Karen the editor's page.

I've been trying to come up with a subtle way to tell you about GL's biggest news in, well, almost ever. How's this? GO TO TARGET AND BUY GL BATH AND BODY PRODUCTS! Clever? Not. OK, buy a GL manicure set, pedi set, lip gloss, body set, eye mask and bath pillow ... and I'll send you a free puppy? Hmm, maybe not that, either.

Here's the deal: Over the years, people have offered me the chance to slap GL's name on a bunch of stuff--lame books, tacky jewelry, boring hair clips, mustard (don't ask).

At every turn, I said "no way." I'd never cheese out and make a quick buck by asking readers to buy some stupid trap just because some jerks spent hours trying to convince me to do it (plus, I truly hate mustard). But then, a year ago, some cosmetic industry friends offered me the chance to pursue a dream I've had my whole life--creating a line of really cool bath stuff (I truly love great bath stuff). I'll be honest. My bathroom is more stocked with beauty stash than the first floor of your average department store. For the last three decades, I've soaked, scrubbed, smoothed and polished with just about every product known to girlkind. If I buy one more Jip gloss, my friends might stage an intervention and send me to Beautyholics Anonymous.

In short, it was a chance too good to pass up. So for a year, I've been doing the magazine by day and deciding on body scrub ingredients by night ("It should have a sugar base! No, salt! No, sugar!"). One night, I stared at 72 different bottles with 30 kinds of caps, trying to figure out which would make the perfect container for GL's body lotion ("It can't squirt out too much at once! It has to be easy to grab!"). I went to bed that night dreaming about bottles. Next came lip gloss flavors and colors (love strawberry, love peach, love berries), scents for our Best Friend lotion, body spray, scrub and glitter roll-on (kinda like a little fruit, a little frosting and a little clean smell) and Secret Crush set (smells, um, cool and comfortable, not too flowery, not too musky, just crush-worthy delicious). Follow that with a lip-shaped bath pillow (funsy!), and manicure and pedicure sets--with instructions! (Seriously, how could I be the first to think, hmm, maybe it'd help to know what to do with that stuff?) Top it all off with a use-it-hot/use-it-cold hugely relaxing eye mask. (Hello--by this point, my eyeballs were puffy and I was totally stressed. I needed it, people!)

Now, my dream of the perfect bath and beauty line is a reality waiting for you at Target. I worship Target, and I almost peed my pants when they said they wanted to be the exclusive retailer for GL! So please, please, please, when you are done reading this issue, dash to the bath aisle at Target to check it out. Because I really, really want to go back to dreaming about Orlando Bloom. Thank you.

Karen

Want to know a secret?

Our super-cool Web site has a new secret GL Online Area!

Log on now to girlslife.com/ secretcode.php to get special quizzes and contests, just for girls who buy GL! When you log on, enter the December/January password: GLGIRL. We'll be giving you a new password in every issue. Enjoy the secret bonus stuff!