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What is the cost of a jar of cream? And can the price of cosmetics be considered the equivalent of its effectiveness? Let’s try to figure it out.
Categories of cosmetics
There are not two main categories of cosmetics (expensive and cheap), but at least five.
Luxury segment: in short, these beauty products can be described with the words “expensive-rich.”
Mass market: consumer-oriented and very inexpensive cosmetic products.
Marketers also often highlight premium segment – intermediate between the categories of luxury and mass market.
Professional, it is used in beauty salons and aesthetic medicine clinics (and sold only there).
Therapeutic (dermatocosmetics, or cosmeceuticals).
Among the components of cosmetics may be such expensive ingredients as black caviar.
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What makes up the price of funds
The price of cosmetics (cream, lotion, tonic, make-up) is determined primarily by the formula. More precisely, active ingredients and manufacturing techniques. Among the components there may be such expensive substances as:
- black caviar extract;
- gold, silver, platinum;
- extracts and oils of rare plants;
- costly synthetic products;
- patented molecules developed in brand research laboratories. It is clear that only large cosmetic companies can afford their own research institutes.
Related expenses also make a significant contribution to the price of a cosmetic product.
Formula
Keep in mind: in addition to active ingredients, the composition of the cosmetic contains basic components, as well as perfume fragrances. Their cost is very different.
Packaging
Part of the final cost of the cream is due to the production of packaging. For example, a jar made of glass or porcelain with a metal lid and a golden inscription will cost a lot on its own, without the contents.
And if it is additionally packaged in a gold-embossed cardboard box and wrapped in cellophane, the cost will be even higher. Plus a spatula for applying cream, a paper annotation insert – all this only raises the price of the product.
The most democratic packaging options are a plastic jar or tube, which contains information about the formula of the product and how to use it.
promotion
This concept includes, for example, well-known advertising. A contract with a celebrity who will become the face of the cream and shoot for an advertising image is a separate expense item. Commercials on TV, banners on the streets and on the Internet, advertising in the media and stores – too. And even a competition in social networks involves some expenses.
This is not a whim of beauty brands: without advertising, the consumer might never have known about the existence of products, no matter how effective they are. Information is the key to success.
Logistics
It is not enough to produce a cream – it must be delivered to the consumer. And these are new expenses: storage in a warehouse, transportation to the desired country and city, delivery to the store.
The most democratic packaging options are a plastic jar or tube.
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jar contents
To understand how effective the product is, it is not enough to pay attention to the first 2-3 positions in the list of ingredients, because they are far from determining the consumer value of the product.
- The first listed are the structuring components that are the same for most creams, such as, for example, silicones and glycerin. They occupy the maximum percentage in the composition.
- But then the actual “values” follow, starting with hyaluronic acid (used in both luxury and mass cosmetics) and ending with expensive components such as caviar extract and colloidal gold.
How much of this or that substance is in the cream, the manufacturer is not obliged to indicate, his business is only to list the components in descending order (according to the content in the product). Some active substances require really little for a tangible effect.
Often costly modern technologies become cheaper over the years. Therefore, some funds may eventually move into the mass buyer segment without losing their merits.
How much of one or the other is in the cream, the manufacturer is not obliged to indicate, his business is only to list the components in descending order.
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practical recommendations
- If you’re willing to pay more, shop at luxury brand corners. Get benefit and pleasure not only from the tool itself, but also from its design and the realization that you can afford it. In the end, the emotional component also works for the effectiveness of the remedy.
- If the budget is not unlimited, choose products from brands of active (pharmacy) cosmetics. They are cheaper than luxury, most often hypoallergenic, and are not inferior in effectiveness to expensive cosmetics.
- When giving preference to mass-market products, pay attention to democratic brands of large concerns. For example, in L’Oréal, along with Lancôme, Yves Saint Laurent and drugstore cosmetics brands Vichy and La Roche-Posay, mass-market brands Garnier and L’Oréal Paris are represented.
The formulas for the luxury and democratic segments, of course, differ. But the same safety requirements are imposed on all products of the corporation, so there is no doubt about the quality of the components and compliance with manufacturing technologies.
Funds overview
Luxury
Face cream Or Rouge Crème, Yves Saint Laurent
The name of the cream in French means “red gold”: the main ingredient is the rarest extract of saffron pistils.
Cream-elixir for skin regeneration Absolue L’Extrait, Lancôme
The elegant jar contains a creamy elixir based on Lancôme rose petals, the same variety that is depicted on the brand’s logo. In addition to the exquisite aroma, the plant has an enviable resistance to aggressive environmental factors.
Pharmacy cosmetics
Moisturizing cream Aqualia Thermal, Vichy
Contains hyaluronic acid and an isotonic cocktail of mineralizing thermal water and vegetable sugar mannose. Thermal water provides additional protection and care, as well as good tolerance. The product is hypoallergenic. Tested under dermatological control.
Calming protective cream Toleriane Sensitive Riche, La Roche-Posay
A daily care cream designed specifically for sensitive and hypersensitive skin prone to allergic reactions. Contains shea butter, similar in composition to skin lipids, and squalene, an analogue of sebum synthesized from olive oil.
Mass market
Nourishing day cream for the face “Intensive rejuvenation 55+”, reducing wrinkles, Garnier
The formula is based on innovative ingredients such as rice peptides, as well as a complex of plant extracts obtained through biotechnology called “plant cells of youth”.
Day cream Revitalift Laser x3, L’Oréal Paris
The active ingredients are the proxylan molecule (also used in luxury cosmetics) and low molecular weight, that is, capable of penetrating deep into the skin, hyaluronic acid. The cream with regular use gives an effect comparable to the procedure of laser rejuvenation.