Questions, help please =D

I bought some merchant resource stuff cuz Erik's been bugging me to try and make my own stuff...anyway..I was wondering if you guys could point me in the direction of a few products that are really good? I am finding out the hard way to read very carefully what things say they are =\ Also any tips on recoloring skin textures in PS? I tried and tried and just got frustrated. I want to make a medium tanned looking skin a bit lighter than Halle Berry's skin tone...if that makes sense? I dropped about $75 already and I've asked for $200 in "start up" money from Erik but I don't want to waste my time because I don't know any better.

So what's good and what the hell should I just pass on?