Happy New Year! In honor of the very good year ahead, I've compiled 10 beauty resolutions for us. I plan to follow them and I hope you consider adopting some or including yours in the comments section below:

1. No more studying my face for wrinkles. After all, none of us are ever going to be younger than we are right now at this very moment. So much of beauty comes from within. I'm going to try to remember this.
2. Enjoy the moment. A wise man once told me misery comes from obsessing on the past and fearing the future. True happiness happens in the moment. I'm going to stop myself when I'm freaking out and I'm going to savor the beautiful moments more (like my best friend sitting next to me on the couch right now after a long holiday weekend of memorable moments).
3. More massages. Every time I get one, I vow to get another. Massages, I believe, feed the soul.
4. Less sugar. Studies show sugar can cause premature aging. And even though I'm not going to obsess about aging, I am going to be more careful with the amounts of sugar I put into my body.
5. More yoga. At the end of a vigorous yoga session I feel like all is right in the world. It's like being given a Zen injection or something.
6. Post-shower moisturizer. Because I suffer from major winter itch, I am going to try to remember to slather myself with organic extra virgen coconut oil after every shower.
7. Experiment with makeup. This last year I got out of my beauty rut (I wore the same eye makeup for 4 years) and tried a new eyeshadow palette which was such a hit, even random male coworkers noticed it and complimented it. This year, maybe I'll try a new red lipstick!
8. Teeth whitening. Need I say more?
9. No more boring polish colors. During my New Year's Eve manicure this year I went on a whim and got a deep, rich gray nail polish color (OPI's "You Don't Know Jacques") instead of no polish on my fingers and pearl polish on my toes and I can't stop staring at my hands. A salesgirl at a boutique asked me later the name of my polish so she could try it herself.
10. Compliment people on their best features/lipstick/nail color. I find when I tell someone they have the most amazing eye color or the perfect shade of red lipstick, they brighten. So I'm going to do this and I'm going to make an extra effort to compliment teenage girls I know because they of all people struggle with body issues and need to be reminded what about them makes them extra special.

Bonus Resolution: Take more risks. This has nothing to do with beauty but today my girlfriends and I met up in Coney Island with 1000 other people and jumped into the frigid water as part of the annual polar bear swim. It was a baptism of sorts, a way to start the year anew. Never had I thought I would be the sort of person to jump into ice cold water in the middle of winter in New York City, but I did it and I had so. Much. Fun. There will more of this in 2010.

Last night my dear friend Janine and I did what we do every time Janine comes to NYC from Seattle for a visit: we escaped the cold and headed to the spa. Janine and I love to be pampered and I've tried my share of spas in New York and have decided the best bang for your buck can be found at Juvenex in the Korean district of the city. For $200 apiece, we got 30 minutes of sauna, hot tub and steam room, followed by a full body scrub (more on that in a bit) and then an hour-long massage. As my friend Jim would say, "now that's value."

Korean spas are famous for their aggressive scrubbing, meticulous (if a bit gruff) attention and their informality toward nudity. For example, at the Korean spa outside Seattle, women wander around the huge place in the buff, and you are lined up naked on tables for a scrub with a half dozen other women. Juvenex is no different, although you are only naked in front of your friends and the women doing the scrubbing. I've done so many scrubs like this that I don't care anymore. Modesty schmodesty. It feels too good to care.

Tonight my favorite part was the scrub. The massage was disappointing, but tolerable. I find the massages at Juvenex to be hit or miss. Half the time I'm so happy and relaxed I make a pact with myself to come once a month, the other half of the time I lie there wondering if the masseuse had any real massage training. But by the time I'm finishing up the pineapple and melon treat at the end of the visit, I'm so relaxed all disappointments fall by the wayside.

Ever since I moved to New York City, I've suffered from Winter Itch this time of the year. The forced dry heat coupled with the lack of moisture in the air wrecks havoc on my skin, so a couple years I researched the HELL out of my problem and wrote this piece which explains why you shouldn't wash your hands in hot water and useful dry skin fix-it tips.

I spotted Gwyneth Paltrow's cool manicure and had to post a close-up of her brown nails. They're short, rounded and a gorgeous shade of brown, which I hear is hot, hot, hot for the holidays. You can get your own version with OPI's "Shim-merry Chic", which up close has shimmery specks of red, blue and green. This is the perfect polish for the New Year and beyond.

More must-reads on nails:

• 30 best-kept manicure and pedicure secrets
• Secret to keeping nail polish from chipping
• 5 really tacky nail trends

Photo: Chris Jackson/Getty Images

Everyone knows someone with needle-thin brows or an older woman who draws in her brows. It's virtually impossible to tell someone they've made a poor brow choice and if they learn the correct way to fill in brows, they would transform their face. If you are someone with bad, painted-on brows like the famous actress pictured here (find out who those brows belong to), get the scoop on how to correct your mistakes:

• How to fill in sparse brows
• How to properly shape your brows
• Should you try threading?

Image: Vince Bucci/Getty

The best way to make eyeliner last is to use a liquid liner. Look for a quick-dry liner so it's smudge-proof. You should test it out first on our hand if possible. Draw a line and make sure it's thick and dark. The actual tip should taper off. (Lancome's "Artliner" is a great liquid liner, Almay makes a good drugstore liquid liner).

Find out 3 ways to apply liquid liner.

Oily skin girls, listen up. Do not powder your face all night long to soak up oils. You'll end up with a powdered cake-like mask. Instead, carry blotting papers which soak up oils without mussing your makeup. If you have dry skin, carry a bottle of Evian water in your purse and spritz when you feel your skin is tight from the harsh weather or furnaces.

Get many more holiday party beauty tips.

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