Just in time for Earth Day!
Written: Nov 20 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Superior makeup and dirt remover
Cons: Why not just stab Mother Nature through the heart?
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| cwainwright's Full Review: Olay Daily Facials |
In my previous life as an advertising executive, I helped market a variety of gleefully overpackaged "convenience" products, including: (a), a 8"x10", injection-molded "lunchbox" containing several doll-sized portions of "food;" (b), single servings of salty snacks in cardboard canisters for resealability (single servings... resealable—think about it...); and (c), a frozen entree delivered in three—sometimes four—individual boil-in bags that rivaled cooking-from-scratch for sheer inconvenience.
This long-winded opener by way of saying, "I'm no Ugly American; I know the difference between responsible consumerism (Coca-Cola! McDonald's french fries!) and outright capitalist-driven gluttony (Waff-fulls! Go-gurt! The Swifter!)
Baby wipes, that other dubious contribution to the American marketplace, are a more easily justifiable blight on the environment—what they lose in sheer wastefulness they make up for in their reduction of bacterial (a-hem) transmission.
But how do you justify a product like Olay Daily Facials? A plastic tub of disposable washcloths saturated with a dehydrated version of whatever make-up removal product you've already got conveniently and responsibly stowed away in a large bottle or jar in the old medicine chest?
Well, the "cloth" is very soft and fluffy... just like a regular washcloth. They are stamped with a waffle-like pattern (not to be confused with a Waff-full-like pattern, which would make them filled with jelly) that helps to remove dirt and oil your hands alone might not... just like a regular washcloth. They are infused with a nicely-scented, highly-efficacious make-up and dirt-removing agent that foams up and rinses away clean... just like the regular makeup remover you might use on a regular, clean, reusable washcloth.
There is only one justifiable reason for the rather ambitiously named Oil of Olay Daily Facials to exist. It's the marketer's nightmare, that one utterance they all dread hearing from behind the one-way mirror in the focus group room because it forever relegates their precious product to the scrap-heap of convenience also-rans: They're great for camping.
I speak euphemistically in this case, although I've known several new products to bite the dust because the marketers knew that, yes indeedy, Freida The Homemaker from Des Plaines was only going to break out the powdered soup on a trip to Yellowstone. What "great for camping" means in marketers' parlance is life in the niche product ghetto; a General Foods International Coffee "special treat" that sits on Freida's shelf for sixteen months instead of Folgers in a can that gets used up in a week.
Oil of Olay Daily Facials are not cheap. The 30-count tub hovers at around $5; the environmentally conscious refill, is not much better of a bargain. And, while these cloths are excellent at removing dirt, foundation and other color cosmetics (blush, lipstick, eyeshadow) they still fall down—like most generic cleansing products—at eye makeup removal. For that price, an everyday product should do it all.
Bottom line: while Olay Daily Facials are excellent exfoliators, gentle cleansers and do an excellent job, they are simply too damned wasteful to justify using everyday. A bottle of Neutrogena Daily Cleanser does the same job—with your own washcloth—for considerably less and is far easier on the environment.
After all, gotta keep Mother Earth nice and clean... for camping.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
cwainwright
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Member: Colleen Wainwright
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Reviews written: 27
Trusted by: 29 members
About Me:
Call me 'the communicatrix.'
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