In short, I don’t get cleansing sticks. They seem gimmicky to me, and they present a sanitary/hygiene conundrum.
But, Beauty Skeptic, why do bar cleansers not offput you in the very same fashion?
Well, Dear Reader, the answer is twofold.
I had a different topic planned for this week’s post, but then shit hit the fan with Sunday Riley.
On Monday, October 15 a throwaway account identifying herself as an ex-Sunday Riley employee posted on Reddit’s SkincareAddition sub. Her post described and disclosed some of what can only be described as heinous and unethical review practices on behalf of Sunday Riley.
I happened to find out via Twitter, which was agog with justifiable rage at this revelation. This isn’t just sketchy, it is going-to-ridiculous-lengths sketchy with extensive instruction, false Beauty Insider profile creation, and VPN usage. Check it out:
I won’t waste your time pontificating on the matter, but have a few calmer points to add now that I am far enough away from discovering this.
This is why you cannot purely trust reviews on merchant sites. If you are going to research product feedback, you should consult a diverse pool of sources. Period.
Last year, I shared that I had started partaking of services European Wax Center. In spite of my comparatively (to the past, anyway) lower beauty budget, I enjoyed the results enough to justify the ongoing splurge. To fit it in, I did things like take advantage of their Wax Pass promotions to cut the per-service price down further.
For a while, the results were fantastic. As time went on, though, I seemed to develop more issues with ingrowns and other unpleasant things. It felt like I was spending almost as much time and effort on preventing and treating waxing-induced ingrowns than I was saving by not shaving. That hardly makes it a winning proposition for me.
It seemed like every time I’d get comfortable with a particular Wax Specialist (esthetician), she would get promoted (yay!), change schedules (boo), or part ways with the company. This resulted in more last-minute rescheduling than I care for, and it meant reacclimating to a new person whose job is to rip hair out of you.
Beyond that, not all specialists are equally good; some are more or less thorough than others. Let’s face it – waxing isn’t inexpensive, and there are several good reasons for that. That said, when you’re paying for a premium aesthetic service like that, you should expect not to have to go home and find you need to finish the damn job.
The environment is not that of a luxurious spa, which is OK – but you still expect to receive a complete service at least, I don’t know, 90% of the time.
Each appointment includes a hard sell on product even you in fact just bought product last time. Additionally, EWC employees don’t seem to be well-versed in their product; namely, what makes their products effective or preferable to other things on the market.
After several months in a row of this, I decided that I’m done with European Wax Center. I called to cancel my prepaid Wax Pass. This caused me to forfeit a $25 cancellation fee (terms I had agreed to upon sign-up); the remainder was refunded to my original payment method without fuss.
For my needs, I am considering investing in a small hard wax kit from Sally Beauty and resort to shaving (and giving my Silkn Laser another shot).
In early April, my husband and I went to one of the outlet malls near us to do some minor clothing shopping. Having never been there and not wanting to waste time perusing stores that weren’t interesting to us, I printed a map beforehand, looked up the listing, and marked off the stores we wanted to check out. While I was going through the list, one caught my eye even though it was entirely off-base in terms of the purpose of our trip: The Cosmetics Company Outlet.
A quick-and-dirty search revealed precious little other than The Cosmetics Company Outlet carries discounted MAC, Clinique, Estee Lauder, Bobbi Brown, and some others. As these brands are traditionally not available anywhere except brand counters, sites, and sometimes at select Ulta and Sephoras – I was immediately skeptical. Like what is this, some flea market-esque booth peddling otherwise semi-exclusive wares?
Are the cosmetics for sale within legitimate?
Through some flavor of social media, I came across this article from Diply. Most of the, “hacks,” this Diply list offers, though, are fairly common knowledge for those interested in beauty. Nothing groundbreaking or inventive. Tips on how to use bobby pins, curl with flat irons, etc.
Then I reached the third page and saw number 8. See for yourself.
How the hell is this a hack? It’s been a few years since I’ve had bangs, but washing my whole head would be easier, quicker (drying might take longer, but still!), and result in less mess. Suuure, wash your hair in the sink, they say. It’s easy, they say. Is it effortless the same way the ladies in skincare commercials wash their face at the sink, splashing water everywhere like a damn Magikarp?
After eight years, Urban Decay is laying to rest the groundbreaking Naked Palette. That’s right, a favorite of mine, maybe yours, definitely thousands of others – is facing discontinuation.
Gasp.
Cheekily, Urban Decay even went as far as to make a funeral video for the iconic palette o’ neutrals.
I’m desperately hoping they surprise and delight. One one hand, if the Aphrodisiac palette is any indication, we’ve got good things in store. On the other, Trendmood leaked a brand new Naked Cherry palette … that I can entirely do without.