What’s the difference between drug store, department store, and spa skincare brands?

Why would I pay $100 for your skin serum when I saw one that does the same thing in the department store for $50? AND they offered me a bunch of free gifts!!

(The million dollar question that I’ve been asked countless times in my esthetics career)

I like to rebut with another question.

Do you want to see a difference and improve you skin’s health, or not?

Here are some of the differences between drug/department store and professional spa brands (and please keep in mind that this is my opinion only):

Drug Store/Department Store/Infomercial Brand

•low quality ingredients, usually synthetic, sometimes toxic

•active ingredients in very low percentages

•cheap fillers (ingredients used to ‘fill up’ the products)

•synthetic preservatives

•cheap, artificial fragrance, and color

•expensive, fancy packaging and presentation

•elaborate advertising and wasteful promotional materials

•gifts with purchase (usually junk that goes unused)

•can be bought and sold by anyone

Professional Spa Brand

•top quality ingredients (many certified/verified for grade)

•high percentages of active ingredients

•little or no fillers

•most lines completely synthetic preservative-free

•most lines are artificial fragrance and color-free (consumers still tend to be drawn to pretty smells and colors)

•packaging ranges from totally plain to fancy (again, consumers are drawn to pretty things)

•no advertising

•gifts with purchase (which tend to be more useful)

•sold by skin therapists to ensure that highly active formulations are not misused

How much $$$ do you think all of this fun advertising costs?

Times that number by A LOT of magazines/billboards/bus stops/displays/newspapers/television commercials, then times that by A LOT of cities in A LOT of countries!  That equals billions of dollars.  So where does all of this money come from? You!  And can you imagine how much money they have to pay to get celebrities to endorse their products? And those TV commercials that come on every commercial break promising perfect skin in 3 easy steps and it costs $29.99 (if you call now!)?

So, if the ingredients in the products were top quality and they didn’t use cheap, junky fillers & preservatives; they were able to keep the prices low; AND they were still able to pay billions for marketing – then I guess there would be no profits right? Wrong.  The equation doesn’t add up.

Don’t get me wrong, there are always exceptions! I’ve come across spa brands that I didn’t particularly like and I’m sure that there are non-spa brands with higher quality ingredients too.  The best thing to do is to read the ingredient list and remember that the ingredients are listed in order of quantity (if it’s at the end there probably isn’t enough of it to do much).  Try to avoid skin irritants like artificial fragrance, color, preservatives, mineral oils, etc.  If you are into natural and organic products be sure to check that they are certified by a legitimate regulating organization (you’d be surprised how many ‘natural’ and ‘organic’ lines aren’t natural and organic at all).  Also, try to find pure and natural makeup or mineral makeup.

We would love to hear your thoughts on the topic of this blog!  Feel free to post your comments or questions below.  As always, just for being a follower of our blog, enter coupon code BLOG10 for 10% off your next purchase! Also, remember to follow us @spaboutique on Twitter, like our Facebook  page, and check out our boards on Pinterest! You could be the lucky winner of one of our many contests!

Tags: artificial colors, cosmetic brands, cosmetics, drug store products, fragrance, natural skincare, organic skincare, preservatives in skincare, professional products, spa products

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