A little bit of 19th century misogyny for ya. Thanks, Charles Allen Gilbert!
Last week, we discussed the things that we would spend our last dimes on, and although there was a bit of thread drift simply toward things y’all wouldn’t give up, there were a couple of mentions of personal grooming products and such, prompting this week’s topic. Lip balm, particularly, was a necessity for many. I hear that, and I refer you to this resource in case your habit has become unsustainable.
So, because it’s Friday, and a long weekend for USAmericans, and because I’m kind of burnt out (and yet still have a lot of goals for the day) I’m just gonna run with the shallow awesomeness that is a vanity thread.
Now, by “vanity” I mean neither a judgey “ohhhh you think you’re all that?” nor a glassy, panting, “OMG WHAT’S THE MOST OUTRAGEOUS THING YOU DO OR BUY??? SQUEEEEEEEEE!!! GIMME GIMME GIMME!!!”
I’m pretty low maintenance, and working on dialing it down further. I’m strictly a drug- and discount-store kinda dame, and I try to limit the number of products I use as well as the packaging they come in. I wash my face with honey, occasionally scrub it with baking soda, use olive oil-based bars of soap (Dr. Bronner’s or Kiss My Face), rinse my hair with apple cider vinegar instead of using conditioner (srsly, it totally works!) and use jojoba oil and shea butter for lotion/moisturizer. Basically: if I can eat it, I’ll put it on my body.
But I do have my less-edible preferences and particularities. J. R. Liggett’s shampoo bars are the best thing in the world, and I don’t go a day without using my tweezers. LOVE. TWEEZERS. Love the word “tweezers.” I am vain about my eyebrows. If I’m going to work or out to fancytown, concealer (don’t care, whatever is cheap) is de rigueur, since I was born looking like someone just punched me in the nose: huge dark circles, always. Rested or not, healthy or not. I am vain about not looking like an ancient, exhausted raccoon. And mascara I like, plain old green-and-pink Great Lash. I’ve tried other kinds, and I always go back. And, almost forgot: a retinoid cream that my derm gave me after my BCP caused some melasma (so pritty!).
So for today’s FFT I just wanna know 1) what you’re vain about, 2) where you spend your vanity dollars. Go ahead and name products if you like, but since I don’t wanna turn this thread into a commercial bonanza for corporations who really don’t have our best interests at heart, or spend all day approving comments in the mod queue, please don’t link anything. We’ve all got google-fu.
Go nuts, you beautiful creatures.
Oooh ooh! I’ve been waiting for this thread!
My name is Becky and I’m a lip balm addict. I don’t particularly care what brand—I’ll use plain olive oil or Vaseline in a pinch—but Dr. Bronners and Burt’s Bees are my favorites.
I need eyeliner at all times, because I am pale and blue-eyed and need something to define my eyes. Drugstore brands work just fine, though. Same for hair care.
I have really good skin, which I am vain about, and use tons of lotion, plus eye cream, day cream (with SPF!) and night cream. I’m very loyal to Neutrogena, which has taken good care of my skin since my teen years.
My one indulgence is Orange Flower facial oil from Neale’s Yard in London. It smells heavenly and you mix a couple drops with a couple drops of water and smooth on at night. My skin is more oily than dry, but this stuff balances it out pretty well, especially in cold weather, when I put it on after my night moisturizer. It costs about £20 but a little bottle lasts for a year.
I am vain about my hair, which is wavy, sorta curly. I love a curl activator called Infusium.
If I could find a steady supply of Maja soap I would shower with it always, even though it’s about $2-4 per bar.
I’m vain about my hair. It’s not particularly wonderful hair, but I’ve come to embrace it after years of hating it and it’s strange, slightly wavy “wrinkly” but fine texture. I am in love with that new sufate-free shampoo and conditioner from Loreal, which happens to smell like rosemary and juniper, which I LOVE so very much. I am also hooked on Bumble and Bumble styling products, particularly Surf Spray and Styling Creme, because they allow me to air-dry to wavy goodness.
My must-have makeup is mascara. I have very very pale eyelashes, and feel naked without mascara. One day I’ll probably go off the Tammy Faye deep end. Right now I’m using Loreal’s Extra Volume Collagen mascara and it’s practically like wearing fake lashes.
