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Happy Friday and Happy April from the Cosmetic Connection!

The results from the second Cosmetic Connection $10 Challenge are in! These great drugstore products seriously make me wonder why I buy some of my cosmetics at the department store counters. Read on!

Before I even arrived at Drug Emporium to start my search, I knew one thing I had to try - Maybelline's new Great Wear foundation. Before seeing the product, I was skeptical not only of the color selection but of just how well it would wear on my skin. Would it be dry and crumbly? Thick and oily? Would it take industrial strength cleanser to get it off? Luckily, all of my anxiety was laid to rest after my first day of wearing it. I found a great color match from the testers, bought "Ivory" for just $1.73 (used two $1.50 off coupons), wore it everyday for 6 days, and loved it. The color was great, the texture was really easy to blend, it had great coverage, it set to a nice natural finish, it lasted all day without caking, creasing, or melting, and it washed off at the end of the day with regular cleanser. If you find a good color that matches your skin, this foundation is a terrific product (even at full price!) that I would highly recommend for any skin type.

The second product I already knew I wanted to try was from a reader's suggestion - Aziza's new eye shadow trio ($3.44). I wanted the colors to be soft and basic for everyday wear that I could also mix and match with colors I already have. I chose "Daily News", a set with light beige, medium taupe brown, and dark chocolate brown. Although the richness and pigment of the colors wasn't quite as good as say Bobbi Brown, Stila, or MAC, the colors were soft, very blendable, and lasted for most of the day. Using a few good quality eye shadow brushes (not the dinky sponge tip applicator it comes with) really helps to pack the color on so you can get longer wear. One benefit I found with the colors being so soft is that you can really use them anywhere on the eye - try the light color on the lid, on the browbone, or all over; use the medium shade on the lid, in the crease, or as liner; experiment with the darker shade on the lid, in the crease, and as liner. This shadow trio is another great find that comes in a variety of color combinations to suit everyone's taste.

I've never been much of blush-wearer, until recently when I saw some photographs of myself wearing makeup but still looking incredibly pale! Maybe it was time for me to add a little color to my face! For my first time out, I wanted something soft, natural, and not cotton-candy pink. Since I've found some nice colors at Jane before, I decide to give Blushing Cheeks ($2.29) a try in "Blushing Glow". This isn't the lightest of colors, so I applied it very lightly with a large brush just to the apples of my cheeks (and blended), and voila - instant healthy color! If you're looking for an inexpensive but good quality blush, you really can't beat Blushing Cheeks from Jane.

As I neared my $10 limit, I wanted my last item to be something useful but unusual, something I would wear but would probably not normally buy. After hearing that Nat Robbins makes some great lip and eye pencils, I made my way over to the Nat Robbins display and selected the Mechanical Definer Lipliner ($2.47). Rather than trying to match a liner to the myriad of lipsticks I own, I decided on "Totally Nude", a neutral color close to my natural lip color that would go with anything. While the mechanical version does take some getting used to over the traditional sharpen-it-yourself variety, I really liked the smooth texture and staying power of this liner. I could wear it with light colored lipsticks, sheer glosses, and even clear lip balm without feeling like I had an obvious ring around my mouth. Another winner!

For all four products, with a little help from one store and one manufacturer's coupon for the foundation, the total came just under $10 at $9.93! Is that a great deal, or what? If you've got your own $10 Challenge you'd like to share, email me. The best one will get mentioned in a future Cosmetic Report.

Although trying the $10 Challenge products kept me pretty busy this week, I did make time to try Lancome's newest foundation, Teint Idole, another member of the so-called long-wearing makeup family. It ended up being a great comparison between Lancome and Maybelline Great Wear. After testing Teint Idole for just one day, I knew I didn't like it. The color was all wrong (the salesperson gave me a sample of Porcelain D'Ivoire, which was way too yellow for me), it was hard to blend, it smelled like housepaint, it wore off of my forehead and cheeks by mid-afternoon, and it made my chin break out in tiny little blackheads. All this misery for a whopping $32.50! Not only did the Maybelline Great Wear outperform Teint Idole by a long shot, but even my regular foundations wear better and last longer than this! Lancome is doing free samples of Teint Idole all this month, so if you are still curious, try it for yourself and see what you think. As for me, you couldn't pay me to put this stuff on my face again!

Since my trip to New York City last month, and my great success with several Kiehl's samples, I ventured back to the Kiehl's counter at my local Saks Fifth Avenue to see what they had in facial scrubs. Since my skin is fairly normal, a little oily in the T-zone, but sensitive, the Kiehl's representative recommended their Pineapple Papaya Facial Scrub "with real fruit" ($26.50), and gave me a few samples to try. She said the fruit enzymes in the pineapple and papaya would actually do a good amount of the exfoliating naturally, so I wouldn't have to really scrub at all. While the base of the scrub, a gel-like paste that slightly foams, was nice, the tiny scrub grains were a little too rough on my skin. I'm not sure how much exfoliating the fruit could actually do unless I left it on my face for a long time, so this scrub really didn't work for me. All things considered, this scrub seems fine for someone with oily skin who really wants that scrubbing feeling, but it's a little rough for the rest of us.

Last, but certainly not least, I am pleased to announce that the winners of March's Cosmetic Connection Beauty Pack drawing are... Maggie Hatem of Coshocton, Ohio, and Marylou Verner of Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey! Congratulations! If you'd like to see your name here in the coming months, all you have to do is enter.

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