I am pleased to announce that the AdviceSisters December/Holiday 2007 What Works Beauty, Cosmetics & Fashion review column is up on the AdviceSisters web site http://www.advicesisters.net/ .

This special edition, two page holiday column features features seasonal beauty, fashion and gift ideas for virtually everyone with suggestions to help you enjoy the holidays, look great, and feel great, too.

Page ONE http://www.advicesisters.net/whatworkscol3.html features the newest makeup kits & gifts, fantastic holiday fragrances, and great gift suggestions for "the girls," the guys, and couples.

Page Two http://www.advicesisters.net/wwDEC07pg2.htmlfeatures "must-have" products for every budget including: hair helpers, bath & body gifts; holiday home; beauty helpers; products that "give back;" gifts for younger generations; and the most glamorous and gift-able makeup on the market. Our Buying Guide with links to all the products we review, is at the bottom of Page Two. Shop at early and at home and avoid the crowds!

Don't forget to come back to these forums and let us know what you like the best. If your posts catch our eye, you could become one of our official what works reviewers!!!!

The AdviceSisters wish you a beautiful holiday season, and our best wishes for a happy, healthy, joyful new Year!

Staples--Not Just for "Staples" this holiday season-- That Was EASY!

Yesterday, I attended a presentation, courtesy of STAPLES and hosted by Tory Johnson, the Workplace Contributor on ABC's Good Morning America, about hot, holiday gifts and gadgets. That's Tory, in the middle, giving us the lowdown on gifts for everyone from children, to CEOs. STAPLES is nearly synonymous with office supplies, but it's always been a great place for me to shop for tech gadgets as well. The prices are reasonable to "bargain" and their return policy is good, too. In addition, since many people don't realize how many gift-able items STAPLES carries, it's going to be a lot less hectic to shop in a STAPLES store, than at the Mall.

Tory outlined lots of gift suggestions from Digital Picture Frames to toys for the kiddies, but the two most popular items for the holidays are sure to be digital cameras and laptops. Here are her suggestions for purchasing these items: For Cameras, Tory suggested that consumers consider these key features: megapixels (the more you have, the clearer the photo), Face Recognition (no more blurry faces), Optical Zoom (the higher the optical zoom range, the farther away you can be and still take a clear photo), The size (small but mighty is the ideal for most people), color (why settle for dull metal?) and image stabilization (shaky hands won't blur your photos anymore) . For Laptops: Integrated webcam (makes it easy to connect to others, even if you are far away), Bluetooth (wireless lets you work with it, anywhere and sync to other bluetooth enabled devices such as PDAs, cell phone, printers, and "mice.", LightScribe (lets you print CDs right onto your disk) and Weight (compact and light-weight is best if you travel with your laptop).

Some of my favorite STAPLES gift suggestion items include:

This amazing Canon PowerShot SD750 Digital Camera with an incredible price of $249.00! It is a super-compact, lightweight, put it in your pocket digital very similar to the Canon I use to shoot photos for this blog, but it's less than $240 (mine was a lot more) AND it has 7 megapixels, which means you can enlarge your digital photos up to 13" x 19" and they will still be sharp. There's a video feature and a face recognition feature that lets you "lock" onto faces so they are exposed properly on the photo. *by the way, the Canon interface for your computer is really easy...I love it!

Here's the Staples MailMate M3 Shredder I mentioned in my previous post. It is just $79.99 and will help keep you safer from identity theft all year long.

As a writer, one of my favorite "stocking stuffer" gifts is cute office supplies. Whether you're an entrepreneur, a study, or a busy mom, colorful clips, push-pins and magnets are not only fun to use, they're essential to stay organized. Clips likes these from from $1.99 - $5.99 a package, and look a LOT more expensive. They make a great grab bag gift for the office, too.

For the big spender, STAPLES is selling a Dell Inspiron 1521 Laptop for $929.98 (they're the only retailer, besides Dell, to sell these computers directly to the customer). This particular model has full sized keys and a touch pad that make it easy on your fingers when you're on it for hours. It also has 2 GB of storage and all sorts of bells and whistles including an integrated webcam. I also was impressed with the TomTom 720 GPS System $499.99 ($399.99 from Nov. 18-Dec. 31, 2007) that is completely portable, and has voice as well as graphics. You can purchase real time traffic reports on this unit, so you'll be less likely to be stuck in traffic from now on. It's also bluetooth hands-free capable.

Visit your local STAPLES store or www.staples.com and make your holiday shopping, easy. Speaking of which, don't forget to pick up one of those STAPLES "EASY' Buttons $4.99 -- the limited edition version was designed by a 14-year old girl. STAPLES will donate up to $100,000 beyond it's current $1 million to the Boys & Girls Clubs of America based on sales of this special EASY button. It makes a great gift for "boys" and "girls" of all ages...I brought one to the office and watched grown men pushing it over and over again to hear the gravelly voice say "that was easy!" It's the perfect "panic button" for that high-strung friend, too.

