27 Comments

You are very very very beautiful when you get exasperated with TikTok, Val! I love it.

Expand full comment
Aug 8, 2022Liked by Valerie Monroe

TikToks reach to the young and uninformed is truly alarming. Iā€™m going back to putting on my expensive eye cream now because I bought it already!

Expand full comment
Aug 4, 2022Liked by Valerie Monroe

Hi Val,

You may already know this but in my area and probably others throughout the country, we are able to buy prescription strength retinA 0.05%, .45 g from a hospital pharmacy for $10. If I could figure out how to send you a picture of it and the receipt, I would. Kathleen

Expand full comment
Aug 4, 2022Liked by Valerie Monroe

Love these articles! Always look forward to Tuesday. Thank you!

Expand full comment
Aug 3, 2022Liked by Valerie Monroe

Love these articles! Thank you

Expand full comment
Aug 2, 2022Liked by Valerie Monroe

Thank you!

Expand full comment
Aug 2, 2022Liked by Valerie Monroe

Dear Val,

Thank you for the eye-opening post! I had already read the article on eye creams when it first ran in print (with bemused interest) and welcomed the chance to read it again with your comments. Couldnā€™t agree more!

But I wondered why The NY Times article didnā€™t mention that if you want to use a facial product with retinol in the delicate eye area, you might want to build your tolerance gradually, especially if you have sensitive skin, since the percentage of retinol in a face cream is typically higher than what you might find in an eye cream.

Perhaps tap on moisturizer first as a little buffer against potential irritation before applying a product with retinol.

Glad to see the article mentioned sunscreen usage is key. I (who should know better) once skimped on sunscreen the morning after using an OTC cream with retinol and peptides. And did not reapply. After a day of running errands outdoors, I wound up with red blotches all over my face. Lesson learned!

Expand full comment
Aug 2, 2022Ā·edited Aug 2, 2022Liked by Valerie Monroe

How timely is this article for me. I was just contemplating very expensive eye-cream (suddenly...new longer-than-ever lines under my eyes had me rushing to the sephora website like a very thirsty person to the faux-soda section at Whole Foods) but held back because of the article you wrote a while ago in which you named your skincare products and the list did not include (that I can recall) an eye-cream (I know I've mentioned that article in my comments before, but it was a game-changer for me). I also read the article out loud to my WFH co-worker (my sister) on our lunch break and we actually did LOL. We will NOT be sitting in any corners with calamine lotion on our faces nor buying expensive eye-creams. Thank you for writing this!

Expand full comment

No!!! šŸ˜© I love my eye cream. (Borghese) well, one great thing about my tube is that itā€™s easily portable and I can give my under eyes a little extra love during the day wherever I am. Honestly, I donā€™t even use retinol or hydrolic whatever lol in my face cream. Organic and Vit C is my go-to. Except when Iā€™m in Italy and then I just use olive oil! šŸ˜Š

Expand full comment
Aug 2, 2022Liked by Valerie Monroe

Hi Val,

What drug store products for the facial moisturizer that has the retinol, vitamin C and hyaluronic acid?

Expand full comment

That Calamine thing got under your skin after all, lol!

Expand full comment