When Loyalty Seems Better Than Awkwardness

Surprisingly, my post about Bare Minerals has elicited quite a few comments from people in passing.  Mostly girls who:
1. Agree something has gone downhill in the quality of the product.
2. Want to be kept updated on what new makeup I settle on.
The latter is still a work in progress, but it's had me thinking a lot about brand loyalty and my brand loyalty in particular.  This could get dangerous.  We're talking the jeans I buy and the friend who cuts my hair.

At some point last week one of my friends, Hsu, shared this article on Tide, their brand loyalty and a recent spike in crime related to shoplifting the product off grocery store shelves.  It's a fascinating article, not just for what it shares about brand loyalty and some of the psychological reasons for it, but it also sheds some insight into the black market of retail.  And of course drugs.  Drugs are sexy and make good news, right?  Something like that.

Now, I'm not a Tide user, so I was shocked to hear the the high rate of loyalty it inspired from its' customers, especially those in low-income brackets who one might assume is instinctively buying a cheaper product because they're on a budget.  Once I thought about it a bit longer, I wasn't surprised.  I'm a creature of habit in most of my purchases, from haircuts to pancake syrup (Mrs. Butterworth's only please!).  I've kicked off a makeup "testing" spree this week and let me tell you, I think one of the biggest obstacles to change is that it's awkward and contrary to how every salesperson treats customers.

What do I mean by that?  Stop right now and think about how you feel when you run into your hairstylist and it's obvious you've allowed someone else to cut your hair.  That feeling is what I'm talking about.

I'm also talking about how employees in retail want to make the sale and I don't blame them.  Especially at the makeup counter (and the Nordstrom shoe department).  They especially don't want to see you walking next door to their opponent once you're done with them.  And that's exactly what I've been doing this week.  A couple of friends recommended makeup that I ought to give a whirl.  Instead of going out and throwing down around $20 a bottle to strike out by trial and error, I've went in to each make up counter (and to Ulta) and asked for samples.  There's something incredibly awkward for me to approach the makeup person, explain what I'm doing, that I'm a little lost as to what product to by cause I haven't changed base in 6 years and ask them to give me a sample after testing a couple products on my face.  It feels like for all their help, you should reward them with a purchase and explaining that I want to trial and see how the makeup wears throughout the day just FEELS weird.  It feels like I'm personally rejecting them when I'm not purchasing their product at the end of their work/spiel.  That's not to say they look at me sideways or appear disgruntled and I know it's not a rational feeling, but it is the feeling.  They're more than happy to give me the sample, it's just not how we're used to shopping.  Shopping and marketing has been geared to encourage the impulse purchase...and it works on me (and most people, I think), is all I'm saying.

So look forward to some reviews of some make up in the future, specifically on under eye concealer and liquid foundation.  That said, I'm not a fashion/makeup blogger and don't intend to turn this into one.  You probably won't be fortunate enough to find me posting pictures of my face for you to judge yourself, you're just gonna have to trust me or judge me when you see me out and about :)

And maybe go out and pick up a few samples at some counters yourself.

Bare Minerals No More

When it comes to hair and makeup and perfume and clothes, I'm a loyal creature.

For example, I started wearing Tommy Girl in high school.  To this day, I still wear it.  Should I be embarassed by that admission?  Well, I'm not.

I've had all of 3 hairstylists in my life and all the changes in stylists were changes of necessity.  My high school hair stylist.  Even when  moved to Austin, the first 2 years or so down there I would only get my hair cut when I returned to Rockwall and Terri.  My friend Leslie converted me to her Austin hairstylist 3 years in.  He's probably the best person who has ever touched my hair.  When I moved back to Dallas, I couldn't very well justify commuting to Austin for haircuts, so I had to find a new hairstylists.  There I am on number 3.

About 6 or 7 years ago, a coworker introduced me to Bare Minerals.  Yes, that make up line that pops up on late night TV infomercials alongside Proactive.  I had been a Clinique girl my entire life before then, but this coworker of mine always had a fantastic face on.  I tried it and loved it.  So much so, that I converted many a friend to Bare Minerals.  They'd ask what I was wearing, I'd take them to Ulta to buy their own started pack and bam, they were sold, too.  It got so ridiculous, that at one point, the Ulta manager saw me come in with yet another friend and offered me a job, on the spot.  If we're gonna be honest about it, it wasn't me.  The product was so good, it sold itself.  I remember a high school/college/kickball friend (Hi Christa!) telling me a fellow kickballer had described me as that girl "who always had perfect makeup on." (Hi Melinda! If you read this, that is).  That wasn't cause I obsessively checked my makeup all day.  That was Bare Minerals.

In the past year or so, I've started to notice the coverage has changed.  It begin to feel like I needed to apply more and more powder to get the coverage I was accustom to.  By the end of the day, it felt like all the coverage was gone.  I have (and have always had) dark undereye circles.  The summer bisque powder concealer worked wonders when I first tried it, but it begin to feel like it wasn't working so well recently.  What's worse, I noticed that in pictures, light raccoon eyes would appear where I'd applied the undereye makeup.  Like in this pic:

 I thought maybe I was just over applying and this is how my makeup actually looked in real life (eep!), but after asking a few friends for honest feedback about it, it seemed that wasn't the case.  That's just how the makeup photoed.  What in the world had happened to my perfect makeup line?!

They sold out, that's what.  I googled a couple of combinations of Bare Minerals + Changed or Bare Minerals + Bad Coverage, etc to see if anyone knew anything about why this change seemed to be happening.  Nothing really popped.  Except for this article about Bare Minerals/Bare Escentuals selling to Shiseido in 2010. The timing makes sense and if the commenter on the article is to be believed, they've changed their magic recipe.  For shame!

So I'm on the makeup hunt.  And I'm not very good at change.  In the meantime, I've switched to Revlon's Photo Ready Foundation that my cousin, Mary Claire, recommended on her blog a few months back.  I'm using the under eye concealer from the same line.  It's okay, but I suspect I need better coverage than that.  I've heard good things about Benefit's under eye concealer, so perhaps I'll start there.  And in the meantime, I'll be taking suggestions for concealer or foundation.  Wish me luck (or send me your suggestions)!