In which Millihelen makes me grumpy again (Or: you're not smarter or better because you spend more on makeup)

This time it's not the actual post written by Millihelen, which is perfectly reasonable, but the response from the commenters that irritated me. Jezebel links to an article that points out that the difference in price between lower and higher end makeup isn't due to differences in formulas/ingredients, but to other factors like packaging, displays, customer service (sales associates and return policies), availability of testers, etc. So far so good. I would guess that prestige and brand image make as much difference as any of those more concrete factors, but still.

Then you go into the comments section and it's as though you're reading a post about why the beliefs of a certain cult (let's call it Sephorism) are false, and all the comments are written by devout cult members (Sephorites).

The majority of the comments seem to be some variation of, "Duh! Expensive makeup is better! That's why it costs more!" or anecdotes about this one drugstore thing that sucked, therefore all drugstore makeup sucks, or this one high end product that was awesome, therefore all drugstore makeup sucks. These comments betray a basic lack of understanding of the point of the article. As Jane Marie emphasizes in the comments, the point is that the more expensive products are not higher quality.

There's a measure of classism built into beliefs like these. People like to say that they outgrew drugstore makeup or that they deserve better because they work hard, which implies that people who still (choose to or have to) pay less are immature or undeserving.

Here are some excerpts of misguided, confused, or just plain wrong comments:

"For instance, a Nars eyeshadow has more intense pigmentation than anything offered at mass. The milling is finer, so the product is silkier, and applies and blends more smoothly." [Ed: No, not "anything." Just no.]

"If ingredients account for 15% of the cost, then a $30 foundation (which using the 15% average, would have $4.5 worth of ingredients) is still better than an $8 one ($1.20 worth of ingredients). I don’t think you understood your own article." [Ed: The article says that the ingredients account for "no more than 15% of the cost," which does not mean that the cost of the ingredients scales up with the increase in retail price of the product.]

"As someone who exclusively used drugstore makeup for a long time before switching over into high end stuff, I absolutely will not buy that they are the same quality. Yes some brands are worse than others, but you take a brush to a Covergirl eyeshadow vs a MAC one and if you can’t tell a difference you’re blind." [Ed: Sample size too small to be statistically significant.]

All you have to do is look critically at reviews of more and less expensive brands, and you will see that there is just as much variation in performance of very expensive products as there is in cheap products. Including MAC. And Nars. (Gasp!) One of the biggest benefits of looking at more expensive brands is that there is often a larger variety of colors available. Because the prices are higher, the brands can offer options that don't sell as well, whereas at the drugstore they will tend to focus on just the most popular shades. I know this well as a very pale person, and it's a much bigger problem for people at the darker end of the spectrum. But that, again, is about variety, not quality. I write all of this as someone with an unusual curiosity and skepticism about these things and as someone who has, consequently, done a lot of research comparing makeup at different price points - both by reading about them and by testing things myself.

If you want to spend more on something, that's fine. Not everything I own is super cheap. Maybe you like the fancier or sturdier packaging or you enjoy chatting with people working at Sephora. (The testers and return policies seem less legitimate to me as reasons for price increases, since CVS has a good return policy, and many Canadian and UK drugstores provide testers.) Do what you want, but don't develop a superiority complex over it. These companies want you to believe that you are spending your money more wisely and treating yourself to something better when you're doing it. That is the whole point of the way they market this shit. (There is a whole other rant that I am going to set aside for now about the current cultural trend of presenting luxury as some kind of necessity or human right and how that seems to be a particularly troubling element of contemporary capitalism.) Just know where your money is going and why and don't be a dick about it. That's my preaching for the week.

(I was going to post about this last week when I originally read it, but it irritated me so much that I couldn't articulate much other than: ARRRRGH CAPITALISM! BRAINWASHING! LUXURY BULLSHIT! WHERE CRITICAL THINKING??? It seems like the comments are slightly more balanced by now, but only slightly.)

Jezebel is hysterical about Instagram makeup (again)

Yes, I use the term "hysterical" deliberately, because the combination of disdain and faux-naive pearl clutching in this article on Millihelen is presented as self-righteous feminism. Unrealistic beauty standards as a product of the patriarchy are a real, shitty thing: true. But no one is forcing you to use five different foundations to prepare your face for Instagram. No one is forcing you to use Instagram at all. This is some serious hyperbole:

"[...] it is assumed that, if you are under 40 years old and don’t take overwhelmingly flattering selfies, you are less of a woman. It is a terrifying assumption, one that is getting more terrifying all the time."

Come on. This is just another iteration of Jezebel's tired mocking of people who wear extreme makeup and post it on social media, disguised as social commentary or investigative journalism. "One student was so giggly and excited about the prospect of glitter, she set the women’s movement back a solid century." That is a real quotation. 

I'm sure that if they are called on it, the editors, as usual, will be all over the comments section claiming that this is satire and that the readers just don't get it. After all, the writer is a comedian. Bored now.

Why do you get mad when other people put on makeup, though?

So Jezebel has a new . . . sub-blog? What do we call these things? A beauty section? Anyway, it's called millihelen (which I don't think is as clever as they think it is). I was kind of excited when it started because, despite having lots of ambivalence about Jezebel in general, I do want more fun beauty blogs to read. They have a regular feature where people go to the mall in the area where they live and ask for a makeover in the most popular local style. It's cool, especially when people are living away from home and you get to see what some international trends are like. Even if nearly every single person who gets a makeover is like, "Oh, I almost never wear makeup! It's so weird to have all this paint on my face." Please.

A lot of the articles/comment sections seem to involve mocking people for wearing too much makeup, which I'm not really on board with and just seems fucking weird on a beauty blog. Like this story today, which literally encourages commenters to make fun of "lip contouring," as though it is some new abomination that Instagram is forcing us all to do. Whatever your thoughts about how realistic contouring is for normal humans: first of all, I remember reading about tricks like this in YM or Seventeen or whatever in the 90s, so it's hardly new. Second, it's pretty clear that people who do extreme makeup like this on Instagram are doing it because they think it's fun. It's a hobby. And they do tutorials for other people who also think it's fun. I don't think anyone is suggesting that ordinary people who do not put makeup on themselves as a hobby MUST contour their lips to meet basic beauty standards, even if Kylie Jenner's lips are trending. Why exactly do we need to mock people for experimenting with makeup and posting photos of it, again?

Am I missing something? What do you think about Instagram makeup, or lip contouring, or millihelen, or Jezebel in general?