That was nearly 20 years ago and I've not bought any dept store cosmetics since then. And, not to brag, but at nearly 47yo I still get compliments on my skin. So, nope, don't need the expensive stuff.
I love the Neutrogena facial cleanser. I buy the liquid - a bottle of it costs about $8 at Walmart and will last me for months. I like their shampoo as well but discovered that the Walmart store brand works just as well so I buy it now to save a little more money.
As for makeup, I never buy department store brands - drugstore/Walmart/Target stuff only and a variety of it. I've been using Cover Girl liquid concealor for years. I recently switched from Max Factor 2000 Calorie mascara to L'Oreal Voluminous and like it - it seems to be much more gentle on my lashes. For a long time I used Jane flavored lipsticks - they were cheap and had a color that worked great on me and lasted well. But I can't find those anymore.
Funny story - I worked in a dept store years ago selling Clinique and hated it. They insisted that my skin would eventually adapt to their products and be better for it but it never happened. After a few months, I went back to using my Neutrogena cleanser and my skin cleared up immediately. Very little of the makeup was to my liking either so I started mixing the few things I did like with all the drugstore stuff I was using before I went to work there. I didn't tell anybody at work cause we weren't supposed to use anything but Clinique. It was hilarious - I got so many "told you so" comments from the other girls working the counter. They thought my skin had just finally acclimated to the new stuff and never knew that it was cause I stopped using their junk.
That wasn't in line with the way they wanted to promote the products or something. That experience is another reason why I don't go near dept store cosmetic counters. All that stuff about how you "need" this product to make one of the other products work properly is usually a load of BS. They're just trying to get you to buy more stuff.
xoxo! Thanks muches!
Yeah, they did have some good products but nothing I couldn't live without. I'm lucky that I don't have super sensitive skin so there's just no reason for me to spend that much. I feel for folks who have such a hard time finding products they can use comfortably. I'm sure that gets frustrating (not to mention, expensive).
While I hated selling Clinique, it was certainly an eye-opening experience. We were trained to ALWAYS make sure the customer leaves the counter with at least 3 products. If they came in asking for lipstick, sell them on something to go with it - didn't matter what it was, just talk them into buying 2 additional products. I felt like I was conning people. Eventually I found a niche for myself by putting together a nice little collection of products for the pre-teen girls who came in wanting a makeover. I was trained to not spend too much time on them and to use a minimal amount of sample products because most of them just wanted a made-up face for their afternoon at the mall. They would wash it all off before they went home cause they weren't allowed to wear that much makeup yet. Well, I figured out that some of the Clinique products were so sheer that no matter how much the girls layered on, it was never going to be too dark or heavy. A few of them wore the stuff home instead of washing it off and the next thing I knew, moms were coming in asking for me to do the same for their daughters. Turns out it was a nice compromise for them - their little girls got to feel all grown up wearing makeup but Mom didn't have to worry about it being too grown up. Believe it or not, my surpervisors were not happy.
