Beauty Bugbears

bugbears

Today I thought I would do a different sort of post. More a 'what's in my head at the moment that is annoying me' kind of post! I am aware that does sound quite negative but I do always write about all the lovely products I use etc so please just see this a something different/a balance. 

Used makeup at makeup stands 
This has to be my number one annoyance! I just do not understand why Boots, Superdrug (actually they aren't too bad, but there solution for it is another annoyance of mine - see below), Tesco... basically anywhere that isn't manned, doesn't try to fix this product. So many times I have wanted to buy a product and there are say four on the stand and every single one has been opened and used. Probably because the state of the samples is so bad... but still! Or even worse you buy a product, take it home only to find it's been tested - not good at all.

The thing is, this is how I see it. Imagine you are in Tesco or Boots... you pick up a sandwich and ummm.... get hungry! So hungry in fact you have to open the packaging and take a bite of the sandwich. You then decide you don't like it that much and put it back on the shelf and carry on shopping. I'd like to think a member of staff would ask you to pay for it. It makes sense, right? This is the exact same with cosmetics. You open a product and test it then you should have to pay for it. I really do think a simple sign on every stand would sort out this problem, something like 'If you test any cosmetics other than the samples provided you will have to purchase the products. If testers aren't available please contact a member of staff'. Then it should be that if you do ask a member of staff for a sample because there isn't any then they can open one of the products, placing a tester sticker on it and then that can be the sample. I really do think a simple sign would help this problem so much! 




The product amount swizz
Now this isn't such a big deal, just something to be aware of. I am talking how much product you actually get for your money. I started to think about this last year when I discovered that my beloved YSL Touche Eclat contained only 2.5ml of concealer for £23, which for a liquid product isn't a lot at all. Also when it comes to sets it is always good to check out how much product you are actually getting. Recently I was looking at all the new Benefit kits and I have to say most are pretty good. But some really do contain such little product. For example Big Beautiful Eyes Kit which retails for £24.50 only contains 4.2g of product and a kit that is coming out soon (also £24.50) will contain only 3.8g. But take another kit priced at £24.50 and just the pan products alone contain 7g and the other products in the kit come to 14.5ml - pretty goos! Quite a big difference, hey, so it is definitely worth looking on the packaging first.

Metal packaging doesn't work 
This is more of a pet peeve as I can live with it but it is slightly annoying. I am talking about the likes of the Blistex metal packaging, also some hair treatments come in this type of packaging (if you don't know what I mean here is an image of a hair conditioner I have). The problem is as the product starts to be used up the metal starts to bend/crease which makes the metal weaken, then eventually you get a little cut in the packaging for the product to squeeze/leak out of, which is very messy! This always happens with Blistex tubes for me and I currently have a hair conditioner that is doing it. It's just annoying!




The price of magazines 
Yes I am a bit of a scrooge, but I don't care! Magazines probably now contain the highest amount of adverts than ever before yet they are charging more and more for the price of the magazine. I remember not so long ago even 2011 when magazines such as Elle, Red, Marie Claire cost in the region of £3.40 now it is £3.80-90.. not much but its just unnecessary. Let me just put it in prespective... Marie Claire's rate for a full page advert is £17,807. That is just a single ad and adverts are pretty much every other page! This is why I don't like seeing the price of magazines at nearly £4.00... and don't even get me started on the likes of Vogue and Harpers Bazaar?!


Tesco and Asda makeup stands closing at 10pm  
If you aren't a late shopper then you may not know that in most supermarkets they pull down the cosmetics stand shutters around 10pm. A little birdy from Tesco told me that this is apparently because cosmetics are their biggest loss when it comes to shoplifting and at night it cannot be watched as much. But I really don't care... no other areas of the supermarket close, well except for the food counters, but if a supermarket is going to be 24hrs you should be able to purchase standard products.  

The sticky security labels at Superdrug 
The super sticky security labels of Superdrug are the bane of my life (actually a blogger showed one stuck to an Essie polish here)! Okay, a little dramatic. But really, they literally are the hardest things to remove. I'm not talking a standard sticker here... ohhhhh no no. These are large stickers that seem to be stuck down with super glue strong adhesive and they actually contain a web of metal which of course sets off the alarms if you decided to leave the store without paying for your items. These stickers were intended not to be easy to remove. But for the average customer you then have to sit for more time then you would like once you have got home, trying to remove the sticky gunk and paper that is left behind. To fully remove the beasts it actually take nail polish remover or hair spray. I know Superdrug are thinking this is a good way to crack down on theft and also so products can't be opened and tested as much when they are placed over the seal. But they are so annoying and also a lot of the time covering over the ingredients list as well. 

