Blog Posts by Oprah.com

Photo: Chris Eckert/Studio DStep 1

Layering a cream or liquid bronzer (like Nars Illuminator in Laguna, $29; narscosmetics.com) underneath a powder keeps the finish from looking too dry and flat. With your ring finger (it applies less pressure, and product, than your index finger), dot the color along your hairline above your temples, over your cheekbones toward your nose, and then down along your jawline.

NOTE: Bronzers aren't just a tool for warming up pale skin. In rich, earthy shades with red undertones (think clay or terracotta), they're also a beautiful way to add contour to dark skin.

RELATED: 6 Quick Beauty Fixes for All Your Summer Skin Issues




Photo: Chris Eckert/Studio DStep 2
Brush on a powder bronzer (like Nars Bronzing Powder in Laguna, $33; narscosmetics.com) in the same configuration (hitting hairline, temples, cheekbones, jawline). Then, without adding more bronzer to the brush, dust it over your nose, neck, even the tops of your ears. (For a light application, don't use a bronzer-specific brush. A regular powder brush Read More »from Perfect Bronzer in 3 Easy Steps

By Corrie Pikul

From safe shoes to Freddy Kruegers of footwear, a surgeon helps us saunter through summer without getting hurt or looking lame.

Related: Platform Sandals You Can Actually Walk In

Photo: ThinkstockEuropean Cork Sandals

Danger ranking: 2. "They feel wonderful for four to five hours of sitting or standing," says Hillary Brenner, DPM, a podiatric surgeon in New York. "But walking in these can put pressure on the ankles, knees and hips. Even though they have arch support, they don't have enough for long journeys."

Best for: Camp counseling; pointing out constellations in the night sky

Avoid: Hiking

Doctor's note: "Break them in by wearing them around your home so you know how they feel before you wear them outside."

RELATED: How to Look Chic and Slim All Summer Long

Photo: ThinkstockClogs

Danger ranking: 2. "These saved my life when I was a resident. But while they're great for standing, they're a little too unstable for distance walking."

Best for: Swaying at

Read More »from The Summer Shoe Threat-o-Meter

Photo: RTimages/iStockphotoBy Susan Choi

One day at work, the computer system Kylie (not her real name) depends on to get her job done collapsed in a total meltdown. The tech support people, five states away in Virginia, wouldn't pick up the phone. Kylie's colleagues wouldn't get off her back-they were literally hanging over her shoulders, demanding to receive what she had no way to give them until the system started up again. In the end, she was glued to her chair for six unbroken, miserable hours. For Kylie, who grew up in Midwestern farm country, who loves to hike and ride horses and work with her hands, this six-hour imprisonment in her chair was the worst thing of all. At home that night, she felt as if she'd been beaten up. "I looked ahead at the next 20 years and thought, 'If it's more of this, I'll slit my wrists.'"

RELATED: Strong Life Plan: Finding a Career

More alarming was that lots of days felt like this. There hadn't been a single last straw, Kylie realized; there were haystacks of them. At some

Read More »from Your brilliant (next) career: How to find it

Photo: ThinkstockBy Lynn Andriani

You may not have 3,600 people coming for dinner, but Carnival Cruise Lines corporate executive chef Peter Leypold and Cunard executive chef Jean-Marie Zimmerman, whose fleet includes the Queen Mary 2 and Queen Elizabeth, are used to feeding the masses. Here's what they do when they're staring down 73,180 slices of bacon and 23,600 potatoes.

RELATED: How to Throw a Stress-Free Dinner Party

Cruise ship kitchen: Zimmerman begins cooking some foods a couple of days in advance, such as short ribs.

Your kitchen: Consider making long-braised or roasted meats. They can be made ahead and reheated the day of your event.

RELATED: Must-Know Grilling Tips

Cruise ship kitchen: Leypold and his crew follow strict regulations regarding food safety, storing perishable food at 29 degrees.

Your kitchen: Take food out of the fridge just before you are going to use it. No need for shrimp to sit out on the counter if you aren't doing something with it right at that moment.

RELATED: The

Read More »from Cruise tips on how to cook for a crowd

Photo: Jeff KernBy Jim Shepard

How stupid were my friends and I, growing up in Lordship? It goes without saying that we were unsupervised (in the early '60s, most parents-at least mine-expected their kids, once past the age of, say, 7, to disappear on nice Connecticut Saturdays, and not return until dinnertime), and in that unsupervised state, it fell to us to keep ourselves entertained. We always came up with something. And all of it fell into two categories: things that were stupid and things that would have been fine, had they not been done stupidly. We gloried in the brainlessness of both. We had such an appetite for the kinds of activity that would cause a parent to despair that my father ran out of ways of insulting us, and he was easily one of the most verbally inventive people I knew. He got tired of announcing that I had the brains of a squirrel, for example, and started substituting around in the animal kingdom, and beyond: an ant, a flatworm, a walking doorknob.

RELATED: What Women Can

Read More »from Why Men Do Crazy (and Crazy Stupid!) Things

Photo: ThinkstockBy Ronna Lichtenberg

It's easy to know when you're in the right job, and it's a piece of cake to recognize an awful one. But what about the position that seems only okay? How can you tell the difference between a bad day and a bad fit-especially in a shaky economy when the voices of reason all suggest that having a job, any job, is a good thing? In my many years in management and consulting, I've noted signs that it's time to move on.

1. It's not just that they don't pay you enough, it's that they couldn't ever pay you enough to make you feel good.
People who feel underpaid always think that more money will make them feel better. Sometimes it will, but sometimes it won't. And I can prove it. If your biggest complaint about your job is the salary, consider whether an amount 10 percent higher would make you happy. Then think of a number that is 20 percent higher. If a 10 to 20 percent increase would make you feel well compensated, you're in the right job-you just need to work on

Read More »from 3 Signs You're in the Wrong Job

Photo: ThinkstockBy Amber Kallor

Besides the obvious benefit of getting designer clothes on sale, the best part about these discount destinations is that you don't even have to get out of your pajamas to get in on the action:

RELATED: What to Ask Before You Buy

Newly launched this week is Clique To Know, a flash sales website dedicated to luxury brands sizes 10 and up. You'll find high-end labels that will hug your curves in all the right places at prices you can afford. Something to note: these sales last 48 hours (and items only stay in your digital cart for 10 minutes).

RELATED: 18 Wardrobe Essentials

One of New York City's best-kept shopping secrets is now available anywhere you can log on. Century 21--a department store and fashion destination for tourists and native New Yorkers alike--features a new set of designers online every Monday and Thursday at a major discount. Need a shopping alert? This site allows you to add future sales to your digital Outlook or iCal calendar with the click of

Read More »from Two New Ways to Snag Clothing Deals

By Aimee Lee Ball

Women own over 10 million businesses and employ more than 13 million people in this country, says Susan Sobbott, president of OPEN from American Express. OPEN helps women entrepreneurs through a program called Make Mine a Million $ Business. (It provides money via loans and lines of credit, as well as mentoring, marketing, and technology tools.) "Having a million-dollar mind-set includes setting a goal and being serious about it," says Sobbott. "A woman who has it can describe what she's doing succinctly and compellingly, having honed her focus so she can sell it to anyone, whether customer, creditor, or investor. Clarity of thinking is what allows you to cultivate believers who buy into your success." Sobbott's best advice:

RELATED: Who Am I Meant To Be?

1. Figure out what only you can do, then get other people to do the rest. "Women tend to be good at multitasking but have trouble delegating, probably because of their sense of accountability and desire to be

Read More »from How to Create a Million-Dollar Business