Spider Woman

The health fairy hasn't been kind to my cousin. 50 years old, she's been on oxygen and cortisone 24/7 for decades. She doesn't consider herself alluring, but what eyelashes! At a recent visit, I couldn't help noticing her lashes; they looked downright "spidery," they were so long and curly. "Awesome lashes," I told her, thinking she had on over-the-top false lashes, the kind worn by drag queens. "My doctor has me on eye drops for glaucoma," she explained. "Now my lashes are growing out of control; they squish into my eyeglasses." I asked if she'd heard that a side effect of glaucoma drops is lash growth. "My ophthalmologist never mentioned that, but knowing it now is a big relief," she said. I also told her how a few beauty companies had illegally used the drug in OTC lash growth products, until the FDA got wind of it. Tempted to ask if I could try her eye drops, instead I offered to trim her lashes for her; she refused to let me.

Although this seemingly miraculous lash growth is no longer attainable over-the- counter, Allergan (maker of Lumigan, the eye drops for glaucoma) just introduced Latisse, the first and only FDA approved prescription drug for growing longer, fuller lashes. In a clinical trial, lashes typically grew 25 percent longer, 106 percent thicker and 18 percent darker.

Parting ways with your lash curler and never fussing with mascara again is a convenient concept, but unless you already indulge in professional lash extensions or you wear mink eyelashes like Madonna does, the $120 price tag for a monthly dose of Latisse might seem extravagant. If so, plump your peepers the old fashioned way: In a recent review in Consumer Reports Shop Smart Magazine, Lancome Paris Definicils, $24, got the highest marks. The runner up: Max Factor Lash Perfection Volume Couture, $7. Honorable mentions include Maybelline Defin-A-Lash, $8 and L'Oreal Telescopic Clean Definition, $9.

It's Crazy to Pay Retail These Days

One benefit to today's economy -- at least for consumers -- is big retail markdowns. These days it's crazy to pay full price for anything.
H & M is offering buy 3 items, get 50% off lowest price, with a coupon at www.hm.com/us.
Target has Isaac Mizrahi at 50% off, including cashmere sweaters starting at $12.49.
At Barney's annual warehouse sale, regular prices are cut 50-75% thru March 1. (255 West 17th Street, NY, NY)
Forever 21 features daily 21 specials -- 20% off 21 items -- in-store and on their website, forever21.com. Bigger bargains include a sleeveless satin top, $7.50.

Product Safety Savvy

Price doesn’t determine quality in beauty and personal care products. In fact, some pricey products are produced by tiny companies that lack the self-monitoring, quality control and product safety capabilities of big corporations. Turns out you may be better off with brands from giants like Revlon or P & G.

Truth is, with any cosmetic or personal care product, the FDA doesn't require cosmetic and personal care companies to test their own products for safety. "Under federal law, companies can put virtually anything into personal care products, and many of them do. Mercury, lead, and placenta extract —these and other hazardous materials are in products that millions of Americans, including children, use every day," says Jane Houlihan, Vice President of Research at EWG (Environmental Working Group).

EWG is petitioning Congress to turn this around and make personal care products safe. In the meantime, you can check products you use for safety at cosmeticsdatabase.com, a database with information on nearly 25,000 personal care products.

Dry Skin Rx: Less expensive moisturizing products deliver.

Dry, chapped skin is nearly epidemic this time of year, induced by winter's chill and indoor heating. Fortunately the solutions for smoothing and softening needn’t cost a bundle. In fact, products dermatologists recommend most are inexpensive and available in your local supermarket or chain drug store.

Cleanser: Cetaphil is a non-irritating moisturizing cleanser, recommended by dermatologists for sensitive skin, acne, rosacea, dermatitis, eczema and other conditions. This lotion is so gentle it’s safe for use on a newborn baby! It's also probably the world's least expensive makeup remover. Unlike soap, Cetaphil is non-comedogenic, and fragrance free (16 oz, apx. $11.50). Compare to Clinique Rinse-Off Foaming Cleanser (5 oz. apx. $18.50).

