Lesson I learnt and few pointers to remember

Are you guys wondering what’s with the title? Well today I would share a little experience of mine of buying cosmetics and therefore a few suggestions I would like to give you while buying the same.

Some five years back I went to one of my local cosmetics store, quite nearby to where I stay. Actually, there is this whole alley of cosmetics stores lined up there and I get almost all my required products from these shops only. So I went to this shop to try out a few things and asked for some eyeshadows. This particular shop did not have any brand SA present but only the shopowner (male). I was not aware of many brands then barring Lakme, Elle 18, Revlon. So this shop assistant showed me some quartet eyeshadows from Revlon. He priced it at Rs. 200. I was dimly aware that Revlon product are bit pricey than others. So I was quite surprised and asked how come this is just Rs. 200?

He gave me some bullshit story that these are displaced from original batch of products to be sold in cheap prices in the local market. I was half hearing it and as I was in a hurry I bought the product without any second thoughts. 

To this day I am not sure whether it was an original product or not. 

The quartet came in box with REVLON engraved on it. Other than that there was not anything on it. The colors were shades of pinks and browns and I don’t remember much how they were in quality. I hardly used it 3-4 times. Then I gave it to our maid, when I was on my cupboard cleaning spree. But the uneasiness of not knowing about the product I used stayed with me and so I wanted to share this with you and to make you aware of this kind of shams.

From Google images

 I searched for pics on google. This is what my quartet looked like. Only mine didn’t have any see through cover. It was a black opaque cover.

So now that I have my lesson learnt, these are a few pointers that I abide by,

• Never buy any loose products of any brand if there is no SA of the concerned brand is present, from any shop. Packaged products of known brands are okay.
• Before buying any cosmetic it is better to find some info about it. You can check the concerned brand’s websites. Along with that, read reviews of them if available.
• Ask the SA for giving tester swatches for eyeshadows/lipsticks/glosses/foundations etc.
• If possible do some rounds of other shops too to get a clear idea of what is available and at what price. Also you may come across some offers too that way.
• Most of the high-end brand products now have their own counters in many malls. So it better to check out the options available there.

Hope this helps. :)

Please share if you ever had any such experiences.