Recent Visit to Duane Reade

So tonight I was just kind of sitting in my apartment watching some TV. The sky was overcast and I created a nice little mood with the lighting, but after a while I jumped up and felt the need to just buy something. Ideally when I'm in this mood, I have a Target available and a pal to share in this type of adventure, but tonight I just sort of had to make do with the situation at hand and I ambled down the street to my nearest Duane Reade. The CVS on Lex is probably a little bigger/nicer but I just wasn't going to walk up the hill to get there. So this is what I purchased:

Caress Tahitian Renewal body wash. After giving up on my search for PTR botanical buffing beads body wash, I decided there just has to be another summer shower gel out there that I could actually get my hands on. Now, I've purchased this body wash as a travel size for when I went on vacation somewhere in the south, and I originally thought I wasn't going to go bigger than that, but I went ahead and decided to make the commitment to the whole 12 fl. ounces anyway. The thing is, I'm using a coral-colored poof right now, and I just have this thing that the shower gel has to mesh with the poof color. I mean, I just couldn't use Dove's Cucumber & Green Tea with a purple poof, for example. Also, after doing a little research, I found out this shower gel was given out on the Tyra Banks Show! Wow! Since Tyra and I are in agreement on most things in life, how could I go wrong here? All in all, I'm happy with this purchase but it wasn't anything new and exciting.

So ironically, for my new and exciting purchase, I went for Johnson's Vanilla Oatmeal body lotion. Two scents that couldn't be further from the idea of excitement. BUT, it was New! and it stood out from the rest of the baby lotions with its more natural tones. I just thought it might be a nice light scent for after the shower that wouldn't compete with my perfumes. But looking back on this purchase, I'm feeling a little bit of buyer's remorse, only because this seems like such a fall/winter scent. Maybe I'll save it, we'll see. One thing I would like to add here, it's really annoying how you can't smell any of the baby products in the store since they always have that safety seal. So if you want to purchase anything baby-related, you have to just take a leap of faith. I've always wondered why it was OK for adult bath products to go unsealed while baby products are blocked from the world until after purchase. I suppose some things will never change, even if it is a mild source of frustration.

Strawberry-frosted Pop Tarts. I like cherry-frosted better. But I always pick cherry over strawberry for everything anyway so no surprise there. DR just didn't have them, so I went with these. This will be an exciting new addition to my breakfast routine this week, so I'm looking forward to it. I don't think there's much else I need to say. We've all had them, and I'm pretty sure we all like them.

Dial Daily Care Antibacterial Hand Soap with Aloe. So it's my turn to get the soap for our community bathroom, well, sort of. The weird thing is, everyone in my apartment has purchased their own hand soap. So we have 3 at our sink right now. I mean, I guess it's nice to have the backup option, but it's also just kinda funny/ridiculous. So for my personal contribution I went for the Aloe version. I bought the Melon-scented last time because I thought I remembered liking it at one point, but I was wrong. It wasn't great. So since I've been washing my hands a lot more often as of late (due to the humidity and the stickiness of the city in the summer), I had to go with something soothing/moisturizing. The scent is very boring, like a hand soap you would find in your aunt's powder room, but it will get the job done. In a soft and soothing way.

And lastly, I purchased Betty Crocker Warm Delights Fudgy Chocolate Chip Cookie because I wanted a snack for HGTV's Design Star finale. I haven't even watched any of the shows this season, but I figured I would watch the finale and then catch a marathon of the rest of the season sometime this week. But anyways, I introduced these to Susan last year and it was a big hit! It's basically like having a serving size of fresh warm cake. In NY, it seems that they only sell limited kinds, so I can't get my absolute favorite - Cinnamon Swirl Cake. But since I was feeling burned out on ice cream, I think this will be a nice change of pace for an evening snack.

