Haven’t done one of these in a while!
If you’ve never played “You Must Choose” before, it’s easy — kind of. The idea is to choose between two or more seemingly impossible, or at least disturbing, choices.
And some of them are REALLY messed up like…
You win a real estate sweepstakes, and the prize is your dream home, yay!
Only thing is…the house must be built either next door to a sketchy liquor store, or directly on a busy highway (literally right on the highway, like, you look out your kitchen window and see cars driving past your front lawn).
Do you choose to build your house on the highway, where you may gaze at gridlock every weekday afternoon, or next door to the liquor store, which comes alive with riff-raff every night? YOU MUST CHOOSE.
You receive a letter one day from a well-known eccentric billionaire. He explains that he was the elderly gentleman you politely held the door open for at Pasta Pomodoro last week, and he wants to give you $5 million (after taxes!) if you do one of the following:
- Give up bathing/showering for an entire year (and no, you may not take sponge baths, run naked through your neighbor’s sprinklers, bring a bar of Dr. Bronner’s soap with you into the ocean, or use baby wipes all over your stinky self. No bathing of any kind.
- Wear an itchy, bejeweled two-piece thong bikini everywhere you go for 5 years.
- Quit wearing makeup for 10 years. YOU MUST CHOOSE.
For being their ten millionth customer, a major makeup retailer gives you the opportunity to wipe the slate clean and rebuild your entire makeup collection from scratch! I’m talking makeup, brushes — the whole nine yards.
The catch? (There’s always a catch.) You may only choose products from two brands…
Which brands? YOU MUST CHOOSE.
Leave your answers in the comments, babe! I can’t wait to read ’em. 🙂
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Ooo tough decisions!!
1. I think I’d go with the liquor store. I could cope with riff raff, and it would be really really handy to have one next door…!
2. I think I’d quit wearing make up for 10 years. Or maybe tell him that I didn’t really want his $5m…
3. This was easy. Having been super brand loyal to MAC for a decade, most of my collection and everyday products are still by them – I’ve only recently branched out! So I’d choose Becca and MAC.
Hope you have a nice day – over here in central Europe mine is just finishing – I’m relaxing with a Radler (beer and cloudy lemonade) and going to run around making magic on Guild Wars til I get hungry. I’m all alone with the felines as my bf is out of town on business.
Hi Natalie,
Thanks for doing you must choose today! I love your BECCA and MAC choice. MAC is one of my choices, but I’m having a really hard time figuring out the second one. BECCA is on the list, though, for sure.
Right now my Thursday is just starting (it’s morning here in California). I’m planning my day and Tabs is “supervising.” He’s sitting on my desk and rubbing his face on mine. 🙂
So, how many cats do you have? Team Cat Lady 4-life!
1: I keep living in my old house NO need a big one
wont live in from a liqueur store
And no I have pets, maybe in a future children living in highway is not a choice
2: No I don’t need that money, not bathing and also walking that way no.
3: IF I was able to choose any brand I want, I will choose a cruelty free one.
So my choices are limited
so elf and wet and wild would be my choice
1. Highway
2. No bathing
3. Guerlain Mascara and Cle De Peau concealer
1. I’d live next door to the bar, and join the wild folk once in a while 😀
2. I’ll choose the bikini and layer that ish with some cotton panties 😉
3. One of the brands would absolutely be MAC, because let’s be real, they have everything! The next one would be the Sephora in-house brand because they expand to things outside of makeup, so that would cover all of my basic beauty needs 😀
Now…can all of this be real? Lol!
1. I would choose to build my dream home next to the shady liquor store. I’m a college student right now, so I’m fairly accustomed to the sketchiness.
2. I’d probably wear the itchy two piece bikini. I don’t like being unclean and while I don’t necessarily need makeup, I have so much fun experimenting with different looks that I wouldn’t want to give it up.
3. This one is actually super easy for me. I would choose Urban Decay and Too Faced. I am in love with Urban Decay’s liners, eyeshadows, primer potions, and lipsticks. Too Faced has some of the best face products I have ever tried, like their beauty balm and bronzers. I’m also a huge fan of their La Creme lipstick line, especially the shades Juicy Melons and Bon Bon.
