Jezebel: Cosmetics

Intensive Care

Dodai — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 15:30:00 EDT

Oh, great: Izabela Buraczewska of the University of Sweden has done research which finds that skin creams make skin drier. As you start using a skin cream, you have to continue with it; if you stop lubricating, your skin becomes drier than when you started. Just another way (besides scientific mumbo jumbo) the cosmetics industry keeps you hooked on their products. [Science Daily]

The Eyes Have It

Sadie — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 12:40:00 EDT

If eyes are the window to the soul, apparently in a recession we like 'em blinded, shaded, curtained and bedecked - and as expensively as possible. While lipstick, once a Necessity, is on the wane, the market for eye accessorizing is booming. Think pricey lash extensions, elaborate eye makeup, vibrating mascaras, "eyelash conditioner," fur falsies, and permanent makeup. And that's to say nothing of the brow industry! It seems like if there's a risk of blindness, we'll buy it! Can belladonna be far behind? The Observer suggests the "doe-in-the-headlights" look is probably appropriate to the current mentality; we're thinking everyone's probably trying to compensate for sleepless nights. [Observer]

Buying Beauty: Women Won't Pinch Pennies When It Comes To Cosmetics

hortense — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 15:30:00 EDT

Brandweek's Jim Edwards has an article out today that claims that even in the face of economic crisis, sales of high-priced beauty treatments, such as $1000 tubs of La Prairie skin creams and vanity Botox injections, are actually on the rise. "That is the high-end beauty category in a nutshell," Edwards notes, "Everyone thinks hard times must be triggering women to pull back on discretionary vanity products but the opposite is true: Business is up." While women may be scrimping on other items in their lives, they're splurging on their beauty products, which is a habit I'm afraid I've also fallen into. Call it vanity, if you will, but I'd rather eat a box of generic cereal then put an untested cream on my wicked sensitive face. And besides, when the world is gloomy, a new Clinique Black Honey lip gloss seems to brighten the day. Are there any beauty products that you've had to give up over the past few months? And if so, how are the cheaper substitutes working out for you? [Brandweek]

Cover Girl's Use Of Gays & Blacks: Progressive? Or Pandering?

Dodai — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 19:00:00 EDT

As previously reported, Cover Girl recently made a deal with Ellen DeGeneres to be the "face" of its brand. But Ellen isn't CoverGirl's first interesting pick: They also have Queen Latifah. As a post on Jossip points out, Queen Latifah is black, not stick-thin, and often rumored to be gay. The brand has also used black ladies like Brandy, Rihanna, Eva Pigford and Kiara Kubukuru in its ads. Jossip asks the question: Is Cover Girl the most progressive cosmetics company? A commenter on Jossip says: No.

Writes matukonyc:

"Unfortunately, I think describing P & G as 'progressive' is a bit naive. Cover Girl is among the least expensive of major drugstore cosmetics; one could easily argue that marketing to black women is a cynical attempt to make poor people buy their cheap product. Are KFC and McDonald's progressive because they use black people in ads? As for being 'gay-friendly,' I think the fact that Ellen DeGeneres has a popular daytime talk show with the right kind of demographics is why she's in their ads. Capitalism trumps prejudice every time, if the price is right!"

Well, it is a business, after all. But Cover Girl could use whomever they please. Or they could use black woman and, you know, lighten her skin. While it's terrible that cosmetics companies generally promote a "white beauty" standard, is it also awful that only the low-budget brands are willing to embrace the gays and minorities? Should blacks and gays be insulted by their inclusion by Cover Girl? Or, seeing as how many of the people who shop at drug stores for cosmetics are young — or teens — is Cover Girl setting a good example by using diverse "faces"?