Skin Firming

I really love Bliss products. The last time I was at their spa they gave me a sample of FatGirlSleep. I had seen their fatgirl product before but had never tried a cellulite buster. But I got into a bind with a cancelled flight and was out of body lotion. Luckily in the move I had saved this sample. I tried it and loved it. It's really heavy on the lavender scent - for the "sleep" part, but I love lavender products. It was really thick, but I even felt like it tightened my skin the moment I put it on. Maybe that was my imagination from exhaustion but seriously it was that good! I put it all over, so I don't know if I was just supposed to target my legs or what. I would consider buying a full size of this lotion. That was my first experience with skin firming lotions but since it was so great I bought a Jergens Skin Firming Lotion the other day. It was cheaper and has a nice clean scent. It will work as an everyday lotion, but I don't feel like it's doing quite the same job as fatgirlsleep.

Drugstore Shampoos

I feel as though we've been talking a lot about shampoo lately, and I would just like to thrown in an additional comment.
I'm kind of a shampoo snob, i.e. my favorites are Aquage, Sudzz FX, Matrix, Halo, etc, which, unfortunately, are all expensive. So to offset the expense, I like to have a nice drugstore shampoo in my shower at all times. Sunsilk Hydra TLC is my favorite. It makes my hair so soft! And I really can't resist the scent. I love it. So if you're in the market for a cheap but effective shampoo, give this a try! What is everyone else's favorite drugstore shamp?

Target Run

Last Thursday I made a Target run before going to the beach. The results are below.




Neutrogena can be a brand people really love. Also a brand moms really love. I've never really loved their face stuff, but I do love their hand creams and sunscreen. I feel like they really do the job. Dermatologist recommended, Norewegian formula = really tough. I've always loved the regular Hand Cream because it's really thick and in the winter, it really heals dry skin. The problem is it can feel heavy on first application even though it stays on after subsequent washings. I love it, so you can imagine my delight when I discovered this new Fast Absorbing Hand Cream. I don't know how "new" it is, but this is the first time I've seen it. Anyways, it's great! Really light, and on a purely visual level - I love the lighter blue color on the bottle. The smell was the final win over for me. I really liked it, and it feels really summery to me. It's a great addition to my nightstand.






Continuing on my Neutrogena trend, I needed some sunblock for this weekend. I went for Neutrogena's Ultra Sheer Dry Touch Sunblock. I'm really pale so I seriously considered the SPF 85. But I toned it down a bit and played it safe with the 55. The first day with it was fine, but I did get a little red the second day. Which - I think was my fault because I was swimming a lot and didn't reapply as much as I should have. I like the feel of this because it doesn't go on as greasy as most sunscreens - I'm thinking this is the "dry-touch". Also, this has helioplex. I don't know what that means, but it's fun to say.








I needed some new shampoo because I'm running low on the L'Oreal pink Nutri Shine I have. Lindsey, I know you aren't as big of a fan, but I really like it because it makes my hair feel really soft. Then I ran into the new Dove shampoo lines. I'm not familiar with the Go Fresh line because I just like the original or the exfoliating soap lines. I decided to go for the Dove Shine Therapy shampoo because I was in the market for a new Shine shampoo, and they were practically out of this line. That's gotta mean it's popular right?? The only thing that put me off was the brown bottle - it doesn't scream "shine" to me. But they didn't even have the conditioner so I don't even know what I'm missing out on. I really do love the shampoo and the smell. So far it works great. I can't wait to get the conditioner to see the total results.


To end my trip I went with a Burt's Bees Lotion. I needed one, but also I had just been to a friends house, and her house is loaded with Burt's Bees products because her boyfriend used to work for them. Maybe I just wanted in on the Burt's Bees action? I was really just swayed by the new organic part of Target that I'd never seen before. I really love Dr. Bronner's Soaps - the lavender one was on sale in travel-size! But I have a lot of that stuff so I decided to get a full-size Burt's Bees. I went with the Soothingly Sensitive Aloe & Buttermilk Lotion because it smelled good, and I thought it'd be good for the beach. It's a little bit thin as far as I'm concerned - I like lotions that go on a bit more thick, I feel like it's really working if it's more thick. But after using it for a few nights, it's growing on me. The smell is good for bed, and I'm getting used to the consistency.