My biggest summer beauty tip for awesome skin is akin to the edible beauty stuff you love, PhDork: make your own sugar scrub. Equal parts olive oil (or any oil really, I hear coconut is especially good) and sugar, in a tupperware, with a few drops of essential or perfume oil (optional). Scrub down with it in the shower before shaving, and you won’t even need shaving cream for your legs. You won’t need lotion after the shower either. Just try not to slip and kill yourself.
Lip balm is the monkey on my back. I’m hooked, man, I’m a junkie. And it has to be balm or Vaseline that I use- lipstick feels too dry.
I use safflower oil as moisturizer, since it’s unscented and easily absorbed. I also have to use concealer since not only do I have deep purple undereye circles, but I also have rosacea, so I looked like I got punched in the nose and then got blotto on whiskey.
My cardinal sin- I never wash my face before going to bed.
I’m kind of a lipstick junkie. I don’t really have a favorite brand, because I’m always hoping the next one will be perfect. There are probably four lipsticks in my purse right now, and ten more in my bathroom.
I’m also obsessed with eyebrows. Like you, PhDork, I use my tweezers every day. Any time I go into my bathroom, whether to shower or to put away towels, I’m checking for stray hairs in a magnifying mirror. I fret about keeping the brows even, but I really hope one of my friends would tell me if fuck ‘em up.
I have curly hair as well, but my roundish face really needs bangs, so I would be lost without my little flatiron! My bangs curl up in crazy ways when I wash my hiar, so I have to smooth them out nice and flat so they’ll stay out of my damn eyes.
The curliness has also required me to find a good frizz manager. I have been using Aveda’s Brilliant Humectant in the little blue jar for almost 10 years now. Smells absolutely wonderful and works like a charm.
Tweezers is another good one, since I would have bushy Andy Rooney eyebrows without them. (My 6th grade school picture is so embarrassing!)
And last but not least, CONCEALER. I spring for the high powered stuff from Sephora (my fave is Make Up Forever’s Full Cover concealer). Especially for my dark undereye circles, and also for the zits that still crop up regularly at 29 friggin’ years of age. Blerg!
I must have a tube of Blistex on me at all times because I get twitchy if my lips start to feel less-than-moist. Like I mentioned in the other thread, I actually prefer to slather then with Vaseline.
Now that it’s getting tropical out, I’m going through oil absorbing sheets for my face like they’re going out of style.
I got addicted to Arbonne products about a year ago (my neighbor was unemployed and selling them – it was my charitable duty to buy lots!) and now I can’t get enough of facial masks and scrubs. I would use the New Cell Scrub twice a day if I weren’t slightly afraid of burning my skin off. They’re supposed to be all-natural, but I’m a little afraid that they put something addictive in there.
I admit to a deep vanity about my hair (long, dark, and thick) but I’m not picky about product, I just spend forever brushing it.
As another curly-haired lady with bangs, I am in love with my straightener. I am also in a deeply committed relationship with my Target-brand fragrance-free oil-free moisturizer with SPF. It is so wonderfully light and not greasy at all. Mmmm… I get happy just thinking about it.
I second the love for L’Oreal’s new sulfate-free shampoos and conditioners. VEGAN! WOOT! I always have to have lip balm of some kind on my, but I don’t care too much what kind. Burts is on my desk at work, but I’ve got about 1,000 other tubes, tubs, and sticks in purses and on dressers all over the place. I have yet to find a good daily moisturizer with SPF in it that doesn’t feel like I just slathered sunscreen on my face. I’m oily and sticky enough as it is. Veg-friendly preferred but would welcome any suggestions. Lastly, my all time favorite lotion, esp in the winter, is Aveeno’s Skin Relief Moisturizing Lotion. I can’t get enough of it. And it has no scent, for co-workers with sensitive noses or if you just want to go fragrance free.
@ImTheMarigold: I like Neutrogena Day Lotion with SPF or Olay Complete All-Day Moisturizer—they’re inexpensive, oil-free and don’t feel heavy or sticky. Not sure if they’re vegan, though. I have to say, I have dutifully tried various “all natural” or titanium-dioxide-based sunblocks and they always feel like I’m slapping on a mud mask, plus the gooiness makes me break out. So I use the drugstore brands, despite a niggling conscience.
