MULTI TASKING AT ITS FINEST!

Everyone already knows that conditioner can double as shaving cream (another tip: mix with water in a spray bottle to keep crazy beach hair in check). Here are five more multitasking miracles that do everything from taming cowlicks to banishing nasty odors.

1. Brow Gel.. I cannot live without this! Beauty experts have proclaimed clear mascara as the brow tamer of choice for years, but Maybellene brow gel beats them all. It's stiff enough that it keeps your brows in place all day, but not so much as to make them crunchy. Its other use? As a flyaway/cowlick tamer. My morning hair routine always ends with a light swipe of the Brow Gel along my part and at my forehead, to keep my long bangs perfectly sideswept.

2. NARS Multiple in Copacabana... I talk about this stuff all the time, but if I haven't drummed it into your head yet that it's the BEST, here goes another try. This creamy silvery-beige stick works as a highlighter on cheekbones, browbones, inner corners of eyes, and upper lip, as well as an incredible body highlighter (shoulders, collarbones and legs). You can even smush some into your favorite body butter to add just a hint of an allover glow. And try dabbing on lips, too, to lighten up and add shimmer to any of your favorite lip products.

3. Antiperspirant...Let's be clear: we're talking about solids here, not gels. A solid antiperspirant can work wonders to eliminate shoe friction from heels and straps, not to mention helping to keep your feet nice and dry. And it's fabulous for keeping bikini irritation and razor burn at bay.

4. Hand Sanitizer...(First of all, make sure yours works by using alcohol; stay away from sanitizers with triclosan, which may contribute to the development of superbugs, and has some potential safety issues.) I use hand sanitizer for everything - for its intended purpose, of course, for an allover body refresher (it's particularly good for eliminating "beach hands" and "beach feet," that weird, not-exactly-sand residue you feel after a day at the beach), as a top-up for antiperspirant, and most interestingly, as a bad odor blocker. I've been guilty of rubbing a dab of hand sanitizer just inside my nostrils when confronted with an offending aroma on the subway. It's like Vicks Vaporub for stinky environments - I swear it works!

5. Moisturizer..Ever ask someone about a classic moisturizer and get this answer? "Oh! I use ________ for EVERYTHING! Face, hands, cuticles, lips, eczema, elbows, feet, bug bites, windburn, sunburn, steam burns, even flyaway hairs!" The list of uses seems to go on and on, doesn't it? So here is some information on different moisturizers..There is so much information out there on moisturizers so here is what I gathered up..

~ Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream Created in 1930, this apricot-colored balm is a combo of petrolatum, beta hydroxy acid, and vitamin E. It was quite innovative at the time thanks to the beta-hydroxy, and it works just as well today.

~ Vaseline. Possibly the most unglamorous of the bunch, but that certainly doesn't make it any less worthy. Check out Tia Williams' "Vaseline is the New Black" post at Shake Your Beauty for some interesting Vaseline anecdotes. Apparently, a Real Housewives grandma owes her still-gorgeous complexion to the stuff, and now Tia's been using it as eye makeup remover.

~ Original Nivea Creme is the poor man's Creme de la Mer, though it's been around far longer. I remember my mom dabbing some on my face to protect it from windburn when we went skiing, and I loved how it felt. Like La Mer, it may be too thick for everyday use on your face, unless you have severely dry skin, but there are so many other ways to use it, who cares?

~Creme de la Mer. Wait, if Nivea was around first, does that make Creme de la Mer the rich man's Nivea? Hmmm. Anyhow, I vaguely recall a supermodel famously saying that she uses CDLM for everything, even pimples. Of course, this was in the days before the bubble burst and conspicuous consumption became a no-no. But hey, if you can afford it, why not? I'm still not sure I buy into all the "Miracle Broth" hype, but it's a damn good moisturizer.

~Aquaphor Healing Ointment, the choice of the sensitive-skinned worldwide (not to mention fragrance-haters, lip-biters, cuticle-pickers, and men). I had a friend in college who used gallons of it; to her, there was nothing Aquaphor couldn't cure. I bet she thought if she sent a few cases overseas, she could bring about peace in the Middle East. Now that's a miracle cream!

I love anything that be used for more than one thing...There are a ton of products that I enjoy double using..

I will post some more of these tips in the future!

K Jaggers

♥