topic Re: REPORT: BACK FROM CHARLOTTE in Beauty

REPORT: BACK FROM CHARLOTTE

Shanus — Sun, 22 Sep 2019 12:33:33 GMT

First I’ll apologize for spelling errors and misplaced participles...this lady’s tired, disappointed and a tad bit hungover. There was a party in one girl’s room until midnight. She came from Atlanta and stayed overnite. The rest of us lived close enough to drive. Yes, our driver declined all alcohol and I only had 1 mojito, but man, that packed a punch!!! Never had one and figured what the heck. OK, have a pot of strong coffee here, my notes and will get down to business.

It was very disappointing to us that none of the special holiday palettes, makeup sets were available or the artists at counter had a clue what was coming. Usually by this time each year, they’ve been given promos in pictures to get clients hyped up, take names to call, pre-order requests, etc. Nothing.

Shadow palettes are expensive (well, NM only carries high end lines) & still nudes, rose tones, corals or hideous, unwearable brights. The larger the palette, the worse the choice of shades and for upwards of $55 for 4-5 pans, no thank you.

The most alarming (OK, a strong word, but aggravating was we over 40-50 women) were ignored as far as matte vs. shimmer. Shimmer? Let’s say sparkle, metallic. Who’s wearing these shades!?! After a few hours of research, I got disgusted and figured I’d do a little market research. Sitting on a mall bench, I saw no one wearing this makeup. I chose the “fancy” dressed women, the ones I figured were “in the know” w/ makeup...all nude faces, lightly applied. A few women ventured to wear a bright lip, but no rosey, pink rabbit eye colors, dark blue/fushia/emerald shades I saw in the palettes. What’s up?

At lunch, we discussed the trends, if you can call it that since trends are usually popular, accepted by the masses and seen everywhere. The managers at the various makeup counters said their clients have resorted to single shadows (Trish McEvoy, BB, Laura Mercier, Surratt) and are de-potting and creating their own wearable palettes or going the 2 shade eye look...a light/medium tone on lid, slightly darker in crease and fine liner. It’s a true revolt by women our age with dollars to spend and no choices.

My limited recommendations: Lancome & Estée Lauder (shocker) were the most wearable...their single shadows and smaller palettes. Dior in Provoke (greys) & Magnify (purples), Edward Bess Smoke at $55 (!!) for grey, Laura Mercier’s Parisian Nudes seemed like a mix of cool/warm shades and matte/shimmers, LM single in Plum Smoke...a beautiful matte pale lavender (I purchased that one) and Visiart $49 for 9 pans had a good variety of palettes...Haze was soft lavender mattes. BTW, Nordstrom is price matching Laura Mercier 15% off.

Most palettes were dark, dramatic and very editorial. Not wearable to me or my clients. We ventured into Nordstrom and Sephora for comparisons and not much different.

I had such high hopes for one of my go to high end shopping destinations. Oh well, could have stayed home and gone to Nordstrom and Sephora.

.... but I did have a great steak dinner, loaded baked potato, wedge salad and oh yes, my mojito...yum. Uh huh, I do always eat huge meals (try to pass up the bread basket and only ate half my potato), but had a 10 oz. filet mignon with sautéed mushrooms and started with a huge lobster cocktail (like a shrimp cocktail). Our wait person watched me in dismay...at 101 lbs., he was shocked!! I’ve always had a very fast metabolism & exercise a lot...No haters, please. We got home after 1AM and as usual I was awake around 5AM...so after some errands and straightening up my studio to be able to get to work next week, a long nap is planned.

Re: REPORT: BACK FROM CHARLOTTE

haddon9 — Sun, 22 Sep 2019 13:06:51 GMT

Sounds interesting. Was this a beauty convention of some kind? Too bad there wasn't more offered for the mature woman. Just wondering why Charlotte? What was there?

ETA: I just saw your other thread. You got to see what's new at NM. Hope you had a good time even if the new line is a bit disappointing. I'm 65 and don't care for a lot of heavy eye makeup. I like a more natural look with cool shades of brown & taupe.

Re: REPORT: BACK FROM CHARLOTTE

Lisa Y — Sun, 22 Sep 2019 12:47:31 GMT

@Shanus

Sounds like you did a lot of footwork. At least your meal sounded wonderful. I’m over 50, and prefer a purple/ gray eye palette along with cool neutrals like taupe. I agree that some of these wild eye colors with sparkles, aren’t marketed to my age group. Thanks for your hard work and go have that nap.