ImTheMarigold: Have you tried Clinique’s City Block Sheer? Not sure if it’s Veg friendly or not, though I know Clinique is against animal testing, fwiw. I really love the City Block.
I’m vain about not wanting pimples or sunburn. I’m pale and have very sensitive skin with a touch of rosacea. Many products make me break out or otherwise wreck havok with my skin. I can’t live without my Paula’s Choice skin cleanser, beta hydroxy gel and mattifying concentrate (sort of like a primer/moisturizer) Best things ever, for me.
)
I have similar issues with sunscreen – most types make me break out. Only the ones with the inorganic ingrdients (zinc oxide, titanium dioxide) work for me, so I’m super picky. I love Clinique Super City Block SPF 25. I can’t use the higher SPF version, though, since they sneaked in some other sunscreens and I didn’t realize it until I broke out.
I’m also a huge indulger in things that smell nice – soaps, body washes, and perfumes. (@ rodriguez – I love Maja soap too
I’m in the process of moving. I’m really amazed by how much soap/body wash/lotions/etc I have, and by the realization that I don’t want to part with any of it.
I always call myself low maintenance since I don’t wear make up and I dress like a What Not to Wear victim waiting to happen. But I’m addicted to my “products.” I can’t just hop in the shower at someone else’s place. I need my special products and time for my routine. The full showering routine takes about 2 hours. No, I don’t do the full routine every day.
Skin care is my crack. I have a mild (usually) form of eczema which usually presents from over-dryness. If I don’t properly moisturize, my dry skin will quickly turn into a full body rash. Of course, I can’t just slather on any old lotion (lest I end up with an even worse rash from irritants). Oh Aveeno – I’m paying salaries at your company. I need both the body wash and the lotion. Head to toe, every shower. For my face, I swear by St Ives Apricot Scrub (or a store brand imitation) and Noxema (I prefer Noxema plus moisturizer but I can’t find that anywhere but Wal-Mart, so f that).
I forgot about Aveeno. I love their unscented body lotion! I found 4 containers of it when I was packing. (Home bottle, work bottle, gym bottle, and full backup bottle)
um I er don’t buy any particular product at all. Occasionally if I’m going out and remember I wear the old mascara that’s in my bag plus the one lipstick I own (which i think is chanel) and some eyeliner. I don’t have a skin care routine at all other than soap and water. I don’t own any moisturisers or toners because i can’t be bothered.
That said I do spend money on my hair when I get it cut (every six months) and the one thing i do spend regular cash on is getting the hair from my upper lip removed and having my eyebrows done (these are pretty recent innovations I made it to 28 before I had them done).
It’s not that I’m anti beauty products or makeup or skin care regimes its just that I never learnt about them when younger and wasn’t that interested then and basically i can’t be arsed to spend the time that I could be reading, eating or drinking on some complicated regime I would probably get wrong.
Attention Lip Balm Addicts! Switch to Smith’s Rosebud Salve, available at Sephora near the cash register for $6 a tin that you will lose way before you run out of. You’ll go from 20 times a day of applying chapstick to only a couple of times a day applying this salve. It is AMAZING!!!!!!!!
I am an incredibly contrary person and for the vast majority of my life, until like last year, I just unconsciously believed that beauty products didn’t work. So, in the last year or so, I realized that it probably isn’t possible for NO beauty products to work, or people wouldn’t keep buying them, and I have been trying to branch out, try new things, and keep an open mind.
For the past couple of months I have been using ROC Multi Correxion Skin Perfecting System, and while it has not perfected my skin, it does make me look less tired. I also really like the Avon Glazewear lipgloss thingies.
$2-4 a bar for soap? Oh dear, I must be very vain then because I cannot live without my Ring of Roses buttercream soap from Lush, and it’s usually around $11 a bar! But it smells so gorgeous and keeps my skin so soft!
