Tree Of Life Skin Serums

There's a vitamin C serum on the market that tops a number of beauty editor's lists {namely, Skin Ceuticals}.  It sells for $166 for 1 ounce, and frankly, the endorsements annoy me since regular people (Raise your hand!) can't afford to use it every day. So what good is the expensive recommendation?! That's when I decided to find equivalent brands of skincare backed by science for less money. I've got your back, readers!🙂

In my quest for cheap without compromise skincare, I've found another brand I like called Tree of Life, a plant based, cruelty-free, non-toxic line founded by biologist, Ellyn Davis.

Tree of Life offers top-notch ingredients in the right combinations to address every skin concern. The company takes care of its customers in a myriad of ways. A peruse of its website teaches you about proper skincare. You learn about ingredients in the serums and how to use the products correctly. Once you identify what you want your skincare to do, it's easy to know what to buy. The trio featured at the top is a useful, basic set of serums (vitamin C - for daytime, retinol for nighttime and hyaluronic acid for day or night moisture). The beauty line also offers a money-back guarantee.

Plus Tree of Life cares about you by not asking you to deplete your savings to buy their scrubs, serums or moisturizers. The cost of 1-once bottles averages from $7 - $11 (with one multi-ingredient formula going for $18)... super affordable for proven ingredients and lacking fillers! The brand keeps costs low with simply packaging and by not advertising. Money is spent where it counts on product development and its clean, potent ingredients. 

Combo packs knock already low prices down more, and the retailer offers VIP Rewards which I recommend always signing up for, as extra savings go to repeat customers.

Available on their website, Amazon, Walmart and eBay. Tree of Life ... I'm your newest customer!

Readers, are you feed up with overpriced skincare???

You may also enjoy:

Should You Shop At H&M?

Chunky Is Autumn Trendy

Dior 7-Piece Refillable Lipstick Set

IT Velvet Luxe For Ultra Makeup Brushes Now Only On EBay

How To Layer In Winter

All images courtesy of LL Bean - usually I must hunt for photos, but LL Bean did the work for me for this blog.

Due to global warming, Manhattanites haven't had long, frigid winters in about a decade. Oddly enough, sometimes we have a 22-degree F day followed by a 52-degree F day in the same week. In the 1980s Upper East Side women wore mink coats from December through April. (I used to shiver as I walked by in my wool coat and scarf! Stylish as it was, I was cold!) The mink has been replaced with goose down coats ... yet more often than not, with wool or goose down jackets! But in places still experiencing polar winds and arctic temperatures, people need to master the art of layering to stay warm and comfortable ... and it's good information for all of us who live in a winter climate.

In researching the topic I learned an interesting fact: Your biggest problem isn't getting cold, it's staying dry, i.e., not getting too hot and sweaty, which in extreme cold can be a symptom of hypothermia, a life-threatening condition that can strike in 5 minutes as your body temperature falls too low. If you start sweating in extreme cold, you need to quickly shed layers to survive. I didn't know this!😳

So let's learn from the experts the correct way to layer to prevent hypothermia. According to LL Bean (and confirmed by other sources), when temperatures hit subzero wear a: 

1) Base layer - made of silk, wool, or polyester - The 1st layer is designed to keep your skin dry, which helps keep you warm. The base layer wicks (or moves) moisture (sweat) away from your skin as you engage in activity (i.e., move, walk, climb).

2) Middle layer - This is your insulating layer to hold in the heat generated by your body. Select wool, midweight fleece, or synthetic fabrics like polyester.

3) Outer Layer - Keeps wind and water out and body heat in. A nylon shell or jacket to fit over your base and middle layers will do the job. Nowadays people tend to wear a puffer coat of goose down feathers with a nylon or polyester shell -- as it works.

LL Bean is headquartered in Maine, and I'm featuring them for this topic because winter wear is their business. Likewise for competitors, Landsend and newer budget-friendly Uniqlo. Always buy products from merchants who specialize in the product area, not designers who branch into the market, unless they take the time to truly learn it.

