All right, ladies, I don’t know about you, but I have been dealing with the most schizophrenic skin lately! Always a bit of a rabble-rouser (Accutane twice, perhaps?), my skin lately has been winter-dry and flaky… in the areas where it hasn’t been producing unnecessary amounts of oil, that is. My pockets aren’t particularly deep these days, so I decided to mix my standby powder Bare Minerals foundation with my daily Neutrogena Oil-Free SPF 15 Lotion, a part of the Neutrogena Acne Therapy System. The result? A light but creamy tinted mineral moisturizer with coverage I can dial up or down (more lotion for sheerer coverage and vice versa). Brilliant! Perfect to try with your own powder and moisturizer. The only caveat: You’ll want to steer clear of wearing tinted moisturizers or liquid/cream foundations in general when it’s likely you’ll sweat. Runny makeup? Never hot.

A recent savvy purchase of mine was the Loreal Double Extend Beauty Tubes (in black). I’d been a big fan of the original Double Extend mascara and was intrigued, I must admit, by the commercials. An $8 investment, these falsies-by-wand are my new besties. If I could have worn this mascara on my wedding day, instead of actual false lashes, perhaps we all could have been spared a set of eyelashes floating inside a champagne cocktail by night’s end. Caveat: While they’re technically water-proof—as in, you’ll experience no running—I kinda can’t get over how creepy it feels to pull the tubes from my lashes at night. Basically, with soap and water, the tubes loosen, making your eyelashes look strangely limp (if still long). Rather than scrubbing with soap or eye makeup remover, simply pull gently at your lashes with thumb and forefinger; the tubes come right off, and damned if you don’t feel you’re washing your own eyelashes down the drain!

I just happened across the most genius bang-trimming trick—courtesy of Hollywood uber-stylist Kevin Mancuso—in this month’s Elle: “Gather your bangs from temple to temple, twist them in the exact center of your forehead, hold them down toward your nose, and cut off the tip. Always cut them dry; wet hair can shrink up and be too short.” Now, I’ve done this trick twice, once even with wet hair—sorry, Kevin!—and haven’t yet needed to go back and edit the trim. Free and foolproof? Yes, please.

How have you been cutting beauty corners lately?