Your most pretentious beauty buy?

[DameDoom]

After going to a v posh Michelin star restaurant for my birthday this week, I have gone in to full on beauty wanker mode by dashing out to buy far too many Aesop products. I will have exfoliated myself to a skeleton at this rate and have even bought the post poo drops and animal wash just in case my elderly cats want a pampering... they definitely won't.
I need to be stopped.I am a proper twat.

Well I never there is an Aesop store in Glasgow. Off I trot with my birthday money in hand...

Thank the lord the oil burner is out of stock. I really want one.

Post-Poo Drops is actually hilarious!

I can’t see them eradicating one of DH’s humdingers!

I love Aesop too, especially the hand wash and hand cream (and their travel kits!) but their website irritates the hell out of me. Luckily I have 2 Aesp shops within walking distance of home so I just go to the shop and forget online instead.

But if you want to take it to the next level beyond Aesop, have a look at Haeckels. Unlike Aesop, their products are all natural and they take their green credentials VERY seriously. They actually turned down partnering with an airline for their amenity kits for this reason. I use Haeckels for almost all my skincare now - and even made the switch to soap in the shower as their vegan exfoliating soap bar is amazing. Sorry, I probably shouldn't be encouraging anyone to go down this expensve path! (Note: I don't work for Haeckels, I am just a skin care addicted groupie).

As for most pretentious product that I've (never) bought, that has to be Christian Louboutin nail polish or eye shadow.

SpeckledyHen went to 'The Man Behind The Curtain'. There were some unusual tasting dishes. Am not sure if I liked it or hated it. One thing tasted of an actual rubber tyre but had a tasty tentacle on top, another tasted of chippy scrapings but was posh with squid ink splattered over it. It was called 'emancipation of cod' which was a bit of a stretch.
Michael O'Hare himself squired that number to our table. He had guyliner and massive trainers on - have let him off on account of his fab scrubby handwash.

HundredMilesAnHour ooh, thanks for the enabling. Will have a good Google.

I’ve never heard of it but having just googled I can see there is a shop near me.

The hand cream blurb on the website was enough to put me off ever visiting, though...

‘Modest instruments to which we owe our daily comforts, the hands deserve care befitting their unflinching service.’

Please!

‘Modest instruments to which we owe our daily comforts, the hands deserve care befitting their unflinching service.’
I agree -tis' cringe in the extreme yet I am totally lapping the bolleaux up. They saw me coming.

my DD bought me a Aesop facial mist for my birthday. I don’t know if it’s doing me any good but it smells lovely.

My own most pretentious/extravagant beauty buy recently was the new Dyson Airwrap - less than a week after I bought the Dyson hairdryer. The price makes me wince every time I think about it but my hair looks and feels lovely so maybe it was worth it.

I was wandering through the beauty hall in Harvey Nichols on the way to the loo and was accosted by the Hourglass lady, who proceeded to 'demonstrate' how the solid gold mascara wand would magically curl my lashes in a way no normal mascara could, despite having no bristles and working entirely on some kind of magnetism. She was so nice and so enthusiastic that I actually pretended I could see a difference (I could see no difference) but I don't think I'll be shelling out £150 for a mascara set any time soon.

Hourglass Ambient Light powder, on the other hand...

Oooh! Does the Airwrap actually hold a curl, loonoon? I'm getting a bit anxious about how much hair my Babyliss Big Hair yanks out each time, so this paranoid slaphead might be persuaded...

Early adopter that I am () I've been over Aesop for several years. But still find myself lost down the rabbit hole of their occasional, beyond hipster, highly arty newsletters. All about obscure Japanese eateries and the philosophy behind the latest Melbourne coffee shop. (Very much giving the impression that selling scented products is merely incidental to their existence.) Lovely stuff though!

I ordered Gucci eyeliner, from their online shop, last week. I'm afraid it was mainly because it looked so pretty in the little glass jar. (Also because my wonderful eyeliner brush has been redundant lately.) It isn't a colour I usually wear. And may need additional products to look right ...

I’m still working on the Airwrap technique. GlasgowWorrier. It’s very different to anything I’ve used before. When I get it right it puts in very nice ringlet like curls which I then brush out into bouncy waves. I last did it `Monday and it still looks nice today.

I have been a Big Hair devotee for many years but this seems much gentler and my hair has no frizz when I use it so the waves are very smooth and shiny. It’s also giving me good rootlift - the holy grail of hair styling for me!

I bought it direct from Dyson and they offer a 35 day refund so I’ve got another 10 days to make up my mind whether I’m keeping it or not.

Hilarious OP

I bought some of that The Belief serum stuff but haven't used it yet. Scared it's gonna melt my face

Aesop is amazing. Their hand wash smells like happiness.

I love extravagant beauty buys  it's my weakness.
My faves -
Hourglass is my favourite make up brand and everything by them costs a small fortune.
L'Occitane hand cream
Face sheet masks
Eye of Horus mascara
L'Occitane precious cream
Go-To Exception Oil
MIA Hydrating Hair Balm
Not really beauty but Diptyque candles - there's nothing like it. They also make nice bar soap at $40 a pop

I plan on buying the air wrap as soon as there is stock around.

Possibly the Laura Mercier eyeliner I've just ordered...

(as recommended by GlasgowWorrier )

Before that, a boss bought me a L'Occitaine home fragrance box (the Orange one since you ask and I still use the box for Christmas decs several years on, including two house moves). ANYWAY. When the "home perfume" ran out, I bowled into their Brighton branch, picked up whatever the current version was (Mandarin I think) and tried not to weep when I handed over my card for what turned out to be a TWENTY POUND air freshener. Didn't even smell anything like the Orange one. A true victim of my own pretentiousness.

Ha! To be fair, dontcallmeCharlotte LM cake liner is the most cost effective item in my makeup bag, since it lasts for ages, is worn every day, and does exactly what it's supposed to unlike every single item I've ever bought from Charlotte Tilbury don't start me on Charlotte Tilbury

We have a very nice hipster coffee shop locally, which uses Aesop handwash in the loos. When I wince at spending £3 on a flat white, at least I know my hands will smell nice for a while.

I love Aesop. I live around the corner from them in Marylebone so it’s inevitable.
About the question? Omg! My entire life is a pretentious twatery.
Tom Ford, Hourglass, Surratt makeup is nothing.
I had a perfume made for me, some years ago as it was recommended but another pretentious writer in The Sunday Times at the beat of £1k. Don’t even like that smell anymore.

Glasgow, I’m not Charlotte Tilbury fan either. Everything, I tried is “ok but not worth the price tag”.

Mine is pretentious in a different way because it is not expensive.

I blend my own completely natural 'hair tea' to colour my hair. It turns my hair from grey to a dark golden blonde.

I use a blend of camomile, red bush tea, coffee and turmeric. Perhaps I should market it? Wow, I feel like Gwyneth Paltrow (ahem, not!).

The Aesop post-poo drops are properly amazing. I bought some for DH as a jokey Christmas present ages ago and was so impressed I got a second bottle for the downstairs loo. Lasts ages and gets rid of bad smells immediately. Much more effective than air freshener.

My hand is now hovering over ‘add to cart’ for the post poo drops... SOMEBODY STOP ME!!!

When I was recently buying some Aesop handcream for a present I was so disconcerted by the post poo drops which seemed to insistently top every internet search that I almost couldn’t go ahead with the purchase. Can hardly believe that there are two purchasers on the thread!