Many retailers had disappointing sales this past holiday season, but luxury beauty products with impossibly high prices seemed to fly off the shelves.
Alterna’s White Truffle luxury shampoo for $85 and conditioner for $95, said to be a favorite of Jennifer Aniston’s, is in such high demand that the company said it is out of stock right now. Creme de la Mer, a moisturizer that costs $165 for a 2-ounce jar consistently sold so well that in 1997, the company rolled out a 16.5-ounce size for a whopping $1,000. And luxury retailers say there are occasional wait lists for the concoction.
Equally coveted products touted by beauty junkies and said to be beloved by celebrities and star stylists include La Prairie’s Skin Caviar foundation ($150 for a 1-ounce jar) and Mason Pearson boar bristle hair brushes ($66 to $195). We could go on.
Do these extremely expensive products perform any better than their less costly counterparts? The answer depends on whom you ask.
The companies that make these big-ticket items have plenty to say about their products’ wonders. Creams promise to reduce wrinkles, fine lines, enlarged pores, age spots, dryness, skin tone and clarity. Most of the cosmetics and hair products are touted as having specially patented formulas that contain expensive and exotic ingredients to help them work wonders. The makers of pricey tools say their products possess unparalleled materials, craftsmanship and design.
However, “very few products in this arena have been subjected to peer-reviewed studies published in legitimate medical journals,” points out Dr. Andrew J. Scheman, a Northbrook-based dermatologist and author of “Cosmetics Buying Guide” (Consumer Reports Books, 1993). Although some companies conduct clinical trials, they often are not done by independent testers and are rarely published.
“You want to use products that have been researched by sources who aren’t selling the product themselves,” he says.
Cosmetics cop Paula Begoun, who wrote “Don’t Go To the Cosmetics Counter Without Me” (Beginning Press, $27.95), points out that having a specially patented formula is not an indicator of efficacy.
“To get a patent, all a cosmetic company has to do is mix ingredients together in a new way that hasn’t been done before,” she says. “Patents don’t have anything to do with efficacy. It doesn’t mean the product works.”
For the most part, ultra-expensive products don’t seem to be worth the extra dough, Begoun and Scheman say.
Pricey makeup is “mostly hype and advertising,” and costly tools “are nothing more than a matter of personal preference,” Begoun says.
Here are their assessments on some of the priciest products around:
Creme de la Mer uses a three-to-four-month biofermentation process said to convert sea kelp, calcium, vitamins, proteins, minerals and oils into a concentrated cream that delivers nutrients to the skin’s cells. Begoun calls it “a standard moisturizer that contains some good antioxidants, but these ingredients are also found in many other moisturizers that cost a lot less.” Clinique’s Repairwear Day SPF 15 ($45 for 1.7 ounces) or Repairwear Intensive Night Cream ($45 for 1.7 ounces).
Cle de Peau Beaute claims that La Creme’s nine natural enzymes improve skin clarity and promote the production of new collagen for $450 an ounce. Begoun notes that this is one of the few creams that contains arbutin, which does have skin-lightening properties, but it is virtually identical to Shiseido’s arbutin-containing Whiteness Intensive Skin Brightener ($120 for 1.4 ounces). Shiseido also owns Cle de Peau Beaute.
Neuropeptide Facial Conformer from Dr. Nicholas Perricone, author of the best-selling tomes “The Wrinkle Cure” and “The Perricone Prescription,” weighs in at $570 for 2 ounces. Scheman says neuropeptides are amino acids found in our brains, which doesn’t mean they will work on our skin. “Perricone uses things that are new and unproven. They may work, but it’s a gamble for now,” he says. Scheman recommends Olay Regenerist (1.7 ounces for $18.99), which contains ingredients that double-blind studies show do have a decent anti-aging effect.
“All shampoos and conditioners work the same way, regardless of price,” Begoun says. Alterna White Truffle shampoo and conditioner may work well, “but so will something cheaper,” she says. Instead of spending $85 to $95 for 10 ounces, try L’Oreal’s ColorVIVE shampoo and conditioner ($3.99 each for 12 ounces) and Pantene Pro-V Smooth & Sleek shampoo and conditioner ($4.99 each for 13.5 ounces).
Jo Malone Bath Oil and Luxury Candle are scented with grapefruit as well as a number of other fragrances. The bath oil is $100 for a 67-ounce bottle and the candle is $345–though it burns for up to 100 hours. But there are many other bath oils, like Bare Escentuals Five Oil Blend at $12.99 for 8.4 ounces, that give the same results.
For $150, you get just under an ounce of La Prairie’s Skin Caviar Foundation with concealer in the lid of the tube. But as Begoun points out, it doesn’t even have full-spectrum sun protection and “there are so many well-formulated … foundations on the market right now that do.” Maybelline EverFresh Makeup ($7.49 an ounce) or Neutrogena’s Visibly Firm Moisture Makeup ($14.99 an ounce) are just two alternatives.
As for Mason Pearson English-made boar bristle brushes, “a boar is a boar and any boar bristle brush will do,” Begoun says, like the VS Sassoon one for $5.99. Ceramic straightening irons, like the Chi Ceramic Hairstyling Iron for $150, are hot. That’s because “they’re easier on your hair than the metal ones … they’re smoother, pull less and deliver the heat more easily,” Begoun says, but any ceramic version will do. Our pick is by Vidal Sassoon and sells for $29.99.
