It's New Year's Eve! I want to take this opportunity to wish all of you a healthy, happy, and fulfilling 2000. It has been a pleasure bringing you this newsletter and the Cosmetic Connection site for the past 3 years. Thanks for all your support and enthusiasm!

This week, in my continued effort to bring you more color, hair, and body product reviews, I've got some goodies to share from J.F. Lazartigue, Heavy Duty, and Supersmile. Enjoy!

J.F. Lazartigue hair care
Lazartigue falls under the I've-heard-of-it-but-never-tried-it category, so I was glad to finally have a look at a few of the products. There are many more products in the line, all of which you can find at beautyscene.com.

Rapid Drying Shampoo ($17 for 5 ounces)
I was intensely curious about this shampoo when I read about it in a few women's magazines, so I was excited to finally try it. All my enthusiasm was squashed when time after time, every time I used this shampoo my hair took at least twice as long as usual to blowdry! So much for rapid drying. I tried the shampoo alone, with conditioner, with styling products, and every time the results were the same - soggy hair that took forever to dry.

Body-Giving Shampoo ($23 for 8.4 ounces)
After the Rapid Drying disappointment, I had high hopes that this shampoo would work better for me. Thankfully it does. The blue-green gel has just the right amount of lather and cleanses well without stripping. I can't say my hair has noticeably more body than before, but this is still a nice, basic shampoo.

Vita-Cream with Milk Proteins ($43 for 6.8 ounces)
My hair has dry tendencies, and it can be a bit flyaway and frizzy without the proper attention, so a good conditioner is an essential part of my color treated style. This cream is rich and leaves my hair feeling silky and soft, but I hesitate recommending it for one glaring reason: the obnoxious price! I just about fell over when I first saw it. My hair might look good, but it also looks great with Komenuka Bijin Hair Conditioning Treatment for $30, Terax Crema conditioner for $19, or even ThermaSilk conditioner from the drugstore. I like Vita-Cream, but it's just too spendy.

Disentangling Instant Silk Protein Spray ($18 for 3.4 ounces)
If you like a very light leave-in conditioner, or if you need extra moisture in addition to regular rinse-out conditioner, this protein spray is okay but in my opinion too expensive for what you get. If you want to spend a little less, I like Tigi Fast Fixx and Garden Botanika Leave-In (both under $20 for 8-12 ounces) instead.

Revitalizing Shining Blush ($24 for 1.7 ounces)
I think I understand what Lazartigue was trying to do with this product - create something to add shine and smoothness to the hair - but for me it just doesn't work. The idea is to spray the "blush" onto their Hair Makeup Brush ($29), then brush it on the hair. It would work much better if you could just spray the "blush" directly on the hair; when I used the application brush, it made my hair more static-y and flyaway rather than smooth and manageable.

Root Volumizer ($18 for 2.54 ounce tube)
For truly limp, flat hair, this lightweight gel is great for lift and hold. The pointed tube design lets you apply the gel right where you need it - at the roots. You only need a small amount, comb it through, then use a round brush and blowdryer to get volume and lift. It also holds well through the day so you don't need to load on the hairspray.

Heavy Duty body products
This boutique line of body care products is popping up at all the major online beauty stores. I first reviewed their HandGear hand cream back in Aug. 1998, so I was excited to learn the line was doing well and expanding into some new products.

MotorWash shower gel ($18 for 12 ounces)
I am a big fan of shower gel over soap, and this one has a fresh, citrus scent that is definitely worth waking up for. I also like that you only need a small amount on a puff to work up a decent lather, and it doesn't dry your skin.

AutoStrip shave cream ($16 for 6 ounces)
I used to be a faithful shave cream user until I tried a drugstore brand that gave me a horrible rash. Since then I've just been using hair conditioner, and suffering from less than great results ever since. I am so glad to find AutoStrip! It has a very silky, airy texture and does a great job of conditioning the hair and creating just the right amount of slip for the razor so you don't get nicks or those annoying razor bumps. My legs are much happier now :)

BodyLube body lotion ($22 for 8 ounces)
I like the texture of this lotion (rich but not greasy), and it does a great job of relieving dry skin, but just like the Heavy Duty hand cream (reviewed Aug. 31, 1998), the scent of this body lotion takes some getting used to. Although it contains balm mint, calendula, sage, and chamomile extracts, it doesn't smell like any of those things to me - it smells more like plastic. If you prefer a floral or fruit scented lotion, this isn't it.

For more information on Heavy Duty products, it's available at Beautydoor.com, ibeauty.com and heavydutyco.com.

Supersmile Tooth Whitening System
For years I have lived with subtle white stains on my front teeth from too much fluoride when I was growing up. I had my teeth bleached once years ago, which didn't do much, so I resigned myself to having these stains forever. What I was not prepared to live with was a new crop of yellowish stains thanks to my daily espresso habit (short single vanilla latte from Coffee People here in Portland). When Supersmile contacted me about reviewing their product, I was skeptical but definitely curious.

The Supersmile system consists of a whitening toothpaste ($12), a mouthrinse ($20 for 60 packets), and an ergonomic toothbrush ($8). The whitening toothpaste contains an ingredient called Calprox that, together with baking soda and hydrogen peroxide, is what gets rid of the stains. How? It removes the sticky film on your teeth that coffee, tea, wine, etc. clings to and creates stains. The thinking is, if you can get rid of that film, you can get rid of the stain. There is a catch, though: you might get rid of the food-related stains, but if you have naturally yellow teeth to begin with, you need professional bleaching from your dentist to get truly white teeth. Supersmile can only do so much.

After several weeks of using the toothpaste and rinse, my teeth are a bit whiter, and they definitely feel cleaner, like I just had them polished at the dentist. I am not too crazy about the toothbrush simply because it has a shorter handle than I'm used to, so it feels awkward in my hand, but I would definitely get the toothpaste again.

Supersmile is available at beautyscene.com and dots2.com. Take a crack at this trivia question and you could be the lucky winner of a one year supply of Supersmile products.

The FIRST person to email me the complete correct answer will be our winner! Put your thinking cap on - this is a tough one! The winner and complete answer will be revealed in next week's Report.

Q: Name the three (3) boutique beauty brands acquired in 1999 by the luxury goods company Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton.