high end vs low end products ?

I have lurked on this board for a while and noticed that a lot of you adore MAC/Benefit/Beseame, etc. I was wondering what differences you see between higher end and drugstore products if any?

If I could afford it, I would love to buy more expensive items, but then I would feel guilty using them, feeling I could only use them on special occasions.


Any input would be lovely...thanks
Tanya

Welcome to the Powder Room and the Fedora Lounge!

I use mostly drugstore level products, just so you don't think there is no one out here who does. Granted, I also might not be the most accurate of dressers and all that, but a girl's gotta do....

A lot of the nicer drugstore lines, Loreal etc...are just as nice in my opinion, as the other brands. There might be some differences in shades available and maybe some things feel less nice going on, but give the same effect.

To me, a lot of it is packaging and marketing and how we fall for it. I am as guilty of that as anyone, but that does not mean its a must have.

My two cents, devalued for inflation

Hi!
First of all, welcome to the lounge!

I have to say, that I am a drugstore cosmetics girl, too. I don't have the time or the money to spend on the more expensive brands. We live on a pretty tight budget because I stay home to homeschool my kids. I guess look at it from a practical standpoint. For example, I could "splurge" and spend $26 for the little eyebrow kit that Benefit sells. Or I could buy a nearly identical kit, that does the same job just fine, for $5 at Wal-mart. The extra $21 could instead be spent on a splurge of taking my whole family to Coldstone Creamery for ice cream (with money left over), or be used for the practical purpose of paying a bill. That would cover more than half of my monthly internet bill, or buy over half a tank of gas.

As for quality, I can't say I've tried all the pricier cosmetics, but I have tried some when given things as gifts or had a gift certificate. I personally didn't see so much of a difference that it was worth spending the extra money. For me, the key questions with cosmetics are:

1. Can my eyes/contacts handle it? Many eye shadows and foundations wreak havoc on my eyes and my allergies.

2. Will it stay on? I get so busy when I play with our bands, that I don't have time to be re-checking and applying make-up throughout the night. Plus I kind of feel like a prima donna if I do that anyway. And not to forget the razzing from the guys like " Does having your lipstick match your drums helps your playing? "

3. Will it stay on? part 2. If I'm the drummer on a given night, especially in the summer, under stage lighting, I'm going to look like I'm melting. I don't want my make-up melting off and running in streaks down my face. I don't want raccoon eyes, either. That happens with both the sweating and with putting eyedrops in if I'm in contacts.

4. Value. I could never spend $20 on a make-up brush. I don't spend that on the art brushes I use, even with the level of detail I need to achieve. And it just doesn't make sense to spend a lot of money if you'll get significantly less product.

I guess that was my soapbox moment. Anyway, the make-up I buy is usually water and sweat resistant, and is easily found in the local drugstore. I do try different brands, and even if I'm not thrilled with something I'll finish or throw it in a gig bag as a back-up (I often run out the door bare-faced and make-up while my husband drives ), unless it really bugs my eyes or something.

I use the long wearing lipsticks like Max Factor Lipfinity. I prefer their Everlites because it's more comfortable. Or Endless Kissable matte lipstick which I think is Cover Girl. Both have decent vintage type reds and corals and I've gotten many compliments on them. Some girls don't like them because it makes them nervous that it doesn't just come off. I keep a chapstick in bag to remov any application mistakes. It'll take the stuff right off. Then I just tissue the chapstick off well and complete the fix.

Anyway, I'd love to chat more, but I my daughter and I have a date tonight since my husband is away with the Coast Gurad and my son is camping with his scout troop. I hope I didn't get too preachy. I have nothing against the higher end cosmetics or the girls that like and them. I just can't buy them myself and my practical side wouldn't let me even if I could. Trix

Enjoy your date, Trix.

