BillyKnowsBest

The Best Fragrance-Free Skin Care: Liiv Botanicals

Fragrance-free skincare presents a few challenges.  First of all, fragrance-free doesn't really mean scent-free.  Many of the ingredients in these products have a scent -- in fact, it's because of these scents -- often unpleasant in the case of anti-aging and therapeutic ingredients -- that fragrance is often added to skin care products.  Which means that fragrance-free skin products -- those without added fragrance -- are often either very basic in terms of their anti-aging efficacy, or sometimes unpleasant smelling.  Liiv Botanicals is a breakthrough new line of skin care products from Avon's Wellness group.  It's fragrance-free, dye-free and preservative-free, but most importantly, it feels great, smells great, and relies on a unique blend of plant-based ingredients (Fennel, Cucumber, Apple, Lemon, Camellia and Rose.) to provide anti-aging, skin caring properties.  Choose "representative delivery" and enjoy free shipping on your purchase through May 31, 2008.

Listerine Whitening Pre-Brush Rinse

Long-time BKB readers know I'm a little obsessed with oral hygiene.  The Braun Oral-B Triumph toothbrush was one of my very fist posts, and remains one of my "Billy Says Buy It" top picks.  So it surprised even me that I took so long to discover the Whitening Pre-Brush Rinse.  Here's why.  I already whiten my teeth, once or twice a year with bleaching trays.  So adding another step to my at-least-twice-daily brush-floss-gargle routine seemed unnecessary -- especially if the benefit was merely whitening.  I already have that covered.  But after one of my friend Gina's super dinner feasts, she offered me a swig of Listerine Whitening Pre-Brush Rinse to freshen my mouth.  That was all it took. I was hooked.  With alcohol and hydrogen peroxide among its ingredients, it's a super breath freshener and germ-killer.  But what sold me was the foaming action.  Those peroxide bubbles go to town, frothing in your mouth to dislodge food particles, and penetrate all those hard-to-clean areas around your teeth.  It's a new level of clean, and the results showed themselves in my last cleaning: significantly less bleeding while the hygienist probed and scraped.  Buy it online at drugstore.com, or pick up a cheaper generic version (as I do) from Rite Aid or CVS.

The Best Hairbrush: Sonia Kashuk for Target

My aunt Jan requested this one, and I remembered there was a head-to-head hairbrush comparison in last month's issue of Allure magazine.  The $14.99 Sonia Kashuk brush stands up bristle-to-bristle to the $137 Mason Pearson brush, the gold standard of hairbrushes.   Buy it online at target.com.

The Best Anti-Aging Skin Care

I've written before about many Avon products, and my experience selling them.  Anti-aging skincare is a huge and growing market, filled with an every growing number of products making a dizzying array of claims.  Here's what I've learned in the ten years I've been selling them.

1. Most of the benefit you'll get from any skincare regimen come from keeping your skin moisturized and protected from the sun - both UVB (measured by spf) and UVA, which causes aging and 65-90% of all skin cancers.  So the best anti-aging skin care is skin care is one you like enough to use every day, and that has a specific UVA block (Parsol 1789 (avobenzone) or Mexoryl (ecamsule).  That's the best place to start.

2. Skin is a living organ, and everyone's skin is different.  What works well for one person may not work for another, and vice-versa.  This was confirmed by Consumer Reports in their January 2007 review of skin care. Finding a skin care regimen that works for you may require some trial and error.

3. Price is not indicative of quality.  Consumer Reports also confirmed this.  Sure, that $500 Clé de Peau (yes, $500!) night cream might work miracles... but it's just as likely (maybe even more likely!) that a $25 Olay Regenerist cream would do the same.  I have an obvious bias for Avon's Anew brand skin care, based on my experience with the brand.  But if not Avon, I'd be using Olay or L'Oreal, not La Mer.

When Avon introduced alpha hydroxy acids to the US market back in 1992, it started a technology revolution in anti-aging skin care.  AHAs were the first ingredient that demonstrated a visible efficacy in reducing the signs of aging.  Since then, there have been many incremental advances.  The latest advance is the biggest since AHAs. Avon is once again first to market with a night cream that stimulates sirtuin and remodeling proteins in the skin.  Sirtuins are enzymes that extend the healthy life of cells.  Over 200 scientists at Avon worked for seven years, testing 125 different technologies to develop Anew Ultimate Age Repair Night Cream and Elixer.  Only one other product makes a similar claim about activating sirtuins in the skin:  Orlane Paris Global Anti Aging System.  While the Avon products, at $34 and $54 respectively, are the company's most expensive to date, the $750 price tag on Orlane's product makes them seem quite the bargain.    They're definitely worth trying if you're concerned about the visible signs of aging. Like all Avon products - they're 100% guaranteed, so if they don't work for you, just return them for a full refund or credit.

As for the daily moisturizer with UVA  protection , I'm currently recommending two:  My first choice is an Avon product:  Anew Alternative Photo Radiance Treatment.    The other is L'Oreal Skin Genesis.  Both are $25, though often on sale.

