Ladies and gentlemen... welcome to Battles Week here on LOLS! I know, it's very exciting. Please try to contain your violent squeals/arm flailing/pants wetting until you next find yourself in a secluded field, for both my and your own safety. This week will be full of product reviews and my personal opinions, it should be barrels of fun for the whole family.
To start off, I thought I would get a little opinionated and share my thoughts on the battle between drugstore and high end beauty products. It's on oft discussed topic around the blogging/Youtube community because people tend to lean one way or the other in their preferences. Lots of people love hearing about high end products and request reviews when someone doesn't do them, whereas when people use too many high end products people complain at the price.
The whole thing is different in different countries. I would describe it as follows (try to follow me through this tedious metaphor, I will get there in the end): In Australia, it is a single coin with two different sides. Either way it is like a $5 coin. Here, the difference between drugstore and high end makeup is getting smaller but it all stays relatively expensive in comparison. In America, however, it is like two totally separate coins; a $2 and a 5 cent coin. The high end stuff is fairly pricy but the drugstore stuff can be dirt cheap.
I like to try all sorts of things, no matter where I can buy them from. That being said, I am automatically drawn to high end products more. I have five reasons behind this:
1. I see a lot of reviews on high end products, which makes them more enticing
Obviously, a lot of the reviews I read are by far more successful people than myself and they have been sent the product for review as a PR sample. I don't partake in this activity myself (though I may be open to it, holla at a sister) but I don't shun people who do as being dishonest. I still take the reviews as the truth and when I see all of my favs raving over a product I can't help but be a little envious.
2. There's not that much of a difference in price
Example time! I am on the market for a new black liquid eyeliner and I've been doing some googling on the topic. I heard that the L'Oreal liner is a good one so I looked up the price to see if I should make a sneaky Priceline order and it cost $25! I could get a Stila one for $26 and I know that the Stila one will at least last longer without drying out. With such a small difference in price between some of the top drugstore and mid-range high end, why not give in to all of these other reasons and splash out a little?
3. The packaging is so darn cute!
I know, I'm a shallow mess, it's true. But in my own defence, I am right. The packaging on Hourglass, Chanel and even Benefit is streets ahead of the Rimmel packaging. It is so luxurious that you feel your shoes and all of your other possessions are equally as extravagant, when they're really all from Target.
4. It's all about the brands baby
Everything has a brand associated to it now and we can't all afford the real pricy brand name stuff. Sure, we can afford a couple more cents to get the brand name flour over home brand but we certainly can't afford an Audi. The makeup is about as fancy as I can get on my budget, so I relish my chance to have a brand name item that I can splash around (when I say 'splash around' I mean I keep it in a drawer in my bedroom and never show it to anyone other than people who read my blog). Again, shallow, I know.
5. I can do whatever I want
People shouldn't feel obligated to use drugstore products just so that people don't call them snobby. Tenneil from the blog Like Neon Love (one of my blogging icons btw, so sleek and professional) wrote a post on a similar topic to this, addressing the fact that she uses solely high end products and I respect everything she had to say. Check it out HERE if you're interested. I agree that it is my money and if I choose to spend it on more expensive things, as long as I don't develop a serious issue with the whole thing, I can do what I please. No, I probably wont buy as many things because they cost me more money but if that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make there is no stopping me.
Wow, that was a long ramble. I figured I would start Battles Week out with a post like this so that the rest of the week can be fairy floss about blusher and books. Get excited about that! On a more serious note, I would love to hear what you readers have to say on the whole topic. Leave a comment below or chat with me on Twitter if you want.
Lots of Love,
Shannon
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