Over rated luxury items?

[RoyalFamilyFan]

What things are luxury items that you think are okay, but are overrated?

For me, it is Molton Brown products. I have a relative who keeps buying me these for presents. They are fine, I use them happily, but no way are they worth the cost.

Absolutely love high thread count bedding, Molton Brown hand wash, and my Mulberry handbags. Think Dyson is defo over rated - bloomin thing cost a fortune compared to my Shark and is not as good. Don’t rate Hotel Chocolat either, nothing like as nice as some cheaper brands.

I absolutely love Molton Brown and ask for it as a gift.

I obviously can't disagree it's expensive but I need use only a small amount and the scent fills the room and stays on my hands. A bottle easily lasts 3 months.

I'm also the owner of several Mulberry bags that are beautifully made and have lasted yonks.

Dyson is my brand that sucks me in (pun intended) at vast expense and never fails to disappoint. I tried DSis's hairdryer and not only did it take as long to dry my hair (I know!) but it stripped the moisture to the extent it was dry and static.

Method.I know they are better on the environment than normal cleaning brands but they dont work as well imo.The clementine surface spray is especially shit.

Yep, I have to agree on the M&S front. My friend is a farmer who sells to M&S, they are incredibly exacting from the food to the packaging to the production standards. They don't seem (admittedly anecdotal) to shaft their producers on cost which is reflected in the consumer price.

@IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads cashmere is made from goats who shed their winter coat, farmers comb the coats for the hair and that’s what makes cashmere. Nothing is being killed for cashmere, it’s just a byproduct.

Similarly for wool, sheep need their coats removing to prevent fly strike in the summer. A by product.

@Exhausteddog

I thought that although some factories produce food for multiple outlets it doesn't necessarily mean they use exactly the same product/recipe for each?

Exactly. It's like we could both make lasagne in my kitchen, but to our own recipe, with our chosen ingredients, 'sourced' from wherever we like.

Whoever is saying M&S food is not made in factories that make for others - absolute nonsense!

TheSpottedZebra, do you actually do work in these factories?? We do, and the factories are not contractually allowed to work for anyone else, and this is inspected regularly. So no it isnt nonsense they are very exacting, but then you probably know more!!!!!!!! Many factories make for others,but NOT M&S.

Mumsnet is hilarious! Tons of threads about how nasty Bayless & Harding is & how it's a Molton Brown rip off & now tons of posts about MB being overrated & overpriced...

I like MB but prefer Aesop hand wash.
We use only L'occitane bar soap & shower gels. We've given up on most other brands now as they just dry out my skin. So for us they're worth it.

A few years ago I came to the conclusion that I would FAR rather have just exactly the thing I like & use than a wide range of more mediocre products & I started shopping that way.

So this means I use Kevin Murphy hair products & I always have a shampoo & conditioner & a heat protector spray. These are my only hair products.

I like L'occitane so have a large bar of soap in a soap dish by the bathroom sink & one in the shower & 1 bottle of L'occitane shower gel.

1 bottle of Aesop hand wash at the kitchen sink

We don't have shelves & cupboards of extra products anywhere & I am rarely tempted to buy these things unless something runs out.

We shop for food between aldi & m&s each week & I rate them both. I never bother with any of the other supermarkets.

I have a single makeup bag worth of makeup. I have particular items I use daily & that's it. Again no huge stockpile of unused or unwanted products.

I'm in my 50s now & prefer to spend my money this way.

Having said all of that I'm not a fan of designer brand handbags. I just can't get my head around them. .It's partly the price & partly I don't want to wear or carry something that's so obviously a brand. I have spent up to 1k on a bag but it's not any of the big names. Maybe I need to try one before I write them off!

@WowIlikereallyhateyou

TheSpottedZebra, do you actually do work in these factories?? We do, and the factories are not contractually allowed to work for anyone else, and this is inspected regularly. So no it isnt nonsense they are very exacting, but then you probably know more!!!!!!!! Many factories make for others,but NOT M&S.

I've worked in food manufacturing for decades, for brands, retailers (working on 'own brands'), and for contract manufacturers. So yes, I know what I'm talking about.

Maybe a factory works for some retailers but not M&S, but it doesn't follow (and isn't true) that M&S foods are not made in factories that make for others. They are, all the time.

