Tea at Trianon: Glamor at the Drugstore

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Glamor at the Drugstore

A new trend, and a nice one, since many women buy their cosmetics at drugstores anyway.

Fans of upscale cosmetics have long associated drugstore makeup with dingy, crowded rows of lipsticks in colors suitable for Grandma. A big downside was that shoppers couldn't try on the product—part of what makes makeup shopping fun. But as women are shopping less at department stores and more frequently at cheaper, more convenient alternatives, mass retailers have seen an opportunity to woo cosmetics shoppers.

Julygirl said...: I used a somewhat expensive 'designer' cologne which one could get only in an upscale department store, then I started seeing it in drug stores, then in Target, then in Walmart. The only down side of this was that the price did not go down, in fact over the years it has gotten more expensive!; March 27, 2010 at 10:20:00 AM EDT
Dymphna said...: CVS now lets you return cosmetics that were the wrong color so it's easier buying make up from the drug store.; March 28, 2010 at 4:25:00 PM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: Oh, really? Wow!; March 28, 2010 at 4:29:00 PM EDT