If you spend a lot of time in the beauty blogosphere, you've probably heard inklings about a new concept: <strong>members-only online</strong> <strong>beauty sales</strong>. (Not to be confused, <a href="http://iheartbeauty-katherine.blogspot.com/2009/09/who-is-fairest.html" target="_blank">as I Heart Beauty's Katherine pointed out</a>, with the magazine beauty sale, which is a nightmare of epic proportions. As any beauty staffer will attest, offering up Dior and Chanel makeup at $1 apiece—with proceeds going to charity—seems to bring out the worst in humankind.)

Private sales have existed for a while now in fashion (<a href="http://www.ruelala.com/" target="_blank">RueLaLa</a> and <a href="http://www.glamlist.com/" target="_blank">GlamList</a> are two examples) but not in beauty—until now. Just launched last week, <a href="http://www.thefairest.com/DefaultT1.aspx" target="_blank">The Fairest</a> hosts 24 to 48-hour-long sales featuring brands like Jurlique, Tarte and Butter London at up to 75 percent off. Although they don't currently ship outside of the U.S., <a href="http://www.temptalia.com/the-fairest-private-sample-sale-launches" target="_blank">my sources tell me</a> they should be offering this service very soon. In the meantime, check out <a href="http://blog.thefairest.com/" target="_blank">Who's the Fairest?</a>, the site's daily beauty blog (headed up by beauty blogger extraordinaire <a href="http://jolienadine.com/index.html" target="_blank">Nadine Jolie</a>).

<a href="http://beautyeditor.ca/wp-content/uploads/theskinny.jpg"><img class="alignright size-medium wp-image-3184" title="theskinny" src="http://beautyeditor.ca/wp-content/uploads/theskinny-300x228.jpg" alt="theskinny" width="300" height="228" /></a><a href="http://shoptheskinny.com/" target="_blank">The Skinny</a> is another new site, set to launch in October. Their angle is all about skin: they'll be offering  up to 75 percent off on skincare brands like Perricone MD, Lisa Hoffman Beauty, 100% Pure, International Orange, Dermaquest and Organic Apoteke. They'll give you advice on picking the right products, too, with educational videos and personalized recommendations. Like The Fairest, The Skinny doesn't ship to Canada—YET. (But it's definitely in their short-term plans to start doing so.) Until then, you can still <a href="http://shoptheskinny.com/" target="_blank">sign up</a> for the chance to win some amazing product giveaways (which Canadians are absolutely eligible to win!) and of course, get access to their educational videos.