Home USA Women In The News Holiday Make-Up Is A Deal – Don’t Buy

Holiday Make-Up Is A Deal – Don’t Buy

lip gloss

December 2008 News Flash:

Holiday Make-Up Is A Deal – Don’t Buy

According to leading brand Reps, this year’s Gift packages are more than a deal, some are a steal, 195 cosmetic items valued at $300 for only $42.

Do we care? Not so much, for good reasons.

This is for many not the best of financial times. Even when those good ole’ days return, there is seldom a need to keep purchasing makeup items at every cosmetic company suggestion.

Makeup stays in style. Yes, granted, trendys-at-heart realize make-up Trends change but that need not send you on a new round of buying, except for maybe a box of fabulous Zip Lock baggies. Do yourself a favor, splurge, spring for the expensive type that have the real Zipper, easy to close.

One of the best ways to save a bundle if you cannot resist the latest Blue tones, those that glitter? Then go for it, but, big b-u-t, first put what you were using in the under-sink cabinet safely contained inside see-thru plastic where you can and will, trust me, break that stuff out next year.

Makeup has the life expectancy of a newly born astronomical planet. Okay, not quite, but almost. Estee Lauder Representatives announced today that makeup is a safe bet to apply half a decade after purchase. Manufacturers often store what doesn’t sell or get shuttled off to discount stores, 5 or more years later. Your ‘today’ supply will look pretty good after you’ve had some time to forget you are bored with it at the time.

lip gloss
  • Lipstick can be used for 4-6 years, sometimes more. So when you are down to the very bottom of your tubes with only a small nub left, scrape what there is into an empty eye shadow container then mix with lip gloss. For those who do not enjoy Jennifer Lopez’s cash flow, just clean everything first.

    This works well using a cotton-removed Q-tip. If you are really creative, you could mix various shades, and make yourself a blend of colors you like best. (I often mix my own face foundation when I’m unable to get the exact color for my skin.)

    Alas, because I need more pink to avoid a pale shallow look I frequently add a dab of lipstick, small bits at a time until achieving the color perfect for that live rosy glow hardly ever available in over-the counter standard colors. Let’s face it; one size does not always fit all.

  • Lip gloss works the same way as lipstick and will last for years. There really aren’t as many great things to do with lip gloss, but what if you ran out of your fav? Before going on a shopping binge make your own color glass – make a base with that lipstick that looks so fabulous on you. On occasion I mix a teeny spot of petroleum jelly to a little leftover lipstick. It seals in moisture, keeps lips looking full, smooth, and kissably soft. For days, depending on the weather, something regular lipstick wont’ do.

    If your mix doesn’t blend together easily put it in a heat resistant container then pop that into ye ole’ microwave a few seconds. Caution: be very careful not to overheat it. After that do not apply until you check, to assure it has returned to room temperature.

  • Pressed face powder will normally last for a long, long time. Most is basically just colored talcum power. Quite often we can’t get all of the powder out of the corners of a compact. When we can, it returns to its natural state, fragments and dust that fly around, to make a mess in our purse.

    No big save there, so, time to clean out an eye shadow container or buy an inexpensive tiny travel version, they can cost as much as a quarter, 25 cents.

    Fill it with all that loose stuff and make yourself a great easy-to-carry, safe to carry, loose powered item. No more fuss, no muss, no purse mess. One small detail, it is sometimes necessary to crush the powder so it is as uniformly smooth when applied as you wish.

  • Ah, ha, the wonders of Miley Cyrus no-zit fantasy or no laugh-lines Angelina Jolie achieved with the flesh colored Concealer. It too has a long shelf life. Stick concealer will, like lipstick, dry out, given enough time.

    That’s when Zip Lock show how much the company loves us by offering up small Snack-Size baggies with which we pop one or more tubes inside, sprinkle a few drops of moisture, then park it in the makeup drawer to rest while it reconstructs.

    Remember, it only dried because it lost H2O.

    I personally like to, again, often, mix or do a re-mix with my concealers to attain the perfect skin-color concealer for my complexion.

  • Beauty of Blush really perks up Britney Spears as well as the rest of us.

    Containers of cosmetic blush last longer than most people keep a car before deciding we ‘need’ a new one. 83% of our cosmetics end up in the ‘bored with it’ bin before a container is empty. If you have a favorite blush that you use almost daily but want a new something, try the same stash away for awhile or use the mix methods described above, be it cream or power, to give your cheeks a slightly sexy flushed look.

