After more than 15 years working in the beauty industry and testing hundreds of products a year, I can confirm that beauty is rarely as simple as luxury versus high street. But there are a few insider realities about how beauty products are made, priced and marketed that are worth knowing before you decide which are worth the spend – and which ones aren't.
The Beauty Products to Save On
Some beauty products genuinely earn their price tags: a perfume that lasts all day, or a skincare treatment backed by proper research. Others? You can save your money without sacrificing results – by using a well-formulated sunscreen, for example. In fact, some of the best-performing products I've tried cost less than a fancy coffee. Here's how to spend smarter and more strategically.
Mascara
There are plenty of brilliant, affordable mascaras on the high street, and given most should be replaced around the three-month mark – when even the expensive ones tend to dry out – this is an area to save money. "Most makeup artists tend to use cheaper mascaras because we get through so much of it, and they're just as good as the expensive ones," says makeup artist Zoë Moore. The brush and formula combination is more important than the price here, and many budget brands have perfected this – sometimes doing the job better than luxury ones.
Cleanser
Because cleansers are designed to be rinsed off the skin, you don't necessarily need to invest in luxury versions to get the benefits. Expensive ones can be lovely to use – with beautiful scents and textures – but for basic cleansing performance, there are excellent affordable options in almost every category. The key is choosing the right type of cleanser for your skin.
Body Cream
If you struggle with dry skin, sensitivity or eczema, ingredients that help repair the skin barrier matter most. You don't need to spend a lot to get results: so many of the best ones are made of pretty inexpensive ingredients and are available on the high street. If you have dry skin, as I do, body moisturiser is a daily staple – so cheap and effective is the ideal combo. Ceramides – naturally occurring lipids that help repair the skin barrier and to lock in moisture – are particularly important. Other ingredients worth looking for include glycerine or hyaluronic acid to keep the skin hydrated and colloidal oatmeal to soothe sensitive or eczema-prone skin.
Face Moisturiser
Facial moisturiser is designed to sit on top of your skincare and seal everything in. It will help prevent transepidermal water loss (TEWL) – the process where moisture evaporates from skin, leaving it dry and vulnerable. So think of moisturiser as the protective coating for the more potent active ingredients – such as retinoids, vitamin C or exfoliating acids – that you might be using in other products. Look for ceramides to help reinforce the skin's natural barrier. But your moisturiser doesn't need to be especially fancy or expensive – all it needs to do is lock in moisture. There's a stack of well-made, affordable ones.
Body Wash and Soap
It's on the skin for a short time before being rinsed away, so spending a lot on body cleanser rarely makes a meaningful difference. Look for a simple, gentle formula that cleanses without stripping the skin.
Sunscreen
You should never skip sunscreen, but you don't necessarily need to spend a lot. There are plenty of excellent affordable options available, particularly in the UK and EU, where sunscreens are required to meet strict standards for protection against both UVB (SPF) and UVA, which is what contributes to long-term skin damage. What matters more than price is choosing the right type for your skin and actually applying enough. Look for SPF30 or higher, broad-spectrum protection, and a texture you're happy to wear every day.
The Beauty Products That Are Worth the Money
Heated Hair Styling Tools
Here, the difference between a £20 and a £300 model is genuinely noticeable. Cheaper tongs or straighteners often lack sophisticated heat control, meaning they can easily exceed safe temperatures, causing cuticle damage and, in extreme cases, "bubble hair", where heat causes moisture inside the hair shaft to expand, weakening the strand so it becomes uneven, rough and eventually splits or breaks. Good hair tools use ceramic or tourmaline-coated components to distribute heat evenly. Many also include ionic technology, which helps reduce static and frizz by smoothing the hair and helping it retain moisture. Lower-quality motors on hair dryers also tend to produce weaker, inconsistent airflow – the sort you might recognise from those useless hotel hair dryers. When airflow is poor, you end up relying on higher heat for longer, which increases the risk of damage, says hairstylist Sally Brooks, creative director at London salon Brooks & Brooks: "Always apply a heat protectant first to create a barrier between the hair and high temperatures."
