Ever gone more expensive only to find out no better than cheaper stuff ?

[Frostine]

I got taken along by an advertisment for Phillip Kingsley shampoo / conditioner which was £72 & £52 . Been using for several weeks now and it's made not an iota of a difference to my hair which used to have £3 / £4 spent on it .
What did you buy thats no better than the cheaper stuff ?

Hunter wellies. Was delighted to own them but in all honestly the ones my husband got from Lidl for £6 are much nicer.

We're all different. If we weren't there'd only be one cleanser, one moisturiser etc.

For me tret has made a terrific difference (for the better) to the texture of my skin. But if I use castor oil, lanolin or even squalane (yeah, I've tried them all, I'm a product junkie) it's pepperoni pizza with extra sweetcorn face.

I'm a die hard Clinique fan but after reading this I'm going to check out SuperDrive vitamin E range and the cleansing balm because my take the day off with run out soon.

@Gymnopedie, I agree. It was the point I was trying to make really. So, yes, for some Tret can be the answer, for some it's really not. It depends on the skin and the person's skincare concerns. People's skin can change over their lifetimes too. So as a result, I must admit, I get a little irritated if people say some is the 'only' thing that works and the rest is 'snake oil' simply because of their own experiences with products.

The reason I said snake oil is not because of my experience. I should have said that for anti aging specifically, Tret is the only thing proven to work, along with sunscreen. It's FDA certified, which all the other expensive creams aren't. So it may not work for everybody, but on a population level, it is the only thing that does.
Of course, like you, many may not be interested in anti-aging. I myself didn't start using Tret for wrinkles. But given by the rise in the use of Botox, many are.

Balm cleansers: most are some combination of sunflower oil, sweet almond oil, wax/synthetic wax and fragrance. There's no functional difference between the cheaper ones and more expensive ones, I like the M&S Pure one (£12).

Face oils: many are just squalane or jojoba oil with fragrance and an insane markup.

Anything with active ingredients (retinol, vitamin C etc): if it doesn't have the percentage on, assume it's low.

Learn to decipher an ingredients list, work out what agrees with your skin, and be consistent.

The problem is how do you decipher an ingredients list.

This is a list - expensive or cheap? Effective or not?

"Aqua/Water/Eau, Glycerin, Maris Aqua/Sea Water/Eau de Mer, Sodium Acrylates Copolymer, 1,2-Hexanediol, Cellulose, Microcrystalline Cellulose, Propanediol, Glyceryl Glucoside, Ethylhexyl Polyhydroxystearate, Oryza Sativa (Rice) Bran Oil, Squalane, Lecithin, Sodium Phytate, Citric Acid, Sodium Hyaluronate, O-Cymen-5-Ol, Hydrolyzed Rice Protein, Maltodextrin, Sodium Citrate, Sodium Hydroxide, Hydrolyzed Adansonia Digitata Extract, Porphyridium Cruentum Extract, Phragmites Communis Extract, Poria Cocos Extract, Backhousia Citriodora Leaf Extract, Sodium Benzoate, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice Powder, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, Hydrogenated Lecithin, Tocopheryl Acetate, Xanthan Gum, Alanyl Glutamine, Arginine, Oligopeptide-177, Phenylalanine, Potassium Sorbate, Sisymbrium Irio Seed Oil, Sodium Chloride, Epigallocatechin Gallatyl Glucoside."

"Aqua, Ethylhexyl Methoxycinnamate, Dicaprylyl Carbonate, Glycerin, Hydrogenated Polydecene, Cetearyl Alcohol, Butyl Methoxydibenzoylmethane, Dimethicone, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Butylene Glycol, Bisabolol, BHT, Caprylyl Glycol, Cetyl Alcohol, Hydrogenated Polyisobutene, Niacinamide, Phenoxyethanol, Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis Oil, Sodium Polyacrylate, Sodium Stearoyl Glutamate, Stearyl Caprylate, Stearyl Heptanoate, Sucrose Polystearate, Tocopherol, Tocopheryl Acetate, Zingiber Officinale Root Extract."

Here's another - expensive or cheap?

How on earth are we supposed to know

Bought a Diptyque candle one Christmas and could only smell it when you stood right next to it whereas one from John Lewis smelled stronger when it was unlit.

