The Beauty Products I Use Right Now

 

Once a month I notice YouTubers post their empties to recommend beauty products they enjoy using. Today I'm doing likewise ... but fortunately, my bottles are filled... and they are in my bathroom being used by me right now. As it turns out, I reviewed nearly all of them on THE SAVVY SHOPPER in previous blogs. Still, loving them and for sure, I'd buy each again, as well as, grab them whenever I see them for less:

Skincare - Daytime Routine:

1) Noxema Cleansing Cream - My old tried and true.

2) Art Naturals Vitamin C Advanced Moisture & Brightening Serum - I have the set and use the retinol at night on nights I don't use the Neutrogena retinol oil.

3) Olay Complete All Day Moisturizer with SPF 15 

4) Cooking grade coconut oil - As an after-shower body moisturizer. It's cooking grade to simplify gathering -- no need to buy 2 coconut oils. Once gone, I'll switch over to extra virgin olive oil for even more simplicity.

Skincare - Nighttime Routine:

1) Noxema Cleansing Cream - used again before bed.

2) and 3) - Neutrogena Rapid Wrinkle Repair Oil followed by Neutrogena Rapid Wrinkle Repair Regenerating Cream - They came full-sized as a kit found in the beauty aisle at T.J. Maxx for $16 bucks ... how could I not grab 2 kits -- to use one immediately and put one on deck? Before finding the set, I was already using the retinol cream and after I finish the retinol oil ... do I need both? I'll decide later after I run out.

Hair Care

1) Shea Moisture Peace Rose Oil Shampoo - A stellar overall brand, I buy any formula I see with the Shea Moisture label on it. I've never had a failure with any of the retailer's formulas despite mixing and mismatching the varieties of formulas of their shampoos with their conditioners. I enjoy trying the entire line, but the peace rose smells so AMAZING, I  love it especially!

2) Shea Moisture Jamaican Black Castor Oil Strengthen & Restore Shampoo - I don't yet have the matching condition, but if I see it at T.J. Maxx, it's my next beauty buy. After you try Shea Moisture's many hair products, you can find them at drugstores, Walmart, Target, and Amazon, so you'll never go broke using this none-better, excellent brand!

3) Shea Moisture Manuka Honey & Mafura Oil Intensive Hydrating Shampoo

4) Shea Moisture Superfruit Complex 10 in 1 Multi-benefit Hair Mosque - As fantastic as the other formulas, I grabbed the mosque as another hair conditioner. It leaves your hair clean, not greasy. Again ... 3rd time saying it, you simply can't go wrong with a Shea Moisture formula!

So these are the beauty products I'm now using, folks, my not-so-empties that I'll buy again and again as needed. In recent years I've tried to switch over to as many organics as I can afford, as well as, to simplify my personal care regime, plus find everything needed in the aisles of a drugstore for less! 

It looks like I have lots of hair shampoos and conditions, doesn't it? My goal is to reduce: I keep 1 shampoo and 2 conditioners in the bathroom open and using ... with one extra shampoo and condition in stock waiting in the wings to replace an empty. I'm nearly at my one + one quantity aspiration. #WorkingThroughMyStash.

Drugstores have stepped up their offerings of quality and clean beauty making it unnecessary to shop anywhere else. So convenient and cost-effective for products that truly work!

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Fermanted Foods Boost Our Immune System

Photo: 1,2,3RF

After years of reading about the power of fermented foods, I now drink 1/2 cup of homemade kombucha daily ... or try to eat kimchi, sauerkraut, yogurt, or pickled vegetables (includes green pickles, i.e., baby cucumbers) -- alternating them into a given week of meals. Cider vinegar contains a few probiotics and can be turned into a delicious vinaigrette salad dressing. Fermented foods, a source of natural probiotics, help to rev up our immune system by keeping our gut microbiome healthy and balanced.

According to Dr. Vincent Pedre, author of 'Happy Gut,"and quoted in Better Nutrition magazine, "Seventy percent of our immune system is located in our gut lining." It's the area where ''the immune system is programmed," he states in the article (October 2021 issue). 

Fermented foods introduce good bacteria that fight the bad bacteria (microbes), which can also live in our gut microbiome. We carry about 4 pounds of microbes in our gut to help us digest our food. 

{Although not qualified to know having not gone to medical school, I wonder if some of the people who have irritable bowel syndrome would benefit from eating fermented foods. For sure, it won't hurt them and possibly balance their gastrointestinal tracts.}

Paraphrasing the article, fermented foods increase the variety "of microbes in the gut and decrease levels of 19 inflammatory markers in the blood." Dr. Pedre claims good bacteria helps to ''protect us from having a runaway inflammatory immune response" if we get an infection. In addition, eating fiber helps to maintain good gut bacteria and improves its performance.

