What is your biggest gripe about drugstore cosmetics?
Begin rant:
I know that some people would probably say that they wish all cosmetics at the drugstores had testers. That would be nice, but I think that since CVS, Walgreens and Rite Aid all allow you to return or exchange used beauty products, it's not a huge deal if something doesn't work for you these days. Personally, my biggest gripe is the lack of safety seals on certain cosmetics. Even if a product has testers available, people will still test the products in the display and we all know it because we've all seen it! The only way to combat this is to put teflon-like safety seals on all drugstore cosmetics. And I'm sorry, but a flimsy sticker that can easily be peeled away doesn't count. Yes, that helps, but frankly I'm tired of playing Drugstore Detective and whipping out my reading glasses to see if I can tell if a little sticker has been peeled back before I buy something.
How many times have you found a display at the drugstore and the only lipstick left (in the shade you really want) has already been tested? I have lost count of how many times this has happened to me over the years, and the solution is so simple. If all brands sealed their products this would not be an issue, and it would cut down immensely on product that goes to waste. I will never understand the thinking behind not putting safety seals on products like liquid foundation, mascara and lipgloss. You can't always tell that products of this nature have been tested, so it leads me to believe that the people in charge of making these decisions have perhaps never shopped at a drugstore and don't realize that if something's not sealed properly, curious fingers ARE GOING TO TEST IT. That's a fact that cannot be disputed, as far as I'm concerned.
End rant!
The used lipstick happened to me when I was trying to find Milani's Sweet Nectar. I went to 4 different CVS's, and ALL of the Sweet Nectar's had been opened (about 2 per store). It was like, come on guys, one has already been opened, do you really need to open the other one? They didn't even have any in the back for me to snag. Just ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteUgh. That is particularly frustrating to hear, considering that the new Milani lipsticks have pretty strong safety seals that you have to "snap" to open. I just will never understand why people have to open things, especially when there's already an open one in the display. Sigh...
DeleteThe only consolation is that, when a strong safety seal has been broken, you can SEE it, so there's no risk of buying that product, thinking it's pristine.
Honestly, Why do people twist the lipstick all the way up and then put the cap on just to smoooosh it into the cap. Just a few days ago I witnessed a customer grab a mascara, pull it out of the box, open it , took it to her nose to sniff...all in front of the Ulta employee. No one said a word to her. I looked at my mom and began talking really loud about mascara drying out when it was exposed to air. I wanted to drop kick her. :D
Deletethe lipstic smoosh makes me INSANE. You dont twist it all the way up to apply it!!
DeleteI can't stand that either! I was at my local Christmas Tree Shop a couple of weeks ago looking for the fall Maybelline collection (I found it, YAY!). While I was looking I watched a woman swatch not one, not two but FOUR of the limited edition color whispers from the display on the back of her hand. I couldn't help myself, I said something to her! She had a look of utter shock on her face and proceeded to tell me she does it all the time! I had to walk away. People have no manners any more.
ReplyDeleteKUDOS to you for saying something to her! But hearing that she had a shocked look on her face and then said she does it all the time makes me want to punch my fist through the wall. lol! I do not blame you one single bit for just walking away...I would have done the same thing (followed by sitting in my car screaming at the top of my lungs)! ;)
DeleteI completely agree with you. Last night at Target I wanted to buy the new Maybelline FitMe Stick foundation. Everyone had been tested...all 20.
ReplyDeleteSigh. And THIS is why I haven't tried/reviewed the new L'Oreal Nude Magic Liquid Powder foundation yet! Every time I see the display, there are crusty foundation fingerprints on the lids. Hopefully I'll find a good deal online someday and will eventually get to try it (and I hope you do too, for the Fit Me stick!).
DeleteI agree with this so much. Certain brands don't any type of seal on some lip products. Which is just gross. I want to be able to clearly see if something has been opened. I think there needs to be some type of industry standard for sealing products.
ReplyDeleteYes! An industry standard would be a dream-come-true!
DeleteSwatched/opened cosmetics!!! I will on occasion open something that is not safety sealed but I am SO careful not to mark, nick,touch spill anything!!! I get especially annoyed when people open sealed things! Comon people! Take it home and try it then! If you don't like it return it. Also I really hate seeing when people swatch nail polish on the display, counter, rack whatever! Just bugs me!
ReplyDeleteRobin, I once saw a girl paint her toenails at the drugstore, and then put the bottle back on the rack. All I could say was, "REALLY?!?!" to her, and she just laughed and walked away. I couldn't tell which bottle she used in the rack, so I just mentioned it to a store employee and they said, "Sadly, we've seen worse." And I have no doubt in my mind that they HAVE seen worse. Sigh...