Rough skin smoother: What makes AmLactin® 12% Moisturizing Lotion a cure for rough heels, cracked skin, callouses, elephant-hide elbows and other skin conditions is a high concentration of lactic acid, an exfoliant that helps seal moisture into the skin. One reason Amlactin is so effective is its pH balance. The natural pH of the skin ranges between 4.5 to 5.5. "Detergents and cold, dry weather strip away this protective barrier; once it's breached, the skin cells pull away from each other, allowing moisture to escape and the result is flaky, sensitive, itching skin," says dermatologist Audrey Kunin. "Before the skin is broken, apply an active moisturizer containing lactic acid," she advises. Amlactin, 7.9 oz. apx. $17. Get a $2 off coupon at amlactin.com/coupon.lasso. Compare this product to B. Kamins Lactic 8, 1 oz. apx. $38.

Clean Out Your Closet For A Profit

Who wouldn’t love to update a wardrobe without spending a dime and help save the planet by recycling? To do, make money by selling or trading clothes and accessories you’re tired of at the Buffalo Exchange. Clothing and accessories are bought, sold and traded directly with store customers and you can bring in your former favorites for trade or cash on the spot. The ever-changing inventory includes designer wear, vintage, jeans, leather, basics, one-of-a-kind and brand new items. Visit www.buffaloexchange.com for locations nationwide, with the newest store in the East Village in NYC at 332 E. 11th Street, (212) 260-9340.

At Buffalo Exchange, now through Earth Day you can recycle your real fur apparel, accessories and shearling (even if it’s in poor condition) by donating it to Coats for Cubs, at Buffalo Exchange locations. Used furs provide bedding and comfort to orphaned and injured wildlife. To claim a tax deduction, mail your fur directly to Coats for Cubs, The Humane Society of the United States, 2100 L St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20037.

Check Store Websites Before Shopping in Real Time

Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one on the cashier line at Macy's who isn't holding a Savings Pass coupon (so I end up paying full price). Now you needn't rummage through the Sunday newspaper or hope a Savings Pass arrives in the mail, since many stores are offering printable Savings Passes on their websites. For example, for President's Week Sales, log onto macys.com to printout a Savings Pass for 10-15% off most purchases from 2/11 thru 2/16. Lordandtaylor.com's Savings Pass is even better: 20% off most purchases from 2/11 to 2/17.

Free Cultural Events, Free Workouts for Kids and Seniors

Now that the weather is warming up, consider free ways to get fit and cultured at cityparksfoundation.org in NYC ... or check your local parks department website to see what's free in your 'hood.

Free kids lessons: CityParks Golf offers free golf lessons to kids ages 6 to 17, in public parks and on citywide courses. Free use of equipment is available at all lessons.
Geezer workouts: City Parks Foundation CityParks Seniors Fitness offers free tennis lessons, yoga instruction, and fitness walking for people 60+ in nine parks across the city.
Cultural events: Last year City Parks Foundation offered 38 free concerts, 45 free dance performances, 24 nights of free theater, four weeks of free theater workshops for teens and five weekends of free dance master classes for communities across the city. Check their website for event listings for '09.

Best Beauty Appliance Buys

I've been writing for Consumer Reports Shop Smart, a magazine worth subscribing to if you are out to make the best buy on all your purchases.
Reason: Not only does it report on bargain buys (and items to avoid); products are tested/rated by consumers and the magazine uses the same experts and testing capabilities as Consumer Reports.
Blow dryers and flatirons are one beauty category you can spend a bundle on. In the January '09 issue, Shop Smart reports that despite difference in price and wattage, blow drying time doesn't vary much between the products they tested, and if speed is key, shelling out a lot doesn't pay.
Factoring in noise and other features, Revlon Ionic Ceramic Pro Stylist RV484, $20, is their pick as a bargain buy. If you want to make a smart spluge, consider the CHI Pro Dryer GF1505, $135.

