Commentary

Shopping in Store

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I prefer to shop online.

Not just for beauty items, but everything. I long for my area to have an offering where I can basically buy my groceries online, have someone in the store put together my order, and then just go pick them up (not even asking for delivery – just don’t want to scale the aisles).

Granted, you can’t swatch from the internet – but you can look up the swatches other people have done. It isn’t that I never want to go to a store to shop, but more often than not, I’ll buy online as opposed to shopping in stores.

It isn’t that I’m anti-social (okay, maybe I am – but that isn’t why); I just prefer to be able to select exactly what I need without having to hunt the aisles and browse the shelves. If I’m actually planning on making a purchase, I’m on a mission; I’m much happier if I can just search for that item, add it to my cart, done. If I’m in the store, even if I was familiar with the general store layout, planograms change. There’s no guarantee that I’d know where what I’m looking for is located.

Case and point:

Shopping in Store (Ulta Beauty)

Two months ago I was in Ulta with a friend to buy new heads for my Clarisonic. We went over to where their prestige skincare was, to the aisle that was dedicated to the Clarisonic devices. They had displays and devices a-plenty, they had boxes and testers galore…single brush heads? There were twenty! But who cares, no big deal, I wanted four.

The four pack was a far better deal than buying four individual brush heads, but it was nowhere to be found. It was later in the evening, but not yet close to closing time – but no sales associates were around. I could really see only one, and she was with another customer. We went around that area several times looking for them, but no dice. Eventually, I had to be that guy and flag down one that sales associate as she came near, looking for something for her other customer. She pointed me, “that way,” but had to (understandably) scurry off to attend to who she was working with. Eventually, I found them on a random standalone shelf in direction she pointed which was nowhere near skincare stuff. That whole part of the process took probably 10-15 minutes.

I’m glad my friend is patient!

Related to that, I always seem to wind up with what I don’t need from a sales associate while shopping in stores.

Most retailers’ (all types, not just beauty) policies require employees to greet any customers they hadn’t seen yet – even if they’ve already been greeted. Those policies also require the employees to check back with people periodically. As a customer, I do like to be greeted, and I like to know that an associate is available or where to find one if I need one. I do NOT, however, like to be checked up on every 3-5 minutes. 10-15 is okay – any more frequently when I’ve told you I don’t want/need help or am browsing feels like you’re stalking or hounding me, and it makes me feel like I can’t shop at my own pace. It doesn’t create a good shopping experience.

I feel like I wind up with either extreme. If I don’t have someone breathing down my neck, I end up needing help but unable to locate anyone. It was not busy that evening in Ulta but took a long time to find someone to help me (and I had to steal a moment of her time from someone else). There were employees visible when we walked in, but ten minutes later they had all but vanished. I never seem to find myself in a situation where there’s a happy medium.

I feel more comfortable browsing without intent to buy on the merchant’s website, from home rather than shopping in store – I’m not in other customers’ way, and they aren’t in mine. I’m not a face in the store that the employees feel the need to fuss over (which I don’t like anyway). Plus, pajamas. Paying for shipping isn’t fun and I usually try to plan my purchases in such a way that I avoid paying shipping costs (meeting their minimum or having a promo code).

On top of all that, you can’t use eBates in brick-and-mortar stores. I only recently saw one of their awkward commercials that make them seem a little sketchy, but I can confidently say (with three years of eBates experience) that they are legit. You can sign up for free here – this is a referral link that does end up earning me like $5 if you sign up, but I’m not sharing this to make money off you – I’m sharing it because I believe in it and have gotten over $400 back in three years – here’s a tiny screenshot of my cash back to prove it.

How do you prefer to do your shopping? Browsing the shelves, or behind a screen?

Too Faced Selfie Powders :: An Afterthought

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Too Faced Selfie PowderToo Faced Selfie Powders

When I was researching the Too Faced Selfie Powders for last week’s post, I came across a thread on a popular makeup community discussing the product. The discussion was split roughly 50/50 – with some expressing feelings similar to mine, and others saying it was cute/kitschy/fun/etc.

There were, however, a few people who were neither for the Too Faced Selfie Powders nor against them that questioned the criticism. One participant adds something along the lines of (this is paraphrased):

I don’t understand why the Too Faced Selfie Powders are getting so much hate – why is this worse than silly nerd collections by Indie makeup brands?

It’s a good question, and it makes you think about the product and issue a little more. But I have a good answer.