Is Cover Girl The Most Progressive Cosmetics Company? [Jossip]
Earlier: Double Takes
Photoshop of Horrors

Spray Warning

Maria — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 13:20:00 EDT

A recent study at Edinburgh University reports that chemicals that are commonly found in cosmetics, household fabrics and plastics can restrict the action of androgens, causing fertility problems and future health risks for pregnant and female rats. Although the study does not categorically link the unspecified chemicals with harm on human babies, the researchers still caution expecting mothers against using cosmetic products that could be absorbed into their skin (like perfume) because it might harm their future child later in life. The chemicals may also increase the risk of testicular cancer in baby boys when they grow up. In any case, the research shows that there needs to be more research into the effects of chemical compounds in cosmetics for pregnant women. [BBC]

Should You Throw All Your Makeup Away? Yes. Will You? Probably Not.

Sadie — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 14:20:00 EDT

Like a lot of small business owners, Ann Garrity founded hers —Organic Divas — in response to her own lifestyle needs. Specifically her decision, at a dermatologist's advice, to eliminate toxins from her beauty routine. Effectively, this meant tossing "every lotion, soap and cosmetic she used" to try to curb the excess estrogen in her system that caused Garrity's painful thyroids. The reason is that cosmetics, unregulated by the FDA, frequently contain "certain synthetic chemicals that can mimic estrogen in the body." And exposure to estrogen can — wah wah* — increase cancer risk.

While the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics seeks to address the issue by getting companies to "pledge to phase out the use of chemicals linked to health problems and replace them with safer ingredients," Garrity developed Organic Diva as a direct resource for products that are not only safe, but vetted — she's extensively tested all of them — and without the confusing jargon, says the Minneapolis Star Tribune: "She's wary of marketing terms such as "natural," "pure," "clean," "green" and "organic" because there are no standards for such adjectives." As Garrity puts it, "If you have a vat of uranium and throw in an organic flower, you still have a vat of uranium...We really need to be thinking nontoxic." Accordingly, any company she promotes on her site have "signed the Compact for Safe Cosmetics; they rate well on the Skin Deep Report developed by the Environmental Working Group (www.ewg.org), they fully disclose their ingredient list," and it has to meet her standards. Both sunscreen and mascara are apparently problematic.

Now, all this is awesome. And I'm sure if I had health problems like Garrity's — or, for that matter, kids — I'd run home right now and toss all my products (many of which have probably fooled me with buzzwords like "pure" and "organic.") Will I? No. I don't smoke and I eat organic and I try to be responsible for my bit of planet but at some point I give into fatalism and stop worrying. Because I'm still stupid enough that I want my sunscreen to glide on — I don't want to rub it between my hands to soften it — and I want my mascara to not clump, damn it! And maybe this is reckless and foolhardy and a product of being young, but I'm always left thinking: what is this Rousseauian purity we're in search of, in which everyone lives forever and never gets cancer? When humans were at their purest — in some pre-historic age, surely, when everything was certainly organic and the air was nothing if not pollution-free - the life-expectancy was probably something like forty. Was there some magical period when purity and hardship didn't overlap? With no scientific or historical backing, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say, no. This site sounds awesome, don't get me wrong, and the more resources we have, the better. But from a personal and philosophical perspective, I have to stop worrying about the small-scale things at some point; there are few enough things in this world that only effect you without larger ramifications.

*Debbie Downer sound effect

Beauty Without Toxins[Star Tribune]

Today in where your cosmetics come from: ...

Anna — Mon, 12 May 2008 16:20:00 EDT

Today in where your cosmetics come from: John Liebhardt from Global Voices Online reports that Western beauty companies "have been falling over themselves trying to purchase fresh raw shea from cooperatives of African women." He links to an American expat in Burkina Faso, who deconstructs a self-congratulatory ad for L'Occitane's shea butter products and issues this correction: women are not making money from the collection of nuts from shea trees, but the processing of them into butter, which, she points out, "is lots of work...there's not one word about the labor actually involved. It is invisible." (More on that labor and the profits made from it here and here.) [Global Voices Online, Burkina Mom's Life In Africa]