As Dr Pedre explains, the combination of eating fermented foods and a high fiber diet gives us the best defense in fighting off colds, flu, and even COVID-19.

If not already eating fermented foods, consider including them in your diet ... but start slowly (for example, consume 1/2 cup of kombucha or 2/3 cup of pickled vegetables or 1 cup of yogurt in a meal -- mixing it up over a week). Let your digestive system adjust to the addition of fermented foods to your diet. Don't suddenly shock your gut with a ton of probiotics by eating too much of a good thing in a single day. Over time, you can increase your intake of fermented foods without the side effects (i.e., having to run to the bathroom).

Getting your probiotics by eating fermented foods is better and less expensive than taking probiotic pills. Food gives you organic probiotics in the right amounts.

On occasion, I make kimchi, less often yogurt, and pickle my own black olives; and now regularly I make kombucha. It's surprisingly easy ... as well as, interesting to learn how, so give it a try.

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A Jewelry/Luxury Buying Mindset: Rule #5 Is Don't Buy Pretty

An example of a pretty I don't buy, but what a temptation of emeralds, white and black diamonds in 14k gold.

YouTube Luxury Mavens talk about their collections. Often I find the amounts they spend and especially the quantity they continue to unbox alarming! Where does it stop? At $100,000!? $200,000!? $500,000!?! Even if you earn highroller-level money, when is enough ... enough?

Today I'm using my rules on when to purchase jewelry as a guide for describing a mindset that applies to buying all luxury goods for anyone on a budget. Think of luxuries as big-ticket items we love but don't need. Hard as it is to believe, I love💙, but don't need this gorgeous tanzanite and diamond ring over to the left! It's so pretty!!!😍

We're not millionaires, and luxury goods nearly always cost us more than what we make in a week ... or a month! We have to save up to own a piece here and there, therefore I'm super selective on what and when to part with a chunk of change. Plus I put a cap on the amount I'm willing to drop on a single luxury good. It's a splurge, not an essential or an investment (as you'll never get the full value of what you pay if you have to sell it). So let's begin ...

The Jewelry/Luxury Goods Buying Mindset -- the rules explained:

1) Don't collect - You don't need a collection. Pick a few articles of fine jewelry you really love that can be mixed and matched, plus worn daily, as well as, to galas. A person on a budget can't afford signature rings or necklaces that stay inside a box except for a few days a year. After saving and sacrificing to buy a piece you love, be sure you get your money's worth by being able to wear it often instead of storing it away.

2) Discriminate - Figure out WHAT you really love (white, yellow, or rose gold); your favorite gemstones; and forgo everything else! Don't buy fashion jewelry. Save up for fine jewelry and buy only the gemstones, size, and style you most relish. You won't miss everything-else!

3) Stick with the classics - Usually, you won't get your money's worth in terms of how often you wear cute animal motifs or signature rings, earrings, bracelets, or necklaces. They're for people with more disposable income who can afford impulse buys and surpluses of fine jewelry ...  folks with crazy surplus money.😄 Savvy Shoppers on a budget focus on a capsule of classic jewelry to be worn nearly anytime and anywhere.

4) Never settle on the "c" (cut, carat, color, or clarity), the main detail most important to you - Save yourself the cost of having to size up or rebuy jewelry because you compromised your true love away. Don't buy a tiny gemstone if you really want a big rock. Likewise, don't pull the trigger on the wrong gemstone, say ... a blue topaz, if it's really sapphires that make your heart sing. Save up for your true loves of attraction like a bigger carat weight or your most loved gemstone.

And of course, be realistic: I adore the quality of the diamonds, sapphires, rubies, and emeralds sold by Tiffany & Co., but can't afford more than a minuscule size of Tiffany-top-quality gemstones. But! I'd be terribly unhappy with the carat sizes of stones I'd have to bring home after spending a ton of money there. I understand myself well enough to know I don't want to pay top dollar for a teeny-tiny gemstone. Always at Tiffany, my true loves of attraction are their HUGE flawless, solitaire stones -- the 5+ carats of diamonds, sapphires, rubies, emeralds, and tanzanites, therefore I can look without temptation, despite the beauty and glitter blinding me! This leads us to my 5th rule ...

5) Don't buy pretty - I love all gemstones but only own a few. I don't have opals, tanzanites, alexandrites, yellow diamonds, black diamonds, red or green garnets, and a slew of other pretty jewels in my "collection" because I have a capsule, not a collection. Personally, since I can't afford every spectacular stone, adding a piece over the years to my capsule doesn't include the softer more delicate gemstones, nor the most expensive stones per carat. Alexandrite is one of my birthstones, yet it's too pricey per carat for my consideration. As mentioned, I refuse to spend big money on a tiny stone! So I own my other birth gem, pearls for much less. I did not do without; did not go broke; do not use spectacles to see it; still ended up with beautiful birth month jewelry.

