If we’re talking body, not face, I’d feel safe sticking with drugstore brands. With face lotion - as with shoes - you should buy the best you can afford (and price up as your paycheck does). The argument for investing in your shoes is that they’re the first thing people notice on a person, and I’d agree that’s true for what you’re wearing, but I mean, nobody’s not looking at your face. You should want to keep it in good shape as long as possible.
I know there are body lotions now that are marketed to men (Lubriderm, L’Oreal and Bath & Body Works all have men’s lines that I know of), but that seems like an extra step of effort when you know they just slapped a “manly” blue or green label on the bottle of unscented they already offer and upped the price by a dollar because now it’s “specialty.”
Plus, should a girl be staying over, she may not want to lotion up with dude lotion in the morning, for fear that she’ll come away smelling like an arctic mountain or pine trees or beer nuts or whatever other scents are found in men’s deodorant that guys think makes them smell clean.
Personally, I like Vaseline and Jergens, both in their extra-hydrating formulas. You go through a lot of the stuff, (or at least you should, since you ought to be lathering up every time you get out of the shower), so you might as well buy the big bottle. And always the one with the pump, never a flip cap. Flip caps are annoying and you’ll end up not using the bottle out of pure spite for the industrial design.
If you want to go a little fancier (within reason), I think Aveeno is great, and has natural ingredients (if you’re into that kind of thing).
For sensitive skin, you can’t beat Cetaphil, which makes a lightweight moisturizer in addition to their facial cleanser.