Straightening Irons: Revlon Perfect Heat Ceramic RVST2001C, $30, is the best bargain buy. For a splurge, try Conair Infiniti Nano Silver SS9, $100.

Feel Rich When You’re Not ... You can still live it up: Half Price Drinks and/or Free Bar Food

If you won’t be dining at Ducasse (or anywhere else) anytime in the near future, you needn’t sit at home eating Chinese takeout. At the poshest places, happy hour is the new dinner. The holy grail of happy hours? Half price on drinks and bar food (and you needn’t patronize a dive/old man’s bar). Free hors d'oeuvres with your $14 martini is another wallet friendly option. Now, some upscale restaurants offer the best happy hours in town.

Chinatown Brasserie, in the East Village: this celebrity hot spot caters to the rich and famous, but their best-kept secret is half price dim sum and deep discounts on wine and specialty drinks, 5pm-7pm.

Alligator Lounge in Williamsburg, Brooklyn: after 6pm, buy a drink and get a free brick oven pizza.

Rock ‘n Sake (locations in Chelsea and in Port Washington): 5:30pm-7:30pm, Mon-Fri, a decent glass of Chardonnay is under $4; a large sake is $4 in Port Washington, $5 in Manhattan. Happy hour bar menu includes crab shumai, shrimp tempura, sushi rolls and sesame chicken for $3-$4.

The Big Easy, on the Upper East Side: Wednesday’s endless happy hour runs from 5pm- 4am, including $2 mixed drinks and $6 pitchers of Bud Lite.

Common Ground in the East Village: appetizers are two-for-one, apple martinis and cosmos are $5 and a Yuengling is $2, from 4pm-8 p.m.

Black Bear Lodge in Gramercy Park: $3 margaritas everyday until 7pm.

Sweetwaters in Hauppauge, Long Island: half price drinks and complimentary hors d'oeuvres, Mon.-Fri, 3:34pm-6:45pm.

DIY Facial: Get Glowing

If having a pro massage, squeeze, peel and smooth your face for an hour is currently too pricey a luxury, flawless skin is a self-slough away. From Sephora to Stop & Shop, the market is saturated with at-home microdermabrasion products promising to beautify your complexion. Reasonably priced products like Olay Regenerist Microdermabrasion and Peel System, $27, get high marks from both consumers and experts ... and they make sense financially. Although it can't replace a medical or spa esthetician wielding high tech instruments, a DIY facial is a good deal, considering that a professional treatment starts at about $150.

Many clothes labeled "dry clean" wash beautifully

Cutting back on dry cleaning saves you a bundle, and many items labeled "dry clean" can be washed and air dried. Clothing manufacturers will recommend "dry clean" on a label if it’s the best way to care for the garment, but it also means that you can probably wash the item carefully at home. According to the Federal Trade Commission, many items including cashmere sweaters are mislabeled Dry Clean Only when in fact they may be washable.

I've put this to the test: For decades, except for lined wool or silk suits, coats or blazers labeled "dry clean only" I dry clean my family's new garments labeled "dry clean" the first few times they need cleaning; after that I hand wash or toss them in the washing machine with great results. (I wouldn't risk this with big ticket Gucci, Chanel or Prada originals; I'm referring to more moderately priced pieces that cost under $200). Consider this: Once you have spent nearly as much dry cleaning a garment as you paid to buy it, do you continue to invest in professional cleaning or take a risk by hand washing or machine washing it? From my experience, the risk pays off; even wool lined pants from Express and silk shirts from Ann Taylor launder beautifully on a cool gentle cycle, and wool and cashmere sweaters from Lord & Taylor that I hand wash still look like new.

