Elixir

You vs. the Makeup Counter

Does the thought of strolling onto a beauty department floor terrify you? Only head to the counter when you have a specific list of products to buy? And even then you do not plan

on enjoying it?

Approaching a beauty counter in a department store can be intimidating and terrifying at times, especially if you feel self-conscious about yourself. The fact that the women who work on the counters have immaculate, flawless makeup on doesn’t really help. But in all honesty there is no reason to feel that way, as it’s their job to pack on makeup everyday for work. Here are some pointers in approaching the makeup counter to help you prepare for

your next trip.

Know what you exactly need to buy. The worst way to lose a lot of money fast in a makeup store is going in without having an idea of what you want. A good sales rep will empty your purse faster than you can say ‘limited edition gift set’. Check what you’re running low on and what you’ve run out of. Check what’s out of date and needs

to be replaced.

The artists may not assist you immediately. This is especially true on high traffic days like Saturdays. Artists will most likely have back-to-back appointments on Saturdays with clients coming in to have their makeup done. These clients will take priority over

them than everyone else who comes in to the store, because the artists know they will be big spenders. Expect to have to wait for

a little while if you require assistance!

Try the products in store. They are on display so that customers can pick them up, feel them and apply them. If there are disposable applicators available, use them for hygiene purposes. You can wipe off the end of the tube or the top of the pan with a tissue to make sure you are only using

fresh, clean product.

Ask for samples. If you’re not 100% sure whether something is the right colour, it’s best to look at it under natural light. If you’re in a department store, this will mean leaving the counter to go outside. It’s okay to ask for samples because that’s what they’re made for, however the counter makeup artist works wont just offer them and you have to be specific in what you want to try. If you’re going to spend £30 on a foundation or £20 on lipstick, you are perfectly entitled to make sure it’s what you

actually want first!

Counter makeup artists are sales reps, first and foremost. They are not only given, but are expected to exceed strict sales targets for each day, week, month, quarter and year. If they’re trying to push you into purchasing something, it’s primarily because they want to meet these targets. However if you have

a budget, stick to it.

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There are a few common makeup counter add-ons to be aware of – the artists will likely try each of these on for size if they

can, so be prepared:

Buying: blusherAdd-ons: bronzer, highlighter

Buying: foundationAdd-ons: primer, concealer, powder

Buying: eyeshadowAdd-ons: eyeliner, eye primer, mascara

Point-of-sale or till add-ons: brushes, makeup wipes, makeup remover, cases,

sponges, promotional items

There’s a fine balance between accepting their advice (for example, it is better to set foundation with a powder, and to use a lip liner under lipstick) and being forced into buying extra products – the bottom line is, if you are feeling pressured, firmly state that you’re on a budget and you only want just that product and then thank the artist for their help. Usually, mention of a budget or limited funds is enough to deter artists from

pushing for more sales!

Makeup shopping should be a fun experience, not a stressful chore!

PHOTOGRAPHY TAKEN BY PUJA KOTECHA

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Beauty Youtubers 1 Cosmetic Industry 0Online Beauty YouTubers who post makeup tutorials via YouTube is becoming one of Britain’s fastest growing

businesses..

The power of social media is rising everyday and YouTube is one of the biggest influences in teenage girls’ lives. They are constantly following their favourite YouTubers on various media platforms. It may be making youngsters famous however it is hindering makeup companies itself in profits. Marketers of cosmetics can no longer simply rely on the photoshopped models of billboards, lifestyle magazines and urban murals to secure market share.

The Google-owned site continues to make young ambitious celebrities – 72 hours of video a minute are uploaded by documentary-makers, musicians, animators, each with thousands of subscribers to their channels. But the fastest-growing subsection is the beauty YouTubers. Twofifths of British women are viewing online beauty tutorials; it is an industry that attracts

700 million hits a month.

Beauty YouTubers are influential because they are accessible. They post on a schedule, provide content that consumers can’t stop watching, reply to comments,

and build content around viewer requests. Consumers also develop a connection with them by learning not just about beauty but

also their lifestyle.

In some ways Beauty YouTubers have helped the cosmetic industry by promoting their brands and telling consumers how amazing their products are especially the

high street brands in the UK.

