Blog Posts by Allure Daily Beauty Reporter

Did 2009 end with you a few pounds heavier-and with an expired (and hardly used) gym membership? Did you make a New Year's resolution that you'll join again and actually go? Since diet and fitness are on everyone's mind this time of year, every Wednesday in January, we'll be bringing you special guest bloggers: experts in nutrition, diet, and fitness.

Today, Laurie Cole, a senior master instructor at cycling studio Soul Cycle in New York City, explains ways to increase the odds you'll meet your fitness goals.

Often, when January 1 hits, people immediately join a gym and set unrealistic goals for themselves. Here's how to choose better, most effective ways to get back into exercising.

6 Small Changes for Easier Weight Loss

• Get specific. How much weight do you want to lose? Do you want to become more flexible? Get in better shape? Showing up at the gym or a class is not enough. You need to know what you want to get out of it.
• If you join a fitness group (like a yoga

We recently overheard a hilarious-and thought-provoking-conversation among some of our friends. The topic? Whether they'd let a friend borrow their deodorant. The debate was split: some said they'd absolutely help out a girl in need, while others said no-freaking-way. We called up Jeannette Graf, a dermatologist in New York City, to find out the medical POV. The general upshot is that sharing cosmetics is a little skeevy: "Skin is not a sterile organ; we carry germs on it, and you just don't know what one person is carrying," she says.

Basic Rules for Tossing Makeup.

The worst stuff to share? "Mascara," says Graf. "Because you can easily spread conjunctivitis." Stuff like lipgloss, makeup brushes, and roll-on deodorant are also not so hot, but you can take precautions with them. Wipe off the gloss with a tissue or make your friend use a Q-tip to apply it. For makeup brushes, spray them with an antibacterial brush cleaner. (We like Bodyography Pro The Brush Off Anti-Bacterial Makeup

Did you put on pounds over the holidays? Or make a New Year's resolution to get fit? Since diet and fitness are on everyone's mind this time of year, every Wednesday in January, we'll be bringing you special guest bloggers: experts in nutrition, diet, and fitness.

Today, Stephen Gullo, New York City weight-loss expert, author of The Thin Commandments (Rodale), and weight control specialist forAllure's Total Makeover program, explains how a few small changes to your everyday habits can help you ease into a successful weight loss plan.

The problem with dieting is that it teaches people what to do to lose weight, not how to live once they've lost it. I talk about making permanent changes in behavior to keep the weight off for the decades to come.

The 5 Latest Celebrity Diets You Won't Believe

1. Eliminate a single food. Dessert, the bread basket, salad dressing-they're are all good, easy choices. Or you can switch from eating meat or chicken to seafood. There was a study

Jersey Shore's pint-size vet tech Snooki is under fire for telling Jay Leno that she'd like to put a tanning bed in everyone's home. While it boggles our mind that tanning beds are still so widely used considering the statistic that you're 75 percent more likely to get skin cancer if you use one before the age of 30, we found it hard to be offended by what was clearly a get-a-laugh remark made by someone without much influence. (No offense, Snooks.) This is, after all, a show comprised of 60 weekly minutes of things we'd never do. ("The Poof" and that whole backflip-in-a-minidress-and-thong business come to mind.)

The sad truth is that, despite reports of burns, tanning beds catching fire, skin damage, and skin cancer stats, tanning beds are still popular. And Jersey Shore didn't make that happen. The show has, however, given us an opportunity to remind people why tanning beds suck. So let's lay off Snooki and stock up on Jergen's Natural Glow.

Allure's Top Picks for the Best 5

It's everyone's dream: to be able to recreate a salon-perfect blowout at home. It's part skill-and part knowing which are the best tools and products. These are our secret weapons:

"I usually let my wavy hair air-dry, so when I do straighten it, I don't want to do a lot of work-so I love Fekkai Coiff Controle Ironless Straightening Balm. I towel-dry my hair, finger-comb it, then run the balm through it and blow-dry without a brush. It's amazing how well it alone works to smooth out my waves." -Amy Keller Laird, beauty director

"I have fine hair that's color-treated, so my challenge is to create volume while also smoothing, because the coloring makes my hair slightly frizzy. I've found that a large round brush with a mix of boar and nylon bristles does both. The natural bristles help smooth the cuticle, while the nylon ones grip the hair so you can achieve good tension, which is key when you want more body. I like the Goody Mosaic So Smooth Ceramic Boar

It may be hard for most of us to believe this time of year, but it is warm in other parts of the world. Take Australia, for example, where a U.S. Marine seems to have offended a lot of people with a letter to a local newspaper complaining about the skimpy clothing he saw women wearing out at night.

Captain John Campbell sparked controversy with admonishments such as: "It's about having standards, ladies," and "What are standards? Well, it can begin by dressing in a manner that leaves something to the imagination, to say the least."

17 Bad Skin Habits to Break

The newspaper and the U.S. Consulate have not, incidentally, been able to find a U.S. Marine serving by this name in Australia. But with angry responses to the letter-like "Put it where the sun doesn't shine"-we had to ask what you think. It it anybody's business how much skin a woman shows? Or is public exhibitionism kind of out of control these days?

More from Allure:

• 7 Makeup Trends to Leave Behind in 2009
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Did you put on pounds over the holidays? Or make a New Year's resolution to get fit? Since diet and fitness are on everyone's mind this time of year, every Wednesday in January, we'll be bringing you special guest bloggers: experts in nutrition, diet, and fitness.

Today, Jana Klauer, an internist and author of The Park Avenue Nutritionist's Plan (St. Martin's Press), explains one unbelievably simple way to increase the odds you'll meet your diet goals: self-hypnosis.

Often excess weight and negative body image go hand in hand. Hypnosis brings together the visualization of a slender body and the importance of setting a healthy goal. Here's how to do it on your own.

• Sit or lie somewhere quiet and peaceful. Turn off your Blackberry and the ringer on your telephone.
• Take a deep breath, hold it for a few seconds, and then exhale. Repeat twice, each time relaxing more deeply and allowing stress to leave your body. Tell yourself, "I am in a safe place of peace and relaxation. My

While giving and receiving gifts during the holidays is the fun part, we're bound to receive (graciously, of course) a couple gifts that don't work. Rather than letting them collect dust at the bottom of your closet, here's how to return-and re-gift the ones that were not on your wish list. We asked Jaye Hersh, owner of the Hollywood boutique Intuition whose clients include Lindsay Lohan and Jessica Simpson.

Consider the source. If you anticipate that you might not want to hold on to something, keep the original packaging as intact as possible. Take care when opening the gift so it's easy to reassemble later. For instance, if there's tissue that's closed with a sticker, slide the item out without tearing the seal.

Related: How to Give a Personal Gift

Make the most of it. If you're taking something back to a store, do it quickly-things get marked down fast. The best time for making returns is first thing in the morning, when the sales staff is fresh. It really helps to be