Not really a shill

I love the magazine Real Simple, and I’ve had a subscription to it for a couple of years. My mother says it’s just another women’s magazine and maybe that’s true, although Kent reads this one every month and I don’t think he would read Family Circle or Woman’s Day. He’s said before he wishes that there were an equivalent version for men that covered similar topics except for men.

So the point of even mentioning the magazine is last month’s issue, which had an article about extending the effects of various spa treatments so you’d really get your money’s worth. I generally don’t go to a spa, although if I were rolling in the dough I’d get a massage every week. I’ve had three facials in my life. I liked them a lot and loved how my skin felt afterward, but the cost in time and money was more than I could personally justify. So this article intrigued me—maybe I could take some of these ideas and just do more at home? Of course the article (as with most articles in Real Simple) is all about product placement; still over the few years I've been reading the magazine, I've found their recommendations to be generally quite good. While I am very good about using a quality face cleanser (cannot say enough good things about Purity, which also takes off your eye make-up), and I exfoliate once a week and use a moisturizer with sunscreen in it, I still don't always know what's out there and don't want to spend my money on things that might end up being useless. But the recommendations also spelled out why these products were recommended, so I figured I would give these ideas a try.

And that’s what I did. First the article recommended using a toner that contains salicylic acid to help keep the smoothness you get with a facial. I scouted around and found Biore had one for like $6, so that was a good budget find. The article also recommended using Olay Regenerist Microdermabrasion & Peel System, which was $25 at my pricey Boston CVS. Well OK that’s a little more but I thought I would give it a try. I’ve used three times (once a week) and I must say it really does smooth out my skin. The article also recommended some heavy-duty moisturizers but my skin is still pretty oily so I just ignored that suggestion.

So there you go—I’ve found some products I really like and they were budget-friendly too. For less than $35, I'm getting elements of a facial every week.