I also have *very* hard water in my apartment, which destroys my hair (I mean, literally – the chemical deposits make it so dry and straw-like that brushing it rips out huge chunks!) So I have to use ZeroSulfate purifying shampoo from Pureology (also protects my color and is vegan) and go in for a Malibu treatment every 6 months or so.
My one thing that is super expensive (by my standards) that I can’t live without is Smashbox’s Photo Finish foundation primer that takes the red out of your skin. I realize there’s something really sick about wearing make-up that goes on *under* foundation, but seriously, my skin can get really red and freckly and it’s not cute freckles, but big splotchy ones. It’s the difference between “looks like she’s been standing in the sun all afternoon” Amanda and “clean, sophisticated, pulled-together” Amanda. I don’t even really need much else besides all the stuff I put on my skin, a little mascara and a bright red lipstick and it’s suddenly glamorous.
I’m pretty low maintenance lately — I stopped wearing makeup to work about 2 years ago when I started working out every afternoon. It just seemed stupid to put on eye shadow to wear for 4 hours behind my closed office door.
I have my hair chemically straightened 4 times a year — it is slightly wavy and incredibly thick and each hair is very coarse, so it takes forever to dry (with or without a blow dryer) and really tends toward triangle head if I let it dry naturally.
My biggest vanity expenditure was paying for laser hair removal, and let me tell you all, it is fabulous. I think it was the granny beard cropping up when I turned 31 that really did me in. Oh hell no! Anyway, in addition to my facial hair, I have also had the bikini area (no more ingrown hairs!), underarms (ditto), and lower legs. It cost ~$2500, but I don’t even care because it is wonderful and fabulous and my doctor will do touch-ups for free whenever I need it (only 2x/year now).
In theory I like makeup (and I have the large collection of stuff to prove it), but I just lack the energy and the will to use it routinely. I do make sure to always lip balm. The one makeup item I use with any regularity is mascara because I have short, stumpy, wonky eyelashes and I have totally fallen victim to the desire for long, thick, luxurious ones.
I have very pale skin, with red cheeks, but it’s also highly sensitive and seriously problematic. I use Mario Badescu products to wash, tone, moisturize, and heal my skin.
I love my hair and it’s definitely the object of my vanity. It’s dark and thick and shiny. Though I like it, I don’t put any effort into it. My haircut doesn’t require a lot of maintenance and I’m not wedded to any fancy shampoos or conditioners.
I unabashedly love and use non-makeup products such as Lush bath bombs and body scrubs, Kiehl’s body lotions, and perfumes. I fucking love perfume. I used to have a whole bunch of different bottles for different days and moods. My favorite scent is Chanel’s Coco Mademoiselle. But I also love the Myrtle perfume from L’Occitane en Provence, and Laura Mercier L’heure magique.
Crabtree & Evelyn and I have had a torrid affair for 22 years. If they ever discontinue their Rosewater line, I may do something very bad. Very smelly, too.
For me, it is definitely my hair. I regularly get it dyed considerably darker than its natural color (which is just a medium brown, sometimes bordering blond). I have them use semi-permanent so that it fades out and I can have it dyed again…if it isn’t constantly changing I will want to hack it all off–I used to have to very short but for two years now have persisted in growing it out (it’s slow going…only now is it what I would call “long”).
I also actually buy salon shampoo and products, only wash it every othe rday, and am extremely fussy about avoiding heat damage to it.
The reason behind all of this: When I was younger, I always wanted “better hair.” My mother, however, is quite the tomboy and always just keeps hers short with minimal upkeep (it works for her, and suits her perfectly). A few years ago I decided to really put forth an effort to learn how to have hair that made me happy. Now that I’m as happy with it as I am, there’s no going back!
I am super-vain about my hair. I can’t help it. It’s my best attribute, visually speaking.
Otherwise, I oscillate wildly. I do tend to use a lot of face/skincare products, but I forget to put on mascara, don’t pluck my eyebrows for weeks, etc.
My favourite skin care things are masks like the Origins charcoal mask and Korres’ wild rose oil mask, which respectively make my pores feel better (I have huge ones) and make my skin all glowy and happy. Those are my expensive indulgences.
