Practical Magic or Impractical Waste

I post my hypothesis entries to see what kind of interest I get in them before moving forward with the series. It didn't seem like everyone was interested in packaging, dispensers, and boxes, like I am. I think the big companies are more interested in what their packaging does for us then readers would be. At least, in the form I was purposing.  So we aren't going to do a series on it. We're just going to do an entry on practicality, waste, and best product dispensers then move on to pricing. That is something I know consumers are interested in; after you pick the package up you turn it over and look for the price. If it isn't there you look around on the display. So we'll be talking about price point, in depth. This is something that I think we'll require some real time and research so I'll enter my post on dispenser practicality or impracticality, then my hypothesis on pricing and we'll get into it a little bit by Wednesday. The new idea portion of the series will have to do with Bestsellers lists. I noticed that they jump from between $35-$40 to $8. Where is the mid-priced non-drugstore higher end brand? Is there one? We'll find out soon enough. 

So packaging. It is one of my favorite things about make-up. I love the look and feel of it all (well the ones I like) but I do have to say that if a dispenser doesn't work for me, if it isn't simple enough or releases way to much product in one go I won't repurchase it. Even if I like the contents; pump, swipe, whatever. If I absolutely love the color, like a foundation color, then I may figure out how to transfer the contents into a dispenser I like better, if transferring doesn't waste most of the product. Foundations are really hard to find in my perfect shade, though. Other than coverage I won't usually go through the trouble. Most of our foray into dispenser will be liquid. Powder products are all dispensed in 2 forms; press and loose. You choose the brush (brushes will be a whole different series). Liquids on the other hand are packaged and dispensed in many different forms; tons of bottles of all shapes and sizes, click pens, upside down flat tops, sprays, and etc. 

We're going to start with click pens because I love and hate them. I love the way they make it so easy to apply products like Bare Minerals Well-Rested, where no matter what the type of dispenser is you're applying the product, or trying, in neat lines around the face. The click pen makes drawing those lines really easy. It makes applying gloss to lips a little more difficult. I always feel like click pens just don't work for lips. Tons of liquid-creamy lip products come in the clickable applicators but they come out thick and the lips are just not long enough to really smooth out the amount dispensed, unless you use your finger. Product gets wasted. Even though you technically need less product for your lips the clickable applicators, for lips, always run out quicker than a concealer, let's say. My concealer or highlight always looks better when I apply with one of the built-in brush/product combos (some don't click).

Click/Built-in Applicator Concealers- 

• Bare Minerals- Well-Rested Face and Eye Brightener 
• Maybelline- Instant Age Rewind Eraser 
• Maybelline- Dream Lumi Touch Highlighting Concealer
• CK One- 3-in-1 Concealer
• Lorac- Touch-up to Go Concealer  

Note- Some believe the sponge, on Instant Age Rewind, would be better replaced with a brush. They find the sponge to be dirty and a little wasteful but the product does apply smooth, evenly, and easily. It is a bestseller amongst drugstore concealers and a favorite of many make-up artists. 

Built-in Applicator

Wand Applicator

Click Applicator

 I added wand applicators in because they are part of the whole package and the wand is built in to the lid but they aren't on the same level with true built-in's and click applicators. They do not  give you the precision of either. I always find myself taking a small concealer brush and grabbing some product off of the wand. Now, that's not all wands. I think wands are very nice when it comes to lips. They spread the product out smoothly and lightly as long as you scrape the extra off on the edge before applying. 

Now, Bottles. Their are tons of them. I don't like the ones that are true bottles cap and circular opening, to pour. If your foundation comes in a bottle it should have a pump top dispenser or an eye-drop top dispenser with a firm form, so as not to over squeeze. The upside down varieties are usually a ticker consistency so they don't come pouring out when opened. They tend to have a less distinct dropper dispensing format; one short squeeze equals a drop. One long squeeze equals a line or about 3 drops. Less precise than a true dropper or pump but much, much more precise than a liquid pourer or True bottle. True bottled foundation ends up getting wasted. You pour out too little the first time and too much when you need more or you pour out an enormous amount to begin with. Its never precise, never the same. I like knowing what my face needs; one pump or two, 2 drops or 4. Whatever it may be I like to know so that I can reduce that for lighter coverage or increase for fuller coverage. I want to control it and I definitely don't want to waste product. It is not cheap. 
 

Pump dispenser.

Circular pour out dispenser.

 

Upside down squeeze dispenser. Less precise dropper, situation.

Pump and Drop Liquid Foundations- 

• MAC- varying lines in both pump and dropper form
• Giorgio Armani- varying lines in pump form
• Philosophy- Miracle Worker 
• Benefit- Hello Flawless
• Bare Minerals- BareSKIN
• IT Cosmetics- Ultra Repair 
• Lorac- POREfection 
• Revlon- Photo Ready Makeup

  Sticks and all the rest are pretty self explanatory. As long as you blend you'll always get a nice even application. We'll be moving on to pricing next. Enjoy this beautiful day!!!

Testers, Please!

We've gotten to our final entry on naming conventions and shade. I'll be delving into Tarte, ELF, Revlon, and Rimmel London. I added the last two companies because I was at CVS today and noticed a little something. We'll get into that in a minute. Let's do this! 

