After 40 Years of Loyalty, My Eye Cream Was a Real Eye-Opener

For more than 40 years, I was what you might call a beauty-brand loyalist.

I started using Estée Lauder products in my twenties and, now at 64, they had become such a familiar part of my bathroom cabinet that I barely questioned what I was buying or how much I was spending.

Serums, cleansers, moisturisers, night creams, eye creams, you name it, I probably had it.

Then came the eye-opening experience that changed my beauty routine completely. For the better as it turns out.

Recently, I purchased three expensive Estée Lauder eye creams. I didn’t buy them all with the intention of opening them immediately; like many women, I was stocking up on products I knew I would eventually use.

I opened the first one several days after purchasing it and began applying it around my eyes.

Not long afterwards, I developed painful styes around my eyes. I stopped using the cream and, believing I may have reacted to the product, contacted Estée Lauder about returning it and the other two unopened creams. I also googled it and found out I was not the only one with this issue.

That was when my frustration really began.

I was told the products fell outside the company’s applicable return period, which customer service advised me was seven days from purchase. I submitted my request, emailed, called and to no avail, dead silence.

The problem was obvious to me! How was I supposed to know within seven days that I might have an issue with a product I hadn’t even started using immediately?

More frustratingly, the other two eye creams hadn’t been used at all.

After four decades of buying the brand, I expected my concerns to be handled with a little more understanding. Instead, I came away disappointed by the customer service experience and questioning something I hadn’t questioned for years. Did I actually need all these expensive products?

So, I did something rather radical.

I went shopping and bought a much cheaper skincare brand.

And then something even more surprising happened.

I began simplifying my entire beauty routine.

Instead of automatically replacing every serum, cream and specialist product I had used for years, sometimes decades, I started asking myself whether I really needed each one.

The answer, in many cases, was no.

My new routine was simpler, cheaper and, for me, worked perfectly well. Suddenly, I realised just how much money I had been spending over the years simply because I had become accustomed to a particular brand and routine.

There is an interesting lesson here for those of us over 60.

Brand loyalty can be a wonderful thing when a company continues to give you the product, service and value you expect. But loyalty shouldn’t mean we stop questioning whether something still suits us, or whether we’re getting value for our money.

Beauty marketing is very good at convincing women we need a different product for every part of our face or body, and for every different hour of the day.

Perhaps we don’t, I mused.

My unfortunate experience with an eye cream ended up having an unexpected silver lining. It made me reassess 40 years of beauty habits.

These days, there are fewer bottles in my bathroom cabinet and considerably more money left in my wallet.

At 64, I’ve finally discovered my best anti-ageing beauty secret.

Buy less.