Brand Loyalty

College was a time for new things-- for me, new facial cleansers.

The smells of Neutrogena reminded me of high school in all the wrong ways, OXY annoyed me with its wannabe minimalist branding, and Clean and Clear were two adjectives with which I could not relate.

Then there was Nivea For Men. I couldn't really vouch for "Nivea," but "For Men" was pretty easy to understand. Clearly, it was the one brand available that was actually meant for me.

(aside-- I wholeheartedly believe that it is completely sensible to judge vanity-fueling products by wholly superficial standards.)

I started off with their Energizing Cleanser, which is of course discontinued because it was too awesome. After my great experience with their solutions, I began to try their other lines.

This is how a tragedy unfolds.

Nivea For Men's lip care products are the worst excuses for self-pampering items in all of Duane Reade. The effectiveness, longevity. texture, and even packaging are completely half-assed. There is no excuse.

I'm on that Blistex now, thanks.

Warrior Princess

I don't like iTunes. I don't like how long it takes to boot, the bloated internet connectivity, the limited playback features, its arcane organization / file copying schemes, all of it. But I figured it's the most appropriate way for an internet thug like me to support musicians that I like.

Amazon MP3, though. Here's where it wins:

• "Preview All" button to go through all the samples of an entire album. When buying music online, this is clutch because it's always a toss up whether or not to buy more than one song for the better deal.
• DRM-free MP3 files. No brainer. Sucks to be you, Apple!
• I always have a browser open anyway.

Hooray for Amazon MP3!