When you walk into Sephora or your local drugstore and are confronted with all the new seasonal beauty launches, it can be overwhelming to try to figure out what's really new and different. What's worth spending some of that hard-earned paycheck on? Lucky for you, we have spent hours swiping, patting, and spritzing in order to bring you our picks for the best launches of the season.

This morning, at the ungodly hour of 7:30, the 8th Annual “WWD Beauty Biz Awards" took place at the Four Seasons Restaurant in NYC. Being consummate beauty professionals, everyone in attendance looked refreshed and chic, with lots of Chanel bags and perfectly applied lipstick. Gina Sanders, the president and CEO of Fairchild Fashion Group, started off the presentation by dishing about changes coming to WWD and Style.com (now owned by Fairchild, of course). WWD is getting an overall architecture redesign in 2011, and an eight page section called “WWD Style” will be introduced; it will provide deeper “business insight, analysis, and fun.” The men’s coverage will be increased, with new beefier quarterly sections and more weekly coverage. The Beauty Biz insert will also be overhauled. And finally, an iPad application is coming. Gina was more vague about Style.com-- “Like ladies having work done, we don’t want to reveal too much," she said--but big changes are clearly afoot. She mentioned the potential to reach millions of fanatic fashion and beauty consumers through the site. We will be watching closely. Now onto the awards.

When I see a product that bears the word “magic” on the label I generally have two competing reactions. First, I get really cynical and snarky. Then I want to try it immediately. This was the case when I stumbled upon L’Oréal’s new Studio Secrets Magic Perfecting Base. A few weeks ago I was finally cleaning out my goody bags from NY Fashion Week. As I emptied out the bag from the Project Runway finale show, I wasn’t surprised to see some L’Oréal and Garnier products in there. We all know who the show’s sponsors are by now (no Piperlime shoes, unfortunately). A small little pot of opalescent pink potion caught my eye. I don’t usually wear any base, foundation, or concealer, but for some reason I was intrigued by this. I swiped some on and swooned. Swooned, I tell you! I haven’t had a reaction like that since I tried Bobbi Brown’s pressed powder many moons ago. I’m not usually a gusher and I strive for objectivity, but this product is worthy of a gush. It looks like a mini pot of Duncan Hines frosting, and feels like a thick moisurizer when you first touch it, sort of like Crème de la Mer. That is where all comparisons end, though.

It's summer and I already have a bad farmer tan and some new freckles to prove it, thanks to a careless (and hatless) weekend spent in the suburbs with friends. It's time to stock up on sunscreen, and while it's not the sexiest beauty product out there, it's a necessary evil--unless you want wrinkles, weird dark spots...oh and don't forget cancer. We know--you've heard all this before. What you may not have heard is that the way you are using sunscreen needs to change.