The Pretty Price Check: Your Friday round-up of how much we paid for beauty this week.
- 7 year olds don’t need padded bikinis, as British brand Primark learned this week when pretty much the whole rest of the UK said “WTF?” in response to their new kids’ line of cleavage-boosting swimsuits (above, now off store shelves). (Via Salon.)
- 2011: When Bliss Spa plans to have parabens out of all of their products. Hooray! (Here’s why I don’t like parabens.) Even better news: Senator Frank Lautenberg introduced the Safe Chemicals Act of 2010 yesterday, which, if passed, will require these and over 65,000 other chemicals used in beauty products and other consumer goods to undergo safety testing. It’s about damn time. And speaking of bills…
- HR 4925 is the bill number for the proposed Healthy Media for Youth Act which would fund a national task force at the National Institutes of Health to research how negative portrayals of women in the media impact young girls. It’s a first step towards the kind of photoshop laws that Europe is starting to issue against overly airbrushed beauty advertising — and I say, bring it on. (Via Feministing.)
- 25 percent: How much sales of skin-whitening creams are expected to grow in India this year. And major props to Feministing for figuring out that Unilever, parent company of Dove of “Real Beauty” fame is also the manufacturer of Fair & Lovely, one of the best selling skin whitening creams out there.
- 8 Years: How much of her life the average woman spends shopping. Yes, that includes for groceries. Somehow that doesn’t make me feel better about it. (Via Salon.)
- £10,000: What a 50-year-old British mom spent on plastic surgery procedures to help her look just like her 28-year-old daughter. Freaky Friday gone very, very wrong. (Via the Daily Mail.)
PS. Since we had so much fun with how to sell “skin treatments” to dudes this week, I just wanted to also let you know that Kiehls, Shiseido and Lancome have all introduced self tanning lotions marketed to men. In male-friendly tubes. Phew, they got the memo. (Via BellaSugar.)
[Bikini photos via Metro.co.uk.]
One Comment
If I ever start contemplating having plastic surgery to achieve my daughter’s “crinkle-free eyes” when I’m 50, please smack me. Good heavens.
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[...] $18.38: The current sale price on Abercrombie Kids’ push-up bikini tops. That they market to 7-year-olds. As Peggy Orenstein says, Oh no, they didn’t. But they did. And they aren’t the first. [...]