Top 6 Budget Anti-aging Skin Care Brands For Mature Skin

Although it's never too early or too late to take care of your skin, you probably think more about doing so as you mature, let’s say after you hit 40. But as I always say, what good is skincare with efficacy if it's too expensive to use every day? Luckily there are several budget brands dermatologists recommend based on science with effective ingredients that are also affordable and widely available at drugstores, Walmart and Target. Some affordable drugstore brands have more effective ingredients such as retinoids, hyaluronic acid, antioxidants like vitamin C, and optimal delivery systems than higher priced products because they were developed by dermatologists!

6 Top Dermatologists Recommended Budget Brands are:

CeraVe

Its Daily Moisturizing Lotion was a top pick in testing for instantly smoothing dry skin and fast absorption. Moisturizing your skin makes you look years younger instantly! CeraVe’s many formulas contain ceramides and hyaluronic acid to repair the skin barrier and lock in moisture, which is vital for aging skin. Its cleansers for sensitive skin rank high with skin doctors.

La Roche-Posay

Known for its testing and evidence-based results on sensitive, dry and acne-prone skin, this brand tops leading dermatologists' lists. Its Lipikar Balm AP+M Triple Repair Moisturizing Cream is a top choice for sensitive skin. Its Redermic R Retinol Cream forcefully targets aging.

Neutrogena

A top affordable brand hailed by dermatologists for its retinol creams and serums at lower costs, Neutrogena's wide range of products target all skin types and have a long history of clinical efficacy.

Gold Bond

The Gold Bond the Retinol Overnight Body & Face Lotion is a top-rated drugstore brand for both -- you guested it -- the body and face. It contains retinol to help tighten and lift skin for a more youthful appearance by treating fine lines and wrinkles. Shea butter and coconut butter hydrates the skin for 24 hours.

No7

The Protect & Perfect Intense Advanced Face Cream is cited as an effective anti-aging moisturizer that includes hyaluronic acid and collagen peptide technology to help erase fine lines and wrinkles.

Cetaphil

Very effective on dry and sensitive skin, it contains niacinamide (vitamin B3), panthenol (pro-vitamin B5), vitamin E, glycerin, and hyaluronic acid. Some formulas have added almond oil and ceramides.

If you know which budget brands are favored by dermatologists because they really work, you’ll have the knowledge and flexibility to save some major moola when one of them goes on sale. When discounted buy 1 + 1!

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The Best Sizes of Food Containers

Bormioli Rocco Quattro Stagioni Glass Milk Bottle 33.75 Ounce/1 Liter with Airtight Lid

In recent years I’ve become super orgainized. I tend to buy larger sizes of foods you might consider staples such as 4 lbs - 5 lbs of flour, sugar, dried legumes and sometimes pasta. I dislike having a job before starting a job, so having a little extra in storage containers means I can decide to make bean, lentil or pea soup without having to go to the supermarket. The same with baking, I never lack the flour or sugar to make pizza dough or a coffee cake if I get a craving or a visitor.

The 3 most useful shapes and sizes of food storage containers that fit most compactly into a pantry, refrigerator or freezer may surprise you!

1) 1 liter sized glass milk bottles - I discovered Bormili Rocco Quattro Stagioni Glass Milk Bottles with airtight lids at T.J. Maxx. Initionally, I only used them to store milk, eggnog, juice, Kombucha, i.e., liquids. But the mouth is wide enough for dried beans, peas, lentils and many pastas, and they take up less space than 32 oz canning jars, which are another great type of food storage containers. Had I considered compactness though, I’d have bought more of these than canning jars. The milk bottles are more versatile and can be lined up side by side inside a cupboard. 

2) Large (about 1 gallon) rectangle storage containers - They fit enough potato salad, cole slaw, guacamole or slices of an entire coffee cake to feed a family, but take up less room in your refrigerator or freezer than round or oval shaped contrainers. You could invest in glass or hardy plastic, but the takealong lighter plastic ones hold up surprisingly well for less moola.

3) Half cup Rubbermaid containers - When I got 8 of these as part of a set I thought it was a ripoff, but you’d be amazed at how many times they are the right size for condiments or leftovers. They also stack and snap together which is a useful space-saving function.

After I pack leftovers from a home cooked meal, I always think one day someone will design a more storeage efficient refrigerator! I notice flatter rectangles that hold a good portion of food fit better inside a refrigerator than round containers. When you get the black bottom containers or the plastic round ones for free with other food you buy, reuse them as they’re great for leftover soup or beef stew. 

Today I’d always aim to get shallow rectangle-shaped containers as the best space-savers for storage. You can stack them up!

Like-foods organized in (too thin for shoes but just right for a freezer) plastic shoe boxes bought at Walmart

If you’d like to add other space-saving-tips or brands for storing food in a cupboard, pantry, refrigerator or freezer, please comment.

