GIVEAWAY WINNERS ARE Marian, Smiling Mama Aimee and Jean of Stimeyland.
Every so often a girl's got to add some new tricks and tools to her hottification repertoire. Me thinks the dead of winter, when one's tanless, too afraid of the below freezing temps to hit the gym every morning and guilty of too many Christmas cocktails and cookies, is the perfect time. Here are my latest faves, courtesy of Skinn Dimitri James:
Skinn Wet Shine Lip Glosses $12.50 each
I'm a lip gloss fanatic and these glossiest of glosses are my new best friends forever. They're even better (and cheaper!) than the Lancome Juicy Tubes and they remind me of Bobbi Brown's old lip glosses with the brush that she doesn't make anymore.
The Skinn Wet Shines are super duper shiny and provide perfect lips without having to use lipliner or lipstick and risk getting old lady cracks and creases. They're very hydrating and doing a better job of preventing chapped lips than my Burt's Bees balms. Colors: I'm partial to the Clear for natural look days or nights that I really go heavy on the eye makeup, and Anaranja as a great shimmery neutral that is peachy without being too orange.
Leave a comment to win one of three free lip glosses from Skinn! 
Skinn Full Body Lift Stretch Mark & Firming Serum $36
I know, I know. Nothing one can buy in a tube can magically erase the effects of pregnancy, genetics, age and too many tacos. But I'm loving the temporary effects of this serum for nights that I want to show a little skin. The Full Body Lift Serum is great at plumping up the top layer of skin to give a smoother, more toned look to body parts than just plain old moisturizer. I've been rubbing into my upper arms, cleavage and thighs when wearing cocktail dresses and sleeveless tops, and it truly gives the appearance of better tone. Fleshy areas look less lumpy bumpy frumpy and more yummy mummy.
If you're the type to log serious time in your bikini, you could use on your midriff and booty jiggle too. But since I'm often required to perform cannonballs off the diving board and other mom feats, I'll stick to my J. Crew one piece and save the fancy serum for my arms and legs on date nights. I'm thinking this stuff will be a godsend when warm weather hits and above-the-knee skirts without stockings are in order.
Skinn Runway Ready Collagen Boost Firming Eye Shadow $21.50 for 8 shades
Do these eyeshadows really give your eyes a boost of anti-aging collagen and firm droopy lids? I don't know. But wearing these shades has given my look and confidence a boost and the price is fabulous. I'm a former devotee of Estee Lauder's shadows and they're $17.50 for a single shade. That's pricey. Skinn's set has 8 colors that are department store quality and quantity. Drugstore shades tend to smear and fade and have a weird party in my crease. These stay put and look good all day and night.
Each of the four eye shadow sets (Cool Casual, Cool Formal, Warm Casual, Warm Formal) has the important bright white to put in the inner eye corner and beneath the brows, lighter shades for the lid and deep shades for crease, corners, using as eyeliner and creating a more dramatic look. I like the Warm Formal set for its palette of bronzes, browns, purples and greys. (There's a dark green too, but I have to admit I haven't been adventurous enough to use.) The shimmer level is modern and not cheesy.
And again, it's only $21.50 for 8 fancy colors that will last me a good while. Because even though I love new beauty products, I love a good deal even more.
Giveaway winners will be drawn after midnight on January 27.
UPDATE: The winners of the coats are Katie, Jen Lee, Rachel and Jennifer. Thanks everyone for playing and THANK YOU JCPenney!!
It's nearly November, the beginning of serious coat season and when many stores are advertising outerwear sales. After the eye-opening experience of realizing that I could find a seriously hot dress at JCPenney rather than enslavement to boutiques, mallratdom and premium department stores, I wondered if the same quality and discounts applied to coats. I set out to research the styles and prices of coats at the stores where I have previously shopped for fall and winter outerwear, and compare them to the quality and appearance of the items at Penney's.
I contacted the folks at JCPenney and they were extremely excited to help in this experiment. JCPenney loves their mom shoppers so much that they sent me samples of new coats to review and GIVE AWAY to four lucky readers. I also took some research trips to J. Crew, Banana Republic, Macy's, Bloomingdales, Nordstrom, Talbots and Ann Taylor Loft. I examined fit, linings, quality of materials and found that the coats at Penney's were every bit as fashionable, well-made and fit as well as the coats at these other, supposedly "cooler" higher-end stores.
And the price differences for nearly identical coats? You will not believe what I found. So I'll just show you. Try and guess before reading which coat in each set of pics is from JCPenney.
JCPenney Worthington Boiled Wool Capelet Jacket (left) $29.99-54.99
JCPenney east5th Herringbone Wool Tweed Coat 
