L'Occitane, Nair, Maybelline, Smile's products

• First up in the beauty throne today is L'Occitane's Supple Skin Oil which claims to firm and soften. It is made primarily from almond oil. I'm always a little skeeved out by anything oil-based, but this oil is light, soaks in quickly, and smells mild. It does do a great job as an after shower body lotion, or a hand cream substitute after doing the dishes. Does it firm? Not that I can see. But we all know that no cream has magical properties, right? I like this stuff.

• I'm a big proponent of using certain products for other purposes. Nair sensitive formula bikini cream is one of those such products. First of all, this is a tiny bottle. I don't know what woman could use this for more than one time (not even) on the bikini area. Also, I found this product, like other depilatories to be very strong. It has a strong odor and causes redness. I use this on my upper lip girlstache and it works fairly well.

• Next up is Maybelline's Colorstay lip gloss, which is one of those lip colors with the dual color and gloss packaging. I'm a sucker pale pink lipstick, but I was so disappointed in this product. The color is dull, and the gloss is just some goopy liquid that comes off the minute you put your lips to something. Not recommended.

• I always try to throw in a folk remedy here and there to remind us that not everything has to come from a laboratory with a million chemicals to work. Smile's PRID drawing salve is one of those products. It smells horrible, and has the consistency of almond butter, but this stuff works on zits and will even work on cysts caused by acne. The directions on the back say that this stuff works on boils, also, but I don't think people have had that condition since the Middle Ages. If you get whopper zits or cysts, try this stuff.