1. Liquor store
2. I’d have to choose no makeup…but still unsure if that’s worth 5 million…what would I even spend the money on if I can’t wear makeup for that long?? lol
3. I think I’d have to go with MAC and NARS for the variety and quality of products they both have!
1. I’m gonna live by a liquor store.
2. I would give up makeup. I love it but I can live without it. I have to shower and I HATE bejeweled anything.
3. Laura Mercier and Chanel.
on Question 3 I changed my mind. I would pick Laura Mercier and Tom Ford.
1. The highway. I would go crazy with the other.
2. Give up makeup. Stinky or itchy just don’t work for me.
3. I would go with Tarte and Urban Decay.
Hi these are some pretty cool scenarios.
Question 1: I would choose the shady liquor store. Because if I can built my dream home then I will equipped it with a heavy duty security system to shut me on for the night. Like the purge security. Lol!!
Question 2: This is a hard one. The not bathing is too much to ask anyone. Lol! So it’s between wearing the itch two piece thong bikini and the no makeup. Soo I’m gonna go with wearing the itchy two piece everyday for 5 years.
1) my dream house is all about location! so ‘no’ to the liquor store/highway option.
2) no makeup! could you imagine putting makeup on a face that hasn’t been washed in months?? eww!
3) urban decay, tarte. UD for all eye makeup, plus prep spray and naked skin finishing powder. Tarte for mascara, blush and complexion bases.
but i would be so so sad everytime i passed the maybelline and neutrogena products in the drug store.
1) Have them it next to a liquor store. Sell the house to someone who likes to drink. Use profit for down payment on new dream home.
2) bikini. you can’wear clothes over it
3) makeup forever and urban decay for me
1. The liquor store. After moving in, I’d take out a home equity line of credit and buy out the liquor store 😉
2. No showering/bathing. I’d like to experiment with applying scented body oils. After all…oil breaks down oil, yes? It would certainly mean giving up running for the year, but the other two are simply impossible!
3. NARS. And……this is tough………Becca? I think Becca. I don’t like this question!
Hahaha! LOL, Alison. 🙂 I love your answer to #1. Now that’s ingenuity.
Oh, how cruel!!
1) I’d go with the liquor store. At least it’s, ah… more “personable,” I guess…? 🙂
2) Gosh, this one’s a toughy. MAYBE I could go for the no-showering bit? Mostly because it’s the shortest duration, ha. But still, super ugh!
3) Only two!! Well, let’s see. I’d probably go with MAC, because really. They have everything. (And their brushes!! Swoon!) Second would probably be NARS, since they do things like glitter and classiness so darn well!
…funny, I don’t have a lot of products from these 2 brands. I’ll need to remedy that in the coming years 😉
1) The liquor store I think
2) Maybe no bathing for an entire year, as it’s not so bad for one’s skin after all 😉 A year well, why not as I take 2 showers a day and it’s not a good option for my skin which has become very dry.
3) Two brands ? Chanel and Nars
The highway, no make up for 10 years, Chanel and Tom Ford
Ohh these are hard
#1 I think I would choose the liquor store..I got kids I’m sumwhat attached to so the highway isnt an option plus I wouldn’t have to go far when said kids drive me crazy& Im in need of an”adult” beverage”
#2 is very hard..does getting caught in the rain with a convenient bottle of shampoo count?.cause then I could buy alot of makeup& use it b4 I get old old..but if I cant then I guess id go 10yrs..thats seems way 2 long..without makeup cause I could afford the best skin care & dermatologist (not 2 mention plastic surgeon if need be) so I wouldnt really need makeup to make me look decent then (I hope).
#3 Chanel of course would be top. #2 is kinda tough..UD? Tarte? MAC? Lorac? I guess MAC because they got alot of everything& a sumwhat good color 4 my skintone vs the others even chanel
1. By the liquor store…
2.noooo he could keep his money non of the above I could not do any of that!!
3. All though I love my Estee Lauder double wear and my Urban Decay eyeshadows.. I think I might have to go with Chanel makeup.. Or dior nooo Give me Chanel No I’ll take the Bobbi Brown heeeey this is not easy!!! Give me Bobbi!!
Haha, I love these!
1. I’ll pass on the dream house next to the highway. And we have enough liquor at home already. 🙂
2. I’d go without showering for a year. As long as I could still brush my teeth, I think I could manage.
3. This one isn’t so bad! I’d choose Too Faced and Urban Decay.
1. I’d live next to a liquor store for sure.
2. As much as I hate to say it, it would be give up the makeup. Can’t go without a bath or shower and this bod ain’t built for a two piece.
