Selling Cosmetics to a Chemistry Major #2

A coworker of mine has a small side business selling Amway products. The resident makeup brand of Amway is ARTISTRY.

In reference to their exfoliating scrub, my coworker commented

"It sloths away dead skin and revitalizes the skin in such a way to encourage the grow of new skin."

I wonder how that is.

"It alters the mitochondria"

WTF!!! [Me] "Have they done studies on it's ability to predispose people to cancer? That just doesn't sound safe." This sales pitch sounds too carcinogenic

Selling Cosmetics to a Chemistry Major #1

I was at MAC about a week ago searching for some inspiration. I am prone to extremely dry lips which is only exacerbated by cold weather. As such, my lips and any lipstick I would be wearing would crust off like bad leather.

In comes James, consultant for MAC

"Your lips probably dry out because of all the petroleum in chapstick, people think it moisturizes but it really helps dry out lips and constant application makes it worse."

Now, being a science-y person, I'm inclined to ask why but I don't want to put tons of pressure on James just for the details. I get directed to MAC's lip conditioner.

"My mother used to put chapstick on constantly"

Ahh...so it is based off of experience, okay.

[Me] "The first ingredient on the package is petrolatum." [James] "Oh, well it's different"

Based of patterns on how chemicals are named, petroleum and petrolatum have a shared parent somewhere back in their development line.

Upon asking for something that could remove makeup without drying out my lips, I get directed to the MAC's Water Charged mineral make up remover.

"It has water in it so that it doesn't leave an oily film."

I would imagine this comment related to how some people use baby oil as make up remover, otherwise I would have no idea how this statement would make sense. Despite having oil's hydrophobicity on my mind, the make up remover took the lipstick right off of my lips quite effectively.

"All of our products are cruelty free, they're not tested on animals, just our make up artists"

That technically still is animal testing, but whatever, I'm sold!

I, by no means, am trying to be a jerk to James for his level of chemical knowledge as much as I am just trying to relate that this is what really goes through my head when I'm make up shopping. I bought both of the mentioned products as they are actually very good products.

As for my inspiration, I could not help but dwell on James' story about his mother. Petroleum or any wax is suppose to create a protective barrier around the lips to prevent moisture loss. Applying chap stick to dry lips is like pouring oil in the desert, it's not going to help anything - the moisture is already lost. At this point, I contemplated how to add moisture to my lips and decided to put my Cetaphil facial moisturizer on my lips. It may seem odd, but chemicals can seep through your skin into your system, if I already moisturize my face, why not my lips? I added a slather of chap stick after that and my lips stayed moist and soft much longer. Thank you James! Overall, $45 for two good products and some inspiration.

Interesting...interesting: The iII fitting pencil skirt.

I've only recently discovered that I can check my blog stats. I know. I'm behind the times. What I find even more surprising is that this is my most commonly viewed page:

Is my pencil skirt too tight?

It seems like a lot of people need clarification on what an ill-fitting pencil looks like. I was also shameless enough to post pictures, but I guess that's not good enough for some people, or they're just in denial. The skirt should -

- not pucker

- lightly outline curves

- be able to regain it's shape after sitting or walking

When people try on skirts in the dressing room, even if a skirt looks good while your standing, you do more than stand all day (unless you're a teacher), you sit down, you walk around, you walk around fast sometimes. I could imagine that the main look most people don't go for is to look awkward and uncomfortable. Having a skirt that gathers as you walk and has to be pulled down every few minutes is not chic.

Now, my word is not the final word on how pencil skirts should look. Sometimes a skirt will hug your derriere in just the right way and that's fine as long as it can maintain it's shape without you needing to pull it down. I've got a nice skirt that does that and it's cut such that it's suppose to emphasize the bottom half (Thank you Victoria's Secret!). As long as you don't have to maintain your skirt while you're wearing it, and it looks good, you have a good skirt.

Style vs. Fashion...after about 30 minutes of blog research...

First, a personal anecdote:

I've been on a recent shopping spree. It was bound to happen as last year I tore through approximately FOUR pairs of pants. I've gone the skinny and straight route, something I thought I would never do not necessarily out of disliking the style, I just have this pair of monstrous calves that I can be insecure about from time to time.

Fashion crossed my mind when I observed that about 60% of the pants I had procured over the past week were straight leg. I find that straight cut pants are just the skinny equivalent for people with big calves. When I wasn't buying clothes, I could not tell the different between skinny and straight, they all looked the same to me.

After this week, my conclusion:

"Style and fashion only diverge with the passage of a sizable amount of time."
- Christine, on her blog

There were many conclusions that I came across in the many postings about "style vs. fashion," the most popular being about how fashion fades, but style...persists, stays the same, is immortal. Yes, all of that.

The most helpful blog I found in relating my conclusion was the Style v. Fashion page from Samantha C's Style Pick. What I liked was her citation of an article from Psychology Today about how to have style.

My interpretation: "Style is what makes the artist. Fashion provides the tools."