Gianna Rose Atelier Preview for Fall/Holiday 2007

On Tuesday, August 7th, Lady Mendls Tea Salon (56 Irving Place,, NYC) was the perfect setting for the "Mad Hatters Tea Party" celebrating the debut of the Gianna Rose Atelier Walt Disney collection, and the Fall, Winter and Holiday 2007 Collections. This tea palace is part of the luxurious Inn at Irving Place, and it's a must-go-to-at-least-once with your BFF, Victorian-style tea parlor that makes you feel like you are really in another era.

In this era, my entrance was hot and sweaty. It was searingly hot outside, and I'd just come from the Javits Center (where I was covering FAME, Moda Manhattan, and Accessories, the Show). I revived, when I finally got to meet some of the great women I've been working with on Gianna Rose Atelier. *For past Advice Sisters reviews of Gianna Rose Atelier, check our What Works Archives at: http://www.advicesisters.net/WWarchives/wwarcindex.html or try our SEARCH Box options on the Current What Works Beauty, Cosmetics & Fashion Review Column: http://www.advicesisters.net/WWarchives/wwarcindex.html

Gianna Rose Atelier is a line of products that is one of my personal favorites, not just because of the high quality, reasonably priced products in imaginative shapes, but also because the packaging is so beautiful, it's like getting more than one item to enjoy. For example, the Holiday Collection (see photo to the left) features Substantial, cardboard gift boxes covered with silver metallic paper overlayed with a "Victorian-style" matte gold paisley design, wrapped with a silvery satin ribbon and a gift card. I can definitely see re-using the box to store special objects from handkerchiefs to hairpins. The holiday collection "Holiday Tower" (*will be $79.50) features three boxes of beautifully embossed soaps, scented with various winter scents such as vanilla, sandalwood, pine, bergamot, Jasmine and Lavender. They are beautifully shaped as holiday ornaments, ripe pears, and flat squares with embossed with snowflakes. The Holiday Tower is also tied with a glittery, snowflake ornament. You can just about see the glittery ornament hanging from the pewter vase. You can also get these products separately, and we will be reviewing them in an upcoming What Works column, so definitely watch for them. Who needs wrapping paper, and why waste the time???

The BIG news for Gianna Rose Atelier is that the company is collaborating with beloved Walt Disney to create a new collection: Gianna Rose for Walt Disney. As the Disney brand is a delight for people of all ages, so too will be this new, Gianna Rose collection. I was delighted to meet Blair Buckley, Vice President of Product Development for Gianna Rose Atelier, in person. Everyone (including the Advice Sisters) loves this new collection, which is debuting at the International Gift Fair next week. My favorite in this collection (and I don't want to give ALL away before we get a chance to review it for you) is the Alice's English Garden, that captures delicate soap "petals" in light rose and white, in a clear,glass, apothecary jar. The paisley box (wrapped with a silky ribbon and gift tag) brings the theme home, with Alice's journey through the garden, and "secret" images of Alice, the white rabbit, the Cheshire cat, and the caterpillar. The other items in the collection feature beautifully scented soaps in "Alice in Wonderland" shapes, all in richly colored "Alice-themed" gift boxes. All the items in the collection will sell for $37.50.

For Fall, Gianna Rose Atelier fans will be delighted to learn about the Fall/Winter Collection. Frogs are considered lucky in a lot of cultures, and I am predicting that everyone will want to have the new, Magic Frog Candle $25.00--a large, green, life-like frog scented with light "water Lilly" that is nestled on his own, white, porcelain "Lilly pad." He is so adorable, you might not want to light the wick, but your Magic Frog will burn in the middle, so he'll be all yours (without the head falling off or burning into the candle) until the candle's end. There is also a lovely, linen-scented, ivory-colored hen candle. For Fall/Winter two news soaps feature La Chouette, A white, lychee-scented owl (really cute--what a nice gift for a favorite teacher or any wise person) and Le Cocker Spaniel $21.00, a black-colored, green tea and bergamot scented doggie.

If you're hosting a Thanksgiving dinner this year at your house, or want to bring something special for your host/hostess, the Collection De Nature are beautifully-packaged, molded soaps with amazing, holiday-scents that come either in lovely, re-usable, cardboard slider boxes $24.00/4 with Victorian designs in harvest colors, or with decorative, pottery bowls $29.50/4. I particularly liked the Pinecone & Acorn-shaped Soaps with their savory, spicy blend of sandalwood, pine and night blooming jasmine. There is also a pumpkin and squash collection featuring sweet brown sugar, pumpkin and fig. Here is my photo of the "Thanksgiving" display at the launch, and a closeup of some of the soaps:













With the holidays coming, you're going to want to check out all the gorgeous Gianna Rose Atelier products available for sale. Visit http://www.giannarose.com or check out The Advice Sisters What Works Beauty, Cosmetics & Fashion review columns!