Tuesday, February 3, 2015

My Drugstore Makeup Surprise


I'll admit it: I'm a bit naive about certain things. I like to think the best of people in the sense that; we can't be as bad or nasty as articles make us out to be. I like to believe that horror stories we hear and read are the one in a million out of our species and that as a whole, we're really good.

And then instances like Sunday happen.

I got off of work and swung by Target before heading home to prep food for the game. After many years of shopping, I've learned one thing: Target likes to take my money, and I don't mind giving it to Target. In fact, I love it. It was of course only my intention to run and pick up a few things, but we all know how that goes. One hour later I was in the check-out line with a basket full of goodies I didn't know I needed. They were of course all items that my husband and I use, and then there were my extreme-couponing-esque tendency items: I bought a couple chapsticks that were on extreme sale. I go through chapstick like it's going out of style due to dry lips and cold weather, so I stock up when I can.

Of course, if I can buy an organic/cruelty-free brand over one that's not, I'm going to buy it, and it just so happened they had Nourish Organics, Burts Bees and Pacifica on clearance. [Random side note: I had no idea they carried Nourish Organics & Pacifica at Target. I love that!]

I picked up a Burts Bees chapstick and a Pacifica lip tint chapstick among my other grocery goodies and once home I took them out of their protective packaging. I had assumed they were on clearance because it looked like the packaging they came in was slightly damaged. Upon taking away the packaging to throw away, I noticed the Pacifica lip tint chapstick tube seemed a little....messy. Confused, I opened up the cap, thinking maybe heat had melted it, only to see that the product had been used, THOROUGLY. It was so nasty it had hairs in it and dried liquid of sorts at the top. It was so disgusting I didn't take a picture of it to put into this post. I don't want anyone to have to taste their dinner twice. I immediately put it back in the packaging and into my purse to return the next day.

When my husband was getting ready for work later on that night, I told him about the Pacifica chapstick and he seemed confused that I didn't check the chapsticks before purchasing them. Like the naive person that I am, I asked "Do I need to? This is the first time this has happened to me."

At that, my husband told me horror stories from his job (He's a manager at Walmart) about how the beauty section at work is the biggest area for shrink in his store due to people walking in, using the makeup, and then walking back out without purchasing. He told me it happens all the time, and not just at Walmart. He's heard horror stories from his workers that have worked at drug stores where people have done the same thing. Or they'll buy makeup to use it, return it, and then the workers don't check the items and put them back on the shelves to resell.

When I went back to Target the next day to get a refund, I told the woman behind the counter specifically to throw the item away. She opened up the cap out of curiosity and looked horrified. This is the first time I've experienced anything like this, however, I definitely don't want to experience this again. From now on, if the packaging doesn't have a seal to prevent someone from opening it, or the box/container looks a little worse for wear, I'm going to check an item before buying to make sure it hasn't been used.

For all you makeup lovers out there hunting in the drugstore aisles, you should probably pick up this habit too. Better safe than sorry <.3

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