5 Ways For Ladies To Make The Most Of All That Time They Waste Applying Makeup

Moe — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 12:00:00 EDT

Today the UK is issuing a lofty challenge to female citizens: Go A Day Without Makeup! Horrors! Thankfully, famous pundit Michael Kinsley knows this is not possible in American society. He knows because he goes on TV and has to wear makeup himself, which explains why men on TV are so much more empathetic with the feminist cause than other men, and ha ha ha that is a serious statement is what is sad about that. Kinsley says this with regards to Hillary Clinton, and how the fact that she is a woman means she gets at least forty minutes less sleep per night than Barack Obama, and wow, it is so simple that men are finally getting a grasp of this. There is nothing I regret more than the opportunity cost of putting on makeup and looking perfect all the time; no seriously, there was a time in my life during which I actually did that: adolescence. Adolescence! When the brain is at its most agile and capable of absorbing information, my brain was preoccupied absorbing ... stray droplets of T-Zone oil. But I have a solution, womenfolk of the land!

My makeup-addled mind has discovered numerous ways to make the most of this idle time spent applying and removing makeup/clothing and doing hair, and now it's time to share those secrets with you.

Buy a shower radio. No, I am not together enough to have one myself. I don't even have a fucking radio in my house. If I did, maybe I would have showered already. And listened to Marketplace, which I really miss from the days when I had a car. Ha, ha, ha, if only I had a car so I could listen to the radio; that is the kind of thought that makes me really proud to be a girl.

Get Your Makeup Tattooed On. This is something Tracie and I are always threatening to do. When we are drunk, of course. Just on our lips; even when I'm wasted I don't like the idea of a needle lining my eyes. But your lips are durable, and constantly shedding so it wouldn't last that long. Oh, what? Like this is such a much better use of time!

Air: God created it for a reason. And that reason is to dry your hair. WITHOUT THAT BLAH BLAH BLAH-RING IN YOUR EARS SO YOU CAN'T HEAR THE BOOK-ON-TAPE. You are listening to some book about Islam and the economy, or something lofty where the information is more important than the prose, I am sure. This is another thing I have never actually done. But I would! If I had to ever look/sound presentable.

ColorStay Lipstick. Buy this before the Chinese discover it is made of lead! Because it really cuts down on the amount of time you spend reapplying/worrying about reapplying lipstick. Most likely because it is made of lead.

Read about wars before squeezing your pores. I've found that, being a girl — and you know how it is hard for girls to comprehend military strategy type stuff — it is easier to keep my facts straight on defense issues if I go squeeze my pores immediately afterwards, with my various rogue pores representing Middle Eastern trouble spots. Like for instance: Iran and Iraq and Saudi are the nose, with Saudi vaguely representing the easiest place to get oil, then Israel is this hormonal pimple in the middle of my left cheek, and then there is this terrible hard-to-reach zone next to my left nostril where blackheads really just dominate the entire region and I would spend more time working on it if only I could see anything there: Afghanistan.

Could You Last A Day Without Make-Up? [Times of London]
Making Up Is Hard To Do [Washington Post]

Everyone In The Estee Lauder Clan Is Somewhat Despicable

Moe — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 12:30:00 EST

If there is anyone I can't stand reading about it would have to be Aerin Lauder. She is Estee Lauder's granddaughter, and apparently some important high-powered executive at the makeup company, but she spends most of her time hosting parties and giving interviews to magazines so the world can read sentences like "She is every inch the star, with her swan-like neck, her graceful composure and her gorgeous designer dress" or "Perfect is the only way to describe Aerin Lauder" or "Aerin continues the legacy of stylish American women like C.Z. Guest and Jackie O., who combine the idea of simplicity and luxury with an eye toward quality and timelessness," on a steady basis. (Oh yeah, and isn't it absolutely AMAZING that she doesn't hire a stylist? Her style is all her own.) So I was kind of keen to see a story in today's Wall Street Journal promising to roll back the glossy swan-necked exterior on the Lauder family and show what life is really like for the dysfunctional family behind all the department store cosmetic brands you used to buy when you still went to department stores.