I should say in general I’m kind of a Korres advertisement as a person. I also recommend their tinted lip balms for those like me who have a lackadaisical approach to the application of lipstick. And their body washes, which come in all sorts of smells, though they seem to have cut my favourite (fig) so I’m mad. I used to have nutmeg from them too.
Oh and I do either L’Eau by Kenzo or Stella McCartney for perfume.
Apparently I’m more vain than I thought.
Hmm. I used to be vain about my hair when it was ~3 ft long but now that it’s shorter, I have a much more relaxed attitude about it. I’ve been experimenting with “alternate” hair care routines. Since I have curly-ish hair, I stopped using shampoo a while ago and have found my scalp to be *much* less itchy — I only wash with vigorous finger-rubbing and conditioner (usually Trader Joe’s) now. I also recently started trying apple cider vinegar rinses on my hair, which makes it sort of shockingly well-behaved. Baking soda paste rinse on the scalp also gets rid of all sorts of residue, although if you do that more than once every couple of weeks, it can dry out your hair.
I don’t wear make-up every day but when I do I like fun eye shadow and lip stuff, but I only buy cheap-o drugstore stuff. I used to wear perfume every single day (all oils from Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab, which this woman in California and her husband run, mixing all the perfumes themselves, etc.), but then my boyfriend told me he preferred me to not wear any. ;_; So now it’s a special-occasion thing.
Personal care items I can’t live without:
My Diva cup…
Bath and Body Works shower gel and lotion;the older style fruit and floral fragrances. They changed to strange combos in the last year or two and I stocked up on all the old ones…. I have about 30 in my linen closet….I use the lotion on my face, body, and as deoderant most days.
Thermacare heat pads, I use them for my period times and any other achey time, I have about 6 boxes stuffed under my sink….
My bright purple clip in hair extension. For something fun that makes me feel less boring…
Little hair clips and barrettes to pull my cowlicky front hair off to one side.
I don’t consider myself vain, but after learning to love my looks, I’m now kind of … dedicated? … to them. My most expensive vanity is my hair, for which I will gladly lay out $50 on a deep-conditioning treatment that I’ve never tried. I also buy the more expensive mineral makeup and have a 4-step Dr. Wexler skin care regimen because I like to get complimented on my skin. And this one’s a little weird, but after hating it because I grew up in TX where I was regarded (incorrectly) as goth because of my dark hair and lack of pigmentation, I’m kind of protective of my coloring now. So I’m big on sunblock and avoiding the sun if at all possible.
And I need Carmex. I don’t even understand people who use chapstick or whatnot, that feels like absolutely nothing to me. I need the tingle, and I prefer the potted kind as opposed to the squeezy tube. I just counted and I have 7 pots right now; 3 in the same purse.
@Jetgirl:
I went to elementary school with Ms. Crabtree’s son.
Dove. The soap. I have dry skin everywhere. Neutrogena – same reason. John Frieda Frizzies (only it’s spelled funny) mousse. and DHC products – and a scrub called Nia24 – awesome. Way more beauty products than I care to admit. ; )
OMG, Bellacoker! May I touch you?
I’m a little vain about my hair, because it’s a nice color with no grays, and very smooth. Honestly, though, I use cheap products on it like Suave or – at the high end – Pantene. I do swear by some Tigi volumizer stuff that costs $12ish a can.
I have pale skin, so I buy some rather spendy sunblock.
I will spend out the nose for pigmented makeups like eyeshadow or blush, because the more expensive ones have better, longer-lasting pigments. And I buy nice mineral makeup for my face.
One of my favorite products ever is probably Clinique Mild Clarifying Lotion. It has a 0.5% salicylic acid formulation, which provides just a little bit of exfoliation, acne-fighting and wrinkle-prevention all in one.
Olay Quench body lotion is amazing and non-greasy.
I could not live (at least not as comfortably) without bobby pins and ponytail holders, or concealer for my undereye circles.
I have the eyelashes of an albino rabbit (very pale) so I love mascara. Cover Girl Lash Blast is pretty awesome.
Probably my biggest beauty cash outlay is on a decent haircut every couple of months. That runs me around $45 including tip, which I realize is cheap by the standards of larger cities, but it’s the most money I usually spend in one chunk. It was a lot more when I maintained highlights. Mineral makeup foundation is probably the next-biggest expense.