Cosmetic companies such as Sleek makeup, MUA and Revlon all stocked in Superdrug stores have profited more thanks to Beauty YouTubers. This is because girls who are starting out with makeup and Youtube cannot yet afford the designer brands of cosmetics so they opt to buy from the high street. From then they test out these products and make videos with those products which consumers find much more appealing. “I only uses makeup products from the high street because that’s all I can afford at the moment and I know girls out there will be able to purchase these products”; Jo Threfall from L’espoir De Ma

Vie fashion blog. Elixir May 2015.24

Multi-million pound cosmetic companies with an excessive amount of advertisement budgets and high-end creative agencies are getting beaten on YouTube by all of these beauty Vloggers producing content with their own cameras in their homes. YouTube vloggers, haul girls, and other beauty content creators control 97 percent of conversations around beauty topics and related brands on YouTube. This is a major set back for cosmetic companies because consumers have started going online to compare makeup and less and less are watching TV where advertisements from

these corporate companies are shown.

Kavita Khanna, Beauty PR Assistant at Debenhams loves YouTubers. “We personally invite Beauty YouTubers to attend our beauty press shows because they have a large impact in the cosmetic industry. Young girls trust and listen to their advice, as do I. All of my colleagues are always keeping in contact with Beauty YouTubers because they actually get some information about new products before we do”. This is clear evidence that even Debenhams Beauty PR get information from Beauty YouTubers because larger cosmetic companies tend to inform them first about

new launches before national brands.

Youtubers have manipulated the cosmetics industry by making their own makeup/beauty brands. Zoe Sugg and Tanya Burr both have launched a makeup brand within the past year and it is going very successfully. Consumers who have been watching beauty YouTubers for years would trust them and if they launched new products they are more willing to purchase. This has hindered the beauty industry in a drastic way. In my opinion the beauty industry such as the Estee Lauder brand and others aren’t doing enough in strategic marketing. But it is not entirely their fault either because the beauty YouTubers have created a humble relationship with all the fans watching their videos and the consumers feel as if they can talk to them

as if they are all friends.

The Chapman sisters (Pixiwoo) are known for their best selling Real Techniques brushes, which even beauty counters in department stores use also. These two sisters are definitely the most successful in

accordance to beauty products.

Cosmetic companies need to ‘up their game’ and start becoming more social media savvy as this is one of the main reasons Beauty YouTubers are incredibly successful. YouTube has changed a lot over the years it has become much more easy to access. The future of YouTube is unknown and may take over actual TV but people are just going to have to wait and

see.

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Bespoke FaceWe live in a world where everything is instant and technology based; we have everything at our fingertips to make our lives easier, more efficient and tailor-made to suit us perfectly. There are many devices and services specialising in personalisation available to us now, simply ranging from personalised coffee cups in Starbucks, to more quirky devices such as apps that can check that you locked the house before you left for work this

morning.

This new custom-made lifestyle is about to extend to our faces. We are already well aware of the many cosmetic and surgical procedures available to us in which to create a new face – the invasive needle-jabbing, slicing, dicing, nipping and tucking that all occurs on an operating table. But now there are services available to us that allow for a completely personalised visage without the intrusion, pain, recovery or expense of

invasive cosmetic procedures.

In 2012, No7 launched a new way of matching foundation on clients. It was a huge phenomenon on the high street at the time it was launched; however this colour-matching device miss-matched many customers. This particular colour-matching service only matches customers to products readily available in the No7 range. But now there is a new advanced beauty revolution is going to

change the cosmetics industry forever.

Panasonic’s Magic Mirror, which has a smart digital screen with facial recognition capability to work with your skin complaints such as

blemishes or wrinkles and recommend

products to remedy them. Brilliantly the mirror monitors progress over time “so that consumers can see whether the products are indeed working, helping to expose false

claims”.

The glass is both a mirror and a display. You can see transparent overlays on top of your own image, and the mirror can make suggestions for beauty tips, based on your own face. It can identify where your cheekbones are and suggest makeup for those spots. It can show your what your eyes

would look like with sparkly eye shadow.

The mirror can also digitally enhance your face to show you what you would look like with a moustache or goatee. Panasonic first showed this at the IFA show in Berlin, but this is its first appearance at the Consumer Electronics Show. No word on pricing or

availability.

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I’m sure we’ll all be eager to go look at these once they are released in the UK!!

