. Or maybe it's the new level of earth-friendly business practices that Joshua Onysko, founder of Pangea Organics, helped introduce into the world of skin care. It could just be that we can actually plant the packaging and grow some medicinal herbs--the legal kind, anyway--on our windowsills (and may we add that our fledgling green-thumbs managed to get perfect little sprouts of sweet basil from the boxes). Hell, it's definitely all of the above.

Image via Rodial

It's hard not to take it personally when someone sends you a tube of Rodial Body Sculpture Daily Slimming and Anti-Cellulite Gel, because, what, even the marketing people are horrified by the sight of my ass in a swimsuit? I swallow my lumpy, bumpy pride because I love my job (and you, gentle gorgeous reader) so damned much. The goop contains some great natural ingredients like lavender and pomegranate, plus caffeine to stimulate "drainage" (UGH) and some mysterious bio-marine actives (I imagine this is developed by smart scientific dolphins). I steadied myself for whatever might be entailed with "drainage" and cranked it out immediately post-shower.

Image via Anderson Soap Co. on Etsy

I kind of live on Etsy...online, at least. If you haven't heard of it then I hesitate to point you in that direction because I don't wanna see it become another out of control eBay or that jacked up iOffer.com. Still I just have to share, especially since the site, which features random, awesome homemade products that range from macramé to doggy ACEOs (!?), also boasts loads of handmade beauty products that just sound too good to be true. (Remember when I found that rad goat's milk mask on there? Yum!)

Speaking of yum, the big sensation over at Etsy right now is vegan-friendly soap that just so happens to feature the breakfast of champions, Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer, as its main ingredient.

Image via Splash

Yikes, party foul! According to the New York Times, the beauty icon is simply not pleased with former partner, Lancôme. So very displeased that, despite her iconic fame and prodigious fortune, she's decided to sue the shit out of them. In fact, she's "seeking $15 million from the French cosmetics company, accusing it of using her name and face in advertisements after her contract had expired." Ouch.

The actress claims the cosmetics company, owned by L'Oréal, breached an agreement signed in 2000, accusing the company of using her name and face in ads for years after her contract expired in September 2004 in Europe and December 2004 in the rest of the world.

Uma simply doesn't seem like the lawsuit-happy type, so I can only assume they royally screwed her over?

aries (Mar. 21st-Apr. 20th)
You're one of those people who tries to assemble the eighty-seven-piece toy before reading the instructions, aren't you? You work out without stretching, eat half the cookie dough before baking, pop the microwave before it dings. And you cannonball into the deep end before waiting the full fifteen minutes for your Creamsicle to digest. Fool, don't rush in--especially when it comes to romantic engagements this week. Best to pop a patience pill and chill.

more at DailyBedpost.com>>

Image via Splash

At Product Fiend, we prefer to use salves and potions to get the job done, but that doesn't mean some of us (and yourselves) have been tempted to try out some of the latest trendy, widely available procedures. After all, according to a recent article on ABC News, the number of people getting work done is still soaring. "The annual report, issued last week by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, showed that the number of cosmetic procedures performed continued its steady rise last year to a total of nearly 12 million."

That said, derms and experts agree that some of these should be avoided at all costs. After the jump, the 10 they claim you should ditch.

Image via Arcona

The LA-based skincare brand Arcona is great. Several of their products, the awesome Triad Pads, their Basic Five system, and the potent, respectable Kiwi Clarifying Peel to be more specific, have garnered the oh-so-coveted Product Fiend seal of approval.

Obviously, given their stellar report cards, I was delighted to get my hands on their Peptide Eye Serum, a de-puffing eye Joe that launches later this summer and really does what it says. (How do I know? Because I had a keg party this weekend, that's how I know.) Alas, there is one very major problem with this product. You must apply it to your eye area very, very carefully, because I found out the hard way that if you get it in your eyes: It! Stings! Real! Bad!

Image via Barney's

Another week of non-smoking (some weekend cheating) and the stress of not lighting up is, ironically, sending my complexion into major distress mode. So when I came across this five minute, newish Detox Face Mask I figured I could use it. It smells like almonds, which is amazing, but after a few minutes of smoothing it on my face feels almost crackly in this disconcerting yet satisfying way. Perhaps this is due to the, uh, "methyl perfluorobutyl ether" listed in the ingredients alongside niceties like green tea, aloe vera and vitamin C...huh. After I washclothed it off, my skin looked bright and didn't feel too tight, (although I couldn't get over the nifty texture of the product itself). Turns out, everyone's intrigued: Get it at Barney's before it's sold out again. --Erin

Photo via Splash

Marcia Cross is a suspected dabbler in the art of injection (although Defamer suspects that maybe she was just born with the freakishly high brow), but all the 'Tox in the world can't deliver a porcelain complexion like this. Redheads learn quickly through pain and misery to worship sunscreen rather than the sun itself. Every ginger girl I know has a Ph.D. in SPFology and clearly, looking at these high res images, she would sooner stick her hand in a deep fryer than expose her skin to full-strength L.A. rays. She's rarely photographed outside without a wide-brimmed hat and even started a minor fashion trend by toting a parasol to protect that perfect skin. Last year, Ms. Cross teamed with Olay to help folks get their strange bumps and blips screened for the big C word (hint: not cellulite), which is honestly a pretty brill marketing strategy, because clearly we should all be doing whatever Marcia tells us to do with our skin. I mean, holy crap, does this woman look like she's in her mid-forties? Okay, that might be the reported eye lift, but for reals, I'm willing to give her the benefit of the doubt.

Photo via Splash

Earlier this week we wrote about celebrity retouching and airbrushing, and it's with a heavy heart that I deliver the latest gossip: The latest SATC film promo ads are full of it.

Image via Ren

A couple of us Product Fiends turn to baths the way others rely on smuggled Cubans and straight Scotch. A steamy, fragrant tub is one of the few things that chills us out, but we're also true connoisseurs who won't settle for mere Mr. Bubble. After the jump, a list of the bath oils we religiously pour...

Photo via Splash

Sometimes I think that my life is flying by while I'm sitting in a darkened room, hunched over and typing into my laptop. I know that I don't drink enough water to combat the dry air inside my office (not to mention the sick building syndrome or the ever-present stench of my co-workers' bargain bin microwave popcorn) and at the end of a long day, my skin looks like I've been hanging out in the Sahara. How do these office romances happen when everyone looks like escapees from a zombie movie? It's a mystery.

I took a page from Jennifer Hudson and now I'm trying to fight back by keeping Dermalogica's new Antioxidant Hydramist next to my desk and now I spritz my face with it a few times a day, right over my mineral makeup. It seems a little gimmicky, but I figured that it couldn't hurt, right? Except it's totally made a difference at the end of the day.

Image via Sjal

You gals might already know that I am deeply devoted to Sjal. Their delicious Cela Intuitif cream is a freakin' godsend. Thing is, they don't come up with new products often, which may be aggravating, but I think that's probably a good thing and says that either they're super lazy or not willing to shuffle any old thing down the line. (Given their sparkling reputation, most likely, it's the latter.) But the good news is, the beauty stork just brought two yummy new Sjal additions my way, and I can't recommend them more...