Over the past several years there’s this one actress (whom I will not name) I’ve kept running into, on the corner of Canon and Little Santa Monica, at the local Coffee Bean, etc. Now this woman’s big claim to fame was a TV show in the 70′s and now 30 years later she looks 35, tops. Nothing is drawn tight, her face isn’t frozen, and her skin in dewy (and I’ve seen her with no make-up). That’s what expert surgery does.

Either that or she has a deal with the devil..

I must applaud an incredibly thoughtful post. I spent many years in the cosmetics industry (retail and brand advertising) before making a bizarre transition into machining so I know the drill (in 1980 it cost approx. 3c to make a lipstick). Even though I know the scam from top to bottom (the 300% markup – at every transfer point- plus, barring the occasional breakthough ingredient, they’re all pretty much the same), it’s tough as that pit of hell to resist the incredible lures! I’ve become a bit of a reverse snob on some cosmetics for that reason. For example, I used to use BeneFit’s alpha-h creme @ $30 a pop but they discontinued it to reformulate. I was devastated! A young SA, who earned a place in heaven that day, told me to go to Walgreen’s and get their AH creme or lotion……it does the exact same thing for $5.99 and it’s now my drug of choice! Same with the generic version of Cellex-C…. the list could go on forever.

At least with perfume you can immediately determine if YOU think the price is right, don’t you think? I mean, it doesn’t matter if it costs $300 for a Malle or $14.95 for a Coty – if the scent makes you feel beautiful then the price is worth it! Of course, I’m working on a specific premise here, that people buy scent, in general, for how it smells. I’m not talking about the nuances discussed on boards like this one – just that people wouldn’t wear a noxious ‘fume because it’s hyped hard, would they? That would be more painful than wearing too-small shoes. I suspect that’s exactly why so many mainstream brands are so uninteresting (IMO). If they’re neutral enough it allows the pervasive marketing to do its job!

Excellent post! I really enjoyed reading it (I also agree with your comments on intellectual vanity – got that, too, alas. I’m just a seething mass of VANITY (

Vanity preserves us, especially us women, from the truth very, very well. [grins] I’ll admit I’m not much attached to my looks, for I am not in truth the sort of person to notice how people feel or react to me, but I have my fair share of intellectual vanity, and I know it’s to prevent myself from acknowledging how often I make mistakes. I imagine the physical kind is more or less the same thing. One of the things that makes me the most angry is how the skincare industry deliberately exploits our insecurities; if you think the perfume industry can be a scam, then skincare a few departments over deserves a far darker pit in hell. Perfume just says, “we sell you popular, we sell you sexy, we sell you cool,” and even occasionally, “we sell you interesting and artistic”, and can fail to deliver on its promise, but sell of skincare is more like, “IF YOU AGE YOU ARE NOTHING SO GIVE US $400 FOR THIS JAR OF CREAM!” It’s incredibly forceful propaganda–don’t get acne, don’t age, use chemicals!, use botanicals! I’m serious about this. For example, did you know that most eye creams are the same product as face creams, when it comes to ingredients, or more importantly, in terms of effect? They add a few more emollients to make it richer, throw it into a smaller jar, so that you’ll open your wallet for the other “necessary” product. Your face moisturizer, unless it has something harsh in it, does essentially the same thing, which is to say, moisturize (I should add, unless you want to treat a specific condition such as puffiness or dark circles, though the latter really has no great cure except concealer–but I digress). Flankers? Pshaw. The skincare industry could teach the perfume industry a thing or two. Perfume is much kinder.

Patty, may I ask a slightly different question? I’ve been trying to get my hands on some Coup de Fouet, for layering over some smoky leather (currently Montale Oud Cuir d’Arabie, but I haven’t decided yet), and though I’ve emailed them a couple of times they have retained a stony silence. I was wondering if this was usual?

*sigh* I always find myself going on and on about… :-\”