DeleteI actually swear to god out of the corner of my eye I once saw a girl test some sort of hairspray on her hair and then use one of our hairbrushes, but I didn't catch it fast enough and I was busy so by the time I could investigate she was done doing it sigh...
DeleteYes!! I went to pick up one of the new Bourjois lip crayons - even though there was already a tester on display, the only one left had been heavily used. And you can't return cosmetics in the UK! ):
ReplyDeleteGah! No returns on used cosmetics in the UK? I'm so sorry to hear that. I'm also sorry to hear that the epidemic of testing products even though there's a tester available is happening across the pond as well. :(
DeleteMy biggest drugstore makeup complaint is the lack of shades for the skin products (foundation, powder, concealer, etc.). Being very pale, there are a lot of skin makeup products that I just can't use because even the lightest shade is too dark for me (this especially happens with maybelline). I have so much trouble finding skin things I can actually use in the drugstore! They also usually don't have shades for people with darker skin. So basically they only have shades for tan white people. Ok maybe that's an exaggeration but you know what I mean.
ReplyDeleteYou are so not alone in your gripe! Ever since I've been blogging (going on five years now), I have heard this complaint from both ends of the spectrum on regular basis. I wish with everything in me that drugstore brands will start to offer two, three or four additional shades on both ends of the spectrum ASAP. I know that they can't be like MAC, etc. and offer a huge variety of shades with each new foundation they roll out, but I think that even just a few extra shades on both ends of the spectrum would make a lot of people quite happy.
Deleteugh exactly! it's also really hard to find reaaallly warm-toned face makeup too...
DeleteI have a few gripes about drugstore products. One, I would like testers, or at least one of each color open so I could take a look at the product. Two, sealed products would be fabulous. (I've also gotten to that last coveted lipstick only to see it smeared and dented in the tube, and I've seen people actually taking tubes of lipstick and applying it to their mouths and putting it back on the shelf! So, yes, sealed would probably prevent a lot of product that ends up having to be tossed, etc.) And three, some better lighting would be awesome. That fluorescent lighting is kind of misleading sometimes. I'm always happy when there's a window near the makeup section so I can take the product and look at it in somewhat more natural lighting.
ReplyDeleteAaaah, yes, I LOVE drugstores that have windows in the general vicinity of the makeup aisle! It makes all the difference, doesn't it?
DeleteI totally feel your pain. It annoys the fudge! out of me when I'm looking for a certain drugstore item, and the one shade that's left has been opened and tested! It took me forever to find an untampered CG 3-in-1 Foundation. Plus, what I don't get is that my area drugstores have pretty much ruined WnW eye shadows. Every time I want to buy Comfort Zone, after checking different stores, they are always broken! I hate that! And I don't trust seeing the testers out because people don't take the precautions to test the products properly, even at high-end locations (ie Ulta or Sephora) when the qtips, tissues, and cotton rounds are available! They use their germ infested hands and put their grubby nasty fingers all over. Ugh, and my rant is now over, lol.
ReplyDeleteAaah, broken eyeshadow palettes are the worst! I don't know why those aren't removed from displays, but it always makes me sad when the one palette left that I want is all cracked and shattered. :(
DeleteAnd yes, don't even get me started on tester etiquette (or lack thereof). Sigh...
I feel like screaming every time I see someone having a swatchfest on their hand or lips.
ReplyDeleteI agree with having more sealed products. As someone who didn't get into using cosmetics until just a couple years ago, I've been horrified at how like 90% of makeup is unsealed. It's SO GROSS. I'm so confused at how this is normal. Just one of those plastic wrappers around the cap of nail polish etc. would be great (I'm thankful when there actually is one.) And so much of this stuff is expensive! And people are just freely smearing it all over the walls/themselves. When I went to Ulta for my first time (it's far away from me), I immediately became depressed when the things I wanted all had broken caps and were obviously used. How is this normal? :|
ReplyDeletethis might seem like a small-ish thing, but i hate it when lipstick displays are completely messed up. when i went to get a megalast lipstick last week from wetnwild, none of the lipsticks where in their slots and where just stuffed into the back into a giant jumble with all the shades mixed together -.- i ended up spending 10 minutes just sorting everything out to find ONE shade i needed. plus there was a little cardboard sign thing over half of it, which just made it harder to reach back into the display to get the stuff out. .___.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it is because I worked in a bead store for a lot of years, where having disorganized product makes it all but impossible for a customer to shop, but this is a pet peeve of mine, too. I should get a stipend from my local drug stores for the number of times I have re-sorted lipsticks or nail polishes into their correct homes.