3. MAC and Urban Decay.
1. Unfortunately I have come to the point in my life where drunken debauchery is frowned upon and quite frankly annoying (I’ve become “THAT” person) so I would go with the busy highway.
2. I’d give up the makeup. As an allergy sufferer showers really help relieve stuffy noses and watery eyes.
3. Sigma (brushes) and Nars (HG concealer for me)
By the way my cousins are originally from Novato. They now live in Petaluma, Woodland and out here with us in Boston.
Gaaaahhhh
1. I think I’d pick the house on the highway and try to soundproof the house? I wouldn’t be able to sleep next to the liquor store!
2. Ew ew ew ew ew I’m actually leaning towards the bikini for five years. I just don’t think I can stand not bathing for a whole year.
3. Uggghhh The first one’s easy. MAC because they have awesome skincare and brushes, and I love their foundations. For the second one I’m leaning towards Bobbi Brown, actually…
These are some toughies lol!
1. I guess I would choose the liquor store. I have pets so I don’t think living near a highway would be ideal
2. Lmao this one is the hardest! I can’t sport an itchy thong bikini everywhere because I hate to be uncomfortable and there’s a lot of kids in my family lol. I’m definitely not giving up makeup for 10 years either. Guess I’ll funk it up for a year. Eww! Unless, I can toss something on top that itchy bikini. That changes everything lol
3. Mac and NARS hands down!
I’ve been sitting here for like 10 minutes straight, thinking about these dilemmas, and I just cannot decide! I can’t! I loved reading everyone’s choices so far though 🙂
1) Liquor store. flood lights, security cameras / guard, good fences. You can’t do anything about cars. hopefully the liquor store goes out of biz some day.
2) make-up. daily bathing is mandatory for me. i’m assuming all you could wear was the bikini & nothing else? that would only work if i lived at the beach with my $5MM and since i have eczema, i hate being itchy.
3) MAC and Urban Decay
1. Shady liquor store.
2. Ack, this one’s hard, but I’d probably go with the thong…
3. Chanel. I don’t even need a second, I’ll just take Chanel. 😉 But, okay, since it’s offered…Dior.
1)Liquor Store. I have a BIG pup (mastiff/boxer) that could scare away the riff raff.
2) Make-up. Will my millions I would invest in awesome skin care, weekly facials & microderm so my skin would be flawlesssssss. ::hair flip:: (Is the skin care loophole cheating?)
3) Peter Thomas Roth (skincare) & Lancome (Color). I couldn’t live without my Teint Idole foundation. =)
1. Liquor Store
2. Quit wearing makeup… easily
3. NARS and Tarte… I think?
1. Highway. Less chance of robbery. Big hedges. 2. No makeup. I would smell and look too offensive. 3. Bare escentuals and smashbox.
Ooooh fun! Ok here’s mine:
1. House next to a liquor store. I think I can handle the riffraff, I’ll take that over car fumes in my backyard!
2. I’d stop wearing makeup for 10 years. But I can at LEAST wear sunblock right? 😀 Please say yes…
3. MAC and Fresh! Those are the two brands I consistently repurchase. I love MAC for their makeup colors, especially the foundation selections, and Fresh for their lip treatments and skincare.
1- highway
2.no makeup. Invest in A-May-zibg skincare!
3. Mac and chanel
1. Liquor store – can’t stand traffic fumes!
2. Totally give up wearing makeup for 10 years – I like being clean and comfortable more, LOL! Then use some of the 5M to buy out the liquor store next doer and set up my own shop for tabletop gaming stuff, neat jewellery and maybe ice cream…
3. Urban Decay and Revlon. Between the two, I think I’d be able to satisfy pretty much every makeup craving at a reasonable price! 🙂
A) liquor store
B) puffff hard one! Maybe not wearing make-up. Still a difficult one
C) MAC. Love everything from them. Then Chanel, especially their lipsticks
1. I don’t want the house, bec it’s always about location, location, location.
2. Maybe no makeup, but it’s all a massive intervention in my life. And who knows what will happen in 5-10 years.
3. MAC of course and Chanel or Bobbi Brown.
Oh my word, haha! These questions are hilarious.
1. I would choose to decline the money and stay in my own house which I love 🙂 I don’t drink and we have 3 kids that I don’t want near busy traffic!
