Cheryl Shops

Website of the week
Clearly, I love shopping online. I love that on a slow day at work, I can shop for shoes or check out new lip glosses. I love that I can shop in my pajamas, without makeup, and not have to worry about salespeople--whether they help me too much or not enough. One of the problems with online shopping is that sometimes you do need help. For example, at the beauty counter. Granted, this is one of those areas where the term "pushy salesperson" certainly can come into play, but, on the other hand, I love walking into a place like Kiehl's, where I can say something like, "My skin feels like the desert when it hasn't rained for three months," and they'll know just the right product for me. Or the Shu Uemura salesgirl who recommended white eyeliner and changed my life. Sometimes this human interaction is necessary at the beauty counter. Which is why My Beautiful Place is great--it's so obviously personal, it's like you have a friendly saleswoman telling you which moisturizer is her favorite. Even better, the site has a product assortment that rivals Bendel's--think cult lines like 3 Custom Color, Korres, and SCO Skincare. And, as with any good cosmetics website, there are several lines I've never heard of. You can shop by brand, and then by subcategory within the brands. I'm not going to lie--the navigation is a bit awkward, but the cool products make up for it. I'm intrigued by the Terranova body butters; I've heard great things about SCO Skincare; this MOR pomegranate body polish probably smells amazing and is half the price of Fresh's sugar scrub; this French Bulldog Cafe Kit from Jaqua Beauty looks like it would make a wonderful gift; and, as I'm a sucker for sparkle, this Girlactik Beauty Heaven's Dust sounds, well, divine. Orders over $75 ship for free, and orders over $100 receive lots o' samples. So while you might not be receiving actual one-on-one human interaction by shopping here, you still get pretty much all the perks, whether you're at work, in your underwear, or otherwise.