Um, so yeah, basically Aerin's dad managed to accumulate $200 million worth of personal debts in the eighties and nineties, but he took the company public and just kept selling shares in it to finance his basic needs to the point that, two years ago, he paid $135 million for a single Klimt painting. He tells the paper he doesn't lead a lavish lifestyle. (Though in her autobiography, Estee wrote that his "taste" was "magnificent.")

Meanwhile, Aerin's cousin William stepped down from his CEO post after Page Six reported he had a love child with another woman even though he is married, so now some person from Procter & Gamble is leading the company, because even though a thoroughly entrenched business selling small non-perishable creams and chemicals at a 1000% markup is not a very difficult business to keep afloat, it is too much for vapid people born into unspeakable wealth and privilege to handle anymore. But that Aerin: Sure is pretty!

Tensions Roil Estee Lauder Dynasty [WSJ]

Photo courtesy Go Fug Yourself

Moisture-Wise

dodai — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 09:45:00 EST

Intensive-care patients at a hospital in Barcelona suffered from lower-body respiratory tract infections and urinary tract infections after using a contaminated body moisturizer, according to the medical journal Critical Care. If you're healthy, the low levels of bacteria occasionally found in cosmetics won't harm you, but severely-ill patients can contract life-threatening infections. Sealed products were tested and found to have bacteria that invaded during manufacturing, transportation or storage. (Skin care items sold in the European Union are not required to be sterile.) Dry skin sucks, but a UTI sucks more. [EurekAlert!]

Getting Ahead In Beauty Biz Can Mean Convincing The Poor To Be "Prettier"

dodai — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 12:20:00 EST

According to a story in the Los Angeles Times, the Mary Kay cosmetic company — known for its eponymous blonde Texas founder and pink Cadillacs — has more and more Spanish-speaking women in its sales force. As writer Molly Hennessy-Fiske points out, getting a foot in the door at the beauty business doesn't require a high school diploma, or even that the salesperson speak English, making it appealing to California's immigrant population. Women like 60-year-old Altagracia Valdez work long hours selling makeup, often trying to convince women who do not have cash to spare. Valdez often deals with this by recruiting the women onto the sales force. Explains Valdez's boss, Sandra Chamorro, a single mother and immigrant from Nicaragua: "Sometimes a woman can have an empty stomach, but she has to have lipstick."

Chamorro already has a convertible Mary-Kay Cadillac in pale pink, something Valdez hopes she can earn someday herself. But first she needs to sell $18,000 worth of cosmetics in four months. Valdez pitches her wares to 19-year-old Mary Lee Mejia, who admits she can't afford to buy the $22 lotion she craves. So Valdez recruits Mejia onto the sales team — which means Mejia has to cough up $108 for a sample kit.

Valdez works to support her children after leaving her husband of 33 years, a construction worker who once beat her so hard he broke her jaw. It's hard not to root for her — and it's also hard not to see that with her success comes with exploiting her poor recruits. Hennessy-Finke notes that Valdez often helps the junior sales team members, giving them free makeup kits and covering start-up costs. "Her generosity binds consultoras to her and helps her feel better about using them to achieve her goal." On one hand, Altagracia Valdez is working toward the American dream: Self-sufficiency, success, a new car. And on the other hand, her work exposes an American nightmare: Why is it that an impoverished woman can be so easily convinced that a new lipstick or handcream is all she needs to turn her life around?

Climbing A Ladder Made Of Lipstick [LA Times]

Is Your Lipstick Poisoning You?

Dodai — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 12:00:00 EDT

The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics which tested 33 brand-name lipsticks, including brands like Cover Girl, L'Oreal, and Christian Dior, is reporting that "61% had detectable lead levels of 0.03 to 0.65 parts per million (ppm)." A third of the lipsticks tested had levels higher than 0.1 ppm — the FDA safety limit for lead in candy. Although lipstick is not candy, the group says it is easily and often ingested, and pregnant women are vulnerable to lead exposure since "lead has been linked to infertility and miscarriage." According to Dr. Mark Mitchell, president of the Connecticut Coalition for Environmental Justice,

"Lead builds up in the body over time and lead-containing lipstick applied several times a day, every day, can add up to significant exposure levels. The latest studies show there is no safe level of lead exposure."

