Buying and applying makeup: 2 different animals
April 28th, 2008
So, as I was getting at in my last post, makeup buying is a funny thing. There is that moment, whether in the department store or drugstore or wherever you buy makeup–the potential new addition to your arsenal. It looks great on the packaging, on the ad, in the container. Then as you pay, a certain amount of hope courses through your veins. This will be the one that transforms me to that babe in the Lancome ads, maybe even with no Photoshop necessary.
If it is a lipstick, the packaging comes off in the car and on it goes. Sometimes, it’s truly a hit–and we vow to buy that shade until they stop making it (which, unfortunately in many cases, will be in about 6 months–damned makeup companies!). Same with mascara.
If it is something like a foundation, powder, or eyeshadow, we must restrain ourselves and wait until we get home to rip it out of the packaging. If it was purchased at a department store, we maybe even had a “color test” on our cheek or one eye (why don’t they ever do both?) and now can’t wait to try the whole face.
On those rare occasions, the full face application is a success. We may not look like the Lancome chick, but we are not looking like the before shots in the beauty ads, so that’s okay.
Many times though, it doesn’t work out. And you are left standing there with a problem. A foundation that is too dark and turns you into one of those spray-on tan Oompa Loompa girls. Or too light and funeral-home worthy. Or the powder makes you realize you haven’t waxed your mustache in a really long time. Or the eyeshadow is so dark it looks like you applied your mascara to your eyelid by accident.
Now what are you supposed to do with this unfit makeup item? Try to make it work? Toss it in the back of the closet with all of the other misfits? Can’t throw it in the garbage–it’s hardly used and the guilt makes us reach in and dig it out.
Better solution: return it.
Huh? But it’s been used! It’s makeup! Doesn’t matter. Return it. Take it back to the store where you bought it and tell them the truth. It didn’t match, it didn’t do what it promised, whatever the reason.
Yes, with the exception of Target, the store will take it back. I have tried this in department stores and drugstores alike, and can vouch that it works.
Here are the rules:
1. Keep the receipt and original packaging. Make sure this includes the product barcode. You may be able to squeak by without a receipt, but best to have it.
2. If returning to a drugstore, tell the cashier exactly what happened. My usual problem is: “It made me look ready for the morgue.” A woman cashier will usually empathise and a man, well, he doesn’t want to get between women and a makeup problem.
3. If returning to the department store, do the same. Most of the department store makeup lines are really quite understanding and will refund your money with no questions asked. And don’t feel embarrassed–it happens all the time. Just don’t end up walking away from the counter with twice as much stuff as you just returned.
4. Drugstore: don’t buy 3 of the same color and try to return all at once. Sometimes they will take them, but you might get yourself blacklisted (been there, done that at Walmart). Instead, see if the makeup line sells mini-tester shade packets, usually with 3-5 colors in them. This will help immensely.
If you have a really hard time finding the right foundation color, save yourself the headache and go to the department stores. Pretty much everything else you can get in the drugstore, but if foundation is a constant problem for you, it saves more time and money (and gas money!) to get it over with at the department store. Besides, unless you are spackling your face with the stuff, it will last awhile.
And if you aren’t even sure where to start, seriously check out www.beautypedia.com. I really don’t mean to sound redundant, and no, I don’t get a cut of the profits. Paula’s listings are so helpful. For those of you intimidated by the makeup people at the department stores, it is a real equalizer.
Anyone have a favorite foundation that they just can’t live without? Mine is Prescriptives Flawless Finish in Ecru. But at $40 a bottle, I use it carefully.
Copyright 2008-2009 Kristin Delfau, author of Turbo-Mom's Guide to Saving Money Without Wasting Time a womens' personal finance book, and Aji Publishing.
Tags: beauty, makeup, returns
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