Take a Powder – Anita


BTW:

DO NOT PANIC, POSSE! March and Patty have not left us (leaving me to torture you in perpetuity).  I’m just filling in here and there until they get their own stuff back on track.  School, work, LIFE.  You know.  That stuff can really cut into blog-time!

They’ll be back shortly.  In the meantime, I could really use the fabled Posse Input here:

This is just naasty.

I am embarrassed to be writing this but:

I am going to spend this glorious late-summer morning CLEANING OUT MY MAKEUP DRAWERS!

Note that I said ‘drawers’.  Not one.  Not three.  Prolly more like 5 of those extruded-plastic drawer thingies you get at Home Depot, plus the 3 drawers on my side of the vanity PLUS the extra 5 drawer thingy in the linen closet….this is just ridiculous.

It’s not my fault, btw.  I Blame the Lady R.  She is my favorite SA in the Universe because, besides being a lovely person, she is also supremely generous with samples.  For decades I bought Everything Beauty  from her and came away with enough goodies to choke a Percheron, not that I would do that, as I love Percherons as you all know.  When I was flush it was  a fun little greedy-perk: crappy day?  buy a lipstick, come away with a 3-lb bag of stuff.  Gift With Purchase?  Don’t get me started.

Then, when I moved to the country, got broke all of a sudden and could barely buy dog food, she kept me sane by just giving me stuff – I would stagger in, she would look at my pathetic, haggard face, ragged nails and ratty hair and before I knew it, she’s pressing a nicely tissued-up little bag o’ goodness into my hand and telling me to get the hell back  to Cowtown and start making money.  Never mind that I already had enough cosmetics to start my own little boutique – there’s just something about  walking out with a little bag o’ stuff that made me think I just might survive.  Then I got  a little bit moneyfied again and the buy/get started anew.

At this point though, I’m way past diminishing returns.  I could live to be 90 and never get through all this stuff.  So I’m donating a lot of unused   stuff and pitching as much used stuff as I can bear to part with.

But here’s the question:  at what point does ‘unopened/unused’ become potentially icky and  ‘used’ become ‘unusable’?  I don’t want to donate old unused stuff and have some poor soul’s eyelids fall off.  And I need some serious intervention if I’m going to pitch the used – I don’t think I’m much of a  hoarder, except when it comes to cosmetics/treatment, which is kinda stupid – and probably unsafe.  The SA’s answer is always suspect – after all, it’s their job to sell you new stuff – and if my dermatologist  had his way I would throw it all out and use Dial soap and Vaseline or something.  So I throw the questions to you, my dearests:   Take loose powder, for instance.  I have jars of Prescriptives Loose powder that are in shaker apps – since they don’t touch the skin (I shake it onto a brush), shouldn’t they be okay?  I am assuming that there is a ‘use-by’ date for pressed powder, and I am sure those are now petri dishes of ookaliciousness.  But when does the petri dish overflow?  What if you only use something (not mascara – even I am not that crazy) once or twice, then throw it in a drawer and forget about it for a year?  I’m a little more careful with liquid foundation – it’s always sponge apped and I tend to not let foundation languish ….. you know I’m lying…..okay!!!!  I’m lying through my regularly changed toothbrush-using teeth! I have some Really Old Foundation.  But it still smells okay – I figure there’s enough preservatives in this stuff to outlast the next Ice Age.  But why on earth would I keep the L’Oreal I bought in Dallas on a sales trip NINE YEARS AGO ?  I was late for a client dinner, had no foundation, drugstore on the way, you know the drill and…well..this stuff makes me look like one of the Recently Exhumed.  Thank Floyd the restaurant was dimly lit.  I lugged that crap through DFW  and ORD and have packed and hauled  it through 3 moves!!!  A $7 bottle of ugly foundation.

What is wrong with me?

