Designer Beauty Brands

Now, we know we are going to ruffle more than a few feathers with that headline alone, but hear us out. A while back we posted a piece on the emergence of CC creams and how Chanel was the first non-Asian brand to introduce one. Reader Rachel Phipps commented that while she wasn't so sure about the CC cream craze, she would most likely be trying it because if it's Chanel, it has to be good.

This sparked a veritable firestorm in the comments section, with many readers accusing her of snobbery and others defending her love of luxe. For us, this raised a very valid question: What's the difference between buying the highest-quality products and being a beauty snob? So, forgive us for talking out of both sides of our mouth, but let's sum up the arguments and hear both sides of the story. Let the debate begin.

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Luxury Beauty Brands Are Just About The Label
Like a designer bag festooned with labels, a luxe beauty product signifies someone's status in the world and lets people know just how fancy they are. To luxe-brand detractors, it says, "I can afford the best of the best, and I want you to know it." Sure, they can spend $6 on a drugstore lipstick in the same shade, but without those interlocking C's, what's the point? Not to mention the fact that many luxury lines are owned by companies that make many drugstore brands, so all those innovative ingredients and high-tech formulas eventually trickle down to the bargain brands. The common consensus amongst the anti-luxury crowd is that people who are devoted only to designer brands refuse to venture outside their spoiled bubble.

Closing argument: There's no reason to spend that much $$$ on a beauty product when there are perfectly good, non-designer options available for much less.

Luxury Beauty Brands Are Just Better Quality
For luxury-lovers, it's not about the label or the price tag — it's about what's inside that monogrammed bottle. Sure recognizable brands are nice, but it's the connotation behind that label — one of quality, high standards, and, yes, prestige — that drives devotees to shell out their hard-earned cash. That satisfying heft of a Tom Ford lipstick, for instance, doesn't come cheap — even in the manufacturing process. And when you get into high-concept creams that harness next-generation technologies, that's bound to cost more than a bargain cream with basic emollients. Want formulas that don't budge and pigments that look just as lush on your skin as they do in the tube? Those things cost a pretty penny to make, so you're going to have to drop some dough. And while it's true that many high-priced ingredients trickle down into drugstore products, they don't do so in the same concentration, meaning you lose a lot of the efficacy behind those formerly power-packed formulas.

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Closing argument: You'd still be devoted to the brand, even if it wasn't backed by a major designer — it's the quality of the product, technology, and formula inside that counts.

Both arguments make interesting points, but we want to know where you stand. Do luxury brands really make better products, or is it just about showing off a designer label?

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Photo: Via Chanel