Major magazines have major closets - one filled with shoes, one with bags, one with clothes and one positively overflowing with beauty products.
Those beauty products get cleared out with major sales, up to four times a year with the proceeds going to charity, and I used to run them. I'd get an almost sick thrill from watching which items the editorial staff attacked. It could be the ugliest shade of bright orange lipstick, but if NARS ran its way down the side in bright white letters or interlocking C's sat at the bottom, I'd place all my money on a Manolo beat-down.
The interns and I watched with eyes agog as usually composed women dived across tables for YSL foundation two shades darker than their skin, while less expensive but still amazing brands languished on the table.
Sure, everyone has their favorite brand, but there's a fine line between brand loyalty and snobbery. I may be addicted to Kiehl’s, but I won't ignore the recently launched Olay products on my desk. In fact, some of my favorite new products come straight from Duane Reade: Bioré Skin Preservation, L’Oréal Double Extend Beauty Tubes Mascara and Aveeno’s Nourish shampoos and conditioners.
There are plenty of brands that have earned their reputations by producing both efficacious and innovative products, there are also a lot of brands that create less than great products that ride the fashionable celebrities-love-it wave which defeats the purpose of any product.
When you're shopping for products is it about the brand or do you actually research the product behind the label? Furthermore, are you loyal to one company or is your medicine cabinet home to every brand under the sun?
--MEGAN MCINTYRE
Sponsored Topics: Aveeno - Duane Reade - Cosmetics - Beauty - L'Oréal
