dear ladies,

i need your help. i'm working on the summer issue of the violet and i need to know your favorite beauty products! what do you most like? what drugstore purchases can't you live with out? where are you willing to spend a little more money--concealer, foundation, the perfect blush shade?

since i've declared this the summer of red lips and my beloved clinique party red is at the nub (and they no longer make it {blerg}) i allowed the woman at sephora to talk me into the pretty expensive YSL rouge pur couture. it's very red (read: of the orange family) but she told me it would work with the yellow in my skin and then went for my achilles' heel by saying it's all the rage in europe! ah, the coup...anything to make me more european. time will tell if it was worth the extra bucks.

bring on those answers!!