My high school (and beyond) boyfriend used to call make-up “fake out,” which, really, I guess it is. We can say we’re “highlighting” or “accentuating,” but really we’re CHANGING. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, but it’s just interesting. That SO many women spend time and money on doing things to change the way we look. Talk about body positivity (which is a big topic for another day)!!!

I don’t wear MUCH makeup, not for any philosophical reason, just cuz I never really learned to apply things correctly and it’s all expensive and time consuming, yadda yadda yadda.

But I wear a LITTLE. Mascara is my “must wear” item, otherwise I feel like my eyes entirely disappear. WHO CARES? Apparently I do, ha.

And I went through A Lipstick Phase in the mid-90s. My (now ex-) husband would put a new lipstick in my Christmas stocking every year cuz he loved a RED lip. It was always too bold, too HEY!!! LOOK AT ME!!! for me, and I don’t think I ever wore any of the Christmas stocking lipsticks (sorry, ex). But it did get me to try OTHER (less in your face) lip colors…and 20-something years later I’m still looking for the right shade and formula!!!

It’s SO hard to tell how a color will look on you and it’s expensive to buy a new one, try it on and have it Not Be Right and be out the $4-25!!! Kate at The Small Things blog (this same post talked about how she researches makeup purchases online, I highly recommend reading it as I found it very useful) convinced me (well, not her PERSONALLY, but reading her blog, ha ha) to RETURN makeup and beauty products if they are not to your satisfaction. And boy, most of them are NOT!!! Amiright?!?!

Which is exactly what happened here. The pictures that follow may horrify you. You’ve been warned. They’re just crappy close-up cell phone shots. Again, YBW.

This is a lipstick, NYX (that I keep reading wonderful things about), they just didn’t have the shade I was looking for and I was in Lipstick Buying Mode, so I improvised. And things went horribly wrong. But I just want to point out HOW different the color looks in the tube (lovely) vs. on my lips (Whatever Happened to Baby Jane). Okay, here goes nothing (somehow this feels more terrifying to me than posting the pictures of me in the bathing suits!!!)

lipstick-travesty-9-24-16

Ha! How did THAT color come out of THAT tube? Egads! Not what I was going for At All.

So, what is the moral of this long story?

  • Do your homework before purchasing makeup/health&beauty stuff.
  • Know that you CAN return opened products! I’ve already returned the day-glo pink lipstick, No Questions Asked šŸ™‚

What sort of experiences have you had with buying beauty products and having them NOT be what you thought they were going to be?