Here’s the difference:

Geek Chic’s adorable Sailor Moon collection and Hello Waffle’s hilarious Archer-themed collections are just eyeshadows. They don’t claim to do anything special, they’re just cute eyeshadows with fun names. Too Faced Selfie Powders, on the other hand, are literally marketed as being, “filters,” for your real-life face…they’re just colored powders. At best, they’re for color correction. They aren’t appealing to a fandom, they’re marketing a product claiming that it does something that, realistically, it doesn’t do.

LimeCrime – No Thanks, I’m Fine

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Years ago, and I do mean years ago – like six or seven of them – I spotted an oddly colored cyan lipstick on an obscure website (kind of like Urban Outfitters, but smaller). I have no desire to slap cyan on my face, but I was curious enough to see what other weird things this LimeCrime brand had. They had some unique ones, for the time – a minty green, a fun, pale tangerine, but at like $18/tube (I think!). I wasn’t into cosmetics at the time so I did pass them by, but I did remember the LimeCrime brand just because I’d never seen anything like them…but remember, I also wasn’t into makeup at the time.

Since I’ve gotten into makeup, though, I’ve learned about how LimeCrime’s proprietress, Doe Deere (and is that your real name? No – but I don’t really care about that) lacks a professional touch…to put it succinctly.

I still liked seeing the silly purple tubes when they’d pop up on YouTube and actually really liked the look of a few of the Velvetine shades, but I could never bring myself to pull the trigger and make a purchase. The cost, the ultimate wearability, and the fact that, well, I’d be supporting someone with a well-documented history of a) not being cool and b) being awful to customers when problems are reported. We make mistakes, we’re just people. Running a business comes with its own challenges, too. Most of us learn and grow, apologize for our missteps and commit ourselves to doing better next time – but the overwhelming volume of evidence suggests that Ms. Deere thinks she is exempt from these things.

Most recently, they have become embroiled in a pretty substantial credit card fraud scandal. At minimum, hundreds of customers’ credit cards were compromised (PayPal transactions seem OK) after making purchases from LimeCrime’s site. Instead of handling it properly, LimeCrime stayed VERY hush-hush, like, “If we don’t talk about it, maybe it will go away!” until the collective outcry became so great that they had no chance but to acknowledge it…which they did with a load of BS (was linked, but they deleted the post; go figure). They have not been helping concerned customers, and everything about it has been immensely unprofessional. Unapologetic. So many things.

I’m not going to flood you with a wall of text on this. There are many walls of text already written, such as this one, that chronicle the history of LimeCrime and their questionable business practices, and social media is rife with disappointed customers sharing their stories.

I will not be making any purchases from LimeCrime either directly or through resellers. I won’t tell you what to do with your life/money, but if business ethics/general decency of the companies who get your money concerns you, I suggest looking into it so you can decide for yourself.

Sephora’s ColorIQ is Drunk, Sometimes

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ColorIQColorIQ by Sephora & Pantone

‘Tis winter and hence I am pale. I’m not using my Million Dollar Tan because a faux-glow in February doesn’t mean much to me. Ponds Luminous Finish BB+ is the only thing that has matched me for a while, so on a recent trip to Sephora, I had them bust out the old (okay, it isn’t old at all) ColorIQ to match me.

I really love to see technology intermixing with makeup. In fact, I’ve probably talked about how much I love the idea of ColorIQ, and how innovative it is.

I was able to have the SA assisting me bypass my cheek area because I have non-rosacea redness on my cheeks sometimes that throws off the match by thinking I have pink undertones. Instead, he matched my forehead, jawline, and chin. We did get a yellow-toned match this time, but it assigned me 3Y04. Before even seeing the matches, I knew it would be too dark.

Even though it didn’t match me to an Urban Decay shade, the SA wanted to take a shot at it and grabbed 3.0 (which I’ve tried before and will in no universe match me), and 2.0 – which is actually rated for 3Y03 – which surprisingly turned out to match. But this was luck, not ColorIQ knocking it out of the park.

In what I was looking for, Sephora’s new serum foundation (I spotted it in the new and noteworthy stuff!), it matched me to shade 16 – Linen. Based on what I read online I figured I’d be that or 12 – Ecru. I swatched Teint Infusion Ethereal Natural Finish Foundation in 16, based on my ColorIQ assignment and it was hilariously dark for me. I didn’t even put it on my face – just swatching it on the back of my hand I could tell it was too much. I tried again with 12 – Ecru, and found my match but this was my own guess.

I want to love the device, I do – but it either needs further refinement, or there’s been enough user error every single time I’ve used it to not get a one-hit-one-kill match. I still think it is worth using because it gets you in the ballpark if you’re otherwise lost, but Sephora’s ColorIQ is drunk, sometimes. I’m looking forward to future versions of the device that can give us closer approximations to what we need, but I still applaud Sephora and Pantone for trying.

bareMinerals Complexion Rescue Tinted Hydrating Gel Cream

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I feel like it has been a while since we’ve had an absurdly long product name.

