Since I got engaged in October, I've been obsessed with my nails. You have to understand that I've never really been a manicure sort of gal before: my nails were perpetually bitten and crumbly and regularly unpolished up until a few months ago, and they were never, ever, ever the same length. But as soon as I got something sparkly on my finger, everyone and their mom (and their mom's yoga teacher and their mom's yoga teacher's best friend) would gather round my left hand, eyes wide. "Oh, let's seeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee," they'd coo.

Ah, New Year's. When we come together to celebrate a new year full of hopes, dreams, and possibilities. It's a time for good friends, lively parties, and OH MY GOD DID I REALLY DRINK AN ENTIRE BOTTLE OF CHAMPAGNE BY MYSELF LAST NIGHT AND THEN PERFORM A JOURNEY/DEF LEPPARD MEDLEY FOR THE INVITED GUESTS?? moments. For whatever reason, New Year's Eve seems to bring out the drinker in most of us, myself included. Fortunately, my champagne-hogging, 80's hair metal singing days are thankfully past (for the most part), but I remember all too clearly those mornings after, waking up feeling as if an anvil was sitting atop my head, and looking as if my hair and now-smudged makeup had been styled by either of the aforementioned rock bands. It's Hangover City, people.

There is something so tempting about New Year's resolutions, isn't there?  Even those of who know better are lured into promising that we'll stop drinking! and start excercising! and call our mothers EVERY DAY!  Yeah, right.  This year, instead of vowing to completely reform everything about yourself and your life, resolve to make some very small changes.  Because while it might seem like the only resolutions that really count are the big ones, little tweaks to your routine can add up to big results overall.  We have four suggestions to keep you looking and feeling beautiful in the new year; none of them is particularly time consuming or expensive, but all of them will leave you looking -- and feeling -- more beautiful.

As any true child of the 80's knows, Monday nights meant one thing: MACGYVER. I couldn't get enough of MacGyver's ludicrous, death-defying inventions, such as bombs consisting of pantyhose, spearmint dental floss, and a single plum. (I'm not saying that was an ACTUAL device on the show, but honestly, if it was, would you be at all surprised?) I mention all of this because I think it goes a long way towards explaining my current obsession with emergency beauty/fashion fixes.

Style. It seems like such a frivolous thing - hardly worth a mention, really. Who cares about something as superficial as style? It’s become increasingly common to belittle style and any discussion of it - maybe we think that we’ve evolved beyond it, or perhaps we hope that if we ignore it it will go away? Well, it won’t. How you present yourself sends a message, whether intentional or not. I believe that you should be in control of the message you send out into the world - that you should nurture and develop your authentic personal style.

I would hereby like to admit a secret compulsion to douse myself in glitter this time of year. Yes, me, an ordinarily not-so-glittery kind of gal. As Poppy most excellently put it, a veteran of the 1990 Urban Decay Glitter Wars should know better. And I do. Mostly. 

This year alone, I have taken somewhere in the region of forty flights. I've been to Vietnam and Berlin and London and Rome and the Bahamas, and I say all this not to make you jealous, but to make you understand that my skin? IT HAS BEEN A MESS. My hair? IT HAS BEEN A MESS. My makeup?

I turned 40 this year, and while I don't feel like I've changed all that much, I can see that my skin has.  Until recently, my solution was MORE makeup, because clearly I needed to COVER ALL THIS OLDNESS UP, right?  Wrong!  After 40, less is more, especially when we're talking about makeup.

I'm here to warn you against the dangers of holiday makeup palettes. Yes, they're alluring, yes, they're fun, yes, they're heavily promoted, and yes, they're available at every price point, from Walgreen's to Ulta to Neiman Marcus.But I--a veteran of the 1990s Urban Decay Glitter Wars, as well as several Bobbi Brown and Estee Lauder skirmishes--am here to tell you that in the wrong hands, they can be very, very dangerous. Here's why:

That's what a reader asked me a few months ago: Which 5 beauty essentials would you choose if you were stranded on a deserted island?  Remember, you want to look great for the rescue team that's bound to arrive! 

Ever since I embarked upon my path towards becoming the total makeup addict that I am today, I've embraced all manner of beauty products without judgment. Violet eyeliner? Why not? Body temperature-influenced blush gel? Bring it on! Vibrating mascara? Send it my way! Yes, I've been up for trying almost any product at least once. Anything, that is, except for products containing glitter or sparkles of any sort.

Alternate post title: Who needs sleep when there are products! and coffee!  I am not getting enough sleep these days -- then again, who is?  Between work and family and all the other things we jam our calendars with, it's amazing we ever get to sleep.  And now that the holidays are looming, we're piling happy hours and parties and open houses on top of everything else.  Fortunately, Benefit can help you look a little less tired.