Stupid Sellotape… Stupid Retailers…

Posted by Lipglossiping On July - 22 - 2010

Let me set the scene…

I’ve just handed over £4.99 for a lipstick.  Ok, it’s no Tom Ford… but then, at £4.99 it wouldn’t be would it?

It’s sellotaped up like a 1950s Tupolev.

It takes me no less than 10 minutes to remove this mummified lipstick from it’s tomb of sticky tape.

Each time I scrape an end up with my nail, it starts to tear diagonally leaving me with about 3mm of tape between my nails and 8394839473892 metres left on the tube.

Finally… it’s removed.

Leaving behind a tacky, sticky, dirty-looking residue that manages to attract approximately 7lbs of fluff and dust in the 2 minutes that I leave it on the desk.

I KNOW why retailers have to do it and I guess I’d rather have my lipstick taped up than ground down to a nub against some pre-pubescent’s cracked lips.  But still…. surely, there’s a better way?  That surgical tape-y stuff… that peels off cleanly doesn’t it?

It’s not sodding rocket science!

Am I being pedantic?  Maybe… but so would you be if you’d just spent 20 minutes unravelling and then cleaning your lipstick.


26 Responses to “Stupid Sellotape… Stupid Retailers…”

  1. Paris B says:

    I feel you! It happens a lot here too. I reckon shrink wrapping it is the way to go. No crummy sellotape and leftover glue to contend with.

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  2. beautyh2t says:

    You succombed to all the the talk of beehive- so did I and I too spent an age wrestling it out of the package.

    However I was delighted with it when I got in there, can’t wait for your thoughts,

    Bx

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  3. Sophie says:

    I’m with you on this, I find it annoying. It would be easier for them to put the plasticy stuff that you peel down the line and pull off, like they had on to protect the wild curls mascara… does that make sense? I am shit at explaining things!x

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  4. rhamnousia says:

    I hate this! I bought a concealer from Superdrug and as soon as that sticky mess came off, it was already dirty underneath. I also bought a felt tipped liner from the same place and I couldn’t get the sticky stuff off (fat fingers) so I had to get my mum to do it. It took her a good 20 minutes.

    There is a wrapping they can put on which is easy to take off, I don’t know how to describe it but you remember those Revlon Colourbursts? The plasticy protection they had is what I’m talking about, you get it on mascaras a lot of the time, that stuff is great.

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  5. Naomi says:

    I know exactly how you feel! It really is annoying and I don’t understand why some brands do not put plastic wrappers on their products, when other brands do. Everything should come in a plastic wrapper to ensure that they haven’t been opened or tested by anyone before you buy them. I have however experienced this with No7 nail varnishes before and I didn’t quite understand the logic in having to wrap nail varnishes up in lots of sellotape…
    Let’s hope that something is done about this problem in the future!

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  6. Julia says:

    I was about to ask, what lipstick this is? hehe…

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  7. Ugh, as much as I really hate buying items without some sort of covering to stop tampering, there are products that don’t leave a sticky residue!

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  8. Jan says:

    I had exactly the same problem when I bought mine – but worse, it was sealed up, but all mushed up in the lid! Fortunately able to exchange, but you know what it is when trying to take something back in UK, my heart was in my mouth!

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  9. Anca says:

    I detest that too, unreal mesiness left behind.
    try some vinegar to remove the stickiness, usually works for me

    xo

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  10. Scientific Housewife says:

    That’s happened to me before, I’ve just used Goo Gone to take the stickiness off and it was fine.

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  11. PeachBellini says:

    *coming out of lurkerdom* :) I haaaaaaaaaateeeee that tape. Easiest way to make me completely walk by the entire brand and on to something else. I dunno who thinks this is a good idea.

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  12. Citrine says:

    I like the tube!

    You can always use eraser to rub the sticky residue off…

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  13. We were just about to write a post on this too! We’ve just spent 45 minutes removing tape from two £3.99 lipglosses. What the what?!

    xx

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  14. Becka says:

    I hate this too!! It’s so annoying! Also with those security tags…why do they HAVE to be so sticky?!?! Lol xx

    PS…I STILL need to try out this lipstick!!

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  15. vac sealed plastic around the products would be far better, but i guess that costs the manufacturer extra money.

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  16. Rae says:

    Argh! I know exactly what you mean. I bought a cute new notebook with a paper finish on the outside last weekend; peeled off one sticker, fine. Two stickers, still fine. The very last little sticker — GROSS gooey mess, and a stain on the notebook’s finish!

    > : ( Not a happy camper.

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  17. Kat says:

    Heh, so I’m not the only Boots employee who spends ages every delivery day taping and tagging everything.

    When I first started no one did it at my store and the amount of products I had to claim for was so ridiculous I started taping everything I could. Trust me, it’s a pain in the ass for me too. What I hate are people who peal off the tape, try the product on the back of their hand (or face!) and put it back on the stand. Ugh.

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  18. This is probably not a good moment to mention that these buggers melt and snap like nothing else? No, I’ll get my coat….

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  19. [...] Fed up of struggling to access your new makeup? Yeah… Lipglossiping is, too! [...]

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  20. [...] Fed up of struggling to access your new makeup? Yeah… Lipglossiping is, too! [...]

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  21. [...] Fed up of struggling to access your new makeup? Yeah… Lipglossiping is, too! [...]

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  22. [...] Fed up of struggling to access your new makeup? Yeah… Lipglossiping is, too! [...]

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  23. Catriona says:

    I picked up one of these in Boots in the airport today (my flight was delayed and there’s a 100 points coupon in the back of the current Boots magazine.) I’m happy to report that I only had a single layer of thick tape that peeled off cleanly! Nothing like the layers yours had.

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  24. [...] Fed up of struggling to access your new makeup? Yeah… Lipglossiping is, too! [...]

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  25. liloo says:

    absolute outrage and they totally ruined it :/

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  26. [...] Fed up of struggling to access your new makeup? Yeah… Lipglossiping is, too! [...]

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