Is high end makeup really worth it?

So I’ve always wondered what the difference really is between high end makeup and drug store makeup. I started wearing makeup about two or three years ago, and as a dark complexioned Black woman there simply wasn’t much available to me in drug store brands. Yes, they did and do have products in deeper hues but having three shades of brown isn’t really going to match an entire race of women. So yes, I break the bank trying to get my face beat and eyebrows on fleek. I have the Sephora VIB card to prove it.

But honestly, now I’m tired. I just ran out of my Lancôme Teint Idole Ultra foundation, which was my first ever foundation. It retails at about $47 and is perfect for my complexion and skin type. This time when it came to buying foundation I decided to actually look around for what was on offer in the drug store.

Looking around I quickly realized that the options for me were very few. I tried L’oreal true match and none of their three shades available at the drug store were even half decent. I honestly looked like a zebra. However, what I did find was a creme foundation by Sleek, a fairly new makeup brand. Not only was it a perfect match, it was less than $15. The high end product I picked up was from Estee Lauder. It blended well into my skin and the packaging was pretty so I kind of had to. That one cost about $45.

This is a picture of me fresh-faced straight of the shower kind of as a baseline.

This half of my face was the Sleek foundation.

This half of my face was the Estee Lauder foundation.

Honestly, you really can’t tell the difference. I literally feel like the $30 difference is the brand name.

So is high end make-up really worth it? It depends on what you are after! The struggle to find any makeup that doesn’t make me look like a ghost is real so I have limited options. However, in terms of the products the ingredients are vastly the same. High-end makeup obviously comes with better packaging and some times better color pay off, but there are so many great affordable brands available now like ColourPop, so more options are available to people.

There are also many affordable makeup brands for women of color and Black women like Black Radiance, Iman Cosmetics and Black Up but the issue is access. It is worth exploring and finding these products because they are great and  they don’t burn a hole in your wallet.