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The Cambridge Sapphire Parure

In 1934 when Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark, granddaughter of George I of Greece and great granddaughter of Tsar Alexander II of Russia married Prince George of Kent, the 4th son of George V and Queen Mary of the United Kingdom, her mother-in-law gave her the beautiful Cambridge Sapphire Parure, a family heirloom that was made for Queen Mary's grandmother, Princess Augusta, Duchess of Cambridge, who left the jewels to her daughter, Grand Duchess Augusta of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Queen Mary’s aunt. In 1916, the aunt willed her sapphire parsue to her favorite niece, Queen Mary, who presented the set to her new daughter-in-law.

The tiara could also be worn as a necklace.

A parure is a set of jewelry that is meant to be worn together. Princess Marina received a tiara, a necklace, 2 bracelets, 2 brooches, earrings, and a corsage jewel. I’ve combed the internet for photos to show the jewelry, most of the images were taken in black and white or later in life as Princess Marina wore her Cambridge Sapphire Parure for decades to carnations and state dinners.

When Princess Marina died in 1968 she left the Cambridge Sapphire Parure to her daughter-in-law, Katharine, the new Duchess of Kent, who in 1961 had married Prince Edward, Marina’s eldest son.

Unfortunately as time passed, the Kents couldn’t afford to keep the parure in tact. Some of its stones were sold and eventually all of its pieces disappeared from public view, presumed auctioned and bought by private collectors. It’s sad to see these historic pieces broken up and not end up in a museum. 

₊˚💎𖥔 ݁ ˖ ✦  ‧₊˚ 💠 𖥔 ݁ ˖ ✦ ₊˚ 💎𖥔 ݁ ˖ ✦ ₊˚

Ordinary people could never afford such magnificent pieces of jewelry consisting of a set of so many heirloom quality sapphires. Also, we never attend royal galas, so where could we wear them? A Trip to Walmart, down in the subway, or a TIME magazine pour?

Savvy Shoppers on a budget settle for commercial grade smaller stones but honestly can easily enjoy them just as much. Inspired by the Cambridge Sapphire Parsure, I picked a few lovely pieces sold by Macy’s, Belk, Saks and other department stores to illustrate how much we can love lesser pieces of jewelry! Each department store offers a wider selection to match every taste, and they run frequent sales making a jewelry splurge more affordable to an average Debra, um Jane!😛

Tips: If you do splurge on jewelry never pick pieces so fancy they stay in a box most of the year. Don’t be afraid of lab-grown stones either. Lab-grown gemstones are physically, chemically, and optically the same as natural gemstones, but cheaper. People will pay more for natural gemstones, yet jewelry is never an investment. You will rarely make a profit by selling your jewelry. Find classic pieces within your budget that you can pair with a little black dress, as well as, blue jeans. When jewelry stays in a box, it's a complete waste of money -- a splurge gone wrong!👑

Be sure to visit Tiffany, as well as, the gemstone wings of the Natural History Museum in New York and the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. to see the heirloom gemstones when you're in the towns, and Macy’s Herald Square for the commercial grade sparklers. Also, inexperienced buyers are more apt to get taken than to score a good deal in NYC's diamond district. The vibe is to sell and it's not much fun to browse there.

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Supermarket Plastic Produce Bags Rock

Let's discuss a bag equally as valuable and practical as a fine leather bag, namely a supermarket plastic produce bag! I’ll explain. 

Dispite buying a few sizes of Ziploc bags, I find supermarket plastic produce bags much more versatile, flexible, and useful for both storage and holding smaller quantities of food one needs to contain before dropping them into the trash. In Manhattan we put garbage down a compacter, as well as, separating it for recycling bins.

I try to be as neat as possible for the benefit of our maintenance men. Food scrapes and toiletries I can fit easily into these bags’ wide opening, and I tie the opening in a Boy Scout knot to close and leak proof it as it goes down the chute. 

What’s more, supermarket plastic produce bags are idea to separate articles that need to be stored away. Plastic produce bags are both strong and thin, taking up no additional space. Christmas decorations can be organized before going into drawers or huge Tupperware containers. What makes  these bags so perfect is again their wide opening, plus you can see your contents to know exactly what’s inside when you go to retrieve your items.

I have also used these plastic bags to enclose liquids such as suntan lotion, face creams, shampoos and conditioners before packing them into a suitcase or on a shelf at home when I fear a liquid could leak. The mess stays inside the bag without leaking on a shelf or inside a suitcase. 

After I arrive at my destination, I place dirty clothes in these bags, as well as, shoes so they won’t touch my clean clothes inside my suitcase.

At home I put raw beef and chicken inside supermarket plastic produce bags to first store them in my freezer, then to defrost the meats in my refrigerator.