Maybe it depends on the type of food @TheSpottedZebra and @WowIlikereallyhateyou?

The spottedZebra, our business relocates factories, and installs new machinery in these places, we are in them daily/weekly, and trust me the ones we are in make for M&S only, they may have other locations where they make for others, but they stipulate they are to be the sole contractor.
Whereas for example some of the indian food manufacturers we work for make for morrisons,asda,sainburys just different packaging.
So whether it does or doesn’t make sense to you,it happens,period.

As soon as I read the thread title the words "Molton Brown" popped into my head

I mean, it's fine to like it. But I don't know why it is perceived as a luxury product as it's clearly the same ingredients as the cheapest supermarket products.

One of my good friends develops food for M&S, she basically used to go to other supermarkets buy all the similar food. They’d then replicate their favourite ones for M&S.

I worked on a farm that packed eggs for M&S and other supermarkets. The eggs for M&S came from one chicken shed, all the other supermarkets were supplied from the other shed. Exactly the same thing was happening, M&S just came from a different building essentially.

@forcedfun I like the smell of various Molton Brown products. If you give me some I will use them. And the smell is better than my 50p ALDI handwash. But I don't think it is better than cheaper nice handwashes.
I notice the number of people saying they use bar soap. I couldn't buy handwash at the beginning of the first lockdown so I bought bars of soap. I was shocked at how long they lasted. I had forgotten.

I have handwash in my downstairs loo because there is nowhere to put a bar of soap without it sliding down into the washbasin, not even in a soap dish, and handwash is easier in the kitchen, but we only use bars of soap for handwashing, showering and bathing in the bathroom, never shower gel.

If anyone give me shower gel I use it instead of bubble bath.

I have handwash in my downstairs loo and the kitchen. But since the lockdown experience now use bar soap everywhere else.

@Ylvamoon

Mulberry anything, 99.8976999% you see people carrying around is actually fake. I used to work for a charity and we always verified donations with them.... I hate it it's a handbag / purse/ whatever FFS! You get a nicer one for less without having to buy it off some slimy dealer.

Mulberry don’t authenticate used bags for anyone.

If you received bags at the charity I expect it was entirely due to the fact that they were fake. You can’t take that the mean that nearly all mulberry bags in general circulation are fake… that makes no sense at all.

[quote Missatkins]Agent Provocateur lingerie... Who the hell would pay £295 for this..

www.agentprovocateur.com/apm0080001710-babeta-demi-cup-underwired-bra-in-black-13020[/quote]
A bloke...

love M&S food, not everything they do is great of course but a lot of it is worth it - don't get there very often (that's probably for the best!).

Extremely fancy hotels.

I have very rarely been somewhere very fancy - eg., for my honeymoon, when a lovely friend took me as a treat - and, unfortunately, I found the whole experience awkward and intrusive rather than lovely and spoiling! I am just too much of a pleb to like the level of service that seems to be considered necessary. It makes me feel as if I can't relax in my own room/park my own car.

I probably would buy fancy candles if I had the money, though. I know a lot of people who say Aldi or whatever do nice ones. I find them headache-inducing.

@WowIlikereallyhateyou

The spottedZebra, our business relocates factories, and installs new machinery in these places, we are in them daily/weekly, and trust me the ones we are in make for M&S only, they may have other locations where they make for others, but they stipulate they are to be the sole contractor. Whereas for example some of the indian food manufacturers we work for make for morrisons,asda,sainburys just different packaging. So whether it does or doesn’t make sense to you,it happens,period.

Goodness. I literally worked for M&S.

[quote elbea]@IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads cashmere is made from goats who shed their winter coat, farmers comb the coats for the hair and that’s what makes cashmere. Nothing is being killed for cashmere, it’s just a byproduct.

Similarly for wool, sheep need their coats removing to prevent fly strike in the summer. A by product.[/quote]
My post about cashmere wa only to say that it find it so soft that I damage it easily.

Nothing about its production. That’s a whole different thread.

Im not denying that it is soft, light and warm. Im just saying that - in my experience - it’s not very robust.

Elemis, kiehls. Both within the £30-£50 mark for a large pot of cleanser/moisturiser and really works well.