Beauty Products Review

Since everything here is subpar in London compared to New York and the only thing that might come close is shopping... (Although the guys are way cuter, the City Slickers and their good looks and tailored suits, yum)

I've been shopping to keep myself sane and distract myself from being homesick and I've come across three products that I think I like..

1. Jose Eber Curling Iron




I've always been irritated that my curling irons had a clamp. I never used it. I would always wrap my hair around the curling iron, the curls came out nicer and I had more control over the shape of the curls. I came across this guy, asking women to show demonstration of the hair curler on their hair. I was not in a rush that day, so I decided to give it a try. I've seen TONS of curling iron, but I was very impressed with how quickly it curled my hair. I also get a lot of control on what type of curls I want. To get ringlets, take a small section of flat hair and wrap it around. To get waves, twist the section of hair and wrap it around. It comes with a heat resistant glove, but that's not really necessary. You won't burn yourself if you are careful and somewhat experience in the art of curling hair.

So they were selling it for 80 pounds, which is around $160. I guess it can be reasonable, but the guy totally lied and said, it's gonna go up to 200 pounds during Christmas, so you better act now! Now that wasn't credible. I ended up getting it, and he gave me 10 pounds off at 70 pounds, which is $140. Right when I get home is when I realize that I will be using this in the U.S. and it won't go too well with the UK voltage. I look online and find that it is going for $30 on amazon! Of course I return it and buy it from amazon, Jose Eber Curling Iron the U.S. version as well.

I do recommend this product.. it's supposed to be new technology, teflon, whatever mumbo jumbo. Isn't that the stuff that 50 cent raps about? All I care is that it curls my hair really fast, as I was able to finish my whole head in less than 15 minutes. I'm way too low-maintenance to be spending more than 20 minutes on getting ready. And my curls do last for a long time. My friend's whose hair would not stayed curled for the life of her also got one, and her curls lasted 2 days until she washed it.


2. Etre Dead Sea Products - Etre Facial Peel




I was in selfridges, when another Israeli man stopped me in my tracks, telling me how beautiful I am and how i just HAD to try this new skin product. I was actually looking for moisturizer since my skin was in horrible/sensitive condition, not used to the crappy water in London. He first showed me a exfoliator for the face. It's supposed to be made of ingredients from the dead sea that isn't available anywhere else in the world.

He put the sticky exfoliator on my hand, waited few seconds, and rubbed off the product and supposedly my dead skin. I didn't understand how I still had dead skin on my hand, as I had been through 983749837 skin care counters and they have all exfoliated the same hand and gotten rid of my dead skin. I really think it was the exfoliator that was rubbing off. It kinda felt like glue. I guess what it's supposed to do is stick onto your face, and then take away the dead skin cells and the dirt when you rub it off.

I was eventually lured into getting it for 35 pounds, along with a milk & honey body butter for 30 pounds He gave me a free gift, a lip plumper by The Beauty Institute or something. Never heard of it and I think it's crappy anyways.

When I got home and tried it the next day, my sensitive skin did not do so well the the exfoliator. My skin felt like it was burning and turned redder than it already was. So i quickly rubbed it off. I did notice that my blackheads were less noticeable. I didn't even try the body butter, since I was so angry with the product. I decided to return both things, and give them back the stupid free gift.

I guess I was angry then, but objectively speaking, it is a pretty good product. My blackheads did look less noticeable, and to be fair, my skin was in really poor condition to be exfoliating. There are different types of acid in the ingredients, and my friend told me exfoliators all work on scrubs, or acids. It's the only ways to exfoliate your skin, which made sense. I guess I would recommend the exfoliator for people with not so sensitive skin. As for the body butter, I thought it was actually made of milk and butter, but that was only the smell. The lip plumper thing was probably the most useless thing I've ever encountered.

Of course, I find out it's $15 on amazon, which is like £9... So I return it from amazon and buy it from amazon again. Etre Facial Peel

Moral of the story is, don't buy those recommended items from the vendors in department stores. Get it online!

Barclays is Evil...

A starving man tries to make it alive one more day by selling his watch, a 158-year old family heirloom. A businessman passes him, likes the watch, but decides not to buy it. He waits until the poor man dies of starvation, then picks it off his dead corpse.

Sweep the streets that I used to own...

Roger Cohen brought up an interesting point in his NYTimes Op-Ed. First he makes a reference to Coldplay so that makes him automatically cool, but he also gave some insight on the culture of I-bank. So for some reason, Ivy League graduates have aspired to be nothing but investment bankers... The finance trend. It's not just about the balance sheets and the =NPV( )s, it's the whole lifestyle. It's the lifestyle of spending $20 on lunch shoving and fighting for food at Dishes. It's about wearing Armani suit around in the city like you're important. It's about cocktails and drinks after work with your other yuppie friends. In London, we call them "City Slickers" which I guess would be an euphemism for yuppies.

But what exactly does this mean for our generation? Do we aspire to be nothing but pretentious yuppies whose self-worth is embedded in our investment banking jobs? Cohen asks if we truly enjoy the profession we are in if it weren't for the lifestyle. I know plenty of friends who kind of just ended up doing a business major. From there, kind of just ended up with an offer to work at an investment bank. Maybe it's the people I associate myself with, but 90% of my friends are in finance or want to be in finance.

Now that the "investment banking model is dead," where do we go from here? Without the perks of high compensation and bonuses, will this banking trend cease to exist? With the last two standalone prestigious investment banks converted into a retail bank (think Bob, your local teller), will the glitz and glamour still be the same? On wallstreetoasis, there is a Lehman banker trying to liquidate his wardrobe moving back to South Carolina. The finance lifestyle will not be the same, and there will be less in it and trying to pursue it. According to Harvard Crimson, 39% of Harvard seniors in 2008 are heading for consulting/finance firms, compared with a 47% in 2007. I imagine with number for next year will be SIGNIFICANTLY less than 39%.

I personally this can be a change for the better. Why should our self worth and definition of success be defined by our job. More people can pursue what they really like doing, rather than investment banking. Maybe then, people wouldn't hate their jobs and their lives so much and the world will be a better place. I have a friend who is so passionate in the political sciences, but can't seem to enjoy reading anything about finance. Now, I'm in no way suggesting what she should choose as her career, but perhaps the collapse of ibanks will give her better insight into her decision. Or maybe not.

As for myself, I disdain the whole finance lifestyle. I always ask, what's the point of it all? Although I do get a sense of self-satisfaction from working hard and long (that's what she said..lol) hours, there has to be a point where I will be exhausted. There has to be a point where my personal life is burned to the ground where I will be unsatisfied with my job. I know working for a bulge bracket investment bank isn't where I want to be. I always knew I wanted to do something entrepreneurial, perhaps this is proper wake up call I needed.