So there is my rant! I feel quite de-stressed now actually! 

Please feel free to tell me what annoys you in the world of beauty. 

Fee xo.


SHARE:

Comments (24)

Loading... Logging you in...
  • Logged in as
I hate excessive packaging and packaging that's difficult or impossible to recycle. For example, lipsticks may come in plastic containers, but how the heck am I supposed to recycle them? I always feel a bit wasteful when I end up having to just chuck them in the bin.

I agree that some product sizes are ridiculous, but I think it's such a clever con as I don't think it's a factor that many people consider when it comes to selecting products.

I've actually stopped buying magazines since having discovered blogs. I don't want to pay money to try to get sold lots of other products. Also I find their reviews and suggestions for new products so insincere since they are sent absolutely everything for free and in any case need to keep companies on side so that they will continue to pay those hefty advertising fees. It's also so insincere when magazines publish articles about self-confidence and beauty coming in all shapes and forms and so forth right next to your standard L'oreal etc. "airbrushed perfection" ads.
I haaaate it when make-up has been used which isn't labelled as a tester! It's particularly bad with brands like Collection because you can't always tell if they've been used! Puts me off buying things. x

onelittlevice.blogspot.co.uk
All of these things annoy me too :)
I only pick products from the back.. but still have to check!
I really dislike..and it shouldnt be that big an issue.. that Superdrug dont have tissues to wipe your hand after using a tester! Why not..? Boots do it.. Superdrug tissues are cheaper, whats the problem!
God these annoy me so much too. I always get my product from the back too. And I won't even get started on the stickers.
But what really bugs me about super drug is that all their makeup sections are not counters and so unmanned but they always have a few members of staff hanging about to help with any queries. Which would be good if these people had any training or idea what they were talking about. I was in a few days ago looking for a blush (the one I wanted was in the 2nd lightest shade but none were out) the woman came over to see if i need help, I asked if they had any, she checks and they don't. Then she starts trying to say but there are lots of other shades available and starts telling me how nice the brightest shade is and I should just buy that instead. Im nw20 inwould have looked like a clown She clearly knew nothing about makeup.
Sorry haha. Rant over, it just bugged me so much :)

Lorna
I thought the magazines in Britain are quite cheap because here in Japan the average price for a magazine is about 5-6 pounds. Well, everything in Japan is quite expensive :( But 5-6 pounds for a magazine is not acceptable! I love British magazines but they are about 8-13 pounds here, ridiculous!
Oh Fee! I feel your pain on many of those! Especially when people stick their fingers in non-testers!! Totally gross and uncalled for!
I am 1000% behind you on the Superdrug sticker thing. I HATE it. Literally hate it. It ruins new nice beauty product I buy - when I have to get home and ask my boy to tear it down from the package. Honestly, I feel like being punished for purchasing the product because I paid money to have a struggle with the sticker! Not fun at all!

Don't get me started on magazine prices too! I only buy Vogue every other month as an investment and don't really bother with other magazines. You can find everything on the Net at the moment - as for beauty and fashion news - bloggers are much more reliable (honest opinions!).

I've never bought a previously opened product, but I would be furious if that had happened to me so I can understand your point on that.

I knew about the product amount issue, but I didn't see that the Barry M lipgloss is so pathetic compared to Natural Beauty one! I have the same Barry M one but now will check when I'm gonna do stocking up.

