Luxury Skin Care Vs Drugstore Skincare
When it comes to skincare, the price tag often determines whether or not a product is worth it. But does expensive equate to better?
OG bloggers like Tina Craig and her cult-favorite brand U Beauty use natural ingredients, skin-loving extracts and scientifically proven technologies that work.
Then there’s 111Skin, which uses a ground-breaking complex that was tested in outer space to combat advanced aging. And, of course, there’s La Prairie, which offers anti-ageing cellular therapy.
High-Quality Ingredients
Often, the main difference between luxury skin care and drugstore brands is the quality of ingredients. High-end beauty products often contain more hard-to-source or exotic ingredients that can truly make the world of difference to your complexion. This is especially true for anti-aging serums, which need to include key skincare ingredients like retinol in order to work effectively. Having a higher-end product in your arsenal can give you a leg up on your beauty routine and help you achieve faster results.
Aside from incorporating rare and expensive ingredients, luxury skincare companies are also known for their rigorous research and clinical testing processes. This can be a significant financial investment, and in many cases it is reflected in the final price of a product.
For example, Sisley-Paris is one of the most luxurious (and ahem, expensive) beauty brands around, but it’s hard to deny that they have some of the best formulas out there. Their natural face creams and serums boast advanced, skin-loving ingredients like butterfly bush flower extract, which helps heal damaged tissue, and prickly pear seed oil, which softens wrinkles.
Mutha is another brand that prioritizes ingredients over all else. This luscious French brand is renowned for its super-nourishing, all-natural products, which use a blend of rare botanicals like black baccara rose and saffron flower to create ultra-premium skincare elixirs.
According to a recent survey from Net-a-Porter’s global beauty director Newby Hands, more and more customers are prioritizing the ingredient lists on their products. In fact, searches for specific ingredients have soared over 229 percent year on year. This trend is likely due to the rising popularity of clean beauty, which focuses on natural, plant-based ingredients.
This is why we love Chantecaille, which combines the best botanical ingredients in its formulas to pamper all skin types. The brand’s best seller, Superfood Facial Oil, uses nine different oils including radish and broccoli to nourish skin and improve tone and hydration. It’s also packed with squalane, which helps seal in moisture for a soft, youthful glow.
Exquisite Packaging
If you want your skincare products to feel luxe, they need to come in exquisite packaging. This may include glass bottles that are sleek and minimal, or tins or containers that are elegant and chic. It also includes labels that are beautifully designed, with clear and consistent branding elements like logos and taglines. Consistent color usage across these elements is key for brand recognition and making your product look premium.
The type of packaging you choose depends on the product itself and how it will be used by your consumers. For example, if you’re selling an anti-aging cream, you’ll want the packaging to reflect the high-quality ingredients and transformative effects of the formula. A rich metallic or deep purple shade would work well for this kind of product. Conversely, if you’re creating a line of skincare for blemish control, you might want to opt for a clean, clear blue or mint green packaging.
Aside from the aesthetic appeal of your product’s packaging, it’s important to consider accessibility and inclusivity. Using colors that are easily readable for people with visual impairments, and using legible fonts, can help ensure that your skincare products are accessible to a broader range of consumers.
One of our favorite examples of this is the cult-favorite skincare line U Beauty, created by Tina Chen Craig. This line combines skin-loving ingredients, like barrier-boosting omega oils and botanical stem cells, with high-tech innovations, to deliver some of the best results-warranting products on the market.
Another great example of luxury skincare is the Sisley-Paris line. This eponymous French beauty brand is beloved by many beauty editors, including Leslie Mann (who is also a fan of the brand’s toning lotion). Their luxurious offerings target specific needs such as radiance, youth, and vitality. They’re also known for their heavenly-smelling products and eco-friendly operations, which include running their production units on renewable energy and offering refills on many of their most popular products.
