Can a foundation ever be worth the £40 price tag? You have two hours.
The topic of high-end makeup is a controversial one: some people swear by luxury brands, others don’t think the price is justified. Sure, there are some things worth investing your money on that are far more important than makeup, but these products are here for a reason and recently I’ve been thinking about my own views on the matter.
Granted, I don’t own a lot of high-end makeup: my holy grail foundation, the odd lipstick and quite a few nail polishes from my nail-mania craze a couple years ago. My knowledge of these products is much more limited than other bloggers, however in that sense, I feel more relatable than bloggers who own (whether they buy it or are sent it as PR) drawers full of high-end makeup.
I think that you do not have to invest in luxury brands to have good quality makeup. There are a lot of brands, like Kiko, NYX, L’Oréal (although their prices seem to be going up little by little!) or even Sleek and Revolution, which make really good makeup for good prices. A good thing about the beauty industry getting bigger and bigger through Internet and social media is that it allows more brands to be in the market, and give their buyers good products for competitive prices.
However, there is also this inevitable attraction that lures us into luxury brands. It is true for makeup as it is true for fashion, homeware, cars or even food. (Waitrose vs. Lidl, where do you place your bets?) Luxury is (generally) seen as a sign of good taste, good quality. It makes you feel fancy and good about yourself. Look at that shiny Chanel lipstick… and that sleek Dior nail polish… The both combined are probably worth a full week of shopping from Waitrose, now that we speak of it. So are they really worth spending your pennies on?
Personally, I invest in luxury products that I know I will love and make the most of. The few high-end items that I have, I cherish and always feel happy using. Is the quality always outstanding? Not really. Those two nail polishes above could have easily been replaced by Barry M or Kiko nail polishes. Like any other nail polish, they chip. They don’t last five days on your nails without chipping, in fact. But because I love the texture, the brushes, the shades and the brands themselves, I do not regret at all spending my money on them.
Some other products, like the Charlotte Tilbury Magic Foundation, are a real godsend. You know where your £30 go. You could save £20 and buy a Kiko foundation for a tenner, but find that actually, the finish is not that great, or you could part with your hard-earned money and get a foundation that will give you exactly what you were expecting from it, and make you feel confident every time you wear it. Of course, it is a privilege to be able to afford either of those products, and makeup is not, in my eyes, a necessity, and will never be.
And just because of that, because affording makeup is a privilege, when some girls and women cannot even afford period protection, I think that knowing the worth of what you are buying is very important when making a high-end purchase. The worth can be calculated in many ways, but quality is not always one of them. I find that it is not about how the product is, but how it makes you feel. And it is something to keep in mind maybe when you are undecided about whether to buy that YSL mascara: are you doing it for yourself, because everybody else owns it too, or just because, well, you have the money right there so why not?
If you ask me, I am sure there will be a pretty good dupe of that mascara in the shelves of Boots or Superdrug. We all know it. But we all crave that little bit of luxury in one way or another. And to be honest, that mascara will always be cheaper than a Louis Vuitton bag…
What are your thoughts on high-end makeup? Do you invest in a lot of luxury products?
Lots of love,
Julia x