Dry cleaning at home: home dry cleaning kits let you launder your delicates in a clothes dryer, and this way you avoid perc, the potentially dangerous chemical solvent used by a majority of commercial dry cleaners . Using Clorox FreshCare or P&G Dryer, you can clean 16 garments for about what you'd pay for one garment to be professionally dry cleaned.

Exception: Tackling a stained garment is best left to a professional dry cleaner.

SHOP FOR UP TO 80% OFF!

Christabelle's Closet - a web based designer resale boutique, offers savings up to 80% off retail store prices on designer duds, from Chanel to Dior, Pucci to Prada, and many more. Portion of profits goes to The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research. christabellescloset.com

Free Reads: Swap, Download, e-Reads

Buying new books isn't budget savvy if there's a chance you might be reading a pink slip soon, but bargains abound:
Second hand: Gently used bestsellers in great condition are three for $12 at Artists & Fleas in Williamsburg.
Barter: At paperbackswap.com, trade what you’ve read for what you'd like to read, for the price of the postage. Over 35,000 trades take place at the site, which functions like a book club, with member participation.
Download: You can download eBooks and audio books for free through the NY Public Library at ebooks.nypl.org. HarperCollins is offering free electronic editions of some of its books (browseinside.harpercollins.com).
Wireless: Get on line for the Kindle by Amazon.com (proclaimed one of Oprah's "favorite things," it's back-ordered for months). The sharp, high-resolution screen looks and reads like real paper, and after you shell out $359 to buy the device, New York Times® Best Sellers and New Releases are $9.99, unless marked otherwise. You can also download and read first chapters for free before you decide to buy.

Free Comedy, Gym Passes, Half Off Beauty

Complimentary Comedy: Sign up for goldstar.com alerts for deep entertainment discounts including free tickets to comedy nights (such as Cannoli and Cabbage: Irish/Italian/Catholic Comedy Night at the Broadway Comedy Club). Great discounts on theater, sporting events and local tourist attractions.

Money saving makeup: Live in or near NYC? If so, you have access to major beauty markdowns (up to 50% off) at company stores in midtown Manhattan including Avon, Estee Lauder, Clinique, Bobbi Brown, Armani, Lancôme and Ralph Lauren. The catch: you must be chaperoned by a company employee (sort through facebook and LinkedIn to find friends or friends of friends who work there).

Free fitness: If you need to put your Equinox membership on hold and/or part ways with your personal trainer in an effort to cut costs, consider becoming a gym-hopper: Print out 1-3 day guest passes to hundreds of health clubs, Pilates and yoga studios at www.gymsearch.net and see how long you can continue to workout for free.

People Style Watch Skin Conflict

February People Style Watch magazine has some great money saving fashion and beauty deals. Too bad the beauty feature, "Your Skin Problems Solved," promotes products put out by a few of the dermatologists listed in the "Expert Panel" for the feature. Is the advice in the reader's best interest or the dermatologists? What's your opinion?

Longing for a Gucci bag or Chanel bling?

Feel you currently can't afford luxuries? Rent them!

Netflix for bags and bling: Tote a Louis Vuitton Speedy and drape yourself in Chanel bling from bagborroworsteal.com.

An A-list stylist: Wardrobe NYC rents frocks from Zac Posen, Chloé, Stella McCartney and more. www.wardrobe-nyc.com

A genuine status watch: Rent a Rolex from blingyourself.com.

Free books: On PaperBackSwap.com, trade books for free.

A fresh batch of toys: www.babyplays.com lets you rent the impeccably clean toys for as long as you like, then return them for a new batch.

