My skin has always been sensitive. But I am stubborn and have tried to pretend it is just normal, or maybe combination? I’m always game to try new tactics when it comes to a beauty regimen. My mother loves to remind me of the time when she convinced me, on good authority from a friend of hers, that if before bed I put a dab of plain, paste-type toothpaste on a pimple, by morning it would be gone.She was right.

But what she didn’t tell me was that all the skin around the pimple site would be gone as well.

Then I spent the next week trying to nurse my face back to health.

Hilarious fun for a high schooler.

In spite of this and other ill-fated adventures, my fascination with beauty products persists.

Now I’m to the age when there are little lines around my eyes, just teeny ones, but enough to notice. So what do I do? I fall victim to American culture and attitudes towards aging and march to the store for a night cream with anti-aging properties.

Night cream, in my mind, is supposed to be a thick, dense, moisturizer that goes above and beyond your daytime face lotion. It conjures up an image of a woman’s face covered in light green cream. The cream I picked up was just white (bummer), but it was thick and held promise.

Soon after I put it on I had an eye itch, so I rubbed my eye. Little flecks of something were on my skin, so I wiped them off…them wiped off some more. At first I thought the lotion had separated or gone bad somehow, but upon closer inspection I discovered that in fact it was my skin that was rubbing away.

EWW!

Now listen, I can handle a little pain for the sake of beauty. I use those mean spot treatments for blemishes that sting something awful, and I don’t even flinch anymore. But the idea of a lotion purposely peeling off my skin like an end-of-summer hot shower was just too much. On top of that, my eye area wasn’t even moisture-y afterwards anyway! I actually put on additional lotion after the night cream! That is nuts-o.

I have been duly punished for my vanity and attempted fine line reduction. But I am a repeat offender, so don’t be surprised if you run into me in the make-up aisle at Target when I’m supposed to be picking up milk. It’s like a tractor beam and I am virtually powerless to resist.

What about you? Do you have any products you can’t live without? Anything that was a waste of money? Add your comment, and let’s help each other out!