All posts tagged: Formulas

The First Crop of the New and Improved Sunscreen Formulas Is Finally Here

The First Crop of the New and Improved Sunscreen Formulas Is Finally Here

Published by Jenni Sidey

I’ve been spoiled. After traveling extensively to South Korea over the past few years—including living there for months at a time—I’ve grown accustomed to sunscreen formulas that spread easily and feel like second skin. Frankly, I developed a blind spot when it came to American SPF complaints. Chalky textures, greasy finishes, and white casts that leave you looking like a ghost? It all sounded a touch dramatic… until I ran out of my Korean stash. After months of rotating through American formulas that make me want to wash my face the second I apply them, consider me humbled. Finding a Goldilocks SPF isn’t always so simple stateside—and I get why so many people are reluctant to apply sun protection daily. Fortunately, the American sunscreen aisle is finally getting a refresh that may start to give international formulas a run for their money. It might just appease critics like me, too. In June, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) added bemotrizinol to its list of permitted sunscreen active ingredients, giving U.S. brands the chance to update …

Sali Hughes on beauty: lip gloss is back in vogue and these new formulas have me hooked | Beauty

Sali Hughes on beauty: lip gloss is back in vogue and these new formulas have me hooked | Beauty

Published by Sam Flores

I’m deeply suspicious of people who never change their minds. To be so completely sure of anything as to be permanently entrenched in any position isn’t something I admire, which is why I shove an olive into my mouth every couple of years and hope it finally takes. I do the same with lip gloss, with historically similar results. Fashion has, until recently, been on my side. Less sophisticated than lipstick, overshadowed by TikTok trending lip oils, less effortless cool-girl than tinted lip balm, gloss has barely had a look-in these past few years, but new formulas steal from other formats for a better user experience and, well, like everything eventually, lip gloss is back in vogue. The launch of Nars’ Afterglow Lipshine (£28.50) was what first got me hooked. Its smooth, unsticky texture, lack of scent and lasting moisture make it a pleasure, and a characteristically thoughtful colour range makes the whole lineup feel as adult and sophisticated as lipstick. double quotation mark The high street comes into its own with lip gloss, but even so, Maybelline’s Lifter …

I stopped maintaining lookup formulas after finding Excel’s hidden relational database

I stopped maintaining lookup formulas after finding Excel’s hidden relational database

Published by Miika Tikkanen

I have a sales workbook that has five sheets. Transactions on one, products on another, then salespeople, regions, and a calendar, each maintained separately because that is how the data arrives. The usual fixes are a column of lookup formulas or a formula that stacks the separate sheets into one long list, and both leave you maintaining the join by hand. Excel already ships with something better. The Data Model is a compressed relational store held inside the workbook itself, and once the relationships are in place, one PivotTable reads all five sheets at once. Related These 3 new Excel functions ended a decade of my complicated text-cleaning formulas Describing what your text looks like beats telling Excel where to find it. Table relationships replace your lookup columns Drag one key onto another, and the formulas go away Getting a table into the model takes one checkbox. When you insert a PivotTable, tick Add this data to the Data Model in the Create PivotTable dialog, and Excel builds the model around it. If the table …

You can name cells in Excel, and formulas get much easier after that

You can name cells in Excel, and formulas get much easier after that

Published by Miika Tikkanen

A few months ago, I opened one of the formulas in my sales sheet and stared at it for a second too long. It read =G15*0.05. The 0.05 could’ve been a tax rate, a commission, or a number I’d typed in by mistake, and the cell reference told me nothing. Leaning on raw references like that is one of the Excel habits worth unlearning before formulas start breaking on you. Naming the cell changes that. With a single rename, every formula touching it reads in plain words, and the workbook stops feeling like other people’s code. Naming a cell takes seconds with the Name Box Click, type, enter, and you’re done The Name Box is the small field to the left of the formula bar. Most people use it to read the current cell address, but it works just as well the other way around. Type a name in it, hit Enter, and that name belongs to whatever cell you have selected. Say I drop the 5% commission rate into a single cell in my …

The $ sign in Excel is tiny, but it’s why your formulas break when you move them

The $ sign in Excel is tiny, but it’s why your formulas break when you move them

Published by Miika Tikkanen

For some people, broken formulas feel like a normal part of using Excel. Once a formula in their Excel spreadsheet stops working when dragged across a spreadsheet, they just resort to entering formulas row by row instead. That’s such a pain, though, especially since your formulas don’t have to break the moment you move them. In many cases, the difference between a formula working perfectly in one row and breaking in another comes down to whether you added the $ sign. This symbol tells Excel exactly which values you want it to calculate. More often than not, the problem is that you’ve unintentionally told it to calculate the wrong values. Related 3 Excel formulas you’re still wasting too much time on You don’t need more effort; you need better formulas. Your formulas aren’t really breaking Excel just moved your references because that’s what it thought you wanted Screenshot by Adaeze Uche When you write a formula like =A1+B1 in cell C1, Excel does not necessarily interpret it as “add A1 and B1.” Instead, it reads …

