campaigns : Campaign Archive

March 23, 2006

Make up we love; make up we don't love, the eyebrow fiasco and more

These days The Three Tomatoes find that keeping our faces looking anywhere close to fabulous gives new meaning to mission impossible. We're at the stage where our image in the full light of day and magnified mirrors send us into a blue funk for days, or off for a Botox/collagen fix or directly to the nearest plastic surgeon. So when we find cosmetics and other beauty products that actually made us look and feel better, without needles and knives, we're ecstatic. So here are a few of our favorite things (like Sephora, the store) and some of our not so favorite things ( like Sephora's Lip Fusion and the Anastasia Brow Salon also at Sephora).

Makeup we're loving and the stores that sell it
We confess that we've long been intimidated by the overly made up, overly perfumed department store cosmetic sales people, selling the same old, same old brands who pounce on you if you just glance their way. We can't count the number of times we've gone up to the counter to buy a lipstick and before we know it we're roped into the "up-sell" and our $20 lipstick purchase has turned into $200 worth of other products that we didn't really need or want. Which is why we have baskets full of lipsticks, eye shadows, blushers and foundations that just don't quite work. So, we really love the cosmetic do it your-self super stores like Sephora and our latest discovery, Missha, a Japanese import that now has two stores in NYC, one in Soho and one on Fifth Avenue at 43rd.

If you've never been into a Sephora, here's what you're missing. Aisles and aisles of wonderful new brands of cosmetics, perfumes, lotions and creams that are all available for testing. Sales people are around and are very helpful if you have questions or need some advice, but no one is doing a hard sell. Brilliant concept! We recently headed over to the Sephora on Fifth Avenue to try out a new foundation product line from a company called Bare Escentuals on the recommendation of a couple of tomatoes.

Bare Escentuals - Sephora's Best Seller
We were a bit skeptical of their own description of bareMinerals SPF 15 foundation " looks like a powder, feels like a cream and buffs on like silk, giving skin a natural luminosity" It sounded like hype-- until we tried it. It does go on as promised, a powder that feels like a cream, and it really does cover imperfections like roscea, acne or other flaws without the look and feel of heavy makeup. And it's great for sensitive skin. It does take a bit of practice to learn how to apply it properly (you have to keep blending). We bought the starter kit for $60 which is a great buy. The kit includes two foundations, an all over face color, a blusher, two excellent sable brushes and a how-to DVD. You can buy the individual products online, but the starter kit is available only in the stores. The Sephora people told us this line has been their #1 seller for the past six months. Now we know why.

Forget Lipfusion
So while we were there, we bought Sephora's LipFusion ($35), which they've been advertising everywhere as a lipstick that plumps up your lips. Our opinion? This is a product that's definitely over hyped. We weren't expecting Angelina Jolie lips, but we did expect a little plumping. All we got was a weird tingling sensation. Another product for the cosmetic junk basket.

The eyebrow fiasco
A few select Sephora's, including the one on Fifth Avenue have opened up the Anastasia Brow Studios. In case you don't keep up with the celeb thing, apparently Anastasia's Beverly Hills Studio is the place where celebs like Oprah and Madonna go to get perfect eyebrows. Now usually we just head over to our local nail salon and get our $8 dollar, five minute eye brow waxing and hope they've kept the shape we want and not the one they've decided we should have. So in the name of Three Tomatoes' research (oh the things we do for you) we decided to try the $32 eyebrow shaping. After a "consultation" on shape, and 30 minutes of a little waxing and a lot of plucking we ended up with the most unnatural looking brows you can image!! And at our ages, you'd think we'd know better than to try a new look before a big function we're attending. Oh well, at least eyebrows grow in quickly.

Missha - a downscale Sephora, but worth a trip
This import from Japan sells only the Missha brand of cosmetics, creams, hair products etc., and everything sells for basically less than $15.00. They currently have only three stores in the U.S., all in New York City. We recently popped into the one on Fifth Avenue at 43^rd Street. Like Sephora, you can test all the products, and they have very pleasant and helpful sales consultants. While we would definitely put this store in the "young" category we were pleasantly surprised with the quality of our purchases. For a total of about $35 (the price of the Lipfusion that doesn't plump) we bought a lip liner that we really liked; a foundation that actually covers flaws quite well, but was a bit heavy; a lipstick that we didn't like; and a couple of make up brushes that aren't bad. You can check them out at their web site, but strangely they don't sell their products online.

What are your favorite products?

Happy Spring! 'til next week, And make sure to enter The Three Tomatoes contest.

The Three Tomatoes