When I went across town last week to pick up my taxes, I stopped at Memorial City mall ('the nice mall') on the way back. And I spent hours walking the whole mall doing the What Not To Wear thing - looking at as many stores as possible, trying things on that I wouldn't normally... Unfortunately, spring is not my favorite shopping season. I don't wear tank tops, shorts, sandals, and swim suits. I'm always happy when the fall clothing starts coming out, even though it's warm here most of the year, but I'm mostly an indoor person anyway. But after an afternoon of trying to find something to wear that looked decent, I can sympathize with the WNTW girls that only end up with a pair of shoes on day one.
Having worked in retail for half my life, I saw all the current trends repeating in every store I went in, it really got pretty boring after awhile. Embellished tees, frilly peasant skirts, lacy Victorian cap-sleeved blouses, lots of lace trim everywhere, tunics (which I like but not with all the damned beads all over them), empire seams (can't wear them), bold black & white outfits. Jeans with holes rubbed into them (why is this style back again?), thin, cheaply made printed tees that look like they've been washed too many times (and shrank down to nothing).
I was actually looking for some interesting tees, I like some of the tie dye patterned ones that are popular now, I bought a black and a brown one (but no sequins!), and I even bought a store brand knock off tee that had a nice ivory, grey and black print of Times Square and Broadway on it. It had little sequins and beads all over the front, which I carefully took off with a seam ripper. I got one good wearing out of the shirt, and then I stupidly put it in the dryer and it shrank like three inches in length (sigh). Why don't things ever shrink from side to side, that's what I was aiming for because it was a little baggy. Now it's too short, and still baggy, which is not a good look on short, large-chested girls ("when's your baby due?"). If anyone asks me that, I will never wear that shirt again.
So after wearing myself out walking all over this enormous mall, all I found was a black velvet gothic Halloween costume top at Torrid. It was on clearance or I wouldn't have bought it. My first mall stop had actually been at Sephora, because I need some more face cream, I think my Clarins lotion has gone rancid, it has a strange chemical smell to it and I'm very paranoid about anything I put on my face because of my Rosacea, which has been getting bad again. I thought about getting some more Clinique CX Redness Relief face cream, but I used it and the Rapid Recovery Serum earlier this yeat and didn't really notice any improvement. I do like the RR Serum, but for $75 a bottle, I decided I ought to try something else. And besides, no stores in the mall carry the CX line, it's a Neiman's/Saks exclusive type thing still.
So I stood around in Sephora, smearing various things on my face to the point where I couldn't tell what was working and what wasn't anymore. I looked for my Christian Dior NoAge fluid that I used to really like (a really mild skin resurfacer), it's been discontinued. I think I tried every redness relief cream they had - DDF, MD Formulations, Dr. Brandt, Cosmedicine, B. Kamins Booster Blue (which actually stained my hand blue for like half an hour), etc. - and I finally out of frustration settled on Murad's Correcting SPF 15 Moisturizer because I could actually feel it cooling my face a bit, and it had a green neutralizing tint, and for a try-me product it only cost $34. I was also so burned out from trying things and the salespeople in Sephora always sort of creep me out. Even when you buy something they treat you weird. Just for grins I also sampled some of the famed Hylexin eye cream for 'serious dark circles', because I wanted to see if I had an allergic reaction to it and if it did anything at all (not). I just put it on one eye as a test and I didn't really notice any difference in appearance, though I did have a bit of itching later in the day.
By the time I had walked all the way around the mall, I was exhausted and it was late, and I grabbed a Starbucks Caffe Vanilla Frappuccino (I don't like coffee but somehow I've gotten addicted to them) on the way back to Foley's and my car and ended up wandering through Foley's sipping my drink, looking at clothing and meandered over to the lingerie section. After spending hours trying on clothes and being very unhappy with the results, I decided I should try and buy a new bra. (And lose about 30 pounds) I rarely (on Halloween maybe) wear bras, they're uncomfortable, they hurt, and it's fricking hot in Houston. Years ago I had found a Bali bra without an underwire (the Double Support style) that I considered semi-wearable, but I realized it was also too small, and probably was when I had bought it, so I decided to try the next band size up.
Never go bra shopping when you're really tired. It's hard enough when you're fresh, it's sort of like shopping for shoes if you don't really know what size you are or what style you like, it's very overwhelming and can make you very dizzy. And it's been a long time since I've wandered into that department, I usually just stop at panties, and for some reason all of the new bras look like some sort of movie prosthetic devices, vacuum molded out of foam. Speaking of trends, I guess Victoria's Secret styling has rubbed off on the other manufacturers.
If I have to wear a bra, I refuse to wear an underwire, my ribs are very prominent and bruise easily, so I ended up back in the Bali section looking at the same bras I already owned. Oh well, whatever. The last one I bought I They were on sale for buy two get one free (mail in rebate?) but they only had two in that size and I was really tired by this time.
When I got home I had this nagging suspicion that something wasn't right, and when I was cutting the tags off of the first bra I saw the measuring instructions (see the next entry on the subsequent shopping spree)... and realized I had probably bought the wrong size and whipped out my measuring tape. I was either a 40D or possibly a 40C (wouldn't that be nice!). So maybe bra bands don't have to hurt, I'd just been buying the damned things too small for my big ribcage. So back in the bag they went, I'd try again next week, there's literally a sale every week...
And after a few days of using it, I really liked the Murad moisturizer, I've never used Murad products before but I know they have a good reputation with sensitive skin. I read the little brochure that came in the box, then looked them up at Sephora.com and realized there is also a Redness Therapy Gel (Recovery Treatment Gel) that I hadn't seen at the store or I would have bought it (don't want to use an SPF at night), so I decided to just go ahead and order it online, along with the Redness Therapy Soothing Gel Cleanser . I'm a skin care product junkie because my skin is so freaky. I've used Clarins sensitive skin care line for years, with some other brands thrown in-between, but my skin is not actually very dry so I think it will be nice to try something a little lighter for a change. And the price is certainly right so we'll see.
Dammit, why is it everything I like either makes me sick or is discontinued?
My husband wanders in while I'm asleep today and says "some contact lens solution is causing people to get eye infections". So, I figure, it's got to be the one I use. And on the five o'clock new there's a tiny little story that yes, Bausch & Lomb ReNu with Moistureloc (hit your refresh button if this doesn't load) has been voluntarily pulled after reports of people getting fungal corneal eye infections. And apparently this has been going on for over a month overseas...
Crap, why are we hearing about this just now? I've been using this product since I started wearing contact lenses (again) last fall. And I have an already damaged and infection-prone cornea (from RK surgery), and have been having even worse blurred vision than usual since I began wearing contacts, which my optometrist explains is most likely from my overly sensitive corneas.
I've got so many things wrong with my vision that one more problem doesn't make me run to the doctors office, though one of the people at the optometrist mentioned I should try ClearCare if I'm prone to eye infections. It's good, and easy to use, and I already have a bottle around and coincidentally just got my new box of contacts in yesterday, so today is a new pair. But ReNu is so good for dry eyes. And their eyedrops are fabulous, I wonder if they're pulling them too?
But then again, I wonder if any of this is even real. I used to hate conspiracy theories, but so many are true now that when I hear anything bad about a company I have to start wondering about their competition. I don't trust anyone anymore, it's very sad.