Fortunately, I live in relatively mild winters, or I would have died by now since I have never before researched the right way to layer for winter. Now I realize that years ago I didn't wear a nylon 3rd layer ... and that's why I froze! Knowing what each layer does makes keeping warm and comfortable a certainty!⛄

You may also enjoy:

Trendy Faux Fur Coats

Uniqlo Cold Weather Steals

The Best Leggings, A Roundup

Best Oils For Skin, Hair And Nails

Wear Rubber Earring Backs

If our global pandemic wasn't stressful enough ... early on I had an additional scare. After an afternoon of running errands I returned home to notice the metal back of one of my earrings was missing with the now loose earring dangling and ready to fall out of my ear. While running from place to place, the elastic the goes around my ears to hold my face mask on had pulled on the earring enough to yank its back out of my ear ... and in another beat, gravity would have claimed the earring too. What a fright!😱

I don't wear fashion earrings and hope to keep the few real gold ones I own over a lifetime. And, I stopped wearing earrings that week out of fear ... but then I thought of a solution to secure those earrings. Heck, these days due to wearing face masks, I'm not wearing makeup. Must I give up earrings too!?! No way, it's all too much.😎🙂

So here's the solution: For $5 - $6 you can buy more rubber earring backs than you'll ever need. So snug, they secure your earrings better than the metal backings that come with many earrings. You can either leave the metal backs off, or double secure your earrings with both the metal and rubber tube backs. Almost nothing will then yank your earrings out of your ears! 

I feel lucky to only lose a backing (it was a sterling silver earring lift) and not the gold earring, itself -- so a 2nd chance to find and share a solution! Keep a few rubber backs in your jewelry box to secure all your earrings! And, if they come free with the earrings you buy, don't toss them out! They are much too valuable!!

You may also enjoy:

Pearls: Queen of Gems

For The Love Of Sapphires

Do You Need Earring Lifts?     

Find Something Gorgeous At Macy's Like Fine Jewelry

Umami: A Sense of Taste

Step into my kitchen, friends😋.

Umami is one of the 5 basic tastes scientists agree humans have. (We may have a 6th sense of taste, yet 5 is the universal consensus.) The other 4 are sweet, bitter, salty, and sour. [Kikunae is the name of the 6th sense of taste - a richness or roundness that heightens and prolongs the other 5. Example slow roasted meat vs microwaved meat.] The word "umami" is Japanese, and it literally means "deliciousness."  It is best described as ''a pleasant savory taste" and is common in Asian cuisines. The taste comes from glutamic acid -- a common amino acid in vegetable and animal proteins. (Source: Healthline)

It turns out I love umami (in fact, since childhood over "sweet" before I knew its name). Fortunately, many foods with an umami flavor are healthy choices. They include miso and seaweed, aged cheeses, kimchi (the Korean pickled cabbage), seafood, mushrooms, and in lesser amounts: green peas, tomatoes, corn, garlic, and potatoes. I love all of these foods! A favorite snack of mine [from childhood] is extra sharp cheddar cheese on saltine crackers or pumpernickel bread ... and I could eat them until they come out of my ears.🙂

A couple of New Years ago I blogged about my aim to replace canned soup with homemade soup. This I do, and now canned soups taste bland to me!

Moreover, sometimes we need a quick meal, so I have a recipe for fast homemade soup made on the spot without forethought or the luxury of time -- jazzed up umami flavored miso soup!

Nowadays most supermarkets carry tubs of miso paste for about $6 - $7 per pound or kilo. It gives family cooks the same convenience as opening a can of soup. And below is how I make it:

Debra's Miso Soup

Ingredients:

Water, about 2 cups

Dried seaweed, a handful

Frozen mixed vegetables (green beans, corn, lima beans, carrots and peas), a handful

If I feel like it, I also toss in a fresh diced carrot, celery, garlic, and onion

1 - 1.5 tablespoons miso paste (i.e., to taste)

Directions:

1) I fill a big soup bowl to about 3/4 full with cold water. Sprinkle in some dried seaweed, as well as, frozen and/or fresh vegetables.

2) Microwave the mixture for 10 - 12 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender.

areas of taste

3) Remove from the microwave and dissolve 1 - 1.5 tablespoons of miso paste into the mixture. The reason you wait to add the miso paste is you don't want to kill off the probiotics in miso by cooking it in the microwave. Miso paste doesn't need cooking, but easily dissolves in hot water.

