After my big makeup sort out the other day (if you missed it you can catch it in my Instagram Stories Highlights), I realised that the bulk of my beauty stash, particularly the products I use day in day out, are high end. At first I didn’t think much of it, but the more I thought about it, the more I realised that over the years I’ve made a conscious decision to choose high end beauty products over drugstore alternatives.
Now, this doesn’t mean I don’t LIKE more affordable beauty products, or that there aren’t great products available in the aisles of Boots and Superdrug, it’s just that really, I’m a high end girl, and let me tell you why.
Product longevity. Now, obviously there are exceptions to this rule but generally speaking, I’ve found more expensive makeup wears longer on my skin. I’ve put this down to more expensive ingredients and less ‘filler’ ingredients, but perhaps also because the products tend to apply a little easier. When I use high end makeup, I can generally guarantee the products I apply will still look as fresh at 10pm as they did at 7am. I’ve used up countless Gosh Blushes over the years and yet I use NARS Laguna daily and have only had to repurchase it once.
Customer Support. When it comes to buying makeup and beauty products, you don’t generally expect to have to have much interaction with customer services, but sometimes things go wrong. With higher end makeup, you can generally expect a better level of support from the company than you can when you’ve spent £3 on a lipstick. A great example of this, I messaged L’Oreal last year, confused as to why their setting spray was leaving white chalky dots on my skin. After three weeks of trying to get an answer, I spent another two weeks in a back and forth with the Customer Service team before they eventually sent me a £5 ‘we’re sorry’ voucher that didn’t cover the cost of the product, and expired two weeks after I received it. Compare that to this week when the packaging of my Glossier Generation G lipstick broke, and within two hours of me tweeting about it, they’d sent out two replacements and a lip balm for my troubles on next day delivery. I don’t mind paying more for good customer service!
Quality Assurance. I don’t know about you, but whilst there are some products from the likes of Maybelline, Bourjois and Max Factor that I love, there are others that I think are downright awful. While it wouldn’t be fair to say that high end brands get it right all the time, I do think that there are brands (like NARS, Glossier, Urban Decay, Tarte and MAC) that very rarely get it wrong. I like knowing that when NARS launch a new foundation, I’m 99% sure I’m going to love it, and it won’t have been a waste of my money.
I end up spending less in the long run. During the peak of my drugstore shopping addiction, I’d pop into Boots for toothpaste and leave £100 lighter, regularly. Nowadays I think through my purchases more and when I choose to splurge on a high end beauty product, it’s well thought out and I know I’ll love it.
Are you a high end kinda gal or does the drugstore have your heart?