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Drugstore Cowgirl

Ken Richardson Cosmetic Counter Renegade: Your local drugstore is the place to go for cheap, unique beauty bargains. Beauty bargains for less than $10 By Diana Rupp With department store knockoffs, old standbys and products you never heard of or even knew you needed, the corner drugstore is a one-stop beauty bonanza. Here's a roundup of the good, the cheap and the quirky: A Walgreens employee confided that there's such a frenzy for the miracle Bioré nose strips that they have to keep them behind the cash register to thwart pimply teenage shoplifters. Six strips for $5.99 Try at-home plastic surgery with Face Lift Vitamin C patches. Boasting an impressive 50 percent reduction of wrinkles during the first two weeks of use, four "treatments" cost a rock-bottom $9.99. Revlon Color Stay Brow Color has a pencil to shape and define on one end and a lightweight gel that grooms and sets on the other. $7.99. Sinful nail polish makes toes sandal-worthy. Favorite colors: Japanese Violet (light blue/purple), Fire Red (a true blue-red) and Greenwich Girl (silvery pink). $1.99. L'Oréal's The Cool Scent is a one-of-a-kind hair freshener that neutralizes trapped odors like cigarette smoke when there's no time to wash after a night out on the town. $6.99. Euro-style Aussie All-Over Hair and Body Shampoo leaves you squeaky clean and smelling of honeysuckle and white ginger, without upsetting pH balance. 12 oz., $3.99. Old-school Royal Crown Hair Dressing sets the pomade standard. Originally formulated for black hair, it can be used on all hair types and is found in the city's best salons. 5 oz. for $1.69. Pinaud Club Man aftershave lotion is worth buying for the label alone, which looks like it hasn't changed in 30 years. The "crisp, masculine fragrance" is made almost entirely of alcohol. Feel the burn. 12 fl. oz., $6.99. Bare Foot Plum and Pumice Footscrub by Freeman contains alpha- hydroxy acids and natural pumice granules from volcanic rock which remove dry, rough patches from the soles and heels of feet. Simply massage and rinse. 6 oz., $2.99. Kiss bad breath goodbye with Breath Tec Tongue Cleaner and Pic. The squeegee-esque plastic tool scrapes away growing bacteria and decaying food particles. $2.79. Sally Hansen Epilette hair-removal mitten looks like a hand-held sander but claims to be painless. Great for those hard-to-shave places, especially bikini lines. $5.99. Wet/dry nose, ear and eyebrow trimmer by Remington, "when a well-groomed appearance is important." When is it not? $9.99. [ San Francisco | MetroActive Central | Archives ]