Drugstore Delights: Neutrogena Healthy Defense spf 45

I'm a sunscreen junkie; I've tried everything from very low end products (yes, the dollar store included!) to high end sunscreens available only from "fancy" pharmacies like Zitomer or overseas. One of the nicest cheap products I've encountered in my sunscreen travels is this one from Neutrogena.

The Healthy Defense spf 45 is everything a daily sunscreen should be: high in spf, stable, lightweight, and non-irritating. I've been able to wear this under makeup, over serums, and on a daily basis without the white cast or sticky feeling that I sometimes encounter with other products.

Helioplex, a trademarked Neutrogena invention, purportedly makes these lotions as long-lasting as those with Meroxyl. I actually think Healthy Defense is a bit better than the La Roche Posay Anthelios products now available in this country, particularly the one with high spf (white cast). The HD lotion really can be for daily wear.

Neutrogena is as ubiquitous a beauty company as Pantene or Cover Girl, so you shouldn't have any problem finding this product near you. I paid just under $10 for a tube and expect it will last somewhere in the neighborhood of a month with daily use on my face, neck, and hands. Well worth a trip to your local Walgreen's or CVS drugstore!

Natural Wonders: Burt's Bees Tinted Lip Balm

On a whim today at Walgreen's, I picked up three tubes of Burt's Bees tinted lip balm. Glad I did-- the texture is *much* improved from the previous product!

The balms are still very minty and in a slim tube-- both of which I appreciated before-- but the texture has now been changed to something approximating their pomegranate lip balm. It's thinner, but still pigmented. The earlier product was thick to the point of opacity-- often in a way that made it very difficult to select a flattering color.

Definitely worth trying, especially if you like natural products as I do: I paid less than $4.00 for all three!

Wardrobe Matters: The Scarf

Recently I finished a month in a sling: a month in which I developed a great fondness for scarves, particularly since they helped me feel comfortable and seemed to hide the "I'm injured" look in a fashionable way.

One brand that I haven't indulged in yet, but may, is Love Quotes. Although these scarves are pricey at around $80, I do like the colors available and the soft, large size. These are also especially lightweight, something I haven't necessarily found to be true for other brands.

The scarf pictured at left is Love Quotes-- see how it drapes nicely? I'd expect this scarf to be something you could wear frequently-- and comfortably.

My favorite low-cost source for scarves this year has been Old Navy. The scarves I've found there have a nicely finished edge (unlike some others, a danger in a house with three curious felines). I've worn a black one quite a bit this spring, but several nice prints, including a big floral, are now available at the Old Navy web site.

Bargain Shopping: Online Sample Sales

Did anyone else miss out on the chance to buy discounted Christian Louboutin shoes? The web site gilt.com had them available today, at a pretty significant discount. I haven't had much luck in scoring great deals online-- either I'm working (at the start time of noon for many of these sales) or what's left really isn't for me. (I was actually hoping for a pair of Louboutin flats rather than heels-- my husband is shorter than me and wearing anything much of a heel makes me personally uncomfortable.)

Last summer, I did manage to buy a beautiful Hayden-Harnett Pallenberg satchel from the July sale. It's a sensible black-- rather than the gorgeous mustard I'd been lusting after-- but it still looks great after daily use. Hayden-Harnett really isn't in my current budget, so a steep discount was a definite treat.

I'd love to find something great at a site like Yoox, but I feel overwhelmed. It's tough to pick a great piece when your budget also needs to be a part of the equation.

Wardrobe Building: The T-Shirt

I wear t-shirts nearly every day; if you count sleep wear and workout wear, I wear a t-shirt probably very close to every day. My business casual workplace also allows for t-shirts, so solid colors are a staple of my wardrobe.

Additionally, I'm *oldish* tall at about 5'9", so I find t-shirts useful for pants that are low rise (again, nearly all of them by today's fashion standards). I can wear two, one tucked in, and enjoy the second pop of color while being appropriately covered up.

The problem I have is justifying price. When is a higher end t-shirt worth buying? I've never seen Petit Bateau, James Perse, C&C California, or any one of another zillion higher end brands in Marshall's or TJ Maxx (Macy's is as fancy as department stores get around here). While I like the softness of J Crew t-shirts, I had a summer weight one go bad (overly stretched, faded oddly) in less than one season, so I'm currently refusing to buy anything I can easily duplicate at Target or Old Navy.

