I will say that I have a good foundation. I use Bare Minerals Foundation & Mineral Veil (no, I'm not being paid to say that), and I found a similar foundation at Macy's the other day that goes on with a dry sponge & may have better coverage, but the brand name I neglected to write down. The other products she wanted to apply to my face unfortunately all contained at least one ingredient known or suspected to cause a reaction for those with soy allergy. I will probably go back at some point this fall and purchase the foundation for stage/photo use, but I couldn't justify the added expense at the time. I was on a mission to find a cute pair of everyday earrings, which I did + a funky pair, but I digress....
On my way out of the store, I was headed back through the cosmetic section when a sign caught my eye: Clinique's skin care products were claiming to be 100% Allergy Tested. Blissfully hopeful, I picked up a little blue box and turned it over to read the ingredients, only to have my hopes dashed. Every single product I reviewed had some ingredient or other that was suspect or in a few cases even read "Soy ____".
The ladies at the counter assured me that I was welcome to purchase a product, take it home, and if I had any kind of reaction I could certainly return it for a full refund...all $96 worth! Like I'm really going to spend nearly $100 on a gamble like that. Obviously these ladies were not trained to understand the meaning of the word "allergy," and about 15 minutes into the conversation, the Asian lady in a lab coat who spoke with a thick accent...wait for it...upon seeing my claddagh ring (my Irish wedding ring) instantly proclaimed: "Oh! You Irish! You have red face; lots of freckles! You need this!" I was handed a package of rosacea treatment & freckle fading cream, which actually contained soybean oil!
Wow, so that's what racism feels like when you're on the wrong side of it! I've had the drinking jokes & bad accents thrown up at me over the years, but this is the first time I was put in a little box by someone of another ethnic group. I winced and consoled myself with the fact that she herself was unknowingly embracing a stereotype. Then I told myself that wasn't very nice of me.
Now, if you know me, you know that while I may sunburn easily on my pale face, I don't really have a lot of freckles (especially compared to my family members), and I certainly don't have rosacea or a ruddy complexion (maybe a little pink in my undertones), but nothing to require an expensive cream.
I had already explained my allergy, and said that I was just looking for a daily moisturizer with sunscreen...something I have not been able to replace as yet...but after that I just had to leave before I got angry.
Bottom line: Clinique claims its product are all 100% Allergy Tested. What that really means is that they have 600 people use each product 12 times, and they will not release the product if any of those 600 people has a reaction to it.
For me, this is just another example of a company that does not understand Soy Allergy, or consider it a real problem. Glycerin, most Tocopherols (vitamin E), and Gums (see previous blogs) are known to cause reactions for Soy Allergy sufferers.
When will a cosmetic company take notice and start making a full line of products free of Soy and Soy cousins?
Sincerely,
Soylesse Greenapple
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