Beauty products: grocery stores vs salons.

March 29, 2005 12:05 AM

BeautyFilter: Is there a marked increase in the quality of salon or department store makeup/hair/skin products over grocery and drug store items that makes the higher price worth it?

I'm trying to spiff up my outward appearance and want to invest in a good shampoo & conditioner, skin regimen, and a bit of makeup. No beauty product available on the local grocery store shelves has ever wowed me, and I've come across more than a few discussions that make it sound like the only way to get great skin and hair is to patronize a place like Sephora.

So, are there particular brands of upscale beauty products that meet up to the hype and are worth the price, or should I save my money and stick to Neutrogena?

posted by lychee to clothing, beauty, & fashion (10 comments total)

Depends a lot on what you're buying and what type of skin you have.

I find that for eyeshadow, mascara and such, drugstore is fine. I tend to buy more expensive foundation, concealer, moisturizer, etc.

Clinique makes really good skincare products, with reasonable prices.

In the drugstore/grocery store, if I'm buying skincare stuff I stick with Almay.

For hair products, I relentlessly try all my friends' and family members' products to see what I like. In the drugstore area, I think Dove makes great products. In the salon, Paul Mitchell is affordable and quality.
posted by radioamy at 1:30 AM on March 29, 2005

costmetics cop is a good resource for this kind of stuff
posted by evening at 5:01 AM on March 29, 2005

I'd second Paula Begoun, who is the cosmetics cop, as a resource. She's a consumer advocate for this field, and has personally tested and researched thousands of products. She claims there are good and bad products in all price ranges - i.e., her favourite mascara is by Chanel, but it's $75 a tube, so she goes with her second favourite mascara, which is made by Cover Girl.
posted by orange swan at 6:02 AM on March 29, 2005

Hair care: Aveda

Makeup: Nars or Yves St Laurent

Skin Care: Lancome
posted by Mean Mr. Bucket at 7:30 AM on March 29, 2005

there are good and bad products in all ranges. the advantage a place like sephora--or department store counters--offers is samples. any salon that sells aveda products will give you a week's worth if you ask. smashbox, mac, origins, kiehl's, chanel &c will all give you at least several days worth if you go up to the counter, talk to the salesclerk, and seem at all reasonably likely to make a purchase at some point.

personally, i find a significant improvement in the appearance and performance (and ease of application, which is probably where the better appearance comes from) of department store make-up over drug store make-up, with the sole exception of lip gloss. in terms of body/hair care (lotions, shampoos, sunscreen &c), i find the difference to be more in the smell, texture and luxury of the product than in the final result.

FWIW: my lipsticks are mostly MAC, my shadows are UD and smashbox, my pencils are UD, my skin care is all origins (except almay's "age degenerating" daily sunscreen) and i haven't used anything but aveda on my hair in 15 years.
posted by crush-onastick at 7:49 AM on March 29, 2005

I mix mine up a lot -- I have some very nice foundation and concealer that are colored matched to my skin, and are worth every one of the thousands and thousands of pennies that they cost. I also splurge for nice eyeshadow and lipstick, although I still don't spend astronomical amounts -- maybe $15 for a single shadow. A lot of people would advise you to skimp on the eyeshadow, but high quality stuff makes a world of difference.

On the other hand, I use generic biolage conditioner on my very difficult curly hair at the whopping price of $4.99 a bottle, along with gel that costs $1.29 at Sally's. Works better than anything I have ever used before, and I used to be an aveda and bumble & bumble junkie. I also use J&J Purpose cleanser and Neutrogena Moisture on my face, found at your finer Walgreen's everywhere.


I agree with Paula Begoun's general concept. There are good and bad quality products at all price ranges, and some of the challenge will be finding products that work for you. On the other hand, I can't imagine that mascara would ever, EVER be worth $75 -- I mean, does it wash your car? 'Cause nothing that's done to my EYELASHES is worth $75.
posted by LittleMissCranky at 7:56 AM on March 29, 2005

Paula Begoun's work is absolutely worth checking out. I don't necessarily agree with her that "weird colors are bad" or that "shiny is bad", etc., but she reviews and tests a lot of products, and her books explain in great detail why a high-end product is not at all different from a low-end, due to the ingredients used to formulate said products - especially when it comes to hair care. Her advice on skin-care regimens is very straightforward and simple. Another point she makes is that high-end lines will try to sucker you into buying their whole skin-care line or hair-care line, saying these products will only work best with each other, which is not true, of course. There are good and bad products in every line and examining each product's worth separately is necessary. Her explanation of the marketing behind beauty products is clear, thorough, and makes you think. Fascinating for me to read, at least.

It's trial and error to find what will work for you, so as long as you are not assuming pricy = better, you will probably find good stuff at both ends of the range. In my experience every woman will recommend something different. A big difference between high-end and low-end is indeed samples, especially I would think of things like foundation and eyeshadow that you can't test the colors in the drugstore, but the low-end products are cheaper to try and discard, so it works out.
posted by Melinika at 9:42 AM on March 29, 2005

I find salon shampoos and conditioners give me better results than drug store brands. But not all of them. For instance, I would purchase John Freida products at the drugstore before I would purchase Redken products in a salon.

Other haircare items (gels, serums, etc) -- it's all the same.

A professional makeup artist tells me that drugstore makeup and department store makeup are the same, just in different packaging with higher prices. If you want proof, check out Lancome vs. L'Oreal -- same company, same products, different packaging, different prices.
posted by suchatreat at 1:35 PM on March 29, 2005

If you have sensitive skin, beware of Aveda.
posted by radioamy at 4:46 PM on March 29, 2005

Don't forget, as you age, ROC products, containing retinol, are only sold by pharmacies. Neutrogena products tend to be excellent for a reasonable price.

All this stuff varies with your skin. I tried Clinique years ago and found it gave me blackheads. Some Cheap Crap I found in a drugstore sample bin worked wonders (moisturizer). Yet I used to swear by Clinique face scrub, today I find Johnson's Facial Wash (from J&J, formerly marketed as "Ph 5.5") great, at a fraction of the cost.
posted by Goofyy at 3:08 AM on March 30, 2005