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 ?

Im not sure anyone without a chemistry degree could tell apart from the fact that the first list contains wanky sounding ingredients like "eau de mer" aka water

The three cheap products I use that work wonders are Vaseline at night. I used Tretoinin for a couple of years and it did nothing so went back to Vaseline and my skin is beautiful.

I've replaced all face powder with talcum powder and my face looks lovely all day, no shine, doesn't block pores and is like having your face airbrushed.

Rimmel hazel eyebrow pencil used as a lip liner. As I've aged my lips haven't lost fullness but they have lost definition so I outline with an eyebrow pencil and gently smudge the outline and it stays on all day and my lips look how they did ten years ago.

TBH the only thing I think Ive found a real difference where pricier is better is perfume.
The cheaper brands just dont seem to have the same staying power.

@HermioneWeasley Which Kiko eyeliners are on a par with the VB ones please? I love the VB ones as they smudge really well, but they are a bit £££ and I'd like to find an alternative cheaper version.

@Softdressesandblouses Agree about Chanel nail polishes. I had a brilliant conversation with a gay guy on a cruise once about the merits of various nail varnishes. He pointed me in the direction of Jessica and Nails Inc, and I have never looked back.

Yep, agree with both Jessica and Nails Inc too!

Some good tips on here, but again I got sucked in and brought elf primer the green one thats supposed to make foundation last all day, well not on me, I have some small redness/ veins on my chin and red nose in winter, nothing will cover that lasts.

I remember Jessica nail polish The place i used to go for for waxes (now closed and gone) used to sell it. It was great.............really lasted on my nails for days

I have given up my £130-odd Skinceuticals serum for one by Nip & Fab for c£20 and my skin looks and feels just as good.

I also have a Victoria Beckham eyeliner that I loathe as too much goes on and I can't use it sparingly unlike my cheapo one from Superdrug.

There are loads of examples of the much cheaper version being better. Usually what you're paying for is branding and marketing rather than superior product.

I never understand why people buy generic bog standard stuff for a higher price, yet it might as well be from Primark! Eg. A black jumper from CoS that looks like you could just get it from anywhere.

@JenniferBooth You can get Jessica and Nails Inc polishes on a fab site called Nail Polish Direct (www.nailpolishdirect.co.uk). I have no connection with the site, just have used them for a long time and they are really good. They have some great deals usually.

Thank You

The best primer I’ve ever used is face powder, lightly brushed over the face before you apply foundation. It was a tip from a famous MUA whose name now escapes me. and is probably the most useful one I’ve ever tried.

My go-to loose face powder is actually Lily Lolo’s mineral foundation, I prefer it to regular powder and it works with this too. Not sure about other mineral foundations.

Actually after years of buying cheap black jumpers that hang badly and bobble I spent £50 on an & Other Stories one 3 years ago and it still looks amazing and is a really good shape.My teens try to steal it.

L'oreal hair oil is just as good as kerastase hair oil which is about 5x the price!

Yep- L'oreal owns Kerastase - thats why they do very similar lines but aimed at different price points

I use the hydraluminous foundation and get compliments on my skin all the time. It's better than Bobbi Brown, MAC, etc....best foundation I've ever had.

I didn't know that, I will have to investigate if any l'oreal shampoos are kerastase shampoo dupes. Thanks.

Many of their lines are very similar, in fact, they are so similar, for a while I thought how on earth are they blatantly copying them until I googled it 😆

I recently went to Selfridges with a friend to find some good quality jeans...

All their brands literally start at about £280! We tried a few on and they all looked a bit meh.

We then went into the nearby M&S and tried on so many that looked great, it was hard to narrow down what to buy. We settled for two £29.99 pairs!

I'll always remember a conversation with an independent clothes store owner in our town. He'd gone to a supplier in Asia to source ladies underwear, and they made items for mass market places like M&S as well as high end like La Perla etc. He was shocked to find out that there was no difference in quality between any item, but they could just charge masses more for a name.

Do you buy it online?

Has anyone found a good dupe for the Charlotte Tilbury nude face stick?

Foundation. I had a L'Oréal True Match that was a perfect match for my skin. Snobbery got the better of me and I persevered through three or four more expensive ones, each time carefully trying to match the colour (Nars, Laura Mercier, YSL). All of them were a worse colour match and none performed better than the L'Oréal. Finally gave in and replaced them with the original £10 L'Oréal.

Liz Earle Cleanse and polish and the Aldi Lacura Hot Cloth cleanser.

I use both, both do the job well. Aldi is 3.99 compared to 30 quid for the same size.

Shame it isn't a permanent item in Aldi, as I really loathe paying so much for the Liz Earle one.

The Victoria Beckham sparkly eyeliner is disappointing. The sparkle falls on my cheeks and it’s no different to any other eyeliner.

The NO7 one is reasonable