Let's talk about value for money.
PT is going ON and ON about products they can get cheaper, such as $2 lip glosses. OK, first off, I don't know where they live. Maybe the cost of living is much lower for some of them. However: Where I live, that kind of pricing simply doesn't exist. A drugstore lipstick here in Durham is $10 to $13. The really cheap ones (which suck) are $8. Now, the Mary Kay website shows me that a MK lipstick is $13 today at full retail price. Well, that's what L'Oreal or Revlon charges you. The MK lipstick lasts longer and is more moisturizing (I have lipsticks from all brands. I compare.)
WHERE IS THE RIPOFF AGAIN???
And now, the small Miracle Set is too expensive. Granted, I'm not using it; my needs are met by other products. However, because I'm always scouting out what's going on with cosmetics, I have priced out similar sets in the drugstore by L'Oreal, Olay, Neutrogena, etc. Their sizes are also small (as the product is not used in vast quantities) and none of their similar products, here where I live, is below $40. Plenty of sets cost more. If you hit the Bobbi Brown or MAC counter (and don't get me wrong, I love those brands) you will be lucky to buy two color cosmetic items for $40, much less major skin care products.
I'm starting to think some people are living in an alternate universe where the prices are rolled back to 1981. When I lived in Alabama in 1981, I paid the kind of prices they are talking about when I bought L'Oreal stuff at the drugstore.
Also, that stuff about MK copying Avon Anew. I can't compare them because I haven't tried the MK serum. Some of you obviously *are* trying it and are reporting back your preliminary findings. I have tried many Avon Anew products over the years and have been really unimpressed. Their stuff tends to be greasy and heavy and not have any beneficial effect on my skin. If anything, it gives me zits. All right, they are both vitamin C products. However, as to the rest of the ingredients and formulation, I'm willing to bet there are substantial differences. From what I've used so far, I would be really taken aback if today's MK marketed anything that feels like Crisco on my face. But I haven't done a side by side comparison, so that's been my limited data.
Now my little request. Your prayers/thoughts/lit candles/whatever you do would be most appreciated. I have a problem. It's called Chondromalacia and basically it means my kneecap is popping out of its track, and I have to use this annoying, obnoxious knee brace and a cane until I can get my knees rehabilitated with certain exercises...which is likely to take about two months. It hurts!!!! It sux. I look dweeby, can't dance...wake up at night to my knee going POP when I roll over. Two months is awful...I want to get back on my feet faster than that!
OK thanks guys/gals...catch you later!
Posts
First off...Miranda, I hope you heal quickly and will be pain free soon!!!!
ReplyDeleteNow for the money part. I agree wholeheartdly with what you said Miranda! Over on PT they are whining about prices but go to Bath and Body works and you will pay the same if not more for a "sugar scrub" product. I just looked and for the aromatherapy sugar scrub its $16 and for the blood orange sugary scrub its $22. I don't get where they are getting their prices either. The two I listed were only two examples. I know that oil of olay costs quite a bit and I know the department store brands are even more than MK. Anyway, I am done with my two cents....
Again, hope your knees get better soon!
I dont care what they say I like Avon perfume but the skin care compares in no way to MK or higher level brands! As far as 2 and 3 dollars for lipstick someone is wearing Wet and Wild because they smear and dont last very long. That is the only brand of lipstick that I know of that is that inexpensive. I have never tried Cover Girl Im assuming they are ok for the teen market.
ReplyDeleteOh Miranda I almost forgot I had an uncle who had knee problems he is 58 years old I hope that everything is ok. Get well!
ReplyDeleteKimberly I love Bath and Body Works their scent lasts a long time. Im ashamed to say I have never tried the MK line of bath products (dont shoot me). I hear they are good though I have never ordered them I guess its time to become a convert. I'm glad we can say these things on this blog and not be condemned for it.
ReplyDeleteBwah. Wet n Wild makes three things that are decent. Black and brown eye pencils, some of the powder blushes, and waterproof liquid liner (which for some reason nobody else manages to make. the Maybelline kind peels off grossly). Everything else I've tried by them has ended up in the trash. Their lipsticks are so waxy and they go on unevenly and look uber cheap. Bleck.
ReplyDeleteCover Girl has improved a bit, but they're still pretty low end. You see, the same company owns CG and Max Factor. Max Factor was their higher end line. Well, sales were poor and Max Factor got discontinued, so now the parent company is trying to make Cover Girl more marketable to grown women, which means the quality has to improve. This has also bumped the price up a bit. I believe their cheapest lipstick sold in my location runs $7.50. Lash Exact mascara, their one decent variety, is $10 here. Maybelline Colossal is $8.50, but after two weeks of use, the tube breaks and mascara explodes everywhere (check the reviews on Makeupalley...the majority of these mascaras blow up on you.) Value for money there? lol not so much!
I buy makeup...I know me some makeup! lol
miranda what are you waiting for? you write so well and you obviously have an expertise on all things glamour. You should market yourself to a magazine as a make up editor or columnist, you would be great!
ReplyDeleteMiranda,
ReplyDeleteI see Beyoonce and her sister Solange and Queen Latifah and even Ellen doing these Cover Girl commercials so they have to be able to pay them. I was thinking because of this Cover Girl might be better but I guess that is not the case or maybe the case. They never used to advertise as heavy as they are now. I remember their foundation looked cakey a long time ago and it looked like you had on makeup. The only people who looked good with it were the models Susan Dey and Cheryl Tiegs and there were hardly any black models then. I wondered to myself when will I see my people and now its happening with Cover Girl. When I was growing up we had Ambi soap and Johnson products which was being advertised on Soul Train.
Wow, Miranda! You sure know your makeup! That is fascinating! I saw a commercial with Drew Barrymore and I think it was for Cover Girl. In the commercial I thought her face looked orange. I hoped she wasn't wearing their foundation. It wasn't the right shade. lol I've seen other commercials with celebrities who looked fine. I always wonder if the celebrities in those ads truly use those products regularly or if they go home and use MAC and Lancome. hehehe
ReplyDeleteI need to do more comparison shopping so I'm more aware of what else is out there. :P Thanks for all this fabulous info, Miranda!
P.S. I hope your knee heals quickly, Miranda. Is the condition you have also sometimes called "floating patella?" I'm familiar with that. Never experienced it myself (thank GOD!), but in the world of ballet I have witnessed others inflicted with it==sometimes in the middle of class or rehearsal and they were in excruciating pain. I hope you are OK and it resets itself soon. I know you'll be back on the dance floor soon enough! ;)
ReplyDeleteShades, this thing is called Chondromalacia. When I was in ballet...nearly 30 years ago...knee problems were what ended my aspirations. Soon my figure filled out at puberty, and that would have killed it anyway. lol
ReplyDeleteI'm doing my therapy exercises every day. I'm down to an ace bandage now, have abandoned the cane.
I guarantee you that Beyonce and all those celebs are not wearing Cover Girl for anything except the commercials. They are probably wearing really expensive stuff like Lancome and Chanel and Clarins.
Aw, I can believe that, Miranda. My knees crack and pop and ache all the time. I wonder about how much cartilage is left in my joints. I hope you are back to yourself soon! Glad to hear you're off the cane. :)
ReplyDeleteAnd I figured as much on the celebs in commercials. hehehe