Today sees the launch of an exciting collaboration in the nail polish world. Victoria Beckham has teamed up with Nails Inc to create a duo of nail polishes that have been inspired by her Spring/Summer 2015 catwalk and when I heard the news, I knew this would be something the nail polish addict in me would want. Cue me logging on to the Nails Inc site this morning, credit card in hand, ready to make a purchase. Until I saw the price.
At £25 each (or £45 for the duo set), these are some seriously pricey polishes. And in my books, far too much to warrant a purchase. Don’t get me wrong, I love a high end makeup purchase, but £25 for a single polish is just a bit ridiculous. Admittedly this is a designer collaboration for an already premium nail polish brand, but I think they’ve run the risk of alienating a lot of their regular customers by charging this much.
Every year we see the prices on some of our makeup favourites continue to rise (MAC lipsticks anyone?) and at some point many brands will become completely unattainable for lots of people. With Tom Ford charging £35 for a lipstick and many high end mascaras now pushing the £25 mark, makeup has almost become a status symbol rather than a pay day treat or just a life essential.
The more the prices rise, the less likely I think we are to experiment with different brands or try out new products. £25 is a costly mistake to make if you decide you don’t like a certain mascara, or find that the nail polish you love so much chips within hours. Maybe if we had the same policy as much of the US that allows us to return beauty products then it wouldn’t be such an issue, but at the moment I know I’m quite cautious about what I spend my hard-earned cash on and tend to stick with things I know work for me. I’m tired of spending money only to find out it doesn’t perform as well as it should or isn't quite what I expected.
How do you feel about the high end price tags? How much is too much?