DeleteWell, I am glad that I am not the only one moonlighting as a drugstore employee (unpaid!)
DeleteI feel like screaming every time I see someone having a swatchfest on their hand or lips.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everybody's comments! To add my own rant, my complaint is the lack of consistancy in store management regarding cosmetics. I know some stores are bigger than others and in different markets, but it's so frustrating to read of great collections online that never make it to my one CVS when I have ECBs in my hot little hand, waiting to be spent. I think it's often a lack of training and follow through that makes some d/s cosmetics departments dirty/poorly stocked and it's annoying to the consumer. Not just picking on CVS, it's this way everywhere but when you're in a small town w/limited choices it's really frustrating. Rant over :)
ReplyDeleteUrghhhh, yes, the lack of testers/accompanying mass testing of sealed products is the worst! Another pet peeve is spf claims on foundation that make people think they can just wear a thin layer of foundation and get all the sun protection they could want. It's misleading.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I bought three of the new Jordana stain balms and OMG they are AMAZING! There are at least 2 more that I want. Blown away by the price/quality ratio. Are you planning to test either of their new mascaras? There's a length and a volume. The standard Best Lash is one of my favorites, and it's so underrated.
For everyvshade a proper idea of how it looks I admit to opening tubes or bottles to see the actual shade of lipstick next to my skin or the consitstocy of np/the way the glitter comes out ect but never touch them to my skin. So not testers but a way to see the actual product the sticker dont help for lipstick windows in the cap dont even help. And np never looks like it does in the bottle. If we could have that then id love seals on the products other wise id rather hunt for a safe tube honestly
ReplyDeleteFor everyvshade a proper idea of how it looks I admit to opening tubes or bottles to see the actual shade of lipstick next to my skin or the consitstocy of np/the way the glitter comes out ect but never touch them to my skin. So not testers but a way to see the actual product the sticker dont help for lipstick windows in the cap dont even help. And np never looks like it does in the bottle. If we could have that then id love seals on the products other wise id rather hunt for a safe tube honestly
ReplyDeleteLack of variety in shades/colors is my biggest issue. The creativity at the drugstore has gotten a bit better recently but usually it's just the endless walls of shimmery brown shadow palettes and small handful of foundation colors... Also the level of gimmicks is annoying, like that weird paintbrush roller foundation from L'oreal a long time ago? Stuff like that, instead of making weirdo gimmicky garbage, how about primers? or setting sprays?
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with the products being used! Like another poster, I have been on hunts from CVS to CVS to CVS that pretty much can take up an entire Saturday to find what I am looking for that is not opened! I think it beyond disgusting.
ReplyDeleteFor this reason, I don't typically buy Maybelline or L'Oreal lip items in person. Revlon, however, has the world's best lipstick seal! Plus, they make it easy to see the color with the clear lid, which is what people really are wanting to know about in the first place.
I have had many clerks look at me sideways for spending way too much time micro-examining products to detect if it has been used. Makes me feel so paranoid they think I am stealing.
My other gripe... why do the stores leave the used items in the display???? I have pointed out many times to clerks the used items and come the next day, they are still on the shelf.
I once found a lipstick tube in a limited edition Maybelline display that was missing the lipstick component entirely (a factory error, I assume). I gave the tube to a cashier so that a customer in a hurry wouldn't accidentally purchase it. The next day, it was right back in the front of the display. WTF!
DeleteThe messy displays with tested products (including testing on the displays) is pretty depressing. I routinely see people testing nail polish. Recently some of the walmarts near me have put out index cards with a sign saying to test nail polish on the cards which is pretty disturbing but I guess they pretty much have given up on people not opening the polishes and are just trying to persuade them to not paint all over the display. But I haven't seen any use the cards.
ReplyDeleteI'm lucky enough that my Mom has been a supervisor for RiteAid for 28 years, I just tell her waht I'm looking for and she lets me know whats in shipment. It drives her nuts what people do to cosmetics and displays, and they don't always have the staff to catch it. (We are looking at cosmetics, she has to look at the WHOLE store). I for one am more worried about open medication than tested lipstick. My worst experience was when I was a counter Mgr. for Clinique and a customer licked an aplicator to test cake eyeliner. I just picked it up right in fron of her, damaged it out and threw it in the box. She didn't even budge.
