With holiday parties in full gear I'm reminded of a beauty trick I love to keep your lips colored for hours. Fill in lips with a lip liner then apply lipstick. The liner stays for a long time and acts as a primer so lipstick stays on longer. This trick came in handy last night when I couldn't find my Burt's Bees tinted lip balm after trudging through NYC's blizzard to a holiday party. I had applied lip liner early in the night and it was still there as the hours and the glasses of wine whizzed past.

I remember reading this for the first time in Seventeen Magazine and being despondent because I found drinking water to be the world's most boring thing. I preferred orange juice, Coke and hot chocolate. So is it true that you need eight glasses of water a day to keep skin moist and dewy? Find out if this is fact or an old wives' tale.

I was born with stick-straight hair so it doesn't take much more than a blow dryer and a brush to tame my mane. But my friend Laura was born with amazing curly hair and to get her hair straight involves such tedious drying, brushing and flat-iron that she's developed amazing biceps that she claimed she got from simply straightening her hair.

See photos of long, straight hair

So how to get your hair straight and sleek? Here are some tips:

1. Wash hair first. You'll get better results if you don't start with already dried hair.
2. Towel-dry hair so it's barely damp. This cuts down on drying time.
3. If you have wavy hair, spritz a straightening product on hair (I like Bumble and Bumble's straightening spray) or a smoothing cream. Glamour magazine recommends Pantene Pro-V, which you can find at any drugstore.
4. Dry hair with a paddle brush pointing the nozzle downward. You want to avoid adding body to hair, so don't "fluff" as you dry. You're aiming for stick straight hair. You want it to hang like a curtain.
5. Follow with a flat iron. Start at the hair closest to the nape of the neck, ironing in small sections.
6. Finish by running a shine serum through hair. Skip this step if you have oily hair.

Photo of Rachel Bilson by Jemal Countess/Getty

No matter the good economic news, there's one thing I'll be taking from this year's recession and that's my Pond's cold cream for cleanser and my bottle of organic coconut oil for slathering everywhere after a bath or shower. While both of these items are super inexpensive I will still splurge on other items (just TRY to pry YSL's Touche Eclat from my greedy fingertips).

Find out just what you should save on and what products you shouldn't feel guilting splurging for:

• Shampoos and blowdryers
• Eyeliners and eyeshadow
• Cleansers and moisturizers
• Foundation and concealer