By “pinking up” the plums, it takes the color out of a smoky winter look and into something fresher. An eyeshadow quad with a blackened plum, a soft pink, and shades in between. An ombre blush that seamlessly hits a whole variety of shades without you ever noticing. Lipsticks that go on slightly sheer and warm up the lips. Purple lip glass that goes on nearly clear – just a kiss of color and a touch of shimmer.

Huge Lips Skinny Hips Lipgloss – From Purple Labs NYC, HLSH has everything you could want in a lip gloss – plus some stuff you never realized you missed! The “huge lips” come from vitamin B3 to plump your lips without the sting or burn, and the “skinny hips” comes from Hoodia extract, a natural appetite suppressant. The formula is light, creamy, and non-tacky – perfect for smooching away. Our favorite shade: Kitty Poledancer, a wonderfully neutral pink with just a hint of shimmer.

Sexy Smile – If your lips don’t need any more plumping, try Sexy Smile. This double duty gloss contains a long lasting blue-based gloss on one side (to avoid making teeth look unnaturally yellow). The other side contains a breath-freshening mild tooth whitener. Drink that red wine with confidence!

Maison Francis Kurkdjian Perfume – If you can’t get away to France, smell like it, with APOM fragrance from Maison Francis Kurkdjian. At once sensuous and light, this Oriental whiff combines orange flower, cedar wood, and ylang ylang flower. It will have him going “oh la la!”

Scandle – Finish the evening off with a Scandle. These wonderfully fragrant soy candles double as body oil. The wax burns two degrees higher than normal body temp, and is formulated with soy, shea, jojoba, and vitamin E. Pour a little bit for a moisturizing and fragrant massage – just remember to extinguish the flame first!

Dr. Perricone High Potency Eye Lift – Perfect for the morning after a night full of champagne and chocolates, High Potency Eye Lift has Perricone’s patented DMAE as well as phospholipids and pycnogenol to increase collagen, reduce dark circles, hydrate, reduce the appearance of wrinkles, and fights the loss of skin elasticity.

Hovan’s Gold utilizes resorcinol, bromelain, vitamin A, and tea tree oil to soothe the skin, and encourage straight hair growth. It is also good to soothe skin irritated by shaving or waxing. I noticed a difference in my skin after just one use – of course, continued use is recommended. Unlike other, similar products, Hovan’s Gold is emollient, so it won’t cause dry or flaky skin, and a small amount goes a long way.

Hovan’s Gold is safe to use on all areas of the body: legs, face, bikini line, wherever.

Cleansing Gel: Love. This foaming cleanser rinses clean and leaves my skin clean with the rosy glow of a child’s skin – yet still manages to not irritate or dry out skin.

Antioxidant Serum: So-so. Meant to be worn under moisturizer, it is a little sticky and feels heavy for a serum. I don’t like how it feels, so I don’t use it frequently enough to see what kind of effect it has on my skin.

Antioxidant Moisturizer: Love. Light enough to absorb quickly, yet actually hydrates the skin instead of evaporating like so many other light moisturizers.

SPF 15 Moisturizer: Like. A good moisturizer with good sun protection, but as is frequently the case with SPF moisturizers, it feels like sunscreen. It is heavier than the regular moisturizer, so I tend to use this only when I know I will be spending more than 20 minutes outside.

Green Apple Peel: I did not try this hydroxy acid peel due to sensitive skin.

The Age Defying Solutions set retails for $45 (a $75 value). You can purchase it from Beauty.com

1C Foundation: The lightest cool-tone loose foundation (other than the gothic pallor shade), I really love this product. I almost never wear foundation because even the lightest mineral powder feels heavy and unnatural on my skin. This one did not. I did not feel like I was wearing any makeup at all. It didn’t look like I was wearing makeup either. It did a very good job fighting shine, too. I am very, very impressed by this product.

Sheer Perfection Concealer: On the other side of the spectrum, I hated this product. It is basically a translucent powder. I found it to be dry on my skin, a bit chalky, and it offered no coverage at all. Definitely a miss for me.

Youth Dew Luminizer: This pale pink shimmery highlighter is a fun product – lightweight, virtually colorless, lots of shimmer. It is somewhere between a soft glow and stripper glitter.

