The first time I saw The Ordinary Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1% on Sephora’s website, I was so surprised at the price that I tried adding it to my cart right away. Only I couldn’t—it was sold out. Not to be dissuaded, I looked for it when I visited Deciem’s storefront in SoHo. Sold out again. Then I tried looking for it at my local Ricky’s. Strike three. I began to think that maybe I was never going to get my hands on this mythical $5.90 serum.

I thought my lifelong search for the perfect facial sunscreen was over when I discovered Australian Gold Botanical Tinted Face Sunscreen (SPF 50). I really do love this sunscreen, but I’m a bit concerned about its low concentration of active ingredients: 4% zinc oxide and 4% titanium dioxide. When I emailed the company to ask, Australian Gold said that it hasn’t applied for the Skin Cancer Foundation’s Seal of Recommendation, and has no plans to do so. So, as summer approaches,…

Do you remember PEMDAS? It’s an acronym that we used in math class to remember the proper order of operations: Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, and Subtraction? Or, Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally (Poor Aunt Sally, what did she ever do to deserve being excused?).