- Christine, on her blog again

Was it a massive change in persona that led the majority of my wearable pants to become considerably skinnier? By some odd means of convergent evolution, my style is now fashionable? In my clothes-less year, in addition to assessing my own wardrobe, I couldn't avoid looking at the ways other people dressed and ask myself "would that look good on me? Would I wear that? Could I wear that?" Even to those who don't follow fashion , it's not hard to find people in a crowd who do. Even more so, since fashion does dictate what is in stores, it was hard to find things similar to what I tore up since a number of years had passed since I acquired those clothes. That, my friends, is divergence. Regardless of style persona, people have to work with the time and with what is available. If we consider "things available at the time" to be clothing sold in stores as a premise based off of three sentences ago, then perhaps style and fashion are closer friends than initially perceived.

By no means am I down playing anyone's style. Nor am I saying that to be stylish you should get with the times. Fashionable? Maybe. Stylish? I've always felt that style flourishes out of limitation whether it be monetary, body type, weather, or time.

To be a great artist, do you need to have every tool possible at your disposal or just the ones the you use the most? Any artist would pick as you also don't need to use every tool to create something amazing. Any tool used would be dictated by what is available at the time and I don't think that's ever stopped anyone from expressing themselves.

hope your holidays were merry, your new year bright...

and 2012 brings everyone a great deal of opportunities.

I am of the opinion that every year is full of opportunities, we just choose to act on some rather than others. We wake up in the mornings immediately with the choice of dreading the day, or making it a good one. Sometimes good days take work and I'm ready to work so that I don't have to rely on luck so much. I'm ready for 2012.

Reflecting on my clothes-less 2011, I can say that there were times I felt I was losing out on not buying certain articles of clothing while they were on sale - I really can't remember any particular articles. After 365 days of going cold turkey and getting reacquainted with my closet, I can say:

- you really only need one or two dresses for every wedding you go to, ever. Just change up the accessories and wear a sweater if it's cold. (Texas perspective is coming out here.) Attention should be on the bride anyway.

- sales are not life and death situations.

- granted that you do not indiscriminately buy clothes, within your own closet you'll notice what you wear more of and why. It's like putting your style preferences under a magnifying glass. You see them a lot better.

- like your style preferences, you'll also see what is less of a preference in your closet. If you're not buying clothes for a year and there are still some things you don't wear, it's time to consider using that closet space for something else.

- on a personal note, I'm short. I'm use to buying clothes and getting them altered but after having good fitting clothes for a year, I find now that I try to get clothes that just fit without alterations or very few. Clothes like that do exist and according to anthropologie, my legs are ankle length...well...if the shoe fits...

I really think everyone should try this once. I also think that you need to endure the full year and not just a number of months.

Merry and bright describe my most recent pants purchases. I will get on that.

Oldies but Goodies

Howdy! On break from the students and I've gotten a chance to do some Christmas shopping. I'm going a little on the light side this year. Twelve more days until I can start buying clothes again. The most recent Anthropologie double sale is killing me...and it ends on New Years Eve. I suppose this will be the truest test of my resolution, and it's not fun.

Anyway, here's something cool:


In addition to high school chemistry textbooks, Prentice-Hall also made an awesome cosmetology book around the 1950s-60s. It has it's share of quirky dated information, like how ladies should get out of cars, how ladies should pick things up off the ground - it's like the preppy handbook, but the lady handbook. Even cooler is the picture by picture tutorials on doing short hairstyles from the 20s-30s era.







Living in the internet age has it's perks and all, but it's hard to find tutorials like these over these kinds of hairstyles that have as many pictures, and videos aren't quite the same thing. Merry Christmas to my sister Irene, I have no qualms about posting this as I know she doesn't read my blog. I thought this would be a pretty cool present for a hairstylist.

I'm looking forward to the new year and my renewed ability to buy clothes. I'm thinking about getting a brown leather bomber once 2012 comes around just because I'll need a reliable go to piece for the apocalypse. I took off my orange coat to try on a jacket. I had been contemplating retiring my coat because it has a chemical stain on it, and it looks University of Texas burnt orange rather than just a cool coat in it's own right.


Here's the only picture I have of it where I'm not holding a drink. Well, after I took off the jacket I tried on, I walked off then realized that I had left my coat back with the other jackets. When I found it, a lady was looking at it trying to find the price tag because she thought it was a cool coat. That felt good.

Dammitcember!!

So, we're now embarking upon probably the most expensive month of the year. Am I ready for it? Gift shopping is hard.

In 25 days I can go back to buying clothes. The past year has been pretty interesting fighting back in impulse to just buy a pair of pants. I don't know if I'm going to go on a mad shopping spree come New Years. First, I go back to work on Jan. 2nd (blows, I know); secondly, the point of the last year was so that I wouldn't go on mad shopping sprees and end up accumulating clothes that I don't wear. I've passed up a fair number of pretty awesome sales coming to terms with what the inevitable outcome would be. There will always be sales. They're not as once-in-a-lifetime as they seemed before. Once New Years comes, I'm going to buy:

- socks

- underwear

- white shirts by Tresics

- pair of cotton trousers

- pair of jeans

- and a little black dress

I'm looking forward to a more sensible year. I'm hoping for some sensibility this Christmas.

If I could go back in time and let myself know a few things, I'd say:

- don't start developing a lot of your professional wardrobe in college because you're still under enough stress that it keeps your weight down.

- even if you feel that your body won't change in certain areas to where you can invest in certain pieces, don't - somehow, your shoulders get more broad.

- you buy a lot of skirts you don't wear

- don't buy clothes you don't have the money for

- don't buy clothes

- most of the time, your feet are not a size 8