Dear Nivea, could you update your formulas, please?
Dear Nivea,
you and I go back a long way. When I was a teenager on a very tight budget just starting to wander through the realms of beauty, it was to you that I turned to for all my skincare needs. I was happy to be able to get all the products I needed at such inexpensive prices and, at the time, I thought your products weren’t that bad at all.
How naive I was.
You see, back then, I didn’t know anything about cosmetic ingredients and I believed that none of the substances used in beauty products could possibly harm skin. After all, they’re there to provide benefits, right?
It was only in my early twenties that I started doing my research and found out that some of the ingredients used in products do more harm than good. While they provide some benefits, the cons surpass them and so I don’t want those anywhere near my skin.
And no, I’m not talking about mineral oil, silicones or parabens, all ingredients that can be found in your products anyway. I don’t believe these ingredients are bad for the skin. No, I’m talking about ingredients like Alcohol Denat, Isopropyl Palmitate and Myristyl Myristate. Most of your products contain these ingredients in high concentrations.
What’s so wrong with them? Well Alcohol Denat is an astringent and I used to think it would be good to keep my oily t-zone under control, but little did I know that it is also very drying, irritating, can worsen acne and cause free radical damage, which is one of the main causes of wrinkles.
So, all the while I was applying my moisturizer thinking it would hydrate my skin and keep wrinkles at bay, the sneaky little cream was actually contributing to create them! Needless to say, I stopped using products that list this ingredient at the top of the list straight away.
And what about Isopropyl Palmitate (emollient) and Myristyl Myristate (it slows down water loss)? Well, they are very comedogenic and every time I use a product that contains them in high doses, my skin breaks out horribly! Most of your cleansers and moisturizers are full of them and in fact, when I used them in high school, I would often get pimples and breakouts.
Of course, at the time I didn’t realise it was your fault. I thought it was just hormonal. After all, teenagers have hormones all over the place and it’s normal for them to have pimples, breakouts and even acne. But no, it wasn’t hormones, it was those two nasty pair of ingredients!
When I stopped using products with them, my skin cleared out and stayed in good condition, but if I start using them again, they create havoc on my skin and those sneaky pimples raise their ugly heads again!
And the harmful ingredients aren’t the only problem with the formulas of your products. Most of your sunscreens, doesn’t matter what the labels say, don’t offer sufficient UVA protection and leave skin exposed to sun damage.
In addition, all your products have very basic and simple formulas. The main ingredients in your famous Nivea creme for example, are mineral oil, vaseline, glycerin and wax. No antioxidants, no peptides, no retinoids or ingredients effective to treat breakouts or provide anti-aging benefits.
Of course, there is nothing wrong with being basic if the product works, but from such an old and established skincare brand I expected more. I expect you to keep up with current research and include new ingredients which have been proven to be beneficial in scientific studies in your products.
I expect you to constantly improve your formulas instead of being stuck with those that were already old 10 years ago. And if that means that your prices will be slightly raised so be it. I’d gladly pay a couple (or four or five) more bucks for better formulated products. Well, actually I’m already doing that since I’ve abandoned your products for those of other brands, which may be more expensive but provide greater benefits than yours.
Of course, not all your products are bad, or average. If one cares to look, they will find some real gems among your range (but then what brand doesn’t have at least a couple of amazing products?). I’d still use your lip balms (I adore them) and maybe some body lotions but that’s it.
So, Nivea, bye bye. We used to be best friends in high school, but like it often happens in life, people move on. And just like old school friends, even if we lose touch with each other, every now and then we’ll meet up again and have a great time together.
Arrivederci, my old friend,
Gio
Dear MAC, Goodbye
Hello everyone and welcome to a new feature here at Beautiful With Brains. Every now and then, I’ll write a letter to a brand expressing my opinion about it. Sometimes, they’ll be rants, sometimes they’ll be raves, sometimes neutral, but always honest. I hope you like this new feature and please let me know what you think of these brands in the comments. I’d love to hear your opinions. 
So, let’s get started. First up, is MAC Cosmetics:
Dear MAC,
it saddens me to write this letter, but I’m afraid I can no longer hide that lately my feelings for you have changed: we’re OVER. It wasn’t a decision I took lightly, but your behaviour over the past months has left me no choice.
I still remember the way we met. It was online. There aren’t any MAC counters here and I discovered you while surfing the net. The wide selection of colors, the not-too-high prices and the good quality of your products made me fall in love with you.
Every time I was in another town and I had the chance to visit one of your stores, my heart was full of joy and excitement. I would spend hours at the counter playing with everything on display and never went home empty-ended.
Everyone kept saying how you were the best in the business and for a while, I believed the hype. Then, you changed. You kept wanting more of more (of my money) but only kept giving less and less (of your products, both in quality and sizes).
The recent decrease of the size of pigments is the last straw for me. I don’t care if you still give me enough product to last me a lifetime or how good those pigments are, making people pay the same for less is NOT cool, nor right. And that’s not the only time you downsized a product and I’m sure it won’t be the last either.
And do we want to talk about the endless amount of collections you keep throwing at us faster than I can say “I do”? You released more than 30 collection in 2009! 30! And how many were actually interesting? Mmmm…. NONE! They were all full of repromotes and boring and dupable colors that aren’t even as pigmented as they used to be.
The few times when the promo pix got me all excited and eager to see the collection, the swatches would soon disappoint me. Everything seems to have become so sheer lately. I can’t even remember the last time I saw a pigmented lipgloss from you, they all look the same clear crap when swatched these days.
And yet, the prices keep going up. I understand that prices can’t always stay the same, esp in this economy. Sometimes they go up, rarely they go down, but you keep increasing the prices by 50p every year for no reason at all. I’d understand if you were in trouble, if that was due to the recession, but let’s face it: even if the economy was blooming, the prices would still increase.
The price increase wouldn’t be so bad if the quality of the products kept increasing too. I don’t mind paying a bit more for better products, but they are slowly becoming worse overtime. You have become so greedy and all you want is to make the most money as you possibly can with as little effort as possible, without caring for your customers at all.
And so, overtime, I stopped caring for you too. We’ve had some good times in the past. I loved you and bought your products and, in return, you made me look pretty without making me go (too) broke. We had fun together, but the past is the past and it’s now time to move on.
That doesn’t mean that I’ll never buy your products again. I’d still get some of your brushes every now and then (after all, their quality is still super) and if you decide to release some unique, colorful and pigmented shades, I’ll give in and get them. But you’re no longer one of my first choices when it comes to buying makeup.
There are lots of brands out there that release much better products than you at a much cheaper price. And most of the time, their colors are permanent so I don’t have to rush out to buy their collections as soon as they get out or miss them, like I’m forced to do with you.
Thanks for all the good memories, but now it’s time for me to move on.
Gio