IF YOU’VE EVER considered using a pumice stone to slough dead skin off your lips, you can stop. MAC‘s Prep+Prime Microfine Lip Refinisher ($14.50, MAC stores) is basically just that. One half of the stick is grit, the other is vanilla Cha...

A FEW YEARS AGO, we were floored by the dry manicure — little sheets of polish you simply stuck on your nails. Now we have the ocular version: Color On Professional Eye Envy ($25 for five pairs, Sephora), ovals of eyeshadow you smack on and pee...

YU-BE MOISTURIZING SKIN CREAM ($15-$24, Sephora) was invented in 1957 by a Japanese pharmacist and, we are told, is huge in its home country. Despite the suspiciously unsophisticated packaging, we found within it a product that would cost upward of $...

THERE’S SOMETHING SCARY about rubbing what amounts to dirt onto yourself and then watching it pour off your body in inky-black streams. It took one heck of a lot of swishing with feet to get one application of MAC Volcanic Ash Exfoliator ($19, ...

WATERPROOF IS A STRONG claim for an eye shadow to make. Most stick to the wishier-washier “water-resistant.” Not Vincent Longo Liquid Shadow ($24, Sephora), a set of bronze-y shades with a consistency something like gel ink. We didn’...

THE PRESS RELEASE for Olay Total Effects Plus Touch of Foundation ( $19, drugstores) calls it a “hardworking product,” bringing to mind corgis herding sheep or sweat-drenched men laboring over railroad ties. Or first-year associates at la...

BENEFIT’S ERASE PASTE ($26, Sephora) looks like a slightly moister version of the company’s famed Boi-ing concealer. But the combo highlighter-brightener held on tighter than most stickier solutions, including its solid cousin. It didn...

COLORMARK TEMPORARY hair color ($20, Colormetrics.com) markets itself as a quick fix for gray roots. It marketed itself to Express, rather ingeniously, as a quick fix for authenticity. Noting that Madonna and the Olsen twins request their colorists l...

SO, YOU CAN’T AFFORD a shipment of Bob’s Pickle Pops (see left). The world of DIY pop-dom is open to anyone with sticks, molds and Pops! by Krystina Castella ($16, Quirk). Among the most astonishing: Bubble tea pops (an adaptation of thos...

THERE IS DOUBTLESSLY a genius business explanation for why an SPF of 20 would be appealing. Perhaps market research showed that 15 is too reckless, but 30 too prudish? We’ve always found the 20 designation discomfiting — it’s neithe...

WE CONSIDER A “mask” — or “masque,” as the fancier retailers like to say — to be something that takes effort to remove. Like peeling, or vigorous scrubbing, or a chisel. Kiehl’s Brightening Botanical Hydratin...

ONCE TARTE FOUR-DAY LASH STAIN ($18, Sephora) goes on, don’t expect it to give up without a fight. It stayed on for four days all right — progressively losing luster after the second — but did not want to come off when its time was ...

WHEN PEOPLE ARE EJECTED from airlocks or abandoned in deep space in science-fiction movies, they’re often shown with condensation frozen on their eyelashes. Whether this is or is not an accurate depiction of post-airlockedness, it is how you wi...

PHILOSOPHY‘s Never Let Them See You Shine Velvet Touch Primer ($20, Sephora) is a slender tube of eucalyptus-scented magic. After a morning slather, our face was less greasy than normal by the end of the day — though where the grease went...

TRUE BLUE SPA SHADE TO ORDER ($19, Bath & Body Works) gives new meaning to the word “sundial.” The rotating top lets you choose the hue you want your skin, from espresso to pale peach. In reality, one’s choices are more cafe au...