When every discount shop is offering so-called ‘miracle’ face creams for less than a fiver, it can seem really tempting to ditch the pricier products in favour of a bargain? One of my Nan’s favourite sayings was “you get what you pay for”, and favoured quality over quantity, but is there any real value to buying cheaper products? The short answer is no, and here’s why:
Testing
Generally speaking, products which are on the higher end of the price range, like Elemis Pro Collagen Marine Cream, which costs £145 for 100ml, are expensive for a number of reasons, with extensive testing being one of them. This product has been rigorously researched and tested, all of which costs a lot of money and allows Elemis to guarantee that they’re giving you the best product possible.
Ingredients
One of the most important reasons for high-end products being expensive is that they contain the best quality ingredients, many of which are quite rare. A great example of this is within Elemis Pro-Collagen Neck and Decollete Balm – it contains sea buckthorn oil, one of the richest known plant-sources of Omega-7, a rare and unique fatty acid, to nourish and smooth skin.
Exclusivity
Because of the amount of research and development that Decleor, Elemis and Dermalogica put into their products, they also have exclusive elements to their products which are uniquely owned by each brand which cannot be found anywhere else. Dermalogica C-12 Pure Bright Serum contains an exclusive blend of oligopeptides, rice-derived phytic acid, zinc glycinate and algae to address pigmentation imbalance for people who are dealing with hyperpigmentation.
Ahead of the Curve
The world of beauty is often subject to changing trends (remember how crazy we all went for micellar water a couple of years back?) and we see faddy ingredients come and go. Some ingredients, however, are so good that our brands have been using them for ages, staying ahead of the curve when it comes to ‘fashion’. Retinoids are a great example, featuring at the top of everyone’s ‘must have’ lists for 2018, but Dermalogica Overnight Retinol Repair has been around for ages!
Transparency
As we mentioned above, certain brands will follow trends and release new products accordingly, but although they may claim to contain a high-end ingredient, the chances are they contain the MINIMUM amount of this component that they’re allowed to add and still mention it on the label. With our brands, if it says something in the name, you can guarantee that it actually contains enough of this ingredient to make a difference to your skin.