Once in a while, as I’m winding down my weekly Whole Foods grocery shopping, I treat myself to one product from the beauty section. As part of my lifelong fascination with generic store brand versions of name brand products, I usually like to try something from 365 Everyday Value, Whole Foods’s house brand. So far, I’ve tried the fragrance-free shampoo and conditioner, gentle face cleanser, and glycerin soap bar. Today, I’m reviewing the Whole Foods Moisturizing Lotion,…

Store-brand dupes of drugstore mainstays never fail to intrigue me. Why not get the same thing for less moolah? But oftentimes, the items they’re duplicating aren’t exorbitantly expensive in the first place. So the question is: Is it worth splurging just a little more to get the name brand, or should you save a little bit of money and go with the dupe? I don’t have a definitive answer for you. The quality of store-brand dupes can vary, and name brands are under pressure to…

Everyone in my family has dry, sensitive skin (either eczema or psoriasis all around), so we always need a bottle of lotion in every room. Recently, my parents have gotten really into Cetaphil Moisturizing Lotion. Last time I visited them, this was the brand that was in every room of the house. Anyway, I was drawn to the minimalist packaging and the words “non-comedogenic” made me wonder if I could use it as a facial moisturizer. Lo and behold, I could—and I did. I even brought it…