2. Goodness, I don’t know. I would rather not wear makeup for 10 years than walk around in a bikini or not shower. But not sure if I could give up makeup. Again, might choose to decline the offer!
3. Definitely MAC and Chanel 🙂
1. Sketchy Liqueur Store. I could NOT stand the noise 24/7 living on the highway.
2. OMG this is ridiculously hard. I could see giving up makeup but NOT FOR 10 YEARS! WTF!!! I guess because it is the shortest sentence period I will choose Giving Up Bathing and Showering for 1 year. Eeekkkkk dfjasldkfjalksdfj
3. Only 2!!! I LOVE verity and choices. So this whole thing has kinda sucked lol. MAC because they have pretty much great everything (lipstick, eyeshadow, foundation, brushes etc.) and then …. adfjadsklfja AAAHHH! IDK! And Tom Ford. I really don’t like this question!!
Liquer Store, Thong bejeweled bikini, Mac and YSL!!
1. By the liquor store. Highway, noway.
2. No makeup! Well, only if using all Perricone MD’s products isn’t cheating. It is a “no foundation” foundation, “no mascara” mascara, right? 😉
If you insist, then the itchy 2 piece. Oh save me!
3. Guerlain (for their fantastic bases and Meterorites!) and MAC for all the colour work!
Will you be answering these dilemmas Karen? 🙂
1. The liquor store, because they close rather early by Virginia state policy. 😉
2. No makeup for 10 years (assuming moisturizer and sunscreen don’t count as makeup. If I can’t use those, then the no bathing for a year. Whatever. I can be a smelly millionaire if I want.)
3. Oh… Urban Decay and… Becca? I originally thought Too Faced instead of Becca, but it’s mostly because TF has such cute packaging.
🙂
1. Liquor store, I would construct an awesome fence.
2. Not bathing for a year. I could make it work.
3. Burberry and Nars (or Tom Ford).
1. Liquor store
2. No makeup for 10 years I guess 🙁
3. Guerlain for everything except brushes, hakuhodo for brushes
1. Highway. I’m tired of dealing with riff-raff now, but living in a fabulous house might make it easier.
2. I can’t NOT bathe and I don’t do thongs. I’ve already gone more than 10 years without makeup before – I think I could do it again…I hope. My makeup obsession is a lot worse now than it was then so it’d more challenging.
3. The first selection is an obvious one for me – MAC! For the second one, I’m wavering between Tom Ford, MUFE, Bobbi Brown and NARS. I’ve been loving my MUFE brushes lately, and they have wonderful products, so I’ll go with them.
Liquor store, then buy it out. Excellen idea, Allison.
No bathing. There are ways to make it work. It would be an exercise in historical reversion. What culture anywhere in any era has bathed as much as we do? Hello, medieval ages and nineteenth century frontiers. Sand, clay, Chanel no. 19 – and how about swimming for exercise a long as you don’t go near soap? He didn’t prohibit water – just bathing in it. I’d find a loophole!
Chanel and Laura mercier. That one wasn’t so hard!!
1. Liquor store, although it might be too noisy, but it’s convinient whenever I want a beer it’s right next door.
2. No make up, the other 2 options is not doable at all especially no shower in the summer heat.
3. Mac and Chanel
This is fun Karen!
1. The liquor store. I could handle the riff-raff being outside my secure fence (!) but I’d go bonkers looking at traffic all the time (or worse, the traffic being able to look into my house!)
2. Almost tempted to say no to the money! But probably no makeup for 10 years – I could BUY makeup (especially the Chanel limited edition stuff!) during that ten year period and gaze longingly at it until the elapsed time!
3. Definately Hakuhodo for the brushes (LOVE their brushes, could not do without!) and Chanel for makeup!
1. This is SO EASY because I already live on a busy highway famous for its consensual crime issues, with dispensaries and methadone clinics and bars all around me, and I LOVE IT! Ok I could do without the traffic noise and sirens and the occasional pool of mystery liquid but, truth, I’d rather spend the rest of my life surrounded by the awesome people I meet out here, in a community where I can do some actual good for good folks who need help, than in some boring ol suburb.
2. No bathing! If I didn’t have to work, I could swing it. I’d shave my hair for a year and not go out much, but at least it’d be relaxing (if itchy…).
