6 Reasons I Hate Drugstore Makeup

15 Comments

1. I only buy a few of drugstore brands: NYX, essence, Catrice and Milani are my favorite. But foundation wise only Catrice and Bourjois got some that are good for me.

2. I like DS brands, especially NYX. Sorry!

   1. I actually love Nyx! Did you watch the video? I even say above I love Nyx. My complaints are more about being unable to find things, things not being cruelty free etc.

3. Hi Phyrra – great to hear from you – I’ve really missed your emails and informative blogs.
   You have raised several excellent points in your post.
   1. All brands should be cruelty free and no exceptions. When faced with the China situation, if the major DS brands refused to sell there, I think matters would change. Integrity is more important than profits.
   2. If the DS brands spent as much money on quality products instead of sleek (and false) advertising, the standard of the items would be much better – especially when it comes to foundation shades and eye shadows.
   3. Whilst in the US you have broad range of indie makeup brands, in Australia we only have a few. These generally don’t advertise so their client base is small. That is why a lot of Australian women do turn to the DS brands – they are relatively unknown.
   4. Accessibility – DS brands are easily accessed via Target, Priceline, Chemists and Chemist Warehouse. We don’t seem to have any real mid range shops. The department stores and Mecca Cosmetics do sell some HE and what you would call mid range brands but the prices charged are excessive. This is due to transport costs, taxes and the low Australian dollar. There also seems to be a collusion? about which department stores sell what: Bobbi Brown is only sold at David Jones and MAC was only sold at Myers.
   5. At our Priceline and Target you can test the shades. However, they often run out of products or the testers are stolen. A real problem.
   Anyway – I do prefer other brands to DS brands myself. Milani is the best DS brand I know.
   Sorry to hear of your woes with Wet n’Wild. That is not customer service.

   1. Hi Genevieve! Good to hear from you! I did send out a newsletter today but it no longer goes out daily (people said they wanted no more than 1 a week, and I didn’t send it out for about 4 weeks because I manually write them now). Thankfully many indie brands do ship to Australia -> Aromaleigh, Fyrinnae, Silk Naturals, and I think Sugarpill has some stockists too. Plus there are indie brands in australia, like Femme Fatale Cosmetics. I’ve heard the prices in Australia are crazy high, like $30 for a Revlon foundation.

      1. What! I love your newsletter daily- but once a week will be fine too. There are quite a few brands that do ship to us, but I also really like going to a shop and checking out the samples and colours myself. Especially with lipsticks as many have a pink undertone that does not suit me. I have some Silk Naturals products and they are great.
         Yep $30 for a Revlon foundation is actually a bit of a sale – often they are $37.I don’t like or use Revlon so it is not a problem for me.
         We also have OZ Sales and Deals Direct – an online company that often brings different cosmetic/home/kids clothes and toys each day as a sale. You can get some bargains there.Just great to hear from you – I was getting worries because I thought you might have been ill.

         1. I last sent it out on Saturday, I’m not sure if you received it? Also, are you on Facebook? You can come chat with us about makeup there 🙂 https://www.facebook.com/groups/PhyrraNyx/

            Sorry to have scared you! I’m still here. I try to post every day Monday through Friday. Yeah I can understand wanting to shop in person too!

4. My favorite products are almost always from Indie brands you can’t just find at the drugstore!

5. I’m with you on the ‘no testers’ at the drugstores! Impossible to tell shades!!!

6. You know, even if all drugstore makeup was cruelty free, the ingredients are just so awful! And the quality isn’t there – it doesn’t look as good or last as long as the good stuff from Sephora or the indie brands.

7. Before I went cruelty free, every time I bought drugstore I regretted it. Drugstore product reviews are often way more kind than they should be, eg. “this eyeshadow palette has amazing pigmentation for the price”. I don’t want amazing “for the price”, I want amazing. Im a bit of a drag queen at heart and if it’s not insanely pigmented I’m not interested.

8. Ugh, yeah the foundations and no testers are big ones for me. Like you, I DO buy Nyx, though.

   1. Yup, testers are a must for me. I’m usually so off on something I think I’m going to love – then I try the tester, and it’s like “Oh, wow, that’s not going to be a pretty sight!”

9. 1000x yes! I hardly ever buy drugstore makeup anymore, aside from mascara, brushes and sometimes lipsticks. I’ve grown to stronly dislike them. Like you said, indies don’t do marketing or spend money on ‘innovative’ gimmicky products that don’t work well after all. It’s just about quality and good ingredients. But wait, you don’t get testers?! That’s awful! Not that our shelves in EU aren’t a mess despite the testers, but that’s besides the point, haha.

10. I love some drugstore, such as e.l.f., Wet n Wild, Milani, Sonia Kashuk, Nyx, and Jordana. Like you, I can’t wear most DS foundations. I usually don’t by DS eyeshadows, either. The quality is just not there. I also share your frustration with trying to find LE releases. I don’t even try any more. If I’m lucky and catch them, great. If not…eh. I find myself buying more indie the last couple months. I can find the “alternative” colors and finishes I like more easily. The only down side with indie is they usually have long turn-around times.

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