More and more eye palettes have taken the turn into Crazy Expensive Land lately. I remember back in the kinder, gentler times when an $85 Tom Ford quad would make my eyes bug out like a cartoon Karen, but now when I’m at Sephora or browsing their website, I see eyeshadow palettes by Natasha Denona for $129, $169 and $239, and her line isn’t the only one with a pricey premium. There’s also a 10-pan eyeshadow palette from Pat McGrath Labs that’s $125, among others that are getting up there in price.
I love high-end makeup as much as the next Chanel/Tom Ford/Hourglass enthusiast, but there HAS to be an upper limit, especially for a pre-populated palette with at least one or two colors I’ll never use (because #truth).
My upper limit is $100, and that’s just to even consider it. I might go as high as $125 if I have complete control over all of the colors, I love the finishes and formulas, and the palette has at least 12 shades.
What about you? Do you have an upper limit when it comes to eye palettes? How much is too much for a palette?
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
P.S. Ah… My hands smell like Christmas.
I love the Method hand soaps at Target. They get the gunk off my hands but don’t dry out my skin, and I wash my hands — seriously, I’m not kidding — maybe 20 times a day.
Anyway, I found this LE holiday “flavor” at Target called Frosted Fir that smells exactly like a ? Christmas tree. If you’re at Tar-ghay running last-minute holiday errands and you see this on the shelf, grab it, sniff it. It’ll be like you’re walking through a pine forest.
I only have a couple of palettes and they are Tom Ford, but I use them all the time. I can’t justify the cost of a palette that is over $100 or under $100 with 6 to 12 shades because I know I will not use them all. I do like how Viseart has a wide range of palette sizes and other brands have make your own palette, so you don’t have to purchase a palette with shades or formulas you won’t use. I have noticed the prices jumping when I browse at Sephora or a department store and the cost of ingredients/materials/labor to produce the products can increase year to year. Also, I think it is because the companies know people will pay that price for it . What do you think of that trend?
Now, I would spend $100 or more on a foundation or skin care because that is something I will use until it is gone. I guess it depends on where you choose to spend your money. Thanks for the tip about the Method hand soaps, they are my favorite too :). Hope you have a great evening, Karen.
I think $85 is my limit. I cannot bring myself to spend more than $100 on an eyeshadow palette even though I am dying for one of the Pat McGrath ones. It would have to be laced with 24kt gold or ALL the colors were unique and I couldn’t live without in order for me to buy it!
My policy is never to pay full price for any mid-range or high-end brand. Also, I do the math on the number of shades and weights of the contents before deciding to purchase. If a .06 oz. shadow in a palette comes to $6.00 or less, I’ll pull the trigger if I like the colors enough. I’m pretty sure I’ve never paid more than $45.00 for a palette.
I guess eyeshadow palettes are the new lipstick. Once it seemed very bold for Tom Ford to price lipsticks over $50 (and to sell what other people call sample sizes for over $30), but then many companies started inching up as well and now it’s de rigueur for even some lowly department stores brands to charge in the high 30s and 40s for what is, let’s face it, a tube of wax and pigment, haha. Not to say I don’t pay that (I do) and sometimes even think it’s worth it (Pat McGrath oh my.)
I’m not a fan of large shadow palettes to begin with — hard to travel with, often messy and inevitably there are too many colors that I just wouldn’t find a way to wear. For smaller palettes, I’ll pay a bit more for quality but not insane prices. I have some quads and quints and septets in the $60-80 range but have yet to venture above that. If it was something so unique and beautiful I might, but … I’d find myself silly for doing it!
My limit isn’t super high, because for high end I just want quads, not huge palettes, so maybe $60? My large palettes are the Morphe Jaclyn Hill one and Ud Nakeds, whch were under that. I do have a $36 single shadow (Charlotte Tilbury Marie Antoinette, my Burberry Pale Barley was also pretty up there) but they are literally go to every day type shades.
i love method soaps too, my favorites are vanilla mint and vanilla chai! I have gotten some bath and body works ones but they’re just a little too drying.
My limit is probably the Tom Ford palettes. Thats the most I have spent on one and I own two of them but use them constantly.I don’t think I could go more than that without feeling guilty.
Probably wouldn’t go over $120 Australian for a palette, although the Natasha Denona Lila & Sunset palettes are tempting me to go over that but the only reason I would is because all the shades in those 2 palettes are ones that I would use constantly.
