Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Sheer Cover: A Missed Opportunity

Everyone's over at Chic Critique today for "I Tried it Tuesday." That's where everyday readers get to write about beauty products they've tried and tested. Here's my contribution...

All of us have made the occassional beauty faux pas.

I may have mentioned my horrid perms (a few thousand times -- those scars run deep). Add to that a slew of makeup and fashion blunders and really, I'm left wondering why the gals over at Chic Critique allow me to regularly write reviews on beauty products.

But, I suppose that's neither here nor there.

At the risk of sounding like a public service announcement, the biggest beauty mistake I've ever made has been sun exposure. See, I grew up in a time when this was the norm.



What's more, I've had the good fortune of inheriting olive skin from my mother. That means that no matter how much time I spend in the sun, I never burn. I just get darker and darker. Throughout my teens and 20s, I happily sported that "healthy glow" each summer.

Then I turned 30. That's when all the sun damage began marching across my face in the form of brown spots. That look, I can assure you, is not so healthy.

So, for the last four years, it has become my mission in life to hide or -- better yet -- eliminate the sun damage. It's something much easier said than done.

But, when I read Leigh Ann's post on Sheer Cover, I figured I'd give it a shot. I ordered the "medium" shade kit through the website. I agonized over whether to order the medium or the tan shade. I asked everyone what they thought. My mom and my sister (c'mon that's "everyone," right?) said that tan was too dark. They assured me I was a medium.

So, I got my kit. I followed the directions and all looked good for about an hour. After that, I wasn't so crazy with the results. It wasn't providing the amount of coverage I had hoped for. And, it didn't feel like it was "staying on" throughout the day.

After a few more tries, I ended up calling Sheer Cover to ask how I could return it and cancel my "membership."

The Sheer Cover customer service is really good. She asked if I was sure I had the right color, as many customers have found that when the coverage wasn't good they were using the wrong shade. She'd be happy to send me the right shade free of charge. I was pretty sure I had chosen the right shade, but in hindsight, I obviously didn't. I should have had her send me the other one. Additionally, she offered to send me the Sheer Cover primer to try at no charge -- which is another thing I should have taken her up on. I felt like without a primer, the makeup settled into my, ahem, fine lines and pores.

Unfortunately, for whatever reason, I was in a funk that day. I didn't want to try more product, I just wanted to cross "Return Sheer Cover" off my to-do list. I've been kicking myself ever since.

So, long story short, I do think Sheer Cover is a good product (the mascara rocked, btw!). If I had given it more of a fair chance, I probably would have been quite pleased. (If you're going to try it, I would highly recommend getting them to send you the primer.)

Really, I consider it a missed opportunity. Would Sheer Cover have been able to hide the sun spots? I'll never know for sure.

7 comments:

Musings of a Housewife said...

Aww, see, now you HAVE to try it and let us know! I'm dying for the final results. :-)

T with Honey said...

Yeah for customer service! It is one thing to have a bad experience with a product but they were smart enough not to burn a bridge by being nasty about the return.

Makes the rest of us a little more prone to trying out their product.

heather said...

Have you tried Everyday Minerals? I swear by it now, and it's pretty inexpensive as mineral makeup goes
(get the kit, it's literally a steal). Samples are free, you just pay like $4 shipping to try foundations, a blush, and a concealer, and there are about 30 shades of foundation. Not to mention that they only have like 4 ingredients and you can pronounce them all...and they're vegan and in recycled packaging!

Anonymous said...

Good customer service is hard to find. I would have taken her up on the offer. Maybe you should give it another shot.

Unknown said...

I have those stupid brown spots, too. I'm about to start this prescription cream for them, though. We'll see how that works.

Lizz @ Yes, and So is My Heart said...

If I can't find it at the store, in person, I don't usually try it. I'm a wimp, or at least unadventurous like that.

Anonymous said...

I actually did try the sheer cover and didn't like it as well as bare escentuals which is awesome! The avon minerals are "ok" and the loreal isn't worth the money. I would stick to bare escentuals if you want a mineral makeup. It sounds expensive but it lasts a really long time!