March 3, 2023
"My conspiracy theory about eye cream is very arguably correct, but I had failed to consider a larger lesson of conspiracism: Truth isn’t the only thing that matters, and it might not even be that compelling.”
That's the conclusion of the essay — in The Atlantic — "The Truth About Eye Cream/Is it just facial moisturizer in a smaller, more expensive tub?"
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Boys dressed in girls' clothing to simulate the feminine gender. On the pharmaceutical side, you have therapeutic treatments (e.g. seasonal flu shots, Covid-19/20/21/22/23 shots) recharacterized as vaccines, drugs (e.g. AZT, Vioxx) proffered with progressive effect and side-effect at progressive prices, babies relabeled as fetuses, etc.
I read that as, "My conspiracy theory about eye candy..." I was prepared to be enlightened. I gotta get some coffee.
The modern woman's makeup regime reminds me, weirdly, of the elaborate finishing / painting techniques applied to high-end scale models. (Buy an issue of 'Fine Scale Modeler' to see what I'm talking about.) First a primer coat of paint is applied, followed by shadowing with a darkened mix of the basic color on lower surfaces and a lighter mix to upper surfaces. Panel lines / weld joints are emphasized by airbrushing them with a slightly darkened tone. (This may look exaggerated, but later coats will tone it down.) Multiple coats of the final color are applied to unify the color scheme. Exhaust stains or accumulated dirt are simulated with washes or pastel powders. Panel lines may again be accentuated with thinned washes (with excess being removed with cotton swabs.) An overall clear flat or semigloss coating protects the finish and provides a base for application of markings (decals or -- for the true expert -- painted as on the full size aircraft / armored vehicle).
And one more person discovers that marketers lie. Next up: A discovery that store brand products are cheaper than nationally advertised products. Finally, this person may learn that most skin products are made with Retinol, aka Vitamin A, and skip the pricey creams entirely.
These are our voters.
“Truth isn’t the only thing that matters …”
Sums up modern liberalism right there.
I never heard of eye cream but whatever sells, I guess. You can use Pond's cold cream for trombone slides instead of slide oil, I know that.
eye cream is like "Don't say gay" headline lie.
don't buy it.
Dog shampoo is formulated almost exactly the same as people shampoo. And $30 shampoo is just about identical to $3 shampoo. The only real variable is the smell.
I began using Chapstick around my eyes at night 40+ years ago; I'm 73 and have almost no crowsfeet.
There is a great Netflix special with Sheng Wang and he has a bit about eye cream that is really funny! https://www.netflix.com/title/81276951
You can see part of it on youtube here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtE4itfi8CY
Hard-hitting investigative journalism from the Atlantic!
So all moisturizers are made in a similar fashion, they are an emulsion of oil, water and a binder (so are all lubricants-industrial grade vs. food grade). It is the additives that make the difference.
In eye cream, things like caffeine are added to help with bags and puffiness. However, it is still basic moisturizer. I have dry skin, and asked my dermatologist, what is the best cream to use to last all day.
His answer was to reapply. All moisturizers work, it is how often you use them.
Sending thanks to Bryant for the link to Sheng Wang on Netflix. He is hilarious!
There are 2 differences between the $2.99/quart moisturizer you buy in Walmart and the $60/half oz cream you buy in the hoity-toity cosmetic counter at Nordstrom.
1) The container. The bottle or jar for the high end product probably costs more. It does not protect the product any better, just a bit more upscale. The bottle for Chanel #5 (they were a client back in the 80s) used to cost around $5 each and was filled by hand so there would be no visible air bubble. Closure was a glass plug, wired in place by hand. But that is a rather extreme example.
In most cases we are talking about 20-30 cents difference in packaging costs.
Product is basically the same.
2) The gullibility of the customer who pays the outrageous prices.
See my comment yesterday about fashion and makeup. It is a sick prank played on women.
John Henry
2 true stories from the trenches
1) In the 80s the Eli Lilly plant made Elizabeth Arden products and one was some sort of high end face cream. Maybe an eye cream or wrinkle remover or such. I was helping them upgrade the process and was proposing a new filling machine. The builder needed sample product for testing so Lilly gave me a 5 gallon pail to send them.
I brought it back to the office and my wife happened to be there. She asked what it was, I told her and she pulled a jar out of her purse. A small jar, maybe a half ounce or so. She told me it cost $30. (in the 80s, remember when that was actually $30). My secretary also went on about what a great product it was. So they each got a 2 liter milk bottle and I filled it up for them.
A week or so later, my wife told me there had to be a mistake, it did not work as well as the stuff she bought at the cosmetics store. THE SAME FRIGGING PRODUCT!!! The only difference was my sample never went in the jar.