ReplyDeleteI've written Nyx about their displays at Ulta. I told them that a friend and I wouldn't even buy their products because it all looked swatched and nothing had a seal. It's absolutely disgusting and to know that people could care less if they're harming a product or possibly someone else is insane. People just blow my mind.
ReplyDeleteAs for swatching displays I'm sure I do it wrong and someone is like that's disgusting. I don't actually use it on myself because I know what other people do, but I'll swatch it on my hand. Do you think you could write an etiquette for swatching or testing products on display? I see the qtips and sponges and all that good stuff, but I don't know what it's for.
Ugh, YES. I pretty much just refuse to buy unsafety-sealed products that will go on my eyes or lips, unless maybe if I get there when there's a fresh display. Maybe it's not as environmentally-friendly, or costs the companies too much -- but really, I think that's a sacrifice worth making for our health.
ReplyDeleteI think perhaps there should be PSAs telling people not to test non-tester makeup too. I'm only half-joking.
My biggest gripe is nail polish displays that look they have been the fingerpainting testing grounds for kindergarteners -- all colors of polish swiped everywhere. Safety seals on the bottles would go a long way towards preventing this.
ReplyDeleteMy entire family has always encouraged me to test things on my hands. I'll ask them if they think something would work with my tone, and they whip it out and tell me to test it! I've never done it, but honestly I think it's entirely because we learn it's ok as children.
ReplyDeleteThis drives me nuts! It is so annoying when I want to buy a shade only to realise that it (and the rest in the display) has been tested. I also get annoyed when people test the nail polish by swiping it on the shelves/signs.
ReplyDeleteI really wish companies would start using safety-seals. I can't imagine that it would cost that much, and would probably save them money in the long run, as stores wouldn't have to damage so many of them out.
It isn't about safety; it's about money. Sadly.
ReplyDeleteI 100% agree with your gripe. That is the grossest/worst part about buying drugstore makeup. I think it's Rimmel that doesn't have any seals on the lipsticks, and I hate that. I appreciate brands that lock down their products in plastic. With all those herpes horror stories that came out about MAC a few months ago, no lipstick is worth that.
ReplyDeleteLast year, around December, when we got the new (at the time) Rimmel Scandaleyes liners in, someone took the last black from our display and used it to draw a mustache on the picture of the model. then recapped the smashed, damaged thing and put it back.
ReplyDeleteI was murderously mad. Like I understand some people just are clueless about etiquette (though I wish they weren't) but that and twisting lipstick all the way up and smushing the cap on are just outright causing damage on purpose. :|
I dunno if this is more a New York thing because of the lack of real estate in the drugstores but Rite Aids here CONSISTENTLY leave old half empty displays on the shelves FOREVER...well past their seasons and then put other displays out well after the fact (khroma chamelon revlon polishes just going out THIS WEEK) Almost every RA in my area has a picked thru color club display from summer 12 and none of the awesome fall collections...or the julie g frosted gumdrops...all sold out but they leave the display there and just fill it with other julie g polishes instead of using the space for.something else and they JUST put out the NYC summer display with the bronzers after taking away finally the one from last fall that had the black top coat. THESE THINGS GET SHIPPED IN BOXES THAT SAY DISPLAY IMMEDIATELY NATIONALLY ADVERTISED argh! itd be fine if it was one lame rite aid but its alllll of them here.
ReplyDeleteI was at Walmart the other day, and there were three women (Grandma, mom, and daughter) all swatching lipsticks. Yuck. The clerk there said something to them, they acted like they didn't understand why it was such a big deal. You wouldn't walk around kissing random strangers, why in the world would you stand in a makeup aisle and use lipstick?!
ReplyDeleteMy biggest gripe is the lack of brands targeted towards dark skinned women even in stores that minorities frequent. When I complain about this to both the brand, and the retailer they give me the run around. The second part of this gripe is that alot of brands and stores leave out the darker shades for women of color or they stock the shades half assed. They never advertise their newer shades. L'Oreal True Match is guilty of this. I live in South Florida and the Ulta don't carry any of the darker True Match shades. I know they will be gutting the darker shades soon however L'Oreal is to blame for this. They are LAZY!
ReplyDeleteI actually work at a Rite Aid and whenever I see someone swatching something on their hands, I will tell them to pay for it. You use it, you pay for it. But it so hard to look out for these things because I'm always busy with a customer.
ReplyDeleteThat's why when I was setting up the new Maybelline Fall Collection (we FINALLY got it ), I saved some lipsticks for myself because I know someone will tamper with them.
Where can the Maybelline Fall 2013 lipsticks be purchased at online as of now because of the many legitimate health concerns?
ReplyDelete