Image via Fabulous Mag

There has been so much in the news lately about bloggers busting airbrushing scams, retouching and questioning just how "perfect" the print media's unrealistic representation of women is, that I feel like it's verging on revolution territory. Remember kids, when I was an impressionable young thing, there was no Internet around to tell me things like the ripped out ads of Kate Moss and Claudia Schiffer (who are remarkably, still around and working, which says a lot about how things have changed to an extent) were altered images of already ridiculously genetically gifted women. And maybe because I am kinda old school, well, I love a crazy escapist fashion or beauty image now and then. But more importantly, the fourth wall needs to be knocked down. It's a new day in that we have what were once considered media outsiders (bloggers) questioning the legitimacy of certain "traditional" injuries against women.

Why is it that the value of a product seems to amplify when you get it for free? Back when I was a full-time beauty editor, we held "beauty sales," which were basically ways to get rid of all the excess stuff that lined the beauty closet in order to make room for new launches, and the proceeds would go to charity. We'd charge about a dollar per product, and every woman in the office would go ape shit. I mean, they made the shrill fashion editors at a Chanel sample sale look tame. By the end of the day, we'd start giving stuff away just to make sure everything was gone, and it always surprised me how total strangers from the building would come up to me like, a year later and tell me they were still using so-and-so product they scored from the beauty sale. Anyway...

Point is, there is no reward so sweet as a free (or hugely discounted) beauty product, so I wanted to remind you that tomorrow, Allure starts their month-o-giveaways: freakin' 34,328 to be exact. You definitely don't want to miss scores like Sundari, Perricone and  Dr. Hauschka. Get details in the new issue or check out their website here. AND...GO!!!

Image via Philosophy

Confession time: I review a lot of products and you'll notice that I'm very careful not to talk about my absolute favorite whatever it is. I mean, there are a lot of great cleansers out there, many that I get to try for free, but very few that I absolutely love and get really excited about using. But if you were to look behind my shower curtain right now, you'd see an almost empty bottle of Philosophy's Purity Made Simple that I bought with my own hard cash. In fact, like the Best of Sephora judges and the voters of the Allure Readers Choice Awards, I can say with a clear conscience that Purity Made Simple is my absolute favorite liquid facial cleanser, hands down.

Image via Clearogen

Okay, so I've been on the Clearogen acne regimen for about two months, which I think is ample time to see if this stuff really works or not. Some of you may recall we discussed Clearogen here awhile back, and the company claims that their three-step acne system is TOTALLY different from others because it addresses hormonal acne (even though I saw no mention of any topical ingredient that might do this on any of the labels--why? Oh right, because arguably, this can't be done.) Still, I think most of us adult acne sufferers are so desperate to treat breakouts related to crazy fluctuations in androgen and testosterone levels and PMS we'll believe anything and I was at least willing to give it a shot. Duh. Anyway, personally, I had really high hopes for this batch, even though I felt a bit like, "Okay, the possibility of this stuff actually working is about as likely as Jesus' image appearing in a Cheeto." But I digress...how it all worked out, after the jump!