Monday, October 24, 2011

Confessions of a Product Whore, or, these Boots are made for shopping

My love for the combination of my Clarisonic Mia and Cetaphil cleanser continues. It's keeping my skin clean, clear, and soft.  My other skin products are making me happy, too.

But no matter how happy I am with my current regimen, I can't resist the lure of new beauty products. This is particularly true when I travel and see stuff I can't find in the States. Which explains the £200 I spent at Boots when I was in England last August.

That's the equivalent of $350. What can I say? Product junkies are like sharks. We must keep moving forward or we die.

So anyway, here's some of the additions I made to my batterie de toilette. Heh. To start off, I got a pot of German Nivea.


I have no idea why German Nivea is supposed to be so much better than the Nivea you get in America, which is made in Mexico. But it has become kind of cult-y. Bloggers and reviewers on Makeup Alley and Amazon are claiming it's as effective as Crème de la Mer, which costs $165/oz. All I know is that my grandmother used Nivea Skin Oil and had beautiful skin, so into the basket it went. And I love it. It's much fluffier than Eucerin, but just as wonderful for soothing super dry skin.

I also bought a bottle of Therapist's Secret Facial Oil, from the Sanctuary Spa line carried at Boots. It's a mixture of many different pure oils: sunflower seed, rosehip, wheat germ, and jojoba seed, with some essential oils of rose and frankincense, which leaves it smelling like midnight mass on Christmas Eve.





It's meant to be used a drop at a time, alone or as a first layer under your regular moisturizer. It's fantastic, especially considering how dry my skin is getting now that the weather is getting chilly.

I also bought a pot of The Secret is Out Lift Lift & Repair Night Cream by Dr. Nick Lowe:

I picked it out because I was pretty sure I couldn't get it in the States. Also, it has Sodium Hyaluronate, Hexapeptide-9, various anti-oxidant fruit ingredients--but no retinols or acids. Because I wanted a nice moisturizing cream that didn't make me peel. More on that later.

Oh, and in my States side wanderings, I picked up a bottle of DHC Mild Touch Cleansing Oil at a local branch of Mitsuwa, a big Japanese grocery store chain.







When I'm wearing RuPaul levels of spackle, I like to double cleanse--one step to dissolve the makeup and another go to get clean. This oil is great at dissolving and rinsing away makeup as a first step before I use the Clarisonic with Cetaphil.

Mindless extravagance or canny shopping? You be the judge in my next post, when I reveal my plans for these products.

8 comments:

  1. Isn't Nivea made internationally with the same patented ingredients?

    How interesting that it rivals Creme de la Mer and at a fraction of the price!

    Let us know if you find out about the ingredients of German Vs. American Nivea.

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  2. love new product. seriously. I have bottles and bottles of half used creams because I just can't seem to use one up before I buy the next.

    sigh.

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  3. I always buy Nivea when I'm overseas.
    I don't know how it's different, but it is.

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  4. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  5. I lurve Nivea. It's always the best....

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  6. Wait, I am going to check where my Nivea is made ...
    well, I think in Milano

    Now I am lost

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  7. Great article. Loved the comparison to sharks!

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  8. Boots always gets my money when I am overseas! I love their Boots Anitbacterial Wipes with Tea Tree Oil...they smell so great.They have an online site too (boots.com), but it's not as much fun. But you are in Chicago, and Merz Apothecary (http://www.merzapothecary.com) carries quite a few of those items you may be looking for, without the added exchange rate. They were located in Macy's on State, but moved earlier this year to the Palmer House. You can also purchase from them online at smallflower.com

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xxx, Poppy.