Am I really as gross as I think I sound here?  In my defense I do wash my brushes regularly, I sharpen my eye and lip liners religiously and I do not use mascara beyond a month or two. I got into gel eyeliners and have taken the precaution of using disposable applicators (and never double-dipping – she says, crossing her fingers and hoping like heck she’s right).   But a lipstick?  C’mon.  I remember using one of my mom’s old lipsticks waaaay after the fact and my lips are still on my face.   I don’t share lippies without a slice and some alcohol – I love y’all but it’s a crazy world out there.  So I think I’m as petri-free as I can get without straying into Howard Hughes territory… But I don’t need 24 of them.  okay, 28.   O-kay!  31! Sheesh.  Ridiculous, I know, but most of them were GWP.   The one thing I know I’ll have little trouble with is eyeshadow.  I’m getting way too old for a lot of the colors I’ve hoarded, plus wearing glasses and bright eyeshadow just looks weird to me.  And I need an eye infection like I need…an eye infection.   So that’s an easy one.  10 pots of ‘vintage’ MUF, down the chute!  Aiiiiyyy!

Do you guys have a standard ‘dump date’ for your cosmetics?  Is your ‘use by’ date different for treatment?   What about used v. unused?  Do you still love me, even though I am possibly the ickiest person on the Posse?

photo:  Fungus petri dish.  Some rights reserved  (this is NOT my makeup – I swear!!!  really.)

stuff:  alllll mine.  ick.

  • Ninara Poll says:

    i have lipsticks from the very, very early 90s that I still use, as well as one eyeshadow palette from the 80s and several from the late 90s and early 00s. I seem to have amazing luck in cosmetics not going bad on me, as my mom instilled in me hospital-level germophobia (she’s a retired nurse) and various methods for handling cosmetics safely, plus I’m super paranoid and always wash my face and hands before applying cosmetics. Also, I store all of my cosmetics in a dry, cool place. Liquids like lipglosses and foundations, though… I still have some decade-old lipglosses and nearly as ancient foundations, but I watch them carefully and toss them the second they look or smell iffy. Mascara gets tossed every 3 months no matter what the condition. Basically, if something looks funny, smells funny, or is suddenly making my skin react in unusual ways — out it goes.

  • Musette says:

    Y’all are not going to believe this but …

    wait: quick backstory – when Prescriptives (my other fave) was going out of biz, I bought a ginormous amount of foundation. Prolly 3 years worth (hey, they were going out of business!). So…now they’re selling online. I just got an email about Virtual Matte.

    Do you know I had The NOIVE to actually go on the site and go all 😕

    Just disclosin’ here. Just disclosin’

    My Name is Anita. And I Am a Cosmetaholic.

    xo >-)

  • tlb says:

    Hi, Girls! Re-Read Kathryn’s reply from 9:15am and then add a couple of things if you want. I used to work as one of those “china dolls behind the counter” for a big name company. Still love their products but I am poor now and can’t afford them anymore–but I digress…

    Keep in mind that the companies create these products and then they sit on shelves in warehouses or the stores that they were shipped to for up to 2/3 years sometime. This is true. Very rarely does product get removed from the floor. So, really A product is made to last about 7-10 years. If it starts to smell, flake, mold or discolor–throw it. Even the cheaper products are made by the big companies–they just don’t get all extras like marketing and more colors to choose from. Overall they are actually less product inside so you run out faster–look at your packaging!
    –Also, use your fridge for moisturizers and foundations. Not forever but it will extend the life longer than 6 months or a year. Lastly, lipsticks–clean them with a spray of alcohol and wipe lightly with tissue. Remove the germs and remove the chance for contamination. Do you really think the management let us replace lipsticks when they ran out?? you see all the holes when you’re at the counter don’t you–we had to make them last forever!
    Hope that helps!

    • Musette says:

      Thanks for that! You know, I thought about that when I was writing this.

      then I promptly forgot about it. Thanks again for bringing that Really Important Part of this to light!

      I would love to put my stuff in the fridge but there’s a 1 in 4 chance that El O or one of the Giant Boys would mistake it for food and eat it!

      btw – you know what I don’t do anymore? Makeovers at cosmetic counters. Every stinkin’ blemish or eye-ick I’ve gotten in the past decade I’m laying at That Door. 8-x

      xo >-)

  • maggiecat says:

    Please check your family tree. We are clearly related. And I, too, have been trying to clean out drawers, cubbies and the like, my husband’s sanity being involved. I’ve been pitching a lot of old stuff, with great guilt. And trying to pass on the unuse stuff to folks who need it. I’d toss old foundation, definitely, and anything dried, cake-y or off-smelling – but generally I agree with the idea that quality cosmetics last longer than the maufacturers want us to believe!