Larenim is available for purchase at Larenim.com and Amazon.com

Biore Hard Day’s Night overnight moisturizer – This is quite possibly my favorite moisturizer ever, day or night. Part of their “inbetween skin” line (too old for acne products; too young for serious anti-wrinkle formulas), this moisturizer is like a thick serum. It is oil free, which allows it to give serious hydration without being heavy or greasy. I do not have particularly dry skin, but when I use this cream my skin feels well-balanced, soft, even toned, and healthy. From a sciency standpoint, Biore’s exclusive Botanamide technology strengthens and hydrates skin while protecting it from free radicals. All I know is that I simply love this moisturizer. If it had a sunscreen in it, I would use it as a day lotion, too.

Zo Oraser Overnight Hand Recovery – This hand lotion is loaded with super-retinol, vitamin C and E, and coenzyme-10 to relieve dryness, brighten skin, improve elasticity, and fights signs of aging. What I find interesting is that it definitely is meant as an overnight treatment. When I first put it on, it doesn’t feel particularly moisturizing. But when I wake up in the morning, my hands feel smooth, hydrated, and generally healthy. Cracked portions of skin on the ball of my palm are virtually healed by morning. It is definitely a worthwhile product, just understand when to use it and know what to expect. Once I got over the initial “WTF?” stage, I was in love.

John Frieda Creme Serum Overnight Repair Formula – I wasn’t really expecting much by way of results with this product. I don’t process my hair in any way, so it is pretty healthy, if a touch frizzy. But after one night of using this hair serum, I was amazed with the results. You rub a few drops on dry hair before bed, and shampoo in the morning. The light serum absorbed quickly and didn’t leave a mess on my pillow. The next day I washed my hair, added a couple drops of anti-frizz serum and let it air dry. When it was dry I was amazed. My hair was extra-shiny, bouncy, and silky. No frizz or fly aways. I had that “feel like you just stepped out of a salon” hair at a much lower price.

Sally Hansen Overnight Lip Recovery – Another product that was surprisingly awesome. You know how sometimes when you go to sleep with lip balm on, you wake up with puckery lips, like fingers that have been in water too long. This thick lip conditioner was a little heavy, but by morning, my lips just felt plump and soft and healthy. I have very sensitive lips and was worried I would have an allergic reaction – I didn’t. What is more, that healthy feeling lasted most of the day – I only needed to apply balm once. Another winner!

Young Punk – this baked mineral eye shadow has a black base and tons of purple shimmer and glitter. The black goes on very sheer, and the shimmer is quite pigmented. It offers an instant smoky eye without being too goth or Halloweeny. Unlike NARS’s similar Night eye shadows, the black never overpowers the shimmer.

Volcanic Ash Exfoliator – this gentle foaming exfoliator is certainly black. It doesn’t stain the skin though. It has a strange smell that I can’t quite place. The sugar crystals dissolve as you massage it in, and it rinses clean without drying. I like it enough to finish off the bottle, but it is not my favorite cleanser. I just don’t feel as clean as I could be.

Glimmerglass in Blackfire- This sheer black gloss with tons of purple micro glitter. It is surprisingly flattering, a sheer plum shade, but watch out, as the gloss can gather around the edges of your lips, which darken and make it look like you are wearing liner 3 shades darker than you should.

I was less impressed with the Dsquared collection. The blue sparkly Greasepaint Stick is too thick to easily use as a liner; too hard to use as a shadow. The Fuchsia Fix lip conditioner – while a little bright for my pale complexion, was a lot nicer than I remember the lip conditioners being. Not my favorite balm, but it doesn’t dry out my lips like the old formula did. And the “Blood Red” lipstick from the collection was far more fuchsia than red.

I have tried a lot of anti-frizz serums, but so far, Philip B.’s Formula 57 is my favorite. This ultra-light serum goes on weightlessly to prevent frizzing and fly-aways, even in 100% humidity. One pump is enough for a whole head of hair. The website also promises Formula 57 will protect hair from heat styling, and help repair damage. With vitamin E, jojoba, soybean oil, and lavender, and and paraben free, this is one styling product that delivers.

I do not know why it is called Formula 57… 57 levels of awesomeness?

Philip B. Formula 57? Spork Approved!

My favorite is the Hand and Body lotion. I have dozens of lotions that seem to work well for hands OR bodies, but not both. I have lotions that I apply to my legs, then have to wash it off my hands because it just doesn’t do the trick. The Hand Therapy Cream does a good job, but it doesn’t feel any different than the hand & body lotion. I was highly unimpressed with the Sugar Scrub. It wasn’t bad, it just seemed to be an average cleanser, average exfoliator, average moisturize. The scents are wonderful – light, fresh, and flowery.

For under $10 per item, Inspire by Dionis is an inexpensive luxury.

Inspire by Dionis is currently on sale for 50%. To purchase, visit DionisSoap.com