Hands-down, the most luxurious item on my vanity is a bottle of Chanel Coco Mademoiselle. I have worn it since it came out, and it smells like…me.
Burt’s Bees Tomato Soap and Toner. The best thing for my super oily, break out prone skin. I used to erupt every PMS week, and once I switched to this, I might get one pimple.
My scrubby gloves. Yes, it kind of makes me look like I’m being fondled by a muppet in the shower, but my skin is much smoother, and less prone to ingrown hairs and breakouts, also, no more scaley elbows.
LUSH’s Flying Fox Shower gel. Love the smell.
My hair. I’m currently a platinum blonde, after years of being a redhead (artificially, my natural hair color is a dull could be dishwater blonde, could be brown… who knows? Great if I were a criminal who didn’t want people to be able to describe her, not so great otherwise). My hair’s short in case there’s a bleaching emergency, I can cut my losses (pun intended) with less trauma, besudes when my hair was long it used to give me headaches. It is, however, ironing board straight and requires product and round brushing to look tousled and sexy, and opposed to flat.
I have been wearing the same shade of lipstick since I was 15: Black Honey Almost Lipstick from Clinique. That and maybelline mascara in very black (with the green and pink tube) have been constant companions.
I finally decided to upgrade my face cream from drugstore stuff to Aveda now that I have to worry about wrinkles, sun damage, and acne (of what a barrel of fun that is). I love the Aveda, especially its nice green glass bottle (it feels so luxurious compared to the plastic that I’m used to beauty products coming in). I also have a regular appointment with my purple tweezermans.
And, yes to Aveeno lotion! My super sensitive dry skin would never feel good if it weren’t for Aveeno.
Definitely my hair. But in a butch sort of way. I get really upset when it gets too long (in fact, I’ve had nightmares about it getting past jaw length, which may be considered by some to be a bit weird). I keep it cropped to about an inch on the sides, a touch longer in the back, and about 3-4 inches long on top. I’ve got a few different products I use on it, depending on how I’m styling it. If I’m going for a spiky look, I use Got2B’s spiker. I’ll use a light hold pomade if I just want some texture, but for an all out rockabilly-inspired style (ideal for a night on the town), I find mixing the Got2B spiker with some medium-hold gel works best (to avoid crunch), and then top it all off with some hairspray.
perfume. I love something that smells good. otherwise, I do a little of it all –hair, skin, brows, lips. I’ll use something to death and then change for something else. I try not to have a lot of redundancy in my stuff. I hate old cosmetics so I throw shit out. But mostly I smell everything before I buy it and unscented things get scented by me with …perfume.
But, I don’t know that I would necessarily say that any of it is my vanity. was that the question?
I won’t post the link, but I just discovered website called the Skin Deep Cosmetic Database which lists all the toxic things in just about every beauty product you can imagine.
I read an article the other day about how face creams and sunscreen with retinol (vitamin A) can actually speed up the cancer process, which freaked me the hell out. So now I’m trying to find a safe alternative to the Neutrogena Healthy Skin Anti-Wrinkle Cream that I’ve been using for two years, which pretty much got rid of my acne problems.
*sigh* It’s so hard to know what to buy these days.
I love love love hair dye. It’s not my fault my redheaded self was born a blonde. My preference is to get it professionally done with highlights, but I’m in grad school again so it’s back to the boxed dye for now.
Mary Kay Day Solution is the only SPF product that doesn’t hurt when I apply it, and since standing next to me would make a ghost look tan, I wear it every day. In the summer I apply it twice before I go outside.
Last winter my organic emu oil lotion (local brand, don’t remember the name) was always within reach. I have a lot of sensitivity to lotions, but this one fixed my dry and bleeding hands in about two days, and didn’t burn or itch when I applied it. The only downside was that my dogs LOVED the taste, so I had to hide after applying it or they’d just lick it off.
I am also a lip balm fiend. That was one of the first things I asked my roommate to translate for me (I don’t speak the local language yet) so I could go buy some new when I got here.