@Ciri INCIDecoder is really good for helping to understand an ingredients list, and can give you an idea of whether a product has ingredients that are likely to agree with or irritate your skin. If you're looking at a product that makes claims about what it contains, knowing how high up the ingredients list it comes gives a good indication of how much is actually in there, and whether it's likely to be effective.

For your two examples, the first looks like a hydrating serum as it's got glycerin as the second ingredient and other hydrators like squalane and seed oils. It's not a bargain basement cheap product, but whether it agrees with your skin will depend on you. The second is sunscreen, and probably a K-beauty one as the active ingredient is described as 'cosmetically elegant'. Probably on the hydrating side thanks to the sweet almond oil, so more for dry than oily skin types.

I don't know if that's helpful or not, but that's what jumps out to me!

Moisturiser: My skin hates expensive ones, another vote for Superdrug Vitamin E range.

Other than that, having tried basically every concealer on the market, I have given up and continue to buy the Nars one, and nothing has come close to how the Laura Mercier powder looks/wears on me.
Kerastase was the one that hurts the most though - desperate to find a cheaper dupe (I use the Genesis range) so any suggestions please chuck them my way! I find that I swap to a cheaper version, its good for a bit and then after a while my hair starts to go limp ..

Interesting. So I'm not sure those sites help either then. The first one is a £145 high end moisturiser (augustinus bader). The second one is a £2.45 Simple moisturiser (vital vitamin day cream). It does contain sunscreen but I suspect most "this does everything" moisturisers do.

I think all you can do is try a variety of products and see which works best for you. This is harder for skincare though since it can take weeks for changes to be noticeable.

It's the No7 Hydraluminous skin perfector, sorry should have said. I gently tap and pat it on which gives perfect coverage for me. If you're looking for more coverage the foundation in the same range is lovely. I have rosacea and my skin tolerates both products really well.

@Lentilweaver

The reason I said snake oil is not because of my experience. I should have said that for anti aging specifically, Tret is the only thing proven to work, along with sunscreen. It's FDA certified, which all the other expensive creams aren't. So it may not work for everybody, but on a population level, it is the only thing that does.

The thing is aging can do far more to the skin than simply cause wrinkles and collagen loss. With age can come drier skin and skin sensitivity and following on from this multiple issues such as inflammation and infections. Tret is not the best treatment for these particular issues. What is more AFAIK Tret still is not approved in this country (uk) simply for anti aging purposes.

For years I used expensive shampoos and conditioners and swore that anything cheaper made my hair frizz. But as I got older my hair got dryer and dryer and none of the expensive brands seemed to help. For at least two years now I’ve been using a regime of a shampoo bar from gruum (got one free and it worked, to buy costs £8 a bar but I can usually get it cheaper on offer) plus Garnier’s banana hair food (a fiver in Savers) and my thick coarse hair has never been healthier or shiner.

I’ve never tried tret but when due to the same ageing/hormones I started getting terrible acne, the GP prescribed Skinoren cream (azelaic acid) and that did the trick so I use that once a day and get it on prescription. The rest of my skincare regime is Cetaphil, so again, pretty cheap. Anything more expensive brings the spots back.

The WOW straightening spray does work, but no better than John Frieda 3 Days Straight.

Banana shampoo etc is half price at Boots at the moment.

Never used it before. Like you, Ageing has dried it out. Have you used it on dyed hair?

I tried all the expensive shampoos and conditioners - up to and including Alterna Caviar - to control my thick and unruly hair. The usual, forgot to take anything away, bought the cheap Tresemme 2in1. Best thing ever.

Unfortunatley they recently reformulated it and now it has a silicone in it. Silicones give me cystic spots on my scalp so back to the drawing board.

The hunt for the perfect sunscreen for the face always seems to be a holy grail on the S&B boards, but I don't find any difference between cheaper and more expensive ones. Garnier super uv factor 50 in the summer and Inkey List factor 30 in the colder months work fine for me. Although I'm pale and have dry skin, so the hunt for a non-shiny sunscreen without a white cast is a non-issue!

https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.colorwowhair.com

I like this game! is the first one luxury brand and the second drugstore?

Or if you holiday in Soain , Canaries , Essence is in most beauty shops , they do some great stuff that Wilko didn't sell and we'll worth taking a punt on at around 5 - 10 euros . I always stock up

Oops sorry , didn't rtft I see buying Essence abroad has already been mentioned

Where do you get it from please?

The first cost £145.00 and the second cost £2.45