It's beauty time at Saks Fifth Avenue and the lagniappes are plentiful. From last week until October 4th (Sunday), there is a veritable make-up marketplace on the first floor of the venerable department store, with grand, gorgeous, and great goodies for all. There are gifts, makeovers, and give-aways at nearly every counter, and oodles of beauty experts roving around, not only dispensing make-up artists' insider-y tips but also ready and eager to use their painterly hands and makiage supplies to transform your visage into something glowing and glamorous.

And on top of all the fantastic, fun indulgences, if you spend $75 on make-up/beauty/skincare/fragrance, you'll get a metallic (either luscious hot pink, bronze-y-gold, or shimmery black) shoulder tote from designer Stephanie Johnson filled with tons of samples and testers--things like Frédéric Fekkai hair products; Guerlain's new Idylle fragrance (it's dee-vin).  Also from Guerlain, should you buy the Rouge G lipstick, (which we have touted), you can get your space-ship-style lipstick case engraved.  There is bath and shower gel from Molton Brown; Clinique lip gloss; Natori fragrance; and other dressing-table must-haves.

Here are a few of the happenings around the beauty counters during this time: There are give-aways (with purchase) from Bobbi Brown, Anthousa, Canyon Ranch, Chanel, Chantecaille, Dolce & Gabbana, Christian Dior, Estée Lauder, Sisley Paris, Phyto, Trish McEvoy, Yves Saint Laurent, Laura Mercier, and on and on. There are extravagant gifts and precious presents at nearly every counter. So head over to "Face Value" at Saks for the mega-watt beauty blow-out and get ready to haul home a bundle. (And for the record, you don't even have to go to Saks; you can order on line at saks.com and still get the product-filled tote, but you'll miss out on the hands-on advice from the beauty experts.)

Posted on September 29, 2009 - by