Do you have a beauty buying philosophy? I was just asking myself this question. I don't have a unified theory of lipgloss just yet, but I do have a few guiding principles. These have been learned from a couple of years of trial and error. Please feel free to chime in with your own beauty rules of thumb.
(In no particular order)
1. The less a company spends on advertising, the more likely I am to give that company a chance.
In particular, I'm thinking of brands like
DHC,
Paula's Choice and, to an extent, Kiehl's. These brands aren't found splashed all over the pages of rags like Allure or Cosmo. Some, like DHC, spend their money on direct marketing. If you get on the DHC mailing list you will receive their catalogs regularly and each catalog comes with a bunch of samples. Brilliant. You can try their products with no risk and see what you like. Paula Begoun is also very generous with samples, though you have to buy first.
I'll have another post that focuses more on these particular brands and what I like about them. But for now, the takeaway is that less money spent on advertising is less of your money paying for advertising and more spent on actual product.
2. Know your ingredients and beware of 'fairy dust'
I've become a bit of a geek about beauty, both because it's interesting and because I can't afford to waste money on junk that is just going to make me feel guilty.
One of the blogs I like is the
Beauty Brains, written by actual cosmetic scientists. They use the term 'fairy dust' to refer to specialty ingredients that may be hyped on a product's packaging, but appear in such small quantities as to be useless. Or the actual ingredient sounds good, but has no cosmetic function.
You should know the ingredients that matter (Retinol, Matrixyl, Vitamin C, AHA, BHA) and find out the optimal ways to use them. Beware of hyped up new ingredients that only have proprietary research behind them.
My takeaway here is to do your research and don't be swayed by multi-million dollar ad campaigns with lots of outlandish claims and fancy sounding ingredients.
3. Packaging matters
I'm sure we've all been suckered in by sexy packaging at one time or another. (
Lipstick Queen, I'm giving you mad side eye.) I do try not to be suckered in by pretty packaging. But what I'm really talking about here is functionality. Star ingredients like Vitamin C break down when they come in contact with air. A good Vitamin C product is going to be pricey, so you want to make sure it lasts. Buy something that comes in a pump, not a jar or bottle that requires you to open it every time to get it out.
Another thing to keep in mind is hygiene. The less you have to dig your fingers into a jar, the less chance there is that you will transfer bacteria into your precious face goo. Especially if you're into buying 'natural' products that might be formulated with fewer preservatives, then you really want to look for packaging that keeps your goo nice and clean.
OK, I've shared some of my 'rules to shop by' with you. Now let me know yours!
is simply the best night time lip product I've ever used. It is so good, and so expensive, that as the product starts wearing down, I dig my finger into the bottom of the tube and get every last little bit of product.
. The other is by the first female Jewish supergroup 
. Mikveh uses the traditional tune, while the Barry Sisters have an awesome swinging jazz version.