One thing to note about the findings: The researchers purchased lipstick in different stores in different states, and lead levels varied from state to state, even within the same brand or color. So you can't really use the report as a shopping list. But to find out some brands that were safe, download the report and go to page 9.

Here's a list of the lipsticks that were found to have unsafe lead levels (i.e., higher than the 0.1ppm that the FDA says is safe for candy):

Maybelline NY Moisture Extreme Scarlet Simmer (0.11)
Cover Girl Incredifull Lipcolor Maximum Red (0.12)
Peacekeeper Paint Me Compassionate (0.12)
Maybelline NY Moisture Extreme Midnight Red (0.18)
Maybelline NY Moisture Extreme Cocoa Plum (0.19)
Dior Addict Positive Red (0.21)
Cover Girl Continuous Color Cherry Brandy (0.28)
LʹOreal Colour Riche True Red (0.50)
Cover Girl Incredifull Lipcolor Maximum Red (0.56)
LʹOreal Colour Riche Classic Wine (0.58)
LʹOreal Colour Riche True Red 0.65

60% Of Lipsticks Contain Lead [Consumerist]

Ben Affleck Wearing Foundation, Peach-Colored Blush?

Anna — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 19:15:00 EDT

[Deauville, France; September 5. Image via Splash]

Cosmetics That Woulda Made Dorothy Parker Proud

Anna — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 14:53:01 EDT

Long before the advent of strawberry-flavored cocaine and the Cosmopolitan cocktail, women were enjoying other adventures in mixing fun flavors with mood-altering substances. According to this news item taken from an old issue of Popular Science, the cosmetics-minded, booze-drinking women of America were painting their lips with lipcolors in flavors of Champagne and Jesus Juice. (And for those with black belts in alcoholism... rye!). Full article after the jump.

Choose Your Flavor In Lipstick [Modern Mechanix]
Related: New Twist In Illicit Drugs: Fruit Flavor [SacramentoBee]

The Problem With The $26 Lipstick

Anna — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 10:55:45 EDT

British women are doing everything wrong when it comes to makeup. According to a survey done by Britain's College of Optometrists, one in five women in her late 30s or 40s uses a cosmetic that is over five years old, leaving her open to dangerous or annoying infections from a buildup of harmful bacteria. This, despite the fact that the British spend more on makeup than any other nation in Europe. Dr. Susan Blakeney, an optometric adviser to the college, says that a large reason women hoard "expired" makeup is that they are "constantly topping up their make-up bags with new products that they never actually finish any older products."

Maybe so, but we'd like to posit another theory: With the success of retailers like Sephora and the ever-growing trend towards high-priced, designer makeup — and the fact that very few women ever "finish" makeup like lipstick, eyeliner or blush — who blames them for not throwing this stuff away? Personally, we're loathe to trash a $26 lipstick after only six months to a year. So maybe the problem is less about hoarding and more about ridiculous prices for fancy sticks made of pigmented-wax and moisturizers. If Chanel or Dior manufactured a lip-color that came at half the price and with half the amount of product, we'd be more likely to buy it, use it, and toss it in a timely fashion. Or maybe we should all just buy L'Oréal instead of Lancôme.

Beauty Experts Slap Health Warning On Lipsticks Past Their Sell-By Date [Guardian]
Related: Detox Your Make-Up Bag [Mirror]

Kung Fu Cosmetics

eurotrash — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 13:07:26 EST

Martial arts man Jackie Chan has launched an eponymous line of organic skincare products. Just what the world's been waiting for! First supermodel Cindy Crawford and now Chan. Isn't everyone just dying to look like the 52-year old Asian stuntman?
http://www.jackiechan.com/news_view?cid=543