Mineral-peddling beauty brand bareMinerals is has released a new face product for its loyal fans who want simple-to-use products to improve their complexion without a bunch of fuss. A mouthful, the bareMinerals Complexion Rescue Tinted Hydrating Gel Cream claims to combine the best of tinted moisturizers, BB, and CC creams.

bareMinerals Complexion Rescue Tinted Hydrating Gel CreambareMinerals Complexion Rescue Tinted Hydrating Gel Cream

Whoop – hold on. Really, there’s nothing that makes a CC cream especially different from a BB cream; it’s just marketing. CC usually stands for, “Color Correcting,” but it is still just a BB cream – maybe it has a bit of green to help neutralize some red, or a bit of lavender to neutralize sallowness. That doesn’t make it a different product class! So, we’ll nix that and say it claims to combine the best of tinted moisturizers and BB creams.

The bareMinerals Complexion Rescue Tinted Hydrating Gel Cream is an SPF 30 tinted moisturizer with a surprising first ingredient (as far as bareMinerals products are concerned, at least): Water. After that, there’s a boatload of non-mineral content – humectants, emollients, ingredients that help slow or prevent oxidation (something common with bareMinerals products). It doesn’t seem to have a super-star cast of ingredients, but it also doesn’t feature anything off the wall. It is both silicone and oil free, which is a plus if you like to avoid those things.

But it also contains mineral electrolytes that will energize your skin when you use the product. Holy shit. Really? Reading the product description makes me want to go watch Idiocracy. Even if the product contained electrolyte content, 1) it is small and 2) the skin on your face would absorb a hilariously small amount and 3) please excuse me while I beat my face off my desk at how ridiculously foolish this marketing attempt was.

Anwyay, being a tinted moisturizer, bareMinerals Complexion Rescue Tinted Hydrating Gel Cream offers a sheer finish which will likely be well-received by the masses of bareMinerals faithful. I, however, am a little skeptical that it is much more than a tinted moisturizer with sunscreen. Is a tinted moisturizer with SPF really worth nearly thirty dollars? I personally don’t think so (and even if I did think so, the electrolyte-marketing was really off-putting). My Ponds Luminous Finish BB+ is a third of that and isn’t relying on a lengthy, gimmicky name or marketing claims, (Complexion Rescue Tinted Hydrating Gel Cream!).

Just call the product what it is! If it’s a good product, you shouldn’t need to build a mountain of nonsense marketing buzzwords around it.

bareMinerals is selling a new complexion brush to accompany the release of the Complexion Rescue Tinted Hydrating Gel Cream, the Smoothing Face Brush.

bareMinerals Complexion Rescue Tinted Hydrating Gel Cream - Smoothing Face Brush

This duo-fibre brush has a domed head and looks as though it should blend and buff face products (tinted moisturizers, foundations, y’know). I liked the idea of the brush that was released with their serum foundation, but never got to check it out – I heard mixed reviews; some weren’t impressed, others loved it…if not for the efficacy, for the novelty. This brush, however, seems pretty straightforward and should do well with all types of facial base products. Personally, I wouldn’t buy it, preferring instead to spend my money on Sigma.

You can buy both products for $29 each at Sephora, Ulta, and bareMinerals directly, if you’re so inclined.

Vice LTD from Urban Decay

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Hark! Another Vice palette. Yes, really. Vice LTD.

Urban Decay Vice LTDUrban Decay Vice LTD

I had other content scheduled to go live today, but I wanted to talk about this while it is relevant, so…here we go! Vice LTD makes Urban Decay’s fourth Vice mega-palette, following Vice, Vice 2, and Holiday 2014’s Vice 3.

Edit: I’m an idiot, this has been out for almost two months BUT my point is the same.

Which is…they released it entirely too close to Vice 3.

Frankly, even as a fan of Urban Decay products (I may or may not have just picked up Naked2 Basics for myself, more on that later this week), I can’t help but raise my eyes and sigh a little. It isn’t a unique offering for them. Sure, the shadows in Vice LTD aren’t identical to those in its predecessors, they’re so similar; unless you’re a collector, it is pretty well pointless to get all four.

I’m having a little trouble finding, “stock,” manufacturer photos from the first three and I don’t want to jack a photo from someone else’s work, but if you search Google Images for the Urban Decay Vice, Urban Decay Vice 2, and Urban Decay Vice 3 – compare it to what you see above; you’ll see what I mean.

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