Excel can now write its own formulas, and I haven’t typed one since

Excel can now write its own formulas, and I haven’t typed one since

Published by Miika Tikkanen

I know how to write Excel formulas, but I just don’t need to. Memorizing argument order for XLOOKUP or counting parentheses in a nested IF has never been the interesting part of working with data. Copilot in Excel now lets me describe what I need in plain English, and it handles the syntax. It’s not perfect, and it won’t replace knowing what your data should look like, but for the bulk of my daily spreadsheet work, I’ve stopped typing formulas. Here’s why that’s been easy to get used to. Related Excel finally fixed its biggest data entry problem, and it’s a lifesaver One click in the Data tab can catch almost all issues. Plain English is all Copilot needs to build a formula The sidebar turns a sentence into a working column The whole process starts from the Copilot button on the Home tab. Clicking it opens a chat panel on the right side of Excel. There’s one requirement before it does anything useful — it’s better to have your data formatted as an Excel …

My Excel formulas used to break all the time until I found this function

My Excel formulas used to break all the time until I found this function

Published by Miika Tikkanen

I’ve always found it frustrating that Excel’s most popular functions, such as SUM, AVERAGE, MIN, and MAX, fall apart the moment your data has a single error value. A stray #DIV/0! or #VALUE! in your range will cause the whole formula to return an error. The usual fix is wrapping everything in IFERROR, which works but clutters the formula bar. AGGREGATE is a function I’ve leaned on precisely because it skips that mess. It handles errors, hidden rows, and filtered data natively, without the need for any nested workaround. If you work with real-world data that isn’t always clean, AGGREGATE is worth learning. Related Don’t bother with IF in Excel when you can use this function instead Your formulas will thank you. AGGREGATE does what other functions can’t Here’s how the syntax works Screenshot by Yasir Mahmood Most people default to IFERROR when their formulas break. It works, but it’s a band-aid since you’re wrapping every formula in extra logic just to handle bad data. AGGREGATE eliminates that because error handling is built into the …

Excel Formulas vs PivotTables vs Power Pivot : Pick the Right Tool

Excel Formulas vs PivotTables vs Power Pivot : Pick the Right Tool

Published by Miika Tikkanen

What’s the best way to tackle your data analysis challenges in Excel? With so many options, formulas, PivotTables, and Power Pivot, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed or unsure which approach will deliver the best results. Excel Off The Grid walks through how each of these methods shines in different scenarios, breaking down their strengths and limitations in a way that’s both practical and easy to follow. Whether you’re building a dynamic financial model, summarizing sales data, or diving into advanced analytics, understanding these options can save you time and frustration while boosting your productivity. In this guide, you’ll uncover the unique advantages of each approach and learn how to choose the right one for your specific needs. From the flexibility of formulas to the efficiency of PivotTables and the advanced power of Power Pivot, this breakdown will help you make smarter decisions with your data. But it’s not just about picking one, sometimes combining these methods can unlock even greater potential. By the end, you’ll have a clearer sense of how to navigate Excel’s capabilities …

Easily Calculate Payback Period in Excel with These Formulas

Easily Calculate Payback Period in Excel with These Formulas

Published by Miika Tikkanen

Imagine investing in a promising project, only to realize years later that it’s taking far longer than expected to recoup your initial outlay. Wouldn’t it have been invaluable to know upfront how long it would take to break even? The payback period is a critical financial metric that answers this exact question, offering a clear timeline for when your investment will start paying off. While calculating this manually can be tedious and error-prone, Excel provides a powerful, efficient way to determine both basic and discounted payback periods. With its robust functions and flexibility, Excel transforms what could be a complex financial analysis into a streamlined, accessible process. In this guide Excel Off The Grid explain how to harness Excel’s advanced tools, like SCAN, XMATCH, and LAMBDA—to calculate payback periods with precision. Whether you’re evaluating a single project or comparing multiple investments side by side, this guide will walk you through step-by-step methods to ensure accuracy and confidence in your results. Along the way, you’ll also learn how to handle special cases, such as irregular cash …