Chatter

Chatter: Makeup in the Office

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I find beauty and make-up fun (obviously, I spend more money on it than I care to admit, have a blog devoted to it, and am a moderator of a community devoted to it), but I don’t relish the idea of being bound to it; I feel like makeup should be for the wearer. I don’t force myself to paint my face daily – I do it when I feel like it. When you have to force yourself, it isn’t fun.

That said, I work in a corporate office. I’ve recently earned a promotion that puts me in a role in which means I see and work with more people than I used to, and a lot of the people I’m working with on a daily basis are Important People.

I find myself in this place where I’m torn between, “You can’t make me wear makeup in the office; the use of cosmetics has no impact on my work,” (which is valid) – and the understanding that it is more important than ever in my career to leave good impressions and, “put (my) best face forward.”

Granted, doing just that – putting your best face forward, that is – does not mean full facepaint. It does mean looking like you care about your professional presentation at work. Put together, well-groomed, however you wish to put it.

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Trying Something New: Kirkland Daily Facial Towelettes

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Recently, my husband and I got a Costco membership. Generally speaking, toiletries don’t tend to be the best values there (but I’m fine with buying things there for the convenience). It’s also fairly common knowledge that the in-house Kirkland Signature brand is pretty good quality, and items under that brand are often manufactured by major labels. Although I’m satisfied with the makeup removing wipes I’ve been using, I decided to try Costco’s Kirkland Daily Facial Towelettes. So I decided to drop $11.99 for a box of 150.

Kirkland Daily Facial Towelettes
Kirkland Daily Facial Towelettes, $11.99, Costco

The 150 are broken down into six smaller packages as follows:

  • Four 30-count plastic pouches with flip-top lids
  • Two 15-count plastic pouches with resealable sticker lids

When you consider that I’ve been playing roughly $5 (though I do usually have a coupon) for 25 of the Simple branded wipes, and $4-5 for thirty of the Ponds ones, 2-3x as much for 5-6x the product is a great value; a no brainer if they work and don’t break me out.

The caveat, of course, of bulk buying is that it’s a pretty big commitment. I tend to use one wipe per day I wear makeup (which is not every day); if I wear it 5 out of 7 days in a week, it will take me upwards thirty weeks to get through these. Even if I don’t love them, as long as they don’t break me out I will use them up so I’m not wasting product.

I haven’t broken into them yet, but plan to this week. After I’ve had some time to assess their quality and performance, I’ll report back with a review.

Do you have any experience with Kirkland Daily Facial Towelettes or other Kirkland Signature beauty products?

Exasperated with my local Ulta

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It’s no secret that I do most of my beauty shopping online. With the exception of things that require matching (foundation), I prefer to shop online.

Sometimes, I’ll get perks that I can only redeem in store, so I take the time to go – my Ulta is within 3 minutes of my office, so it isn’t a terrible hassle (plus, they carry my holy grail dry shampoo). In the order in which I received my Philosophy Fresh Cream perfume, I received a voucher to get a Benefit Air Patrol BB Cream Eyelid Primer. “Cool,” I thought. “I can run it through the primer gauntlet and hopefully write a fruitful post.”

Exasperated with my local Ulta - unable to redeem voucher for Benefit Air Patrol

The voucher states:

“Beauty Bonus! Visit your nearest Benefit Brow Bar inside Ulta to receive a complimentary Air Patrol makeupper. Plus, enjoy a Free* deluxe mini with your Benefit product purchase!”

Pretty fair – that means it is a true freebie, no purchase necessary, and that there is another deluxe mini you can get if you spend whatever Benefit’s minimum is. I went in, the Benefit employee was busy doing some brows. Neither wishing to interrupt her nor wishing to wait 20 minutes, I did the rest of my shopping and headed to the register. I presented the cashier with the voucher, thinking that they’d have those up front just like every other GWP/freebie. She glances at it for half a moment and says, “You didn’t spend enough with Benefit…” and hands it back to me.

I take it from her, hold it up and read the entirety slowly to her, out loud. This isn’t the first time I’ve had something like this happen at Ulta. “Ohhhh…” she says, followed with a cluck of her tongue. “I don’t think we have that yet.”

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2015 Holiday Sets

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Now that we’re nearly in October (tomorrow!), most (if not all) of the 2015 Holiday Sets have been announced.

I’m not impressed, unfortunately.

Actually, that’s not true – the Kat von D Mi Vida Loca Remix palette ($59) is so awe-inspiring that it is about beyond words, actually. Pretty sure it’s been out of stock since it hit the shelves and site though. Just look at it, though. It is colorful, but not jarring like UD Electric can be – and it. has. neutrals. to help balance out the brights. Santa?

2015 Holiday Sets - KvD Mi Vida Loca

Otherwise, though – not impressed. No one is killing it this year!

Too Faced always goes cutesy, but Jarrod’s vision this year is just weird. French-inspired cutesy. With sets like Le Grand Palais at Sephora for $59 (that looks oddly familiar)…

2015 Holiday Sets - Le Grand Palais

and La Petite Maison at Ulta ($39; actually has many of the same shades as Everything Nice; pretty sure none of them are unique to this palette)… meh.

2015 Holiday Sets - Too Faced La Petite Maison

I’ve already talked about Vice-however-many, $59. I’ve been over it. No need to go into it more, here.

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Do Your Research

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I feel like I’ve been extra-cynical and/or critical on the blog lately. It’s weird, because I don’t feel any more of either in my daily life; usually those things tend to coincide.

A vlogger I follow published a comparison video between the Clarisonic Mia and the Foreo Luna (made by the people who make the Issa and the Moda). I was interested, because I hadn’t really seen much in the way of a comparison between the two (but I also hadn’t really looked).

So I watch, and by the end of the video, I’m facepalming. The video was sponsored (which is fine, in and of itself) and the personality was clearly in favor of the Luna (again, fine). What wasn’t fine? Her utter lack of any kind of knowledge about one of the two products she was, “comparing.”

I hesitate to even call it a comparison because to suggest that it was would imply that she actually knew the properties of the Clarisonic. What the content creator shows and suggests is a Clarisonic Mia is in fact a Clarisonic Plus; she did not seem to have much experience with the device itself. While she knew that the Clarisonic she was holding (again, Clarisonic PLUS) used a charging cradle (which could be inconvenient), she insisted it had only one speed. Well yes, the actual Clarisonic Mia only features one speed…but she did not have a Mia. Her device ought to have three speeds, in fact – so did she never use the device she’s decrying? Did she just search Google for, “Clarisonic Mia,” and read (some of) a chart of its features?

Do Your Research - Clarisonic Plus, left; Clarisonic Mia, right.

For your reference, good reader – on the left is a Clarisonic Plus, and the right is a classic Clarisonic Mia. I own a Clarisonic Mia 2.

Among other things, she seemed convinced that it spun.

Not a single device made by Clarisonic spins.

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