Day 14: OK, this is how low we've sunk. Another makeup post.

Back when I wrote that "favorite cheap things" list, I said I'd do another one on cheap beauty stuff. Here you go.
I have good genes, and I've never been one to hang out in the sun, so I was well into my 40s before the inevitable began to happen. My first response was to panic and buy expensive stuff. But I'm not really into a complicated skin care routine, as they say, and I got tired of both the money and the 18 steps.

So at some point I bagged the spendy stuff and just started using things I had to hand. Six weeks later, my skin looked so much better. There are a couple of expensive things I use (remember the Lancôme foundation? that stuff is ridiculous, and now also Stila eye liner because it's the only thing I've found that stays on), but the rest of my skin care routine comes from the drugstore.

I'm not saying this will work for anyone else, because even at age 54, I still have oily skin. Not as oily as it used to be, but it's definitely oily. I can only use oil-free stuff or I break out. Still. At age 54, I'm still dealing with zits.

I remember reading somewhere that skin doesn't like change. The best thing is to find what you like and stick with it. If it's true, it explains why I'm still using this stuff 10 years later. I can actually freak out worrying that they're going to quit making one of my favorites.

(and they did quit making my night-time moisturizer just recently, damn it. I could write another three paragraphs about that, because do you know how hard it is to find oil-free night moisturizer? no, probably not, because apparently I'm the only one looking. I bought one this week in an effort to find a replacement, but even though it says oil-free on the label, when I got home I saw that the third ingredient is sesame oil. Really? who thinks to check if oil-free moisturizer has oil in it? NOT ME, apparently.)

Anyway, for what it's worth, here are the products I swear by: Basis Cleaner Clean face wash, Simple Soothing toner, Aveeno ultra-calming moisturizer, the late lamented Neutrogena Ageless Essentials Night cream (I still have one more stockpiled), and the little white pot is Burt's Bees royal jelly eye cream. Two of them are under $10, the other three are under $15.

I can't believe I'm writing this with all the serious stuff there is going on in the world. Again, I blame it on NaBloPoMo.

Do you have cheap favorites? and *hopes for miracle* do you know of an oil-free night moisturizer? (ie, no sunscreen, which of course makes me break out if I have it on overnight.)

There. Six posts, although since I'm writing this on Wednesday morning (before we catch our flight late this afternoon), it was six posts in three days instead of two. But still. I am really looking forward to having the rest of today and three more days off. The Sunday and Monday posts will probably not go up overnight, but they'll be up eventually.

Hope you're enjoying your weekend.