THE DIRTY SECRET OF CORPORATE

BRANDS

Many of us are actually really oblivious to what brands we think are safe and dermatologically tested but some corporate brands are actually selling products that are illegal in this country in other parts of the

world.

Skin whitening products are illegal in the UK yet it doesn’t stop different nations around the globe from utilising them. Such products intended to brighten and whiten the skin are generally used in Africa, India and Asia, and in groups initially from these

nations, established in Europe.

Skin bleaching is a cosmetic whitening procedure practiced by people of colour all over the world. Affected by the European beauty standard, light skin has been connected with engaging quality and a higher societal position in numerous

societies over the globe.

Skin care is a growing market, with most of that increase coming from countries such as Asia and Africa. This trend has been attributed to the rise in bleaching product sales. India tops the list with 80 percent of all skin-whitening sales within Asia. Nigeria accounts for 77 percent of all bleaching

sales in Africa.

The World Health Organization warns that skin bleaching may come with hazardous health consequences. The dangers associated with the “use of toxic compounds for skin bleaching can include blood cancers such as leukemia and cancers of the liver and kidneys, as well as severe skin conditions.” The organisation reports that hardcore bleachers use illegal ointments containing toxins such as mercury, which is a harmful, metal that blocks skin color

production properties of melanin.

Clinique’s whole brand is incorporated around dermatologically tested skincare yet they sell illegal ingredients in other parts of the world? The public and even the team here at Elixir didn’t realise that the natural

healthy brand is actually a phony.

“I had a client who came up to me and ask for Clinique’s whitening moisturizer which I hadn’t actually heard of, I then spoke to one of the consultants I worked with and they said that the product is illegal here in the UK but Eastern parts of the world mass produced this product. A cream that you buy over the counter is not necessarily medically approved and could permanently damage your skin.” Clinique Consultant –

Leicester

Some creams also contain hydroquinone, a bleaching agent banned from use in cosmetics but can be prescribed by doctors for medical reasons. The law takes the damaging effects of these products very seriously. Hermione Lawsone of the British Skin Foundation says: “Unfortunately, many skin-lightening creams contain illegal compounds that can damage your health. The most common compounds are high-

dose steroids.”

Nivea and Vaseline are also culprits as seen as a natural brand yet selling illegal skin whitening products in other countries. “Beautiful, fair and successful - these are just some of the underlying promises made by the increasing number of skin-whitening cream manufacturers in ads that attempt to lure those with dusky complexions to

become lighter skinned.”

In addition although Aveeno products are advertised as a natural solution to skincare,

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severe or persistent irritation, redness, pain, or swelling.”

If individuals in the West are fixated on getting a tan, for which they are willing to put in hours slathered with sun creams, sizzling under sun beds and risking on getting skin cancer, in a few nations in the East including India, Pakistan and the Philippines, individuals with a natural tan can’t get enough of creams that guarantee

fairer skin.

Clinique’s Derma White is one of the most controversial products (Image to the right). This is what a critically acclaimed fragrance free, allergy and dermatologically tested brand is selling then they are just based on

hyprocritical lies.

The irony in skin tone modification from the tanning injections to the whitening creams is that both are aiming to achieve a “glow”. A white glow, or a bronzed glow – it doesn’t matter how we see it; a glow is something

that comes from the inside.

their complete ingredient lists would prove otherwise. For example, one ingredient in the Positively Radiant Brightening Cleansing Wash is a topical antiseptic called Benzalkonium Chloride. Drugs.com reports that side effects of exposure to this chemical include “severe allergic reactions (rash, hives, itching, difficulty breathing, tightness in the chest, swelling of the mouth, face, lips or tongue), infection,

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Economy Health TouristsEconomy Health

Tourists

The definition of an ‘economy health tourist’ is someone who travels to a different country in order to get surgery or medical treatments because it is cheaper for them or that the NHS do not fund them for it. However the implications of this way of living is the risks we take in life because even though it may be cheaper to go abroad to get your teeth fixed or lazer eye surgery for example we are putting ourselves

at risk.

The NHS have stated that a massive 63,000 UK residents travel abroad for medical treatment each year. Certain health procedures that happen abroad are less likely to be safe because we don’t actually know if they know what they are doing or if the chemicals they are

using are particularly safe for our bodies.