All of the Effy jewelry uploaded today are beautiful pieces I do not own for various reasons cited in the blog. If not selective, I'd be happy with all of the uploaded pieces. Ooh and ahh, Mr. Effy!😍 The tanzanite and diamond ring above, costing $14,250, proves how more often than not, I don't buy pretty.

Amethyst, sapphire, and tsavorite stones.

In summary: A luxury buy is always about loving, not needing a costly material thing. Owning "it" should result in a happy dance every time you touch it. Discriminate. Don't settle. Create a capsule, not a collection. Buy your true love (the gold, carat, gemstone) even if it takes longer to save up for "it"; then don't waste your money by keeping the purchase in a box/closet/safe. 

And finally a bonus rule: If you love "it" too much or not enough to wear after "it" is yours, sell it! By keeping "it" in a drawer, you've wasted the money spent, so try to recoup what you can.

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Gotham City's Season Of the Witch

All photos were taken on a walk in my neighborhood. Click to enlarge any photo. Bart the Bartender (↙below, left) has your wine.

Halloween is here on The Upper East Side once more. Let me give you this year's tour. 

But a tour alone would not suffice, so accept these words of sage advice ...

🎶 "You've got to pick up every stitch," as it "must be the season of the witch."🎵

When you look outside your window what do you see?🎶

🎶 Eerie sights and spooky people to be! 🎵

The range and change are very strange! 🎶

And ... 🎶 you've got to pick up every stitch. 🎵

Since it 🎶 must be the season of the witch. 🎵

Frankenstein, Satan, and Beetlejuice have come to make their pitch. 🔱

 While the undead slots its evil niche, 🎶 you've got to pick up every stitch. 🎵

       When you look over your shoulder what do you see as true? Creepy creatures are looking back at you! 🎵👺

 A skeleton upon a scaffold is spine-chillingly rich -- that's why 🎶 you've got to pick up every stitch. 🎵

 

Beware! 💀🧛👻 ... Time to go!?!  ... 🧛‍♂️🧟🧙‍♀️A twitch, oh no!

The switch!! 🕷🎃👺 A stare!! 

 The scare!!! 🧟🐾

Too late ... your fate is up in the air!?! 🖤 

Or down below, in hell 🔥 ... who knows? 👀

On the qui vive! ... watch out!! ... 🎶 

Coming down to bite ... no doubt!🕷

Quick! 🎶 You've got to pick up every stitCH! 🎵

🎶 Must be the season of the witCH! 🎵

Happy Halloween from THE SAVVY SHOPPER, Donavan, and Gotham City!

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Olay Regenerist Retinol 24 Max

Olay Regenerist Retinol 24 with hydrating ingredients has a MAX formula with 20% more retinol. It also contains vitamin B3, which hydrates and brightens the skin and promotes elasticity, plus fights free radicals. If your skin isn't used to maximum strength retinol, stick with Olay Regenerist Retinol 24 in its regular strength. More retinol doesn't always mean better, you just need enough effective anti-aging ingredients -- here, retinol ... and to use the potency of retinol that is tolerated by your skin. To be effective, you must use it regularly. If too harsh, making your skin red and raw, you then stop using it.

I like the availability of a greater retinol strength in Olay, a non-prescription potion, for people who have been using the regular formula for a time and feel it's time to bump the potency up. To be sure, if mistaken their skin will indicate its need to return to the lesser strength!

As regular readers know, Olay Regenerist Retinol 24 and Neutrogena Rapid Wrinkle Repair are 2 of the drugstore brands of anti-aging night creams I fancy. Each works without emptying your wallet.

Be on the look out at T.J. Maxx for this Neutrogena Rapid Wrinkle Repair 2-pack for $16.99, a steal! Full-sizes and about half the price of one item alone at the drugstore (when not on sale). The instructions say to apply the retinol oil and follow with the retinol cream. The oil adds another 3% of retinol for double the wrinkle-fighting power (know that 2.5% is considered a good and standard amount in a non-prescription retinol formula).

If not already using a retinol skin cream potion, start slowly. You may have to apply the cream once a week, then twice a week, then increase to every other night before your skin tolerates it every night.

Choices are good for consumers, especially if they land on the shelves at T.J. Maxx. Olay Regenerist Retinol 24 Max is another effective budget-friendly formula to know about. 

You are left with money in your pocket and a smile on your face ... winkles that soften or perhaps are erased.🎃🙂 

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