Having a beauty website gives us access to hundreds of products to sample, test and review. This means we rarely get to the bottom of a product—even if it’s in our main rotation of favorites.

Last week, we reached full blown panic mode when we realized our most most most favorite cleanser Shiseido The Skincare Extra Gentle Cleansing Foam was nearly down to its last drop. After a small-ish tirade threatening to hurt any person at Makeup Bag headquarters that even thought about getting near our last drops of cleanser, our five-year-old quietly pointed to the beauty closet (it’s really an armoire, but calling it a closet sounds much more legit) where several backup options patiently wait.

Knowing that we have full bottles of perfectly fine cleansers, but instead choosing to wrestle with our nearly-extinct Extra Gentle Cleansing Foam—squeezing the plastic tube down like a smashed soda can to get every last remnant—tells us that this, dear readers, is the perfect cleanser.

The much anticipated Crema Nera skincare line by Giorgio Armani Beauty is now available on their website.

Crema Nera offers three cleansers (mineral cleansing balm, mineral cleansing milk, and mineral cleansing foam), a toner, and a regenerating cream—the prize product in this collection.

We’ve yet to be disappointed by Giorgio Armani Beauty—hopefully Crema Nera is no exception.

See the entire line at giorgioarmanibeauty-usa.com.

We have the best intentions where our skincare is concerned, however, sometimes life gets in the way of our perfect regime.

Too few glasses of water and too many scoops of Jamoca Almond Fudge ice-cream leaves us with not-so-happy skin. Add some stress and a few sleepless nights and our skin fights back—leaving us with a dull complexion and bags under our eyes. Lovely.

This fall, CHANEL is launching a new skincare line, unlike any of its others, targeting skin in its 20′s and 30′s (before the serious damage sets in). Beauté Initiale is designed to boost radiance and restore skin’s natural defense system (and pick up where we’re clearly slacking) with key ingredients like blue ginger, a supercharged antioxidant hand-picked in Madagascar, and vitamins C and E.

Five products complete the Beauté Initiale collection:

• CONCENTRÉ ÉNERGISANTE MULTI-PROTECTION Energizing Multi-Protection Concentrate
• CRÈME ÉNERGISANTE MULTI-PROTECTION Energizing Multi-Protection Cream SPF 15
• FLUIDE ÉNERGISANT MULTI-PROTECTION Energizing Multi-Protection Fluid SPF 15
• CRÈME YEUX ÉNERGISANTE MULTI-PROTECTION ANTI-POCHES/ANTI-CERNES Energizing Multi-Protection Eye Cream Anti-Puffiness/Dark Circles SPF 15
• FLUIDE ÉNERGISANT MULTI-PROTECTION HÂLE PROGRESSIF Energizing Multi-Protection Fluid Healthy Glow SPF 15

Beauté Initiale is available beginning October 2007 at department and specialty stores and at chanel.com.

*Update: Find Beaute Initiale here.

Hey girls!

I’m writing to you from beautiful Kauai where I’m visiting family and hanging out at the beach. (You feel sorry for me, don’t you!)

I have THE MOST exciting news for you today. You will want to kiss me through your computer after you read this, I swear.

Clinique and Alloy.com are having the largest product giveaway ever and you get to be a part of it (as long as you’re one of the first TEN THOUSAND eligible entrants). (That’s right. TEN. THOUSAND.)

If you’re between the ages of 13 and 25, all you have to do is sign up at alloy.com/clinique and be entered to receive Clinique’s Three Step Acne Solutions Clear Skin System.

After you’ve had a chance to try the Acne Solutions cleansing foam, clarifying toner and clearing moisturizer, you get to submit an essay on how you feel with clearer skin and have a chance to win a celebrity makeover with Emmy Rossum! (This means a trip to New York City, a photo shoot, a tour of TEEN VOGUE– I think I’m going to faint , and an appointment with your very own stylist. Runners up will have a shot at an Apple MacBook!)

This is a chance of a lifetime, girls. Sign up now!

xoxo,

Bree