Looking for Something Special?

Is High Street Makeup Becoming Too Expensive?

highstreet_makeup

I have a question for you all today - Is high street/drugstore make up becoming too expensive?

My personally opinion is yes, but I don't think it's as straight forward as that. I think the main culprits are brands that have been around for quite a long time like L'Oreal, Max Factor, Revlon, Bourjois and so on that have decided to price their foundation and mascaras etc above £10! But then you have some sneaky newer brands that also come in trying to ask these prices. However because of this we have been brought newer low-cost brands such as MUA and Vivo that we all seem to love.

My only fear is that in a few years time high-street prices and high end prices are going to start to merge and that will really take the shine off budget makeup!

Tell me what you think!

Fee xo.

SHARE:

Comments (49)

Logging you in...

Dashboard | Edit profile | Logout

Logged in as

+1 Vote up Vote down

Phoebe · 705 weeks ago

I definitely think it is. Even though subtle, Rimmel and Maybelline are joining in as well. All their mascaras used to £5 or under, they're now all pushing the £10 mark!
I know there's a recession... But when you're paying for the same quality it isn't really fair.

+1 Vote up Vote down

CBSG5861 · 705 weeks ago

That's definitely true. I find it so ridiculous that in my country, we have to pay more than 20E for a foundation or mascara by l'Oreal. And it's not only that, all of the greek "affordable" brands with their cheapish packaging and their mediocre products seem to follow along! To make things worse, we don't get to have brands with prices similar to MUA or Natural Collection, so for ex. if I want to buy a high-street lipstick, I'm bound to spend the minimum of 10-12E. With these facts, I think I'm excused for shopping online at Elf!

0 Vote up Vote down

Veronica · 705 weeks ago

I couldn't agree more. I was in Boots the other day, and I was thinking the same thing. If it's called 'high street make up', than it should be way cheaper than your average MAC or higher end brands. But I realised that sometimes the price difference is just of a couple of pounds! What's the point then?
Luckily, as you said, we still have brands like mua and vivo - which i haven't tried yet. it's so hard to find a tesco that stocks vivo!
Veronica xx

0 Vote up Vote down

Claire · 705 weeks ago

I agree, when you get to the checkout and see how much you are spending for a little drugstore haul it makes you wonder if you shouldn't have just gone to MAC! But, there are still cheaper brands that do really good stuff. And more importantly for me, the prices here are still far better than in Aus, where a Revlon foundation costs over $35. I'm surprised prices are sneaking up, and I hope they don't get any higher.

0 Vote up Vote down

Sara-May · 705 weeks ago

Couldn't agree more! I'm from Australia, where we can pay $39.95 for a Revlon foundation, and $55.00 for a high end foundation - with prices this ridiculous, I find it hard to justify buying high street brands.

Particularly here, I think high street brands have a lot to answer for, when our $ is on par with the US$, and we still pay up to 4 times more for a foundation. It's just disgraceful!

0 Vote up Vote down

@KnightsEclectic · 705 weeks ago

I have to agree, I pop into Boots or Superdrug with my Mr to get a couple of bits like a new mascara, nail polish and lippie and he's amazed when the total is around £25 or more. www.knightseclectic.blogspot.com

0 Vote up Vote down

Sarah · 705 weeks ago

I completely agree, I hope once the bigger brands take notice of brands such as MUA and VIVO's prices and quality they will bring their products down to match, although I could see MUA and VIVO deciding that people love them just as much as the other brands so and can put their prices up!

0 Vote up Vote down

Stacey · 705 weeks ago

It's at the point now that I hardly use any high street make up (with the exception of some of the US offerings I've been lucky enough to get my hands on!). I was thinking that the other day when I was going to do a blog post on my favourite UK drugstore products. Prices are pushing up to the level of MAC and I like MAC, so I buy that instead as I feel more confident in that brand than trying something new from, say, maybelline.

+1 Vote up Vote down

Stacey · 705 weeks ago

Sleek is another massive culprit! Those palettes used to be under £5 and now the new releases are being priced at £7. They'll be a tenner in no time!

