Thursday, August 13, 2009

One positive of a bad economy: haggling for lipstick

This is how bad the economy has become, folks. You can actually barter for makeup! Well, only if you do it right. So pay attention.

I went to Walgreens a couple of days ago to pick up some Sinful Colors nail polish (it's BOGO this week!), and happened to browse through the clearance bucket at the back of the store. I picked up a tube of lipstick (it's like a compulsion.... step away from the lipstick!!) and found a smushed-up, but still fetching shade on the inside. It had a price tag of $7 on it! Inside I was thinking, "who would pay 7 bucks for a lipstick that looks half eaten?" I mean, it had lipstick all over the inside AND the outside. It was seriously a mess. So I marched up to the cashier's desk, and said (smiling and charming, of course), "I don't think anyone's going to purchase this. Would it be OK if I took it off your hands?" The dude said sure. He didn't seem too happy to be alive that day, but oh well because I got lipstick! Here's the lovely shade after I cleaned it up:


Nice, huh? It's very flattering. It's a Loreal Colour Riche shade called "Laetitia's Blush", which is (of course) discontinued. That's always my luck- I find a super lovely shade and this makes me elated, but my elation is tempered by my knowledge that my elation will be short-lived. Sigh.

That's OK, because it's not absolutely perfect. It has some small silver shimmer going on, which I don't really care for. I like a creamy and un-shimmery effect, for my lipstick at least. Lipgloss is a different story.

Anyway, if you're going to try to bamboozle some makeup from your own local drugstore, I have some guidelines which I think will make it more successful:

1. Make sure the product appears undesirable. I mean to anyone who's not you.
2. Try to ask a male cashier, if at all possible. You can probably get away with more if you smile pretty. And they probably couldn't care any less about old tubes of lipstick.
3. Always have something else to buy at the check-out. I had my nailpolish. I figure it looks better if you seem like a legitimate customer, and not someone who just wants to use up their free air conditioning.

Have at it!

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