    • Musette says:

      Sistah!

      Your hub and El O are probably thinking “who the hell WEARS all this stuff?” Bear has toothpaste. And shaving cream.

      That’s it.

      Metrosexual, he most certainly ain’t.

      xo >-)

  • Fiordiligi says:

    Oh, how could I have missed responding to this post? I actually buy more make-up than perfume (hard to believe, I know) but every now and then I have a purge and throw some away. My worst sin is lipgloss. I buy them ALL the time – can’t see one without buying it, basically*. These I throw away regularly as they slop over the join where the top meets the container, I find, and I don’t want messy gloppy stuff in my lovely make-up bag or – horrors – precious handbag. (*Have you seen Nars Strawberry Fields? I bought that on Monday – gorgeous).

    I have been wearing make-up for a VERY long time, believe me, and if I say so myself, I have wonderful skin, but I have never thrown away anything because I thought it was too old to use apart from mascaras and eyeliners. It’s all another marketing ploy to scare us; as long as you are a clean person (!) and wash brushes, puffs etc regularly then I really don’t see a problem.

    • Musette says:

      I love you.

      😡

      xo >-)

      and I know what you mean about the ooky run-over on lip glosses. I once had a lipstick melt in my car – :-l Thank Floyd it wasn’t a good handbag!

  • DinaC says:

    Anita,

    I like Laura Mercier makeup, too. Bobbi Brown is good for my super pale skin as well. Louise and I commiserated over trying to match pale, sallow skin to foundation shades when we met IRL earlier this year. :-) And since it’s pricey (in my book at least), I like to hold on to it for as long as its good. Things like foundation are all used up long before they go bad. I don’t like wasting things; I enjoy the feeling of using up the very last drop/crumbs of powder. I’m still using powder eye shadows that are more than 10 years old. But I’m not worried. I’m clean and meticulous about them.

    I tend to be a small to medium makeup collector. I have a few of each kind of item in various shades or textures. I go cheap with stuff like mascara that I know I’m going to replace quickly. My weakness is lip gloss because there are so many pretty colors. Just last week I bought NARS lip lacquer in Chelsea Girls, which March recommended (that enabler!). I’m loving it.

    I’ve decided that I like pot gloss, even though it takes an extra step to apply it with a lip brush, because ultimately you can use all the product. It ends up being a much better value. I get so frustrated with lip gloss in a tube when the doe’s foot wand can no longer scrape the bottom or sides of the tube where I can plainly see that there is still gloss sitting there, going unused! (As you can tell, I’m a thrifty Yankee at heart.)

    Great post! I enjoyed reading it and everyone’s responses. :-)

    • Musette says:

      Dina –

      Doe’s foot! I never knew that is what it is called. And you know what? It looks persackly like a doe’s foot! Who knew? I am with you on pot v. tube. I got doe’s foot fever on a Prescriptives gloss – it was ugly.

      xo >-)

    • March says:

      Glad you liked the Chelsea Girls!

  • Lee says:

    You might be a freakshow, but you’re a loveable one.

    No comment on make-up. I’ve been clearing out some perfume. And the store room outside which was the old kitchen of this Georgian house… it’s a 4 bed terrace but they must’ve had servants working out there… Pantry, bread stove, oven, fireplace… all still in place. You have to walk out the back door and across the terrace (sounds rather grand – it ain’t).

    Anyways, it took me a whole day and I looked like a Georgian chimney sweep by the end. Who knew garderners could accumulate so much crap. On the plus side, I found a key ring flipside photo of me and my sibs. I’m 9/10ish. Long hair. Angelic smile. Baseball top (twas my fave), and small silver chain (working class signifier). I might have to share it if I can find someone with a scanner.

  • Nava says:

    I so needed the laugh this morning, Anita. Thank you! (It’s back to the tools again, btw)

    Personally, anything powder is worth keeping. I have a ton of Bare Escentuals stuff that I’ll probably never get around to using and it’s all fine. But creams/lotions/liquid makeup/mascara…I would definitely give all that the heave-ho.

