Remember when you could pick up a phone and dial a number from memory? Or calculate a tip without help from your smartphone?

Nognz, the new brain fitness store, is working on helping us regain those skills. The concept is this: exercise your mind, and you’ll be happier, smarter, and less likely to have dementia in old age. Games, software, and books help to develop your memory, word skills, coordination, critical thinking and focus.

Considering what we spend on wrinkle creams, yoga classes, and superfoods, this type of preventative investment makes a lot of sense.

And if we lose our phone, we’ll be able to call someone to come to the rescue! If we can find a pay phone, that is. —ASI

Nognz, 1517 Bellevue Ave., West Vancouver, www.nognz.com

Before we were big girls we stole beauty products from our older sisters, but as adults we’re borrowing something from the adolescent set.

The Clean Start line of skin care by Dermalogica was made for teens, with their propensity for problem skin, which makes it perfect for summer. Our tried and tested faves are Ready, Set, Scrub!, a three-in-one purifying clay and cooling menthol mask plus silica scrub, All Over Clear, a refreshing spray toner, and Welcome Matte SPF15, a lightweight oil-controlling moisturizer.

It won’t make you look 15 again, but that’s a good thing.

At Kiss and Makeup in West Vancouver, www.kissandmakeupstore.com
At Spruce Body Lab in Yaletown, www.sprucebodylab.com

The older we get, the less touchy we are to life’s little traumas and dramas. If only the same could be said for our skin.

To help our sensitive skin weather the storms, we’ve got a new moisturizer. Skyn Iceland’s Pure Cloud Cream is packed with hydrating almond oil and aloe, as well as anti-irritants like oat extract and chamomile to calm skin, yet it feels feather light on our face.

A frantic day at Whistler watching freestyle skiing? Our skin is cool with that.

$82.50 at Kiss & Makeup, 925 Main St., The Village at Park Royal, West Vancouver, 604-922-6292, www.kissandmakeupstore.com