Are you ready to snag so great beauty deals on Black Friday? We are, and many of these you do not even need to leave your home for!

Black Friday Health and Beauty Sales

• Bath and Body Works will reportedly be giving a $15 VIP bag with any $40 purchase online or in stores. Worth over $100, the bag is stocked with a range of products, including Aromatherapy Body Wash and Foam bath in Eucalyptus Spearmint and C.O. Bigelow Mentha Foot Tingling cream and more.
• Rite Aid purportedly is offering free (after rebate) products, such as Maybelline nail polish, mascara and lipstick and Fructis shampoos and conditioner. They also have a buy two get the third free deal on some fragrances and others marked for $19.99.
• For the man in your life… Costco has a coupon for $30 off the Philips Norelco Arcitec Razor, with triple-track shaving heads. (Valid Nov. 28-30)
• From make-up to men’s grooming, nail polishes, spa products and more, CVS.com is offering 20% off of its beauty and skincare departments. Either click here or enter BEAUTY20.
• Kohl’s has its American Beauty “wonderful” limited edition gift set on sale for $59.99. The 5-piece set features perfume, cleanser, radiance cream and more.
• JC Penney, in its 4am-1pm door buster sale, reportedly will have a UV-C pocket-sized toothbrush sanitizer marked down to $38.88, a Remington Grooming Kit down to $16.88 and Leg Magic by Fitness Quest at $99.88.

Feel free to email Indulge if you have any great black Friday health and beauty sales to report!

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Labels: Black Friday Beauty Sales and deals

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Blow dryers are a very important part of the morning routine for many people. So, if it lasts, how loud it is, what bonuses it comes with and how fast it dries your hair are things you need to know before investing a lot of money in a new one. With all the new gadgets on dryers it is nearly impossible to tell the difference between a good one and a bad one when you are trying to select one to purchase. This is where our friends at ShopSmart come in …

ShopSmart tested 10 models of blow dryers on swatches of hair in an environment chamber, and then a panel took those dryers home to give them another test. You would think the biggest difference the group found would be in the time it takes to dry hair, right? Not so much. They found that even though these dryers were at several different price points and ranges of wattage, the dry time did not vary too much. Once noise and other attributes of the dryers were put into the equation, the tops picks were selected. ShopSmart says its smart splurges include the CHI Pro Dryer GF 1505, $135 and Bespoke Labs T3 Featherweight 83808-se, $200. Revlon’s Ionic Ceramic Pro Stylist RV484, a bargain buy at $20, was also a top pick as it had separate heat and speed settings to allow the user more control.

Unrelated to the ShopSmart study, I have a dryer that I absolutely do not recommend. The Conair Ion Shine 1875 Watt dryer. I had two of these die on me in less than nine months … and one of those got so hot it melted two of my brushes. Definitely a sign it could not be doing much good on my hair.

Thanks to ShopSmart for its terrific information and to read more on its blow dryer study and see what it says about straighteners, check out the latest edition on newsstands now.

Labels: ionic blow dryers, recommended hair dryers, Review of blow dryers, ShopSmart review

If you are anywhere near Hong Kong, or planning a visit there you have plenty of 5-star spa and hotel options. The Mobil Travel Guide's new book about Hong Kong and Macau gave 5 stars to 5 hotels and 3 spas. The Associated Press reports that this Hong Kong and Macau book features more 5-star hotels and spas than any guide that Mobil has put out to date.

The hotels that were featured with 5-stars include, The Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong, the Landmark Mandarin Oriental, Peninsula Hong Kong, the Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong and the Wynn Macau.

The Mandarin Spa, the Peninsula Spa by ESPA and the Spa at Wynn Macau all made the 5-star spa list. The Mandarin Spa offers Ayurvedic treatments, as well as Traditional Chinese Medicine. The Peninsula Spa by ESPA is currently offering an 80th Anniversary Rejuvenation package, designed for a couple, that features a poolside meal for two, use of the private spa, salt and oil exfoliations, aromatherapy massages and head massages, facials and a bottle of champagne.

Previous Post: Nic's Sticks nail polish review

Labels: 5-star spas and hotels in Hong Kong and Macau

One of my favorite brands of nail polish is OPI, so I was thrilled when I saw Target is carrying it now. OPI, in case you do not know, is famous for its cutely named polish colors, such as Chick-Flick Cherry, Midnight in Moscow and Cajun Shrimp. So, while perusing Target’s color choices I noticed they were offering polish in sticks by its Nicole brand. These "Nic's Sticks" were priced at $6.99 so I decided to give it a shot. One thing I will say off the bat is that because they are in plastic containers it is very hard to see the true color of the polish. They must have been aware of that because the company set up a place on its site where you can test out different shades on the skin tone closest to yours (very cool... check it out here).