    You’re correct not to believe the SAs because they’ll tell you that $50 bottle of foundation has a 2-week shelf life. In the future, look for stuff that’s in those airless pump packages. I have some skin care goops in that packaging that are still fresh as daisies.

    • Musette says:

      If you need tool help, holla! We’re both around – Bear is a genius with practical advice and can speak both pro-tech and amatech. I would posit that makeup yakk is more fun than tool yakk – and I make my living at tool-yakk (maybe that’s why). Though….come to think of it, I can wax eloquent at the sight of some slammo heavy machinery…

      I am LOVING pumps. I think everything should come in airless pumps. Even eyeshadow. Bring on the airless pump, dammit!

      xo >-)

      • Nava says:

        Speaking of tools – the airless pump is absolute genius. I have a
        5 oz. bottle of Kate Somerville’s Deep Tissue Repair that’s about 3 years old and I’m not even halfway through it. If not for the airless pump packaging that stuff would be one very expensive piping crock of disease right now. Hell, put me in an airless pump while you’re at it!

        Don’t worry – I’ll be harassing you and Bear plenty in the near future. All the research was just handed over to me, and waxing eloquent about ANY machinery (save the airless pump) is so not my thing.

  • Kathryn says:

    Here’s what Paula Begoun recommends in “When Should I Throw Out a Product?” http://www.cosmeticscop.com/when-should-i-throw-out-a-product.aspx?filter=itemtype%3acontent

    “Mascara, liquid or gel eyeliners: 4 to 6 months (always toss out dry mascara—never add water to extend its life)
    Moisturizers, Serums, & Foundations: 6 months to 1 year
    Powder-based products: 2-3 years
    Lipsticks, Lip Gloss, & Lip Pencils: 2-3 years
    And remember: If it smells funky, looks gunky or the texture has changed significantly—definitely toss it out!”

    She’s also pretty adamant about buying liquid based products in tubes, not jars.

    • Musette says:

      I forgot about her and her recommendations! She’s pretty strict but I’ll bet she hasn’t had an eye infection in forever!

      excellent advice here. thanks for the link!

      xo >-)

      • Erin T says:

        I was going to send you this link, too. I don’t always follow her advice or product ratings, but she’s generally the most consistently accurate source for cosmetics reviews: I’ve found most of my fave products through her books. (Although she doesn’t review Lipstick Queen – what’s up with that?!?) One thing she’s said repeatedly is that powder takes a long time to go bad, so I’m surprised by the 2-3 year thing; I thought loose powder might last indefintely if it doesn’t clump sitting around in a humid bathroom.

        • Musette says:

          I had a loose powder from my mom (she used to put it in this absolutely slammo compact) – it still smells good and whilst I cannot wear it (she was March’s color. I am Not) I suspect some other pale soul could’ve.

          Hope you’re still on here, btw – how are you? How’s the babe?

          xo >-)

  • mals86 says:

    Re: makeup, I am Strictly Drugstore. And like Ruanne, I’m minimalist about it. But I have a Home set and a Purse/Car/Travel set: two concealers, two foundations, two pressed powders, two eyeliners, two mascaras, tossed and replaced when they get low or ooky.

    Well, okay, I do have about sixteen lipsticks. But again, we’re talking $8 lippies, not the good stuff. I don’t feel bad about tossing them when they start smelling weird.

    What I DO feel bad about? All the junk in the attic.

    • Musette says:

      what is it with the lipsticks? All of us seem to have that One Weakness (even CARTER, who just dumped her weakness, right?)

      Nobody would dare keep 33 half-used eyeliners or mascaras. But lippies? Bring It!

      xo >-)

  • March says:

    LOL, as they say, I told you I thought that was your snap of some funk growing in your face cream and thought, eeewwww! Glad it’s flickr.

    The nice thing about having two teenage daughters is I give most of my stuff to them, and they do whatever they do with it. I went through a blue-eyeshadow phase last year and came to my senses awhile later… IMO the lippies go “off” — they get a smell, and then they are out of here. But I think it’s a vicious circle — I don’t buy a lot of makeup in the first place, so I don’t wind up with a bunch of GWPs.