    As stated earlier, I often rely on blush and/or lipstick shades to tone my face powders so they best match whatever shades my skin requires to look its best.

    As you might have noticed, our color-tone needs change throughout each year or round of Seasons. A gentle Spring shade looks most natural while that healthy Summer fun wears well until our own skin pales with Fall. From then on the best, born-this-beautiful because it looks like the real me, is a more cream-like porcelain Winter hue nobody ever guesses isn’t truly coming from extra good skin care and a perfect diet.

  • The eyes have it, as is often stated. I personally have a true love/hate relationship with Mascara. It never lasts long enough, too often doesn’t look natural, and it ain’t inexpensive to keep a good supply at hand.

    We must also handle applications with great care since it’s worn so near our precious eyes.

    There are a couple ways to get the most mileage out of it, beginning with the best type, “Not Waterproof.” Any pharmacy should be willing to provide you with a clean sterile eye dropper even if you have to buy the small medicine bottle, or in some cases an insulin needle with which you can insert clean, sanitary-clean water and re-juice a dry Mascara tube several times.

    Life extension is possible with even Waterproof Mascara. Some companies offer tiny bottles of solution advertised and designed solely for that purpose. Most are anti-allergenic.

    One drawback is that they cost about half the price of a brand new Mascara so while there is a savings, it isn’t as much cash still in your pocket as you might wish.

    What this product is super for is to have on hand when you realize your own Mascara is suddenly desert dry. You can add a few drops of the commercial product, about all you get in a purchase, and it then requires anywhere from 20 minutes to a few hours to reconstitute the Mascara in the tube. Blend it with the wand-brush so you can get a smooth application. Most of us know that pumping or swabbing the wand inside the tube helps to a limited degree.

    It pays to ask for free Mascara samples at your local cosmetic counter, keeping in mind it is often the brush that we’re happy with more then the eyelash soup inside.

    A final word on Mascara. Do not, do not try to save a little by buying a Gift set to get a Free Mascara unless you are absolutely assured what they offer is your best color. Such sets almost always come with black. Cosmetic companies would in their perfect world have us all wear black all the time, because it is cheaper for them to package.

    Darker complexion Americans only make up 12 to 16 percent of the citizenry and not all of them have jet black eyelashes. Plus, those numbers do not include the gone-blonds or gracious gray haired among us. Black Owl eyes are terribly unattractive – the spooky look is fine on Halloween.

    Even non-drama-Queens look top drawer about 2 or 3 hours after applying dark brown shades when Mascara has had time to settle in and at the base of lower lashes for a born sultry-eyed ultimate naturally undeniably sexy appearance.

  • Lastly, and probably the most important of all, Eyebrows. Eyebrow pencils too, age remarkably slowly; they can be used almost indefinitely. And here’s where we need to draw the line between cheap-is-chic and cheap is just plain cheap. Brow pencils and eye liners should never be the same color; there is no natural to it, no way to create an illusion of being naturally born that way.

    Eye liner should be a shade or two dark brown most of the time, eye brow pencils lighter than lashes. Sunlight, in fact, all light fades eyebrow hairs so put on your best face, the fabulous way it grew on you. For light blondes with different shade of hair than lashes or darker haired damsels going or gone gray, for any undecided, the ideal filler that does fit the masses is the beauty of Taupe. It’s a French word for a combo of black/brown/tan/blond, even purple blends. The color taupe comes in a mega number of dark taupe to light taupe shades.

    Any of us who change shades of hair to a little sun-light softer for Summer should always have taupe on hand. It is the one constant, year round. Taupe never goes under the sink cabinet.

    One hide-away winner is Este Lauder’s Christmas perfume Cinnabar, before and after spray lasts long after the New Year’s party has been forgotten.

    Best of Luck with your Smart Make-Up Choices.

    (c) Strasbaugh

  • Claudia Strasbaugh was a freelance writer who founded Scripps Ranch/Mira Mesa Writer’s Guild, was head writer for the weekly TV show “Kill ‘EM With Comedy,” plus California Bureau Chief for National Lotto World Magazine. Claudia also ran a nonprofit called Dinner On A Dollar. Sadly, Claudia passed away in 2015, but we are pleased to display her writing works.

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