Has anyone else noticed the rising cost of higher-end make-up?

[IslaLewis]

Cost of higher end make up- going up and up.

I used to buy lots of higher end brands but didn't feel they were a rip off (I'm excluding most of Dior and Chanel here and other very £££ brands.)

But now so much make up is pricy.

I buy Bobbi Brown foundation - was £25 for ages now over £40 gradually crept up.
Nars blusher- £20-ish now £35
Lancome mascara - now £25+

I've swapped the foundation for Loreal for everyday use.
Pencils like lip liner and eye pencil- Elf and Loreal.
Mascara - Loreal Panorama
Blusher- still stuck as I am super pale so still Nars and Laura Mercier.

Has anyone else noticed this?
I now think twice before buying and in any case I just buy when it's run out.

There are more/larger drugstore brands (NYX, Revolution, MCo beauty, Primark own brand stuff) so brands that were previously among the cheapest have the space to move upwards, meaning the brands above them do too.

The price increase of 40% from £25 to £35 over ten years seems in line with other “luxury” goods (eg if a steak and chips was £20 ten years ago and £28 today, I don’t think that would be surprising).

That's a pity. I used to use Clinique too but my shade was discontinued. I think we're all going to be priced out of the make-up market soon and 'no makeup' will be the norm driving beauty standards right back down to where they should be. One can dream.

I dread to think of what 'Primark' make up must be like but I could be wrong. Some times Primark has some hidden gems, i'd be delighted if they're make up is actually worth a try.

It's the 'cheap' stuff that amazes me. No such thing as a cheapie mascara now, absolute entry level appears to be 12.99, and they're shaped like zeppelins. Who even has that space in their make up bag?

I still have makeup from about 12 years ago and it hasn't killed me yet.

What about it do you dread - that it wouldn’t last, that it would give you spots etc?

I agree, I bought a Dior highlighter palette on the recommendation of someone on MN and thought £47 was reasonable 😂

It's lovely to wear and because I bought it at the H Beauty event, I got a load of freebies which made it a bargain!

I don't buy much and use every scrap of it - even a lip brush to get the stubs of lipsticks (there's so much left). It's a small pleasure and I like it.

The Maybelline Sky High mascara is decent and can be picked up at around £10.
Chanel has a lovely feel for stick blushers - they literally glide on and feel luxurious, but eyeshadows aren't worth the money imo. You can get high street ones with equally good pigment. And their nail varnish is no better than Essie or Opi in my view. Sometimes you are just paying for the name and better packaging.
That said, I still think Dior lip glow (the tinted balm) is gorgeous and still worth the money. But yes, these are considered purchases and not things I'd just buy on a whim.

Perfume is the thing that gets me - in the not too distant past you would pay up to £100 for a good sized bottle and now they are often pushing £150 +

I agree the prices are crazy.
Charlotte Tilbury was recently saying dupes could not compare to originals and it wasn't possible to get the same result.
But I bought the Revolution foundation stick after finishing the CT one. It performs the same and was £10 instead of £39.

There are some beauty influencers on Instagram who compare product ingredients and recommend dupes with similar chemical makeups, I find this a good way to get dupes as similar as possible to the original product.

I also feel there are more ethical issues with big brands- CT recently dropped their animal cruelty certification, many big brands test on animals or support companies with questionable ethics. Smaller brands I've checked out seem to be much more ethical which is important to me.

CT is high on her own (Darling!) supply, though

100% agree re instagram recommendations - and Cosmo has been known to mention fragrance and beauty similarities in mainstream articles.

(a prior link I posted to one such article about M+S scent was hidden, so I won't again, but google will suffice!)

Boots £10 Tuesday is your friend. I buy all the bits and pieces I need in the £10 Tuesday offers (they often have high-end stuff on offer too, you just have to be quick!) so I have the ££ for the high-end stuff I want! Having said that, I never pay full price for the high-end stuff either. Always keep an eye out for offers so I have what I need in stock. You just have to be smarter in how and when you buy.