CAPTIOUS WITH COSMETICS: What Really Delivers?
Feb 16, 2012 Posted by Corrie Shenigo
Earlier this week we set our course to myth busting and digging old underused words out of the lexicon. Hogwash. (No, really! We did.) Which brings us to today’s word of the day: captious. C-A-P-T-I-O-U-S. Derived from those masters of the art, namely the French, the word “captious’ means, “nitpicking, niggling, liable to find fault.” And while the beauty industry does occasionally deliver on a miracle or two, it is also a virtual cornucopia of false promises and under-performance. In other words, it’s a garden ripe for “nitpicking, niggling and finding fault.” So let’s join hands with a recent Fitness magazine article, aptly titled "Breakthrough or Bust" and tiptoe through the tulips of the latest beauty “innovations” and find out which ones live up to their promises of magic and which ones are simply… hogwash.
Let’s start with our luscious lashes. I don’t know a gal out there who doesn’t long for a set of long, fluttering, eye-fringe. In fact, it’s starting to become something of a life-long quest for me (call it my holy grail.) So what of those “miracle” lash-boosting mascaras that cosmetics companies are launching every other day? The marketing on these new-fangled mascaras are rife with promises of transforming your sparse, barren lash-wasteland in a luscious long lash jungle (after two weeks of repetitive use…naturally.) But do they really work?
Well, yes. And no. And also, no. It seems that some of the products do, indeed contain the essential peptides and conditioners that “stimulate the cells responsible for lash growth,” and hey, shellac-ing a coat (or five) of any mascara is going to create the illusion of darker more voluminous lashes, but the products can’t really affect your lashes hair growth cycle. (*Boo.)
Well… let us, at least, continue to give thanks for LashDip and Skylash extensions (my personal favorite here in LA).
So that was a bummer, let’s move on to something a smidge more positive, like the DIY At-Home gel manicure kits that are said to dry super-quick and last for up to two weeks! These gel kits come in two varieties, one requiring an LED lamp to dry your digits, and one where the polish itself “harnesses the power of the sun” to set the lacquer like some crazy Sun god. Okay, these also work with artificial light, but that’s not even close to as cool, right? "Harnessing the power of the sun?" Ahhh-mazing!
So that’s the give and now the take. It seems the success of these DIY gel manicure kits lies with your own application abilities. (Lack of Patience + Lack of Artistic Precision = failure. *Sigh.) If you’re a skilled nail painter, then these products will yield a stunning set of shiny painted paws that are eternal as magic (for two weeks.) If your own manicure usually looks like it was done by a five year old, you’re best to just hit the salon and leave this one to the pros.
I previously wrote about that pesky semantics-formaldehyde-issue suffered by the Brazillian Blowout, but what about those DYI home-smoothing Keratin treatments for curly, kinky-haired gals seeking straight, glossy locks?
The treatments, according to Fitness, aren’t entirely for naught. It seems that, while they don’t exactly do the trick as well as the in-salon treatments, they do give you some version of straight, glossy locks at a much more affordable price.
But wait. Can you feel that cold chill in the air? Yeah. [Enter the gray area.] The at-home treatments are based on the very same technology as the in-salon treatments, namely polymers and amino acids that lock into place when the heat from your flatiron or blow-dryer hit them. It seems the variable in results lie with a dizzying array of factors, like technique, product used, hair texture, how often you shampoo… whew, that’s a lot of variables. The truth, according to “The Experts” (ooo… mysterious!), is that while the at-home treatments are “safe,” they are most effective for “loosening” curls and possibly “reducing frizz” rather than actually straightening your hair. Mmmm… delicious semantics.
And that… my fine, feathered friends is a lesson in the fine French art of being captious with cosmetics.
Let’s start with our luscious lashes. I don’t know a gal out there who doesn’t long for a set of long, fluttering, eye-fringe. In fact, it’s starting to become something of a life-long quest for me (call it my holy grail.) So what of those “miracle” lash-boosting mascaras that cosmetics companies are launching every other day? The marketing on these new-fangled mascaras are rife with promises of transforming your sparse, barren lash-wasteland in a luscious long lash jungle (after two weeks of repetitive use…naturally.) But do they really work?
Well, yes. And no. And also, no. It seems that some of the products do, indeed contain the essential peptides and conditioners that “stimulate the cells responsible for lash growth,” and hey, shellac-ing a coat (or five) of any mascara is going to create the illusion of darker more voluminous lashes, but the products can’t really affect your lashes hair growth cycle. (*Boo.)
Well… let us, at least, continue to give thanks for LashDip and Skylash extensions (my personal favorite here in LA).
So that was a bummer, let’s move on to something a smidge more positive, like the DIY At-Home gel manicure kits that are said to dry super-quick and last for up to two weeks! These gel kits come in two varieties, one requiring an LED lamp to dry your digits, and one where the polish itself “harnesses the power of the sun” to set the lacquer like some crazy Sun god. Okay, these also work with artificial light, but that’s not even close to as cool, right? "Harnessing the power of the sun?" Ahhh-mazing!
So that’s the give and now the take. It seems the success of these DIY gel manicure kits lies with your own application abilities. (Lack of Patience + Lack of Artistic Precision = failure. *Sigh.) If you’re a skilled nail painter, then these products will yield a stunning set of shiny painted paws that are eternal as magic (for two weeks.) If your own manicure usually looks like it was done by a five year old, you’re best to just hit the salon and leave this one to the pros.
I previously wrote about that pesky semantics-formaldehyde-issue suffered by the Brazillian Blowout, but what about those DYI home-smoothing Keratin treatments for curly, kinky-haired gals seeking straight, glossy locks?
The treatments, according to Fitness, aren’t entirely for naught. It seems that, while they don’t exactly do the trick as well as the in-salon treatments, they do give you some version of straight, glossy locks at a much more affordable price.
But wait. Can you feel that cold chill in the air? Yeah. [Enter the gray area.] The at-home treatments are based on the very same technology as the in-salon treatments, namely polymers and amino acids that lock into place when the heat from your flatiron or blow-dryer hit them. It seems the variable in results lie with a dizzying array of factors, like technique, product used, hair texture, how often you shampoo… whew, that’s a lot of variables. The truth, according to “The Experts” (ooo… mysterious!), is that while the at-home treatments are “safe,” they are most effective for “loosening” curls and possibly “reducing frizz” rather than actually straightening your hair. Mmmm… delicious semantics.
And that… my fine, feathered friends is a lesson in the fine French art of being captious with cosmetics.