Image via Drugstore.com

Folks with allergies and other skin sensitivities will cherish Desert Essence Organics brand new totally fragrance-free line of skincare products. It's a full meal deal, too: the complete line includes shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and body lotion, so you don't have to tip-toe through the aisles reading every label and sniffing products on the DL. Personally, I'm looking forward to trying them out because while I (thankfully) don't have crazy sensitive skin, I don't like it when my body lotion makes me smell like apples or whatever, right?

Oh P.S. It's also vegan, biodegradable, cruelty and wheat/gluten free. Sweet.

Image via L'Occitane

L'Occitane en Provence's new Shea and Organic Cotton Ultra Comforting Serum is one of those things that make ya go "hmmm." At just 15 ml (0.5 fl.oz.) for $38, let's hope you have a thick wallet and not too much red busting to do! As any good anti-irritating salve should be, it's hypoallergenic and fragrance- and paraben-free, so that's right on, but that's about all the nices I can think of to say about this stuff. Maybe it's just that the shea butter-based formula seems extra oppressively thick in this heat, but I can't see why anyone would bother buying this. (On second thought, it would be great for a plane, since no TSA employee is gonna hassle you about a beauty product that's less than an ounce!) I'd recommend Clinique Redness Solutions for a better buy and overall product.

The whole Pabst beer soap moment was cute and all, but it got me pondering alcohol and its rather pervasive role in skincare products. Loads of cleansers and toners list alcohol as an ingredient, but I know so many women that avoid this ingredient like the plague--oh, um the same women I know are known to ingest multiple martinis in one setting, but anyway...

I've heard some derms and facialists argue about its place in skincare and whether it can be beneficial (perhaps in the case where acne and extreme drying is necessary; this is usually where the docs stand), or to be avoided at all costs (a lot of facialists despise alcohol).

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 Amazon

Another Thursday, another "Skin Deep" story. According to "In a Perfect World, Rosacea Remains a Problem" in The New York Times today, rosacea is a really hot new topic! Seriously though, there are an awful lot of new products out there aimed at obliterating facial redness. And there are figures to prove it:

Sales of anti-redness facial care products grew by 35 percent from 2002 to 2007, an increase of $300 million, according to Kline's 2007 global cosmetics and toiletries report. That figure, Ms. Wang said, doesn't include products designed for sensitive skin or uneven complexions, which also purport to quell rosacea.

And sales of Oracea, an antibiotic and the only oral drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration for rosacea, are projected to increase to $60 million this year, up from $9.1 million in the first half of 2006, said Sheila Kennedy, a senior marketing director for Galderma, which acquired CollaGenex, the maker of Oracea, this month for $420 million.

OMG I am kind of freaking out. Last month I reported that I enjoyed a few weeks of non-breakout bliss for the first time in years since adult onset acne started cramping my style. I actually started to feel pretty again! I stopped wearing makeup altogether! I slept easy at night!

Well ladies and gents, it's true that all good things must come to an end. I know everyone's probably sick to death of hearing about how I literally fly almost every other day, but I have to ask: has anyone ever gotten a plane zit? Like you get on the flight and you're in the clear, then you step off, get to your hotel, look at your weary face in the mirror and realize you have a shiny new red friend kicking it on your face? After a particularly grueling 10-hour trip yesterday, my entire forehead is flush with tiny red bumps! Think it's the plane zit phenom gone wild, or some kind of gnarly disease I got from the creepy guy who breathed on me the entire second leg of the trip? Today, I need YOUR product recommendations. (Well, I always love to get your product recommendations, but this time, it's urgent people!)

Anyone? Fuck.

If you have super sensitive skin like I do, then you approach new cleansers nervously. Some are so astringent that your face feels positively microwaved, but some sensitive lines just seem like wimpy, watered-down cleansers that don't even remove the lightest makeup or sebum. The latest addition to Kiehl's Dermatologist Solutions line is Centella Skin-Calming Facial Cleanser. Developed by skin docs, this well-balanced cleanser is all about helping you cool down your flared complexion while not stripping the hell out of your natural moisture. And naturally, the folks in the white coats know that the last thing your poor complexion needs is a bunch of dyes, fragrances or alcohols to make it freak out.

In sophomore year, I had a monster zit. I don't know that "monster" is suffice to cover this zit. The zit was huge. It sat on the side of my nose and lurked, waiting for wounded gazelles to pass by. This thing was enormous, this thing was painful and this thing was obnoxious. It wasn't a pimple, it was a blimple.

I tried hiding it with creams and concealers ("natural tone" my fat ass!), but short of sculpting a false nose prosthesis, there was no hiding this thing. It was the Matterhorn of all blemishes. And it just wouldn't go away. I waited for a week, but it seemed to get worse. I started to wonder if it was trying a hostile takeover of my face. Then finally, during dress rehearsal for our fall play The Hound of the Baskervilles, the lead actor stopped in the middle of his line, looked at my pulsating nose (I swear I could feel a heartbeat through that thing. To this day, I believe that it was trying to achieve sentient life) and said, "You know, you have a JUMONGOUS zit right there on your nose." That is when I actually died, the first reported death due to acne.