THE SAVVY SHOPPER: skin

Showing posts with label skin. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 13, 2026

Bistex Launches New Intense Lip Moisturizers With Color

Blixtex is no longer just a pot of petroleum jelly. Its lip moisture line now includes lip color and lip liner, 2 worthy additions. They contain ceramides to repair the skin barrier and vitamin E to smooth dry lips -- the claim is for 24 hours of all-day moisture. Although I think Blistex makes superior lip moisturizing products, I've never used any brand that moisturizes lips (or skin) for 24 hours without reapplying it throughout the day. I suspect the same is true here. But ceramides do the most to moisturize the skin and last longer than other ingredients.

Products less moisturizing than Bistex include ChapStick and Burt’s Bees, which can be stiff and waxy instead of treating and melting into your dry lips. Maybelline’s Baby Lips melts into your lips without really treating or smoothing the dryness, and its degrees of pink hues bleed. That said, I'd use these 3 lip moisturizers over using nothing at all in winter.

Another excellent product to treat winter dry lips is a tried-and-true jar of petroleum jelly. It's super cheap and lasts forever. I wouldn’t spend the money on the minuscule jars of Vaseline colored petroleum jelly. The tiny pots cost more per oz than a 13 oz size that will last for years, and I’d rather carry a cylinder lip balm in a purse than a tiny jar of Vaseline. To boot, the pink color has no staying power.

The Blixtex lip colors let you moisturize your lips without having to apply lipstick under petroleum jelly, which smears. So if you must look polished on the job, Blixtex’s lip color moisturizers might be the answer to add a little lip definition as you moisturize your lips.

Monday, August 25, 2025

5 Body Lotions Similar To EOS

Click to enlarge.

EOS (Evolution of Smooth) lotions claim to add 24 hours of moisture to your skin. Users like its lightweight, non-greasy formula and pleasant scents. The Cashmere Vanilla scent is especially popular. Surprisingly, only Target has a bonafide dupe of it, but there are a number of drugstore moisturizes that offer very similar benefits like moisturizing and norising your skin for 24 hours. With such a claim, at least we know the body lotion will have a rich consistency. I’m going to introduce you to more than 5 choices to consider, including a link to a previous blog (#5) listing a ton of moisturizers costing less.

Here we go!

1) Up & Up Everyday Moisturizing Body Lotion (Target’s house brand) - 20 oz. Vanilla and White Jasmine + other scents. Cost: $5.49

2) Nivea Soft: 6.8 oz. A classic moisturizing lotion with a creamy texture and a subtle floral scent.

3) Jergens Shea Fusion Vanilla Crush Lotion with Shea Butter and Vitamin E, 14 oz. Like the others on the list, it has deep moisturizing properties to nourish very dry or sensitive skin.

4) Malibu Hemp Ultra Healing Body Moisturizer For Dry Skin, 18 oz. Aloe Vera and Hemp Seed Oil are main ingredients.

5) My previous blog on Equate dupe moisturizers (Walmart’s house brand) which of course means the original brands are also super moisturizing.

With choice galore you can watch for sales to get rich moisturizers for less per ounce. Watch for drugstores' 2 for 1 deals. No longer are you restricted to buying one brand when it isn’t on sale. Consider another brand! Dupes and some alternatives come in larger sizes of 18 oz - 20 oz to last longer saving you more money.

Monday, January 2, 2023

Noxema + Extra Virgin Olive Oil Moisturizer

Let me start by saying I'm sharing my personal experience, but I'm not a dermatologist. Recently away from home and in a pinch, I went against a 2012 study claiming olive oil is not a good moisturizer. The study focused on treating eczema, (which I don't have) and explored using plant oils as emollients to improve the skin barrier and thus, soften and improve the skin.

The study noted that olive oil has low linoleic acid and high oleic acid ratios and concluded: oils with high linoleic acid and low oleic acid ratios moisturize and protect the skin.

The research also said, olive oil has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant benefits, plus promotes wound healing, but it could also "cause a reduction in the integrity of the outer layer of the skin, called the stratum corneum." For sure a vague part 2 of its findings! What I, a non-dermatologist, think it boils down to is ... olive oil lacks enough ceramides (a family of waxy lipids. Ceramide 1 contains linoleic acid) to sink into the outer layer of the skin -- which isn't a problem if your skin is already damp from a shower plus you add a thin cream like Noxema. (Noxema has linoleic acid.) Certainly, as a sealing layer, olive oil seems to work well by locking in moisture to keep the skin from drying.

To be clear: I find that after stepping out of the shower, slattering on Noxema skin cream (another making due concession) followed by one tablespoon of olive oil keeps my arms and legs conditioned. After removing my leggings at night the skin is like summer legs! No flaking!!

In fact (for me), extra virgin olive oil paired with Noxema is working much better to stop dry skin than the plant oils recommended by the study (that I normally use at home) including jojoba oil, coconut oil, almond oil, argan oil, and rosehip oil.

Olive oil is often an ingredient in moisturizers. Both olive oil and Noxema are cheap!

Scientifically I don't know why olive oil is working better, but one reason could be because it is slightly thicker (i.e., richer) than the other pricier cited plant oils. Now I'd love for scientists to find out why by researching the use of olive oil as an after-bath oil. As a consumer, I desire the most cost-effective after-bath oil that works when used properly, perhaps always pairing it with a lotion containing a high linoleic acid ratio we already stock. One-stop shopping is ideal! Is there any reason to buy more expensive plant oils? How about taking this up, Doctorly on YouTube?

Do you, lovely readers, have a go-to-after-bath oil to fight dry winter skin?

Thursday, August 30, 2018

Laneige Water Sleeping Mask

At the end of summer and during the dry winter months, skin takes a beating from the sun, wind and cold. It needs some tender loving care. Beauty editors are raving about Laneige Water Sleeping Mask, comparing it to 2 expensive luxe cousins, La Prairie Skin Cavier Luxe Sleep Mask and Valmont Moisturizing with a Mask. Yet Laneige costs much less ... $25 vs $350.

Laniege Water Sleeping Mask is good for all skin types, from oily to dry and sensitive. A gel, it has patented (what it calls) "Sleep-Tox™" ingredients such as antioxidant-rich Hunza Apricot and Evening Primrose, plus "Moisture Wrap™" technology -- which are 6 moisture rich minerals formulated to calm, hydrate and rejuvenate the skin overnight.

Apply it as a last step over your face serums before bed.

Customers and beauty editors alike give this skin care gel top marks for its moisturizing and rejuvenating properties. Not only does it add moisture back to the skin, it softens lines because dry skin looks old. A hydrated face looks and feels its best, appearing supple and younger.

THE SAVVY SHOPPER