Lately, I’ve been asking lots of people a question: “Do you put on sunscreen every day?” Most of the time, people answer no, and then find themselves confused that I even asked such a thing. The other ~30 percent of the time, (s)he will nod, and I’ll give her/him a high five. (It’s usually a “her”). But when I ask that subset of sunscreen-wearing people a follow-up question, “Do you apply sunscreen everywhere, or just on your face?” They…

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.

Sometimes name brands are worth the extra cost (as we established in our last edition of “Save or Splurge?", the CVS-brand generic version of CeraVe moisturizing cream just wasn’t up to snuff). But other times, things are a bit less clear. I’ve been using Whole Foods' 365 Everyday Value Gentle Skin Cleanser over the past few months, and it’s hard to deny that the packaging is almost a direct duplicate of Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser’s design and color scheme…