Haute Hair

Wish you could update your 'do with a superstar like Nick Arrojo, the hair maven on TLC's What Not To Wear? If the $500.00 fee is a deterrent, yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus: You can experience a Nick Arrojo cut or color for $68, by an experienced "base level" stylist, trained in his cutting/styling/makeover techniques. These stylists joined the salon with prior hairdressing experience and they have completed a two year apprenticeship. “Base level” stylists include Nicole, the second runner-up on Bravo's Shear Genius season 2. See bios of the base level stylists at http://www.arrojostudio.com/studio/featured/baselevelstylists.htm. A posh ‘do at this price sounds far fetched, considering other star-calibre NY Salons (including Warren Tricomi and Frederic Fekkai), charge $131 for cuts and $275 for highlights by junior stylists. Truth is, Julie, my budget/style savvy daughter (who, for the past year, got hair cuts and highlights for free as a hair model at Bumble & Bumble) discovered this Arrojo bargain and got gorgeous highlights for $68. She convinced me to join her for a haircut (we went to Rea) and the compliments have been coming ever since.

There is Treasure in Your Jewelry Box

According to Money magazine, for real gold and other fine jewelry, you can get more than double what you would have gotten five years ago. Today gold is up, at around $850 per ounce.

I felt so bad when I noticed the diamond was missing from my engagement ring. The prongs that secured the stone had deteriorated, so even the 18K gold setting was unsalvageable. I added the ring to the other unusable items in my jewelry box ... several orphan gold earrings, a couple of knotted gold chains, some tarnished silver bracelets, and a gold and opal ring a long forgotten boyfriend gave me when I was 16 inscribed "Love, Richie".

As a freelance writer, I receive press releases from e-sites that buy gold. I googled the topic and I read a feature written by a reporter who sent her jewelry to several online sites that buy gold. The place that paid her the most was usgoldbuyers.com. But why ship my gold to a website address, when I have easy access to the famed 47th Street Jewelry District. Turns out, usgoldbuyers.com is based on 47th street, so I stuffed my tattered gold and silver in a ziplock bag and headed there. (My husband said selling jewelry seemed pathetic, but I wasn't pawning family heirlooms; my measly stash was basically junk).

When I arrived at 62 West 47th Street, the receptionist said: go in Room B and close the door. I found myself in a small enclosure with a plate glass window. A man appeared on the other side and directed me to slip my goods into the sliding drawer. He scraped and dabbed and weighed my jewelry, then he showed me a list with the current market prices and the pennyweights of my 18K gold, my 14K gold and my sterling silver. "$306.59, but we'll round it off to $307," he offered. "Ok," I replied, trying to hide my enthusiasm. "Cash or check?" he asked. I took the cash, stuffed it into a pocket, and left the building with a major smile. My skeptical husband was happy to help me spend my newfound funds.

Since the value of gold is extremely high, this is a great time for you to see what's hiding in your jewelry box. If you want more information, please contact me.

Excessive Sweating Ruining Your Life?

Are you a sweaty girl? Do you avoid overheated clubs and parties or make fashion fabric/style choices accordingly? Now you can put an end to pit stains with BOTOX injections, an FDA-approved treatment for excessive underarm sweating that might be covered by your health insurance.

Recently, I was invited to a press briefing where I watched NYC dermatologist Doris Day inject botox into a woman’s armpits (she said it was painless) and heard first-hand stories about how these Botox treatments dramatically improved their quality of life.

However if you’re looking for less invasive options, you'll find long lasting sweat-stoppage with an old standby: Mitchum Solid Antiperspirant. For more severe sweating, Dr. Day recommends CertainDri , an OTC antiperspirant that offers 72 Hour Protection, or Drysol, a prescription antiperspirant you wear at night and wash off in the morning.

Botox certainly seems to be a sweat-stopping breakthrough for perpetual perspirers … when conventional treatments aren’t effective. But NYC dermatologist Deborah Sarnoff cautions that if your problem is more body odor than sweat related, up your hygiene efforts (if your skin and clothing are bacteria free they won’t be so odor-breeding).

Are there any awesome sweat solutions you’d like to share? If so we’d I'd love to hear about them.

Best kept beauty secrets: Drug store skin care products are comparable to or better than Perricone, Murad, Clinique, etc

“My patients are disbelieving, when I tell them Olay’s Regenerist Night Serum measures up to the priciest dermatologist wrinkle fighters and it is as good as and has the same active ingredient as the much sought after StriVectin, at $135 a tube,” says Joely Kaufman, MD.

