Stealing the Look: Beauty Edition
Photo above: Makeup Revolution Instagram
Photos below: Brand press shots from: Makeup Revolution, I Heart Makeup, Too Faced, Anastasia Beverly Hills, Sephora, Wet N Wild, Hay, CB2, The Balm, Hourglass
I've written previously, and with the restraint, about jewelry brands "stealing the look".
I didn't like it.
I thought it was robbery. I thought it was unfair. Mostly, because my friend was the one from whom intellectual property was stolen.
But then I bought an absolutely unbridled fool's bounty of beauty products from Makeup Revolution, a brand infamous for superlatively exciting dupes of high-end palettes. Makeup Revolution (sold exclusively at Superdrug in the U.K., and Ulta in the U.S.) and its related Tam Beauty brands are somehow both low-priced, and yes (HARRY-MET-SALLY-KINDA-YESSS) fantastic quality - in color, texture, pigmentation, you name it (except, notably, for packaging, which can be a little meh).
Until she pivots, let's carry on with the beauty steals, darlings.
I thought, why am I OK with this kind of theft? And not the fine jewelry type?
The answer is, I am a hypocrite.
I bought every single CB2 Intermix plate offered, instead of the fancier Goop-approved Hay Kaleido plates. I certainly would buy a Victoria's Secret number that resembled an expensive La Perla piece. I plotz when Colourpop offers a color closely related to Charlotte Tilbury - and I buy it.
As we buy the cheap iterations of beloved objects, are we beauty theives? Or just defensible pillagers of an endless but justified beauty bounty brought to you by the high-end dupes of High Street?
I still despise jewelry thieves: those who steal jewelry, and those who steal jewelry design. But I'm ok with borrowing design IP when it comes to beauty. There is no defense for this approach; if my friend owned a beauty brand I'd probably alter my thinking. But, until she pivots, let's carry on with the beauty steals, darlings.
So, now that you know I'm not worth my weight in consistency, I'll show you which beauty dupes I've either thought to be interesting, or that I've full-on died for.
How fascinating is this: the Sephora-branded Color Wonderland palate is a whopping $59 - enough to buy a whole Tom Ford Lips & Boys and a half - whilst the Wet N Wild Holiday Beauty Book is $30. And they are the same exact thing. Talk amongst yourselves.
I didn't die for either of the above, but it made me think about the value of my store-branded buys. Then, I saw the below. And I ordered a hearse.
Now, I'm not sure what it means that I own all of the above, other than that I am fully invested in my hobby. But owning the originals makes me feel a smidge better about the outright theft involved in purchasing the cheap versions.
If it follows that I don't belong behind bars after all, then somebody get me the Manizer Sisters for Christmas (look closely at the packaging and see those gorgeous lady-criminals in their fabulous faux police lineup.
Or, somebody get me a really good dupe.
Xx, Mom in Mascara