Voilà tasty homemade umami flavored soup in minutes ... about as fast as canned soup! If you have leftover cooked chicken, beef, or wish to dice up tofu ... you can add protein to your soup. Or, make a meat, cheese, or peanut butter sandwich for a soup and sandwich dinner on fast-food night. Enjoy!

You may also enjoy:

Maangchi's Homemade Kimchi

Building A Cheese Platter On A Budget

Tomato Soup With A Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Hearty Split Pea Soup And Cornbread For Meatless Mondays

ArtNaturals Beauty Serums Plus

Starts affordable before a promotion.

As previously mentioned, I aim to find more science-based skincare for less money. When we use skincare every single day (which we should!), we need them to work without breaking the bank. Lately drugstores have really stepped up their game making my quest a lot easier. You'll find some amazing beauty lotions and potions in the aisles that are potent enough to go toe to toe with their pricey luxury counterparts. And I'm featuring one of them here today.

ArtNaturals is formulated to free beauty from high prices and toxic chemicals, as well as, offer the right combinations and concentrations of high-quality anti-aging ingredients that have proven to be effective time and again.

This "natural" beauty line includes skincare, haircare, beauty tools, and vitamins for men and women. I recommend starting with their Age Defying Serum Trio set. The price is unbeatable as you will have to pay 3 - 4 - 5 times more for the equivalent ingredients elsewhere. 

The serum set includes everything a face needs for glowing skin:

1) Hyaluronic Serum - for intense moisture (good for daytime use).

2) 2.5% Retinol  Serum - to fight fine lines and wrinkles (best for nighttime use).

3) Vitamin C Serum - brightens and corrects/protects the skin from the sun and free radicals. It also contains vitamin E and Ferulic Acid which is said to make Vitamin C work better (good for daytime use and some folks use it at night with moisturizers but never with retinol).

ArtNaturals is sold at drugstores, Target, Walmart, and Ultra which means you will sometimes find the products under $10 a bottle, thereby saving even more by shopping around and watching for sales.

[Ultra sells The Ordinary line of skincare -- also under $15 a product. I'm a big fan of The Ordinary Vitamin C Suspension 23% + HA Spheres 2% ($5.80); Buffet - a combination of anti-aging peptics ($14.80); and its Retinols in Squalane ($5.80). If using The Ordinary line, you must know what skin issues you're trying to prevent or fix in order to select the right items for you. But. Choice is always awesome for folks on a budget. It opens the door to savings.]

Top-notch skincare you can afford to use daily!

You might also enjoy:

Noxema Cleansing Cream Forever

The Ordinary Skincare Is Extraordinary

5 Tips For Buying A Tennis Bracelet On A Budget

The Luxury Goods Market: A Value Shopper Weighs In

Happy New Year 2021

On Facebook a post read, "I'm staying up this year to make sure 2020 goes!" In a similar vein, I'll definitely open champagne tonight to welcome 2021. 

It's been a rough two years. First in 2019, my upstairs hookah smoking neighbor burned her apartment up and displaced all of us below her. It took us nearly a year to repair the damage and replace furniture only to be followed in 2020 by a global pandemic that shut down life and killed lots of people. A year like no other! Who could have predicted it?

As difficult as both years were, I still feel lucky compared to past generations who went through tougher times that included famines; diseases without science; and long, drawn-out wars. 

Nobody in my family has COVID yet. In fact, we have a measure of control, food to eat, a developed vaccine, as well as, the warmth and comfort of home to ride this COVID pandemic out. We also have the technology to keep in touch with the family and friends we cannot see. So although we're stressed living in a new normal, we're extremely fortunate.

I don't think life can always be happy ... or easy. But it's certainly not meant to be mostly gloom and doom either! We will have to wear our masks; wash our hands; and avoid large gatherings for a bit longer, probably until next July/August, 2021. And yet, the future looks bright. And it starts right now on the 1st day of the new year!

In the year ahead, let's strive to be positive, embrace happiness, and look out for one another! Thank you for stopping by and supporting THE SAVVY SHOPPER! As always, let me know if there are topics you wish to address.

Wishing all my readers and friends continued safety, security, and a Happy New Year 2021! xoxo💋to all!!

You may also enjoy:

A Happy New Year

Happy New Year 2019

Happy New Year 2020

Happy New Year From Manhattan