3. Guerlain because their color cosmetics just seem to be infused with magic and always look good. They’re the only brand that I’ve never bought a bum product from, tho I sure they exist. But this leaves me with a quandary – for the second do I go for a brand that is fun to buy and does lots of seasonal stuff, like MAC, or do I go for a brand that has great primers and foundations, like Hourglass? I think I’d go MAC and live a life of bad foundation matches but tons of fun crap. Also brushes!
Thanks for the fun thought experiment. 😀
I just realized that option 1 was either/or. I got so excited that I was already living BOTH that I didn’t notice that dropping one was an option. 😛 (I’d lose the highway, btw, cause sketchy people are My People, and it’s pretty handy having vices nearby. Can there also be a pastry shop? 😛 )
1. Highway. I’ve lived next to a sketchy bar and I’m not interested in the shootings and fighting or having my car damaged
2. No makeup. Easy. For my entire 20’s I only wore blush and lipstick. Though I hope I could get away with Chapstick especially in winter!
3. Urban Decay no quest about that and Tarte I think. Or maybe Too Faced, they’re becoming a fast fav
1. I’d pick the highway cuz you never said I couldn’t build a really high fence around my small front lawn doin don’t have to look at traffic all day 🙂
2. I’d quit wearing makeup for 10 years cuz Is really prefer to shower… No amount of perfume, deo, and dry shampoo can cover up that amount of stank!! Lol
3. My number one choice is easy; Mac … After that I can’t decide… Too many to choose from!!!
1) Liquor Store – how convenient on the weekends!
2) No Makeup – I’m obsessed but I’ll just have to go to therapy.
3) NARS & Laura Mercier
1/2) Liquor Store (but I would take some of the $$$$ that my benefactor gave me and erect a barrier between my property and the store—-just to keep out the sketchy riff-raff).
2) I’d go w/o makeup for that kind of $$$$$
3) well, I’d pick MAC (since they have so much to offer) and then I’d probably go with NARS or YSL…..does it REALLY have to be ONLY 2?!?
Hmm…
1. My dream home will have WALLS like a fort around it–you know, like a castle and state-of-the-art security. So yeah, let’s go with riff-raff at a liquor store. Walls and security can prevent people but not cars coming at you at 65mph.
2. $5 million…then I’d stop wearing makeup for 10 years–I grew up in a makeup-optional town and my mom looks great and has probably only worn makeup 10 days in the last 10 years if that. I can some of that $ towards great skincare and procedures. Comfort is essential to me so NO to the bejeweled thong/bikini. No bathing of any kind isn’t good for keeping things sanitary and disease-free so NO to that.
3. Hmm…let’s go with Makeup Forever and Shu Uemura. Both brands have great tools and MUFE has the concealer/foundation that I know works for me–plus all their other makeup is pretty good. If I was not so stuck on the lash curler, it might be L’Oreal actually.
For #1, I’d build my home by the sketchy liquor store! I’ve lived by one of those before and it wasn’t all bad.
For #2, no bathing for a year! That wouldn’t bother me so much if 5 mils was on the line.
For #3, I would choose NARS and MAC!
1. the highway. as long as i get good windows, i cant hear the noise until i go outside. but the liquor store is appealing too, because they have wine. so i’m still a little on the fence about this one.
2. i’d take the bikini. i guess mama’s just gonna have to get a gym membership and some plastic surgery with that 5 mil, lol.
3. this is so hard! i would go with the balm because their shadows and powder products are amazeballs. but the other brand… im not sure. i dont own a whole lot of high end makeup, so i honestly have no clue what i would choose. probably mac just because of their lipsticks.
1. I’d definitely go with the sketchy liquor store. I’d just have great home security! Plus who doesn’t want to make an easy trip to the liquor store.
2. No makeup for 10 years. I’d just highly invest in skin care products. And if I had $5 million I could afford lots of facials and derm visits as necessary.
3. I’d say Laura Mercier (her tinted moisturizer is the best) and MAC for the color choices alone although I also love their concealer. Hopefully I can make due with one of their under eye concealers…
1. I would choose the liquor store next to the house. Well, I’m lucky to have a tight sleep, so that’ll be ok.
2. Wow, this one is hard. May I wash myself with a sponge at the wash basin?? Otherwise I would propably choose the bikini. 😉
3. That question really feels good, I would chose Dior and MAC. :))