The design of your product’s primary packaging is the most visible and impactful aspect of its branding. This can include a box, tin, or container, and should be durable enough to hold the product throughout its entire lifespan. It should also contain any essential information such as instructions and warnings.
Clean Beauty
Clean beauty products contain natural ingredients with high concentrations, and avoid those considered to be harmful to humans or the planet (like chemical preservatives, phthalates and artificial colors). The result is luxurious skincare that delivers powerful results.
It’s no wonder many clean beauty brands have seen their sales soar in recent years. Sephora now carries more than 1,030 clean moisturizers, clean cleanser and other skin care products—and that doesn’t include the brand’s clean makeup, clean hair-care or clean fragrance offerings. And with industry giants snapping up buzzy clean brands like Drunk Elephant and Tatcha, the demand for clean beauty products is only set to increase.
But not all clean products are created equal. Jen McClure, co-founder of the skincare line RMS Beauty, notes that just because an ingredient is sourced from nature doesn’t make it unequivocally healthy for skin. In fact, there are plenty of natural ingredients that can be irritating—poison ivy, for example, or the essential oils in some plants that can trigger acne or inflammation. “What’s important to me is an effective formulation that uses high-quality, ethically sourced ingredients,” she says.
The OG clean beauty brand and GH Sustainability Award winner L’Occitane is renowned for its soothing botanical scents and pampering textures—plus, it’s eco-conscious with packaging that’s often made of recycled aluminum, plastic or paper. Its GH Lab expert evaluators love its efficacious formulas and the use of natural oils, butters and extracts.
Another luxury clean beauty brand that’s redefining plant-based skincare is Sisley-Paris, which offers an expansive line of face, body and bath products that deliver everything from tone to radiance. Its Black Rose face products are especially beloved—the hydrating, anti-aging creams contain no added water and instead are packed with precious plant oils, including geranium, shea and avocado—that work together to smooth, plump and firm the skin while protecting it from free radicals and environmental stressors.
And for those that want to get super luxe with their clean routine, there’s La Mer. The cream-based line, created by physicist Max Huber to help heal the skin scars caused by his lab accident, is a cult-favorite for its restorative effects. It took him no less than 6,000 experiments and 12 years to perfect his Miracle Broth, which is comprised of sea kelp, minerals and vitamins that help revive and revitalize skin.
Exclusiveness
For most beauty junkies, a curated skin care routine is as necessary as a new pair of heels or a fresh manicure. But while a well-formulated moisturizer or mask is certainly worth the splurge, there’s also something to be said for a regimen that doesn’t break the bank.
Luxury skincare brands can often offer formulas with more complex ingredients that are backed by extensive research and clinical testing. They may also have access to more rare plant extracts that aren’t available at the drugstore but deliver better results than their synthetic counterparts. All this adds up to a product that doesn’t just feel better, but actually works better as well.
Brands like Biologique Recherche have made a name for themselves with trailblazing, non-toxic blends that are loved by celebrities, estheticians and regular women alike. The French, family-owned company uses a blend of scientific and medical expertise (the founders include a biologist, physiotherapist, and dermatologist) to create unique formulations that are unlike anything else on the market.
As the prestige beauty category continues to grow at a faster rate than the overall mass sector, demonstrating differentiation and exclusivity has become crucial for high-end brands. This is especially true in skin care, where consumers are clamoring for highly personalized experiences that give them an opportunity to connect with their favorite products and brands.
This is why it makes sense that many luxury skin care brands are expanding their spa and boutique footprint to offer more high-end treatments. For example, 111 Skin has opened a treatment space in its hometown of London adjacent to its plastic surgery clinic. This allows the brand to provide a high-end experience that’s both aspirational and attainable, helping to build brand loyalty among consumers.
Sephora also leverages this concept by giving users a chance to write and share their own reviews. This not only helps customers make more informed buying decisions but also builds trust by demonstrating that the review is not edited or hidden in any way. This approach, along with Sephora’s curated social media content, has helped the retailer increase sales and grow its customer base.
