I unearthed two eye care products of Crabtree & Evelyn (Daytime Revitalising Eye Gel and Overnight Eye Rejuvenator) when tidying up my beauty stash today. Having lying in the drawer for years, they are no longer usable. Of course, there is a reason for them to suffer such a fate. And that reason is irritation. Time and again (you see? I had made effort to make them work for me), they had made my eyes red and itchy. I had tried to use less amount, but it didn’t help. Then I naively thought, for some products it might need a longer time before my skin granted them acceptance, so I bore the itchiness with utmost bravery and tolerance. But you might already know the result. These “strategies” flunked. My eyes were still itchy. Finally, I surrendered and decided that it’s better to use them on other parts of my body.
Today they resurfaced. And they are a big reminder of how I had splurged my money on buying products that didn’t suit my skin. Looking at them, a question mark gradually formed in my mind, “Why did I get those negative reactions? Is something wrong in the ingredients?” I got piqued, and decided to find it out.
Dig Deeper & Beyond Surface
However, the most I can find, as long as ingredients are concerned, is this and this. And judging by the shortness of the ingredient lists, I believe they may be incomplete. So, I did another search on EWG’s database. Although I can’t find exact matches of the two eye care products I have, I find 30 other products from Crabtree & Evelyn. Disappointingly, their ratings all fall between 3 and 9, which means that they may have medium to high hazard. That’s probably something to think about.
If products that are meant for our body are not up to a certain standard, products (by the same brand) that are meant for the face are probably not good enough either (it’s just general comment. I don’t mean to be hostile toward any brand). And for our delicate eye area, I believe a strict standard is required.
How to be Be a Smart Customer?
I wasn’t too particular about products I used on my skin. Basically, I only considered three things when deciding whether to take out my purse to pay: brand, price, and the immediate trial result. But the fact that I encountered irritation when using some products tells me something in the products might be wrong. It doesn’t necessary mean the ingredients aren’t good (you know, different ingredients work for different people). I had irritation with the Gentle Cleanser from MV Organics, but it doesn’t mean the product is no good, right? If you don’t want to buy products that end up in trash bins, it’s better to be more selective. In my opinion, there are three things you can do to avoid making wrong mistakes:
- Read reviews and do your own research
- Check ingredients
- Ask for free samples first (whenever possible)
Did you buy any wrong beauty products in the past? Do you take any measures to avoid buying the wrong products?
Samples! It’s a pity that not all shops or products have ready samples. I’m in a very tricky situation right now. Age is catching up especially around my eye area but recently, I also developed allergy-eczema on my upper left eyelid. Regardless of whether I use natural/synthetic products, it is still triggered by most products. So samples are really, gravely, un-negotiably important to me.
I’ve tried too many products (e.g. eye cream and lip balm) that don’t work for me. If I haven’t bought them in the first place, I would have been a millionaire by now
I agree that sometimes it takes a bit time for your skin to get used to the product, however, if it comes to itchiness there’s no way that I could tolerate this feeling. I might give it another try if it’s breaking me out because I know my skin is very picky but if redness and itchiness occur, nope, these products won’t get a second chance.
Let’s see it this way, now you’ve learned to be more cautious and pay attention to the ingredients list whereas a lot of ladies out there still buy expensive stuff but with crappy ingredients.
It annoyed me whenever I bought a product that turned out to be something that didn’t suit my skin, but I’ve learned to be more careful now.
Unfortunately C&E’s products are not in the ‘natural’ league. At most, they leave out parabens in their newer formulations but that’s about it. If you don’t examine their ingredients, their products are rather nice though.
That’s true. And depending on your requirement of skincare products, its products can be a love or hate. Many friends of mine are actually C&E’s fans.