My limit is much lower than yours, I don´t think I would shell out more than 75 $. I don´t really use eyeshadow palettes too much, I prefer my singles.
I agree with those who have said that quads are their max, as well as Tom Ford pricing. Karen, I’m wondering if you ever purchased the TF Nude Dip quad? I recall seeing it on one of your (Sephora VIB sale?) wish lists, and I’ve been hoping it would appear on your blog, so I could see how you would work your magic with it!!
Spending more than $100 for make-up is a bit extreme, when you think about how many working hours to have to put in to get that amount of money. In the end, nobody looks at you and says: “Wow, you’re wearing that Charlotte Tilbury quad with that Chanel mascara and the MAC concealer !” And nobody notices the new Chanel nail polish or the expensive highlighter – except if you might call yourself one of the celebrities followed by paparazzi.
To me its a form of spoiling myself with luxurious make-up items. I am looking for uniqueness and quality. Nowadays the drugstore brands deliver exceptional quality at a reasonable price so what’s the sense in paying 4-5 times the price for make-up if it’s not better than the drugstore version?
I do buy Chanel and Charlotte Tilbury and Dior and Lancome and Bobbi Brown. But only if I cannot find a drugstore version which performs similarly. Though I must admit that drugstore lipsticks cannot compete with higher end versions 😉
The Mac e/s x 15 costs here 150 Euros! Just saying…
My dear, you need a friend in the U.S. who can mail you one or visit you with all these goodies! That’s over double the retail cost here. But don’t you all have great local brands there?? Chanel, Catrice, Kiko?
my limit is Chanel eye quad and I don’t buy those as much as I used to
those big palettes that are in now have too many colors that are either things I have or those orange and reds that don’t work for someone cough, of my years
My limit is $60 and I don’t think I have ever even spent that much on a palette. At some point you are really just paying for the name and you $180 shadow experience is not much different from your $50 shadow experience. I have found brands that I love that are not crazy expensive and I just stick to them (mostly UD and MUFE). i actually think I have fallen off the palette wagon and I am not upset about it. I bought one palette this year and I am just enjoying what I have. I actually hit pan on a MUFE single shadow! I never thought that would happen. Yaaa to using my stash!
I just wait for people to gift them to me, lol!
Fo’ reals, though. I seriously consider pretty much any makeup purchase over $30. My upper limit for a palette would depend on a few factors, but I don’t think I could realistically bring myself to spend more than $60ish – with a few caveats. Those include a) having a hefty gift card, and b) the existence of a palette that causes me to budget/save up for it. I could see myself spending up to $125 if it’s a Mary Poppins palette (practically perfect in every way), but it would definitely be something I’d have to wait (read: save) a while for.
Well, I think it’s the patadox of beauty market: the more expensive cosmetics is, the bigger sales. As Helen fon Rubenstein said: “nobody wants to buy cheap cosmetics”, then tripled the price of her cheap face cream noone bought before and sales of it started to skyrocket…
I have not defined any $$$ limits to beauty items, but the price for me has to be justified with either amount or quality. If I’m ready to pay 100$ and more for a single makeup item, there will be definitely a reason for that!
I think the most $$ I’ve spent on a palette is for the Tom Ford quads I have. Which are well loved and used, so I feel like it was money well spent. I bought the Marc Jacobs 20 pan palette as a gift for my daughter last Christmas, but there was a promotion, so I got $50 off, so that was a deal. And the last time I visited her apartment I peeked at her makeup counter and that palette gets used a lot. Lately, I’ve just not been buying palettes. After a while, they all start to look the same or I have similar colors in my collection already. Lately I’ve had a cynical attitude towards all the makeup releases. I feel like many things are over hyped and lacking quality.
I love eyeshadow looks but rarely do them. The most I’ve spent was $50 & honestly, that was too much. I have a few Juvias Place palettes; the pigmentation & price can’t be beat. I don’t feel the need to buy high end makeup. Now, purses that’s another thing! 🙂
I got the viseart palettes from Sephora during the VIB sale. It was $68 dollars after the $12 discount. That’s the most I ever paid for Palette, but I don’t see myself buying anything as expensive for a long time. I just didn’t find that even though it was good , it wasn’t really worth the money. I find the colourpop palettes are phenomenal and they are less than $20.