2) In the 90s I was in San Antonio TX with my daughter at a mall. For some reason we were at a cosmetic counter and a rather snooty lady (Put on foreign accent but pure Texan) was trying to sell us some Chanel #5 perfume. I mentioned that it was made in Humacao Puerto Rico. The lady got offended and told me in no uncertain terms that it was from Paris. "See? It says so right on the box!" It did not matter that I knew the plant and had sold some of the machinery that packaged that bottle.
It does say "Paris" on the box. But that is all it says. It does NOT say Made in Paris or anything like.
I guess "From the banks of romantic Frontera Creek in Humacao" just does not have the same cachet. It is now made in Passaic NJ. It still says Paris, last time I checked. Not sure if Passaic has more or less cachet than Humacao. Me, I've been to both and I think Humacao is the nicer of the two cities.
It's a scam, ladies. If you really feel you need cosmetics, buy them at Walmart. They are essentially the same as what you get from Nordstrom, may even be made in the same plant, but you won't get ripped off. Even better, eschew makeup altogether.
John Henry
One last comment:
Vicks used to have a big plant in Cayey PR. One of the products they may was Oil of Olay and a bunch of other stuff in the Olay line.
It is unbelievable the number of people who think Oil of Olay is extracted from olay berries.
It pains me to have to say it here, but there are probably a few that think it is. It is not, it is made just the same and from the same ingredients as any other skin cream.
John Henry
Hard-hitting investigative journalism from the Atlantic!
Common sense due diligence and caveat emptor in the wake of elective abortion, therapeutic mandates, hacking, augmentation, chemical corruption, etc. under the oversight of medical license.
Blogger Misinforminimalism said...
Dog shampoo is formulated almost exactly the same as people shampoo.
I'm not even sure about the "almost"
15-20 years ago there was a big fad about a horse shampoo called "Mane and Tail" All the ladies in PR were using it and stores could not keep it in stock. My wife used it and swore by it. I could not tell the difference. She stopped eventually but I don't know why.
And now I find they still have a website! https://store.manentail.com
At any given moment we have 5-6 different shampoos and another 5-6 conditioners in the bathroom. My wife doesn't like to use the same shampoo twice in a row.
John Henry
I've always had very dry skin and use a body lotion regularly (which is how I keep my boyish looks). I buy a specific one that works for me. It's found only online or in specialty cosmetic stores (they look at me like I'm an alien when I go in there). Anyway, I use the brand's body lotion. But they have a hand lotion and a foot lotion. And an extra 'muddy' lotion for really bad areas. I once used the foot lotion on my face and hand lotion on my feet. I've been walking into walls and tripping over shit ever since. It's not something to joke about.
I don't use eye cream now, but . . .
1) Eye cream must be safe to use around the eyes. (*In* the eyes is where I always ended up.) Face cream doesn't have to be.
2) A small container, often pretty, reminds you to use it. Face cream in a pot is easy to ignore.
3) Pretty things are worth money for psychological reasons.
Sorry, lol, forgot about the end-of-article grab. I basically said the same thing. I was distracted by all the dude commenters ridiculing their women.
"very arguably correct"
That's a "definite maybe".
Oil of Olay is extracted from olay berries
Olay berry?? I figured it was some exotic island in the Mediterranean. Who knew???
Ivermectin for horses is the same provided to humans, albeit in different doses.
Water in empathetically packaged containers.
Organic certification of produce grown in an open environment.
Masks mandated for psychological effect and viable legal indemnity.
Sneakers in high fashion manufactured in low brow shops.
Green technology with gray reputations from recovery to manufacturing to operation to reclamation.
Shared responsibility through trickle down economics (e.g. progressive prices) in single/central/monopolistic solutions.
Religion in its many moral, ethical, legal variants.
Voters without borders. Be sure to vote in DC and sanctuary state elections.
There once was a conspiracy about a virus, it was spread from Wuhan, a consensus declared it was a natural expression, it carried a distinctly anthropogenic signature.
Olay berry?? I figured it was some exotic island in the Mediterranean. Who knew???
From the Isle of Lesbos.
A friend's fiancee was a biochemistry graduate student, apparently promising enough that MIT and Carnegie-Mellon were having a bidding war over her.
I was passing through NYC on the way to their wedding, so she asked me to pick up a bottle of some very special facial wash at a very special shop. I did, and when I gave it to her I asked whether she could have thrown together something similar out of lab reagents.
She replied "Sometimes I just feel like being a girl."
Lots of guys will give you eye cream for free if you ask nicely...
She's not shopping at Neimus Marcus.
I've always had very dry skin and use a body lotion regularly (which is how I keep my boyish looks).
I now have a covid beard, and mi esposa says she likes it. I use a tube of Buffalo Trace Bourbon Beard Wash and I like the smell, otherwise it is just some soap.
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