If you are without containers to store flour and sugar, you can enclose them inside these plastic produce bags,  the tops secured with our trusty Boy Scout knot. Residual flour and sugar from their packaging ends up inside the plastic bags not inside your cupboards to clean.

They work so well to store all kinds of goods! I highly recommend repurposing your plastic produce bags that you bring home from the supermarket once you remove your produce. Think free storeage plastic bags. Not too big or too small but just the right size for so many jobs! Plastic produce bags never seem to develop holes from their travel home from the supermarket! Don’t toss them out as garbage, re-use them for garbage or storage bags. Personally, I don’t buy as many Ziploc bags as I once did.

Moreover, if you need more plastic produce bags than you carry home from the supermarket, you can buy them from Walmart, Amazon or ReStockIt. Who knew?

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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.

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Clinique’s Black Honey Dupes

This is #6 Baisen Diary in Honey

Clinique’s Black Honey is a popular shade. First launched in 1971 as a pot of gloss, it was later reformulated and released as the "Almost Lipstick" in 1989, the form customers recognize today.

We can understand why it’s taken over the internet all these years later. Black Honey is a beautiful subtle berry color with sheen that is buildable and flattering on all skin tones! So lovely Liv Tyler wore it in her Lord of the Rings role. 

Clinique calls Black Honey almost lipstick because it is a tint that is sheer with a shine finish.

← Images of the original.

After discovering it at $25 a pop, SAVVY SHOPPERS start looking for inexpensive dupes. Below are six of them:

1) e.l.f. Cosmetics Hydrating Core Lip Shine in Delightful

2) Honest Beauty Tinted Lip Balm With Avocado Oil in Plum Drop

3)  Revlon Super Lustrous Glass Shine Moisturizing Lipstick in o12 Black Cherry

4) Maybelline’s Glaze Balm in Acai Glaze

5) Covergirl’s Clean Fresh Tinted Lip Balm in Bliss You Berry

6) Baisen Diary in Honey - This made BuzzFeed’s Wishful List. Fans of it like it better than the original Black Honey as it leans brownish over a more reddish tint. 👆Compare the Baisen Diary in Honey top image with Clinique's Black Honey image below.👇

Original Black Honey on 3 different skin tones.

I have linked the 2 dupes, wearers tend to be the happiest with as nearly identical to Clinique’s original Black Honey Tint, however all 6 dupes have their fans as close matches for less. Look for them on Amazon, Walmart, Target, CVS and Walgreens to find the lowest price. Feel free to highlight the brand and color names, then enter each one in the search boxes of the 5 retailers for comparison to find your honey of a deal!🍯🐝

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Inside Drawer Organizers Are the Bomb

Mr. Penn Interlocking Drawer Organizer

Many people have a junk drawer, where necessary things like scissors, tape, staples, paper clips, or rubber bands reside for when we need them. Sometimes other articles like electrician tape, a ruler, nails, screws, or appliance instructions end up in there too because we don’t know where else to put them. 

Are you tired of shifting through your junk drawer (or night stand) to find stuff you were savvy enought to keep? You can turn to Walmart or Target for inexpensive drawer organizers to separate and give all these practical things their own home. I’ve pulled up 2 brands under $7 from Walmart Online as I think they are ideal.

Madesmart 8 Piece Desk Drawer Organizer

Made of durable and washable plastic; the compartments are sized for reasonably big, long, and small articles, and an interlocking feature gives customers options on arranging and keeping each section from sliding as you open and close the drawers. There’s no real need to spend more on expensive drawer organizers to hold inexpensive stuff. Still I recommend paying the extra dollar or two to get the interlocking benefit! Some of the $5 organizers lack this component.

If everything is visable, items won’t get lost, and you won’t forget you have them. What’s more, you may even become motivated to declutter if you see that you haven’t reached for something since it went into the drawer.

Giving everything you own a home is impowering. This is one time when spending under $7 ... to save time ... will improve your life!

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You Save With Home Goods For the Back To College Crowd

All photos and items courtesy of Walmart 

A way to save money is to learn when to pay for top of the line quality verses settling for cheaper good enough quality. Good enough quality should never fall apart by using it, but you’re not paying for one of a kind design, or pricey features when inexpensive options work just as well or sometimes better because you don’t have to baby the item. You or your kids can use it with abandoned. If broken, it hurts less to replace the article. Moreover, a trick of interior decorators to save money is to mix high with low end home goods.

A great time of the year to find bargains is when retailers such as Walmart and Target start to sell Home Goods for the Back to College Crowd. Playful  colors or designs at attractive prices are often offered. Do you need new kitchen, living room, or bathroom auxilliary items? Examples include: towels or washcloths; pots or pans or kitchen tools; a reading lamp, or small clock or flower pots or book ends or organizing baskets. Grab them off the shelves starting in August.