Something that caught my attention as I was leaving: Softlips. I used to love this stuff in middle school. They were really thin! They smelled good! Hard to resist in 7th grade. I got a dual pack - 1 tube of vanilla, 1 tube of their new rose tint balm. There is a bronze tint as well. I'm usually not a vanilla fan, but it takes me back to middle school when Vanilla Bean was the scent everyone used. It's kind of bland, but nice. I enjoy the rose tint as a summer edition to my lip balms.

Here's the thing I like about Vavoom! (referenced in my previous post below) - it's totally old school, like really 80's, but in a good nostalgic way (which is rare for things from the 80's). It reminds me of those old advertisements that would be posted in a salon with a lot of pink marble. Naturally, it brings mouse or hairspray to top-of-mind, but I must say, the product line really evolved in the late 90's and they put together this really great little styling shampoo and conditioner. I mean, the lady at this salon in Seville, Ohio - Reflections, I believe? ( A lot of baskets and fake ivy is what I remember) - had me at first wash with this terrific shampoo. Now, I wasn't a very demanding 14 yr old, I HAD TO HAVE this shampoo/conditioner set upon my departure from the salon that day. It smelled like fresh melon and summer and not-so-coincidentally like the Peter Thomas Roth shower gel. I thought it was discontinued, but luckily I ran into it again about 3 years ago. This was the last time I saw it in the store, and I still had some of the conditioner from that purchase in my bathroom closet at home but I had to throw it away cause I think it fermented. So if you see this anywhere, let me know!

Summer Buffin'...Had Me A Blast

While we're talking Peter Thomas Roth here, I wanted to express how much I enjoy the Botanical Buffing Beads body wash (the blue one). This is the perfect summer shower gel, because it just has a nice light scent that leaves you feeling clean and refreshed. Perfect after a day in the gravel pits or the streets of NY. The scent is kind of like an old Vavoom! shampoo I used to use that was discontinued, so it fills that void nicely. Scent-wise, I think it has the same general effect as if you use a Lever 2000 or an Irish spring bar, but it's little less masculine. And, it has little buffing beads! Fun!

I went to two Sephora's in the past week and could not find this kind outside of the mini PTR tester-kit. I asked an incompetent employee if they had it and she pointed me to the actual scrub. After I explained to her that this wasn't it, she guessed that it was discontinued. I don't think so, it's still on their website. I will have to do a little more detective work here. But to sum it all up, this is a great summer s-gel. I guarantee it will make your shower experience very refreshing!

Sunscreen - What's Your Fave?

Now that summer is in full blast, I think it is safe to assume that we have all been spending some time in the sun. Which makes me wonder, what is everyone's sunblock of choice? A few weeks ago, as I was preparing to go to Telluride for their annual Bluegrass concert I found myself at Sephora looking for a snobby sunscreen. I figured the more money I spent, the better the quality. I'm not sure why that was my logic, but just go with it. Anyway, I ended up purchasing Peter Thomas Roth Continuous Sunscreen Mist SPF 30 ... I figured the mist would be perfect for a music festival full of hippies. Well I think it was a good idea in theory, but I had some uneven sprays. One night when I got home, I found some weird burns. Sephora says: "The lightweight formula has a fresh scent and absorbs quickly with no need for rubbing" -- this I am going to have to disagree with. There is a need for rubbing, unless you want weird uneven burns. However, the scent is fresh. I gave it another chance the other day at my company's golf outing. Now that I was experienced with the mist, I knew to rub it in a little. And guess what....no burns! This time it worked! So if you want a snobby mist sunscreen, I would say that this is a good one. Just remember to rub in a little to even it out!