For the David Yurman spring ad campaign, Naomi Watts channels the emotive facial abilities that ultimately carried King Kong, keeping the flick from slipping into “B movie” territory. Of course, all the effort to hide her secret love affair with Nicole Kidman surely provided the method acting resources to convince us she is in love with an 8,000 lb gorilla (thanks to FAD for the Naomi-Nicole link).

I must admit, the first time I saw Naomi in these ads was on a billboard, and when blown up to 24’x12’, Naomi’s sultry-yet-innocent expression tempted me toward lipstick lesbianism. There is a lot of griping in the fashion industry about actresses taking the place of models in ad campaigns, resulting in sub-par artistic quality, but I challenge anyone to find a model with as much pictorial depth as Ms. Watts.

Naomi’s girl-on-girl “O” face?

A little while ago, the lovely ladies over at BlogdorfGoodman did a segment called “40 Primers in 40 Days” which inspired me to interview Cavewoman for my own article on primers. What’s interesting is that during the 40 days, which coincided with Lent, Cavewoman was opperating under a “no-buy.”

So how did she test all these primers? Well, she did rely on friends and in-store application at times, but it seemed to me like she got an amazing number of free samples.

Everyone loves free samples, which are common enough in the “free gift with purchase” variety, as seen with Chanel, above, from Nordstrom.

But to just walk up to a counter and score a sample? I asked Cavewoman how she did it:

“Short of shameless begging, there is a definite technique to scoring good samples of primers. I have to say that I was able to obtain many samples from Saks and from Nordstrom. I approach the sales assistant (SA) of a particular line and explain to her that I am interested in any primers from that line. I allow her to show me the products and I pay attention to what she says. I ask questions like “is this good for oily skin?” or “does it help to keep foundation from changing color?” and I listen and let my SA know I’m serious. I ask if there are samples and I explain that I need to try the product at home, on my cleansed face, and under my regular foundation, before I buy. I also ask the SA for her business card in case I want to purchase in the future. Some stores like Nordstrom have little plastic cases in which they will dispense some product for you to take home. Other stores have pre-made samples from the manufacturer. I cannot even remember if there was a primer for which I was not able to obtain a sample. And a few times, I even went bare-faced (to Guerlain!) with my La Prairie foundation in my purse, to test the primer right there in the store! It is very important not to appear to be a sample-grubber. That’s my own expression for someone who stops at all the counters for samples of whatever. The SA’s know if you are serious or not from your attitude. They are trained to explain product, and I let them explain.”

So there you go. Go forth and sample!

(Also, look for my primer article in the June issue, if our darling beauty editor accepts it a wee bit after deadline.)

Didn’t get your shopping fix over Memorial Day weekend? We’ve got you covered…

Sales and Promotions:

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Check out the Chick Pick at ThriftyChick.

Oh, Memorial Day, shop the sales ahead of time so you won’t waste your weekend indoors and in stores…

Sales and Promotions:

New Arrivals and Featured Items:

Check out Today’s Pick at ThriftyChick.

The ThriftyChick Guide to Spring/Summer Looks, Part Deux is posted on ThriftyChick. See how the best runway styles can be applied for everyday wear.

If you missed Part I, you can find it here.