Since it is the season of going to bazaars and us trying to find the best bargains around, I figured I might as well get give a review about a beauty gunk's kind of bazaar stall.
I was able to catch them a few years ago at a bazaar at World Trade Center. This bazaar was especially for cosmetics and beauty so most of the stalls then were about beauty products however, this bazaar highlighted brands like Lancome, Shu Uemura, L'oreal and Maybelline among others. I went crazy then and bought five thousand peso worth of cosmetics! I know I am crazy! Most of those things I did not even need and to this day have not really used outside the house. For one, the shades were not flattering. When you go to the bazaar, there are no testers, so you just buy these based on looking at the box, sometimes they let you open the box. I do not know if this is true with all their products but most of what I bought were not very good anymore. For one, the Shu Uemura eye brow liner that I bought would not write anymore. I mean, if you really insist on using that, you can hurt yourself. They are lucky because we do not live in a litigious society or I am sure they would have been sued already. The Maybelline lip glosses had funky smells already which of course I did not notice at first because I have not owned Maybelline lip glosses prior to this. It was such a waste because I got so many tubes to give away as gifts but after, I was so embarassed to give them away! The Lancome Juicy Tube was totally not usable anymore and I have to throw it away one of these days when I think of cleaning my stuff *sheepish grin*. I also got a Maybelline mascara which was still okay fortunately. I got a Lancome lip lacquer and this was also good but the color is a bit crazy, you have to be bold to use it. I got two Shu Uemura lipsticks and the color just won't appear on my lips. I am not a fan of Shu Uemura, all my lipsticks are either Estee Lauder or Shiseido so I thought this bazaar was a great way of trying out Shu Uemura, much to my demise, the colors just won't run on my lips. Nada. I tried my wrists and no sign of color too. I had to wonder if I was six again and was applying plastic lipstick!
After my experience I really do not trust bazaars for make-up anymore but if you cannot help it, here are some tips.
- Just buy products that you have used before
At least you would know if the product is not good anymore.
- Do not go shopping crazy
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If possible, buy a few items first and test if they are still okay. You can buy one item and go to the comfort room and check if the quality is still okay, if it is, then go ahead and buy more, if not, then at least you already know and you can stop yourself from buying more. Check the smell and consistency, if it's funky, it must be expired.
- Know the actual prices of the products
Make sure you know the actual prices so you are sure you are indeed getting a deal. I mean if it is just a few hundred bucks, stick to the newer stocks at the mall, at least if that is no good, you can always return them.
If you have other bizarree bazaar experiences, do share them here. We can learn from each other.
Oh and yeah, if you are wondering which bazaar this is, I am not really sure of the name as I have forgotten but some of the products still had Rustan's price tags on them. I am not saying they were Rustan's but they could be the consigner too, come to think of it, all brands I got are all L'oreal brands.
BTW, did you know that L'oreal already bought The Body Shop?