    • Musette says:

      Sweetie…had that been my face cream they would’ve had to take me out of here in a padded jacket! 😮 El O is taking the stuff out from under the kitchen sink this morning because I have this absurd, irrational fear of places like that (if you are an unfinished basement you will probably not see me – ever). Anyway, I know there is mold under there so I am going to bleach the crap out of it, wash/bleach everything usable that will go back under there and throw away everything else. I will be wearing a Hazmat suit for this and taking one of Louise’s muscle relaxants beforehand, though.

      I have no concept of lippie ‘smell’ . But you know my schniffer is weird.

      xox >-)

  • kathleen says:

    When I see something and say “who bought this?”, I’ll usually throw it away.

    • Musette says:

      Emoticons are on strike (insert ROFL here) – I SO know that one! That Dallas foundation? At least I had an excuse. There’s some stuff in here, looks like I was DRUNK when I bought it. Or else maybe the dog bought it and popped it in the drawer. certainly no sane person would buy someone with MY skin tone a pistachio-green eyeshadow.

      ew.

      xo >-)

      • March says:

        Yeah, remember I sent you those lippies and you said, March … have you looked in the mirror? wth?

        • Musette says:

          and you know what? those are PERFECT for me. In fact, I’m wearing one of the Napoleons today!

          But on you? whuuuuhth were you thinking?

          I Blame Kai. ’twas HE would bought those lippies. That’s the only excuse I can come up with.

          xo >-)

  • Ruanne says:

    I’m pretty ruthless- and a minimalist. My “a-ha!” moment came on a trip once, when I realized that I can get ready so fast in hotels because everything I need is right there in the travel case, and nothing else is. Now, I open my makeup drawer, and there is one concealer, one mascara, etc., etc. I buy replacements every 6 months, or less if I am tempted by something new, and the old one goes right out (well, after I’ve determined for sure that I really do like the new thing- okay, it’s not quite the pristine machine for living that I wish it were.)

    The lipsticks, however are a whole different story. There are a ridiculous number of lipsticks, and some of them are oldish. But they’re discontinued colors! Some are for special occasions!

    • Musette says:

      which I’ll bet you a monkey you never wear. If you’re like me, you always ‘intend’ to – but ….well, I’ve become a YLBB gal – at my age (with the mop of curly hair, the glasses and the extra 20 lbs) reds and bright pink just scream MAKEOVER!

      Doesn’t mean I threw ’em out, though. 🙂

      xo >-)

  • Louise says:

    I have closets of makeup. Ask March. No, don’t!

    I go through ’bout yearly and purge, before buying even more. For used, I toss liquids, as usually they stink when old. Lipsticks I sterilize and share with my sis or friends. But powders, if loose and kept well, keep a long time-I will scrape a top layer off, and share. Note that I won’t donate used stuff, unless to friends or sis.

    For unopeneds, you are good to give-the recipients will be getting a product that generally only has lost consistency (i.e., powders gone hard). Some shelters, etc. will accept unopeneds, or nail polish, which is so vile in ingredients that nothing could live in there.

    Speaking of makeup……have you gotten a peak at Chanel’s new line-up? Bobbi? Chantecaille? Heh heh ; )

    • Musette says:

      Nail polish is the one thing I DO purge – go figure.

      I’m coming to your house! In the dead of night. With a crowbar (for the door, not you :-D….between your Mitsouko collection and your makeup….

      Luckily, I am not a great match for 99% of the makeup out there – my skin is just slightly ‘off’! Laura Mercier hits it on the head for me, so I have a standing order there. MUF Hi-Def…I had high hopes for it but it only seems to work for me in the cooler months (I lose ALL my summer color the day it turns cold. My ex-hub said he once watched all the color drain from my body, the first Sunday in October. A sudden cold snap, the football game was on…and vi-ola! Gone.

      xo >-)

  • Joe says:

    Okay, I don’t know from makeup, but you made me laugh. A lot.

    I recently started cleaning up some crap that I moved at least twice and have been holding onto forever. Oy! And the last thing on my list to get in order is going to be The Perfume Freakshow. But really, I don’t expect to get to that for awhile, since all this other crap is really going to keep me busy weekends.

    • Musette says:

      Glad to give you a giggle.