Tarte Amazonion Clay Lip products are fairly popular but not as popular as some of the other high-end brands. They seem to be gaining some recognition amongst the semi-celeb Vlogger crowd. The most well known of Tarte's lip products is their Amazonion Butter. I think this has to do with the fact that it is the only one of their lip products that is named for their signature Amazonion Clay. The Amazonion Butter lipstick comes in 8 shades all named a color or color and adjective; Golden Pink, Plummy Rose, Angelic Nude, and etc. The tube itself lists the name and reference number on it but a description is not listed online next to the choice in the drop-down list like with their other lip products. They seemed to have felt that the name was enough. Being a higher-end product Tarte is only sold in stores that provide testers. So you can test each shade on your lips with the provided applicators or on the back of your hand (the most common way to swatch and most accurate). With Tarte's Butter lipstick I did find that the name was enough for some, not all.

Tarte Amazonion Butter Lipstick Names- Not Descriptive Enough: my descriptions of the shades are included below

• Tulip- a rosey bright pink
• Angelic Nude- soft pink with beige undertone
• Pink Peony- bright pink with coral undertone

Pink Peony is probably the most misleading of the group. When I think of Pink Peonies I think of a range of shades from soft baby pink to pinky-lilac. 

Now, because they are such a trend we're going to take a look at the large lip crayons by Tarte, quickly. They come in LipSurgence Matte, Luster, and Original and Power Pigment. As with the NYX Chunky Dunk crayon Tarte felt is was important to add the word "matte" to the description of their Fiery Matte LipSurgence crayon. They did not use that word in any of the other descriptions of their matte tints, listed next to each adjective driven name, and not present on the tube. I found that between the 27 different lip crayons in 3 different lines that the color swatches provided were very, very similar amongst 75% of them, no matter what line they came from. If I was to go with one of their lip crayons I would go with the Power Pigment line, the colors seemed the most pigmented and variant.

LipSurgence Matte Lip Tint

LipSurgence Lip Tint

 

LipSurgence Lip Luster Tint

If you ask me the 2nd and 3rd image look almost exactly the same. Luckily, you are able to test these otherwise you'd really have no idea what was going on here. How many colors would you say this really is? I think you've got the general idea when it comes to Tarte. 1) Don't order online. 2) Test each product your interested in buying. 3) Check the mobile site for color descriptions even if you are testing them. Thine eyes may deceive you under the poor shop lighting. 

Now I want to move on to Rimmel London and Revlon Color Whisper lipsticks. I made a comment about seeing other women and girls testing products, not testers, in stores that do not provide testers. I made a very distinct observation while at CVS this afternoon. The lipsticks that did not have a clear indication of shade either in name or packaging were opened, tested, and ruined. The Revlon Color Whisper brand of lipsticks has an opaque top so I was able to see which had been damaged due to testing. It was unbelievable how many of the same shade and product had been opened, tested, and ruined on recapping. These companies are loosing money because they don't provide testers. Those tubes may sell but I promise you they will be returned and forced to refund. Revlon provided a small indication of color in the name such as Lust for Blush, Rose of Attraction, and Made it Mauve but this wasn't enough for the average consumer especially since the opaque top made you believe the color matched it. 

Lust for Blush, Rose of Attraction, and Made it Mauve. 

Did the shades match?

These 4 different shades had been opened, tested, and ruined for sale. 

The image above of the ruined Color Whisper sticks were named the following;

• OHLA Lilac 
• Pink Possibilities 
• Pin Up Peach 
• Coral Ambition 

Can you tell which is which? I can only tell you that I know which the OHLA Lilac is and that is was very, very pigment-less. 

Now Rimmel London had the same issue. People had opened, tested, and ruined several of their shades of lipstick even though Rimmel had the presents of mind to separate their product into groups all of the Berries, Pinks, and Nudes and so on. I thought that was very smart and helpful but it didn't seem to give their consumer the info they needed or break it down far enough. They may need to break it down to 1) Berry, 2) Pinks, 3) Nudes. Yes, this will make for a strange display but it might save them a lot of ruined product. Rimmel London had a mixture of color/adjective names and just cutesy names (no indication). I'm guessing that's why their breakdown didn't help as much as they thought it would and of course no description on the package. Although I will give them an A for the effort. 

Finally, E.L.F. They are the worst. They have cutesy names with the most basic shade in some of the names and absolutely nowhere to find a description for any of their lip products. You'll just have to do the guess work. The one thing that ELF does do that the others do not is box up or package their tubes, glosses, and crayons. You cannot test them unless you're sneaky enough to open the box/packaging then get at the product. Probably not going to happen so you'll have the peace of mind of knowing that no one has touched your newly purchased ELF lip product. 

What did we learn?

1. You need to look online to get the description of most products. 
2. Some mobile sites do not provide the description but the full sites do.
3. Check that your particular lip product hasn't been tested by someone and ruined before you buy it. Gross!!!
4. Every company from high-end to drugstore needs to add their shade descriptions to the packaging, even if it is hard to read. 
5. Don't add to the ruined products. You wouldn't want to go home with a ruined product and end up not being able to return it. So don't do it to someone else. 
6. Urban Decay needs more blushes. 
7.  If you're looking for a particular color don't purchase online. The swatch images are not a good indication of color. I went back to the Too Faced Creme Blush swatches entry I posted and guessed the colors before looking at the names, I guessed all wrong.
8. Test everything that has a tester. 
9. Don't trust that a product is shimmery, lustery, matte, or other just because it says so in the name. 
10. Trust your instincts. Even if it isn't the particular color you were looking for, if you think it'll look good on you, go with that.