0 Vote up Vote down

@Allie_G · 705 weeks ago

I completely agree, I am a student and just cannot afford to spend a lot of money on make up (even though I usually spend my food money on it regardless!)

However, I think that there will always be a market for budget makeup, and as long as there is a market for it, you will always find brands coming in to try and fill the gap.

- Allie UK

Allie UK Blog

0 Vote up Vote down

Lauren · 705 weeks ago

I agree completely. Mascara, false lashes and Foundation tend to be the worse offenders. I'm a serial impulse buyer and whilst I used to be able to nip into Boots to grab a couple of bits that take my fancy, I now don't bother as much. That being said I still think 17 by boots is by far the most reasonably priced (and best quality) high street make up brand on the market. I looked at a Loreal mascara the other day, nearly £12!! For a couple of extra pounds I got a Benefit one, their loss!

+1 Vote up Vote down

ghadir · 705 weeks ago

will u cant suffer more than us here in saudi arabia
the suppliers increase the prices like crazy
the other day i bought mac fix plus spray in 3ml for 86 riyals which is equal to 22.9 $
and in the website its only 10$ and the 100ml is for 20$
:S like i paid for 30ml more than i should pay for 100ml
this is crazy
all the suppliers are pretty mean
not only makeup brands suppliers but also clothing .. hair product and every thing they double the prices like crazy
and lately mac has increased the prices 10%
(n)

0 Vote up Vote down

Lucy · 705 weeks ago

I agree - I nipped into Tesco the other day to buy some emergency mascara as mine had ran out and was a bit disgusted to buy a Rimmel one for like £7! I know in the grand scheme of things £7 isn't much but it's the principle of the thing. I think the brands are being particularly stupid doing this sort of thing at the moment....

+1 Vote up Vote down

Amy 6p · 705 weeks ago

YES Fee! I was only thinking this about 15 minutes ago! I suppose that we can't avoid prices going up with the recession and everything, but not by that much. I remember when I used to go into Boots when I was about 11 with £5 and pick up a Rimmel powder and a lipgloss maybe, there's no way that you could do that now. Sleek has gone up so much in price too, I mean their new brow palette is about £7 isn't it!? Seriously? I remember when their palettes used to be about £4, now they are £6 or £7? I hope brands aren't taking advantage of bloggers because they know that they will buy their products... xxx

+1 Vote up Vote down

krishie123 1p · 705 weeks ago

i completely agree i remember the days when a highstreet mascara would cost me no more than 6 pounds now to get a good one i have to fork out almost double which brings me to consider just getting something like mac for a pound or too more
http://makeupbykrishie.wordpress.com

0 Vote up Vote down

georgia · 705 weeks ago

Previously budget makeup is taking the piss recently. I used to see MAC as being high end, now for like £1 more you can buy a MAC lipstick rather than getting a drugstore one.

It's not even like the quality has vastly improved either. Most drug store makeup is about the same quality just with the price hiked up. Lipsticks especially. It's like £9 for a shitty lipstick now on most of the little stands in Boots.

xxx

0 Vote up Vote down

Jenna · 705 weeks ago

I am SOOOOO jealous of all of you living in the UK and America where drugstore makeup actually have drugstore prices!
In Finland we rarely see makeup brands that offer products under 5 euros - all the so called drugstore brands are getting ridiculously expensive.
Loreal mascaras are actually around 22-24 euros here. That's madness! For only 10 euros more you get a Dior mascara...!

Whenever a friend or relative of mine is going to England I always ask them to bring me some Sleek, MUA and Collection 2000 makeup.
I'm afraid to travel there myself because I would seriously buy so much drugstore makeup that I would need an extra suitcase going back home... ;)

I do agree with you that drugstore makeup isn't what it used to be.