According to the Which? survey, the most popular types of treatment were dentistry (49% of respondents) and cosmetic surgery (28%). These were followed by a category called “other” (11%), orthopaedic surgery (8%) and

fertility treatment (4%).

Many people are unaware that most travel insurance policies will not cover you for elective treatment. This means they will not pay claims for anything that goes wrong as a result of planned treatment abroad and sometimes the treatment can get worse if the proper aftercare

is not considered.

Researchers have found that decision-making around outward medical travel involves a range of information sources, with the Internet and information by informal networks of friends and peers, playing key roles. They conclude that medical tourists often pay more attention to ‘soft’ information rather than hard clinical information. They also found that there is little effective regulation of information – be it hard

or soft – online or overseas.

India is the most popular destination for surgery, followed by Hungary, Turkey, Germany, Malaysia, Poland and Spain. But dozens more countries are attracting economy health tourists.

“Myself and many of my family members have travelled to India to get laser eye surgery done and it went perfectly fine and at a much cheaper cost. I had family that took care of me while I was going through the procedure and aftercare so I was extremely lucky!” However she then went onto to saying that she still wears reading glasses every after all the money it costed to get laser eye surgery so did it actually work?

Low prices in India, where flights, hotels and a heart bypass cost less than half the price charged by British private hospitals, explain its top ranking in the survey by Treatment Abroad, a British website providing information on

hospitals overseas.

Hungary’s popularity rests on a boom in dentistry, thanks to a shortage of NHS dentists in Britain. The British Medical Association advised people to be careful when considering treatment abroad, highlighting the dangers of flying soon after surgery, which can cause

complications.

A spokesman said: “Travelling can place a great deal of stress on the body. Patients travelling abroad for surgery should consider their fitness to fly and get an understanding of an appropriate convalescence period before

attempting to return home.”

“I do get medicine for free seeing as I am a pensioner in the UK but whenever I do travel to Spain I go to the doctors there and they always tell me different things than the British doctors so I take twice as much medication than if I just stick to what the British doctors tell me.” – 75 year old pensioner. Surely this cannot be safe however it may just be a sense of security for

them.

These health tourists are risk takers because you never know what could go wrong, especially when taking medicine. The NHS would help but if they are unaware of some medicines and treatments health tourists may have to spend even more money to get back out abroad. Would you trust a foreign doctor to shoot lasers in your eyes or go through a heart bypass?

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Individuals are taking risks with their contact lenses by either not cleaning them appropriately or basically wearing the same pair for a really long time. This causes “a shortage of oxygen which can crush the surface of the epithelial tissue, making small injuries into which the microorganisms can undoubtedly contaminate, spreading to whatever remains of the eye and providing an impeccable breeding ground for other bacteria.” – Ophthalmologist Leicester

Contact lenses are even more dangerous than laser eye surgery because contact lenses terminally damage your eyes without you even knowing. It’s much safer to just wear glasses (regardless of the possibility that you do no like wearing them) because you’re the only person making your eyesight much

worse than it already is.

“My personal experience; I was taking off my contact lenses and accidently scratched my eye which then got extremely infected. My optician banned me from wearing contact lenses for a month because he felt it would make my eyes so much more worse if I

continue to wear them.

Glasses have made a comeback since the millennium and so we should all ditch those contact lenses and embrace

glasses.

Contact lenses have become the saviours in many people’s eyes! However not many contact lense wearers are aware of the dangers of contact lenses. People go through wonders in order to fit in for fashion and the social norm. There are two main types of contact lenses, which are cosmetic and prescriptive lenses. Both types are as dangerous as each other even if specialised opticians have provided them for you. Contact lenses have been around for a while now however they have only advanced and been specialised within the past 60 years, which isn’t an extremely long time

to be trusting medicine just yet.

While some people enjoy making a fashion statement with glasses, others prefer their appearance without them. Contact lenses can achieve this without irreversible refractive surgery. Contact lenses can also provide a full field of unobstructed vision, which is great for sports and some personal experiences,

driving.

“People who just wear contacts for fun shouldn’t because it would ruin their perfect vision. My vision is extremely blurry if I don’t wear my glasses or contact lenses and people just take then fashion element to an extreme. I do know the dangers of lenses but they make me see even better because its actually covering

the whole eye instead of glasses.”

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