      Oooh, doesn’t that just chap your cheese, when you open that box – AGAIN – and realize that you haven’t used/looked at/thought of whatever’s in there for the last (insert eon here)? I moved 3 times in the last 10 years (the last one was unexpected – I’d just built my 2500 sf garage and skylight-infused studio. The move nearly killed me!)

      This last move………for some reason there was this box……I realized I had not opened that stupid box for 6 or 8 years….when I realized what was in it, I almost wept. Several ‘treasures’ from my mom and my former life – including this exquisite 3″ tall Japanese vase overlaid with enameled irises (grandmother’s)..

      …so much for remembering, huh? They stuff is now out and being enjoyed again – but 6 years?

      ow.

      xo >-)

      • Musette says:

        ps. when you do get to that perfume, shout me a holla, okay? Your collection is the stuff of legend!

        xo >-)

        • Joe says:

          Legend!!!???? BWAHAHAHAHA.

          OK, I’ll admit I have a LOT of 5ml decants of a lot of things.

          I’ll holla, don’t worry. :D

          • Musette says:

            :p ^:)^

            xo >-)

            ps. I just came across that Moss stuff again – wow! niiiiiice.

            xo

          • Joe says:

            I keep meaning to wear that, but it’s kind of BIG.

            She’s selling many scents in EDP again. Wheeee! Not that one, as yet, but I’m sure she’d take requests. Just sayin’.

          • Musette says:

            Joe – I’M kinda big, so it works. Even when I’m not physically ‘big’ and right now is not the time for me to look too closely at that 🙁 I’m just BIG. So big’uns work really well on me.

            Yer KILLIN me wit dat. Cut it out. I will see how the samp holds up…mebbe 😕

            xoxo >-)

  • sunnlitt says:

    So long as it doesn’t look like garbage, I take it to work. I put it in the Ladies’ Room, put a sign that says “FREE” above the pile, and ,’Voila!!’—it disappears. Works every time.
    I’ve even had women complain to me that I did not notify them that I had brought ‘treasures’ into the building, and that all the ‘good stuff’ was gone before they had a chance to grab it for themselves!!

    • Musette says:

      I’ll bet they love you, the piranhas! People are funny about ‘free’, aren’t they?

      I would do that, except I mostly work with big, beefy guys in hard hats – I don’t see Hoss lighting up in anticipation of a Lancome lippie – but ya nebber know..

      xo >-)

    • Gretchen says:

      Hey, I do exactly the same thing! Everything gone in a day. A friend of mine sells her excess makeup when she holds a garage sale– again, everything gone in a day, plus she gets some of her money back.

      Unused makeup seems to last forever if kept in a cool, dark place. I’ve even kept USED lipsticks for years, until a particular shade came back into my favor, and they were still perfect: same color, same consistency, same scent (if any). Powder eyeshadow likewise. Those formulas are stable, friends.

      • Musette says:

        So the MUF STAYS!

        Just not in my drawer.

        I’mo see if any of my younger fambly would like it. That stuff cost a mint. And a lot of the freakazoid shades (it is MakeUpForever, after all) I think I might’ve swiped an applicator across it…once.

        xo >-)

    • Jillie says:

      The exact same thing happened to me, too! I set up in the office about 20 bottles of perfume I didn’t like any more and invited everyone to take what they wanted. Not a single bottle remained, and then afterwards along came someone who didn’t like me (so much so that I didn’t even get a piece of her wedding cake like all the others, even tho’ it was I who collected for and bought her gift, but that’s another story …) and she marched into my room and demanded (in a not nice way) that I inform her if I was giving things away in future as she didn’t get anything! This was before ebay was a glint in anyone’s eye, and I think I might now consider auctioning my stuff off, except of course I haven’t done anything like that before, and I am a scaredy-cat.

      • Musette says:

        Don’t you just LOVE folks like that? We all have at least one – somewhere.

        And the nicer you are to them, the meaner they are to you. I, for one, am GLAD she got nothing! 8-x booya on her.

        (sorry. my feet hurt. Long day on the dawgs)

        xo >-)

  • carter says:

    If you don’t love it, throw it out. If it’s liquid and it’s old, throw it out. Don’t donate any of it, throw it out.