I chose "Where's My Chocolate?" and was very happy with the color. It was very shiny, almost to the point where I did not need a top coat. All I had to do to start it off was to give the base several pumps until I saw polish on the brush. Then I did about 1 pump for every 1-2 nails I polished. The flow of the polish is very slow and easy to control. The brush you definitely have to have a steady hand for. It is a much softer material than a regular nail polish brush and is a lot more like painting a picture than painting your nails. That said, I was very happy with the results and would recommend this product. My nails dried very fast too and the color was beautiful.

Another big draw to me about Nic's Sticks (and all Nicole nail polish) is that they are DBP, Formaldehyde and Toluene free. They are available in the U.S. at Wal-Mart, Target, Harmon, Meijer. In Canada you can find them at Wal-Mart, Shoppers Drug Mart and Pharmacie Jean Coutu.

Labels: Nail Polish in a stick, Nic's Sticks by OPI Formaldehyde-free polish, Nicole Nail POish

Want to shop without the guilt? Try a charity auction. Two favorites of Indulge are BiddingForGood.com and CharityBuzz.com. These are great sites where you can bid on amazing packages with celebrities, unique travel experiences, high-end goods and so much more. Here are some of the fabulous auctions they are offering right now:

Charity Buzz is currently offering an auction for a 90-minute yoga session with Russell Simmons (right) in NYC or the Hamptons. Or, if bidding is not enough competition for you, then you may want to checkout the auction they have listed for 2 VIP Tickets to the Miss America Pageant in Las Vegas with accommodations at Planet Hollywood.

Are you trying to think of a great gift for a fashion-lover? Charity Buzz has an auction that includes 2 tickets to the Fall 2009 Badgley Mischka fashion show in NYC, a dress and a blowout at Salon AKS. Or if you like to get pampered Hollywood-style, Charity Buzz has an auction for a facial with celebrity Esthetician Renee Rouleau, who has worked on Ali Landry and Cheryl Ladd and more. That package comes with $200 in beauty products.

Bidding For Good has hundreds of auctions for spa-lovers (like us) including facials, massages, waxings, consultations, manicures/pedicures and more. These are all donated with proceeds going to a cause listed in the auction. Some of these end up being really good deals and there are options across the U.S. It makes a great gift or just a treat for yourself.

Both Bidding For Good and Charity Buzz also offer pages and pages of other great trips, experiences, memorabilia and more. Some of these include tickets to the Inauguration, tickets to the Emmys, an autographed Van Morrison Guitar or the chance to meet Whoopi Goldberg, David Beckham (for a private soccer lesson) or Howard Stern (for a tour of his studio).

As the holidays approach, these auctions are just going to keep getting better, so this is a great time to get someone a once-in-a-lifetime gift for a good cause!

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ShopStyle is fashion at your fingertips, Celebrity haircuts, SpinLash mascara review, Packing in style, Fall and winter 2008-2009 coat and jacket trends, Variety packs of mini-sized beauty products

Labels: Beckham, Bidding For Good, Charity Buzz, Gifts for men, gifts for women, Howard Stern, Online charity auctions gifts, Whoopi Goldberg

You know you saw it somewhere ... or maybe you dreamt it, either way you know it is the perfect outfit and you must find it. Have you been in this scenario before? I have spent hours combing the web or search through the mall for one particular article of clothing ... frustrating ... but now there is a website that brings you the exact item you want with just a click of the mouse.

Shopstyle.com allows you to type in what it is you are looking for and it gives you hundreds (sometimes thousands) of photos of different versions of that piece available at various online stores. Say you are looking for a sweater dress. Start by typing that in and narrow down (if you want) by color, price, brand, store and size. From there you can decide if you want something that is on sale and if so, how much off. They select dresses (in this example) from anywhere from Target to Gap to Bluefly to Bloomingdales and more. You click through and purchase from that store. It is simple and ShopStyle is so accurate with the results it brings you.

ShopStyle eliminates the need to visit several different websites just to find one piece you have in mind. There is no sense in going through 10 different sites looking through pages and pages of pants if you know you want dark skinny jeans in size 2 and you only want to spend $50 or under. ShopStyle brings you plenty of versions of what you type in, so there is selection too.

There are also areas where you can join different groups of members with similar styles or just check out the "looks" that they have put together. This area of the site is great for ideas and inspiration.

StopStyle has sections for women, men, kids and home. Visit the site at http://www.shopstyle.com/

Previous posts: Celebrity haircuts, SpinLash mascara review, Packing in style, Fall and winter 2008-2009 coat and jacket trends, Variety packs of mini-sized beauty products

Labels: fashion website, online shopping, ShopStyle