I think the only true brand loyalty I have is to Certain Dri super no-sweat magic. I don’t mind sweating when it’s hot or I’m exerting myself, but sweating through my shirt by 10am at my desk? No thanks. I will stockpile if it ever threatens to disappear (and then I’ll wonder what to do with it all, because I’m pushing 3 years with one bottle).
Otherwise, I have wild mood swings about it all: I buy what’s on sale/smells good at the grocery store, rarely wear makeup, and am generally happy with myself as I am. But then! I get to feeling all rumpled and not “put together” and I start researching “better” makeup etc. online. But then! I read the EWG website and get all freaked about their listings of scary scary chemicals. And then I get pissed that the only stuff they deem “safe” costs many $ and isn’t available at the corner drugstore. Why are safe cosmetics only for the elite?!? And why the hell do I need to look societally-defined “pretty” anyway?!? But THEN, I calm down, move on, and, on some random Tuesday, buy a new lipstick at the grocery store. Which I wear for about 3 times before forgetting about it. And thus the cycle begins again….
So, I’m impressed with those of you who are dedicated product users. I mostly lack the drive.
Though I have been consistent with Aveeno’s SPF30 facial moisturizer for a while now, and am happy with it. I figure wearing sunscreen on my face if nowhere else=good enough to get me through the day.
(and none of my ranting above is a judgment on anyone’s makeup choices. Sometimes my head just fights with itself)
Jetgirl:
Yeah, that would be okay. Her son was a really nice boy and she seemed like a nice lady too, I always think it’s was weird when I see their soap/name in the store.
ShinyObjects: I use the Certain Dry too, or end up looking like pictures from 1974 yearbook photos even in cool months like March. But don’t stress, if it disappeared you can get something very similar with a prescription, it’s called Drysol.
Part of growing up with a mother who owns a salon is that you end up with really fancy salon stuff for free. I used Aveda until I was in high school (when they became evil and started to refuse to sell stuff at non-concept salons, meaning anyone who didn’t have a rich-person clientel had to stop carrying their products) and never thought it was anything special.
I’m not particularly vain about any parts of me, though–I don’t really consider any one trait more attractive than another. I am rather particular about feeling uncomfortable, and I have a discomfort threshold of a toddler. So I, too, am addicted to Burt’s Bees lip balm, and I am an obsessive moisturizer. I use whatever my mom gets me, as long as it doesn’t smell too strongly, and lately she’s been buying me organic coco butter stuff. I like the Hempz line, too.
I have some products that I use fairly regularly on my hair–Paul Mitchell’s shine drops, and their The Cream–but I often forget to put it in. When I wear makeup it’s always just a bit of concealer if I have a zit, some blush, and mascara. Maybe liner if I’m feeling like I need to get dressy. Sometimes I get all into it and wear green or red eyeshadow.
My hair’s short now, but I’ve been thinking of letting it grow out for the sole purpose of wearing pigtails, which I love. It’s really hot here today, so I bet I’ll cave before I can actually do it, though.
I do have to say that I love love love Avon’s Feelin’ Fresh antiperspirant. But lately my armpits have been getting itchy, and my partner keeps encouraging me to stop putting poison on my skin. But I loathe smelling badly, and people who smell (I have a sensitive nose), and I don’t like sweat marks on my shirts. It makes me look nervous. And I’m a big sweater.
I’m lucky, though, because I never pay for any of this stuff. My mom knows I’m too cheap and disinterested to care, so she supplies me with more shampoo, conditioner, and lotion than I’ll ever need. She doesn’t like it when I look like a bum–shoemaker’s children have to wear nice shoes or else the shoemaker looks like an asshole sort of thing, is her thinking.
Oh and if anyone love Burt’s specifically for the tingle, might I recommend Paul Mitchell’s tea tree line. Specifically the tea tree soap bar, which is Amazing. It smells good and makes your skin feel all tingly and cold and cool.
One thing that I am vain about is my perfume. On my 16th birthday my mum took me out to buy my first bottle of perfume, and the one bottle I continue to use to this day is “Giorgio”. A 100ml edt lasts about 6-9 months with a squirt or 2 under the arms.