Great rant - as always! :) X
What annoys me is when my favorite product or color is discontinued...it's so irritating. I wished they would conduct study groups before discontinuing products/colors; maybe they do and my faves are just not cutting it :(. PS: Please don't take offense but this is just some constructive criticism since you are a writer/blogger. You may want to use spell/grammar check before publishing your post.
Beautiful dreams's avatar

Beautiful dreams · 654 weeks ago

wow i love this post ! I never really buy pricy products in superdrug but it would really annoy me if i spent all that money on it and then i had to put up with the permanent sticky label ! Cant belive the product size one , who knew they contained so little :0

Beautiful Dreams
OMG it's like you were reading my mind! The first bugbear is one of my number 1 makeup related pet peeves, and the sandwich analogy is spot on - if you're not going to buy it, don't try it! It's beyond inconsiderate! And I'm so glad light is being shed on those pesky Superdrug stickers, they're a nightmare to remove and when you do finally get them off they leave the ugliest marks on your products - awful! Maybe if enough of us complain about it they'll do something about it, lol. Great post, very entertaining read.
June x
junesbeautyblog.blogspot.co.uk
strikkelise's avatar

strikkelise · 654 weeks ago

New reader here, took an instant liking to your blog the other day!

The stickers, I know, I hate them. As for the used products, I actually bought a few drugstore makeup products today and I swore over all the scotch tape the shop people have been sticking around the lipglosses etc. I hate having to peel all that off, but of course this is better than having bought a new lipgloss only to discover some idiot has "sampled" it.
Magazine prices, the fancy mags are around 7-8 British pounds here in Norway, so you're lucky there.
The only part of the supermarkets that close at nighttime here are the beer sections, no alcohol after 6 PM. Wine, you have to go to the state owned(!) monopoly shops. :)
If you take the sticker off then wipe it with a nail polish remover pad (hold on the sticky patchy for 30seconds - 1 minute) comes off and looks good as new!
i adore your blog so much, fee <3 this post especially! im tempted to just put superdrug on the list itself. my local ones are SO grotty, i would rather lick a pigeon than use the testers and the makeup stands are always dangerously close to being entirely empty. and i live in manchester, which is a big city, you'd expect it to be better stocked/looked after!

good point about price per ml too, never realised brands were so crafty about this. it's one to look out for!

also, a tip for sticky residue; olive oil. works really well! :)
strikkelise's avatar

strikkelise · 654 weeks ago

Even worse, shop attendants who spray perfume at you without asking, or at someone else and you end up in the crossfire.
I am a kind of magazine junk addict, but really the prices are so so annoying I get to buy the British and American Vogue 15 Euros here in Greece and don't get me started on all that advertisement on their pages, some very insincere reviews and so so annoying opinions.
I will have to learn to stop buying them and read reliable beauty/fashion blogs.
The Tesco and boots thing is always annoying whenever I am in England, but the story here is fortunately different in Greece, I so so agree with all your other points too.
Cheers
Beauty bird's avatar

Beauty bird · 654 weeks ago

Great post! Very much with you on the first one- I always go for a product that's at the back of the stand behind the others, and doesn't look like it's been tampered with.
Also interesting about the sizes of products and what you get! Will bear this in mind for definite! xx
My own bugbear is a mix between the "already used product" and the "security stickers". Be it at Boots or Superdrug, they want to avoid people using anything else than the tester tube (which is nice). But their way to do it is to wrap anything that can be opened in a truckload of sticky tape. The kind that does not come off easily.
Now I know it is only a detail, but when I buy a new product, I do not like having to spend ages removing the tape in order to open it, and then having all the sticky residue left on the packaging.
All of those things annoy me too! Another thing is the way some make up items always seem to be permanently out of stock in my local Superdrug...I mean surely if you know an item is popular, it makes sense to order more of it and therefore sell more of it! I swear they do not bother checking what they've run out of! And there are never any more in the drawer underneath the stand if you ask. I also wish mine would stock the whole mua range-they have a few items which seems a bit pointless. I have to go into town if I want more of the range but even they still don't have the palettes x
Love the rant! I totally agree with everything you said. They're my pet peeves as well!
Love these kind of posts they really help get the anger out, I'm with you on the whole magazine pricing thing, a few years ago I used to, without fail buy them all, every month. Its crazy lucky for my bank balance I don't any more, you can read everything online anyway for free. :-)
Love this and I agree with pretty much everything you say especially the cost of magazines. They're just a rip off now unless you're getting a good freebie with it!
What i hate is the collection 2000 stand. The felt tip pens are just stuck in a little cuddy so there is no being able to take one from the back. Ive lost count how many times ive bought one and come home to find it is all used up. As for the sticker thing i just learned that i would rather go to boots.

Post a new comment

Comments by

Blogger Template Created by pipdig