“Why is this taking so long to load?”
“Did you get the items in your cart?”
“Oh my goodness the gateway just timed out on me! I was so close to checkout!”
I am ashamed to admit that these were the sounds coming from our office as GlobalGrind music editor (and lip gloss aficionado) Brittany Lewis and I feverishly banged at our keyboards with credit cards in hand. No, we weren’t trying to cop the latest Jordans, we were simply trying to get our little makeup-loving paws on the Rihanna hearts M.A.C Summer releases...and I am almost ashamed to admit it, simply because getting a shade of lipstick should never be this hard, like ever.
I know the “limited edition” swindle. I understand the demand of things that are limited to the masses. I get that aligning a celebrity with a star power as large as Rihanna’s means that every member of the Rihanna Navy is willing to set up multiple PC’s to get their grannies to help them get as many items as possible, as fast as possible.
And here is another revealing admission: this isn’t the first time I’ve fallen for M.A.C’s gimmicks. The Lady Gaga and Nicki Minaj Viva La Glam colors are in my possession (Hey! They were for a good cause!) Paramore’s front woman Hayley Williams released a sorbet orange color Sounds Like Noise, (above) and it sounded like something I needed. The Archie’s Girls collection? Of course I became a Veronica. So you can go ahead and assume that when RiRi Woo promised to be a better version of every girl’s favorite matte red lipstick, Ruby Woo, that I was totally into it.
But never have I experienced the “it’s just makeup” revelation that dawned on me yesterday while sheer frustration took over as I stared at white “gateway timed out” screens. All I wanted was a lipstick, why was this so hard?
There are a couple of reasons, one of them being a beautiful dark twisted place that some also know as eBay, or the place that limited edition items go to be vastly overpriced. I don’t need words to illustrate the fuckery that happens after a limited release of anything, all I need is this screen grab taken just 24 hours after the release of the Rihanna hearts M.A.C collection selling the lipsticks (that retail at $15 a tube) for $149.00:
Now, I am not sure if Sweet Brown is a lipstick lover, but I know she would agree ain’t nobody got the time, or the dime, to pay $149.00 for lipstick colors they aren’t sure even work for their skin colors, so the only option sadly was to do the finger work on MACcosmetics.com.
In the end, I ended up defeating the Internet’s shenanigans relative to that of a Jordan sneaker release, and getting my hands on the berry “Heaux” shade and the Luster drops, (aka a fancy name for liquid bronzer), all for the love of the makeup game, and of course to share a review with you beautiful people about my experience once they’re in my possession.
Waiting game aside, I’m pretty sure there is no better feeling than planning an outfit around the perfect shade of lipstick, or the perfect pair of Jordans for that matter.
So now that I have shared my experience…err obsession, with you, feel free to go to @MiissHislop on twitter, or comment below to tell me your makeup obsessions. I won’t judge if you don’t.
Rachel is the Style Editor for GlobalGrind.com, proud graduate of a SUNY school, and as sarcastic as they come. Follow her on Twitter for random daily ramblings @MiissHislop and on Instagram for as many puppy photos and selfies as you can handle @AmazingRach