Does Doctor Know Best? Are dermatologist's products better?

Celebrity dermatologists such as Nicholas Perricone captivated a niche of women willing to spend hundreds on cosmeceuticals for the promise of eternally youthful skin. The latest physicians-turned-cosmetologist trend is mainstreaming doctor-brands by partnering with big companies that buy and sell in volume and keep retail prices low, so now inexpensive offerings are as close as the corner drugstore.

Great skin shouldn’t be a luxury. “That price determines quality is a beauty industry induced misconception, so my credo is Dermocracy, all skin created equal.” says Patricia Wexler, MD, New York’s most sought after beauty doc (Her $500 consultation requires a six month wait). Her skin care line, Patricia Wexler MD, is sold at Bath & Bodyworks.

In a similar fashion, Yale University dermatologist Jeffrey Dover teamed with CVS for his anti-aging line, Skin Effects by Dr. Jeffrey Dover. “CVS, the world’s largest drug chain, allows me access to the best ingredients, chemists and packaging that money can buy,” he says. “I could sell 1,000 bottles of wrinkle serum for $100@ at Sephora or 10,000 bottles of the same exact product for $10@ through CVS, and I prefer women pay less.”

Are dermatologist’s products better? “Dermatologists know what helps the skin and what doesn’t,” says Deborah Sarnoff, MD, Associate Clinical Professor, Department of Dermatology, NYU Medical Center. Yet if a skin care product really works miracles -- or at least does what a dermatologist can do with lasers and injectables – it would be classified as a drug and not a cosmetic. Like all “cosmeceuticals,” doctor’s products don't require FDA approval and needn't prove their claims, so there’s a lot of puffery in ads and on packaging.

So there’s no guarantee a doctor’s product is superior. “While some brands claim to use unique technology or stronger formulations, there is a ceiling on how much active ingredient you can add to any product without making it unappealing or irritating to the skin,” Dr. Sarnoff explains. “There are also only so many buzz word ingredients … antioxidants, hydroxy acids, enzymes, peptides -- and the latest and greatest are used in dermatologist and regular products today.

Joely Kaufman, MD, Director of the Aging and Geriatric Skin Center, University of Miami School of Medicine, agrees. “A dermatologist may not be able to offer more in a jar than popular brands like Neutrogena or Olay,” she says. Yet she notes exceptions such as Sheldon Pinnell, MD, of Duke University, founder of Skinceuticals: “He discovered that topical vitamin C, formulated as L-ascorbic acid, provides antioxidant protection against skin damage and aging from the sun, which is about the most you can expect from an OTC skin care product today,” she explains.

Dermatologists have a hard time competing with the technology behind giants like Neutrogena, Olay and Estee Lauder, with hundreds of experts at research facilities world wide. Since compounding a cosmeceutical from scratch is complex, many dermatologists sell an existing product with a personalized label, and a consumer can’t differentiate if the doctor actually formulated it.

Named or not, dermatologists help formulate just about every skin care line anyway, a protocol that originated in 1968, when NY dermatologist Norman Orentreich developed the Clinique brand for Estee Lauder.

“The consensus seems to be that you needn’t spend a bundle to get good skin care, unless you believe a product works better if it costs more,” says Dr. Kaufman. “People tend to think they’re getting more when they pay more, but much of the price tag of an expensive product is related to marketing and packaging, not to the actual contents,” she adds. “If you compare labels you’ll find products on the market with the exact same active ingredients, yet one sells for $20 and the other is $120.”

It’s human nature to put more trust in a brand that has a doctor’s credibility behind it. Bottom Line: If you have more faith in a dermatologist’s brand chances are you’ll use it more, and if price has been a deterrent in the past, the new mass market doctor-brands fill a niche.