Welcome to Klog Chat, a series where we ask you to tell us how you do skin care and beauty. Here, we want you to share how you purchase skin care products. Does pretty packaging ever entice you? Have you ever bought a product just because the packaging was so nice? Was the product worth it?
Hi, Renee here!
They always say don’t judge a book by its cover, but sometimes its just so hard to follow that advice. This is especially true for beauty products, now that we live in an Instagram-curated #shelfie world.
I can’t even count the times I’ve bought a highlighter because it’s sooo shiny and pretty and then put it on and realized that it’s not what it’s all cracked up to be (I’m looking at you, Becca Pressed Highlighter in Champagne Pop). And I mean that literally. My Becca highlighter shattered in my bag pretty soon after purchasing it and the color went on chalky and just wasn’t as flattering as I had hoped. A success story of mine with makeup that had pretty packaging and actually performed? The Glossier Haloscope highlighter. Its super sleek packaging looks great in my photos and the highlighter is smooth and offers the subtle glow I’m looking for.
I’ve run into this problem with skin care, too. On the opposite spectrum with Glossier, I remember buying the serums because the packaging was so minimalist and pretty and then using them. Nothing happened to my skin, good or bad. Womp womp. This is why I often flock to Korean skin care products, not for the packaging (to be honest, sometimes it’s not the prettiest), but because they get the job done.
But there are some unicorn K-beauty products that both look super pretty and show amazing results. One example are The Plant Base ampoules. They have simple, metallic packaging and they work so well. I place a drop of the Hyaluronic Acid one and a drop of the Ceramide one in my moisturizer every night and my skin always looks really plump in the morning.
The Klog’s social media and community coordinator, Marissa, has definitely given into the lure of pretty skin care packaging. “I’m constantly guilty of buying products based on packaging alone,” she says. “And I never learn my lesson! I recently purchased the Korres Wild Rose Vitamin C Active Brightening Oil because the bottle was just SO CUTE. But you guys, it oxidized so fast. After three weeks it was intense yellow color and I haven’t touched it since. It just sits untouched on my vanity, next to the YSL Touche éclat I picked up at Nordstrom Rack even though every review I had ever read on the internet had already told me it wouldn’t conceal anything!”