walgreens alpha-hydroxy face cream

i have stumbled across a hidden drugstore gem. i never would've found out about this product were i not an obsessive beauty blog reader. but someone (now i don't know who!) said that this face cream was cheap and amazing, which meant that i had to track it down because cheap and amazing are two of my favorite things. in fact, when my husband first met me he called me cheap and amazing. 


not really. 


are you curious yet? it's not even a name brand product! it's a walgreens brand cream spiked with alpha-hydroxy acid (or AHAs.... you know how i feel about AHA).

i call this a hidden gem because it's not available at every walgreens.... first i could only find it at one like 20 miles away from my house.... so i snatched it up! now i've seen it in multiple locations. but it's only $5.99!

because this cream has such a high level of AHAs, it works wonderfully for me. as i've said, i have "chicken skin" on the backs of my arms, and AHA is the only ingredient that helps. my old lotion (lubriderm) did ok at keeping the chicken skin at bay, but this stuff is on a whole different level! i apply it at night before bed, and wake up with smooth, silky arms! never in my life have i had smooth, silky arms. don't you love it when your old favorite is discontinued, only to find a new, better favorite? i do now.


yeah, i know, this is supposed to be a face cream. have i tried it on my face? yup, every night. has it made a noticeable difference in my skin? i think so. i don't really see any flakes on my face by the end of the day anymore (unless i use an acne spot treatment, which is a whole different story). so am i happy with this stuff? yes! will i take it with me on all of my little trips this summer? yes! will i cry if i can't find anymore? most definitely YES!

review: palmer's cocoa butter formula for dry, ashy skin

(yes, i know it's been a couple weeks since i last wrote.... so sorry! i've been super busy and stressed about my senior recital. pictures from that later! i'm feeling less stressed out now, so i couldn't wait to get back to my blog :)

ok ok, i know it's funny. why would a VERY WHITE girl like me need a lotion for ashy skin? actually, my husband thinks this is pretty darn hilarious. 

well, the reason i'm using this is because it contains AHAs, which keeps my chicken skin on my arms under control. my old favorite (lubriderm triple therapy lotion) is MIA. i've been to umpteen different drugstores, not to mention several targets and walmarts..... nothing. but ironically, at the walmart about a mile away from my house, i found another lotion with the same ingredient, that's even cheaper. score!

i believe it was less than $6. in a huge bottle. and just fyi, the bottle i bought doesn't have a slightly scandalous female form on the front :P.


so does it work as well as my lubriderm stuff? yes, i think so. it's really light and milky feeling. and i think it keeps the chicken skin away on the backs of my arms.


BUT....


the smell! oh my! it's very (as my husband said) pungent. so much so that he has stopped cuddling with me when we're trying to fall asleep. eep :S. so i guess i'm still looking for a new body lotion with AHA for my arms....

Review: Noxzema Plus Moisturizers

Because my face is so dry, I always wash it with something mild (like Cetaphil, or my Dial White Tea Hand Soap, which I wrote about earlier). But then I always worry that my face isn't actually getting clean. Like maybe I'm just rubbing warm water over my face every day. So, because of good reviews, I went out and bought Noxzema (hey, it was only $3 at Walmart!). I thought I'd be really tricky and buy the kind with moisturizers, that way my skin wouldn't know I was trying to deep clean it and dry it out. Alas, my efforts were to no avail. My skin didn't exactly feel dry and flaky like it does when I use something harsh, but it didn't feel good either.

When I got out of the shower and looked at my skin, I had magically morphed into a 48-year-old. My skin had moon craters for pores, and it felt kind of rough. But, it didn't exactly dry it out either. So confused. Maybe it just opened up all of my pores to get all the gunk out? Not sure. All I know is that it made my makeup look cakey that day. At any rate, I'm still using it a couple times a week, followed by my Lubriderm Advanced Therapy Triple Smoothing Body Lotion (phew, long name). Yes, it's body lotion, but it has AHA to "smooth dry, flaky skin", and I occasionally use it on my face and it really makes it look glowy and even. Hey, a lot of facial cleansers have AHA these days (aka glycolic acid), so I figure, what's the difference?

More about the Lubriderm tomorrow. As a body lotion, I mean.