I saw a special the other morning on I think ABC or NBC's morning show. They did test where they put expensive makeup on one half of various women and drugstore brands on the other half of the face. They didn't tell the women which side was which. At the end of the day they regrouped the women to ask which side of their face they prefered in regards to how the makeup held up. Most of them chose the drugstore side and were surprised to find out it was the drugstore makeup they picked as their preference. I use a mix of everything:

base: Nicole Miller foundation
eyeliner: I switch between Clinique and Loreal
Blush: Clinique
Eyeshadow: I usually brush on my blush there or have a Clinique one I like to use
Lipliner: Cheap drugstore one
Lipstick: Clinique, Loreal Endless, Mary Kay, Besame (on special occasions).
Powder (rarely used): Coty translucent (drugstore stuff)

I like Max Factor. Not only is it the original company that started out in Hollywood doing movie makeup, they have pretty good products! I used Max Factor's Lipfinity for quite a while whenever I was doing vintage. The only thing I didn't like was if I was too impatient putting it on I would end up with clotting lipstick (ick!). I used their powder and foundation in school as well.

I second max factor,which i just started using.

The best lipstick I have found is 'Revlon Red' which I borrowed from a friend at a reenacting event. Since then I have been hunting high and low to find it.

Now another friend has Clinique vintage red and I have to say I am a bit jealous of it.

I recently lost my best tube of Red lipstick and I am on the hunt for a nice vintage shade in a drugstore brand. Because I can magically lose a tube of lipstick... I don't like to make an investment.

'Revlon Red' should be easy to find since Revlon products are sold practically in every drugstore/chainstore. I bought a tube of 'Real Red' by Cover Girl last winter based on the site recommendation and found it was too bright for my taste. Recently I bounght 3 tubes of NYC Color's reds in Ruby, Retro Red, and Sheer Red. I can't say that I am overjoyed with them though, but my thinking was it was better to test out a difficult color match like red, than buy something more expensive. I think they were $1 a tube, which is hard to beat.

I used to only use very high end skincare and makeup (La Mer, Chanel etc) but can't afford it at all at the moment. I have found some remarkebly good skincare in Aldi! It is called Lacura and I have the Q10 night cream, day cream, the serum and wrinkle booster (the latter is in a syringe ) and I love all of them, I was so dubious because it is ultra cheap, ranging from £2 to £5 for the botox/wrinkle cream, but it does work! The serum is very good and can be used as a very light day cream for summer too, all soak up quickly and they are in glass jars. I can't recommend them enough!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/a...ensive-Serum-beats-Boots-Protect-Perfect.html

http://www.aldi.co.uk/uk/html/product_range/product_range_13639.htm

Dupes.....Or why I watch YouTube

Go to YouTube and watch videos on the dupes (duplicates) for the higher end cosmetics. You will be surprised how comperable the drugstore brands really are. I hope this helps. I wear drugstore brands most of the time. I do love Estee Lauder lipsticks, the texture is perfect for me, Lancome Dual Finish powder make-up, and Clinique eye shadows.
Good hunting and don't feel you need to use the higher priced cosmetics. Just use what works best for you.

I've been using Max Factor Masterpiece Max mascara since it was released, and I just love it. I can't compare it to any high-end mascaras though, as I've never considered buying one. Bourjois do some fantastic products - their Healthy Mix foundation is comparable to some high end liquid foundations in my opinion.

I do buy high-end makeup where I will save money - for example Urban Decay's Naked palettes work out to great value, especially when it's the only eyeshadow I'll use and it will last a good while.

Hello deary!!! Welcome!!!!

I don't really worry about the brand name or how expensive or how cheap it is, I more worry about the ingredients, if its organic/natural, if it works great, and looks great! I don't Really use make-up, i use make-up alternatives like pearl powder as face powder, my homemade rose powder blush, activated charcoal eyeliner/eyeshadow, and my favorite organic red lipstick! and my favorite thing about these things I use is the face that its more old-fashioned to use stuff like this (at-least for my 'soul-era' which is 1920's, makeup was just starting to appear on the market during that time I hope this helps enjoy learning and chatting here at the lounge!

wishing you a lovely day!!!!