My issue with shopping for low end basics is that there's no predicting what will last and what won't (I know sizing can be the same way). I had a mid weight boat neck t-shirt from Old Navy in forest green that I'd guess I wore probably close to 200 times (it was one of the few things I owned in this color and I needed to wear green for work). The shirt held up beautifully; I've also had other shirts "die" in the same way as the J Crew model I mentioned above.

Since I can't seem to resolve this dilemma, I just picked up four short sleeve shirts for the warm weather season here (red, deep purple, brown, deep blue). Each was $6 at Target. If they wear out before the summer ends-- no real money lost-- and the deeper colors suit my personality more than the pastels that seem to hit the stores come Mother's Day.

Shopping the Fragrance Counter

(Feodor Vasilyev. Before a Thunderstorm. 1868)

Since it's spring (finally!) I've been paying more attention to the fragrance articles in the nine zillion magazines I get at home and stopping by a store's fragrance counter whenever I get the chance. Why? Mostly because I'm wearing only Angel for the most part, which my husband adores but I consider to be an almost "angry" scent. I can't imagine that Angel's going to be wearable in the (albeit short) humid, hot summer we tend to get here.

Have I had success? Sort of. I think that patchouli is the odd note that my husband likes in Angel-- it's also a fragrance that has about a zillion different notes. I sampled Angel Innocent yesterday after reading that it was "Angel lite". No sale for me-- the two scents were pretty much indistinguishable both on my wrists and on the scent card I used.

I do really like the Prada Infusion d'Iris, but it hasn't ever gotten any compliments from my husband (although a stylish coworker, a female, always notices when I wear it). The Prada is great in warm weather, so maybe I'll just get another small bottle of that-- I actually used up a whole one last year, which is a true compliment for a fragrance when you really think about it.

At Sephora (where I really was shopping for sunscreen/spf lotion, more on that later), I bought a gift set of Fresh Cannabis Rose, more because it seemed a bit "Angelish" to me on my skin and because it was on sale. Maybe the name puts people off-- but at $30, I couldn't pass up a small bottle of edt, shower gel, and body creme. I'm going to try wearing it regularly and see what happens. For the affordable price I paid, it'll be an interesting experiment.

April Fool's! (Or, What Makes Me Look Like a Fool)

Happy April Fool's Day!

While I really do adore makeup/beauty products, some things should probably be on a "forever don't" list for me. I can't seem to get the hang of these items, no matter how much I vary brands or my application technique.

1. Bronzer. Yes, I know that it warms up the skin, which theoretically should work well on yellow-olive me. No matter how many times I try, however, I absolutely can't make it work on it's own-- the best I can do is add it under a bright blush to create something more natural looking. (Which, in my opinion, defeats the purpose of bronzer in the first place) If someone could explain to me why this is, I'd appreciate knowing: I've sampled everything from Smashbox to Bobbi Brown to MAC, and everything seems to scream "dirty face" when I wear it.

2. Bright Eye Shadow. Unfortunate, as I think Urban Decay is one of the most interesting brands to peruse. There's an Absinthe shadow in the box that came out during the holidays that is probably the single most unique shadow shade I've ever seen. I've got good brushes and pretty good blending technique, I think, but between my forty year old eyes and my glasses, bright eye shadow just screams "Mimi" from The Drew Carey Show to me.

3. Floral Perfumes. Again, unfortunate, as I love to sample scents. Most floral perfumes vanish on me-- I need kind of "angry" scents for them to have any real staying power (or "sillage" to use the fancy term). I'd love to find a lightweight, daytime floral that works with my skin chemistry.

4. Red Lipstick. Age related? Maybe, but I shun lip pencils (perenially dry lips) and a lot of great MAC colors (Russian Red) are simply too drying for me. Fortunately, I can wear a stain-- Chanel's Rouge Allures are a good compromise for me here.

5. Nail Polish. This one's habit/job related-- I need to keep really short nails and I often use small hand tools at my job-- which leads to chipped polish. I actually own only one bottle of polish, an OPI clear that I use for special occasions and in the summer when I wear sandals regularly. I had a manicure once as a gift and I actually didn't enjoy it (no idea why), so I guess that's okay in the end.

What's on your don't list?