My List of Essential Ingredients to Ring in the New Year

1. Red Underwear

Several countries including Spain, Italy and Turkey have long believed that wearing a pair of new, red underpants on New Year's Eve will bring good luck in the New Year. Depending to the variation of the superstition you consult, the luck attached will manifest itself though one's love life, money, success or all of the above. But does it really matter? The point is that you win either way here- there's an excuse to buy cute, new undies and you will have a really good year for it. Besides, even if it is just a superstition, do you really want to take that chance? No... Panties it is!

The Lacie Hiphugger in Bright Red, $11.50 www.victoriassecret.com.




2. Veuve Clicquot Brut Yellow Label

No midnight toast would be complete without this classic non-vintage Brut. It's one crisp and refreshing, yet smooth and flavorful champagne. To bring in the New Year with something this classy, well it's hardly a splurge at under fifty bucks.

Veuve Clicquot Brut Yellow Label, $44 www.veuve-clicquot.com.



3. The Best Cake In The World

Maybe it's because I have an insatiable sweet tooth, or just because I'm naturally inclined to break my resolutions before the New Year even begins, but something decadent and sugary is a crucial ingredient to my welcoming of the New Year. The "Cake Man Raven" based out of Fort Greene, Brooklyn (if you have not heard of him) has managed to perfect the master of all delicious varieties of cakes, the Red Velvet. Raven's adaptation is the perfect consistency: light and fluffy, but smooth and rich. Three layers are coated with a buttery cream cheese frosting that makes millions of Southern Grandma's weep in their graves daily. Thanks to an undecidedly cruel or heavenly twist of fate, his shop is located around the corner from my boyfriend's apartment. Hence, in all ways past my realm of resistance.

Red Velvet Cake, $6 a slice Cake Man Raven Confectionary, Fort Greene Brooklyn.

The Urban Turban

With temperatures not heating up anytime soon and no one getting any younger, a girl's gotta do what she can to stay 1. warm and 2. looking fabulous. Generally during these frigid winter months, the ears are the worst! Especially when we're talking wind chills below zero.

A brilliant solution to this - as well as one of my favorite winter trends this season - is without a doubt the knit turban. It's a headwrap, but with a twist (literally). And while no one disagrees that earmuffs are adorable, (I just got the Kate Spade Peppermint ones for Christmas which are totes cute) a knit turban will keep your ears warm, your outfit chic, and your look super sexy all at once.



Wooden Ships Isadora Turban, $28 www.urbanoutfitters.com

Yogi Tea Skin DeTox

Forgive me for sounding like a ProActive commercial, but I've struggled with imperfect skin my entire life. As early as junior high, I've had a strict regimen of cleanse, tone and moisturize twice a day.

A few days ago while visiting an aesthetician friend of mine, she gave me the most enlightening advice. She told me to cleanse using product only once a day, before I went to bed. She suggested that in the morning I should rinse my face with water - that's it! So I thought I would take her advice just long enough to prove her wrong. But as it turns out, it was the best beauty advice I'd received since I was told to use dry-to-liquid eyeliner. I could never have imagined a solution so simple!

She went on to remind me that moisturizer only works as a shield, and the best way to maintain healthy skin is to hydrate and purify from the inside. Which brings me to the essential product I've discovered for just that. It's Yogi Tea's latest brew: Skin DeTox. This tea was formulated to shed impurities that cause annoying imperfections. It contains liver cleansers, to erase the marks of several drinks too many. It also contains an array of purifying herbs like clove, as well as plenty of antioxidants. You don't even have to hunt down your skin specialist, because it's available anywhere Yogi Tea is sold.

Make it your New Year's Resolution to exercise, drink lots of water, eat plenty of fruits and vegetables and do all you can to maintain healthy, glowing and gorgeous skin. It's really a lot easier than you'd think.

Yogi Tea Skin Detox, $5 www.yogiproducts.com.

La Vie en Beige

Every once in a while, a fragrance comes along that sweeps you off your feet. It carries you away into grassy meadows abundant in hawthorn, freesia and frangipani, with streams made of honey. This is exactly the ethereal experience I had once I opened this Christmas gift from my boyfriend and took the very first smell of this utterly divine scent, created by none other than Coco Chanel.

Beige is part of Les Exclusifs de Chanel, a special line of Chanel fragrances offered exclusively at selected department stores in limited quantities.

And apparently I'm not the only one who can't live without it. My boyfriend learned from a saintly employee at Bergdorf when he purchased the gift that they are the only store in New York City to carry it. And as of Dec. 21 they had sold out of all sizes with the exception of the largest, 6.8 oz.

Which means I will enjoy it for a long time to come... and so will he :)

Beige can also be found at the Chanel website for as long as supplies last.

Chanel Beige Eau de toilette, Prices vary depending on size www.chanel.com

Super Lush Lips

These freezing cold temperatures have been tearing me apart. I understand why bears hybernate during winter and firmly believe the lady bears are the key organizers of the species' season-long siesta, because they know what it does to their hair, nails and skin!

Unfortunately us humans never get a break. Unless of course you count the excuse to buy cute sweaters, boots, scarves and gloves. But certain body parts have practically no shield from the blistering Northeastern wind chills. Take the lips, for instance. They need not only to be protected from the cold, but to look plump, pink and delicious at all times, zero degree weather not excluded.

Fortunately on my walk home the other day, I stopped into Sephora and one of the sales girls pointed me to this product. Two more suddenly appeared out of nowhere to tell me they loved and swore by it! At $20 I was slightly apprehensive, but who am I kidding? The way the weather has been around here kids, Dr. Pepper-flavored Smackers isn't going to cut it.



Apply Super Lush Lips generously. In fact the container instructs to "drench lips often." I put on in the morning immediately after I brush my teeth, as needed throughout the day and before I go to bed. The coconut oil and vitamin E not only hydrate but heal and repair the lips over time.

This miracle-working balm is the newest permanent resident to my purse, and the latest edition to my wicked winter survival kit!

Super Lush Lips With Coconut Oil, $20 www.sephora.com.