Re: REPORT: BACK FROM CHARLOTTE

IMW — Sun, 22 Sep 2019 12:59:39 GMT

@Shanus thank you for report. At least you had a terrific meal.

I’m 67, stopped wearing glitter, shimmer years ago, I feel it accentuates lines, droopiness etc.

I’m pretty happy with Clinique. I have brown eyes and use plum,dark smoky blue or gray on lid, and sable brown or gray over lid.

I always appreciate your posts.

Re: REPORT: BACK FROM CHARLOTTE

Katcat1 — Sun, 22 Sep 2019 13:04:58 GMT

@Shanus The lobster cocktail sounds better than the makeup! Sounds like you did have a good time even though you were disappointed in the selection.

Re: REPORT: BACK FROM CHARLOTTE

Shanus — Sun, 22 Sep 2019 13:12:26 GMT

@haddon9 wrote:
Sounds interesting. Was this a beauty covention of some kind? Too bad there wasn't more offered for the mature woman. Just wondering why Charlotte? What was there?

Good morning @haddon9. No convention, just 3 curious makeup artists from my area wanting to see what’s happening in a bigger city in a high end dept. store. Of course, we made advance arrangements w/ NM so they knew we were coming, but freelance makeup artists are like a sorority...always willing to share the new and shiny and give samples and makeovers on eachother. Mature women? As stated, it was never before more obvious to me that we’ve been overlooked in the beauty industry. Don’t worry. Complaint emails go out from me this week.

Re: REPORT: BACK FROM CHARLOTTE

Shanus — Sun, 22 Sep 2019 13:32:50 GMT

Be prepared for muddy, ruddy blush shades and lip colors in matte. That horrible matte that looks great on no one is not going away soon. There are also more tubes of liquid lipstick than bullets...a trend I’m not fond of either. That’s across the board, drugstores, too.

***Mascara is a big contest. Every line has numerous formulas and more arriving daily.

It seems the goal of the cosmetics’ CEOs is to flood the market w/ so many products/choices, we stand baffled, wide-eyed,confused, but in the end walk out empty handed.

Re: REPORT: BACK FROM CHARLOTTE

Shanus — Sun, 22 Sep 2019 13:38:40 GMT

I meant to add, while people watching, the huge trend of women letting their hair go naturally grey...ages 35 and over. NOT TRYING TO BEGIN A NEGATIVE DISCUSSION HERE. I’m sharing only because this haircolor, most of the time, requires cooler makeup colors, but is being overlooked by the industry.

Re: REPORT: BACK FROM CHARLOTTE

kze — Sun, 22 Sep 2019 15:02:32 GMT

Thank you, Shanus, for reporting back to us. I'm curious if any of the Victoria Beckham shadows were out yet? I read they were done for Estee Lauder. Someone, maybe you, showed photos of them recently.

Re: REPORT: BACK FROM CHARLOTTE

Shanus — Sun, 22 Sep 2019 15:29:17 GMT

@kze I may have missed it, but wasn’t looking for Victoria Beckham. The word is her shadows are dark, smokey and smoldering. They are available on her site....her name + beauty.

Re: REPORT: BACK FROM CHARLOTTE

dex — Sun, 22 Sep 2019 15:31:38 GMT

@Shanus @Well the experience wasn’t what you hoped for but it still sounds like you had a good time.?You put a lot of thought into this and you have a design talent so it would make sense to me if you were a color consultant to a line especially for mature women....we have shopping time and more available funds at this point in our lives.Thanks for taking the time to get back to us and writing such an interesting piece.

I love the way you eat...LoL

Re: REPORT: BACK FROM CHARLOTTE

kze — Sun, 22 Sep 2019 15:35:02 GMT

@Shanus Thank you, Shanus.

Re: REPORT: BACK FROM CHARLOTTE

Shanus — Sun, 22 Sep 2019 15:44:33 GMT

@dex wrote:
@Shanus @Well the experience wasn’t what you hoped for but it still sounds like you had a good time.?You put a lot of thought into this and you have a design talent so it would make sense to me if you were a color consultant to a line especially for mature women....we have shopping time and more available funds at this point in our lives.Thanks for taking the time to get back to us and writing such an interesting piece.
I love the way you eat...LoL

@dex You’re sweet. If I were 15 yrs. younger, a makeup line for over 40 would be fun (& sorely needed). It’s been done. Lauren Hutton on HSN had a wheel of makeup w/ colored circles to demo where to apply, IT does anti-aging shadows and concealers, and so do other lines, but no specific makeup for us.

