Cosmetics

Not sure if you're simply a passionate cosmetics lover or a hoarder who needs help? Here are some signs that you may be a hoarder, courtesy of Dr. Ranae Reinardy and Dorothy Breininger: • There are negative consequences associated with your behavior — physical, safety or financial. •You want to stop hoarding cosmetics but can't. •You start losing livable space in your home because of your beauty products. •Heavy layers of dust build up on all of your beauty supplies.

Are there multiple shampoos in your shower caddy? Old face creams gathering dust in your cabinet? Have you been accused of having a bathroom that looks like a Sephora store? Most important, does any of this make you a "cosmoholic"? Yes, there is such a thing as "too much," and it's a fine line between the mildly messy makeup lover and someone psychologically addicted to beauty products. Organizing pro Linda Koopersmith, author of "The Beverly Hills Organizer's Home Organizing Bible: A Pro's Answers to Your Organizing Prayers," has tackled bathroom and cosmetic organizing projects for more than 20 years and run into some serious hoarders.

Drug store and department store makeup counters are full of cosmetics that contain sunscreen. But women who start their makeup ritual with a layer of pure sunscreen don't really need the extra amounts included in other cosmetics. In fact, some skin experts believe the layering of plain sunscreen, sunscreen-infused moisturizers, or sunscreen-enhanced foundations compromises total sun protection. "These products are an automatic protection for women who would otherwise not wear any," says Dr.

Struggling cosmetic firm Avon Products Inc. is cutting more than 400 jobs and leaving Ireland as it continues efforts to slim down amid profit plunges and other troubles. Avon said the job cuts, which account for about 1% of its global workforce, will be “spread across all regions and functions.” The New York firm also said Monday it's restructuring or closing operations in some "smaller, underperforming markets" in the Middle East, Africa and Europe. “We continue to work aggressively toward turning around the business,” Avon Chief Executive Officer Sheri McCoy said in a statement.

Beauty 21 Cosmetics Inc. will move its headquarters to Ontario with the $15-million purchase of a warehouse and office facility. The company, founded in 1985 in Rancho Cucamonga, makes the L.A. Girl line of cosmetics that are sold in retail stores and online. Products include liquid makeup, blush, eye shadow, nail polish and body glitter. Beauty 21 Cosmetics bought the 231,000-square-foot distribution center at 2021 S. Archibald Ave. from a partnership between CT Realty Investors and Behringer Harvard, brokerage Jones Lang LaSalle said.

Jason Wu X Lancome:  Fresh off his repeat performance as inaugural ball gown designer in chief, Jason Wu has struck a deal with the Lancome cosmetics brand to collaborate on a line of makeup. Friday morning's announcement by Lancome Paris provided little information about the limited-edition Jason Wu for Lancome collection -- except that it is slated to hit stores in September 2013. Survivor bra:  Breast cancer survivor Debbie Barrett and her daughter, Allana Maiden, have created an online petition asking lingerie label Victoria's Secret to create a line of mastectomy bras to help breast cancer survivors feel beautiful again.

There'll be no lipstick-sharing - yet - between Rimmel owner Coty Inc. and Avon Products Inc. after Avon rejected Coty's $10 billion cash bid Monday. Coty's attempt to buy Avon at $23.25 a share (a 20% premium over the Friday closing price) was both public and unsolicited. In a snippy note on its website, Avon said the offer “is opportunistic and not in the best interest of Avon's shareholders.” Coty had also made another, private overture less than two weeks earlier “that was substantially the same,” according to the note.

Eight years after getting out of cosmetics business, Sears is jumping back in, banking that the high-margin sector can give the retailer a much-needed profit boost. The flagship brand of Sears Holdings Corp. is opening full-service beauty counters at 13 Sears stores in Chicago, Los Angeles and New York this week. The goal is to roll out the beauty business to 100 locations next year and, if all goes well, expand to as many as 400 of its 852 Sears department stores by 2012, said Andrea Goldner, Sears' merchandise manager for cosmetics.

Does life for working women in late 20th-Century America reduce to nothing more than a tube of mascara, a smear of blusher, a smile from freshly painted lips? For Teresa Fischette, the philosophical implications of cosmetic embellishment have never been a concern--not even when she was fired from her job as a Continental Airlines ticket agent for failing to uphold the company's new 45-page appearance code by refusing to wear makeup. "You're fine the way you are," said Fischette, 38.