Dear Lovelies!
We have all heard time-and-time again about the dangers of chemicals in beauty products and that since our skin is very absorbent it pays to be vigilant. I've read these articles, understood them, and yet I still slather "Chemical Shit Storm" on my skin. It wasn't until I was talking to someone about the price of filler, packaging, and production cost vs. retail cost that I paid attention. A good friend who works in graphic design and has his own production company of home goods (in addition to other fantastic beauty and fashion companies up his sleeve) was telling me about someone who had a boyfriend who needed a hobby. This guy decided to sell lipstick, came up with a product, some sleek packaging, and the lipstick retailed at a high-end department store for $38. The lipsticks were mass produced so there was a discount on the packaging and filler. The tubes ended up costing around $3/piece. Guess how much the filler was. FORTY-SEVEN CENTS!! What?!
I almost fell over. Now I'm intelligent and realize that marketing and especially marketing in beauty is key. We'll pay extra for a brand name and buy into a pitch just to feel better about ourselves. I know I can't afford a designer bag but I can scrape enough money together to buy a brand name lipstick. A small piece of the luxury pie is mine. But that is a high price to pay to slather FORTY-SEVEN CENTS worth of crap on my face. Now, I'm not trying to knock an idea and I most certainly appreciate and respect the work that goes into production, especially by the folks who own their own companies. There is a lot of creativity mixed with blood, sweat, and tears. It's incredible to see the behind-the-scenes work and I will always support my friends. But, I'm am so much more cautious now about what I buy and really what is going on this body. Funny that it took being fleeced by packaging for me to see the light.
This revelation was the driving force behind my goal this month-to start looking for companies with their OWN product and filler line, products that are more natural, and 'cooking' up my own beauty treatments. I will probably never go totally rogue and stop using products on my face all together. (Let's be honest-a nice lipstick is sometimes the only thread keeping it together for me some days). But, in this crap economy I want to the most and BEST bang for my buck.
Whose with me???
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