My blog is unsponsored but I think Walmart has some super cute, good enough quality home goods that are also durable. The selection is wide and fabulous at Target too, but Target is always a few dollars higher than Walmart. Both offer decent quality without emptying your wallet! 

Who uses bone china or Waterford drinking glasses nowadays? Certainly not the younger generation nor folks with children or grandchildren. The Back To College Crowd offerings look nice in a home and are priced to sell out!

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DIY Moisturizing Rose Body Cream

Photo and website here

I’m not into perfume, but I like the clean smell of botanicals in soap, lotions, and creams, therefore it’s what I buy. Sometimes it’s also fun to make your own. If we know how, unlike one trick ponies, we can buy, or make our own cream and lotions. As you likely already know the difference between cream and lotion is the water content. I leave mine as cream. Add a bit of water, a little at a time until you get a thinner consistency if you wish. I don’t add water since the DIY cream melts right into my skin.

Essential oils are beneficial to the skin but are too strong without mixing them with a carrier oil (like almond oil, coconut oil, grapeseed oil, jojoba oil, or rosehip oil among others). 

Here’s an easy homemade moisturizing lotion/cream to make. Right now I’m hooked on the smell of roses but your favorite essential oil (such as the ever popular lavender or jasmine or freesia) could be substituted:

DIY Rose Moisturizing Lotion/Cream🌹

Ingredients:

8 oz Shea Butter

4 oz Coconut Oil (I only buy the food grade one.)

2 oz Sweet Almond Oil

10 drops of Rose Essential Oil

1 teaspoon Vitamin E (It gives the cream a longer shelf life.)

Directions:

1) Melt the shea butter and coconut oil in a microwave slowly for 20 seconds at a time to liquify the solids. I bought a glass jar (the one on the left from Home Goods) to use in the microwave uncovered, but you can use any microwave safe container if you don’t have a suitable jar. You could also use a double boiler on a stovetop.

2) After the shea butter and coconut oil melts, remove and let it cool slightly.

3) Stir in the almond oil and rose (or your favorite) essential oil and the vitamin E.

4) My cream/lotion is already in its jar. If you use a separate container, pour the mixture into a sealable container and let the liquid solidify. Screw on the top to seal. Yes, you can put it in your refrigerator for 20 - 30 minutes to speed up the process, but set a timer so you don’t leave it in there.

I bought high quality essential oils from T.J. Maxx, and I bought rose, peppermint and tea tree essential oils from a brand that Amazon and Walmart sells called HIQILI that seems to be of good quality. HIQILI’s website is very transparent and lists from where its essential oils are sourced (The rose oil from Bulgaria, the peppermint oil from India and the tea tree oil from Australia). From time to time, T.J. Maxx also carries shea butter and carrier oils for less than elsewhere. If you’re willing to make the initial investment you can make a lot of rich moisturizing lotion or cream without much effort for the buck!🌹

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The Dog Woof Washer 360

The Dog Woof Washer 360 is a clever invention for people who have a hard time getting their furry best friends into the bathtub for baths. Our family was lucky! Our dog weighed about 50 pounds and as long as he didn’t hear the phrase, “need to give the dog a bath,” whereby he hid under the bed and growled warning us not to come near, we would trick him to come into the bathroom where we could lift him up into his bathwater for his weekly scrubb dub, dub. Once in the bathwater, he was fairly docile. Every dog has a different temperament!

Even for a docile dog, this is a practical device for summer mischief. If your dog jumps into a pond or rolls in mud, perhaps you’d like to clean him before he goes into the house.

The cylinder washer 360 attaches to a garden hose. You fill it with dog shampoo, where it mixes with the water and sprays out as subs over the entire body of your dog. It gets mostly 4 or 5 star reviews from customers who say the pressure is adequate, their dogs cooperate, and it’s a much faster way of giving their dogs baths. Adjustable for large and small dogs.

Although the Dog Woof Washer 360 folds up, some dog owners have had to tighten the screws to keep it from folding while in use, so I suggest not folding it if you have the space to store it. Perhaps folding and unfolding it time and again could loosen the screws since the device is quite inexpensive to buy ... as low as $10.49 at Walmart.

Our dog was lucky as he got a lovely warm bath in the bathtub instead of a cold water shower outside, but the Dog Woof Washer 360 is cheap enough to only use in the summer for the times you don’t want to let your dirty dog into the house. With it, you have the means to clean his dirty little butt, underbelly, legs and head before he enters your home.

Spraying our dog with a garden hose alone to him meant, “Let's play.” In his excitement he'd opened his mouth wide and run or jump into the stream of water. Not the ease or speed of pulling a circle spraying a mixture of soap and water over your dog’s body! Use only dog shampoo when giving your dog baths. A dog’s skin is too sensitive for human shampoo.

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