Foundation and Concealers
The biggest issues here are shade match, undertone and longevity. While you can find good options on the high street, it's trickier to get matches for olive, golden or yellow undertones. "Mistakes tend to show up more obviously on deeper skin tones, where the wrong undertone can make skin look ashy or grey," says Zoë Moore. Base products also last a long time as they're concentrated, so the cost per use becomes relatively small. In my experience, more expensive foundations and concealers tend to last longer and, crucially, still look good throughout the day without separating or turning greasy.
Eyelash Curlers
I've learned through painful experience that it's worth finding an eyelash curler that fits your eye shape best, as the wrong one can pinch, miss outer lashes or create that awkward right-angle bend rather than a soft curl. You can also avoid the latter by "replacing the pads that come with them every few months and pulsing gently rather than pressing down super hard," says Zoë Moore. By lifting the lashes at the root, a well-fitting pair of curlers also makes mascara work harder by opening the eye, giving the illusion of length and volume before you've even applied any product.
Fragrance
Perfume, to me, should feel special. If that happens to be a £20 scent you love, brilliant – wear it with abandon. But in my experience, some truly beautiful fragrances do cost more, and there are reasons for that beyond good branding and a lovely bottle. Luxury perfumes usually contain a higher concentration of fragrance oils and use more complex raw materials, which is why, unlike eau de toilette and cologne formulas, eau de parfum, parfums and extraits last longer on skin. There's also the chemistry of scent itself. Some notes – particularly light citrus ones – evaporate quickly because their molecules disperse faster. Heavier notes such as woods, amber and oud tend to cling to the skin for longer, which is why richer perfumes often feel more long-lasting. Applying scent to moisturised skin helps it last longer, as oils give the perfume something to hold on to (a little body oil or Vaseline on pulse points works well). Remember perfume degrades over time, so buying fewer bottles you genuinely love – and using them regularly – makes more sense than building a huge collection. If you can, store them away from direct sunlight and heat (so ideally, not in your bathroom) as this can make them degrade more quickly. Shop during seasonal sales, make use of department store loyalty schemes and recycling discounts.
Hand Wash
Hand wash has quietly become one of those subtle taste signifiers. First it was Molton Brown lined up beside the sink, then came Aesop. A well-made hand wash can bring a little luxurious joy to your daily routine. But look for brands that offer refill pouches so you can save on cost and unnecessary packaging.
Serums
It's worth spending a bit more on a serum, particularly those with retinoids, vitamin C and other targeted actives: these products rely heavily on stability, concentration and delivery systems, and that's often where better formulations stand apart. Vitamin C is, for example, notoriously unstable and degrades quickly when exposed to light and air. Well-made serums use stabilised forms, protective packaging and supporting ingredients to help them remain effective for longer. The same goes for retinoids and other prescription-strength actives, where the way it's formulated can make the difference between results and irritation. Personally, I've often seen better results – and better skin tolerance – from more thoughtfully formulated serums that do inevitably cost a little more. A potent serum might last three months or more when used correctly, which makes the cost per use less dramatic than it first appears.
Face Masks
After years of testing face masks – and seeing what makeup artists and facialists use behind the scenes – I've realised that the more expensive ones do often feel noticeably better. Better masks tend to use higher concentrations of hydrating and soothing ingredients such as glycerine, hyaluronic acid, ceramides or calming plant extracts. They're also usually designed to sit comfortably on the skin without drying it out or leaving that tight, chalky feeling some cheaper clay masks can cause. Masks are also an occasional purchase – I use them weekly – so they tend to last a while.
Highlighter
Highlighter is one category where very cheap formulas can sometimes look … well, cheap. Budget powders often contain larger shimmer particles, which sit on top of the skin rather than blending into it, and can also emphasise dryness. Better highlighters use finer, light-diffusing pigments that melt into the skin and reflect light softly.
