After weeks of wearing hot pink polish over the summer, I was ready for a change, and going dark seemed a natural choice. While waiting in line to check out at Forever 21, the impulse bins worked their magic on me and I ended up buying a bottle of L.A. Girl Flare Bright Delights Nail Lacquer in Indigo. Best $2.80 I've spent in a long time! I love the glossy ink-blue hue that reads like black in low-light settings. I'm wearing one coat in the photo shown here; two coats gives you a slightly deeper, darker blue. L.A. Girl's Indigo nail lacquer is the only accessory I need on a chilly day (besides fingerless gloves and a plush scarf) to remind me that under all those layers of heavy winter garb lives a fashionable girl.

What color nail polish are you wearing (or wanting) for fall?

Forever 21 is giving visitors of their website a sneak peek at their soon-to-launch cosmetics line, Love & Beauty. The new makeup line promises to be made from "the highest quality ingredients" and will include everything you need to get gorgeous on a budget, from smokey eye kits to shimmering lip glosses.

Details on the exact launch date and time are not available, but judging by this special offer, I'm guessing select Love & Beauty products will become available as early as Sunday, November 8 (that's tomorrow)—so keep checking their site!

From 11/8 to 11/14, use code MAKEUP10 to get 10% off all makeup from the Love & Beauty collection

Comb your tresses with the Rolls-Royce of hair brushes, the 'Popular' Mason Pearson hair brush, long revered by beauty buffs for its famous boar and nylon bristle combo, rubber cushioning and easy-grip handle. Yours for $151 at Barneys New York.


Get the same luxurious locks at a fraction of the price with Sonia Kashuk for Target's Bristle Hair Brush instead, currently $13.49 at Target.com.

Co-written by The Budget Babe and Kiki Bella

I don't particularly like doing laundry (who does?) and one of the most annoying things are those delicate items—like bras, embellished tops and tights—which can easily get ruined in a washing machine. Been there, done that.

I'm not a fan of dry-cleaning (expensive and bad for the environment), so what I've typically done in the past to avoid washing-machine casualties is wash my delicates with Woolite in the sink. Don't get me wrong, Woolite is great—I've been using it for years—but I recently had the opportunity to test a new low-suds liquid called Soak, courtesy of the company's PR team, and I'm glad to have been introduced to this worthy alternative.

You can use Soak the same way you'd use Woolite: Fill your sink (or a bucket in the tub, if your sink-stopper doesn't work) with cool water, add a cap-full of Soak, let sit 15 minutes or while you watch Project Runway, come back, gently squeeze out the water, then lay flat to dry (a pop-up dryer is very handy for this!) or let bras drip-dry in the shower. Couldn't be easier.

Round hairfreé brush ($15.95) shown here in regular combing position (left) and "self-cleaning" mode (right).

The Budget Babe's resident beauty expert Kiki Bella tests a new brush that's easy to clean and helps smooth your tresses without high heat. —BB



by Kiki Bella
I hate cleaning my hairbrushes. It's annoying and time consuming, and I regret having to admit this but more then once in my life I've thrown a brush away rather than clean it. So not green of me. So when I received my hairfreé brush samples, I was sold on the idea of a brush that virtually cleans itself! Simply put, it's simplified brush-hygiene—and I like it. Here's how it works: The hairfreé brushes have this clever mechanism built-in, such that, when you pull the handle, black plates that were previously flush to the body of the brush lift off and as they lift off, so does the hair. You still have to pluck off the hair but it's a whole lot easier.