Make up and skin care etc - do you get what you pay for?

[pussinboots61]

Every time I get tempted to buy cheaper make up, it doesn't feel the same and I end up going back to Clinique. I get vouchers for cheaper stuff and then I end up wasting it, moreso with makke up but also with skin care.

Does anyone else do this?

Somebody said on here that the quality of budget makeup has improved dramatically and I very much agree. The displays of expensive makeup in Boots does fascinate me, but I manage to not indulge.

For skin care, it depends what you mean by good. I would look at the ingredients and stay away from petrochemicals and mineral oil.
I am very happy with my MooGoo full cream moisturiser that I use on my face only that costs £12. It will last me 18 months.

Sometimes yes, sometimes no. The quality of lower price makeup has improved no end over the last few years.

Personally I just get what I know works - mostly for me unfortunately that is higher end brands but I would happily buy cheaper if I could find things that don't bring me out in a rash (I am very, very allergic!)

I’m sure you’ll get a lot of people who disagree and insist their expensive skincare is sooo good (a friend who was quite serious about her £300 a tub moisturiser being the holy grail!) but I have very good skin using tretinoin with a Lidl night cream that costs £1.49, and I use the same cream in the morning with a Nivea 50spf sunscreen.

I think with makeup and skin care often the feel of it is nice but not really related to how well it does it's job. You pay for a nice feel (and sometimes scent), but really often more basic makeup will still apply as well and stay on your face as well. Basic skincare will still produce nice results. You also pay for lovely looking and feeling packaging, but again this does not change performance.

I totally agree that budget beauty has vastly improved in quality over the last decade.

Sometimes.

But a lot of expensive skincare is full of fragrance and gimmicky ingredients...

But paying more definitely makes it easier to find good products (at least IME)

I think make up has improved hugely in recent years and affordable skin care too. I have used Estée Lauder Night Repair morning and night for over 30 years and in my mid 50’s now have no wrinkles at all. I know genetics play a big part and I don’t smoke but did grow up in Australia and have spent my live outside doing horses.

I started using it in my early 20’s when I walked into a department store with a bad burn on my arm and the man on the Estée Lauder counter put some Night Repair on it. The section with the Night Repair on it healed up far faster and better. I was amused to see my 21 year old daughter has started using it although I have never suggested it to her. She always tell me her friends go on about how I have no wrinkles.

I bought a YSL eyeshadow palette a few weeks back and don’t need to put eye primer on to get a good colour pay off where as a cheaper brand that I use I do have to use it.

I always used and have loved luxury creams and packaging. From 16-30, I only used Chanel make-up. In my 30s I moved on to La Mer. I'm now mid-forties and I use No7 brow pencil and eyeliner! I've NO idea what happened along the way, but arguably I should be using Chanel now at my age and going for all the Hydradermie facials I had in my 20s and 30s.

I have a feeling it had something to do with a dermatologist telling me that most high street face creams don't really do anything to your skin because if they could technically change or alter the skin they would be classed as a drug. At that time I was trying Botox and fillers and using it in conjunction with Vitamin C serum, salicylic acid and AHA/PHA renewal creams, retinol cream and 50+ factor sun screens and, well, I looked amazing! After a while, life got in the way (own business and kids) and my serums oxidized.

I don't do all that now, but will definitely get back into it.

Just use Clinique, you are constantly posting about it for years

I love Boots foundation but still use Estée Lauder double wear to cover patches of bad skin from acne. I haven't found a dupe that covers pigmentation so well. The concealers I've tried are heavier than the EL foundation. I use any brand of blusher and eyeshadow but only the urban decay eyeshadow primer keeps my eyeshadow in place all day.

My skincare is a mixed bag but mostly cheap. I use a lot of skin theory products which are great but the Antonia Burrell face mask, Oskia renaissance mask and Oskia bedtime beauty boost moisturiser can be pried from my cold dead hands. All three make a noticeable difference to my skin when I use them.

A lot depends on your own skin. I have good skin(my hair is a whole different situation)and I find the boots botanics range excellent along with Liz Earle cleanser. I also agree with a pp that moogoo products are really good. I love their facial scrub and it lasts almost a year. Years ago when I hadn't two cents to rub together I had my head melted by a work colleague who only used very expensive products and kept going on about them. Yet she smoked and did sunbeds so was doing so much damage herself.

