My New Discovery: Olly Skincare

 I found another drugstore skincare brand with good, clean ingredients thanks to my dermatologist. My mother and I have our skin cancer screenings every year; it's a treatable disease when caught early. May is skin cancer awareness month, so we’re a tad late this year in getting our exams.

The office gave away 3-ounce samples of Olly Renew Mood + Skin Body Wash. We took one each (because I didn’t want to share mine :). It was so mild and moisturizing I decided to try the brand’s body lotion. Another winner. This is a brand I’ll put on my radar. 

Choice galore is a consumer’s best friend for scoring drugstore deals! You have more than one good brand you could buy depending on sales to save a few bucks! 

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Other brand products to snatch up when they go on sale at the drugstore include: 1) The Ordinary (for actives); 2) Vanicream (for gentle, clean barrier care); 3) Nivea (in the blue tin for rich overnight sealing on dry patches); 4) Olay Regenerist Microsculting Cream (for its moisturing + anti-aging properties; and 5) Ponds Cold Cream (for simultaneously cleansing and moiturizing). These 5 products are as good as, and sometimes better than, marked-up luxury brands, and, on a budget, they can work as your entire skincare routine. They contain effective ingredients backed by science without extra skin irritants.

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Two other giveaway brands I also liked and have previously blogged about are: Aveeno Skin Relief Healing Ointment and Neutrogena Hydro Boost -- the sample of the Neutrogena product was new, namely its Hydro Boost Water Face Cream.

Perhaps my dermatologist was cleaning out her office of samples manufacturers send to her, and I would think if not dermatologist-approved, she wouldn’t give them away to her patients.

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Macy’s Perfume Samples

Regular readers of THE SAVVY SHOPPER know Macy’s is my favorite New York department store bar none. Once in a while Macy’s loves me back by sending me a small box of free perfume samples. The offer is open to anyone and everyone who sees it on Macy’s website and at times on Facebook. A small box of 6 samples arrived today! Below, I listed those 6 fragrances in the order of my most to least favorite scents:

1) John Varatos XX Elixir - Formulated for men, but both men and women can wear it, as it's not a musk, but just a fresh clean smell of bergamot, red ginger, davana and violet leaf essence mixed with rum, Damascus rose. black iris and geranim. There are notes of tonka bean, cistus labdanum, cedarwood, and latigo leather. It is my absolute favorite scent in the box!

2) Prada Paradidme - Ambery woods entwine with Bourbon, geranium, and Calabrian bergamot. I smell a hint of lemon, yet don’t see it listed as an ingredient. Lovely and clean smelling.

3) Dolce & Gabbana My Devotion - A pear blossom, blackcurrant, peony and vanilla blend.

4) Dolce & Gabbana Dovotion Pour Homme Parfum - A lavender, coffee, and woody-amber blend.

5) Gucci Flora Gorgeous Gardenia - Mandarin with gardenia, hedione, and sandalwood essence.

6) Narciso Rodriguez For Her Eau de Toilette spray - Notes of osmanthus, African orange flower, Bergamot, amber, musk, vanilla and vetiver. There is one note in this scent that I dislike but don’t know which ingredient it is. It reminds me of unpleasent much cheaper drugstore perfumes and it stands out.

My senior mom tested the perfume samples with me. She said she liked them. None of the 6 fragrances overwhelmed us, yet lingered for hours, and except for #6, lean towards clean scents over strong perfumes. #6 has that one unidentified note not to my liking. 

Perfumes can smell differently on different people. Before buying a fragrance, spray it on, walk around the store and wait to see how it will interact with your body’s chemistry.

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