Fails

How DARE They: L’Oreal Telescopic Formula

by
L'Oreal Telescopic has a new, crappier formula. It's dead to me.

For the first time, I wish something had been discontinued: L’Oreal tampered with the L’Oreal Telescopic formula.

Huh…That’s Weird

When I had to travel earlier this year, I picked up a fresh tube of L’Oreal Telescopic in Carbon Black because I worked through my stash (I bought a few tubes on sale a while ago). I thought I had mixed up tubes because I noticed it wasn’t applying the way I’d expect a fresh tube. And, weirdly, it wasn’t removing as easily despite using the same tools. At the time, I was on the opposite coast; perhaps the water was different? Or, Occam’s Razor: I left the new tube at home.

After all, L’Oreal Telescopic was reliable – it lengthened, separated, and simultaneously did not smear but did remove easily at the end of the day. It was super accessible – drugstore, Ulta, Wal-Mart, Target, Amazon – you name it, you could find it.

What Gives, L’Oreal Telescopic?

That wasn’t it. I bought another tube this month. Still didn’t remove easily. Going at it with a makeup removing cloth and warm water removed maybe 20% of it – I still had stubborn product clinging desperately to my lashes for dear life.

Read more

Lab Finds Benzene in More Dry Shampoo

by

Early last week, I wrote an informative and scathing piece on carcinogens in dry shampoo. The news on the matter was focused on brands under Unilever’s umbrella, but unfortunately independent analytical lab Valisure found benzene in more dry shampoo.

How Many?

Not in a few. 70% of the latest round of tests, featuring 150 batches from 30+ brands across multiple parent companies, came back with high levels of exposure. Here are just some of the affected brands:

Read more

Recall: Carcinogens in Dry Shampoo

by

We had a post go live today, but I sat down this afternoon and wrote a whole entire ‘nother because this is NONSENSE. First, sunscreen. Now, there’s a multi-brand recall due to carcinogens in dry shampoo. It’s the same we’ve been seeing in sunscreen: benzene.

The amount of things being recalled for benzene in the last few years is too damn high. Carcinogens weren’t even really top-of-mind for me when I stopped buying dry shampoo a while back (which I JUST shared before this news hit), but there’s a hell of a good reason!

The Affected Brands

Per the release, which you can read on FDA.gov, this recall applies to products under Unilever’s sprawling umbrella. If you use any of these,

  • Dove
  • TRESemme
  • Nexxus
  • Suave
  • Tigi

You need to check the UPC and lot codes, which you can do here, to see if you need to take further action. Please note that just because you bought it recently doesn’t necessarily mean it was manufactured super recently! CHECK.

If it isn’t one of these, you may be in the clear – but I’ll come back to this.

Reimbursement

Read more

Why Ulta Lost My Business

by
Why Ulta Lost My Business After Fifteen Years and Thousands of Dollars Spent

After a decade and a half and thousands of dollars spent, Ulta lost my business. For years, Ulta impressed me with its unique combination of products. Having drugstore, prestige, and salon all in one place is great! It was convenient and felt like a more inclusive place to shop. It wasn’t intimidating to my younger self the same way Sephora and beauty counters were.

I’ve been a member of their Ultamate Rewards program since 2008. Unfortunately, though, Ulta lost my business due to a critical security issue. You should reconsider whether you do business with them, as well.

Weird Activity

Like many, my beauty spending tapered off in 2020. I wasn’t going through product at the same rate. Add that to the amount of uncertainty in the world, I was being judicious and cautious with nonessential spending. I expected my rewards tiers at both Sephora and Ulta to lapse. So, imagine my surprise when I got an email from Ulta suggesting I had more points than I expected.

Compromised?

Read more

The Estee Edit Flash Photo Gloss

by
Estee Edit Flash Photo GlossThe Estee Edit Flash Photo Gloss

The Estée Edit is supposed to be Estée’s hip-and-happening brand to appeal to younger customers. I received two tiny sample tubes of the Estee Edit Flash Photo Gloss with my March haul but couldn’t be bothered with it until, well, now.

I’m glad I hadn’t wasted my time before. It’s god-awful. It’s been a long time since I’ve tried something *this* bad.

This translucent gloss goes on clear with the faintest hint of bluish-purple iridescent shimmer. Application is NOT easy – it skips and tugs, and the formula is ridiculously sticky. I did not find that it enhanced my lipcolor – and in fact, it screwed it up with the skipping and tugging.

On top of being sticky, removal is difficult. I wiped it away with a tissue but my lips were still tacky. I had to resort to micellar water. Really!?

The bluish shimmer is SUPPOSED to pick up the flash and make your smile look brighter. Spoilers: It doesn’t.

The Bottom Line

This is a positively ridiculous gimmick. The 2.5 stars on Sephora’s site speak volumes. Don’t waste your time unless you fancy the idea of throwing away $20. Wet n Wild Megaslicks gloss is higher quality at $2.

July 2015 Empties

by

 

I try like hell to be consistent, but sometimes life gets in the way. I needed to prepare graphics for this post, which I intended to publish yesterday but had a hell of a migraine yesterday and the day before. So thanks for being patient, and here are my July 2015 Empties.

July 2015 Empties

I’ve been wanting to do an empties post for a while, but for months I’d only have 1-2 empty items and who is writing a post about 1-2 empty things? The stars aligned this month and I actually finished up a good bit of stuff.

Read more