    • Musette says:

      I would never donate anything used – ever (except to family/friends who know what they are getting (and even then I do the sterilization thing on lippies and NEVER share mascaras or liquid eyeliners).

      Are you saying NOTHING donated?

      xo >-)

      ps. I’m quickly becoming terrierfied re the liquids. You guys…….okay – I’m going to be WAY more careful in my foundation choices from now on, as my regular stuff MUF and Mercier, costs a tidy sum. I thought that stuff was indestructible.

      dang.

      • carter says:

        I wouldn’t. What is the Salvation Army going to make on a jar of powder? Seventy-five cents? Just throw it out.

        Maybelline makes a great new foundation called Smooth Mousse (or something like that — I don’t feel moving The Terriers off of my lap to go look) and it’s the sh**ts. Nine bucks, tops. I’m never going back to Vincent Longo or Sensai again.

        • Musette says:

          whuuuuck? I’m ON it!

          thanks!

          xo >-)

          • carter says:

            Not the matt one…the smoooooooth moooooooousy one.

          • March says:

            The mousy one?

          • carter says:

            That would be ratz to you, miss. I just knew some weisenheimer was going to pipe up about that missing essssss.

          • March says:

            Esssssssssssssssquirellsssssssssssssssssssss.

            BTW I have right here an adorable home-made book by Hecate from a year or two ago called … “The Surull.” It’s about a nice little girl who finds a baby surull and “brout it home and toke care of it. She feed it baby food out of a medason botle.”

          • carter says:

            Ah, see, nut doesn’t fall far from the tree (in which the baby surulls reside of cawse) but she spells a heck of a lot better than I do.

          • Musette says:

            And that’s why, 10 years from now when she shows up with a MAJOR ‘tude and some stupid piercing (or whatever it is her gen will do to make their parents insane) you. will. not. kill. her.

            Because you will look at that tiresome teenager – and see
            “The Surull”

            it’s why most kids grow up to be adults, rather than ending up Not Adults.

            xo >-)

          • carter says:

            Just remembered…re the foundation, you want to put it on with the spoooonge that comes with or else with a stippling brush, and then do that buffing thing. The buffing thing is crucial. That is all.

          • March says:

            Yeah but are those dogs off your lap yet? What kind of Maybelline Mouse is it? Because I know I’ll go to CVS and there will be five kinds.

            Also I just noticed *I* misspelled squirrel. As squirell. How funny is that?

          • carter says:

            The Dream Smooth Mousse. Sounds like a pudding. It’s a foundation! No, it’s a floor wax! http://tinyurl.com/22lxg67

  • I completely empathise with the guilt/headache of drawers and drawers of cosmetic stuff. I’m a binge and purger: I buy buy buy and then feel guilty prompting an intense perior of getting rid of stuff (bin/donate/swap/sell) and a promise to stick to a tried and true capsule collection of makeup. Then I go all kid in a candy shop at the MAC counter and the cycle repeats.

    I think the advice regarding cosmetics shelf life is that the more water a formula has, the quicker it spoils. Mascara, lipgloss, foundation turns quickly, and powder goes on and on and on. Think of how long we keep powder spices and seasonings to use in our food. Additionally I think that our skin is a pretty good barrier to keep harmful things out I don’t go rubbing in that funky smelling concealer on an open sore. :-& I’ve kept powder stuff for literally years with no apparent change in texture or performance. Airtight pump packaging helps too. I think common sense and judgement is the order of the day. I did once have a screaming fit at girlfriend who asked me in all innocence whether it was ok to slap on a foundation she’d had for 5 years. It smelt damp and musty and had separated in the bottle. I asked her whether she’d spread five-year-old, musty smelling separated mayonnaise on her sandwich. She got the message. b-(

    • Musette says:

      :-& on the mayonnaise!

      speaking of mayonnaise – where do you stand on licking the knife after you spread (we are not talking ‘double-dip’ here, of course). I have no idea why but I am totally ooked-out by that. I once went on a blind(ish) date, years ago – couldn’t tell you anything about the guy (name/looks/conversation) but I remember my complete revulsion when he stuck his mayonnaise-covered knife in his mouth. El O did it once and I fled the room! Howard is sitting in OCD Heaven, crooning my naaaaame….

      xo >-).

      xo >-)