The Best Breast Cancer Fundraising Products: Save 2nd Base

As an Avon Representative, I'm very proud to be associated with the #1 corporate supporter of breast cancer research and health services, and I've sold my share of Pink Ribbon pins, pens and lipsticks.  (Other companies may get more publicity, but none have raised and granted more money than Avon.) Back in 1992, those Pink Ribbons served to raise awareness and money.  But today, they feel a little bit like just one more junky fund raising trinket.  That said, please go ahead and buy them anyway.  But the folks at Save 2nd Base have a clever concept that takes pink fund raising to a new level.  While the charity they support is not rated by Charity Navigator, their tongue-in-cheek, "pink with a wink" t-shirts give a second look to a disease that deserves all the attention it can get. $20 at Save2ndBase.com.

The Best Way to Remove Ticks: Ticked Off

If you've come to this page from a Google™ search, you won't have time to order one of these, though you might be able to run out and buy one at a local retailer.  If not, use a tweezer a grab the tick as close to its mouth parts (and the skin) as possible.  Pull slowly, gently and steadily, being careful not to squeeze the body of the tick.  When you're done, disinfect the skin, wash your hands, flush the tick down the toilet, and then order one of these:  Ticked Off is a little spoon with a small v-shaped opening that makes it easy to grab  ticks and pull them off pets or humans.  Simple and ingenious, it works brilliantly.  With the increasing incidence of tick-borne diseases, anyone with a dog, or who spends any time in the woods or other tick-infested areas should have one of these. 

It's$2.99 at     EntirelyPets.com.

The Best Online Source for Perfume and Cologne: Scentiful.com

Although I'm in the top 10% of Avon representatives nationwide, and sell a fair amount of Avon fragrances, I have yet to find one that I really love for myself.  I don't wear cologne often, and when I do, I tend to like very light, fresh, uncommon, citrus-y scents.  Most of these tend to be very expensive colognes that I have found at Neiman Marcus.  But I no longer buy them there. I buy them at big discounts online.  And the biggest discounts and broadest selection are at Scentiful.com, with free shipping on orders of $75 or more.  They carry Cacharel Pour L'Homme, a popular French fragrance not sold in the US that was my signature scent for nearly 20 years.  They also carry Eau d Hadrien by Annick Goutal, one of my all-time favorite scents(I got Bruce to wear it, though now that we're no longer together, I wear it sometimes myself), and  Un Jardin Sur la Nil by Hermès, my new favorite scent. 

Use coupon code 7788 for an additional $5 savings off orders of $50 or more, or through July 31 only, coupon code 8409 for an additional 12% savings.

The Best Ice Packs: FirstIce

I've written about heat wraps, but cold therapy can be just as important in relieving sprains, aches and soreness, especially within the first 24 hours of an injury.  Regular ice and gel packs and even plain ice can be too cold to apply directly to the skin without harming it, so bags of frozen peas became the gold standard of cold therapy for many years.  Finally, there's something better.  FirstIce freezes and refreezes into "snow" that stays at a comfortable and therputic 40 degrees for up to four hours.  Buy it online at FirstIce.com.

The Best Retailer for Nutritional Supplements: SupplementWarehouse.com

January is always "new year's resolution" season at the gym: the machines, classes and workout floor are overcrowded thanks to that most popular of new year's resolutions: to get in shape.  For many, this increased focus on fitness includes healthier eating, and nutritional suppliments.  I'm skeptical of most of the suppliment advertising promising harder leaner bodies from a pill, shake, or bar, though I admit, I still fall for their claims and indulge in the latest fitness suppliment craze every now and then.  At least, I can find comfort in the fact that I'm buying them at the lowest possible prices.  Supplementwarehouse.com has a unique price matching feature that I love.  As you add products into their online shopping cart, you can supply the URL of a competing website with the lowest prices you find, and they'll beat it by 5%.  Automatically.  Simply Google™ the product you're looking for, find the lowest price, and they'll beat it by 5%.  Do that for each product you order, and you can save a bundle on your fitness folly. 

The Best Antiperspirant: On Duty

This one came in as a reader request, and proves that there's no product too mundane for discussion, debate and recommendation.  I have to admit, I haven't used that many different products in this category, and Consumer Reports haven't tested them.  I'm very satisfied with Avon's On Duty, but here's what I've learned in researching the topic.  Some people get fine results from the Crystal Stick.  This product uses non-metalic salts to make your underarms inhospitable to the bacteria growth that causes odor.  The salts may also help absorb and dry a small amout of perspriation.  Most antiperspirants, on the other hand, temporarily block sweat ducts with an alumninum salt, preventing wetness, which also prevents bacteria growth and hence, odor.  If Aluminum Chlorohydrate, the active ingredient in On Duty and most other common antiperspirants doesn't work for you, try a product with Aluminum Zirconium (like Secret Platinum) or Aluminum Chloride (like Certain Dri ).  If you're still wet, ask your doctor about more radical solutions like Botox or surgery.  As for the aluminum/cancer risk rumor that has been circulating for more than a decade, there's really no proof, and most cancer experts dismiss the likelihood.