I used to not really be interested in make up at all and would only buy cheapest of the cheap everything (except foundation because i have problematic skin) but about 3 years ago or so that changed. I still feel weird putting out $30 for a lipstick or $40 for a foundation or whatever it is I want to buy, but at the end of the day all my bills are paid, my family (husband, kitty-cat and me) has food, nobody's suffering because of my splurges and I like treating myself to nice things like that. If I suddenly lost my job or something else would put us on a tight budget I'd make due with Wet n Wild (don't mean to come of snarky, I actually love Wet n Wild!). I've been there before, and though I hope it won't happen again... you can never know what the future brings.

I like MAC -- middle of the road in expense and worth it to me.

Drugstore eyeshadow and lipstick is always nasty to me. The shadow is too powdered down and the lipstick is too greasy. I will spend $15 for a tube of lipstick that will last almost all day and I can't even feel it.

I bought Kay Von D felt tip eyeliners and I like them. I've heard people complain that the product doesn't dispense well, but I've had no problems with mine. Drug store felt tip liners always feather, don't dispense enough, and eventually turn blue on me throughout the day. Kat Von D does not feather and stays BLACK.

I bought the "120 pallette" eye shadow and I like it. It's cheap, but some of the shadows are really pigmented while others are powdered down.

Blush is something I can buy in the drug store. I like powdered down blush. MAC blush is too pigmented for my tastes, no matter how little I put on.

I once bought Besame and I wasn't impressed. Less impressed with it now that I have read Classic Beauty and picked out way too many errors in it

I use mostly drug store makeups except for my foundation b/c I have read an article saying that lower-end foundation use fillers that can damage your skin and because I'm about prevention and taking care of my skin I really don't want to take that chance. I balance my more costly foundation by using drug-store powder, mascara's, lipsticks, blush and eyeshadows (except I did splurge on the Naked 2 palette and so glad I did! I use it everyday, and based on price per shadows and the fact that I use them daily I think it's a good value). That being said, I'm a coupon queen with my makeup, I buy a lot of my cosmetics when there are "buy one get one 1/2 off" sales or when I get my coupons from Ulta. And considering the foundation I use lasts me about 2 or 3 times longer than the drugstore foundation I used in the past that it's a better value if you consider you're buying 1 bottle of high end for every 2 or 3 bottles of the $10-12 drugstore foundation, so it pretty much balances out.

Bottom line is that you find what you can save money on and if you find all drug-store makeup works for you, that's awesome. But budgeting and balancing is what makes me feel okay purchasing a higher-end foundation. Hope this helps .

Whenever I buy make up at the drugstore I always scoop out as many coupons as I can. For all of you US ladies, if you haven't yet: join the CVS beauty club! It's completely free, and every $50 you spend on anything beauty (lotions, creams, shampoos, hair accessories, shaving supplies, anything!) you get $5 back. Plus they always have awesome coupons, along with CVS's regular 25%-off-coupon they send out every other week or so, plus extrabucks.. see where I'm going with this? Hehe.

The only thing i will splurge on is my lipstick which has to be organic, for my everyday one i pay about $17 and for my good fancy one i pay about $26, but sense that is the only makeup i buy it doesn't hurt my budget

The funny thing about MAC is that it isn't all that much more expensive than drugstore brands. I use both MAC and drugstore lipsticks, simply because the drugstore is less than a mile away and the nearest place to buy MAC is a 30-45minute drive. The last lipstitcks I bought were a Revlon 24 hour lip (the kind that you paint on, let dry, then apply sealant) for $13.95 and a MAC lip for $15. I like each one and wear each one. To me, it's all about getting the right color, I don't care about the brand. The most expensive lip I've bought was Rockalily, but only because the shipping from UK cost more than the actual lip.

Drugstore all the way here, although my favorite brands all seem to have a habit of being discontinued. I used to love Coty 24 lipstick, but it went away in the '90s, and nothing has ever really replaced it, and I was a die-hard Max Factor user and now you can't get that in the States either. I rarely ever wear anything on my eyes, because between my glasses and my vast dark circles there doesn't seem to be much point, but when I do, Maybelline is good enough -- it usually dries up in the tube before I can use it all up and I have to throw it away, so I'm glad it's cheap.