Clinique is a rip off imo but if its works for you it works for you

I have found that it depends what skincare and makeup items you’re talking about…
Skincare:-
I live in Aus and have been diligent about using sunscreen since my early teens. It has definitely paid off. While my skin is actually really sensitive, it is very, very good for my age (51). I am not a sun-worshipper or smoker, but I rarely drink enough water…. I my good skin to having swapped to Korean and Japanese skincare products years ago. I find that they have high-end ingredients for much less cost and there is so much more competition that they have sales all the time and they have to be effective.
I use a Vitamin C or antioxidant serum they help boost the efficacy of my sunscreen and help keep my skin tone bright and clear. Western Serums are usually 15-30ml, and K-beauty usually 50-100ml.
I switched to Korean Sunscreens years ago because they have newer technology and their formulas are so much nicer to work with. I don’t need a day cream if I use the right sunscreen.
I have recently started using a very effective eye cream too. At night I double-cleanse with either an oil cleanser or makeup balm followed by a gentle foaming cleanser. While I do prefer some to others, as long as it gets the job done, I don’t spend much at all here because it’s washed straight down the drain. I don’t use an eye makeup remover because the oil/balm does the trick. I use a K-Beauty dupe for the Estée Lauder Night Repair. It’s about half the price and the bottle has about three times as much in it. I use tretinoin cream. It’s on prescription and not expensive. Then eye cream and a gentle ceramide cream. I only buy products when they are on sale. (Often BOGOF)
Because my skin is pretty good, I don’t use a foundation every day. When I do, I like the Fenty Body Sauce which is supposed to be a body foundation and it comes in a giant tube. Apart from that, it’s drugstore. The difference between drugstore and highend mascara is so minimal these days. Maybelline, L’Oreal & Lancôme are all the same parent company. Revlon lipsticks are as good as any high end one. I don’t see the point in paying for packaging.
Hope that helps

After a lifetime of experimentation I don't think you do get what you pay for. I have some high end products that are amazing but I have given many, many more away because they didn't suit me or weren't that great. Equally I have some cheapo stuff that I rebuy over and over again because they work really well for me.

Some examples are Natasha Denona eyeshadow palettes - absolutely gorgeous colours and great pigmentation. They cost a fortune and crumble in the pan within months of purchase making a mess and contaminating the other shades. I won't be repeating those expensive mistakes again. Bobbi Brown compacted powder make up does the same.

Charlotte Tilbury lipsticks - look great at first but are so drying I find them unwearable. Her eye sticks also dry out within months and become very scratchy.

OTOH I get on really well with Garnier micellar water, a £5 bottle lasts for ages and doesn't aggravate my sensitive skin. I also like Kiko eye pencils and eyeshadows , again they cost about £5 and don't crumble or dry out even when carried around in my bag for months.

one high end product I love is the Jones Road Miracle balm. There is a Makeup Revolution product that's meant to be a dupe but having tried and tested them one against the other the MR ones were passed on and my Jones Road collection keeps growing.

It depends on what you mean by high end. I would say that Clinique is mid range. Brands such as Barbara Stern are not worth the money.

If you want to replicate a high end product look at the actives and check other products with it.

I don't think I have ever bought any really high end skincare or make up. I have a Chanel lipstick that I paid £30 for a couple of years ago, but it isn't any better quality than my Boots no 7 or my Clinique Chubby stick. I bought it for the colour.

I think the most expensive skincare I have used was Virgin Vie - remember them? Boots no 7 Protect and Perfect and Nivea Cellular Luminous 630 Anti Dark-Spot serum and moisturiser which I only buy when it is on special offer.

I am lucky that I have been blessed with even tempered skin, so I can use any brand of skincare without any problems. I only wear foundation on the one day a week I am in the office and when I go out. I don't use concealer or eye make up (I have dark eyes and eyelashes and hate the feel of mascara, plus my eyes are old and wrinkly and I don't want to draw attention to them), but I love lipstick.

I don't think so.

I am 43 with dry and dehydrated skin and have managed to sort a regimen with The Ordinary products alongside a massive tub of Cerave moisturiser and some collagen pills.

My skin has never looked better.

I follow a Cassandra Bankson and she always says La Met is Nivea plus seaweed.

As long as you have sunscreen, cleanser and add peptides, ceramides and retinol I think you are good to go at my age.