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RANDOM THOUGHTS : BEAUTY (PART DEUX)

welcome back to the junk drawer of random beauty thoughts and musings. it has been nearly a year, so i think it is time for a rew RT thread ! 

 

when i'm doing my makeup in the morning, my dog sometimes throws a fit until i move his food bowl over to where i'm sitting. i'm certainly not the diva in our relationship.

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THE QUESTIONS THREAD:  http://community.sephora.com/t5/Products/The-Question-Thread-Because-not-all-questions-need-their-ow...

 

VINTAGE BEAUTY VIDEOS THREAD ! :  http://community.sephora.com/t5/Beauty-Confessions/VINTAGE-BEAUTY-VIDEOS/m-p/1826210#M69382

 

SWATCH REQUEST THREADhttp://community.sephora.com/t5/The-Swatch-Board/THE-SWATCH-REQUEST-THREAD/td-p/2223212

Re: RANDOM THOUGHTS : BEAUTY (PART DEUX)

@heartsmyface  thanks! It’s something I had been meaning to do for some months now but now that I’m moving, I finally got everything together in one go to just get rid of. I did the sorting in one night and exhausted all my “samples” stashes to get all this done. I ended up giving 7 bins away and saved 3 for myself 😇

Re: RANDOM THOUGHTS : BEAUTY (PART DEUX)

When the mister and I made our cross country move, I was the one doing pretty much all of the packing (Well, he did move into my place - which I owned - since he was leasing an apt with roommates and didn't bring much with him other than computer, clothing, shoes and personal items. Furniture stayed with his roommates or was donated/left curbside...)...I had something like 12/14 cartloads of stuff that I took out to the cement platform next to the HOA trash bin where everyone would leave stuff so that anyone who wanted some or all of it was free to take. After the final cartload I left the cart out there too. It's been easier than I expected to refrain from collecting more stuff, we have three times the space in our house that we did in our previous home, I just haven't felt the need to fill every last bit of space with things I don't actually need or even want. 😛

 

If it gets put into a drawer or storage bin and then promptly forgotten, it's going to waste. Sometimes we have a tendency to try and talk ourselves into thinking that if we just made more effort, we'd get around to using all those samples and trials and whatever - hard to do when there's a pile out and visible, but then there's even more unintentionally hidden in different places. The samples I get but didn't choose because they're the wrong color or a type of product I'd never use much less buy a full size of - I still keep them longer than I should...(meaning I should just throw them out upon receiving them with my order, mostly because the kiddos and my niece will have no interest in foil packets or blister-paks of foundation or various skincare foils!) If I wait until I have a large enough quantity of items to donate to the local women's assistance charity, half of it will have passed it's expiration/use by date. I suppose I could start buying more makeup and eventually get around to using my VIB/BI points - I just don't see much that I want to use those points for!

 

I have told the mister that we will be dying in this house because I do not ever want to go through another move. Not a cross country move, not a two streets away from the present house move. Perhaps it's because I did all the clearing out and packing up, but the whole process was done in a matter of 3 months from packing everything into PODs to listing the house to the close of escrow and our getting on the plane with the dog. Doing it in such a short amount of time was stressful but between job offers and the real estate market, it had to be done that way. Hopefully your move will be less of a pain!

Re: RANDOM THOUGHTS : BEAUTY (PART DEUX)

@GennX   That's amazing!  Moving is exciting, but can be very stressful.  Sounds like you converted that stress into a good bit of energy!

Re: RANDOM THOUGHTS : BEAUTY (PART DEUX)

@gonerogue  well done!   I wish I had a move to push me.  I think if I do this anytime soon i’ll have to do it in sections.  Haircare, skincare etc... I have too much stuff shoved into drawers and cupboards and can’t possibly ever use it all.  I like having choices but it’s beocme ridiculous.  I just have to be cutthroat (and super generous) like you:). 

Re: RANDOM THOUGHTS : BEAUTY (PART DEUX)

@gonerogue ,

Excellent!  You are a great role model!  I need to do more of this.  🙂

Re: RANDOM THOUGHTS : BEAUTY (PART DEUX)

@tsavorite Thank you! I’m just glad they are in new homes and not just hanging out at my house 😉

Re: RANDOM THOUGHTS : BEAUTY (PART DEUX)

Good job @gonerogue 🙌🏻 That’s Awesome shweeeew you must feel so good to get that off your mind. I need to do that too. Thanks for the inspiration 🙂

Re: RANDOM THOUGHTS : BEAUTY (PART DEUX)

Do y'all know about the lipstick index? I love reading up about economics and sociology (both of which I studied extensively in college), and it's especially interesting when beauty products are involved. 

 

Anyway, I stumbled across an article on CNBC titled "Why lipstick isn't as useful as an economic barometer as it used to be," and I thought it was so interesting that lipstick was used at one point as an economic indicator. 

 

But, lipstick isn't as useful of a barometer these days partially because of the rising popularity of other types of beauty products. Which makes sense, since I've noticed other products like highlighters and sheet masks become super popular since the "lipstick index" was coined in the early aughts. 

 

One other takeaway: "The lipstick industry is forecast to hit $17 billion in market value by 2023, according to marketing firm TechSci Research." That's a lot of lipstick. 

Re: RANDOM THOUGHTS : BEAUTY (PART DEUX)

I’ve probably bought it all. 😄 The number of lipsticks I own is ridiculous even though I know there are people whose lipstick collection rivals mine.