Similar to PhDork, I use food products on my skin. One that I used to make was a egg white mask when my skin was oily and very pimple prone. Just separate an egg, and whisk the egg white (albumen) and apply, rinse off after 5mins. There’s also this glorious honey and avocado mask that works when skin feels dry – equal parts, mix, apply. Cucumber and used tea bags (of black tea varieties, not so sure about herbal) also with reviving eyes. I also use rosehip oil on my skin – my sister got me onto that, as occassionally something called “Bio-Oil”. I also used to use fish oil tablets on my skin, work great inside and out.
I have psiorsis on my scalp, so I use whatever organic shampoo for the condition that is generic brand. When I have the dollars, I occassionally use patchoili and bergamot essential oils on my scalp to keep things under control.
And given I spend a lot of time in the sun, I like cheap sunscreen. Though there used to be this cheap children’s sunscreen with glitter I used to use, but I haven’t been able to find it.
Like others, I get wayward hairs on my chin, so tweezers, to me, are necessary.
Make-up I’m not very good at applying. And I used to use Lush’s “glitter bug” in opalescence. It is easier to apply than make-up, and it has a beautiful scent, and is moisterising as well.
Bath/soap wise, I tend to use what people donate to me. Though a recent trip to the Blue Mountains, there was this place that made the most beautiful olive oil soap. I bought 2 balls, but they were a bit expensive. I also like Lush products. When I get birthday dollars, I will buy bits and pieces to try out.
Emaloo: I know we’re not linking, but can you share the brand/shade of a good red hair dye? I’m a natural redhead but think I destroyed my hair’s capacity to produce pigment after much messing around with blue/green//black/bleach/purple dyes in high school, and a lifetime of Australian sun damage exposure.
Perhaps my vanity is that I’m always on a quest to find the dye that will restore my natural, vibrant red. Box dye, of course. I have neither the time nor money to spend hours/hundreds at the salon.
I tweeze my eyebrows when I remember to. I wax my lip sometimes. Uh, yea. Oh! I just bought some makeup to mess around with for my wedding, but only eye make up. I hate putting stuff on my lips if it isn’t chapstick. I also splurge on razors that aren’t the cheapy ones, because cheap razors are just that: cheap.
I am a grad student on a (very small) budget, so I’m a drugstore-products whore.
Tresemme does great things for my hair and at a pretty reasonable price. I like the Garnier Fructis hair serums and creams (I have curly-ish hair so I need something that will moisturize and prevent frizz).
As far as makeup goes, I don’t care that much as long as I can always have mascara, lip gloss, blush, and concealer.
Perfume? Well, when I have money to spare I like J’adore by Dior. It’s the only perfume I’ve tried in a while that I *love*.
I’m vain about my hair. I’ve straightened it on a (near) daily basis since I was 17, and I’ve spent god knows how much money colouring it – I was blonde for 7 years – and more recently getting it professionally straightened. (A godsend treatment in many respects, but also one that seems to demand that you don’t do much else than worry about your hair. Eg exercise. Or move. Or anything involving the possibility of sweating. Needless to say, I’m not quite THAT vain about it.)
I have zero product loyalty, but I have spent loads of money on reams of beauty products and services over the years. I credit low self-esteem for that. Over the last few years I’ve largely given up the ghost because: (1) I’ve finally accepted that there is no magic haircut, hair color, skin care regimen, or make-up routine that will make me look the way I’d like to look; (2) I am lazy and don’t stick to a beauty regimens even when I have the money to afford products and services; (3) because of (2), spending money on that stuff is a huge waste for me; and (4) I’m trying to be a little more conscious of chemicals and environmental impact.
I used to be really vain about my hair, not because I was proud of it but because I thought if I could just get it to look a certain way it would fix [insert any number of real or imagined flaws]. I spent gobs of money getting it professionally cut and colored. Now I get it cut maybe 2 or 3 times a year, and sporadically color it at home. If my financial situation changes, I suspect I’d go back to the salon for coloring because my home jobs are messy and occasionally uneven. Plus getting it done at the salon feels luxurious.
Two things I really can’t live without, though, are concealer (I break out more now than I did when I was young), and blush (without it I look dead). I should be a lip balm junkie because my lips get so dry that they crack and bleed, but I hate the feel of stuff on my lips so I’m piss poor about using it even though I have plenty.