Does It Work Outside the Store?

I don’t know about everybody else, but I’ve had experiences where I loved the color of a lipstick at the store, but when I took it out to the light of day I couldn’t stand it.

Yep, I know to walk outside with the hand mirror before buying, but sometimes, or most of the time I just buy it, cuz I don’t know I like the way it looks.

Just like when you get a makeover at the store with skincare or makeup.  It feels and looks great – so why not buy it?

Especially when the high-end skincare usually comes with a free facial with a real esthetician. So, yeah your skin feels wonderful and your face just glows.  So, you buy right?

I recently attended a ReVive’ workshop and it was great! The guy who took the doc’s place with the UK accent just furfelled with enthusiasm. I’ve tried a lot of the products, so I tend to be skeptical and bought pretty much what I planned to buy.  I pretty much knew that buying their cucumber toner was probably the same as  buying the much lower price point Kiehl’s toner-as well as make up remover. But I was pretty astounded by how much some ladies did decide to buy.  The gwps were at the $350 price point with of course the obligatory step ups-buy more, get more.

When I did the Laura Mercier make up the first step was their skincare line-which is pretty reasonably priced for LM.  It started with vitamins A and C, followed by their moisture serums and moisture cream.  Sure felt nice, maybe next time. To me, anything feels pretty nice on my face, it’s what happens in real life as to whether I will buy it.  (BTW the LM skincare products kept my skin nicely moisturized for the better part of the afternoon-that’s saying something for Hawaii).

So what happens when you buy a lip or foundation color and it just doesn’t work?

As I peruse a line-up of lip glosses and lipsticks I have on my vanity-I have been putting them on and tossing the ones I have decided don’t work for me.

I’ve talked to my friends, and they pretty much just toss it to the back of their makeup closet.

Me, I have no shame-most of the time I will take a color product back.  I’ve never had a problem with NM and Nords, I’ve never taken back stuff to Macys, though their store return policy is pretty cruise. I don’t bother with drugstore products-they are a small investment, and my time is worth much more.

But then,

A friend who travels from the east coast and back to Hawaii suggested that women keep two bags of makeup.

What?

One for travel to different locales and one for home. What exactly does that mean?

I used to go to SF and loved to buy prescriptives lip colors-mostly matte style.  But when I brought them home to Hawaii, they looked terrible on me! I did ok with foundation and blush but lip colors rarely worked and I’ve heard the same from other people.

I’ve noticed the same geo reaction of my moisture products lately but not so geographically far.

When I put on my Cera Ve’ body cream on the much drier town side and drive over the mountain to the moist windward side, I feel sticky and icky. The cream is too heavy. I’m planning to check out the lighter lotion, but I am surprised at the change.

Conversely, when I put on my lighter moisturizer when I start my day on the windward side, and come back into town, I dry up!

Frustrating.

I don’t know how reasonable it is to keep products for both sides of an island.

But it’s nice to have a lot of choice.

k

 

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My Friends Have Asked Me To Blog About Skincare and Makeup Products I Like

I realized about 15 years ago that I should take better care of my skin and my appearance. Starting with the basics, I used sunscreen everyday, drank lots of water and got plenty of exercise. Over time, I became very interested in skincare and makeup products-mostly because they are fun to learn about and that many of my friends share the curiosity.  At the same time, many people commented on how I’ve retained youthful skin and few wrinkles at rest. So, nowadays,  I just love products and sharing what I discover about how effective they are for me, and make recommendations when people ask me.  My bf said to include the fact that I don’t get paid by the various companies to write about them.

I pretty much plan to review products as I use them, making an honest attempt to keep my testing of products as pure as possible, or I will mention if I am doing otherwise.

What I hear from my friends is their main concerns are brown, dark, sun spots on their faces, wrinkles, foundation, eye liner that doesn’t run and just about anything else related to aging and maintaining what they’ve got and trying to prevent further damage.

Here and there I will probably post about other stuff-mainly my passion for taking ballet and jazz dance classes, and my doggies.

So here goes!