Best Facial Cleanser

Cetaphil without a doubt makes the best facial cleanser around. I've been using it forever. It's extremely gentle, and works on every type of skin. It leaves my skin feeling really clean and fresh. And it's cheap! $11.99 for 16 ounces at Drugstore.com! You can't beat that. Personally, I like the version for oily skin. Don't waste your money buying face soaps with a bunch of treatment ingredients in them, they just wash down the drain. Spend your money on treatments that you apply after washing your face, where they'll actually do some good. There's no reason to spend more on face soap, this is the best. Highly recommended.

Best Concealer Ever

I cannot live without this product. Seriously. I need it to survive.

It's Prescriptives Flawless Skin Total Protection concealer, and I'm pretty sure it has magical properties. It covers all those dark undereye circles beautifully, and has SPF 25 so you get sun protection for the undereye area as well. It also works on blemishes, sunburns, redness...you name it. It's a cream to powder formula, and provides great coverage.

Note to Prescriptives: If you ever discontinue this product, I will have to hunt down your scientists, steal the formula, and start making this out of my garage. So please just keep making it.

Best Deep Conditioner

Okay, I'm not sure this is THE BEST deep conditioner, because I haven't tried that many, but I really love it, so I had to share it with y'all. Neutrogena Triple Moisture Deep Recovery Hair Mask.

If you color your hair and don't use a deep conditioner, your hair hates you right now. Using a deep conditioner every now and then is a must for keeping your hair in good shape.

I have really thick hair that I completely abuse with color and heat styling. This stuff makes my hair really soft and smooth. I use it once a week in place of my regular conditioner, and it keeps my hair really healthy. I cut it like once every 6 months, and have no split ends. Also it smells great, and is only $6.99 at drugstore.com!

If you have really thin hair, this might weigh it down, I don't know. It's pretty heavy. But if you have thick hair and/or coarse hair, this should be perfect for you.

Best Eye Makeup Remover Ever

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a woman in possession of a good mascara must be in want of a great eye makeup remover (sorry, I'm re-reading Pride and Prejudice for the thousandth time).

Anyway, given my intense love for mascara, you must have anticipated my reliance on eye makeup remover. After trying out a lot of brands, both more and less expensive, from drugstores and department stores, I say there's none better than Almay Oil-Free Eye Makeup Remover Pads (make sure you're buying the oil-free kind--very important, or you will end up looking and feeling as though you have smeared vaseline around your eyes). These pads remove all traces of end-of-day raccoon eyes, and are so gentle. They're made with aloe and green tea, and are really soothing on your eyes. Highly recommended, and only $4.99 at www.drugstore.com.

Best Self-Tanners

It's that time of year again when I realize that my everyday winter rituals of sitting around inside watching TV while wearing sweat pants and eating chocolate have somehow not resulted in a perfectly bronzed, toned, swimsuit ready body. This weekend I'm hitting the beach with some girlfriends, and while the toning isn't going to happen with one week notice, the bronzing I can definitely handle.

Now, I'm by nature a very pale person. Like Nicole Kidman pale, but without her lovely, glowy aura. I'm also not really that into skin cancer, I'm more an SPF 50 kind of girl. So I'm all about the self-tanner.

Self-tanner is extremely tricky. I've used several that I like--L'oreal Sublime Bronze is pretty good--but the best, by far, is Origins The Great Pretender, which is 17.50. There are so many reasons why this tanner is superior. It's tinted, so you can see where you've already put it--essential in self- tanning application. Also, I like it because it's a little bit shimmery--don't worry, it's not like body glitter, but it contains mica, so it just gives you a little shimmer in the sunshine. It doesn't smell like most self-tanners, it has kind of a minty smell, and is not super strong. It leaves your skin super soft. But the best thing about it is the color--it gives you a true tan color that is not at all orange. You can buy it at the Origins store at the Domain.  As far as application goes, just make sure you exfoliate first, rub in completely, and apply lotion to your feet elbows and knees after applying.

For face, I really like Neutrogena Build-a-Tan for Faces, which is $8.99 at drugstore.com. This has SPF 15 and is oil free, has a really nice smell, and gives a golden color that builds up gradually over use, and doesn't streak. I use this as my daily moisturizer in the summer.

Best Mascara Ever

Mascara is pretty much my favorite beauty product of all time.  I've been through a lot of different brands over the years, but when I met Diorshow mascara (sigh), I knew it was the one. No other brand comes close. It comes with an enormous, extra fat brush that covers every lash, and the formula is perfect--no flaking, no clumping, just thick, separated perfect lashes. Perfection is not cheap--$24 at Sephora. But you can't put a price on true love.

There's a limited edition version out right now, Diorshow Black Out, which looks pretty wonderful, it's a super-intense black.

Best makeup ever

I'm pretty much obsessed with bareMinerals makeup. I always wear full makeup--foundation, powder, the works. So I was very skeptical when my friend was raving about bareMinerals, which always seemed to me to be some sort of glorified powder. But she insisted that it had great coverage and lasted all day. I decided I had to try it.

I bought the Starter Kit from Ulta for $60. That's pricey, but it does come with a lot of stuff:

-three brushes (an overall face brush, another face brush that provides a little heavier coverage, and a concealer brush)
-two foundations, each a slightly different shade
-one "Mineral Veil", which is kind of an overall finishing powder
-two all-over face colors: "Warmth", which is kind of like a bronzer, and "glow", which is a soft rose color

It also comes with a dvd showing you how to put all this stuff on, which is helpful, because I admit I was a little overwhelmed by it all when I opened the box. After a few tries, I had it down though, and now I absolutely love it. I guess it's ground up minerals, in sort of a powdery form. It's very natural looking, it really blends into your skin well and doesn't leave any foundation lines. It feels really lightweight, and it amazingly lasts all day, even through work-outs. I got talked into buying the "PhotoFinish" foundation primer from Smashbox, which is $36 at Ulta, so that might be part of the secret to making it last all day.

Supposedly you can use the foundation as a concealer also, just by using the concealer brush. Personally, I still use a cream concealer under my eyes, just for extra coverage. And I don't really use the warm or glow powders. Even so, I think it's a really good deal-- the brushes alone would cost more than $60 if you bought them individually.

The sets come in light, medium and tan, and each set comes with two slightly different foundation shades. I bought the light, and I can wear either of the colors that came with my set, one is slightly more golden than the other and maybe a little darker.

I highly recommend this make up and I think the starter kit is a great way to try it out. You can get it at http://www.ulta.com/ .