I had the chance to try out the beautiful, minimalist Arcona spa in Santa Monica, Calif., last week. Arcona is not only a spa but also a product line that boasts natural ingredients free of "petrochemicals, binders or fillers, chemical stabilizers, parabens, sodium lauryl sulphates, perfumes, dyes, or any other caustic, toxic ingredients." Though I'm all for avoiding products that contain potentially harmful ingredients, I'm still not totally sold on the idea that natural ingredients offer results equal to the ones I have been able to achieve with traditional products.

With warmer weather comes open-toed shoes and sandals and the need for us to get our feet back in shape. This past weekend it was pretty warm in Los Angeles, so I headed to the beach. My feet were looking pretty rough, so I did a little trick I've recently learned. I took damp sand and used it like a scrub to exfoliate my feet and elbows. It worked wonders and left my dry heels looking much smoother. Not near the beach? Try this file from Microplane. It's my go-to tool for getting rid of callused skin in the winter.

It's day one of my trial of Clinique's Lash Power Mascara, and I've already gotten two compliments. This product promises to beautifully lengthen, and I think it's one of the few times a cosmetic company has undersold their product. My lashes are normally pretty long anyway, but with this they are literally touching my eyebrows. I don't think I've ever seen them this long. Check out the before-and-after photos and judge for yourself.

Clairol Professional kicked off a program to help the Go Red for Women movement, founded by the American Heart Association. From now until June, Clairol will donate 20 cents for every professional product purchased (products shown above).

After reading Sarah's entry about her love for the new Clinique Lash Power Mascara, I remembered hearing about a great contest Clinique is having for brides-to-be. Upon getting the info, I immediately sent it to my sister who is getting married in May. Basically if you visit clinique.brides.com from now until June 30 you can get a FREE sample of Lash Power Mascara and put its long-lasting quality to the test. You document your next teary moment (not hard to have one of those during wedding-planning stages) on video and submit it for a chance to win diamond earrings worth $5,000 or a Clinique makeup artist for your wedding day. Or if you don't want to go to all that trouble, you can at least get the sample and review Lash Power here at TotalBeauty.com.

Well, sort of. See, recently I wrote The Right Skin Care for Your Age, and one of the products the dermatologist I interviewed recommended for the 50s category was Vaseline. I found it refreshing to have a derm suggest a product that was under $5 -- it doesn't happen often.

Hi. My name is Charli and I'm a severely nearsighted contact lens user who has repeatedly ignored my doctor's advice to wear glasses more often and "give my eyes a rest." Instead, I sleep in my lenses (occasionally) while I save up for the unlikely event of laser surgery. The downside of this -- and staring at a computer screen all day -- is frequent eye strain and dryness. (I have at least three bottles of drops in my purse.) Am I tempting a fate of blindness? Yes. Yes I am. I'm also doomed to battle running eyeliner for as long as I keep this up.

Anyone out there with me on this?

Last night I met Dr. Stephen Pratt, co-author of SuperFoodsRx at Fred Segal in Santa Monica, Calif., where the brand SuperFoodsRx debuted their products, which included an amazing dark chocolate bar (above) loaded with Omega 3s (which I must confess I ate for dinner on the car ride home) along with a skincare serum, daily supplements and books outlining key foods we all should be eating on a daily basis to look and feel healthier. There's a ton of info to share, but I wanted to let you in on the best tip I learned all day: Dr. Pratt said a great way to add much-needed antioxidants to your skin is to rub a steeped green tea bag on your face.

While compiling expensive and inexpensive look-alike polishes for our Luxe vs. Less Nail Polish story, I came across some fun polishes that were too unique to match. Don't let your feet go bare without donning these fantastic shades:

I gave my legs a much-needed shave this morning and it reminded me to share a review I recently wrote about my love for The Art of Shaving Shaving Cream in Rose Absolute, $30. The amazing, chemical-free rose scent and luxurious texture honestly motivate me to shave more often. Anything that can do that should really be deemed a miracle. Give it a try if you're in the mood to splurge on yourself -- you won't be disappointed. Oh, and stay tuned for part two of my shaving obsessions; I've just started to develop one with the new Gillette Venus Embrace -- the razor with five blades. Has anyone else tried it? Like it better than the other Venus razors?