The Five Hottest New Beauty Products--For Us!

By Lois Joy Johnson

This is not a list of beauty soft-sells meant to make PR people happy and get me freebies. These products are hard-working, do what they say and will update or rather replace your usual dependables and launch you straight into spring. Check out the spring crop of beauty products--and get ready to look fabulous!

BB Creams These are essentially beauty balms (BB, get it?!) inspired by the ones top derms prescribe after laser surgery to help patients protect, soothe and minimize redness or sensitivity. They also add sun protection and the most subtle hint of coverage. Garnier BB Cream Miracle Skin Perfector SPF 15 (at left, $12, drugstores), Clinique Age Defense BB Cream SPF 30 ($37, saksfifthavenue.com) and Dior Diorsnow BB Crème SPF 50 ($50, saksfifthavenue.com) are my three faves- just select your sunscreen level.

A Second-Skin Foundation If you're reading this you're old enough to remember Alexandra de Markoff Countess Isserlyn Foundation. Supposedly it was the first liquid foundation made for movie stars and had a texture unlike anything else. New beauty mogul, fashion designer and movie director Tom Ford, who knows a thing or two about glamour, has come up with Tom Ford Beauty Traceless Foundation ($ 78, neimanmarcus.com) and it has the same hush-hush A-list cachet. It turns dry, sun damaged skin luminous and blurs brown spots, lines and splotches like Vaseline on a camera lens. Yeah, it’s pricey, but do you know what a series of dermatological peels or treatments would cost?

A New, FDA-Approved Sunscreen Stop fooling around and get backto wearing a daily sunscreen (I know you've been cheating). L' Oreal Paris Sublime Sun Liquid Silk Sunshield for Face SPF 50+ (at left, $10.99, drugstores) is super-light, has antioxidants including vitamin E and grape seed oil, works well under all face makeup with no smearing or greasy residue and adheres to the new 2012 FDA SPF guidelines

A Trendy Bright Lipstick Runways and magazines have blasted through a decade of neutral lip colors to declare super-bright lipsticks the hotties to have now. For those of us who've been through the red lipstick trend dozens of times, this is nothing new. However, the bold oranges, corals and pinks look fresh on mature faces and provide a fast fix for lazy days when eye makeup is too much work. Just add big bold sunglasses and you're set. MAC Lipstick in Lady Danger (a vibrant coral-red, left), Morange (tangerine), or Pink Pigeon ($14.50 each, maccosmetics.com) or Laura Mercier Gel Lip Colour in Dollface (a bold pink) or Orchid (fuchsia sheer) will get you started ($22 each, lauramercier.com). And don't worry about your nails- no matchy-matchy necessary. Bold bright lips work with dark, neutrals, sheers and any other bright you choose for hands and toes.

A Body Cream With Guts We all love those luxurious, super-expensive creams in big gorgeous showy jars but usually get demoted to buying a generic drugstore-style pump product, figuring "good enough." Sorry, but now that we're approaching the sleeveless, bare leg, chest-revealing season, get your mittson Aveeno Active Naturals Positively Ageless Skin Strengthening Body Cream, (at left, $9, drugstores) and enter the Aveeno Be An Active Natural Fund campaign on April 5 (go to www.Facebook.com/ aveeno) for details. Thousands of dollars in grants will be awarded to women who inspire change (sounds like us, doesn't it?!)

About The Author

Lois Joy Johnson, a beauty and fashioh blogger, is the author of "The Makeup Wakeup: Revitalizing Your Look At Any Age," available at amazon.com.