O Covergirl!

I am not sure when Covergirl changed its products, giving things a new look and adding new items to its lineup.

Being old school (not to mention growing a little old), change sometimes frustrate me. Why can't they leave well enough alone, I wonder. I've been buying Covergirl since I was 12 years old. Give me a break.

Recently, when I went to purchase foundation, I discovered new bottles and a new sensitive skin product. Covergirl's water-based products have always been very good for my use; they had little smell or perfume, didn't break out my skin and I had no allergies to their items, unlike oil-based products which were guaranteed to turn my skin red and cause me no end of tears. It has literally been 20 years since I last tried another brand of makeup.

So there I stood before the makeup, blocking the aisle, trying to make a purchase when things were different. I pondered for a time, trying to figure out which, if any, was the old product and which did I want to buy. Finally I opted for the sensitive skin foundation.

The new foundation is a little chalky in feel and it seems to take a bit more to do the job than the old foundation I used previously. But the most unfortunate thing about this change is the darned stuff won't come out of the bottle.

No amount of shaking forces it out onto a finger. Instead I have had to resort to dipping a toothpick or Q-tip or makeup applicator or whatever else I can find into the bottle and forcing the foundation out. It is very wasteful.

I almost went back to get what I thought was the regular product but I haven't so far. Why? Because I think it is the design of the bottle and not the product that is causing the issue, and the bottles are all shaped the same way. Once the new sensitive skin foundation is out of the bottle, it flows fine.

Others agree with me. Check out comments on the Covergirl website to see what other unhappy women are saying.

Apparently Oil of Olay, which like Covergirl is a Proctor & Gamble product line, dropped one of its facial cleansers that I used faithfully, Sensitive Skin hydrating beauty fluid, because I can't find it anywhere anymore. Neither can anyone else, based on comments on the Olay website. I tried the suggested substitute and was so unimpressed that I no longer buy Oil of Olay anything, even though I used it for over 20 years. Now I am using Cetaphil, because it was the only sensitive skin item I could find that was marginally close. Cetaphil is owned by the same folks who own L'Oreal and is not a P&G brand.

So what does it say to me, Mrs. Older Consumer, who has been a faithful user of these P&G products for decades, when things change and it appears as if the company doesn't care? I am sure these changes are aimed at younger, more snazzy young women, those 20-somethings who do not have as much money as I do (if they have a job at all in this economy). I have never been a fan of marketing techniques that focus on younger people because it ignores the rather obvious conclusion that older folks of a certain age (say, 40-60) generally have more "extra" money than any other age bracket. We've already bought our towels and curtains and have a little to spend on things like beauty fluid.

What I am hearing is this: hey, Mrs. Older Consumer, go see what Maybelline and Avon and some of those other cosmetics companies that you've always ignored are offering these days.

And so I will.