This time around, the Makeup Wars bloggers are putting on our most expensive faces! This one surprised me. I don’t necessarily collect a ton of luxury items, and many of the things I used are more mid-range, yet my total came up to a rather shocking amount that is revealed at the end of the post (I figure some suspense is good for you all). I also suspect that I will be in the bottom half of the group in terms of overall value of the products! It is a bit surprising to add this stuff up and see what it really costs for a full face! I didn't buy all of it, since some were products provided to me for review, but I bought a good amount of it over time. For an interesting comparison at the other end of the price range, see the previous $20 Face Challenge.
Here is my reaction when I added up my total:
The Most Expensive Face Challenge: Products and Look
For this challenge, Makeup Wars bloggers used the most expensive items in our existing collections. We also included skin care and tools that we typically would use. This was a fun challenge, in part because I got to go rediscover some old favorites that I hadn't used in awhile. Here are just few of the makeup items I used for this challenge. I didn’t try to cram everything into the picture!
For my look, I went for a neutral, slightly smoky eye since my Chanel palette worked well for that. My most expensive mascara was blue and that worked OK with the browns in the shadow. I stuck to my favorite daily lip look, which happens to include my priciest lip items anyway. I had to dig out my better brushes. I actually have several daily use favorite brushes that are very affordable from BH Cosmetics. Here is my full face of makeup. The list of products and totals follow.
Here are my products used, their prices, and my thoughts on them for this challenge and look:
Makeup/Foundation
Laura Mercier Oil Free Primer $32: This is often my go to primer, although I also use various silicone based primers fairly often. (See my Laura Mercier Review on Girl Gloss).
Laura Mercier Silk Cream Foundation $43: I got a bit lucky here. I used to have a more expensive Dior foundation that I didn’t like, but I couldn’t find it for the challenge! I also sometimes have Armani foundation, which I love, but I happen to be out of it at the moment, leaving Laura Mercier as the most expensive that I had on hand. The silk cream must have been matched for me in winter. It was a bit on the light side for me!
Laura Mercier Concealer $30: This is my daily use concealer.
Make Up For Ever Duo Matte Powder $34 (read the MUFE Duo Matte Review): I add MUFE powder foundation over areas where I have hyperpigmentation and often brush it lightly on as a finishing powder.
Eyes and Cheeks
Here is my eye look:
Urban Decay Primer Potion $20: I regularly use this as my eye primer.
Chanel Le Regards de Chanel Palette $80 (see the Chanel swatches): I bought this limited edition palette last year and love the neutral shades in it. It is great for a fairly neutral smoky eye.
Shiseido Cream Eye Liner $26 (read the previous Shiseido liner review). I love this pot liner. I forgot that I had it! I might have had more expensive liners around, but I didn’t try to add those up to figure it out.
Le Metier de Beaute Mascara $34 (read the Le Metier Mascara review): This was an item that was sent to me by a company representative and it happens to be in blue. I love this mascara and fortunately I like blue mascara. The couple of times that I was sent samples from Le Metier they were odd shades (such as black lip gloss), which made doing an objective review difficult. So this was one of the few items I reviewed since I do like blue lashes!
Estee Lauder Brow Kit $32 (see my previous Estee Lauder Brow Kit review) : This kit includes a taupe pencil, highlight pencil, and brow gel. All that you need!
Bobbi Brown Bridal Palette Blush $50: I love the blush in the Bobbi Brown Bridal Palette. In fact I love the palette as a whole. This is a rather pigmented blush, so I wear it light and then blend it well with the next item on the list.
Guerlain Meteorites $58: These little balls of illuminating powder are perfect for blending, highlighting, or for overall illumination. I like to blend my blush with it.
Lips
Make Up For Ever Aqua Lip Liner $18: I use a neutral brown/pink lip liner under a stain, followed by lipstick and gloss for a super long wear lip look. The lip look I did here made it through dinner and two glasses of beer before I touched it up!
MAC Pro Longwear Lip Stain Marker (see my review on Girl Goss) $16: I don’t think these are still available. I love this stain as a great under color for lipstick that will wear well.
Chanel Rouge Coco Lipstick in Rouge Orage (see my Girl Gloss Swatches) $33: I love this lipstick and wear it a lot. In fact, I am nearing time to buy another one! I also often wear a YSL lipstick that is about the same price.
Cargo Blu Ray Gloss $24: I think I might have more expensive glosses but I didn't want to try to price my whole collection. This was at least one of the sort of pricier ones and I didn’t have any Dior left, which would have cost more.
Skin Care
Outside of makeup, we have been adding up skin care and tools as well. These are the most expensive items that I typically use, and not including special weekly treatments.
Creme de la Mer $140 (here are 5 great uses for Creme de la Mer): I regularly use Creme de la Mer as an eye cream. I also use it all over when my skin is dry, although right now I have been on the oily side.
M Lab Cleanser $60: M lab makes great products. They are pricy, but I love them!
M Lab Anti-Aging Brightening Serum $65: One of my go to melasma treatment products. Also see my M Lab review of a number of their items). I also regularly use PCA products, but they are not quite to the M Lab price range.
Ole Henriksen Sheet Transformation $45: This is my go to night cream. It is light, which I like when my skin is oily.
Estee Lauder Day Wear $45: This is pretty much my standby product for light moisture with SPF.
Tools
I don’t have an expensive brush collection. The priciest I have are all MAC. I often use cheaper brushes too, such as EcoTools, Essence of Beauty, Crown, or BH Cosmetics. Here the MAC brushes I used for this look:
MAC Large Powder Brush $42
MAC Angled Contour Brush $35
MAC Regular Powder Brush $35
MAC Large Eye Shader Brush $31: I use this on a lot.
MAC Short Shader Brush $25
MAC Blending Brush $23: This is always my go to blending brush.
MAC Retractable Lip Brush $23
Revlon Eyelash Curler $5: I don’t have an expensive curler!
Beauty Blender Sponge $20: I love this for applying foundation!
Totals
Whew! So here are the totals!
Total Makeup: $530
Total Skin Care: $355
Total Tools: $ 259
Grand Total: $1144
You can buy the items listed here at Nordstrom and/or Sephora
Visit the rest of the Makeup Wars bloggers to see their most expensive looks!
Disclosure, some of the items in the post were provided to me by representatives of the company. These are: Several of the Laura Mercier products, M Lab, Shiseido, Le Metier de Beaute, MAC Pro Longwear, and some of the MAC Brushes.
. Some swear by it. Others say it is over-rated. Most agree that it is expensive, and yes, if you use it as your daily face creme it is.. But if you use it for more limited purposes, it actually can become a pretty good value. I never apply it to my full face. Instead I stretch an ounce of the lovely thick creme for over a year using it in the following ways.