0 Vote up Vote down

Lindsay · 705 weeks ago

I agree! All these brands like L'Oreal, Maybelline, Rimmel etcetera keep raising their prices and I really, really don't like it. However, there's something you should know - I was in London a few weeks ago (I'm from the Netherlands) and I was shocked by the mascara prices at Superdrug. Not because they were so high, but because they were so low! All these mascaras for not more than 10 quid, seriously, here they are around 15 euros (which is equal to 13 pounds). Isn't that ridiculous? Nobody can tell me that transport is that expensive or anything, it's just plain nonsense. And I guess I don't have to tell you that I bought a lot of make-up in the UK. Your prices may be rising, but they're still pretty low!

0 Vote up Vote down

Steph Babet · 705 weeks ago

I completely agree, the oldeer brands do charge too much, to the point that I don't buy these brands. I don't earn much, and even though I love makeup, I love a bargain even more, which is where I adore brands like MUA and VIVO. If you went through my makeup box, you would find a silly amount of MUA products, but they are also products that have easily worked themselves into my daily routine, especially the felt-tip eyeliner and super volume mascara - WOW! Until Im at a point in my career where I can afford to splash a lot of money on more expensive products, I won't be buying them, and I think I'd struggle to justify them to myself at first even if I could afford it. Having just had a look through my box, the most expensive makeup products I own is probably the one MAX Factor product I own, a foundation, and I don't even use it because it's too dark. For me, m,ake up should be £10 or under to be classed as high street.

Steph x

0 Vote up Vote down

styleinmotion · 705 weeks ago

Yes I completely agree. I looked at Eyeko recently and Im shocked that their prices are now ridic but I've noticed No7 have also increased their prices over the past few years. There isnt really much difference now between certain drugstore brands and the likes of MAC. Personally I would rather pay extra and get a good quality foundation for example rather than pay around 10 - 15 pounds for a drugstore product that isnt great quality.

0 Vote up Vote down

.M. · 705 weeks ago

I think it's true. But if they push it even further, getting closer to the prices of high-end products, I think it would be much easier to ditch a Maybelline mascara for an YSL one. And I don't think it will be much good for the drugstore brands either. Also, some time ago, I noticed that a Max Factor mascara (can't remember which) was something like 11-12 pounds at Boots, and a mascara from MAC was 13 pounds!

1 reply · active 705 weeks ago

0 Vote up Vote down

@stregalice · 705 weeks ago

Totally agree! I thought prices were increasing only here in Italy because of the economic situation, UK prices more still more affordable and it isn't all related to the exchange rate!

Sadly lately even cheaper brands like Kiko have been raising prices and it makes me sad. Also here it's almost impossible to find foundations under the 10€ mark, only Essence and Catrice are below that price because Rimmel, Maybelline etc are all more expensive, the same goes for mascaras and many lipsticks lines :(

0 Vote up Vote down

Aleksandra · 705 weeks ago

I am with you on this. I

0 Vote up Vote down

helen · 705 weeks ago

I completely agree, the prices are getting so steep I, like other above have mentioned just purchase the high end products as they are only a few ££ more. I was even in Superdrug at the weekend in need of new foundation and simply put it back as it was priced at £11.99 (Bourjois),. now I am scraping the very last out of my foundation bottle and hoping to make it to the end of the week. I guess one good thing is that I am not so "throw away" with my products now and will try my best to squeeze/scrape and extract every last morsel out of my products before I go purchase a new one, but come on, these prices need to be lowered again.
xox

1 reply · active 705 weeks ago

0 Vote up Vote down

A Walk in the Closet · 704 weeks ago

It's so true! Foundation is getting pricy but I think what is getting the worst is lipstick. Some Revlon and L'Oreal lipsticks are the same price (or just $1-2 less) than say...MAC Cosmetics...here in Canada. It's crazy!

Post a new comment

Comment as a Guest, or login:

Tweet this comment

Connected as (Logout)

Email (optional)

Not displayed publicly.

Submit Comment

Subscribe to

Comments by IntenseDebate

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

© 2025 Makeup Savvy - makeup and beauty blog

Blogger Template Created by pipdig