Re: RANDOM THOUGHTS : BEAUTY (PART DEUX)

@txcatx  Very cool. I love articles about consumer purchasing habits 🙂 I never knew about the lipstick index, it's an interesting thesis, that cutting back on LARGE luxury items increases purchases of "smaller" more easily affordable luxury items. I can personally attest to that type of behavior, my 20's was all about treating myself little fancy things as a stop gap to forgoing bigger investments that I couldn't afford (thank you recession!) Though at the same time, more financially stability in my 30's has ALSO increased these smaller luxury purchases at perhaps a greater rate than when I was struggling (the theory should be that my lipstick purchasing is slows down and inversely related), so I'm not 100% convinced specifically lipstick sales are a great economic indicator 🙂 

 

I do feel like the broader category of mid-range to high end cosmetics is moderately recession proof due to its "luxury" status and might be a better yardstick than just lipstick alone. I'm also curious about market saturation, especially with these million a minute releases now, do you think we'll ever reach a point where sales drop/plateau because we all literally just have too much stuff?

 

Re: RANDOM THOUGHTS : BEAUTY (PART DEUX)

@MissPuff interestingly enough, the same relationship can kind of be seen in chocolatepurchases. When the economy is bad/ people are hurting luxury purchases go way down, but spending on smaller luxuries- like a chocolate bar- tend to go up. So the lipstick index may be working exactly as expected for you 

Re: RANDOM THOUGHTS : BEAUTY (PART DEUX)

There can be no market saturation when they can market organizing storage solutions that 'maximize space' for even those living in 200sqft apartments! 😉

Re: RANDOM THOUGHTS : BEAUTY (PART DEUX)

@MissPuff I'm also guilty of making a few more luxury purchases besides makeup now that I'm in my 30s! I remember reading an article a few years ago about how millennials can't afford luxury goods except for makeup, so we've been treating ourselves with luxury makeup. For me, that's still true--I happily buy Givenchy lipsticks, but there's no way I'm spending $2000+ on a Givenchy handbag.  And now that I'm at the age where I actually have more disposable income (especially after paying off student loans) and a job with unlimited PTO (at a company that actually encourages employees to use a lot of PTO), I would rather spend that $2000 on travel rather than a handbag. The only unfortunate thing is that I live in a rapidly growing city, and my rent prices keep going up a lot every year...

 

Also, funny thing regarding saturation--there's an article in Quartz today titled "Luxury skincare is driving record profits in the beauty industry." Here's an excerpt (since I can't link articles here):

Spoiler
Online publication Fashionista recently speculated that the skincare industry could be reaching “bubble” territory: Some analysts believe that the unprecedented growth of the category within legacy brands, paired with the unfettered proliferation of independent labels (the last two years have seen the debut of over 100 new brands) has caused the market to become dangerously “fragmented and crowded.”

It'll be interesting to see which products and companies can stand the test of time, for sure. 

Re: RANDOM THOUGHTS : BEAUTY (PART DEUX)

@txcatx *looks around* I'm the handbag to your travel. I have little interest in travel because I got to travel a lot for work in my early 20's. I've lived in 3 different countries. I'm 100% the handbag. 

Re: RANDOM THOUGHTS : BEAUTY (PART DEUX)

@GG84 That's awesome that you got to live in several different countries in your twenties! I was working multiple low wage jobs, living in a house with three male roommates (who had way more drama than any of the female roommates I lived with in college), and going after all the wrong types of boys--all while being broke because I kept getting asked (six times) to be a bridesmaid in friends' weddings around the country!

Re: RANDOM THOUGHTS : BEAUTY (PART DEUX)

@txcatx  I'm totally with you on travel, I'd totally rather spend my money on visiting someplace awesome (and probably upgrading my flight and hotel along the way...I've gotten so bougie in my 30's 🙂 ) . I can't quite pull the trigger on a fancy handbag, yet there's probably already a couple thousand dollars worth of lipsticks in my collection...whoops 🙂 

 

The skincare bubble! Oddly enough, I just noticed Glossier ads NOT on the internet for the first time! I've seen a couple of billboards and a couple of traditional TV ads, I found myself wondering if this is their push to reach a new type of consumer, but it still looks like you need to purchase direct from their website. There do seem to be a million and one new brands, but I feel like that's because the industry giants went on a purchasing spree a year or two ago. These new little companies are perfectly positioned for acquisition, I'm curious to see who makes it out in the longer term! 

Re: RANDOM THOUGHTS : BEAUTY (PART DEUX)

@MissPuff  Same! I just upgraded my seats on flights for my upcoming trip to Morocco and Spain. Not first class, but any extra legroom makes a difference on an international flight! 

 

I did notice that Glossier appears to be expanding to other countries, so maybe that's another focus? I stumbled across some of their ads in French on Instagram fairly recently.

 

I love that others on BIC are also interested in the business of beauty!

Re: RANDOM THOUGHTS : BEAUTY (PART DEUX)

This made me smile. Thanks for adding some economics in with my beauty browsing @txcatx!

Re: RANDOM THOUGHTS : BEAUTY (PART DEUX)

@txcatx I remember learning about the lipstick index when I was in university the first time around and thinking yep... thats me! lol 17 billion in lipstick eh... thats a whole lotta lipstick!

Re: RANDOM THOUGHTS : BEAUTY (PART DEUX)

Wow @txcatx! That is a lot of lipstick ❤️

Re: RANDOM THOUGHTS : BEAUTY (PART DEUX)

Thank you @txcatx I am very interested in the economic/sociology aspect of beauty so this was interesting (phone wanted it changed to ‘interstellar’ which could be the case, too😄). 

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