The issue is that younger women are attached to YouTube makeup...that’s where the money is and that’s not the looks for us.

If you notice, stores, Q and ads only appeal to us when it comes to preventing wrinkles, sagging, etc. Fine example is yesterday’s TSV. Few lines consider colors. Eve Pearl, Edward Bess do address the aging face, but if you follow YouTube mua, those are never mentioned.

Re: REPORT: BACK FROM CHARLOTTE

Shanus — Sun, 22 Sep 2019 15:45:22 GMT

@kze wrote:
@Shanus Thank you, Shanus.

@kze 🌸

Re: REPORT: BACK FROM CHARLOTTE

Fluke67 — Sun, 22 Sep 2019 17:26:11 GMT

@Shanus Thanks for the report, but I’m also disappointed. Doesn’t sound like anything will be too compelling this season. I guess i’ll keep looking at the Trish mcevoy Instagram for inspiration.

I think you should curate a makeup line for us middle aged ladies!

PS your dinner sounds wonderdul, I think I’ll run to the market and pick up some steak!

Re: REPORT: BACK FROM CHARLOTTE

Shanus — Sun, 22 Sep 2019 17:34:56 GMT

@Fluke67 wrote:
@Shanus Thanks for the report, but I’m also disappointed. Doesn’t sound like anything will be too compelling this season. I guess i’ll keep looking at the Trish mcevoy Instagram for inspiration.

I think you should curate a makeup line for us middle aged ladies!

PS your dinner sounds wonderdul, I think I’ll run to the market and pick up some steak!

@Fluke67 No makeup lines for me, but think I’ve given lots of product recommendations here. After seeing available shadow palettes, will be purchasing singles, for sure or staying w/ drugstore palettes. Be sure to do some sautéed mushrooms in red wine. Yummy!!!

Re: REPORT: BACK FROM CHARLOTTE

persiflage — Tue, 24 Jan 2023 08:02:12 GMT

It sound's as if

Re: REPORT: BACK FROM CHARLOTTE

Shanus — Sun, 22 Sep 2019 18:48:22 GMT

@persiflage wrote:
It sound's as if this event wasn't coordinated with the cosmetic companies. I worked for a large cosmetic company from the late 1970's through the early 2000's. Presentations of upcoming promotions were made to corporate buyers and orders placed at least 2 quarters ahead of on counter dates, field representatives were out selling to their accounts at that time as well. When we had "schools" for a new launch, product training or Christmas items samples of product were sent ahead of the event, sometimes a new product sample is very limited and has to be overnighted to the location of the event, then sent on to the next.

Color cosmetics are fashion so for a trend to saturate the market usually isn't immediate. We had a great 2 page ad in Life magazine for their 50th anniversary issue. This ad had an image of our color promotions for each of those 50 years, it was really a fabulous commentary on women's fashion and the lives of women through time.

@persiflage Your events and promotions sound perfectly planned. This was several curious makeup artists on an outing to Charlotte. We were too early for Holiday presentations, but I can tell by the fashion colors in NY Fashion Week, we’re not headed for big cosmetic color changes anyway. We’ll probably go to NY in Nov.

Re: REPORT: BACK FROM CHARLOTTE

haddon9 — Sun, 22 Sep 2019 19:46:09 GMT

@Shanus wrote:
@haddon9 wrote:
Sounds interesting. Was this a beauty covention of some kind? Too bad there wasn't more offered for the mature woman. Just wondering why Charlotte? What was there?

Good morning @haddon9. No convention, just 3 curious makeup artists from my area wanting to see what’s happening in a bigger city in a high end dept. store. Of course, we made advance arrangements w/ NM so they knew we were coming, but freelance makeup artists are like a sorority...always willing to share the new and shiny and give samples and makeovers on eachother. Mature women? As stated, it was never before more obvious to me that we’ve been overlooked in the beauty industry. Don’t worry. Complaint emails go out from me this week.

@Shanus Good! Maybe if they hear that enough women who are mature and have the money which they are willing to spend the powers that be might decide to offer a better selection next year.

Re: REPORT: BACK FROM CHARLOTTE

Misplaced Parisian — Sun, 22 Sep 2019 20:52:21 GMT

@Shanus Thank you for all your work and your report. Greatly appreciated. Where are you headed next? I'm kind of surprised no one knew what the holiday specials would be. My sister adores eyeshadow and I adore lipsticks. Guess we'll just have to wait and see. Again, thank you for sharing.