Cosmetics Conundrum

 I'm gathering my equipment and materials for this morning’s project.

I've assembled a selection of brushes in different sizes, together with a sponge and a roller. I’m using a special product to prepare a smooth surface before I begin.

I've got primer, putty, filler, base coat and top coat. I have a range of hues and shades to choose from, then I have to decide between matte and gloss finishes.  Am I embarking on a home improvement project?  No, I’m just applying my makeup, ‘putting my face on’, which I do every morning.

 I have to ask – when did this all get so complicated, with so many products and choices?  And not just makeup, but all the skin care and preparation that goes before it?

Does it really make a difference, or is it all just down to marketing?  Skin care and makeup are Big Business and the Boomer generation is a lucrative target market.  Cosmetic companies have whipped up a fear of aging  and a nostalgia for smooth-skinned youth. They create the demand and they have the supply, even for needs we didn’t realise we had. 

Lashings of choice

Just one example:  when I first started wearing makeup, mascara came in just two colours in a little flat tray with a small brush you had to wet, then rub over the pigment.  That was it.  These days the choice of mascara, not to mention the lash serums you could apply first is, frankly, eye watering.  They come in a range of colours, although black remains the best seller, and in different formulae:  lengthening, thickening, tubular, waterproof, curling, anti-ageing, intense, false lash effect, anti-gravity, to name a few.  Every time I choose one, I wonder what I’m missing by not choosing another… but let’s  be honest, who is going to notice my eyelashes, especially behind my glasses? These days I’m thankful just to have lashes…

I recently ventured into some high end cosmetic stores in London (for research purposes): think Charlotte Tilbury, Mac, Chanel.  They all had uniformed security guards at the doors, checking we didn’t pocket a lipstick tester or snaffle an eyeshadow sample with a price per gram greater than gold.  I did leave clutching a used cotton bud after trying a minuscule amount of foundation on the back of my hand, but I think I got away with it.

So, back to this morning’s project.

My fear of missing out starts, as any self-respecting daily routine should, with skin care. If I don’t use the full range of products available, based on all the latest science, will I just shrivel up like an autumn leaf while my contemporaries hang onto summer and glide radiantly into their golden years?  All for the lack of hyaluronic acid, retinol or peptides? (I don’t know what peptides are, but they sound scientific so I thought I’d drop them in here.)

Collagen shot, anyone?

Not only are there formulations to apply externally, we are also encouraged to keep wrinkles at bay with ‘skin, hair and nail’ supplements and collagen drinks.  Collagen sounds luxurious, and the price tag certainly supports that theory, but look deeper and you’ll find its components read like a list of waste products from an abattoir: the hide, bones and cartilage of cows; the cartilage, bones and eggshell membranes of chickens. Literally the skin, hair and nails of other creatures - lovely. Fishy formulations are also available; just what you want alongside your breakfast orange juice.  Plant-based collagen is an option but it’s generally accepted to be less accessible to the body and therefore less effective.

Keep it simple....

I would love to keep my skincare routine supremely simple: cleanse, tone, moisturise, just three products, maybe four if you have separate day and night creams.   Even the toning is probably dispensable.  My mother followed this routine and it’s how I started out on my skin care odyssey, before I got lost at sea.  I have fond memories of Pond's Cold Cream in white jars and Nivea cream in little blue tins. I had aunts and cousins  who used nothing else all their lives and I honestly believe their skin was better than mine is now, at the same age.  So much for the serum and Vitamin C brightener.  

But even if you limit yourself to those three or four products, there is still a dizzying array of brands, types and price ranges.  I once asked a dermatologist to recommend a routine and she just said “Sun protection! Everything else is down to personal choice.”  Not as helpful as I’d hoped, given the huge amount of choice and genuine risk of decision fatigue, but rather telling, don’t you think?

To keep all bases covered, here's what you could include in your everyday routine.  Excuse the long list – I should have converted it into a word search to make it more fun:  

Exfoliator, cleanser, toner, serum, day cream, eye cream, facial oil, neck cream, high SPF sun cream, primer, putty (yes, really!), BB or CC Creams or foundation, concealer, blusher, bronzer, contour powder, highlighter, eyeshadows (cream/ powder /liquid/ matte/ shiny/ metallic/ sparkly), brow definer, eyeliner, eyelash curlers, lash serum, mascara, lip liner, lipstick, lip gloss, translucent powder and setting spray. 

If that makes you want to go and lie down in the dark, I’m sorry but you’d have to (double) cleanse it all off and start your night time routine…

Don’t get me wrong, I do love makeup.  A rich pink lipstick would probably be my Desert Island luxury item and I like the way a sweep of blusher makes me look and feel brighter. I even had a brief career as an Avon Lady in the 90s; I was my own best customer. I love experimenting with colours and textures but wouldn’t mornings, or even life itself, be simpler if my makeup bag (erm, chest of drawers) were a tad more minimalist?

Your choice

Of course, all this shaping, brushing, blending and highlighting is entirely optional.  Makeup is not compulsory or even important in the grand scheme of life.  I have friends who have never worn it at all. Their shorter ‘getting ready’ time in the mornings affords them at least an extra half hour’s sleep, so their skin looks wonderful as a result.  Most days my own makeup is fairly minimal, sometimes just lipstick and sunglasses, rather than full war paint.

As far as skin care goes, there’s a not so quiet rebellion going on. Cheap and cheerful castor oil is currently all over TikTok and Instagram (messy, I know), as is Sudocrem, originally formulated as a nappy rash cream.  Not so long ago, Vaseline was being hailed as the miracle worker, which I noted had quietly dropped its moniker of “Petroleum Jelly” to become “Healing Jelly”, and who can blame it?

In the midst of the madness, let’s remind ourselves that a healthy diet, plenty of water and a good night’s sleep are all essential ingredients for good skin, for which no balm or supplement can substitute; but as each new ingredient or product is released onto the market, I can’t help but wonder, “What if…?”

What’s your routine?  Is it minimal or maximal? What are your must-have items of skin care or makeup? Do you also suffer from skin care FOMO?

Do you, like Lennon & McCartney’s Eleanor Rigby, wear a face that you keep in a jar by the door?